You Needed Me

Chapter 2.

The next morning just as Bull was getting ready to leave for his prison visit to Annabella; it was just in time to run into Marissa and the rest of the team in the lobby, other than Benny. Marissa then told him that since she had passed on Kerry Clark's details to Benny the two of them had been talking and working hard on various things, so much so that Benny had gone straight to see Kerry on their arrival. They weren't sure if they were going to get anywhere or not, but Benny may have found enough in what Bull had managed to get to them so far to cast enough doubt on the case to at least hopefully get Annabella out on bail, so Bull wherever he was had to stand by his phone just in case. If he wasn't able to do that during the visit they would somehow ensure that they did get a message to him, because it was one of Benny and Kerry's plans to get the evidence they'd found and get it into a judge as soon as they could, even if it did mean it would end up being a last minute scramble.

So with that Bull told her that he would make sure his phone was on, but with not knowing if there was a chance of the news getting back to the person that had set Annabella before they got to court, that drove them to then do something to ensure that she remained in prison, if he did have to turn his phone off in there, then one of them was to get to the prison and tell him what was happening in person so that it didn't then come through another person. As the two of them then hugged as Marissa wished him luck with Annabella, as well as for him to pass on everyone's love to her, which as they broke apart he promised that he would do.

Prison:

That night as usual Annabella had had a very poor night's sleep, which had happened every night since she was put in this place, seeing as she was now on a constant guard especially at night about something happening to her, so every little sound she heard even if she had managed to drop off to sleep, she was awake once again, especially with every door that was opened and closed nearby, she was awake to check that there wasn't anyone creeping into her cell to come and get her. That night though she had when she did manage to fall asleep enough, been plagued by dreams of the happier times in the relationship that she and Bull had been in, like their first date and the first time that they had made love. The worst thing was the final dream though because she all of a sudden jumped awake in tears, because all she could see was her dream coming true of her worry about his health that she'd had and it was him having a heart attack. The picture she'd got stuck in her head was him looking very pale, but also ignoring all the signs of what was going on with him because of his determination to turn the case he was on around, before finally seeing him walk out of a court room because he had done it and then collapsing on the stairs of the court house outside. The thing that haunted her the most about it was watching as his rolled in his head and became wide. As she got herself as settled as she could from all that, it then set her off and wondering if her dad had managed to get hold of him, was he on his way to help her, and most importantly was he ok and still around to help her?

The only thing that she did regret about waking up with a jump and being in tears was that once again like every morning first thing as she had been doing for the last few months, she found herself starting to feel sick and she moved quickly to the toilet to be sick. She really wasn't sure why it had been going on for so long, but she guessed it was probably like everything else and just down to all the stress that she had been going through.

Not long after she'd had her shower and then attempted to eat some of the breakfast that had been given to her, she had just laid on her bed and was reading when all of a sudden her cell was unlocked and in walked the prison guard Mark Parsons, with his usual sneer on his face. He put her in cuffs and then told her that there was someone from her legal team there to visit her, followed by the threat that if she told them anything about what he'd done then there would be even more trouble for her. As he then led her down to the private visiting area despite his threat she all of a sudden began to feel a lot lighter and she was hoping dearly that it would be Bull there waiting to see her, even if there was also a part of her that didn't really want him to see her like that.

By the time they got to the private area for lawyer and legal team meetings she found herself actually feeling nervous, but also to some extent she also had some mixed feelings, some of them down to seeing Bull and him seeing her in this way, but the other part of course was the way in which the two of them had ended their relationship and the way that she knew that she hadn't really put her feelings for him away, but there was also the way that she had told him that she would never forgive him for the way that he had hurt her and in some ways she knew that she hadn't done that either and also knew that the two of them had a long way to go, even if they were just going to end up being friends at the end of it.

The thing that bought her out of her reverie though was Mark turning round and saying to her that he wouldn't be in the room with her because it had been requested to be a private meeting, but he would know if she had reported anything and she would know what would be coming if she did anything in that way.

