Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters.

Chapter 3

As soon as they pulled into the driveway Taylor, skates off and in her socks, attempted to get out of the car. She needed to get to Abby, fast. Twice she tried to open the door before realising the child locks were on. When the hell did Tony ever use child locks? Not willing to wait for Tony to let her out, Taylor clambered through into the front of the car and out through the driver's door, before bolting down the side of the house and in through the back door.

Taylor threw herself at Abby, wrapping her arms around her tightly, adding a few tears for effect. Under normal circumstances she would have stormed upstairs to her room, but her ass was on the line and she didn't want to risk Tony getting her on her own.

"What happened?" Standing in the middle of the living room with Taylor almost surgically attached Abby could see Tony through the window, talking to Jason.

"Tony spanked me, right in front of everyone!" Taylor cried harder. If she managed to pull this off she'd deserve an Oscar. "I'm never gonna be able to go back there. Ever! I want my mom."

Abby tried to calm her down but the kid seemed inconsolable. Taylor could see Tony as well and Abby felt her tense up when he started to move towards the front door.

"Why don't you wait in the kitchen until I talk to Tony."

Wanting to put off her confrontation with Tony for as long as possible, Taylor sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes before retreating to the kitchen.

The instant Tony stepped into the room Abby started on him. "How could you spank her in front of her friends Tony? We're supposed to be doing things my way, remember?"

"Where is she?"

"In the kitchen. I wanted to talk to you first."

Striding from the room Tony returned a few seconds later, dragging his wayward goddaughter behind him. Pulling her in front of him Tony rested his hands on Taylor's shoulders and pointed her towards Abby.

"Tell her what happened." Tony ground out.

"Already told her." Taylor shuffled uncomfortably, socks slipping on the wooden floor.

"Tell her all of it Taylor."

Turning her head Taylor looked up at him. "Don't wanna."

"Do you want to stand in the corner until you do?"

"Tony! Taylor whined. "I'm sorry, alright?"

"Last chance." He warned.

"Fine!" Resisting the urge to stomp her foot Taylor looked back to Abby. "I told him to leave me alone."

Taylor felt herself being pushed towards the corner. This was not going the way she'd hoped. "Wait! I'll tell her!" She dropped her eyes to the floor, and spoke quickly. "I told him to leave me the fuck alone."

"Why would you do that?" Abby was shocked at the language. "Is that why you spanked her Tony?"

"Oh she's not done yet Abs." He waited for Taylor to continue.

Taylor closed her eyes. "I ...ah... might have told him to ah ... go fuck himself."

When she opened her eyes Abby was right in front of her.

"How could you say something like that?"

"I'm sorry, I lost my temper." She glanced at Tony but he seemed to be more interested in Abby.

He didn't take his eyes off the goth when he spoke again. "What time did Jared get picked up Taylor?"

Shit! She'd forgotten about that. "Not sure."

"Take a guess." Tony prompted.

"It was definitely after seven Tony."

"You know your dads calling tonight. He's not real keen on lying is he?"

The threat was clear and highly effective. Taylor felt her face flush. "Maybe ten past seven, but I was only gonna stay a bit longer. I didn't realise how late it was, honest!" The silence that followed was so unbearable Taylor had to break it. "Better late than never, huh?"

Abby tapped her foot repeatedly on the floor, clearly not impressed. "I'm really disappointed in your behaviour."

Hanging her head Taylor waited for Abby to pass sentence.

"For the rest of the week I want you in bed by eight thirty."

Taylor's head whipped up. "All week?"

"I could make it eight o'clock!" Abby warned.

"No, eight thirty seems fair." She told her quickly.

"You also owe Tony an apology."

She could do that. "Sorry Tony, I didn't mean, you know, what I said. I'm supposed to count to ten so I don't lose my temper."

Tony acknowledged her apology with a nod.

Normal 'happy' Abby returned. "Now that's all settled, you two need to eat. You both missed dinner.

o

Not wanting to push her luck any further, Taylor kept a low profile the next day, making sure she wasn't late for either lunch or dinner. She also avoided the skate park for obvious reasons and had spent most of her time in the woods. Underneath the calm, compliant exterior however, Taylor was still seething about the swat Tony had given her in front of her friends. He was going to pay for that, just as soon as she figured out how.

The idea hit as Taylor lay in bed, listening to the muffled sound of the TV coming from downstairs. Everyone else was downstairs, no doubt enjoying their 'Taylor free' time. Well right now it suited her perfectly to be separated from the others. As quietly as she could, Taylor tiptoed across the landing into her mom and dad's room. Easily finding what she was looking for she then headed straight into Tony's room. It was just too easy Taylor thought as she slipped safely back into bed, mission complete. Tony was so gonna regret smacking her. Her godfather was going to become intimately acquainted with karma.

By the following morning Taylor had forgotten all about her plan for revenge. She had more important things to worry about, the main one being the fact that it was raining, and Abby was making her stay indoors. After a lengthy argument they reached a compromise. Jared and Jason were coming to watch a DVD after lunch. Taylor hadn't missed the large selection of movies Tony had brought with him, or that Poltergeist was one of them. She'd wanted to watch that for ages, but her ban on horror films had kind of got in the way of that. Now with Tony safely at work the ideal opportunity had presented itself.

The four of them sat lined up on the couch. Vicky, Jason, Taylor and Jared, sharing two giant bowls of popcorn between them. The curtains had been closed for effect and Abby had been banished upstairs with her laptop after promising not to bother them while the movie was running.

