A/N: for those that have read this as part of my NCIS series 'Christmas Continuum' this is a re-edit of the original, but this version is a more even split between CM and NCIS characters (hopefully) and I've fixed some glaring story errors, spelling? I gave that a go too.

Tuesday 23rd December 2003...

"Okay, so what would Gibbs do?"

The throw away comment curls Gibbs' lip enough to form what could almost pass itself off as a smile, but he and Kate continue to view the video tape without comment. They watch Tony pace up and down the dimly lit windowless room, feeling the walls searching for a way out. It's clear he doesn't know he's being filmed, not just because his gaze never once connects with the camera, but if Tony knew anyone was watching him he would have made certain to hide the desperation covering his face right now. The camera angle is high, but not obscured. It wouldn't have taken him long to figure it out, but by then he'd known it to be too late.

Sure enough, as Tony continues his search he gets closer and closer to the lens until he's staring right back at them, a look of pure desolation filling the bullpen's plasma screen. They've visited enough crimes scenes together, caught enough kidnappers and murders to know a filmed hostage in a locked room indicated the worst kind of trouble. Looking directly into the sad green eyes as the presence of the camera and its meaning registers Gibbs itch's to move, to provide the back-up Tony must already know by now isn't coming. To do something other than stand by and watch what traumatic event will unfold next.

As if n synchronicity, if he believed in such a thing, the door in the background swings suddenly open, hitting the wall behind it with enough force to send dust particles flying around the room, blurring the image for a second and flooding the screen with bright unnatural light. In the recording Tony spins around to face it and just like Gibbs trained him, he steps cautiously forward, his hand instinctively going to his belt where his gun should be. But instead of heading for the perceived exit Tony clumsily retreats and makes a grab at the camera. Dislodging it from the wall must have done something to the sound because the tape they're viewing suddenly becomes a silent movie. Tony's face fills the screen and looking directly into the lens again he speaks a few words before he drops the camera. It hits the dirt floor with a bounce, affording them a view of not one, but two pairs of boots as Tony is unceremoniously dragged away.

The feed winks out, turning their screen to static snow. Gibbs turns away to stare at the real snow falling outside the squad room windows. Looking up he sees the skylight is almost completely covered over in frosty whiteness and lets out a chuckle. His first winter at NCIS Tony told him he'd put together a 'snowed in survival kit' in case it ever broke the glass and they got buried alive inside the squad room. Gibbs had subsequently told him if that happened he wouldn't need the survival kit since he'd most likely be impaled by a falling shard of glass and bleed to death before rescue could get to him, because that was just his luck. Being kidnapped a week before Christmas was also just his luck and Gibbs sighs at the irony, forcing his mind back to the logistics of the case.

According to the timestamp on the bottom left hand corner of the screen the little film they'd just watched had been recorded last Saturday. It was now Wednesday. Yet, despite knowing the crap odds of finding Tony alive after being missing four days Gibbs is still holding out hope. DiNozzo's a survivor after all and if ever there was an agent to go against statistics it's him.

Giving the blank screen one last look Gibbs turn his back on the plasma and stomps over to his desk, uttering nothing more than a mild curse under his breath. His restraint isn't thanks to his superb skill of keeping calm in a crisis. He's actually rarely calm, crisis or otherwise. Generally he has two moods when he's working a case – pissed off and goddamn livid. Calm only came when their case was over and he was at home, in his basement, working on his boat with the knowledge that all his team are safe and sound in their beds. No tonight his stoicism had nothing to do with being calm. Tony hadn't slept in his own bed for days and after the initial shock, worry and yes even panic for his wellbeing, Gibbs had shut down completely. It was that or he went off the deep end, because there was no way he was going to acknowledge even the slightest chance that he wouldn't ever see him again.

Dropping into his chair with a frustrated growl Gibbs forces himself to think of something new they can do to find him. His desk is covered in reports of possible sightings, none of which have led anywhere, and right now they're just as clueless about Tony's whereabouts as they were two days ago upon first discovering him missing. Running a hand through his hair Gibbs checks on the Missing Person's Bolo they'd issued and sent to every police precinct from here to New York. Efforts had so far been focused on the East Coast because they believed his father, or one of his less than reputable associates, may have been involved in his disappearance. That's no longer a line of official inquiry since DiNozzo Sr. is confirmed to be out of the country, but personally Gibbs hasn't totally discounted the possibility yet. They haven't informed him about Tony's missing status either, only made some discreet enquires as to recent contact. They're under no legal obligation to tell his father since Tony listed Gibbs as his next of kin in case of emergency, and besides, he didn't see the point in wasting valuable minutes making the phone call.