As he finally led them into the room and as she spotted Bull she had to try very hard to not let her emotions take over, because all she really wanted to do was burst into tears and have him take her into one of his special hugs. Once she sat down opposite him, Mark went to leave, but Bull then said "Those can come off." Meaning the cuffs, Mark went to protest it, but he then added "The governor gave us clearance for a complete private meeting here, without any restraints or anything else and for it to be just ourselves. If you do not remove them I will be straight on the phone to make a report." So with that with a sneer on his face Mark did take the cuffs off.

After he had left the room, Annabella sat down opposite Bull and for the first time actually took in his appearance properly, realising that he had lost a fair bit of weight, not only that the scruff was gone and he was clean shaven, which then set her thoughts off about the dream she had and for him to have made such drastic changes to himself did it mean that there had been some truth to it?

For a few minutes the two of them just stayed silent, before he then finally took her hand and said "I'm sorry I let you down, I'm sorry that I pushed you away in the way that I did, for hurting you so much and I know that you said you would never forgive me, but I love you so much and I hope that one day, and when all of this is over you will reconsider and perhaps give us another chance?"

Just in that one moment her resolve breaks, especially as she sees so much emotion staring back at her from those gorgeous green eyes of the man that she had missed so much. As she bursts into tears, he lets go of her hand and comes round to give her one of those hugs that she had been so desperate for, and as the hug continues he says with some emotion in his own voice "I promise you that I will do all I can to get you out of here and we will prove your innocence no matter what, and I will always be here for you."

As she begins to settle she does a weak smile as he then lets go of her, but goes onto the floor on his knees and goes back to holding her hands as she answers "I know you will be Jason, which is why I made dad call you, because I knew you would be the only one that could help me. I'm sorry too for what I said and I wish that I hadn't just run away , I know that I did it because it was just so hard for me to see you around, but if I hadn't have done it… well then I wouldn't have been in this mess now. Look I know that we have a long way to go and in time I will be able to forgive you Jason and I think all this has shown me how much I do still love you too, but I think that there will need to be a lot of talking to come when all of this is over."

"I promise you that I will do all that I can to get you back again and also get you back home to New York again, that's if you do come home of course."

She sighs and says "I probably will come home, but even I know now that I'm going to have to make quite a few decisions, because how I am feeling at the moment I don't think that I can face being an agent ever again, so I'll have to decide on what to do next, but there's also dad now as well. I know that we're not that far away from DC, but we were just getting to know each other as this happened and I feel that we've still got a way to go yet."

"Well I don't know about you, but for now let's just say in this year I've learnt the hard way with both my health and loosing you that I need to work on what I want and need in my life… so as we start to work on us and when this is all over how about we go away or something and work on us as well as have a good rest?"

She replies "I'll think about it, but be honest with me Jason; I can see how much weight you've lost and how much better you look since the last time we saw each other and to calm my fears down from the dream that felt so real and scared me, did you have a heart attack?"

"I was going to tell you the truth, but did say to Marissa that I didn't want to tell you in here or while we were worrying about this case, but as you've asked me… yes I did have a heart attack, I went to Arizona to this place for rehab that did really help me. It has been very hard since I've got back with things that have happened, but I promise you that I am working very hard to stay healthy and fit, I've also been back to see Amy since I got back from there and I am keeping a regular appointment with her."

She says "I'm glad that you're ok, but it doesn't feel good that the feelings I had for it happening came true or that the dream I had today may have actually been what happened. I know we will have to talk about this, but I am happy that you are at least doing all you can to stay fit and healthy now."

"So for now we'd better call this a day otherwise we'll run out of time, so tell me what happened with this man that Gibbs thinks set you up?"

She answers "Well first of all have you got some paper?" As he hands over a notebook and pen, she carries on saying as she writes something out "Give this to Cable this will give you a lot of information you may have to use." She then notices the look on his face and then says "What is it Jason?"

"We lost Cable, I'm sorry to spring it on you. She went missing at the same time as I came back to work again after having the three/four months off, we had just started on my first case back at work again and there had been a bridge collapse, later that first day on the case Chunk was waiting at TAC for me when I got back after court, everyone had gone home early because we'd had confirmation on her remains being found, she had been on the bridge at the time."

"I'm so sorry Jason."

He says with some sadness "I do still miss her you know? But we have got someone new with us now, her name is Tara and she used to work at Homeland security with Marissa, so I'll make sure that she gets this, talking of Marissa she sends her love along with everyone else."

