Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters.
Chapter 10
It wasn't until they were through security that Taylor suddenly realised it was Saturday and her dad wasn't working this weekend. Her feet stopped moving, and her heart began to beat faster. Her mom must have been watching her closely she stopped the instant Taylor did.
"What's wrong?" Patricia asked, concern evident in her voice.
"What are we doing here? Dad's not working today." Taylor wasn't scared, but her heart felt as if it was trying to force itself out through her ribs. Looked like it wasn't an asprin after all. This was not a good place to be high, although she was starting to feel really good. How would they know anyway? Unless Jason….
If her mom answered her question, Taylor wasn't aware of it. Now she was being led by the hand towards the elevator, and when Patricia hit the button for Abby's lab, Taylor couldn't stop herself reaching out to feel the buttons, they felt so smooth and cool to the touch. Her mom gently pulled her hand away from the control panel. Taylor hadn't even noticed the doors had opened, to reveal her dad standing just a few feet away. Taylor immediately forgot about the shiny buttons and threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. "Hey dad! We goin' somewhere?"
When he released her, Taylor's attention was caught by the lights on the machines through the glass doors in Abby's lab. They had never looked like that before. The intensity of the lights and the colours were out of this world. She made a beeline for the one with the brightest lights, and couldn't stop herself reaching out to touch them. When a hand wrapped itself around hers and turned her around, Taylor was surprised to find, not her dad, but Ducky kneeling down in front of her. She hugged him too, but began to get a little annoyed when he wouldn't let her turn back to the lights again.
"Taylor, look at me." Ducky said softly.
"Huh?" It was difficult to concentrate when there was so much around her to look at.
Jethro was running out of patience and stood behind Duck.
"TAYLOR!" he barked.
That got her attention. "Hey dad! Are we goin' somewhere?"
"What did you take Taylor?" Jethro asked.
"Didn't take anything. I don't steal. Are we goin' somewhere?" She pulled her wrist away from Ducky who had been trying to take her pulse and took a hold of her dad's hand. "We goin' now?"
Jethro lifted her up onto an empty bench, and tried to distract his daughter as Ducky took a blood sample. It wasn't difficult. Taylor had no idea what was going on.
"How are you feeling? Gibbs asked as Duck quickly inserted the needle.
"I feel really, really good!" She admitted, looking at him innocently, with pupils the size of saucers. "Now can we go? Your eyes are blue, blue, blue! Where are we going?"
Ducky handed the small vial to Abby and she immediately slotted it into the machine. It would only take a couple of minutes before they had a result. Taylor was still sitting on the bench, swinging her legs, and taking in her surroundings when the mass spec beeped. All four gathered round the printer. Abby read the results off the sheet. "MDMA"
Neither Gibbs of Patricia looked any the wiser.
"Ecstasy bossman." Abby translated.
They all turned to look at Taylor, but she was gone.
XOXOXOXOXOXO
Taylor had grown restless sitting there, and was now making her way up the stairs, sliding her hand along the rail as she worked her way up the stairwell. Whatever DJ had given her, he'd been right when he'd told her she'd love it. It was amazing. After passing the bullpen level, and then the Director's floor, Taylor climbed a little further before running out of steps. The only thing in front of her now was a dark wooden door, with one of those emergency release bars fitted to it. She'd never been this far up before, and being the curious type, Taylor pushed the bar down, and allowed the door to swing open.
o
It was Abby who discovered Taylor sitting on the low wall that ran around the NCIS roof, feet dangling over the edge. Firing off a quick text message, Abby made her way over to Taylor, making sure she didn't startle the girl, and sat down beside her.
"It's high isn't it!" Taylor announced, eyes busy following the brightly coloured cars moving around the Navy yard.
Abby scrunched her eyes almost completely shut. "Its definitely high." She reached out and hooked her arm in through Taylor's to make sure the kid couldn't fall over the edge. Now all Abby had to do was keep Taylor in one piece until Gibbs made it up to the roof. Where were her handcuffs when she needed them? Abby thought. But Taylor didn't give her any trouble, she seemed mesmerized by what was going on down below.
"I don't know what he gave me, but this so rocks!"
"It was ecstasy Taylor, and who gave it to you?"
"Not telling. Have you tried it?"
"No, it's too dangerous."
"Don't care if it's dangerous, it feels good. Look! There's a red one!" Taylor pointed to a car pulling away from the kerb.
"Why don't we move back from the edge a bit, I'm sorta afraid of heights." Abby pleaded.
Before she could reply, Taylor was lifted from behind.
Abby wasn't long swinging her legs back onto the rooftop. "You took your time Gibbs." She complained.
"Thanks Abbs."
Jethro wasn't holding onto his daughter, instead Taylor was clinging onto his arm, completely unaware of the danger she had been in. "I'm thirsty, can I go get a drink?"
