"Tony! So help me, if you pick that straw up one more time I'll shove it up your-"

"But Ziva, your reaction is priceless. Therefore, I have no reason to stop." Tony said with a pompous smirk as he lifted the straw to his lips and sent a quick puff of air through the hollow object. This sent a small wad of saliva moisturized paper at Ziva's forehead. Instinctively, Ziva's arms swung wildly in front of her face, trying to stop the small projectile, but to no avail. The ball hit the intended target right between the eyes. The scene from beginning to its satisfying end sent Tony into a fit of maniacal laughter, causing him to double over as his diaphragm worked.

Tony's laughter was short lived as he came up for air and felt an enemy spitball smack and lodge itself on the corner of his mouth. He looked around in a sort of frenzy until his eyes rested on the now chuckling McGee. Tony mocked the young agent's giggle.

"You think this is funny, Probie?" Tony asked, scratching the disgusting wad of spit from his face but for some reason it wasn't coming off. He remained confused until he saw the superglue bottle resting in the edge of McGee's desk. Ziva must have noticed it at the same time because at that moment she also erupted into a fit of giggles that put McGee's to shame.

"Now I think it's funny." Said the still laughing agent who sat with a new sense of pride at his desk. An air high five was exchanged between Ziva and McGee as they watched their compatriot still attempt to scratch the stuck piece of paper from his face.

The light moment didn't last long as a new figures presence was made known by the ding of the elevator. An older man who was probably in his late 40's stepped out. His salt and pepper hair made him look older along with the fact that he always seemed to keep it at a medium fade, if not higher. Former Marine. Clearly. His piercing eyes could have quieted a room at an instant, and it usually did. He stepped into the bullpen with a sense of purpose, not bothering to look at the rest of his team.

"Grab your gear." He commanded in an official tone. "We got a dead Marine just outside of Norfolk." He didn't pause as he grabbed gear of his own and began walking to the elevator that he came from, expecting and knowing that the rest of his team would follow suit. He took little interest in what had been happening before he arrived until suddenly he stopped in front of Tony.

"You got a little something right here, DiNozzo." The obvious leader pointed to his own face to indicate where the something was on the other agent.

"Thanks, boss…"

. . .

By the time they arrived at the apartment where the Marine was killed, Tony had rubbed nearly half of the spitball from his face, and also a little bit of skin. He sent cold glares toward McGee who he hadn't spoken a word to since they left the base. This didn't seem to bother McGee as much as Tony had hoped.

Gibbs directed everyone on their jobs even though, unfortunately, they knew the drill all too well. McGee was to take pictures of the body along with any evidence found at the scene. DiNozzo looking for evidence anywhere he could possibly come up with. Ducky and Palmer were examining the body to come up with a time of death which they would find to be around 10:30 that morning. Ziva would be left interviewing the husband with Gibbs, who at this point was an absolute wreck.

His name was Richard Frost, a real estate agent who was allegedly working with a house five miles away during the time of the murder. Frost stood at about six feet two inches and had not one indication of facial hair. His face gleamed with a strange boyish look that was made more evident by the thick, excruciatingly dark hair that clung to his scalp. Ziva wondered if the waves in it were natural or if he used a metric shit ton of product to make it look like that. He did seem to be working on a prominent beer gut in any case.

"What was your wife's name, Mr. Frost?" Ziva asked calmly as she held a little pad of paper and a pencil, waiting for information worthy enough to be written down. Which in most cases, is all of it.

Between feeble sobs, Richard said, "He-Her name was S-Sara. Sara Fro-Frost." He moaned and covered his face with his hands, as if shielding himself from the gruesome scene just above them.

"Does anyone else live here?" Gibbs asked patiently. He didn't have enough time to let Mr. Frost gain his composure. He just hoped he would find it along the way. He was surprised when this question looked like it had done the trick. He watched as Frost slowly took his hands away from his face and inhaled deeply before saying,

"Her fucking demon of a kid. Hell, it's not even her damn kid. My wife adopted her."

"You didn't?" Ziva asked, just as surprised as Gibbs at the sudden change.

"I met Sara a few months after she adopted the creature." His voice was filled with venom. "I told her that she should send her back to wherever the fuck she came from but Sara refused. I loved her, so I had to tolerate the brat."

"So, I've got demon, creature and brat." Gibbs interrupted Frost's rant. "Does she go by any other names?"

Frost sighed. "Robyn. Robyn Porter. The little shit refused to take my name after I married Sara."

"Couldn't imagine why." Ziva said under her breath. Gibbs was the only one to hear and he just glanced her way with those frozen eyes. This made her give an apologetic look as the conversation continued.

"Where is Robyn now?" This question came from Gibbs.

