Leroy Jethro Gibbs seemed a tough man. Once a marine, now an NCIS agent, he had proved that indeed he was a tough man, though he used this to cover up his softer side. With the death of first wife and daughter he thought he would never love again, until he met Jenny Shepard. It took him a long time to be okay with thought of being in love with someone other than Shannon, but he came to realize that she would want him to be happy. For him not to be alone, and he knew she would approve of Jenny. It had started in Paris, when they were undercover together. He thought things were going well, when one morning Gibbs woke up alone. Jenny was not there, her suitcase was gone. The only thing left of her was a letter.. "Dear Jethro…". Six years later, he was reunited with her, only now she was his boss, the director of NCIS. In the six years he hadn't seen her, Gibbs had thought about Jenny often, missed her, wished she hadn't left. Now that she was back in his life he thought maybe there was a chance they could have another go at a relationship. But all this seemed a lifetime ago. It had been five years, Jenny was dead, and Jethro knew he would never love again.
He was in the car with McGee, driving back to NCIS headquarters when he got a call. It was a number he didn't recognize but he answered it anyway.
"Gibbs." He said, a young urgent voice replied.
"Agent Gibbs, please, please, you have to help me! I can't explain anything right now! Someone's in the house, he's looking for me!" The girl sobbed, clearly distressed. Gibbs thought for a split second about telling her to call 911 not him, but then thought better of it. She had called him for a reason, and who was he to turn away from a person in need, especially a minor.
"McGee, call Abby, get her to trace this call, NOW!" he said pulling the phone away from him for a moment. McGee pulled his phone out and called Abby telling her what the boss had said to do.
"I'm on my way, what's your name?"
"My name is Lucy, Lucy Atwood" She whispered, fear in her voice.
"How old are you Lucy?" Gibbs said trying to calm her down a little bit.
"Fifteen" She replied, not calming down in the slightest.
"Lucy, are you out of sight?" Gibbs asked
"I'm in my closet, but he'll find me, you have to hurry, please! I can't fight back, I go-, I'm injured really badly, I won't be able to get away from him once he finds me, you have to help, please Agent Gibbs I'm scared!" She said, Gibbs could tell she was crying, he sped up the car. Looking to McGee who nodded, meaning he had the address of where the phone was. He wrote down the address and quickly showed Gibbs, who took a sharp right turn.
"I'm almost there Lucy, just-" Gibbs began to tell her to hold on, when he heard a loud shot. Lucy gasped and tried to move deeper into her closest, wincing in pain as she did so.
"Lucy!?" Gibbs said into the phone.
"He shot him! He shot Matthew!" There was a moment of silence before Lucy spoke again, "Oh god, he's coming up the stairs, I can hear him coming up the stairs!" She was shaking with fear. Gibbs sped the car up once again, hoping he would get there in time. He instructed McGee to call for an ambulance.
"He's right outside my door Agent Gibbs." She whispered terrified.
Gibbs heard her gasp when he heard the man call her name. He sounded Russian, Gibbs noted.
"Lucy. Come now little girl, I know you are in here." He said as he slowly walked around the room, getting closer to her hiding spot. Lucy closed her eyes, trying to be as quiet as she could be whilst panicking.
"Hang in there Lucy, I'm turning down the street!" Gibbs told her, Lucy bit her lip willing him to get there before she was found.
Suddenly the closest door flew open, Lucy screamed and threw the phone behind her. The man smiled and grabbed her, yanking her painfully out of the closet. She tried her best to fight him, but with her broken bones she could hardly move at all. She looked up at his face as he pulled out his gun.
"There!" McGee shouted as he spotted the house number, Gibbs flew into the driveway and they both jumped out of the car and ran to the house, kicking in the door just as they heard a loud bang from upstairs. Gibbs ran up the stairs and found Lucy's room but he was too late. The shooter was gone, through her broken window. Lucy lay sprawled out on the floor gasping for air. Gibbs dropped to her side and put his hands over her wound, trying to slow the flow of blood leaving her body.
They sat there for what seemed like hours. Lucy stared at Agent Gibbs, tears falling from her eyes as she struggled to stay conscious.
"Stay with me Lucy, come on, stay with me!" Gibbs pleaded, something tugged at his heart as he watched her. Suddenly paramedics rushed in the room and took over, putting an oxygen mask over her head and onto her face, working so fast, Gibbs couldn't see what they were doing. In no time they had her strapped to a gurney and were headed out of the room and back to the ambulance. Gibbs followed.
"McGee, call DiNozzo and Ziva, have them process the scene, I'm going to the hospital with Lucy." McGee nodded and took out his phone as Gibbs got into the ambulance and sped off to the hospital.
"So some random kid called him, and he went?" Tony asked.
"Yes Tony. You know Gibbs and kids." McGee answered.
"Does he know her?"
"Nope asked her name on the way here."
Tony was confused, as much as he knew about Gibbs' way with kids, he knew that Gibbs hadn't reacted the way he had before. Of course he understood that it was something that needed to be dealt with quickly but Gibbs hadn't known the kids' father was a marine at the time! Tony wasn't even sure he knew now that her father was a marine. And of course there was the fact that this girl was a complete stranger! There was just something about this girl that had the boss acting like this that no one but her knew what.
By the time they had gotten to the hospital Lucy had lost her fight of staying conscious. They rushed her into the ER, Gibbs following closely behind.
"What do we got?" One of the doctors asked.
"It's Lucy, she's beaten up pretty bad, GSW to the abdomen." The paramedic told him.
"Dammit, Lucy what did we tell you about staying away from him!" The doctor said sadly. The way the medical professionals were addressing Lucy, they definitely knew her. Gibbs knew once they brought her through the trauma doors he wouldn't be allowed in until she was out of surgery. He stepped aside and began to talk with a nurse about Lucy.
"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS," he said showing her his ID, "Do you know the girl that just came in?" Gibbs asked.
"Lucy? Oh yeah, she's in here almost every other week, a handful of new injuries every time." The nurse talked about her injuries with a certain distaste.
"What was she doing that had her getting injured so often?"
"Oh it's not what she's doing; it's her father Agent Gibbs. The bastard beats her." Gibbs took a deep breath, he couldn't understand how someone could beat a child.
"Did you tell the police about this?" he asked, trying to keep his tone neutral.
"Of course we did! They told us they investigated it, and came up with nothing. If you ask me, they didn't even try. We told them about her injuries, but back then they weren't as bad as they are now."
"Back then?"
"When Lucy was about seven or eight, that's when she first came in. Jenny brought her in. Jenny was trying to adopt her, get her away from her father. She managed to do it too, but she died not long after. The police put her back with her father. Said there wasn't any other family, and they wouldn't put her in foster care. Why I have no idea." The nurse explained.
"Does this Jenny have a last name?" Gibbs asked, he knew the nurse said she was dead but maybe she knew someone who could give them information.
"You don't know?" the nurse suddenly questioned.
"That's why I asked you." Gibbs replied.
"She was Jenny Shepard. Former Director of NCIS." The nurse told Gibbs. Gibbs was shocked! Jen hadn't told him she adopted an abused child. He rubbed his temples and thanked the nurse. After giving her his card, he sat down in the waiting room and called DiNozzo, telling him what he learned.
'Oh Jen, why didn't you tell me..' he thought.
Hello! I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter and are interested in reading on! Let me know what you think! :)