Disclaimer – I own nothing (although I wish I did).

Leroy Jethro Gibbs strode into 'R & R Psychologist'. It had taken over an hour to get here, the traffic was crappy, and some cocky teen had made him spill his coffee; needless to say, Gibbs was pissed! But he was here to talk to a suspects shrink.

He marched up to reception, and gruffly said "Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS, here instead of Jennifer Sheppard. I'm here to see Alana James." The receptionist asked him to take a seat and Alana would be with him soon. Gibbs stood with his back to the wall, surveying his surroundings; he glanced at the magazines but doubted that anything interesting or informative was contained in its glossy pages. A couple minutes later the receptionist caught his eye, smiled, and said "Ms James will see you now. Go down the hall, it's the fourth door on your right." Gibbs didn't return the smile as he stalked off down the hall. Gibbs opened the door and stepped through. As he did so Ms Alana James turned to face him; she had long, blonde hair tied in a pony tail, and blue eyes, but there was no mistaking that face – it was Kate.

"Kate?" Gibbs questioned. Ms James had gone ghostly white and was visibly trembling, as she whispered "Gibbs?"

Kate and Gibbs spent a half hour catching up, and even Gibbs's anger was forgotten in the excitement. Abby would go crazy when she saw Kate. Finally Gibbs asked if Kate wanted to come back to NCIS headquarters with him. "Ah, yeh! But I need to pick up Maddi first." Kate replied. She saw the question in Gibbs eyes before he asked "my daughter." Saying Gibbs was shocked was an understatement. Kate hadn't mentioned having a daughter, and she had no ring…

"Is that alright?" Kate asked, almost hesitantly. Gibbs just nodded his reply.

When they reached the school Kate ran inside and told the office clerk that Maddi had a doctors' appointment.

"So, since when have I had a doctors' appointment?" asked Maddi as they walked to the car park.

"You don't," replied Kate, "My old boss…"

"Gibbs?!" asked Maddi

"Yeah, anyhow, he came to work today, and I mean my secrets kinda out now, so I'm going back to NCIS to see everyone," Kate reached out a hand to cover Maddi's mouth and continued "and I thought even if you didn't want to come you could have the rest of the day off." With that Kate released her hand.

"I'm coming!" Maddi almost squealed. "Oh my god, this is so cool. I finally get to meet the team. This is awesome…"

When Maddi and Kate climbed into the car, Gibbs was shocked to see that Maddi was a 14 year old Goth; with long black hair, tight black jeans, a red t-shirt, and black eyeliner around eyes far older than the person they occupied.

As they drove to NCIS Gibbs was informed that Maddi was not Kate's biological daughter, but rather one that had been placed with her when Kate entered the Witness Protection Program. And she seemed just as excited about going to NCIS, as Kate was.