Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. I wish I did, as I'm sure I can have a lot more fun than this. Jessica is my creation so no taking without asking first. Have fun!

Chapter One-The Drop Off

Jessica Gibbs walked into NCIS headquarters and looked around for her father and his team. She wasn't surprised to find his desk empty as well as most of the others. She decided to see what her forensic friend knows at the whereabouts of her father and his team. She walked over to the elevator and pushed the down button and waited for the car to arrive. When it did, she entered and pushed the correct button for the forensic lab.

Jessica exited the elevator and spotted her friend's back hunched over the keyboard as she typed. She quietly approached her friend from behind with her friend wearing her earphones blaring alternative rock music. She reached out and plucked one earphone from her head before saying, "Abby?"

The tattooed Abigail "Abby" Sciuto turned around and looked at the ten year-old person who broke her concentration. "Jessica? What are you doing here?" She asked as she picked up her big cup and slurped the contents. She then leaned back on her bench as she cut off her music and waited on the young girl's answer.

"I was looking for my dad, but it looks like I missed him." Jessica answered as she motioned to the cup that she knew only her father brings for his favorite forensic girl. She leaned up against the bench next to her and causally asked, "Do you know where he is?" She said as she looked over the other girl's shoulder at what she was working on.

Abby knew what her boss's daughter was looking at and sighed. "Jessica, your dad and his team on a case. Did he know that you were suppose to be coming?" She asked, as she wasn't quite sure how to tell her without going against NCIS policy.

Jessica sighed, as she knew that deep down this would happen. "Well, I thought he knew as it was his turn to have me this week." She told her friend. She then pushed herself off of the bench and took one last look around the room before settling her eyes back on the other girl. "I guess I'll go see what Ducky is up to." She mussed as she made her way back into the elevator, wondering if her father was actually concerned for her. Once she got out of the elevator again, she stepped into the morgue and looked around. She made sure she didn't touch anything as she went, knowing that the doctor wouldn't like it. She found the morgue just like the group of desks her father oversees upstairs. Both places were emptier than a room after a horrible move disaster.

Abby had watched the girl leave her lab and started to feel sorry for her. Her parents were divorced, and she had to stay primarily with her mother. Her father didn't help things any when he doesn't remember when he has her for his visits, and her own mother ignored her while she is home. She turned back to her file searching of the PDA that DiNozzo found buried in the dead enlisted man's backyard. She decided to intervene and got Gibbs on the speakerphone. She counted the rings as she continued to work.

Meanwhile at a relevant crime scene:

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and his team, including Ducky and his assistant, were at another crime scene that exactly mirrors the murder of Airman First Class Fred Rogers from the United States Air Force. Gibbs' cell phone rang and he got it out of his pocket. He looked at the caller ID before answering, "Abby, you better have some good news on that PDA for me." He said bluntly into the phone.

Abby was working as hard as she could back at her lab and she said into the mike, "No, I don't Gibbs. I'm calling about a totally different matter all together." She said as she continued to type and decipher the encrypted files on the device.

Gibbs stopped immediately what he was doing, which was walking around and barking out orders at everyone else, and said bluntly, "Then why are you calling me if you don't have any information for me on the case?"

Abby stopped what she was doing and turned to face the speakerphone as if he was standing right there with her and told him point blank, "Because you have done it again, Gibbs. This is your week to have Jessica, and she is prowling around here like a lost puppy. She was going to see Ducky in his office, but she left before I could tell her that I'm the only one here." She finished with her hands on her hips as if her boss could see her.

Gibbs did a about-face and headed back toward his team. He answered into the phone, "Abby, you mean to tell me her mother dropped her off without finding out I was there? That woman already neglects her, and I don't do much better." He said as he stopped in front of DiNozzo and held up his hand for a moment.

"It looks like she did do that to that girl, Gibbs. And at least you make an effort unlike your ex." Abby answered and then said that she would have something on that PDA for him soon. She ended the call and returned to her task.

Gibbs hung up his phone and re-pocketed it before turning his undivided attention to his seasoned field agent. "Tony, I'm heading back to the office, I expect you handle this." He told the younger agent as he walked back to his car and climbing behind the wheel. He heard the usual 'Yes, Boss!', before starting the engine and taking off to go see his daughter. As the road passed by him he got out his cell phone and called his ex-wife's number. When all he got was her answering machine, he made up his mind. "I'm just calling to let you know that I'm fighting for primary custody of Jessica. What kind of mother are you just dropping her off without making contact with me?" He then hung up his phone as he continued to drive to the office.

Meanwhile back at NCIS headquarters:

Jessica looked around the morgue one last time before deciding to go get her bag from the front desk. She got into in the elevator and went up to the lobby. She got off the car, and walked up to the desk and asked the person behind it for her bag. Without a word she was given her bag, and she went back to her father's desk area. She threw her bag down next to it, before settling down behind it.

Gibbs pulled up into the parking lot and killed the engine as he finished up with his lawyer on getting the ball rolling to get custody of his daughter. He got out of the car and closed the door before locking it. He then leaned against the door and listened to his lawyer. "Yes, I know what I'm getting into. I'm also fighting on the grounds of child neglect. That woman ignores her own child more than she does me." He said as an end statement and then hung up the phone. He stood there for a few moments as he tried to collect his thoughts before facing his daughter.

Jessica just sat there looking off into space as she has done when she is left to her own devices. This was how Gibbs found her, and he then got a little worried about her. He quietly walked up to her and crouched down next to her. "Hey there, Baby." He said quietly to her as he placed his hand on her arm. He gave her a rare smile that hardly anyone had seen him do.

