Title: Never Again

Author: Jasmine (AKA Jasmine2009)

Universe: NCIS, Season 10

Rated: T

Warning: Sexual content (Chapter 4 is flagged as 17+). Nothing explicitly graphic, but sexual nonetheless.

Date: June 27, 2013

Author's note: This is the final story in my dust bunny series (those stories that I got bored writing on for whatever reasons. This one contains smut and I'm not real interested writing smut so that's why I think I stopped working on it.). I did finish the story but it hasn't gone through as many revisions as I put those stories that I like through. Hopefully, with the posting of this, I'll be able to get back to my other stories that I'm excited about writing.

Summary: Team Gibbs is kidnapped by a woman who needs something from Director Vance. Is she willing to go to any lengths to get it?

******************************8

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo opened his eyes. Everything was blurry, but considering the circumstances, he figured that was about par. It took several minutes of blinking and shaking the cobwebs from his head before he realized he was tied to a chair in a dimly lit room.

"Okay, Anthony, what was the last thing you remember?" he said to no one.

The last thing he remembered was following a beautiful young blonde back to her place. She was intoxicating in many aspects, not the least of which were her eyes: brilliant blue with a dark ring around her irises. He smiled at the memory until he felt the ropes dig into his chest and the sobering reality of being held against his will came back to him.

Struggling did little but leave chaffing marks around his wrists and ankles, so he resigned himself to thinking. How long before anyone would notice he was missing? Okay, maybe not the best barometer for him getting rescued—he seemed to go missing a lot. How long before someone would call him? Again, not so great a question—he ignored many a phone call. He twisted his mouth around trying to remember the last time he was in this predicament.

If he was any judge of time, and his bladder was usually a pretty good clock, he figured he'd been captive at least eight hours. And that was just the time he'd been awake. No telling how long he'd been out. "Hey!" he yelled, hoping someone would hear him. "I have to use the head!"

The dank, dark room seemed deserted until he heard several locks being turned and the door swung open.

"I hate to be a bother, but unless you want a mess to clean up, I need to use the bathroom."

A man stepped out of the shadows holding an assault weapon steady and ready.

Tony didn't recognize him but it was really too dark to see him clearly and he was mostly focused on the gun aimed at his head. "Do we know each other?" he asked, hoping he might recognize a voice.

When the goon stepped further into the room, Tony could see he was wearing an earpiece and must be receiving instructions because he was fumbling with it. "Roger," was all he said. He slung the weapon over his shoulder and let it dangle by its strap while he put a bag over Tony's head and then removed the rope that was too tight around Tony's chest.

"Thanks, buddy. That was really beginning to hurt."

"Shut up."

Since the goon refused to untie anything else and he couldn't see, the trip to the head was more about balance than stealth, and the actual act of elimination was void of any and all dignity. The round trip must have taken thirty minutes and upon returning to the dark room, the goon removed the bag and shoved him back into the chair and retied the chest rope.

"Hey, buddy! Not so tight!" he groused. "But seeing as you and I have become far too familiar with one another—well, actually you're the one who's familiar with me, although I'd rather not think about that, how about telling me your name? I mean, I can honestly tell you that nobody has ever helped me in the head like you did, so whad'ya say? Who are you?"

An elbow to the side of his jaw halted his inquiry and Tony spit blood onto the floor. "You didn't have to do that…"

And then he was left alone again to nurture the ache in his head. "How 'bout I call you Bubba…"

**********************************8

Tony woke up when he heard the locks on the door. When it swung open, an image of a man with a bag over his head appeared, who Bubba roughly pushed inside and forced into another chair, tying him up. When the bag came off, Tony startled, "McGee!"

Tim shook his head, adjusting to the dim light and said, "Tony?"

"Yeah. They got you too?"

"Who got me?"

Tony shrugged. In the off change that his colleague new something, he asked, "Do you know what's happening?"

"Good question. I went looking for you and ended up here. So, technically, I guess I found you."

"I guess you did. You have any idea where you found me?"

"Not a clue."

"How 'bout why we're here?"

"Again: Not a clue."

The door swung open, and two more subjects were shoved inside, bags over their heads and tied. Bubby seated them together on a sofa, and tied them to each other. Tony recognized the clothes on one and the posture on the other. "Abby? Ziva?"

Bubba snatched off their bags and left.

The Israeli blinked and rolled her neck, "Yeah."

"What happened to you?"

Ziva shared a look with Abby before shrugging, "I have no idea. I was going to your place to find you. Instead, I wind up here."

