Written for the Twins Challenge on NFA. My first NCIS fan fiction and the first story after a long medically necessary break. Two car accidents, a major bout of pneumonia and a stroke will do that to a person.

Tarot Twins

"Gear up; we've got a set of missing seven year old twins on the base at Quantico. Not you, Ziva, you haven't been cleared for field work yet." Gibbs tossed the keys to McGee as the Mossad officer reluctantly dropped her crutches back onto the floor and eased herself back into her chair.

Tony grinned as he swung his jacket over his shoulder. "Sorry, Ziva, guess you and your sprained ankle are going to have to sit this one out."

"I am not helpless, Gibbs." Ignoring Tony, she tried to put forth a logical argument. "You need all the searchers possible for missing children. I can still photograph and talk to the family."

"Stay here and coordinate the search for us."

"That should be McGee's job." Ziva leaned over her desk as the three men entered the elevator.

Gibbs shook his head as the doors started to close. "At least he can walk." After the doors were completely closed he turned to McGee. "Break your ankle out there tonight, and I'll let Ziva use you for target practice; you got me, McGee?"

McGee shifted uncomfortably as DiNozzo snickered beside him, "Got it, Boss."

___________________

Military police and additional volunteers were already moving out when the NCIS van arrived. Gibbs unerringly found the senior officer in charge of the search and introduced himself and the rest of the team.

"Agent Gibbs, I'm Major Harrison. Glad you're here, but we're still hoping this is a case of some boys losing track of time out in the woods."

"We hope that too, but we need to check all the options. Show us where the boys were last seen. We'll start there. Have your people continue with the gridded search." Gibbs glanced at his two agents. DiNozzo had his usual expression of understated attentiveness, but McGee had intensity about him that the older man rarely saw. As they walked to the picnic area he broke down their plan of attack. "The two of you will start where they were last seen, and spiral out from there. McGee, photos, DiNozzo, bag and tag. If you find anything suspicious give a shout."

"Boss…" Tony hurried to keep up with the ex-Marine. The searchers have been trampling all over here."

Gibbs didn't slow down. "Your point, DiNozzo?" Without giving the other man a chance to respond, he continued. "They were looking for children; you two are looking for evidence."

"Well trampled evidence."

Nothing else was said until they arrived at a small grouping of picnic tables next to a playground. Gibbs walked up to a small group of spouses surrounding a crying woman, McGee right in back of him. DiNozzo was a few steps further behind. An older woman in the group took care of introductions.

"I'm Peggy Harrison; this is Gloria Jacobs, the boys' mother."

The distraught woman reached out and grabbed both Gibbs' and McGee's arms. Find them, please. Find my sons." Gibbs patted the woman's hand as he distracted her with some simple questions.

"Mrs. Jacobs, can you tell me the boys' names and what happened this morning?"

Given something to focus on, she calmed down considerably. Their names are Kevin and Kyle. Today is the first day of summer vacation and they just wanted to play outside all day. I packed them a lunch and that was the last time I saw them. They knew the boundaries of how far they could go and the base has always been so safe. When they didn't come home at dinnertime I started calling the other families, but nobody had seen them since this morning."

Major Harrison's wife picked up the narration. "My house is the closest to the play area here. I wasn't home most of the day, but I leave the back door unlocked so the kids using the playground can use our bathroom. I left at 08:30 and I saw them both on the slide. That's their lunchbox on the ground over there." She pointed to a large backpack leaning up against a tree. "When Gloria called at 18 hundred, my husband and a few of the men started looking for them." Major Harrison walked up behind the group and filled in the rest of the information.

"When we hadn't found them within the hour, I called for a full search and rescue team and the dogs. When the dogs couldn't get a trail away from the playground, I had the base commander call NCIS. We've never had a child go missing here at the base.'

"Is that your search grid?" Gibbs pointed at the map in the senior officer's hands and moved away from the women to review the search plans with him.

