Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of it's characters.
Chapter 3
Taylor left Jason at the bottom of his drive. He didn't seem in the least bit worried about putting the gun back. Taylor was just relieved she didn't have to do it. She made her way along the side of the house and in through the back door. Patricia was sitting at the table drinking coffee.
"FREEZE!" Gibbs was standing at the sink.
Taylor froze. "What'd I do?"
"Shoes."
She looked down at her mud covered feet before reversing back out the door and kicking them off.
"How did he skating go?" Patricia asked.
"Okay."
"You didn't fall then?"
"Nope."
Taylor had almost made it through the kitchen when her dad asked another question.
"Where'd the mud come from?" he nodded at the mud splattered on her jeans.
Taylor looked down at her pants. "We, ah, took a short cut."
"Uh huh."
"I'll go change." Not meeting his eye, she skirted past him and up the stairs to her room.
*******
Gibbs refilled his mug and sat down beside Patricia. "Do you think she's telling the truth?"
"I'm not sure. You don't think she went skating?"
He shook his head before taking another sip of his coffee. "I think she's up to something. I just don't know what." They both looked up when Taylor dropped her skates upstairs with a loud clatter. "But I'm gonna find out."
"How do you plan on doing that?"
"I have no idea yet. I can tell when Taylor's lying, but it's a whole different ball game trying to get the truth out of her."
Patricia smiled. "I can believe that."
He smiled back. "Yeah, I'm just gonna have to keep a close eye on her until I figure out what's going on."
*******
Taylor sat down on her bed. She wasn't ready to go back downstairs yet. Maybe sneaking off with Jason and his gun hadn't been such a good idea, although she had to admit she'd really enjoyed herself. It had been one hell of an adrenalin rush, even though they'd just been shooting at a tree. Unfortunately now she had this really nasty feeling her dad knew. Not about the gun, if he'd figured that part out, he would have pounced as soon as she'd walked in and she'd be in a world of hurt by now. But he knew she hadn't been at the skate park. She was gonna have to play it really cool, and just hope she didn't make him any more suspicious. At least Patricia was there to distract him. Trying to convince herself she was innocent, Taylor took a deep breath and went downstairs to see what was going on. She could still hear them chatting in the kitchen, so Taylor decided the living room would be a safer bet. Picking up the TV remote she stretched out on the couch and channel surfed.
*******
"You not gonna give us a hand?"
At least he didn't sound mad. Groaning, Taylor rolled off the couch and followed the voice into the kitchen.
"You can help Patricia with the salad."
Maybe she'd been a little paranoid earlier. He seemed to have forgotten about the mud. She relaxed a little. "Is Abby coming?"
"Should be here any minute. Tony's coming too, now quit talking and start washing." He pointed towards a pile of tomatoes.
"Anyone ever tell you you're a slave driver."
"All the time."
Taylor was drying her hands when someone grabbed her from behind and started tickling her.
Dropping the towel she giggled and tried to wriggle away. "Tony, pack it in!"
He let her go. "You been staying out of trouble?"
"Course I have." Taylor crossed her arms and glared at him. "Have you?"
" I don't know what you mean, I'm never in trouble." He grinned, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a DVD case. " Got a real classic for this afternoon if you want to watch. E.T."
"E.T. is a classic?"
Tony tried to look offended. "Who's the movie expert here?"
"You are Tony." Taking the DVD off him she sat down at the table to read the back of the box.
*******
Lunch was better than she had expected. Maybe it was just the guilt wearing off, but Taylor was starting to think she had been worrying about nothing. Maybe she was getting better at lying, I mean with all the practice she'd had, she was bound to get away with it sometime. Taylor glanced at her father again. He was listening intently to Abby who was rambling on about some new piece of equipment for her lab. Yep, if he had suspected she'd been lying he would have kicked off earlier. He hadn't even given her that look she really hated, the one that made her squirm. She was home free, and hopefully Jason was too.
