Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of it's characters.

Chapter 1

Being banned from watching TV, music and playing games was driving Taylor absolutely nuts, and she still had a full week left. It just wasn't natural to actually look forward to going to school. Still, she didn't exactly have a choice in the matter, her dad had been watching her like a hawk. After a lot of yelling and a particularly nasty swat, he had even managed to confiscate her old mp3 player, the one she had stashed for emergencies just like this. Same thing happened when she managed to track down her first game boy, only with more yelling and two swats. The tension in the house was increasing rapidly, in proportion to Taylor's boredom, and when her dad announced he was going to be away for a few days again, she was actually relieved. The way it had been going, someone was gonna end up murdered, and Taylor was pretty sure that she would be the most likely victim. Taylor was positive Patricia would be much easier to get round, now all she had to figure out was how. Even if it didn't work, it would be a good opportunity to find out exactly what she could and couldn't get away with.

Taylor waited for about half an hour after her father left, before joining Patricia in the living room where she was watching TV. As soon as she sat down though, the TV was switched off, and Patricia picked up her book and began to read.

"What'd you do that for?" Taylor whined.

Patricia looked over the top of the book at her. "You know you're not allowed to watch TV yet. Have you finished your homework?" When Taylor didn't answer she continued. "Didn't think so. That'll give you something to do if you're bored."

With a loud sigh, which did not result in any sympathy, Taylor left Patricia to her reading and headed upstairs again. Instead of going into her own room though, she made a bee line for her dad's room with the portable TV. Making herself comfortable on the bed she flicked through the channels until she found something worth watching. Taylor was able to watch a whole movie, before deciding she'd chanced her arm enough for one night. She slipped back into her own room feeling pretty pleased with herself and went to bed.

Okay, Taylor didn't exactly have a reason she could give Patricia the following day when she didn't have any homework to hand in, but it had been worth it. All she could do was shrug and say she'd forgotten about it. Patricia wasn't impressed, and made her do it at lunch, but she didn't lose her temper. That was promising, it was time to step it up a bit. Taylor liked a challenge, and at least she wasn't bored any more.

Taylor waited until Patricia was fixing dinner in the kitchen, before grabbing her skates and hightailing it out the front door. She was finally free, and if Patricia was gonna kick off later, Taylor was going to have to make sure she made the most of it.

It was amazing just to be able to skate again, she'd chosen a different park, a bit further away, well maybe a lot further away. Even though Jason wasn't around, on account of the fact he was still grounded, just like her, there were still plenty of others there. Not willing to go home until she absolutely had to, Taylor waited until the park was deserted, before reluctantly changing into her sneakers again and starting the long walk home. In retrospect the step up she had taken, might have been a little bit bigger than she'd anticipated. Taylor was starting to notice just how deserted the streets were. She had no watch on, and with no phone she had absolutely no idea what time it was, but she was getting this nasty feeling in the pit of her stomach that it was a lot later than she'd thought. This feeling was only confirmed when Patricia pulled up along side her in the car, face like thunder. Taylor hadn't seen her this mad since they'd been caught with the gun.

Reaching over Patricia pulled the lever and opened the passenger door. "Get in."

Taylor dumped her skates into the trunk before climbing in beside her, with the mantra 'act like you've done nothing wrong' running through her head.

As soon as Taylor clicked her seatbelt on, Patricia indicated and pulled away from the kerb. It didn't look as if she was going to say anything else, or start yelling, so Taylor relaxed a little. Then she caught a glimpse of the dashboard clock, both the mantra and her confidence vanished. It was almost eleven. Taylor shrunk down in her seat, suddenly worried she'd taken her experiment just a bit too far.

It took a few minutes for Taylor to pick up the nerve to speak. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was that late."

She realised just how much trouble she was actually in when Patricia didn't even glance round at her, just increased her grip on the steering wheel. Taylor hoped that it was only her imagination that Patricia's knuckles were starting to turn white with the increased force. Not wanting to make a bad situation any worse, she decided it might just be in her own best interest to shut up.