McGee made eye contact with the woman still clinging to his arm. "Which of the boys is the oldest?" Behind him, DiNozzo snorted in his ear.

"Twins, McIdiot – remember?"

The mother of the twins, however, understood the question. "Kevin, by seventeen minutes."

"How big of a deal is that to Kevin?" McGee gave a knowing smile, one which Mrs. Jacobs tentatively returned.

"He never lets Kyle forget it." Her focus shifted to DiNozzo as he began to ask for details about what the boys had been wearing that day. Suddenly free, McGee moved to the edge of the wooded grove that bordered the south side of the playground. When DiNozzo finished with his questions McGee had a few of his own. Behind them, Gibbs and the Major moved closer, intrigued by where the younger agent was going with his questions.

"It looks like somebody is building a fort out there. Is that the twins or some of the other kids here on the base?"

"Some of the older boys are building that, why do you ask?" It was obvious that McGee was going somewhere with his questions, but Mrs. Jacobs wasn't sure she understood. Gibbs didn't know either, but he knew the man well enough to let him follow his train of thought.

McGee moved closer to the fort, studying the ground as he walked. "Old enough that they would consider a couple of seven year olds a nuisance?"

"They're good kids, Agent McGee. Are you implying that they had something to do with this?"

"Answer the question, please." McGee ignored the Major's outburst, still focused on the beginnings of the rough fort he was now standing in front of.

Frustrated, the Major pulled off his cap and scrubbed at his head as he thought. "Most of the kids here are ten or eleven years old or older. Then there's a batch of toddlers. The twins are stuck in the middle but we haven't had any problems – at least none that have been reported." He looked to their mother for confirmation

She nodded. "They tend to be ignored a lot by the other kids, but none of them have been mean about it or tried to hurt them in any way."

"Would they be satisfied being a gofer for the older boys?"

Her negative answer gave a flash of insight to Gibbs. Before he could respond to McGee, Tony grinned at his probie. "You think they went off to build their own fort, don't you McGee?"

Major Harrison shook his head as he interrupted. "Does it matter? We've been all through these woods. The boys aren't here. We're going to take the search dogs and try over by the abandoned ammo bunkers. You agents do what you need to do."

"No, they know better than to go there. They know the old bunkers are off-limits. Mrs. Jacobs stood her ground against the senior officer as her pleas were ignored.

"Off-limits is pretty tempting to a couple of seven year olds, especially when their dad is deployed." Without giving the worried mom another opportunity to plead her case, the Major returned to the searchers waiting for him.

Her own frustration showing through, she turned to the NCIS agents. "They're good boys, especially when my husband is deployed. They know the rules."

Gibbs tried to give her his most reassuring smile. "We're going to do everything we can to bring them safely home. I give you my word." He turned to Peggy Harrison as he tilted his head towards the boys' mother. "Now the best thing you can do is to go home and let us work. If we find anything at all, we will let you know."

Understanding the dismissal, Mrs. Harrison guided the younger woman back towards the base housing, leaving the three agents alone in the woods. DiNozzo nudged a fallen branch with his foot as he repeated his earlier question. "You really think they went off to build their own fort.?"

McGee gave a short laugh. "A couple of seven year olds told that they are too little to help build a fort with the rest of the kids on the base? Oh yeah, they decided to build a fort bigger and fancier than the other boys would even dream of; even if they didn't have a clue how to do it."

"All right, McGee, we'll keep your theory in mind." Gibbs allowed a glimmer of pride show on his face. It wasn't often that his youngest agent would disagree with someone in authority and then stand up to defend his opinion. "Keep your eyes open for all the evidence, but you two see if you can find the second fort. It's gonna get dark pretty soon. Let's find them before it happens."

"Where will you be, Boss?" DiNozzo looked like he wanted to say something else but wisely kept his doubts about McGee's theory to himself.

Gibbs walked away, answering over his shoulder. "I'm gonna find out why those damn search dogs couldn't find the trail."