"Hell if I know. She disappears. Sometimes for days. She's always out doing weird stuff. If you ask me, I bet she's on drugs. I bet that's what got Sara killed!" The boyish look was gone from Frost. What was left neither Gibbs or Ziva could place. But, it left them both with a cold lurch in the pit of their stomachs.

"Does she even know what happened?" Ziva's turn now.

"Well, I sure haven't told her. Guess she will have a bit of a surprise when she comes walking through, huh?" Ziva thought she saw the faintest smirk twitch at the corner of Frost's mouth. She hated him.

"How old is she?"

"Fifteen." He paused. "Oh, wait. Sixteen. Sara bought it books for its birthday a month ago."

"Did she ever do anything to make you feel this way about her?" Gibbs asked, not understanding the hatred that someone could have for a child.

"She's got this look. Like she knows something we don't. All the damn time. Like she's smarter. And I'm telling you, when she goes out, she's got to be doing some weird stuff. I've never seen her with one friend besides this one boy who looks like the type to play D&D every weekend." He knew that his point wasn't hitting home. "You just have to see for yourself. If she even comes back. She's probably on the run."

Ziva just shook her head as Gibbs continued with the Q&A which lasted a few more minutes before Frost asked if he could step outside to get some air. The agents agreed.

The apartment was located on the first floor. Frost opened a sliding glass door that opened facing the main road of the neighborhood. They had barely touched the sidewalk when they saw what looked like a teenage girl come riding up on a beaten-up bicycle. In its prime it was probably a gleaming silver, but now it was worn to a washed out grey with specks of copper colored rust eating away at the handle bars and most parts of the main body. The spokes were no better. The bike's plague.

The girl had an army green backpack secured to her shoulders. It looked as if she was returning from school but the time was rapidly approaching 8:00 pm and the sun had almost completely set. The agents could barely make out her features as she rode all the way up the sidewalk and hopped off the bike while it was still in motion, keeping a firm grip on the handlebars and began walking beside it.

"Where the fuck were you?!" Richard shouted. His rage fell on deaf ears and that's when he noticed the wires protruding down from her ears, hidden by her deep red hair. She leaned her decrepit bike on the side of the apartment and that's when Richard came up behind her and yanked the earbuds out roughly.

The girl let out a sound of shock and spun around to face her unwanted roommate. "What the fuck, Dick?" She shouted, immediately infuriated.

"Why don't you go inside and look at what you've done? It's your fault!" Richard snapped back. Gibbs and Ziva just watched this unfold. Both were confused, having no idea how this had escalated the way it did.

"Fuck you! I haven't been home! What did you do? Piss on the carpet and looking for someone to pin it on before Sara finds out?" She was antagonizing him. And she was doing a good job.

Richard grabbed her by the arm, squeezing hard, but the girl refused to let him see that it hurt. "Go…inside. Right now!" He growled through clenched teeth.

"Hey!" Gibbs shouted. This scared the girl. She hadn't seen the agents when she rode up. Richard immediately let go and stepped away, giving Gibbs space to step in front of the still fuming teenager. "That's enough." He now got a pretty good look at her. Light freckles dusted the bridge of her nose. She had hair a shade of red that many girls would be jealous of and attempt to copy it through dyeing. But her eyes. Gibbs saw the look that Frost had been talking about but he had been very wrong. This wasn't the look of someone who thinks they are better. It was the look of someone who has experienced so much pain that the look of knowing how things were going to end would be permanently burned in their eyes forever. Those strange, bright blue eyes.

"Who are you? One of Dick's friends?" She asked, accusing.

"No." Gibbs answered simply. Then he turned slightly to look at the still fuming Richard. "I think you should wait inside, Mr. Frost."

He looked like he was about to argue, but the look on Gibbs' face told him that it was better not to.

"I'll walk you in." Ziva offered, although it wasn't exactly an option. When they both disappeared through the doorway, Gibbs turned back to the girl.

"Robyn?"

"Yeah." She answered tentatively. "What's going on?"

Gibbs sighed, knowing that this wasn't going to be easy. "My name is Special Agent Gibbs, from NCIS." The sun had gone down but even though he couldn't see the details of her face anymore, he was almost sure he watched it go stark white.

"No." She said matter of factly. "No fucking way. This is some joke that that asshole put you up to! Get out of here! I'm going to call the police if you don't leave!" She was shouting, her hands slowly clenched into fists. He gave her a look of sympathy but Robyn didn't want any of it. It made her sick.

"I'm the federal police." Gibbs said with a sigh. "This isn't a trick."

"Stop! She's a Marine! She wouldn't have let anyone kill her!" She paused. Her mind was racing, trying to figure it out. It's a puzzle. That's all. Some weird, terrible puzzle. She was good at those. She could figure it out. "She's not dead." She was back to denial.