"I know you probably miss her, strangely she was one of the ones I did really miss as well, along with Marissa, so please thank her. You know me and Cable did stay in touch for a while, but in the end things just trailed off. It's a real shame about what happened too because I know that she was looking forward to the trip as she was planning on it probably as you did the last case." She then pauses and adds "Ok, other than what is in the code in the hidden file you get there, the other thing was he thought I was taking what should have been his job away from him."

"How do you mean?"

She answers "Look I know for a fact that he was never even in the running for the job anyway, because he got in his application after the closing date anyway, but also and I'm not sure if agent Fornell knows this or not, but something had happened during the last case that this agent was on, and even my sources haven't told me exactly what happened, so I can't tell you that. All I can say is that everyone thinks that with the events that happened and then his application for the job going in as soon as the team he was on got back to DC, he was trying to in part get away from his problems. The only other thing I know was that due to the events he has been put under investigation, so even if he had managed to get the application in on time, then he wouldn't have been up for the job anyway because of it. I don't believe any of the stuff that has come up over me killing the victim of this because of him being a relative of one of my dads killers, but along with the revenge for getting his job factor, I'm suspicious about the agent as well, because quite a few of my sources have also told me that his whole file seems to be a bit suspicious in his background stuff and things, plus there's loads about him being bought up by his mom as a single parent, but there is nothing at all in there about his father, there's also other stuff rumoured not to have made it into his file as well, which normally would be there because of it being apart of the checks the FBI do on you when you apply to be an agent. Plus why would I want revenge on a relative anyway? Dad investigated and found out who did it, one of them I know was killed in action just before he could be arrested, but the other two were arrested and are now both serving their time and I'm happy just to know that they are in jail where they should be. If you do get to meet this agent Sacks though you'll soon see why dad doesn't like him all that much, because he's one of those people that think he's above everyone in the pecking order and that everyone they pull in even just to interview is guilty of the crime that was supposed to have been committed, and again from sources I know that he has been in trouble for that as well, not only over the people he had in with Dad's team, but also other occasions as well."

"Well I promise you that we will look into every angle with this Sacks and find out why you have been set up for this, because I know that you are innocent and could never do this, even if I didn't know you in the way that I do I would know that you didn't do this."

Just as he finishes saying it his phone goes, so he takes it out of his pocket, looks at it and says "I'm not going anywhere, but I need to answer this." He then goes to the side of the room, talks for a few minutes and then comes back to her taking her hand, as he then says "We've struck lucky, once Benny, Kerry, Gibbs and Bishop get here, we're all escorting you to your cell for you to get packed up and you're out of here, although you are going to be under protective custody."

She says in some surprise "How, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure as they said they would explain everything later, but Kerry and Benny had managed to get a bail hearing and were thinking that they were just going to get you out of here for that. Tara had been working on some of that CCTV stuff and not only managed to get into the hack, got the evidence to show how the person that did it, did it to make it look like you weren't with the team and your dad. It's been enough to get the charges dropped for now, but Gibbs isn't trusting that either the person will attempt to do something else or that they won't actually come after you, so that is why it's got to be protective custody and why we're all going back to your cell with you, just in case they have someone on the inside here."

With that she takes the piece of paper that she wrote the code on and then writes Mark Parsons, and with a movement of his head Bull nods towards the door where they know that he still outside of, to which she nods in the affirmative in their moment of silent communication. Of course with that she could see instantly the look of concern that came over his face, so she looked to him to give her another piece of paper and he ended up giving her the notebook, she then wrote that nothing really bad had happened with him, but she didn't want to chance writing anything else down in case there was an attempt for someone to get hold of the book, but she would give him the book she'd kept well hidden in her cell that documented everything and she would also talk over things with him once she was out of there. As she then actually spoke and said "Because right from the off with us now, I don't want us hiding anything from one another now."

To which he responded "And I want that very much too, but I also want you to promise me something else."

She replied "And what's that?"

"Once we're out of here and even if you are in protective custody you will let us take you to the hospital to get you checked out. I can tell that you most probably haven't been sleeping well in here, and I also know that you haven't been eating properly either, because you have lost so much weight. I know that I had my own health problems and yes I will be standing by you every step of the way in all this, but I don't want to see you ending up in hospital because you are seriously ill."

