Authors Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter! I was having a difficult time getting it to work out, so I hope it was worth it in the end. Thanks for all of the comments! And for all the questions about Kate opening up to the Gibbs' I guess you will just have to wait and see :)

Discaimer: Nope, still don't own NCIS

Shannon dresses into her pajamas and got into bed next to Jethro. She rubbed her eyes and let out a sigh.

"Are you doing okay Shan?" Jethro asked her.

"I just, I don't see why Kate won't talk to me. I'm starting to get really worried about her. I've been her teacher for half a year, and she has changed so much." Shannon said worried.

"Well you can't expect her to be okay right away. After her parents have been in the accident and now she is in a weird environment away from home."


Kate slowly opened her eyes and yawned, her lips were dry. She reached over to get her water glass from the bedside table, and saw that it was empty. She looked over at the clock and it read 12:00. She slowly dragged her feet out of bed and quietly opened the door, not wanting to wake anybody up. She tiptoed through the hallway and heard voices coming out of the Gibbs's room. She was surprised that they were up at this hour, usually she would just keep walking but she happened to hear her name as she passed by.

"I know, but it can't keep going on with Kate." A soft voice said, most likely Shannon.

"I understand," a gruff voice, Mr. Gibbs, agreed.

"What are we going to do? Should we call someone? We can't handle this." Shannon said.

Kate tried to figure out what they were saying about her. Were they saying they couldn't handle her? Has she been too much of a hassle? But then she figured it out. They don't want me here. I was right all along. She should have known that this wouldn't last. She had just hoped her parents would be better by then. She felt her eyes well and she ran back into the room.


Jethro pulled Shannon into a hug, "Shannon, you are the nicest, most generous person in the world. And if anyone can handle this, it is you. I know that and I bet Kate knows that. Right now it's just hard for her and in time I think she will get better."

"What if I can't handle it? What if I didn't do enough?"

"Shannon, trust me. Things will get better."


What am I going to do, she asked herself. If they didn't want her here then she wasn't planning on staying. She grabbed her bag and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a sweater, put them on and grabbed the cash she had. She also put her cell phone in her pocket. Within a few minutes she was out the front door and running down the street. She sprinted down the street not looking back. She had nowhere to go, the thought dawned on her. Yet she continued to run into the darkness and finally made it to a park. Her breath was short and she was sobbing. She collapsed into the cold grass. She looked up, but the stars were just blurs of light through her tears. Finally knowing that she had nowhere to go she took out her phone and dialed Abby's number.

"Hello?" A groggy voice answered.

"Abby!" Kate sobbed into the phone.

Abby was immediately wide awake and sitting up in bed, "What is it Kate, what's wrong?"

Kate tried to explain, but it all came out in a jumbled mess.

"Kate are you at Mrs. Gibbs's?"

"No."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at the blue tree park, I think."

Abby's eyes glistened with worry, "You stay there I'll be there in 5 minutes."

Abby hung up the phone and quickly scrawled a barely legible note for her parents. She didn't even bother changing into real clothes. She quickly pulled out her phone and called Tony, "Tony meet me at Blue Tree Park, Kate is there!"

"What?" Tony asked confused and tired.

"Meet me at the park. Kate needs us." Abby said, just a millisecond slower.

"Abs… I dunno, Kate and me…"

"I don't care; you are going to leave now." Abby hung up the phone and immediately started dialing Tim's number. It went to his voice mail.

"Tim, call me back right away. And you better have a good explanation for not answering your phone." Abby hung up, hopped on to her bike and rode as quickly as she could over to the park.

5 minutes later she arrived and saw a shadow in the grass.

"Kate?" She called.

She received a whimpered yes.

Abby dropped her bike and ran over to her, "What happened? Tell me!"

"They don't want me there! Where am I supposed to go! My parents are still in a coma!" Kate blurted out.

Abby plopped down next to Kate, her skull pajamas shinning in the moonlight, "Who doesn't want you?"

"The Gibbs'! I overheard them talking."

Abby pulled Kate into a huge hug, "Why wouldn't they want you?"

"I don't know." Kate hiccupped, "They probably got sick of me, or I got in the way."

"Kate if anyone wouldn't want you then they are a stupid ignorant fool."

Now Kate remembered why Abby was her best friend, and she hugged her back.