Everything went smoothly until the end of the film when Jared jumped, propelling one of the bowls of popcorn into the air.

Jason was not going to give up the opportunity to belittle the boy in front of Taylor. "You're such a loser! Scared of a few coffins!"

Taylor immediately sprung to Jared's defence. "Leave him alone Jason and don't be such an asshole! He's not scared, he just jumped."

Not happy with Taylor's reaction Jason didn't want to let it drop. "Yeah he is, can't even speak for himself!"

"I am NOT scared!" Jared finally found his voice.

Both boys were on their feet now, toe to toe. "Okay, prove it!"

Taylor watched the pair with interest, not sure what the big deal was. What she did know though, was if they were going to fight Jason was gonna get a hell of a surprise. He didn't know Jared boxed.

"How am I supposed to do that? We're not exactly surrounded by dead people, are we?"

"That can be arranged, but you're probably too scared to do it!" Jason taunted.

Standing up, Taylor placed herself between the two. "Pack it in Jason! He doesn't have to prove himself to you!"

Jared did not see it that way. Jason was pissing him off big time, and making him look small in front of Taylor. "What do I have to do?" It was a question he knew he'd regret.

"Spend some time in a graveyard." Smirking, Jason continued. "At midnight."

"You think I can sneak out, just like that?" The Vance home also had a security system installed.

Jason reclaimed his spot on the couch, and tried to avoid the angry looks Vicky was aiming in his direction. "See! Told ya he's scared!" He was not expecting what Jared said next.

"Okay, but if I do it, so do you!" Jared grinned as Jason's smirk quickly vanished.

All eyes were on him. Jason didn't have a choice. If he said no then he would be the one who looked like a loser. "Fine."

"Wait a minute! How the hell are you planning to get out at that time of the night Jared?" Taylor was stunned at this new side to her friend.

"Easy. I just won't go home." He made it sound simple.

"You're crazy, your dad will kill you!"

Jared shrugged, looking a lot braver than he felt.

The way Jared was impressing Taylor did not sit well with Jason. "You in Taylor?" He wanted her to be there to see Jared when he freaked out.

Taylor whipped round so fast she almost lost her balance. "Me? How the fuck did I get dragged into this?"

"Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck!" Was the only answer Jason gave.

"I AM NOT SCARED JASON!" Right now she'd like nothing more than to give him a good smack. He wasn't normally such a pain in the ass.

"Don't be an idiot Taylor, do you really want to piss Tony and Abby off any more than you already have?" Vicky was trying to be the voice of reason, not that anyone was listening.

Jason recognised the opportunity Vicky was giving him. "Sorry Taylor, she's right. If you're scared of getting sent to bed early you wouldn't last long in a dark, scary graveyard."

Taylor took the bait, hook, line and sinker. "Wanna bet?"

o

When Taylor had asked Jason if he wanted to bet she'd meant it. She wasn't willing to land herself in trouble for nothing, after all it was the two boys who wanted to prove themselves. If she made it through the witching hour Jason's flip camera was hers, and if she chickened out he would be the new owner of her PSP.

Luckily for the three intrepid ghost hunters the rain cleared up later that afternoon. As soon as the planning began Vicky made herself scarce, the less she knew the better. As for as she was concerned they were all nuts.

About an hour before dinner, which coincided with the time Jared was to be picked up, the little team filed out of the house. Abby's warning not to be late was still ringing in their ears as they turned the corner at the end of the street. For a while they walked in silence, each one hoping that the others would suddenly decide to back out, but not willing to do so themselves.

The whole idea of looking for ghosts had sounded exciting, but in reality it was one of the most boring things Taylor had ever done. They had killed a lot of time messing around in their favourite part of the woods, until they couldn't put it off any longer. The light was almost completely gone by the time the trio made their way through the elaborate cast iron gates of the cemetery. It wasn't one of the modern graveyards Taylor had seen before. Instead it was relatively small and surrounded by an extremely tall stone wall. Shining her torch at the headstones she checked out some of the dates. The oldest one she'd found so far was 1867. It was hard to imagine the person buried there had once been alive like her.

Jason led them to the area where the headstones were replaced by crypts. Choosing a rather imposing one, he sat down and leant against its wall. Jared and Taylor did the same. At least that way nothing could sneak up behind them. All they could do now was wait, wait and wait some more.

Taylor found herself constantly checking her watch. It wasn't that she was scared of ghosts, although the smallest noise had them on full alert, it was the whole going home thing she was worried about. Tony and Abby would be frantic by now and there was a good chance they'd contacted her mom and dad. Still, they had long since past the point of no return, and Taylor was determined to keep her PSP, so for the next hour and twenty minutes she was stuck between Jared and Jason. That was no picnic either, they were huddled together so tightly she could hardly move.

Closing her eyes Taylor imagined what she would be able to do with her new camera.

The highlight of their stakeout came in the form of a cat that had strolled nonchalantly past them, head held high, flicking its tail from side to side. When one o'clock finally arrived Jason admitted defeat. Taylor had won his flip camera fair and square while Jared had proved he wasn't so easily scared after all. Not keen on going home to face angry parents, or in Taylor's case babysitters, they took their time walking in the direction of the entrance. Engrossed in shining her torch on various headstones Taylor didn't realise Jason had stopped moving until she bumped into him. She directed the beam of light at whatever it was Jason was looking at. A thick chain now secured the closed gates. They were locked in.