Author's Note: This story is written for and inspired by Shesadreamer87. She suggested the story idea and has come up with many of the ideas. I just hope I'm doing it justice. =)

Bring On the Rain

Gibbs sat on one of the sawhorses in his basement, staring at his boat, his hands fidgeting with the tools lying on the table beside him. His boat was supposed to provide the comfort and distraction he needed after long days but tonight it betrayed him. His coffee mug, full of bourbon, sat untouched on his workbench beside him, right next to the flask with Shannon and Kelly's names on it, the one with the bullet in it, the one that had saved his life. His girls had managed to save him but he wasn't there to save them and despite the passing years, it still laid heavy on his heart.

The date was February 28, the anniversary of the senseless murder of his wife and only child, the day Gibbs' entire world had changed. He grabbed the stack of pictures lying next to his bourbon and began flipping through them. He stopped on one of Shannon, ran his fingers over her hair, her face, her body. He would give anything for one more day with her, one more hour, one more second. The ache in his heart seemed to only be intensifying as time passed.

"Jethro, my love, you have to let me go." Gibbs looked up and blinked a couple times. Standing in front of him was his beautiful Shannon. "You have to let me go."

"How?" Gibbs begged, desperate for an answer. This was the second time she'd appeared to him in a dream, telling him to let her go but he didn't have a clue how to do that. "How, Shannon? Tell me. Give me a sign."

"You have to let me go."

Shannon disappeared the instant Gibbs' phone rang. Once again, Gibbs found himself alone in his basement. He silently cursed his phone as he reached across the table and grabbed it. A quick look at the caller ID told him it was Jenny calling. He considered ignoring it, not really wanting to speak to anyone but he knew it might be important.

"Yeah," he answered.

The tone of his voice instantly distracted Jenny. She immediately knew something was off. "Jethro," she said, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Gibbs answered sounding more like himself. "Is that why you called? To check up on me?"

"No, I, uh, we got an anonymous tip about a possible child abuse case," Jenny said, refocusing her thoughts.

Gibbs pushed away his selfish thoughts of not wanting to deal with what he was sure would be a difficult case as he took the stairs up to his kitchen two at a time. He pulled his red Marine Corps hoodie over his head then put on his black Carhartt jacket and headed out.

Gibbs pulled the sedan up in front of NCIS headquarters to pick Tim up and found Jenny there waiting with his most junior agent. Tim climbed in the back seat of the car and Jenny settled herself in the front seat then looked over at Gibbs.

"What are you doing here?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well, since Tony and Ziva aren't scheduled to return from their conference in California until tomorrow, I thought you could use the help," Jenny said. Gibbs stared at her for a moment before putting the car in gear and heading back towards the front gate. "The tip was called in by a drug dealer who wished to remain anonymous for obvious reasons," Jenny explained. "He wouldn't say much except that the child living in the house wasn't being treated right and he couldn't overlook it."

"How noble of him," Gibbs stated sarcastically.

"Jethro—"

Gibbs shook his head, stopping her before she could continue. He had to put the past behind him and leave it there. There was another child who needed his attention at the moment and he couldn't be distracted with things of the past. He parked the car in front of the address the anonymous tipster had given and the group got out.

The sun had already set, taking with it what little warmth the day had held. There was a light on inside the small one story house, illuminating what looked like a living room. The path to the front door had turned icy in spots with the dropping temperatures. Spring was right around the corner and the warmer temperatures would be welcomed with open arms.

"The house is being rented to a Rachel Morrison," Tim informed everyone as they skated towards the front porch. "Her husband was Marine First Lieutenant Ethan Morrison, died three years ago under suspicious circumstances. They had one daughter, Kellie Morrison."

Gibbs nearly froze where he stood. He lifted his eyes to the heavens looking to see if Shannon was lingering there. Was this the sign he'd asked for? No, it couldn't be. This was just a coincidence but he was Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Leroy Jethro Gibbs did not believe in coincidences.

"Jethro?" Jenny asked, bringing him out of his thoughts. Gibbs glanced over at Jenny then took the last few steps to the front porch and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" a muffled voice yelled from inside the house.

Gibbs looked at Jenny then Tim as all three of them prepared themselves to enter the house. He opened the front door slowly and looked inside. "NCIS," he said quietly as they entered cautiously.

"What took you so long?" the woman called out before the agents entered the living room. "You were supposed to be here an hour ago."

"Rachel Morrison?" Gibbs asked as he rounded the corner into the living room. Tim's jaw dropped as came to a stop between Gibbs and Jenny. There, on the coffee table, was a large stash of illegal narcotics laying out in plain sight. Regardless of if there was any merit to the abuse allegation, the woman was in trouble and she knew it.

