A Multi-ship Story **in Editing*

*Communication*

After a few weeks, Lexi had really taken a liking to Dylan, who she'd learned was part of the Peterson family.

There were rumors of the Peterson family around town. People always said Mr. Peterson, Dylan's father, was a psychopath. Nothing had been proven, but people always tried to link him to various kidnappings and murders. Some even said that's why Mrs. Peterson had vanished years ago. She'd either been killed or she left because she couldn't handle his mania anymore.

After spending time with Dylan and even his father, Lexi was convinced that they were like any other family. After all, she knew there were all sorts of untrue rumors of her own parents after they "disappeared".

After a few months (not weeks, as a result of Lexi being limited in her time out of the house), Dylan had asked Lexi to become more than friends. They'd been dating for so long, that Lexi barely noticed the one year anniversary of her parents' passing.

Life was seeming to get better. Ever so slightly. When Lexi looked at her mother's charm on her bracelet, her heart didn't squeeze so tightly anymore. And when she passed by her Father's favorite movies in a restaurant, she no longer cried. She was finally getting somewhere close to happy again...

~~~

When April rolled around, Lexi began getting tutoring after school for the exams coming up. This resulted in Lily heading home earlier than Lexi, and the two agreed they would simply meet at home.

Lexi walked home after tutoring one day approaching the usual crosswalk. She just began to cross the street when she heard the squeal of tires. Around the corner, a van slid into view on the mostly empty street. It pulled right up in front of her, and the door popped open.

Two hooded figures hopped out and grabbed Lexi's arm. Instantly, she screamed and thrashed, pulling away. The figures, clearly male by their sheer strength, gathered her other arm and yanked her to the van, tossing her in with ease and slamming the door.

Inside the now speeding off van, Lexi continued to fight, with little effect. She found herself with duct tape around her wrists and ankles quickly, and across her mouth after she'd been able to scream a few obscenities at the hooded guys.

After several turns and about half an hour of driving, the van stopped. From the glimpses she could get, Lexi could tell they were at a run down motel.

By the time they were in the room, Lexi had licked off the duct tape around her mouth. She turned to see the driver take off his mask. Her heart stopped for a beat.

"Mr. Peterson?" She stared into the stark green eyes that had been passed along to her boyfriend. Speaking of those green eyes, she turned to the two figured holding her. One took his hood down, revealing Dylan, with a somber look on his face. He refused to make eye contact with Lexi.

"Dylan, what's going on??" Lexi questioned.

The other figure followed suit. She recognized him vaguely. He'd been at the house once when she was there. It was a slightly older young man, probably a cousin of some sort, since he looked very similar.

"Alright," Mr. Peterson spoke with a viscous tone. "Now that you have an idea of who you're with, Alexis, dear... here's what you're going to do..."

~~~

"McGee, what is this dingy thing?" Gibbs demanded, pointing to his computer. "Why won't it... stop?"

McGee crossed over to take a look at what Gibbs pointed to. He opened up the email, which redirected the screen to another page where a video waited to be played. He didn't bother waiting for the instruction, just pressed play and stepped back.

What ensued left McGee's stomach churning. The video showed Alexis tied to a chair against a blank wall. She was crying, but her mouth was covered with tape. She still tried to get words out, but they came out as muffled sounds.

"If you ever want to see her alive again," came a distorted voice, "you will bring $2,000,000 to the enclosed location alone, Agent Gibbs. You have until tomorrow's sundown. This will be our only Communication."

~~~
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~Abi <3