Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Sherlock or NCIS in anyway. I also do not own the song Distance by Christina Perri.

Here's a new story! I know, I know. I still have other stories to update but this idea came to me and my muse would not let me push it away! Must be from watching Sherlock over and over and reading stories with Sherlock/OC lately. I will try my hardest to update my other stories as fast as I possibly can.

Special thanks to Writer-of-the-Unwritten for proof reading this for me! Your the best friend a girl could have! :)

Distance

Please don't stand so close to me; I'm having trouble breathing.
I'm afraid of what you'll see right now.
I give you everything I am, all my broken heartbeats, until I know you'll understand.
And I will make sure to keep my distance.
Say I love you when you're not listening.
And how long can we keep this up, up, up? –Christina Perri "Distance"

Riley Black-Gibbs sighed as she watched her new friends having fun on the dance floor. Riley, being 18 and curious about her past before she was adopted, moved to Jolly Old England as soon as she graduated from high school. Going against her father's wishes of going straight to college; in which the two had fought over the matter, Riley told her father she would go to college in England and come back afterwards. Leroy Jethro Gibbs was reluctant but agreed.

So she packed up, found a good school with dormitories, picked out her schedule and was soon on her way to England. When she got to the school, she met her roommate, a quirky and nice girl. They became fast friends and Jayden introduced Riley to a couple of her friends. After much persuasion they took Riley out to a large college club. She was bored as hell. Making sure that the other girls were not looking, she got up starting for the door. As she was walking to the door, she was stopped by a well built man, who appeared to be drunk.

"Where is a pretty little thing like you going?" the guy asked in trying to sound suave. Riley smirked at him, amused.

"I don't see how it's your business where I go," Riley said while trying to move around the guy. He stopped her by grabbing her arm tightly. He sneered at her and leaned closer to, "An American, aye? You Yanks think you're so much better than us. Well guess what, slut; you wouldn't have a country if it wasn't for Britain."

"Get your hand off me. And do not call me a slut, you bastard," Riley snarled. The guy laughed and glanced behind him at some of his friends, "I think this one needs to learn the meaning of bastard, don't you think boys?" The others hollered in agreement. Moron, as Riley was starting to call him, turned back toward her and leered at her and started dragging her toward the door leading to an alley. Riley struggled for the jackass to let her go, but he kept a bruising hold on her arm.

The drunkard swung Riley toward him so the front of her body was held firmly to his chest as his friends followed them out.

"You picked a tough one, Simon," one of Moron's friends jeered. Moron, or Simon, glanced at his friends, grinning, "Don't worry, fellows, I'll train this little kitty quickly." His friends laughed drunkenly as Moron started reaching under her shirt.

Oh hell no! Riley thought. I am not losing my virginity like this. She started struggling with renew vigor, freeing her arm and, using the moves her father taught her, swung her open hand at an angle and hit the side of Moron's face with jarring force. The man growled, and quickly swung Riley around so her back was now held to the man's chest. He grabbed her wrists with one hand while the other roamed up and down her legs, making Riley wish she had insisted more on wearing jeans instead of a skirt.

"So, kitty has some claws, huh?" The man whispered against her ear as his hand went under her skirt and toyed with her underwear. Riley squirmed more, trying to buck away from the hand under her skirt. Moron growled and tightened the hand holding her wrists, making Riley yelp in pain. Moron's friends laughed as he grasped Riley's underwear and started pulling them down, saying, "That's right, yelp like the little bitch you are,"

Riley was starting to panic now, and thrashed her head around trying to knock her head into the man behind her.

"Trying to add rape in your repertoire of criminal acts, Simon?" questioned a smooth voice from the opening of the alley. Simon and Riley turned toward the voice and saw a tall man with his hands in the pocket of his expensive pants. He was wearing a violet colored shirt, his hair was a dark curly tangled mess but what caught Riley's attention were the glacier blue eyes shining brightly from the street lamp. The man moved closer into the alley and stopped three feet from where Riley and Simon were stood.

"Go away, Holmes. Can't you see I'm busy here?" Simon growled while grinding into Riley's butt. Riley tried to move away from Moron, feeling disgusted beyond belief.

'Holmes' frowned and said, "Im terribly sorry, Simon, but I can't do that since the police are on their way here now. It would look very bad if you had attempted rape charges on your rap sheet, don't you agree?"

Moron's friends seemed to agree with Holmes, if their uneasy stances were anything to go by. Simon seemed not to believe Holmes until he heard sirens coming towards them. He froze for a second before shoving Riley toward Holmes, who, surprised, reached out to catch her.

Riley gasped as she was caught from falling face first into the pavement when Holmes' arms wrapped around her waist.