Thinking about valuable minutes wasted, up until receiving that video in the mail today they hadn't any evidence to suggest Tony had been abducted. When Gibbs first raised the alarm after he failed to show for work Monday morning and wasn't answering his cell or at his apartment the Director had tried to suggest that DiNozzo had simply met a girl and slept in. Gibbs had held firm with Morrow that although Tony was known for his one night stands, outside of injury he'd never missed a day's work since starting at NCIS and insisted that wherever Tony was, he was in trouble. DiNozzo wouldn't let them - let him - worry like this. For as much as he played the oblivious fool and as often as Gibbs pretended not to give a damn they did have a basic understanding of each other's feelings, even if they hadn't acknowledged them to each other yet. Tony was the reason rule #3 existed after all.

Picking up a copy of the missing poster Abby printed and they'd circulated after all their theories of this being personal hadn't panned out Gibbs stared long and hard at the photo, glaring it into submission. They'd purposefully not used his ID, not wanting to advertise him as a Federal Agent on the off chance his disappearance had nothing to do with NCIS and only made the situation worse. While internally laughing at just how much worse things could get his eyes targeted the very last line 'Tony, please get in touch, your family want to know you are safe.' It was a standard line on all missing person's posters, but seeing it - knowing the tape arrived just a day after releasing the poster to the media, it made Gibbs' heart constrict. The tape was likely a message. One Gibbs wouldn't forget in a long, long time.

Sitting back in his chair it didn't matter how long he stared at Tony's photo, nothing new came to mind and all he achieved by glaring at the smiling face was an ache inside his chest so deep it gave the Grand Canyon a run for its money. He was definitely feeling disconcerted and, sadly enough, this wasn't new territory for him either. It was becoming par for the course since Anthony DiNozzo Jr had joined his team. WheneverTony got in a mess Gibbs always experienced some level of anxiety, despite knowing he can take care of himself - on the job at least. Off the job was a different story, one he didn't want his head to get into right now, for he feared the two had merged this time and if that was the case DiNozzo was in a lot more trouble than Gibbs was prepared to face.

"Leads?" Gibbs barks, despite it being only him and Kate in the bullpen.

He looks up to find her still stood by the plasma, soft eyes focused on him, offering sympathy. "We will find him Gibbs."

He wants to yell at her, tell her to stop profiling him and get on with her job of catching the bad guys, but Kate says the words with such conviction Gibbs has to question who she's actually trying to convince. Looking closer, noting the dark rings around her eyes and the extra creases in her forehead, he can see she's on the verge of a breakdown too and is offering them both a lifeline they sorely need.

"Yeah," he nods, taking a moment to breathe, to pull himself together. Lifting heavy lids, raising his eyes to meet Kate's and speaking earnestly, he asks "so why do I feel like I'm not doing enough?"

He can see mirrored in her gaze the fear that this time they may lose him and that neither of them have a clue how to feel about that. It's one of the most open moments he's ever had with a junior agent. Keeping the contact he communicates his own distress in one long look and for once doesn't feel at all ashamed for it.

Any other agent might have been uncomfortable and turned away, but not Kate. His relationship with her is different than with Tony or Abby, with them he's always in control, the patriarch who's strong and reliable. They look up to him, Tony especially, and trust him with some of the most personal details of their lives. If Tony is ever in trouble Gibbs knows he would come to him in a heartbeat. That's how he knew that whoever had Tony now had come out of the blue, because if he'd been in trouble or was being threaten Gibbs would have known about it already. Kate is different because despite a vast difference in experience between them she sees herself as his equal, often in detriment to DiNozzo who acts like an eager to please puppy sometimes. And Even though he doesn't always agree with her methods or appreciate her often condescending interpersonal skills, she has the drive to become a successful investigator one day. What he needs to ensure is that she doesn't end up like another ex-Probie of his, one who made a few too many sacrifices, not to save a life or do the right thing, but to forward her own career and climb the promotional ladder.

"Gibbs?" another female voice calls from the side-lines, breaking the moment of joint quiet contemplation.

He and Kate turn in unison, both recognising the voice and both just as surprised by the quiver they hear in it. Gibbs' anger, which had been well buried until now, ebbs up a notch upon setting eyes on the woman whom had caused a ripple of discontent through his team since crossing paths with her a few months ago.

"Agent Cassidy," Kate answers cordially when he remains purposefully silent.

"I want to help," she says steadily, the quiver now under control. "I heard about Tony and-"

"What do you mean you heard? What did you hear?" Gibbs snaps at her, standing and sending his chair flying into the divide behind him with an audible thud.

