I have been going back through my old stories and forgot I actually kept on writing this one and just forgot to post the new chapters! I am pleased to be back working on this story! I hope I still have some old readers and will get some new ones too. Enjoy the next chapter; things are about to get interesting...

It should have been a simple end to the vacation, saying goodbye to the pleasant salt-soaked air and crashing waves but no, nothing was ever that easy.

The house was dark, the sun hadn't even broken the horizon yet, but Gibbs was busy pouring a cup of hot coffee when his phone began going off.

Gibbs. He answered figuring it had to be a work-related call if it was this early.

Hello, Jethro, it's Anna. I'm sorry to be calling you so early, but it's important. She sounded very distraught even though her words were calm.

Are you alright?

I'm fine but my daughter, Olivia, received a terrifying phone call this morning. We've already contacted our local police, but they said they would have to connect us to NCIS to deal with this matter and I told them I already knew someone, sorry if that was out of line, but this was just a lot to process before 6 in the morning. She rattled off.

I'm going to need a little more context, Anna if I'm going to be able to help you. Why don't you and your daughter come to the beach house and we can talk this out?

Anna agreed, saying they'd be there in a half hour.

In that time Gibbs received another phone call from the director. Apparently, even though Anna said she knew someone, the police still felt compelled to report it. Vance called Gibbs to give him the case, surprised to find him already on it.

Her daughter's husband is Commander and had been stationed at sea for almost ten months. He was granted leave with plans to return home but never made it. Olivia called everyone she could think of, making sure he didn't get called back to the ship but nothing. He'd made his flight, it landed, and that was the end of it. Olivia had been sure he would come right home, their daughter's birthday was in 4 days, and he was so excited to surprise her. You can see why they are a little out of sorts. Vance filled in the missing pieces.

Gibbs thanked him for the much-needed insight and went to wake up the rest of his team; he was going to need all hands on deck for this one.

Anna and Olivia arrived shortly after 7 and the team had been ready and waiting, armed with coffee and breakfast foods.

Olivia went over every last detail she could think of, "He called me from the airport in San Diego to let me know he arrived. I told him I would drop off Clara at the sitter's and pick him up. I got there about 20 minutes after he landed but, he wasn't there. His phone is still off. The ship Captain told me he wasn't called back. This is not like my husband, Agent." She stressed over the steaming black liquid she cupped with both hands.

Anna had a hand over her daughter's shoulders, "They've been together since high school, he's never missed a date or any event, he's always punctual to a fault."

"Was he working on any particular project or a mission you know about?" Tony asked.

"Drake kept his work at work. I think it was mostly because I didn't have the clearance to know anything about it but he tried to make me feel included in the things he could tell me. Like, they saved a whale once, but as far as the day to day things, I'm useless."

Gibbs went to work, or he made everyone else get to work, "Ziva, reach out to the ship Captain, see if he can let you know what they've been doing. Tony, head for the airport with his photo ask around about him. Abby and McGee get airport footage from both here and in San Diego, make sure he was on that flight for sure. I'm going to take you, ladies, home, see if he calls or makes contact in any way."

McGee took over the small rec room outside of Ziva's bedroom, setting her up with a webcam, which she could use to contact the ship when the Captain was available. While he was off doing that, Ziva was busy requesting access to the security footage from both airports and Abby brought down three laptops for anything they could need.

"They will be sending us access codes for the security systems within the hour. Also, Tony messaged saying other than the gate attendant, no one remembers seeing the Commander." Ziva informed them stepping out of her bedroom, "And Gibbs said Commander Holland has not yet made contact."

Everyone just sat around, fiddling with what information they had, "Some end to our vacation, huh?" Abby tried to break the thick atmosphere.

Suddenly their fun-loving trip was no more. The getaway house was now their base of operations, and everyone was back in work mode.

"At least they don't have another renter in here for another week," McGee added dryly.

"I just finished going over missing persons from the last month and no other active, or inactive military members have turned up missing. Holland is our only one."

"Maybe it's something with his personal life, something his wife didn't know about?" Abby tried.

"I don't think so. I've been over his records a few times now, and there is nothing out of line. He rose through the ranks quickly, has high recommendations from all other officers, he's squeaky clean." McGee told them as Ziva's phone begun going off.