A few minutes later another shadow arrived at the edge of the park watching the sight. Tony wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, but eventually his love for his friend won over and he quickly walked over to the other forms.

"Tony!" Abby called.

"Abby, why is Tony here?" Kate whispered.

"I called him. Why?"

"You shouldn't have." Kate answered.

"Why not?" Abby asked, but got no answer in response.

Abby got up and walked over to Tony who was approaching them, "What happened Tony?"

"What do you mean Abs?"

"Don't give me any of that 'What do you mean Abs'! Why doesn't Kate want you here?" Abby asked angrily.

"She doesn't?"

"Yes. And now you need to tell me why."

"We got in a little fight yesterday." Tony admitted.

"Well you need to go over there and apologize right now!" Abby demanded.

"But-"

"No buts." Abby cut him off. "Kate needs all of us right now, so go."

Tony walked over to Kate who was sitting in the grass.

"Hey Kate. I'm really sorry about yesterday. I was really rude." Tony apologized.

"It's okay." Kate answered with her voice hitching.

"Now hug." Abby demanded from the sidelines.

Tony didn't even attempt to argue this time and just bent over and hugged Kate.

"Okay, now that you guys are friends again, we can get down to business. Kate tell us what happened." The three of them sat together in the cold grass until the sun rose over the trees.


Shannon's alarm went off and she got out of bed and put her slippers on. First she went to go wake up Kelly, because it would take her at least 10 minutes to actually get out of bed.

Once she got Kelly to open her eyes she went to go see if Kate was up yet. She knocked on the door first, but there was no response. She figured that Kate was still sleeping so she slipped her head in to wake her up. Except she wasn't in her bed. She must already be downstairs, Shannon thought. She walked down the stairs expecting to see Kate at the table or on the couch, but once again she wasn't there. She searched the whole upstairs and downstairs calling Kate's name. She was nowhere to be found.

"Jethro!" She yelled panicked. She heard a thud upstairs and Jethro came running down the stairs.

"What is it?" He asked sensing the fear in Shannon's voice.

"Kate's not here."

"Did you check-"

"Yes, I have checked everywhere! She is not in this house!"

Jethro sighed and they both ran upstairs back to Kate's room.

"Her phone isn't here so maybe she has it." Shannon observed hopefully.

"Try calling her," Jethro grunted.

Shannon called her but it rang strait to her voicemail. She left a message, "Kate? Where are you, please call me back!"


Kate pulled her phone out of her pocket because it was ringing, "It's Shannon." She told Abby.

"Are you going to answer?"

"No, they probably just want to make sure I'm not coming back." But secretly Kate hoped that she was wrong.


"Well there are no signs of forced entry." Jethro noted, "I would try calling the hospital and see if she is there. And then maybe call her friends."

"Jethro you call the hospital, I'll call Abby, she is Kate's best friend."

Jethro picked up his phone and started dialing, but Shannon had to go to her office and get her work binder. Inside it had the phone numbers for all her students. She then remembered that both of Abby's parents were deaf so she would have to call a different number. She looked in the binder and she remembered what she needed to do. First she dialed 711 and an operator came on. She then gave them the Sciuto's number. After they made it through she sent the Sciuto's a message,

"Hello, this is Shannon Gibbs, Abby's teacher. I was wondering if you have seen Kate Todd recently, because she is staying at my house, and we cannot find her. Thank you."

A few moment later she got a response, an operator read to her, "No, and Abby is not here either. We went into her room this morning and found a note that said she had to go help someone and would be back later. Also, it said not to worry.

Shannon's heart dropped when she realized that that someone was probably Kate. But why would she need help? Why would she leave and not tell them, and why wouldn't she tell them what her problem is!

"Ok, we are going to go look for them; I will call you if we find anything." Mrs. Gibbs said back to the operator.

"She's not at the hospital," Jethro told her walking into the office, "But I told them to notify me if she arrives."

"She is somewhere with Abby. Abby left a note saying she was going to go help someone." Shannon told him.

"Well I guess we better go get looking. I'll get the car ready, you go get Kelly." Jethro said.

A few minutes later all three of them were in the car driving down the streets. All Shannon could think about was finding Kate and making sure she is safe.

A/N: Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it! Please comment if you can!