Chapter 3

I awoke to the sound of 'Struck By Lightning'. I found it odd that my dad would know of it, but it turns out I slept with my ear buds in... Whoops.

I checked the time. 6:45. I was up early.

I wandered out of the small room, and into the blinding way the light is when you first wake up. Dad saw me.

'Morning sleepy head.'

'Mmf.' I grunted.

'Sleep well?'

I nodded drowsily.

'That's great. Abby's thrilled to meet you.'

'That's cool. Um, you wouldn't mind if I grabbed a quick shower?'

'Be my guest.'

I wandered off to the bathroom, hopped in and turned on the water.

Ten minuets later, I was scrubbed, dressed and smelling like vanilla. My total mess of waves was pulled into a messy ponytail. I cracked a smile though, because the Colette Carr lyrics 'sweeter than vanilla you're delicious' described me perfectly right about now.

'Ready to go?' I held up my Hello Kitty messenger bag; which contained a notebook, sketchpad, laptop , blackberry, iPod, hoodie and camera. What ever would happen, I was prepared.

He opened the door, when I face palmed myself.

'I forgot my glasses!' I ran back to the room I slept in, and grabbed the Domo case off the night stand.

'You wear glasses?'

'Not all the time. Mostly for driving though.'

'I see. No pun intended.'

I cracked a grin as I put them on my face. They're what most people would call 'hipster' glasses; and honestly, I am pretty hipster; in my own ways ...

'You look pretty cute with your glasses on. All the boys must be falling ass over tea kettle for you.'

'...' I just turned away, and stared out the window. It's not like I was keeping anything from him... It was just awkward for me.

Half an hour later, we pulled up to the Washington Navy Yard.

'You work for the navy?'

'NCIS to be precise.'

'Super cool. People must be super jelly.'

'Jelly?'

'Jealous.'

He laughed. It was filled with warmth; it was nice.

'Hey, DiNozzo! Who's the chick?' a burley man shouted.

'This is Natalia, she'll kick your ass if you call her a chick again!'

'Whatever.'

We kept driving; until we pulled up to NCIS. This was really exciting.

He pulled into a parking spot, then turned off the car, un-buckled his seat belt and popped the trunk in one smooth motion.

'Whoa.' I said.

'It's typical.' he said with a smile.

He got out, grabbed my bag, and opened my door.

'Thanks' I said with a grin.

He handed me my bag, and closed my door behind me.

'C'mon, this way.' he pointed towards the security checkpoint.

'Mornin' Tony. Who's the girl?' an older man said politely

'Morning, Rob. This is Natalia; my daughter.'

'Never mentioned you had a kid DiNozzo.'

'Just found out.'

'mmhmmm... Miss, can I see some ID?'

I handed him my school ID. I hated the picture, but it was better than nothing.

'Looks like you're all clear Miss Saint.' he handed me a small plastic badge. 'Keep that visible at all times, or you will be asked to leave. Not that you'll need to.' he said with a smile.

Dad and I got into an elevator. He pushed the down button.

'Where I'm going is underground?'

'Sure is! Abby loves it like that.'

'Awesome sauce.'

He just laughed. The doors slid open, and the sugar-sweet piano chords for 'Kill My Boyfriend' started blaring out at us.

'Natalia Kills. Nice.'

We walked into a brightly lit room, and I saw a petite girl, decked out in full goth attire standing at a computer.

'Hey, Abby!'

The girl turned around and paused the music.

'Hi, Tony!' she said excitedly. She ran over and hugged him.

'I'm so excited to meet her! Where is she?'

'Right behind me!'

She got off him, and looked around. When she spotted me, I got probably one of the biggest hugs ever.

'Hi! I'm Abby!'

I giggled.

'I'm Natalia. You usually hug people the first time you meet them?'

'Oh! No! But you're Tony's daughter, and Tony loves my hugs!

I just laughed.

'Abby, you're crushing my pancreas.' I joked.

'Ohmygoshimsosorry!'

I just laughed.

'Abby, I'm joking'

She giggled, gosh she's adorable.

'Well, I have to get upstairs, Gibbs may or may not shoot me... And no teaching my daughter how to hack computers!'

We both laughed.

'I promise! Bye Tony!'

'Bye dad!'

He waved, and hopped into the elevator.

Abby hit the button to restart the music. Natalia Kills again; but it was 'Wonderland' this time.

I smiled and pulled out my laptop, so I could skype with the rest of the band.

A little while later, I was greeted by;

'NATALIA! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!' Tiana, our drummer screamed.

'Tiana, calm down. I'm in DC. Tell Martin to stop worrying. I'm fine' by Martin, I was referring to Cherry Cherry Boom Boom, our boss.

'Martin is freaking out. He's gonna kill you when you get back.'

'If he kills me, how will I perform?' I replied sarcastically.

She just glared at me.

'Dude, seriously. Braydon was freaking his little ass off. He NEVER does that. We though you went AWOL on us.'

'Psh, hardly. Tell Breeanna to keep mixing for the next track. I'll be home soon enough.'

'Thalia is freaking out. You really think it was smart to leave your GIRLFRIEND behind?'

'... Shit. I have to go.'

'NATALIA CHLOE ISA-'

I cut her off.

'Jesus.' I exasperated.

'What's up?' Abby asked

'Drama. My friends are freaking out that I just got up and left, and Martin, our boss, is apparently threatening to kill me when I get back... Ah, the life of being in Cherry tree rec...'

'Cherry tr- OHMYGOSH! YOUR NATALIA SAINT FROM-'

'SHH! Even my DAD doesn't know yet!'

'WHYY? THIS IS SO COOL!'

I face palmed myself. There was no calming this chick down.

'Abby, I came to find my dad. Not be swarmed by paparazzi. If they found out about this, nothing would ever be the same.'

'Got it. But still!' she eagerly exclaimed.

'Oy vey.' I muttered under my breath.

Abby went back to her work, and I took out my sketchpad.

Whenever I get anxious, I draw. I drew a super detailed drawing of my BGF (Best guy friend) and mentor Frankmusik, one of my many best friends, Kelli and one of my girlfriend. Suddenly, I missed them all like hell.

A tear leaked from my eye. And another. And another.

Abby must have heard me over the music, because she whipped around and saw me crying.

'Natalia! What's wrong?'

I wiped away the tears.

'n-n-nothing.'

'Natalia.'

'I miss my friends, okay?'

'Ohh...' she came up and hugged me. 'You'll be okay. I didn't move around much, but did anyone tell you I'm adopted?'

I shook my head.

'See? We've gone through similar things. Although...'

'What?'

'Never mind, not important.'

'Mmkay.'

I plugged in again; got out my laptop to check my email.

There were about a dozen or so. 4 from Martin, 3 from the band, 3 from various peoples and two from my girlfriend. Shit shit shit shit shit.

I checked the ones from Martin first.

From: Martin Subject: Where the hell are you?

Natalia,

Where are you girl? This is getting bad, Thal's is getting antsy and isn't leaving me alone.

Martin

From: Martin Subject: Really Nat

Natalia,

This is getting out of hand, WHERE ARE YOU?

Martin

From: Martin Subject: Nataliaaaa

If you don't reply to my next email, I'm gonna call the cops

Martin

From: Martin Subject: okay. Last one.

Nat,

You have two days. CALL. US.

Martin

I pulled out my phone