He's pissed rumours about Tony where still circling NCIS, like he's the hot topic of gossip to be talked about this week and forgotten the next. Cassidy is supposed to be Agent Afloat for Christ sake, there's no reason for her to have heard anything!

"He's been missing four days Gibbs, his picture is all over the news," Cassidy takes a step closer to them, pointing at the monitors scrolling the request for information on a missing man in his thirties from D.C, amongst other news. "I can help…please."

"We could use the help Gibbs." Kate interjects soberly, no doubt reading the wild look in his eyes that said he was spoiling for a fight, one he could actually win and Cassidy had just offered herself to him like a lamb to the slaughter.

He stares at the pair of them, Cassidy averts her gaze, but Kate… she stands there, looking simultaneously sympathetic and determinedly pissed off, a paused image of Tony with sad resigned eyes behind her on the big screen. It's moments like this that Kate reminds him of the dutiful wife, one who keeps all her personal feelings buried deep and puts on airs for appearances sake, or more likely in this case; the greater good. It isn't a fair analogy, Kate is far more than simply dutiful, but that's how she often presents to those who don't know her better. As far as Cassidy is concerned, had he been thinking logically he would have seen straight away that having another set of eyes on the case was a good thing, but right in this moment all he sees is the woman who messed with Tony's head and heart.

In the end it's the watery quality to her voice when she asks him again to let her help them that makes his mind up. Next to crying woman, Gibbs hated begging woman most of all. Their sincerity wasn't to be trusted, maybe too many wives' had made him overly sensitive to manipulation, but, though it pained him, he still couldn't deny the truth of her and Kate's argument. They needed the help – wherever Tony is, he's running out of time.

"Fine," he grouses turning his back on her to look at the last image of Tony they had.

"So what have you got so far?" Cassidy asks her tears suddenly forgotten, she doesn't go so far as to smile though, good thing too otherwise he'd have definitely kicked her out.

Gibbs looks to Kate, who is continuing to tread carefully around him, but since he knows he's been extremely hard to live with these past few days he lets her get away with it and remains silent as she studiously picks up the clicker.

"Tony was officially declared missing when he didn't show up for work on Monday," Kate begins, bringing up a timeline of Tony's last movements. "Gibbs last saw him Friday at around five when he left NCIS and according to DiNozzo he was going home to get ready for a date. This tape was sent to NCIS today. It's time stamped 04:22am Saturday."

"What's he saying at the end there?" Cassidy asks, taking the clicker off Kate and pausing the screen before it turns to snow.

"Not your fault." Gibbs sighs without looking up from reading a report of one of the latest supposed sightings of Tony, this time in Baltimore.

"Excuse me?" Cassidy rears on him, obviously making an assumption about his meaning.

Gibbs growls and throws down the pen he's been holding, pointing at the screen "Tony! He's saying 'not your fault'"

"What does that mean?"

"Well gee Agent Cassidy I guess that's something we should find out, but I'm betting there's a good chance he's talking to me."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because," Gibbs stands and walks around his desk, snatching the clicker from her and replaying it, "the last word he starts to say before getting cut off."

"Which is?"

"Boss…" Abby answers sullenly from behind them, clutching a folder tightly to her chest.

Giving both women a pointed look Gibbs throws the clicker onto the spare desk opposite him and turns away taking Abby's arm to stomp off towards the elevators.

.

"When did Gibbs have to the time to learn to read lips?" Cassidy asks, breaking the lingering all-consuming silence after his sudden angry departure.

"When does Gibbs have the time to do anything?" Kate throws back with a sigh returning to her desk. "He's always at work. I'd be surprised if he even has a home to go back to."

She's of course referring to the fact that Gibbs is always the last leave, but also always the first to arrive in the mornings and given that the hours they work are not the most socially friendly she can easily imagine - being the happy in a wooden hut type of guy that he is - he'd see paying rent as an extraneous expense not to be bothered with. The idea made her smile and she held onto it, boxing the feeling away to drag out later when day four of Tony's disappearing act officially closed without a new lead.

Sitting down Kate finds a report of a sighting of Tony in Baltimore leaning against her monitor that hadn't been there a minute ago. Assuming Gibbs left it for her to follow up on she pulls over her phone and begins dialling the Baltimore P.D contact who forwarded it to them. It takes her nearly twenty minutes to get put through to the right department, but it proves well worth the wait…

"Gibbs!" Kate jumps up from her desk when the man himself walks in at the exact moment she's hanging up the phone. "They've found Tony's car!"

Gibbs missteps, but his smooth stride quickly resumes thus drawing little attention to the fact the news surprised him.

