Marli was running faster than her legs could go. Her breathing was labored, and her chest ached. Her favorite ratty green jacket was covered in blood from the knife wound on her arm running from her wrist to her elbow. Her ribs hurt every time she took a breath which was more like gasping now. Her heart felt like it was going to burst through her chest and she was getting extremely tired, but she knew one thing; she was for no reason at all going to stop running.

"Marli get back here now!" The man behind her roared. His voice was getting closer and closer. "Shit he's catching up" she thought.

"Yeah right Freddy!" she yelled back but instantly regretted it since her ribs painfully prostested and the effort to yell made it even harder for her to catch her breath without feeling like she was being stabbed. She didn't know how close he was and she needed to know. She took the chance of being caught by turning her head just enough to see that Freddy was much farther than she thought. "Maybe I have a chance this time" When she turned her head back she saw a corner coming up ahead and started to go around it when she ran into someone and was pushed to the ground.

"How the hell did he get in front of me was I really going that slow?" She hit the ground with a thud and hoped to god it wasn't Freddy in front of her, as she looked up she couldn't help but gasp in relief. The man in front of her was definitely not Freddy.

"Hey! Watch where your going kid" the man yelled. He was tall with silver hair and blue eyes, in his hand he held a Caf-Pow! and the other a coffee cup that once held coffee but was now all over both Marli's jacket and his. That's when she saw the badge on his belt. "Thank god a cop I'm saved" She shot to her feet despite the pain it caused her and pleaded for help between gasps.

"Please sir....help...." she took one painful deep breath and finished "My step-dad is behind me, he's going to kill me please!" Just as she finished the sentence she felt a large hand grab her uninjured arm. Hard. She caught the mans eye whom she ran into and pleaded for help to do something, to help her.

He obviously heard her silent plea because he dropped the drinks in his hand and grabbed Freddy's arm that was tugging her with him and stepped between her and Freddy.

"Let her go" he spoke with such a cold and calm voice that sent shivers down her spine. He was glaring at Freddy that was so dangerous that she thought Freddy would start on fire. Then she noticed Freddy's eyes and they scared her even more; they were murderous. She knew that look, it was the same one he got when he was on one of his drunken rampages. Freddy's grip on her arm loosened but not enough for her to wriggle her arm free. She was damn sure if he was holding any tighter her bones would snap. She also knew she was gonna have a really bad bruise.

"Who are you to tell me what to do, she is my daughter and she is running away from home" his grip loosened just enough for Marli to tear her arm free.

"That's a lie Freddy," she screamed "You tried to kill me you lying bastard and I am not your daughter!" she held up her arm with the torn sleeve and the gash underneath the material.

The silver haired man glanced back from Freddy and looked at the wound, she saw his eyes widen and he turned his glare back to Freddy. He opened his jacket to reveal his badge and the pistol that Marli didn't see before.

"To answer your question I am a special agent and your not taking her anywhere" he stepped further to put himself between Freddy and Marli "I suggest you back off and leave her alone" he said taking a step towards Freddy. Marli couldn't believe what was happening, this man was actually going to save her.

"She is my daughter and she going with me because she is..." Freddy started to rant but he was cut off mid-sentence.

"No, she is coming with me to get medical attention" The agents voice got louder and yet it stayed confusingly calm. Marli could she Freddy's fists clenched and turn his stare from the agent to her.

"Come on Marli lets go, NOW!" He yelled as he pointed at her making her flinch and then pointed at the ground near his feet like you do a dog when you want it to obey and come to you. "He thinks I'm actually coming with him, yeah right and let him finish the job"

Marli stepped backwards and shook her head "No Freddy, I am not going with you" she paused and looked at the agent "I am going with him".

Freddy looked at the agent and back at her his lip was curled up and you could see his teeth clenched tight. Freddy lunged at her mumbling curses but was stopped by the fist that the agent had swung. He was effectively knocked out and hit the pavement hard. Marli gasped in shock at how fast the silver haired agent had moved. "Maybe he's not as old as he looks, the hair sure had me fooled I guess it fooled Freddy too" She smiled and watched as the agent bent down to cuff the passed out man on the ground who face first in a puddle of Caf-Pow! and then turned his attention to her.

"You okay?" he asked as he walked up and reached for her injured arm to look at the wound. Marli hissed in pain as he pulled back the sleeve of her jacket.

"No, My ribs are messed up it hurts to breath and my arm throbs" She felt stupid for saying that. "Duh, I think he can she that your arm throbs you idiot"

"What's your name by the way Special Agent...?" She looked up at him smiled to see that his blue eyes no longer had that dangerouse glare and was replaced by concern. She wondered if he had heard her when he hadn't replied to her question and was about to repeat it when he spoke.

"Gibbs, just Gibbs" he answered.

"I'm Marli, in case you didn't hear him screaming it" she tried laughing but doubled over clutching her ribs when they sent a sharp pain into her lungs. Gibbs grabbed her shoulder holding steady and then motioned for her to carefully take off her jacket and used it to put pressure on the gash that was bleeding more profusely than she realized.

"Keep the pressure on it Marli" He looked up at her and waited for her to acknowledge that she heard him. When she nodded her head he pulled a cell phone from his jacket. Never taking his eyes off her he spoke, "DiNozzo, gear up and get down here to the coffee shop" he barked and hung up snapping the phone shut and putting it back in his jacket. He grabbed her hand motioning for her to let go of the jacket so he could see if the bleeding had let up which it hadn't so he replaced the jacket and put pressure back on it.

Marli's ribs started to hurt really bad, and she started to feel lightheaded. "Gibbs, I'm really lightheaded and my ribs are hurting worse than they did before" she could feel herself start to sway and she reached her hand out to grab his arm and steady herself. She jumped when she heard squealing of tires accompanied by blaring of carhorns and looked towards the direction where the noise came from. She saw a big truck that said NCIS on the side of it.

"Oh my god, so he's a NCIS special agent" She gasped when it came roaring down the street and abruptly stopped at the curb next to her and Gibbs. She didn't know a truck of that size could stop that fast. There was still screeching of tires and she saw two more vehicles heading towards them. Two blue Chargers pulled up going slightly slower than the truck had and parked behind it at the curb.

A tall man with brunette hair got out of the first blue Charger and walked up to Marli and Gibbs. He was wearing a black jacket, and a black jacket that had NCIS in big letter on both. He looked at Marli and he apparently saw the blood because his eyes went big as he looked back at Gibbs.

"Boss what's going on, is she okay?" He then looked over at the man face first on the ground handcuffed and pointed at him, "Who's he boss?"

"As of right now he's a suspect DiNozzo so take him in, I'm gonna take her to Ducky" Gibbs turned to Marli and motioned for her to follow him to the Charger DiNozzo had gotten out of. They were stopped by DiNozzo's voice.

"So we didn't need the truck boss?" he asked as he pointed to the truck and looked at Gibbs.

Marli watched as Gibbs just glared at DiNozzo and smiled when the man simply turned around and did what he was told. The smile quickly faded when she felt like she was gonna pass out. She tugged on Gibbs' arm to get his attention.

"Gibbs, I..." she felt her legs go limp and someone catching her before she blacked out. Gibbs had turned around from glaring at DiNozzo to catch her just in time.

TBC.....