"And I was walking home. It was such a beautiful night that I decided to walk."

"Are either of you hurt?"

They shook their heads.

"What in the hell's going on?" Tim said. "You don't suppose this is some test that NCIS is conducting, do you?"

"That might explain why you, Ziva, and I are here, but what about Abby? She wouldn't be involved in anything like that."

McGee agreed. "It looks like Gibbs' team is being targeted."

"Technically, McGee," Abby said, "I'm a member of everyone's team, not just Gibbs."

The door swung open again and two more people were pushed inside. Bubba pulled two chairs from the corner and sat a man on each one. Before pulling off their bags, he tied a rope around their chests and secured them together. Satisfied with his work, he pulled the bags off and left.

"Palmer?" Ziva said.

"Ducky?" Abby said. "Are you all right?"

Dr. Mallard looked around at all the people in the room. "I think so. Mr. Palmer?"

"I'm okay, I think."

Ducky looked back at Ziva and asked, "How about you?"

"We seem to be okay, but really confused. What is going on?"

They looked at Tony like he held the answers. "Don't look at me. I'm as in the dark as you are."

"It started with you, Tony," McGee said. "You never called in when you were supposed to. Gibbs sent us out looking for you. What happened to your lip?"

Tony ran his tongue around the corner of his mouth, tasting the blood. "Bubba didn't like something I said."

"That does not surprise me," Ziva said, so low he almost didn't catch it.

"True—" Tim added.

"—All right," Tony interrupted, "let's stay focused here. How did they manage to get us?"

"No doubt they used a girl to get you," McGee said.

Tony hedged, feeling slightly embarrassed, "Yes, Tim, they used a girl to get me. How'd they lure you?"

McGee shrugged, awkwardly avoiding eye contact, and eventually admitting, "A girl."

"Really," Tony mused, finding the admission rewarding. "I'll come back to you later." Turning to Ziva, he asked, "And you?"

She bristled slightly before admitting, "A man."

Tony glared at her. He had so many questions flitting through his head, but decided to table it for another time. He flicked his eyes to Abby and raised his brows in a silent question.

She lowered her eyes, "A man."

The senior field agent was beginning to see a pattern here. "How about you, Palmer? And if you say a girl, I'm busting these ropes and strangling you with them."

"I'm a happily married man, Tony; I'm not interested in another woman."

"So, how'd they get you?"

Palmer stretched his neck, thinking about his answer, "Well, they didn't exactly have to trick me."

"What's that mean?"

"It means that a much bigger man told me to get into the car and I did," he stated, embarrassed that he seemed to be the only one that even the kidnappers didn't think enough of to trick.

Tony tilted his head at the admission and then looked at Ducky. "And you?"

The corners of his mouth moved ever so slightly and he held his head a little higher, and with an air of pride, he articulated, "A young woman showed an interest."

The words floated amorously around the room and, in a very odd way, Tony felt a connection to the medical examiner, but it didn't stop him from making a very dour conclusion about his colleagues.

"What do you expect!" Ziva countered. "With the exception of Palmer, we are all single! It is only natural that we keep our options open and explore them whenever they present themselves."

"You were supposed to be looking for me, not checking out the opposite sex. This reminds me of an old Alfred Hitchcock film—"

"—Tony," Tim chastised, "this isn't the time. Don't you think we have more serious issues to worry about? Like how we're going to escape?"

"—Or why we're even here?" Abby added.

"—Or what they want with us," Ziva said.

"All right," he agreed. "No matter the method, someone has managed to capture all but one of us for unknown reasons."

"That's right! Where's Gibbs?" Abby said.

"Do you really think Gibbs could be lured away by a pretty face?" McGee said.

"Why not? The rest of us were."

Tony was deep in thought and as much as they didn't like to admit it, he was the one most likely to figure this out. Even if he didn't, he was a pleasure to watch as they could practically see the wheels of reason moving slowly but steadily as the various facts of their situation were being moved into place and theories being developed and discarded at warp speed.

"What are you thinking about?" Ducky asked.

"I can see why they'd take me, McGee, and Ziva, but why would they take you, Palmer and Abby? It doesn't make any sense." He thought some more, then added, "Unless they want something."

"Who's 'they'?"

Tony shrugged, his eyes moving around the room with each passing thought. Even if they tried to get on board his logic train, he was a lot like Gibbs and they'd just end up playing catch up. So they waited, silently, for him to do his thing.

TBC