A Multi-ship Story **in Editing*

*Where*

"And Lexi was...?"

"Uh, she called me after she was done at school and asked to stay at a friend's house.."

Lily looked at her mother, confused. "And you.. let her? Without notice?"

"Yes, of course," Jenny said, trying to avoid suspicion.

"Mom..." Lily said, demanding her mother to look at her. "What's going on?"

Jenny looked at her daughter, sorrow filling her eyes. "We didn't want to worry you.."

"What's wrong?"

"Your father received a video message from someone... they... they took Alexis. They want money."

Lily's jaw dropped, her hand covering her mouth.

"We're taking care of it... we're getting the money in case we can't catch them... we're... we're going to get her back."

Lily couldn't help her tears. Her eyes drifted to the only one year old scars on her mother's face and hands. "Are they... hurting her?"

Jenny shook her head. "She didn't seem hurt in the video."

Lily nodded, then paused, glaring at her mother. "Wait, you were going to KEEP this from me???"

~~~

"Have you found anything?" Lily marched up to her dad's desk.

Gibbs looked up from the file on his desk. "Lily, what are you doing here?"

"She wouldn't stay, Jethro," Jenny caught up, sighing. "Is there any news?"

Gibbs shifted a bit in his seat. "Well, we have the requirement to get her. But... we also have an idea of who has her, and if it's who we think it is, we need to bring him down..."

"So?" Lily asked.

"So... on one hand, we want to get Lexi home safely. And on the other..."

"You want to stop him... at all costs," Jenny finished.

It took a moment before Lily caught onto what that implied. "Wait, no. Not with Lexi... please. Just... just get her home, Daddy, please."

Gibbs sighed. "We... we're going to have to see what happens..."

Lily bit her lip. "She's my best friend... my sister... please, don't let her get hurt."

Jenny put a hand on Lily's shoulder. "We're going to do everything we can, Lil... why don't you go see if Abby has anything you can help with?"

Lily nodded, looked for a moment longer at her father, and left.

Jenny brought a chair up and sat across Gibbs' desk. "What's the plan?"

Gibbs looked at her, raised an eyebrow, then returned to normal. "You're not going to like it."

"I don't have to like it," Jenny stated, "It just needs to work. We owe it to..." her gaze drifted to the desks across the square. "It has to work."

~~~

Lexi stumbled as she was dragged into the back room of a warehouse. She once again had tape over her mouth, although she was constantly working to lick the adhesive off.

Dylan followed his father, and Mark had an iron grip on her arm behind them. Mr. Peterson, who had a mask over his face, turned to them and said, "Wait for my signal."

Then he walked into the main area. A few minutes later, they heard a car pull up, shut off, and the warehouse doors opened.

Lexi heard Gibbs' voice, although she couldn't make out the words. Then she heard Mr. Peterson ask for the money. After a few moments, she heard Gibbs, a little more clearly this time, ask to see her. Then she was being dragged out into the main area. She quickly observed the scene.

Gibbs was 10 feet away from Mr. Peterson, who was in the middle of the warehouse, in the middle of Gibbs and Alexis.

She tried to stop herself from crying out, but her heart raced and she was eager to be out of here. As she stretched her mouth, the tape fell off.

"Gibbs!" She shouted, as if his attention wasn't already on her.

"Are you alright, Lexi?" He asked calmly.

"I'm fine but-"

"That's enough!" Mr. Peterson cut her off. "The money," he held his hand out.

Gibbs nodded slightly, almost imperceptible. Almost.

Mr. Peterson caught the movement moments before Alexis did. He dove to the ground as a gunshot rang out.

Lexi's breath caught, dropping to the ground with Mark and Dylan. Mark was quick to draw a gun and put it to her head, yanking her back to standing so everyone could see.

Mr. Peterson stood again, hand over the bleeding flesh wound in his arm. He glared at the corner of the warehouse's upper level, where McGee knelt with his gun drawn.

"You stupid man," he directed to Gibbs. "You thought you could shoot your way out of this?"

He snapped and pointed to Dylan. Dylan, who had his own gun drawn, gawked at his father. He knew what was wanted of him, but he seemed torn.

"Dylan!" Mr. Peterson yelled. "Now."

Dylan looked at Lexi, who turned to him, confused. He mouthed sorry to her, raised his gun, and shot her.

~~~~~~

Everything froze for a moment. Lexi yelped and slumped to the ground, no longer in Mark's grasp. Her leg couldn't be attached to her body anymore. That was the only explanation for the blinding pain, and the fact that she couldn't feel anything but her pounding thigh.

She vaguely heard a fight taking place. A thud hear, a gunshot, two. Then she was being tossed over someone's shoulder before being taken out the back. She heard Gibbs' grunt from the distance, but was unaware of anything but the pain. She groaned once more before everything went black.

~~~~

Gibbs limped into the squadroom. Jenny stood from his desk, and Lily, who slept on the floor stirred at the motion. She soon joined her mother standing and looking at him walking in, McGee behind him.

"Dad?" Lily asked. "Where's..."

Gibbs looked at her, his eyes full of... grief? Sorrow? Pain?

Jenny put a hand to her mouth. "You didn't get her..."

Lily looked between her parents "wait.. no. That's not- That wasn't supposed to happen!"

Gibbs came closer and hugged his daughter. "I'm sorry, Lil... I don't know Where they took her..."

~~~
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