[This was co-authored via roleplay]

It was cold outside as the snow began to fall all around Washington, D.C. The team had just finished a case and most of the employees in the building had gone home for the night.

Many strange things had been happening over the past week, it had started shortly after Ari broke into autopsy and was consequently shot.

Abby was sure that it meant there were ghosts in the building and that was the cause of the strange goings on lately.

Food had gone missing from desks, and drawers along with a lamp from Jethro's desk, and one of his jackets along with Abby's stuffed Hippo called 'Bert' although that had been returned rather rapidly. Often there were reports of noises coming from the vents but the noise would come and go so fast that people assumed it had been someone else they worked with or that they simply thought they heard something when they hadn't.

Abby however was rather wrong on her assumption of it being a ghostly entity. In between the walls of SecNav and Jennifer Shepherd's office was a cavity that was about a metre wide and about 5 metres long. It was connected to the air ducts that were connecting every room in the building through an intricate pattern of metal tunnels.

She had been living in there ever since Ari had broken in, he had taken her with him and got her to climb into the vent in order for her to hide from the agents. It wasn't a way to protect her because in actual fact he planned to abandon her there considering her to be a nuisance and a liability when it came to his 'work'.

She had dark hair that cascaded down the sides of her face, and her bright blue eyes shone brightly. Her tanned skin covered by the N.C.I.S jacket she had obtained from Jethro's desk, along with the jeans and top that she had arrived in.

When she was an infant she had been taken from her mother; Ziva David in Israel. Eli David and deemed her a distraction to Ziva and supposedly wanting the best for his daughter, he had removed the child from the situation and handed her over to Thalia. However when Thalia passed away, that meant that Ari was 'lumbered' with the child.

Sarah was a timid little girl, who was curled up in the cavity. She snuck her head out of the cavity into the tunnel to listen to see if anyone was still there. She didn't hear a thing and so silently began to crawl her way along the vent to check visually if there were anyone there.

Jenny had been hearing the reports from her agents and coworkers thinking they were all crazy. "Its just the wind and you misplaced things." She told them. She sighed as she came into her office one night due to her car having trouble. She hated her car very much.

Ever since Ziva had left the team things have been different. Jenny came out of hiding and taken her rightful spot back. She throws down her jacket and felt a chill. She walked to where she felt it and only to find a small girl behind her desk. "Hey!" She said gently bending down.

Her eyes went wide in shock, she didn't know what to do. Ari had told her to stay hidden no matter what. She had thought that everyone was home for the night and that she would be able to curl up in the Director's office for the night like she had done many times before. She didn't know what to do. Her bright blue eyes stared at the woman in front of her with a mixture of fear and shock. She froze and remained silent as she snuggled further into the stolen N.C.I.S jacket she had on. The jacket swamped the six year old child who was curled in a ball behind the desk.

Jenny frowned at the girl. "Hey hey, easy sweetie. I am not going to hurt you." She said sweetly. She smiled warmly at the girl and sat down on the ground. She went into her bag fishing out something. She smiled as she takes out a bag of popcorn and a sandwich she didn't eat for dinner. "Here." She she sets it in the middle between the two of them. She waits for her reaction.

Sarah tilted her head, she didn't quite know how to react. Her upbringing had been rather unusual because the majority of her experience had been Ari dragging her around behind him and her hiding. She hadn't met that many genuinely nice people. She watched Jen with curiosity, there was something about her that made her trust her but she wasn't quite sure what that was. She looked at the sandwich and gradually opened it, each time she moved she looked up at Jen as though asking for approval.

Jenny nodded. She wanted her to come closer towards her so she can have a better look at the girl. She sat there letting her do what she wanted making sure she ate. She licks her lower lip because it was dry and sips some water. She hands the rest over to the girl and stood up. She walked to the heating system turning it up. She locked the door as the storm gotten worse. She shivered gently. She came back over with a blanket from her closet and sets it down on the ground with a pillow. She smiled as she lifts it up for her to join her when she was done eating. She yawned and laid down.

She took a few bites of the sandwich, she kept looking at the sandwich and then looking at Jen but gradually the glances lessened as she became more comfortable. Sarah was however rather curious about the red headed woman, and was intrigued as to what she was doing. She took a sip of the water, and a few more. She hadn't realised how thirsty she was, she put it to the side carefully and looked at Jen with her head tilted to the side. She wasn't sure what the woman was doing. Gradually she edged forwards although rather unsure. She peeked under the blanket that was being held up, as though something were going to jump out at her.

"Shalom", she uttered gently as a delayed response to Jen's 'hey' earlier on. It was the first word she had spoken in weeks.

She smiled as she lets the child curl up against her. She gently wraps her arms around her in a motherly way running fingers through her hair. "Shalom." She whispered back knowing now that this was in fact Zivas child. She will protect her no matter what happens. She takes a deep breath and slowly falls asleep with her arms keeping sarah warm.

She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she snuggled into the side of the director even more, she felt safe with her. She had seen her many times whilst she was in the venting system. Her hand gripped Jen's shirt in a way to ensure her own safety, it was a way that she would know that she wasn't being abandoned again and that nobody could take her away again. Soon she was sound asleep tight against her side, her head snuggled into her feeling safe and secure in that moment. It was the safest she had felt in a long time. After having not seeing her mother for approx 5 years, and being raised partially by Thalia before her death and then being dragged from pillar to post by Ari, she hadn't truly had any security in her life, nor had she felt as safe as she did in that moment with the director of NCIS.

Jen smiled in her sleep feeling the child grip her shirt. She won't abandon her. Thats for damn sure.

As morning rolled by she wakes up blinking her eyes. She yawned stretching to find the girl gone. She frowned as she sat up looking for her. "sweetie?" She asked panicked. She stood up quickly walking around to find her.