"Where?"

"Outside a nightclub east of Chase Street," She smiles giddily, looking down at the notes she's made.

"Club la Vita," Cassidy adds matter of fact.

Gibbs and Kate both look at her.

"I've been there, Tony too." She shrugs. "It's a good place to fly solo."

Gibbs shakes his head, unamused by her candour. It's hard enough for him to acknowledge there are similarities between Tony and Cassidy on a normal day, he doesn't need it being thrown in his face right now. Maybe that's another reason he doesn't like her, she's a player and Tony, despite what he claims, really isn't. Tony likes safety and younger women who aren't after commitment are the safest you can get when a lasting relationship is the last thing on your mind. That didn't make him a player - that made him scared to get hurt again. With Cassidy he'd seen from the get go Tony's attraction to her, just like he'd sensed that she was inevitably going to break his heart. It didn't take Kate calling him out on his own behaviour in Guantanamo for Gibbs to recognise he was overstepping his bounds as Tony's boss, but he'd experienced the kind of pain that comes from a relationship destined to end badly and if Gibbs could spare Tony from feeling anything close to that he was willing to do whatever it took, even if it meant taking a more interfering role in Tony's personal life and Tony hating him for it.

Gibbs chuckles lightly to himself. Now he thinks about it Ducky was right, Tony really is a lot like him, right down to making the same mistakes with women he had, but despite the many qualities he and DiNozzo share the difference is he'd fell in love and settled down at a young age, had a family, whereas DiNozzo had been introduced to sexual relationships in all the wrong ways and never had the positive parental role models to know what a healthy functioning relationship looked like.

"Well I don't think it was part of his date, the girlfriend said they had reservations at Madam Vies for eight but he never showed up." Kate went on, mindless of where Gibbs' thoughts had taken him.

"What else did she say?" Cassidy asks and Gibbs thinks he detects a note of jealously in her tone.

"That was it, she didn't even know his last name and I doubt very much she could even spell kidnapping," Kate answers, managing a dig at DiNozzo's choice of date even now, though Gibbs suspects it's out of comfort rather than spite so lets it go.

"So we don't know if he intentionally stood up his date and went to the club instead or if he was taken to Baltimore for another reason."

"But when he left he told Gibbs he was getting ready for his date…"

"So he didn't plan to stand her up. Something must have happened between six and eight last Friday for his plans to have changed, but what?"

Neither Agent had noticed Gibbs had dropped out of the conversation and was looking intently at his computer until he rose from his desk and stood behind them, making them jump.

"That Agent Cassidy is what we are trying to find out." He snaps storming off angrily towards the elevators, grabbing something from the printer on his way, "Kate!"

"Going to club la Vita Gibbs," Kate shouts back in an excellent impersonation of DiNozzo when trying to ignore his obvious bad mood.

She drops the clicker and without pause for thought drags Cassidy away with her.

.

"Do you think Tony's okay?" Cassidy asks Kate once they're driving.

"Gibbs would know if he wasn't," Kate repeats what Gibbs had told her earlier in the week when she'd asked the same thing.

At that point she'd still been convinced Tony was at the mercy of some crazy girlfriend, but the appearance of the tape sent to them anonymously this afternoon kind of debunked that theory now. The fact that its Baltimore his car ended up in suggests a possible connection to his days as a detective over pissed-off girlfriend, someone looking for a bit of revenge maybe. Gibbs likely already has Abby running that possibility right now, but Kate reaches for her cell anyway. Phone in hand her finger hovers over the speed-dial and she pauses. Something didn't sit right. Gibbs would never chose to stay behind if he thought Tony was still in Baltimore, which probably means he doesn't think much of the lead. She's confident he wouldn't send them on a wild goose chase to waste their time, but clearly he has a better idea of what's going on than he's letting on and isn't sharing. If that's true he's not going to be the only one in a bad mood when they get back to the office and she'll make certain he knows it too.

.

"Duck!" Gibbs charges into autopsy.

"We found him Jethro?" Ducky appears hopeful, practically jumping out from between autopsy tables to greet him at the door, but his optimistic countenance dissolves upon seeing Gibbs' face. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Gibbs hands over the print out of an email he's just received. He'd not said anything to Kate and Cassidy because he believes he already knows who sent it and if he's right then they're not just running out of time to find Tony, he knows there's no way they'll be able to find him on their own.

"Look familiar?"

Ducky takes the note with a wary eye and reads the few words printed upon the page.

"Oh Jethro," he remarks with the same fear in his voice that Gibbs is currently feeling in his chest.