She then answered as she took his hand "I promise that I will let that happen, but you must promise me first that you will let me go back to dads first, so that I can have a freshen up and get out of this prison stuff, because I don't want to go to hospital while still in this stuff at least, plus I want to have some reassurance for myself anyway."

"How do you mean?"

She replies "Yes I know that the not sleeping well is down to me stressing in here about anyone being possibly let into my cell to do goodness knows what, and that when I did get any sleep I would wake up at any single sound I heard in case it was someone slipping in or something like that, and I also know that me not eating well has been down to my worry and stress as well, but I have also been feeling sick and being sick most of the day from the moment I wake up, to the moment I go to sleep and I would like to find out what's going on with me."

He takes her hand and says "And I promise you that I will be there by your side, whenever you need me to be."

To which she squeezes the hands they're holding and whispers "Thank you" back at him.

Following everyone getting to the prison, everything seemed to happen really fast, one minute she and Bull were on their own and the next thing Benny and Kerry arrived, shortly after that it was Gibbs with Bishop and also the prison governor. Although the main shock ended up being that because Gibbs wanted a few minutes alone with Annabella, but as he'd gone a little bit ahead of Bishop, Mark had tried to stop him entering the room stating that he couldn't go in there because he was Annabella's father and wasn't apart of her legal team. The next thing they knew was that as the governor came up and told Mark that he was allowed to be let in, Mark tried to stand his ground and said that he was sticking with the rules and the governor couldn't just go over the top of those rules because of some father wanting just to get in there more often to see his daughter than any other normal person would. As they got the room door open Benny and Kerry managed to get inside, but Mark's argument with the governor continued and even with the governor finally bringing out her release papers from the court and saying that the NCIS agents were there to escort her to her cell to collect her stuff because she was going straight into protective custody, they then guessed that Mark must have made an attempt of going for her cell because of the way that there were footsteps running away and then shouts from both Gibbs and Bishop. With the way that Bull was holding her hand tightly, she guessed that he was trying to reassure her that they wouldn't let him get anywhere near her cell and start searching it because of him knowing what she wanted to give him from there and what was hidden.

In the end it was quite a long time later that Gibbs finally got back to them, he'd had to call out McGee and Torres because in the end they'd had to arrest Mark because not only had he put up a fight against them, but also because he had been so determined to get into her cell and search it without authorisation because he allegedly knew that she was hiding some contraband in there and he was going to make sure that the court order wouldn't stand and she would be remaining in that prison, but now he'd been arrested and would be fully investigated. To which She and Bull then told him of their suspicions, then after that she surprised both Gibbs and Bull by saying "If it will help keep in a bit longer and so that he can have a taste of his own medicine, I would like him charged with assault." As she saw the look on both of their faces, she took both their hands and quickly added "I was telling the truth Jason it's nothing like that, but let's just say on a couple of occasions he has just been a little handy with his fists, it's all documented in the thing hidden in my cell that I was going to give you and I will also do a statement if you really need it as well."

With that Bull said "And if he is apart of all this as we suspected he most knew or suspected that you were doing something like keep a journal, and that was why he wanted to get into your cell, so he could get to it before you could give it to us or even get it to those involved so that they could forge some things in there to make it look even more like you did the murder."

Gibbs then says "We will charge him if you are very certain about this, but most importantly even though I am proud of you for wanting to do this, I want you to go to the hospital and get checked out, just in case he has caused you some damage that you haven't had treated, and I want you checked out anyway because I also want to see you fit and healthy once again."

She answers "And so do I, as I already promised Jason that I would go, only if you let me go home first and at least get some of this place washed off of me first."

He says "Ok you can do that, but as soon as you have done, it's straight off to the hospital with you. Now I know that I said I did want to have sometime to ourselves, but I think with what has happened we ought to make a move before anything else happens."

Home at last

The moment that they all walked out of the prison doors and before they started to walk to the car Annabella took her first breath of freedom, but the thing she loved the most was the way that both her father and Bull had their arms round her, and even though she knew that she was now going to be stuck in protective custody, at least she was home and could at least begin to put some of her life back together once again, although she did also find herself saying a little prayer that it would be freedom for good and that whoever was setting her up wouldn't make an attempt at getting her back into that hell hole once again.