"Rob-"

"Move!" All of a sudden, she pushed passed Gibbs. It was unexpected but Gibbs still reached out to catch her. He got his grip on her backpack. It was almost as if she had known he was going to do that because she didn't slow down. She put her arms back behind her and just let the pack fall from her and into the hands of the NCIS agent and continued running in to the apartment.

"Sara!" She shouted as she sprinted from room to room, avoiding the female agent swiftly. That was when she ran down the hallway to the bedrooms. DiNozzo had been in the hallway and heard the commotion. He put his arms out and planted his feet in preparation of the impact that would be the teenage girl. Except, it didn't come. He had shut his eyes in anticipation, but when he opened them, the girl had disappeared. He looked down and saw the bottom of a Converse rush under him. She was fast.

Robyn scrambled to her feet after slipping under Tony and ran passed one of the bedrooms. She stopped and doubled back, seeing agents crowded in the tiny room. Before she could get more of a glimpse, McGee grabbed her in a vice like bear hug and picked her up, carrying her uncomfortably out of the room.

A glimpse was enough though. The body was facing the door, lying on her back. She saw those lifeless eyes. Blood had dried on the corner of her mouth and along the side of her face that was facing the ceiling. Despite all this, her hair was perfect. Wrapped in a flawless bun. Her hair was always perfect.

Robyn's stomach clenched so hard that she would have doubled over if McGee hadn't been holding her. She finally stopped fighting after a minute and he loosened his hold. McGee looked at Gibbs who had watched the events unfold.

"Stop playing dumb!" Richard shouted, standing in the living room. "You know that this is your fault! You're responsible! You ki-"

Tony turned to him sharply.

"Shut up, Dick!"

. . .

After seeing how Robyn was treated at home, the team knew they couldn't let her stay. They cleared it with Social Services as long as the investigation was in place. Richard had no arguments and neither did Robyn. The team tried to make conversation with her but were rewarded with stone like silence. The only movement she made was her hands fiddling with an old silver compass that she had dug out of her bag before they even started the car.

They arrived at the base and Gibbs took Robyn to what looked like a conference room, leaving the rest of the team to work. Robyn sat down in one of the chairs and just stared at her hands, still holding the small artifact. Gibbs left the room for a moment and when he returned, there was no change.

"Thought you might be thirsty." He said as he set a cold Coca-Cola can in front of her. She didn't move to touch it.

"Thanks…"

"She speaks."

This was answered with a shrug.

"Spoke to soon I suppose." Gibbs was patient. He wasn't worried. "Can I ask you some questions?"

"Foster mom." She corrected. "And you're going to ask anyway. So go for it."

Gibbs was having a hard time figuring this girl out. It was strange. "Can you tell me about the last time you saw her?"

There was a long pause before she finally spoke. "Last night. She was in the middle of making dinner and she got a phone call. I thought it was going to be one of her Marine buddies. I guess in a way it was."

"What do you mean?"

"She didn't tell me. I kind of figured it out. She was leaving. Deployment. Don't know where. She didn't say anything about it. But she burned dinner. She never does that. And she was catatonic the rest of the night." Robyn explained.

"You're pretty smart."

Another shrug. "Whatever. Not smart enough to protect anybody."

"Are you really blaming yourself?" Gibbs asked, starting to think that Frost had actually made her believe it.

"What the fuck else am I supposed to do?!" She shouted. Her hardened face immediately melted away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Never apologize."

"What?"

"Nevermind. We'll talk about that later. When did you leave the apartment?"

Robyn sighed, moving on from her outburst. "Around seven. I went to school."

"Why didn't you come back right after?"

She looked at him incredulously. "You remember Dick, right?"

Gibbs gave her a crooked smile. "Alright. That's fair. As far as that's concerned, we will make arrangements on where you will be staying tonight." He saw the distraught look on her face as he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Everything will be alright. I promise."

"Don't do that." She said quickly.

"Do what?"

"Promise. Don't do that. Everyone breaks promises. They don't mean anything."

Gibbs nodded, understanding. "Alright. I won't promise. But I know we will catch the killer." He said as he walked out of the room. Robyn knew he wanted her to follow. She stood up and left the room behind him, leaving the soda sitting on the table.

When they walked toward the bullpen, the team looked a little surprised. Robyn took a chair from one of the cubicles that wasn't being occupied and rolled it to the middle of the aisle, getting the perfect vantage point of each member of the team. To everyone's sheer amazement, she initiated the conversation. Within minutes, everyone was joking around, having a good time, even Robyn.

Even though DiNozzo was laughing, he knew that Robyn was hiding behind her humor. He used that same tactic. Like Gibbs, he recognized that look in her eye.