"The Captain will be ready to speak in 5 minutes," Ziva told them.

McGee and Abby packed up their computers and went to the bedroom to give Ziva some privacy. It wasn't long before McGee was sent emails from both airports granting access to their footage, "Well, do you want to take San Diego or Orlando?" McGee asked her.

Abby picked San Diego, and they sat, eye's glued to their monitors, "We should have made popcorn." Abby grumbled as her stomach rumbled.

McGee chuckled without breaking eye contact, "Sounds like it. It is almost two, lunch after this? Gibbs can't ask us to properly function without some food."

Abby let out a hum of contentment before sitting bolt upright, "Found him." She pointed him out, and McGee paused his cameras.

They watched as Commander Holland got out of a taxi, retrieved his bags from the trunk and made his way inside. After successfully checking in they saw him take his phone out and made a call, "That must have been the call Olivia was talking about." Abby made a note of the time stamp, and they kept watching. He went and got a sandwich and then read a magazine as he was waiting to board. He was the fourth person to get on the plane and then after that, nothing, no cameras on the actual fight, "The flight itinerary says the should have landed at gate C7 at 8:05 pm." Abby told McGee, and he found the correct camera angle and time. Sure enough, out came Holland. He went right down to baggage claim and picked up his one bag, "Who's that?" Abby pointed out a man of at the side of the frame. McGee backed it up a few seconds to see who Abby was talking about, "See, here he comes in from outside, he wasn't on a flight. He has no bags. Then he follows Holland all the way down to his baggage claim and just waits. Speed it up a few more seconds." McGee did as he was told, "Holland moves to get his bag and so does this guy." They speed up a few more seconds until the mystery man approaches Holland, words were exchanged and then the man looks to be escorting Holland outside. McGee jotted down the number of the taxi they got into, "I think we just earned our lunch. Let's go fill in Gibbs and the others."

The day had turned well into the night when everyone gathered at Olivia's home to talk about what was happening.

The Captain didn't have much to say, just that they were working on basic maneuvers, nothing too significant and that the Commander was thrilled to be heading home for a few weeks. He was going to get Ziva contact information for a few of Holland's close friends, but that was all he could offer.

Tony had been striking out at the airport until McGee sent him over a photo of the mystery man that they found on the footage. A flight attendant recognized him because as she was leaving, he was rushing out with another man, also in uniform and the collided with her. She remembered the man in uniform looked to be 'agitated' as she put it, but that was all she knew.

And even though Gibbs had stayed with Anna, Olivia and her daughter Clara for most of the day, they didn't hear anything from him. First thing in the morning Tony and McGee were headed down to the taxi company to find the driver of the cab the pair went into, it was their biggest lead so far. They tried calling, but the manager had left early for the day, gone fishing and wouldn't be back until the next morning. With no warrant, there was nothing they could do.

"I just don't understand why he'd leave. I was only ten minutes away. If I was there sooner I could have seen him, maybe stop him from doing whatever it is he's doing." This was about the fourth time Olivia found a way for her to blame herself for what'd happened.

Ziva and Anna sat around assuring her that none of this was her fault. McGee and Gibbs took to the kitchen, washing and putting away dishes while Tony and Abby were in the middle of a thrilling game of Go Fish with little Clara, doing anything they could to keep her from seeing her mother and grandmother so worried.

Anna worked on soothing her daughter as best as she could, "Why don't you and your team head home for the evening. There's nothing we can do until the morning anyways." Anna told Gibbs as he poured her a third cup of coffee.

"My team has pulled plenty of overnight cases; one more won't kill them." He drank from his own cup, "But you're right there's nothing we can do right now." So, he sent the four agents on their way saying he'd stay at the Holland house in case something happened, and contact was made. Abby tried to say they were more than happy to stay, but Gibbs put an end to it, ushering them on their way saying he'd see them at 6 am.

I'm so excited to be back on this story! I really have missed it! I wasn't willing to let them go back just yet and I thought what a fun way to tie them into another case! Let me know what you think! Next chapter will be more on the couples again but I needed to set everything up first. Thanks for reading! Reviews are loved!

-N