As Annabella was doing her freshen up upstairs in the bathroom, Bull and Gibbs remained in the kitchen to give her some privacy, but to also give them a chance to talk while Gibbs also got a coffee. Gibbs then said as it was ready and they remained where they were in the kitchen "So truthfully how do you think she's doing?"

Bull answered "I have a feeling that it has taken a big toll on her, and I think it's going to take her a long time to recover. I can see that with the way that she has given in over going to the hospital, because with as stubborn as she can get sometimes I fully expected a big fight to get her there, so I must admit that I was surprised she gave in so easily. I know that she also said that she didn't think that she could face being an agent again, and even if we do eventually get some therapy in place for her or something I don't think she will ever find her way back again, even if she is with a team that she trusts implicitly, I think it will always remain at the back of her mind that something like this could happen all over again."

"I know that some of that stubbornness comes from me, but a lot of it also comes from her mom, so you think that she will go for therapy?"

Bull says "I think she will, once we've got the trip to the hospital sorted out I'm going to get in touch with a friend in New York and see if she knows someone she could recommend, unless you know someone?"

"Well there is Dr Cranston. She's a psychologist who works with us at NCIS and she is very good, but she does have a history with us, and to cut a long story short she is the sister of agent Kaitlin Todd, who was killed by Ari Aswari a very long time ago now. I can see though that she is also going to need a lot of building up, she's lost so much weight, and I hate to say it about my own daughter, but she looks like a puff of wind will just blow her over."

Bull says "That she does and it does worry me when she said that she'd been sick constantly, but I don't understand why she didn't go to the Dr there. I know that we're going to have make sure that we follow any plans that the hospital put in place to get her eating and things properly once again, but I also want to make sure that we are there with her when they go through things because I am concerned that they may try to admit her because they think she has an eating disorder or something, which I really don't think is the problem. I think that it's stress and there may also be something else going on as well, but to what it is I haven't got a clue."

"What about the journal?"

"I will go through it, even if I don't really want to do it because I know it's going to be very difficult to read it, even if she has given her permission that we can, it still feels wrong doing it. Anything it throws up I will obviously either give it to you or my team, because even though we're not working towards a trial now with her, I hope, I do still have a feeling that we are going to have to do all we can to get the person that did this to her, in case the FBI just tries to palm us off or something. Not only that if she isn't going to be an agent ever again, I would also like to see her go out with her name cleared, rather than a mark on her right at the end of her career there."

Gibbs says "I agree with you there and honestly I would prefer to know the truth and also know that she is clear and no-one can come after her anymore."

"Which is what I want too."

They then get interrupted by a shout from upstairs from Annabella shouting for Bull, he puts his own cup of drink down and goes rushing upstairs, when he gets up there, he finds her on the bathroom floor and dressed, with concern he says "Are you ok?"

She responds weakly "I'm stuck down here Jason, I went dizzy and went down, now I can't get up."

He then gets down and helps her up, as she has another wobble he says "Don't worry I'm here for you."

As she has another wobble she says "I love you Jason." Before she then collapses completely into his arms, he first of all rushes her to the nearest bedroom to check her breathing and pulse, after finding that they're both ok, he sweeps her up into his arms once again and as he moves as fast as he can and as he comes down the stairs he says "Gibbs we need to get her to hospital now!" With that Gibbs grabs his badge and gun as quick as he can, along with the car keys, as he yells at Bishop and Torres to help them get her into the car and with that they rush her to the hospital.

A/N: Hi, I hope you enjoy the new update! & I know I've left you on a bit of a cliff hanger, but I promise to update when I can!

I was in two minds about whether to stay with Cable still being alive or not, but I decided to keep with some of the latest season cannon,

even though this is AU. I was also in two minds because of not having seen the new person yet, but I think she will be coming into the

next ep that we get here in the UK! For Annabella's dream about Bull having the heart attack I was drawing on some of my own feelings of

how I get affected each time I see the end of season 2, it gives me the shivers every time! Xxx. D. :0)