Jessica focused her glazed on her father as he touched her and spoke to her. "Hi, Daddy." She said back and then went back to wherever she had just been. She didn't even notice him silently curse himself because of what she is doing.

"Jessica, honey, would you like to go with me?" He asked her again still refusing to move until he got a reaction out of her. He wanted to tell her so much what he had put in motion just a few minutes ago, but didn't want to get her hopes too high up.

Jessica came back to earth and looked back at him. "Go where?" She asked him as she focused her attention on him.

He smiled at her again and answered, "To the crime scene I just left to come and get you." He told her softly as he stood up and held his hand out for her to take. He didn't move until she made up her mind.

She continued to look at him and then she shifted her eyes to his hand and then back to his face. She nodded her head and placed her hand into his open palm. She felt his hand close around hers and help her to her feet. "Okay, and no Mom didn't find out if you were here or not before dropping me off. She pulled up to the curb and told me to get out before leaving like the devil was after her." She said, as she knew that he would want to know how she ended up here without notifying anyone.

"That is your mother for you." He mussed as he lead her to his car. He placed her in the front passenger seat and climbed behind the wheel. He looked over at her and felt his heartstrings pull at the sight of her. She looked so lost, and distant he didn't know what else to do but to make her feel like he needed her. Which he did in his own little way. "Do you still like to play ball?" He asked her and knew that he didn't know his daughter like the thought he did. He continued to watch the road as he drove.

She answered him in a monotone voice, "It's okay." She was showing signs of a child who has been neglected for a long period of time, and she continued to look out the window at nothingness. She didn't even see where they were.

Gibbs pulled up to the crime scene after a while and killed the engine. He then turned to face his daughter after noticing that DiNozzo and the others were off to the side discussing something. "Jessica, I'm sorry for not remembering that I'm supposed to have you this week. I have a lot of things on my mind, and your mother is a lot worse than I am I know. Would you rather stay in the car or walk around with me?" He asked her gently and was rewarded with her hand reaching for the door handle.

Jessica was starved for any type of attention and she would do anything for time with her dad. She got out of the car and slowly walked around to her father's side and then walked with him to his team. She didn't hear a word they said as she was looking around her surroundings. She faintly heard a silent pop and felt her sleeve start to get sticky and wet. She looked down at it and saw her arm bleeding. She tugged on her father's sleeve and he told her just a moment. "Daddy. I'm bleeding." She said in her normal tone of voice.

Gibbs was trying to get information from DiNozzo, McGee, and David when his daughter started to tug on his shirtsleeve. He motioned just a second and tried to finish the conversation when she quietly said that she was bleeding. He looked down at her and nearly had a heart attack. She wasn't just bleeding, she was gushing and he clearly heard the second pop as well as felt the second bullet whiz by her head. "Jessica!" He exclaimed as he shoved her to the ground and covered her body with his. He had his weapon out and was looking around for the sniper. His face had set into a hard granite mask and mentally calculated what direction the bullet had come from. He looked down at his daughter and said, "Stay here with them, and do exactly as they say." He waited for her nod before disappearing in the direction he thought the sniper was.

Jessica saw her father trot off into the woods, she lifted her head and shouted, "Is that the best you can do?" She taunted the unknown sniper and quickly brought her head back down. She was rewarded with another pop, this time loud, and a bullet narrowly missing her head.

"Are you insane!" Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo hissed as he crawled over to his boss's daughter. "Do you want to get yourself killed!" He then immediately felt sorry for doing just that. "Your father would kill the three of us if anything happened to you under our care. I've never seen him so angry in all the time I've known him." Tony answered quietly.

Jessica looked back at her father's oldest team agent and said in her usual tone of voice, "I just thought I would make it easier on him to find the sniper." She then continued to lay low.

Gibbs had started to track the sniper when he heard his daughter shout and nearly stopped to double back to tell her to keep quiet, but stopped as he heard the answering shot. He smiled inwardly at what he knew Jessica was trying to do as he approached the guy laying on his belly. He tapped the guy on the shoulder and shoved his gun into the sniper's face. "Rule number four: Don't mess this marine's family." He said to the guy and pulled him up to handcuff him. "DiNozzo! McGee! I've got him!" He shouted and then escorted the sniper to the congregation of cars near the road.

Jessica scrambled to her feet as she heard her father's shout. She walked with the three who were left in charge of her toward her father. She was holding her arm to minimize the pain in her upper arm where the bullet had lodged itself. She barely heard the guy shout something about he is not the only one they should be after and he was there to give her father a warning.

Gibbs listened to the sniper rant quietly and took everything he said seriously. He then shoved the guy to DiNozzo and McGee. "Take him back to the office." He then looked at Ziva, "Take Jessica to the hospital and have them look at her." He told the newest recruit to his team as he crouched down in front of her. "I have to go talk to this guy and Ziva will take care of you for the time being." He told her as he smoothed her hair back.

"Special Agent Gibbs. I can't take care of her." Ziva David said and then leaned in closer to where only he could hear her. "I don't get along well with kids." She told him and then looked pointedly at Jessica as she said it.

Gibbs looked back at Ziva and then to his daughter. "Neither do I, but she is easy to get along with." He then added quietly to only his agent could hear him, "Whatever you do, don't ignore her. Her mother and I do enough of that all ready, but at least I'm trying to correct my mistake. Which I can't say for her mother." He then looked between the two females and gave them a both a wry smile. He handed Ziva his insurance card with his daughter's name on it.

Ziva took the card and placed it into her pocket. "I'll do my best, Agent Gibbs." She said as she turned to face the girl. "Well, you heard your dad, lets go." She said as she held out her hand and walked the girl to a vehicle.