Even he felt like crying at thought of his Tony, being held captive by the same man who caused so many so much heartache over five years ago.

"He has him Ducky." Gibbs states simply knowing there's no doubt.

"But the FBI said he'd died…"

"Thought he died Duck… we didn't get any more bodies, just means he could have gotten better at hiding them," He snaps, annoyed that he was as guilty as the FBI in being too quick to move on.

Taking the email back Gibbs charges towards the doors, only stopping short when Ducky shouts after him.

"But Anthony's been missing four days Jethro!"

"I know!" He barks back.

"Then you also know he only keeps them alive for five."

Stopping short of crossing the threshold into the corridor and turning back to face Ducky Gibbs sighs, "I remember Duck, but he also only took college kids last time, he's gone against type."

"To punish you," Ducky cut to the chase of what he believes Gibbs is thinking. "If you're hoping he's changed his MO entirely that is extremely unlikely, you know that."

"I know Tony's still alive," Gibbs tells him firmly, unwilling to believe anything else without proof. "I know it."

Ducky nods, though it's clear in his eyes he believes Gibbs is kidding himself. "Have you told Katelyn?"

"Not yet, sent her and Cassidy to follow a lead. Need to do something first." Gibbs quickly set his shoulders and put his stern mask back on.

"Jethro, this isn't your fault." Ducky calls after him again as he tries to leave.

"I know that too Duck," He calls back, this time walking out of sight into the corridor, "Tony told me…"

.

Gibbs returns to the bullpen in time to catch sight of his phone vibrating on his desk. It stops as soon as he picks it up. Checking the caller I.D he reads 'Todd' and according to the little number at the side of her name she's called him at least five times already. Throwing his phone back down so it hit the desk with a loud clank Gibbs decides he's already broken rule #3 so another couple of minutes won't hurt. It wasn't good news, and he knew this because if it were both Ducky and Abby would be in the bullpen right now celebrating since Kate would've called them after the first time he didn't answer. The only other reason she would be calling would be to tell him they hit a dead end and were coming back - just as he expected them to.

Sitting down at his desk, falling into his chair the weight of the world pressing down on his shoulders Gibbs pulls the printed email out of his pocket and lays it next to the missing person poster which is still face up on his desk.

'He who sins is he who must be punished for he is the sinner'

Rhetoric nonsense, a bogus biblical phrase that is nowhere to be found within any known version of the bible. And how does he know this already? Because he's looked - five years ago, the first time he'd seen the same message, hand delivered to the family a of young Navy enlisted college kid the day before his body showed up on campus.

The case was one of the last he'd worked alongside Mike Franks before he'd retired. They'd soon ascertained that the M.O matched that of three other murders, putting the case within the purview of the F.B.I. and thus affording Gibbs his first taste of positive interagency co-operation.

1998…

"Are you Gibbs?"

"Who's asking?" Gibbs stood from his desk and eyed the very serious looking man before him.

"SSA Aaron Hotchner from the BAU," he flashed him an FBI badge, holding it out for a lengthy inspection.

Gibbs quirked a smile, assessing the not quite middle aged guy dressed as neat as a pin all in black with his gun clearly visible under his jacket. Mike was out and though it's not like he didn't know what he was doing, he'd been warned that the FBI didn't make courtesy calls, which meant this guy was after something, something they probably wouldn't want to give up. He squinted at the badge, giving it a good time wasting look.

"What can I do for ya…?" Gibbs took his time to pretend to read the name again, "Hotch?" He finished with a wink and a sarcastic smile.

Not even a wrinkle. The agent remained impassive, letting the piss-taking of his name go over his head. Gibbs was mildly impressed by his stamina if nothing else. He couldn't imagine holding a glare for that long.

"You have one dead sailor and we have three dead civilians in the space of less than a month. I'm not here to take the case, I want to catch this un-sub before he goes off the map, which we believe once he's done with his spree he will, until next time, and then the only way we'll know about it is when more bodies show up." Agent Hotchner looked at him, face still impassive, not even a twitch during his spiel.

"So you want us to work together?" Gibbs laughed. He couldn't wait for Mike to meet this guy.

But just when he thought he had his number Hotch, as he'd already nicknamed him, cracked a smile, not a wide one by any means, but enough to be classed as definitely not a frown. "You up for that Agent Gibbs?"

"Gibbs? Gibbs? GIBBs!"

Pulled out of the memory Gibbs slowly looks up from his desk to find Abby standing in front of him looking worried.

"Are you okay?" She asks quietly, too quietly for her.

Just looking at her face he knows that she knows about the email and knowing what he has to do, without saying a word reaches for his phone.

.