Blue-gray and ice blue eyes met the ice blue eyes seemingly turned warmer and a slow smile slide across the pale aristocratic face.

"Hello, my name is Sherlock Holmes," Sherlock said while taking his right arm from around her waist and putting it between them to shake her hand. Riley, her breath coming in gasps, lifted her own right hand and shook his hand.

"Riley Black," she gasped out. He felt her hand shaking in his and said softly, "You're alright now." She nodded and smiled shakily at him, "Thank you, I was a little afraid there for a second." Sherlock nodded as he studied her and remarked, "Your adrenaline is wearing down, and shock is setting in." Riley gave him a funny look but before she could comment, the police and an ambulance came down the alley.

Sherlock turned and recognized one of the cops, "Ah Lestrade, finally here," Lestrade was a man in his late 30's to early 40's with hair just starting to turn gray on the sides. Sherlock handed Riley over to the waiting paramedics, and then moved toward Lestrade to give his statement.

Riley looked up when she saw shoes appear on the patch of ground she stared at as she sat in the back of the ambulance. Sherlock Holmes was standing in front of her with that same searching look he had on before.

"How are you?" he asked while sitting next to her. She shrugged and motioned to her wrists and to the hand shaped bruise on her upper arm.

"Bruising and definitely nightmares in my near future, but beside that, I'm fine," she remarked wryly. Sherlock nodded and the two were quiet, he was watching the police moving around the bar and she stared down at her shoes. Riley suddenly sighed loudly and whispered, "What am I going to tell my dad?" Sherlock stared at her slouched form for a moment.

"You're American." He quietly observed. Riley looked at him and said, "Yea, well I was born here and I lived here for a few years before I was adopted. You don't want to know what I had to say to get my dad to let me go to school here." Sherlock nodded slightly before saying, "Are you alright to get back to the dorms?" Riley nodded and said, "Yea, the police are going to give me a ride back to campus,"

Sherlock seemed pleased by this and he stood up, "Well it was nice to meet you, even though the circumstances weren't ideal." Riley looked up at him and nodded while reaching for the hand he had held out, shaking his hand gently.

"Thank you again for helping me; it could have gotten a lot worse."

"You probably would have thought of something, especially with some of your moves. You would have been able to get out of his hold." Sherlock remarked with barely visible awe.

"Yea, those moves did a lot to help me," Riley snorted in derision. Sherlock frowned, and gently, but slowly, raised his hand and cupped her chin to raise her lowered head. He stared into her eyes and gently admonished, "Don't sell yourself short, you just need to broaden your defensive moves more. Now I must get back to my own dormitory, I wish you luck on giving the news to your father." Riley nodded with a small smile in thanks. Sherlock made to leave but turned back toward her and lightly grasping her hand, lifted it to his mouth and placing a small kiss on her knuckles, "Goodnight, Riley Black." He let go of her hand and turned sharply around, walking off into the night.

A coat would probably help him with his little mysterious exit, Riley thought with an edge of hysterical humor, A Severus Snape-like coat.

It was a month after what Riley called the 'Incident'. She did not tell her father what really happened because she knew he would fly to England to drag her back to the United States, wrap her in wool, and never let her leave the state again.

She didn't see Sherlock after that night, though she did look up who her savior was. He apparently came from an upper class family and was considered a genius around campus.

Riley also started martial arts, soccer, and dancing; as she found doing dancing helped with her martial arts. Between school and all of her activities, she would go to bed exhausted and was less likely to have nightmares of that night. Jayden noticed this and after cornering her, convinced her to speak to a therapist.

Riley sees her therapist, Dr. O'Conner, once a week which led to her not having to exhaust herself during the day so she could sleep during the night.

We find Riley at a coffee shop near campus relaxing for a moment before she had to go to her dancing class. She was reading Abandoned while once in awhile looking out the window to people watch. She had just looked back down to continue reading when she heard someone slid into the seat across from her. She looked up and was surprised to see Sherlock Holmes staring back at her with his intense glacial blue eyes.

"Hi," she replied, not knowing quiet what to say to him after not seeing him for a month. Sherlock smiled at her, "Hello, Riley, how are you?" She smiled slightly at him and said, "Im good, how are you?" Sherlock shrugged and stared at her for a moment longer. Riley shifted in her chair and asked, "Was there something you needed?"

"Would you go out with me to dinner?" Sherlock asked instead of answering her. Riley blinked in surprise before she cautiously asked, "May I ask why? I haven't seen you in a month and now you're asking me out on a date?" Sherlock cocked his head to the side and said, "You intrigue me, and there is not a lot of people who can do that. I would like to get to know you better and im told that going out to dinner will help in that endeavor." Riley stared at him for a moment and going against her better judgment, "Ok, I'll go out on a date with you,"