He knew there was no point in yelling now. "Sure." He took her hand and led her back inside, Abby close behind. "Ducky wants to check you out again."
"But I don't feel sick. I feel great dad."
"I know you do, that's the problem."
o
Ducky was still in Abby's lab, and wasted no time taking her temperature, pulse and checking out her eyes. At least Taylor didn't seem to be having a bad reaction to the drug.
"Hey! Where's my drink?" Taylor looked around.
Abby handed her a bottle of water.
"Just sip it slowly Taylor." Ducky warned her, then turned to Jethro and Patricia.
"Could be four or five hours before the effects start to wear off. You can take her home, but if her temperature or pulse increases you'll need to get her to a hospital. If you don't mind, I'd like to call in and check up on her in an hour or so."
Taylor lowered her bottle of water. "Who's sick?"
Gibbs shook his head. "Abby, could you go with Patricia and give her a hand?" He looked down at his daughter. "I think she just might need the help."
Abby nodded and started to shut down her lab equipment.
"When Tony show's up we're gonna bring DJ in for a little chat."
Taylor heard that alright, but didn't quite understand what her dad meant. "DJ's comin' here? I like DJ."
"I'll bet you do." Jethro replied dryly.
"Can I wait and see him?"
"No. You're going home with your mom, and Abby."
"But I wanna see DJ!"
Abby stepped in between the pair. "Come on Taylor, we're going to have a great time. Games, music, movies, whatever you want."
"Movie, no games, no movie…." Taylor was still trying to decide as Abby took one hand, Patricia the other, and led her towards the elevator.
XOXOXOXOXOXO
Gibbs ad Tony had no problem picking DJ up. He was still at the skate park. As soon as he recognised Gibbs he turned and ran. Unfortunately for him, he ran straight into Tony, who quickly cuffed him. Gibbs stepped in close to DJ. "I distinctly remember telling you to stay away from my daughter."
DJ seemed unfazed. "You can't arrest somebody for talking to your daughter. Its not illegal. Besides I did stay away, it was Taylor who contacted me." He smirked at the reaction his statement provoked in Gibbs. "You can't pick her friends for her. Now are you gonna let me out of these cuffs?"
"Not yet. What sort of a friend gives a kid ecstasy?"
That wiped the smirk off his face.
DJ glowered at him. "Her little friend been telling tales. I know Taylor wouldn't!"
"Search him DiNozzo."
DJ turned pale, and looked as if he was going to either cry or throw up.
Tony's search turned up a wad of notes, a number of what they assumed were ecstasy tablets, and a small bag of weed. Grabbing the boy by the collar Tony escorted him to the car, reading him his rights as they walked.
XOXOXOXOXOXO
Tony and Gibbs stood in observation, watching DJ sitting at the table. He was still crying. They were waiting for his father to show up. So far all they'd been able to do was fingerprint him and take his phone to be checked out by McGee. Until daddy showed up their hands were tied. Not that they had enough on the boy to charge him with anything serious, but hopefully between the scare they'd given him and whatever his father was going to do about the situation it might just straighten him out for a while, and more importantly make him stay the hell away from Taylor.
XOXOXOXOXOXO
Meanwhile back at home, Patricia and Abby had their hands full trying to keep a hyper Taylor under control. Every opportunity she had, Taylor tried to leave. They had to resort to locking both the doors and windows. At one point Patricia had been very tempted to lock her daughter in the basement. But God only knew what she'd find to get up to down there. As it was Jethro was probably going to kill her when the drugs were out of her system, but if she hurt herself, or destroyed one of his beloved projects, Taylor could find herself buried under the floor of the basement.
o
By the time Ducky appeared to make his checks Taylor had calmed down a little, but that might have been because of the DVD she was watching. It was the original version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, lots of bright colours to keep her amused. Abby had her arm wrapped around her to prevent any escape attempt, although it was looking unlikely at the moment. Ducky was pleased enough with Taylors test results, her heart rate was down, as was her temperature. Ducky stayed just long enough for a coffee before leaving Patricia and Abby to their babysitting.
XOXOXOXOXOXO
Gibbs managed to time his return perfectly. Taylor had just fallen asleep on the couch with her mom, halfway through the third viewing of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Abby was also asleep in one of the chairs, snoring softly. Giving Abby a gentle shake, he pointed upstairs, and Abby sleepily headed up to the spare room.
o
Jethro slumped down on the other side of Taylor and placed his hand on her forehead to see if she was still hot. It felt fine. "How long's she been asleep?"
Patricia checked the clock on the mantelpiece. "Oh, about all of ten minutes."
"She give you a hard time?"
"You could say that. Now I can imagine what Taylor was like as a toddler. You must have had your hands full!"
"Hmmm. So what are we going to do? Put her on ebay, or drop her off at the side of a freeway somewhere?"
"I'll settle for you getting her up and into bed without waking her up. If I have to see one more Oompa lumpa tonight, I'm going to go nuts!