"What the hell are you doing in my house?" she asked, both fear and anger coating her voice.

"You invited us in," Gibbs said.

"Get out of my house!" she screamed.

"Oh no," Gibbs said, "we're not going anywhere."

Rachel let out a loud scream as she lunged at Gibbs. None of the agents were quite prepared for the woman's erratic behavior. Before Gibbs could react he found himself flat on his back with the woman on top of him, raising her fist into the air. Gibbs quickly regained control of the situation, rolling the woman off of him and rising to his feet. Rachel was unwilling to go down without a fight and came at Gibbs again. When he realized she wasn't going to give up, he took her down with a firm punch to her face. That didn't deter her for long before she came at Gibbs again. He managed to get his arm around her neck and hold her in a choke hold until she passed out but not before clawing up his face and arms.

With the woman subdued, Tim and Jenny began clearing the house. Tim went through the first floor, room by room while Jenny focused on a door that was padlocked from the outside. She tapped the lock with the butt of her gun, knocking it open. The doorway led to a dark staircase leading down to the basement. She could hear rodents squeaking and scurrying about below. Smells of human waste and body odor choked the air as she slowly made her way downstairs using her flashlight for guidance.

Once she made it all the way to the bottom, Jenny quickly shined her light around the room and listened for any movement other than the rats. As she started into the basement, she stepped on the tail of a rat causing it to squeal and race off. Once her heart rate had slowed again, she continued on her path, running into a string hanging down from the ceiling. She shined her flashlight up and was happy to find a light bulb. She pulled the string and light filled the nearly empty basement.

The rats inhabiting the room weren't bothered at all by her presence. Instead they continued feasting on the month old leftovers crusted to the plates scattered around the floor. In the middle of the room, there was a heavy chain bolted to the floor with a cuff on the end. In the far back corner of the room, Jenny found a large dog cage and huddled in the back corner of the cage was a young girl wearing a light blue striped spaghetti strap tank top and a pair of plain light blue panties.

Jenny's eyes widened at her discovery. The last thing she expected to find in a room with human feces and urine littering the floor and inhabited by rats was a child. "Hi Sweetheart," she said walking over to the girl, "my name's Jenny. I'm a federal agent, kind of like a police officer. Are you Kellie?"

As Jenny rattled the lock on the cage and knocked it open the girl cowered further into her corner, covering her head with the wool blanket that was in the cage with her. Jenny reached her hand slowly into the cage, trying to provide a comforting touch to the scared little girl but as soon as she came in contact with the child, her hand was quickly batted away. Kellie's body began shaking uncontrollably as she cowered in the corner.

Gibbs made his way into the basement, still slightly out of breath from the physical fight with the mother. Despite his calm composure on the outside, on the inside he was horrified. He'd seen a lot of things throughout his life but he'd never ever seen anything like the sight before him. "Is this Kellie?" he asked, his voice calm and friendly as if he were talking to the child.

"I don't know," Jenny said, horror evident in her voice. "She's not speaking and she doesn't like to be touched." She stepped back, knowing Gibbs had a special way with kids that almost instantly provoked an immediate trust. She watched him kneel at the entrance to the cage and smile at the frightened girl.

"Can you come out here with us, Kiddo?" he asked. "We need to get you out of here and somewhere warm and clean and safe."

Kellie peeked up at Gibbs out of the corner of her eye. He wasn't like the men her mother brought home. He reminded her of her father, his hair, his posture, his mannerisms, and just the way he moved about. She cautiously inched her way towards the special agent, pushed his hand out the way and exited the cage.

"Atta girl," Gibbs encouraged with a friendly smile. He pulled the blanket out of the cage and gently wrapped it around her shoulders. The room was far from warm and the girl was basically only wearing thin underwear. She looked around the room, studying all the movement around her. She knew her mother was lurking somewhere in the shadows, waiting to strike.

"Oh God," Tim grumbled as he entered the basement, his eyes already watering from the strong odors.

Gibbs looked over at his young agent, hoping he didn't lose it. He knew Tim had a sensitive stomach when it came to certain situations. "Do you have a picture of Kellie?" he asked, trying to refocus the agent's mind.

Tim pulled out his phone and scrolled through a couple pages before finding the girl's record. "Yep," he said. "That's her, Kellie Morrison, 8 years old."

Gibbs almost choked on the coffee he was drinking when the girl's age was revealed, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. Even though he didn't verbalize it, both Jenny and Tim knew his Kelly had been just 8 years old when she was murdered. That was all the sign Gibbs needed. An 8 year old named Kellie that even resembled his daughter if he squinted. Yes, it was the sign he'd asked Shannon for. This child would never replace his Kelly but maybe it was a second chance for him. He would do whatever he could to help her.