A/N: New chapter! Enjoy, and please remember to review.
Disclaimer: The only character that I own is Jasmine. The rest belong to the lovely creators of NCIS.
Chapter Seven: Burned
"I will, Papa. You too. Goodbye." I disconnected the house phone and returned it to the receiver. I had just hung up with my grandfather, who was thankfully on the mend and sounded much better.
I got up from the kitchen table and returned to my room to get dressed in a pair of black yoga pants, an old NIS sweatshirt of my father's, and my running sneakers. Over my pants I fastened a knee brace I wore on my right knee. The injury to my knee was an old softball one that I had never seemed to fully recover from. It became sore easily and occasionally it gave out on me, though that didn't happen often.
I grabbed my iPhone off my dresser and put it on my workout playlist and selected shuffle. I attached my earphones, slid it into my arm band that I wore when I ran, and attached the band to my upper arm.
Then I returned to the living room where Callen was sleeping on the couch. I had woken up a few hours before and insisted that he get some sleep. Now I was about to wake him up again, and I felt sort of guilty, but at the same time I didn't really feel like get chastised by my family for going out on my own while there was a murderer at large.
So I woke him. "Callen!" I said loudly, shaking his shoulder.
"What? What?" He shouted, jumping to attention.
"Shhh, be a little more quiet. Dad's still asleep." I told him, putting a finger to my lips in a shushing motion.
"What's up?" He asked, composing himself.
"I want to go for a run. Do you want to come along?" I asked, moving towards the door.
"Yeah, gimme a sec to put some sweats on." He agreed, going to my room to get his duffel.
As soon as Callen was dressed, we were off. We went about six miles before I suggested we go home. I knew my father would be waking up soon and I wanted to be there in case he needed something.
When we arrived at the house, we greeted the two guards outside and then walked in to find my dad just coming out of his bedroom.
I shut my iPhone off and went over to kiss my dad good morning.
"On a run?" He asked, pulling me close.
I tried to pull away. "Yes, and now I smell, so let me go," I laughed at him when he pulled me to his side again.
At that moment, I saw a flash of red light through the window, and time seemed to slow down.
I knew what it was and what was going to happen. I pushed my father away and tumbled to the ground. The bullets were whizzing past, uncomfortably close.
When I looked up, Callen was outside the window with the agents, guns drawn and pointing in the direction in which the shots had come.
I was a few inches away from my father, who was now sitting up and looking around.
"Jasmine!" He cried when he saw me. I crawled around the leg of the kitchen table and to his side. He pulled me with his right arm to his right side and wrapped his arm around me. As he did so, however, I winced and moved away. My father, of course, noticed, and grabbed my arm roughly to take a look at it.
While my dad was examining my arm, Callen walked in. He didn't say anything, but went right over to the wall in front of which my father and I were standing. The wall now had three bullet holes, and one of them had some kind of red residue on it. That bullet was a little lower than the rest, but was still deeply embedded in the wall.
"Callen, did you find anything?" My father asked.
G shook his head. "Whoever did this is gone. Are either of you hurt?"
"Guys," I began, "there's something red on the wall."
They both looked at the wall and then looked at me. My eyesight was getting blurry, and I was feeling a little faint. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and my arm was burning.
The last thing I heard was my name being called before everything went black.
"Jasmine, baby, wake up."
I first heard his voice. Slowly I began coming back into myself. I became aware of my surroundings and could feel some pain in my right arm.
"Open your eyes, Jasmine." It was a command.
I opened my eyes and saw my dad, Tony, and Ducky standing around me. I was in the hospital, it seemed.
I rubbed my eyes and sat up. "What happened?"
My dad spoke. "Someone shot at the house. A bullet grazed you."
"Oh," I spoke sluggishly, still tired from what I presumed was an anesthetic. "When can I go home?"
My visitors laughed. "Soon," Ducky answered. "They just wanted to keep you for observation."
"Please, Ducky, I don't want to stay overnight." I pleaded, hoping there was a way that I could just go home.
Ducky winked at me, and said, "I'll see what I can do."
After he left to speak with my doctor, I asked how long I was out.
"Well, it's been a few hours. It's about 1400." Tony answered. He was looking at me intently.
"Are you okay?" I asked them.
"The shooter wasn't caught." Tony explained. "So you and Gibbs are going to be put in protective custody until he is."
"What does this mean?" I wanted to know, looking from Tony to my dad and then back again.
"Well, our original plan was to move you to a safe house, but your dad gleefully shot that idea down."
At Tony's choice of words, my dad glared.
"Sorry, wrong choice. Anyway, you will be returning to your home, but we have agents stationed everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean it. The window that was shot through has been replaced with bulletproof glass, as have all of the other windows in your home."
I looked at him in surprise. "That was fast."
Tony smiled. "I work quickly." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, no leaving the house without an agent, preferably more than one, and do not use your phone, as it is possibly tapped. Oh, and-."
"Tony," I interrupted, "you don't need to describe protective custody to me. I know what it is."
"Oh, right."
"Would you like to come over for dinner?" I invited him, glancing at my dad.
"Are you sure you're up for that?" Dad wondered.
I nodded. "We'll order pizza."
"Sure I am." Tony confirmed, checking his watch.
"Can you tell Ziva, Ducky, and McGee that they are welcome to join us too?" I asked the brown haired man.
"Will do, kiddo."
I rolled my eyes.
