AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, it took a while, and it may not be my best chapter, but here it is! The starting flashback scene was inspired by a chapter of pdljmpr6's story 'Between The Lines'.

Chapter Summary: Kelly gets in a bit of a snit about her father getting engaged and runs down to Mexico.

Chapter 21

Hiatus, Round Two

20 Years Ago

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The first thought in Gibbs' mind when he found Kelly missing from her bed early the morning of the 27th of December was that she'd probably run over to Maddie Tyler's house to show off what she got for Christmas.

But when Maddie's mother called saying that Maddie had vanished as well, Gibbs felt a surge of fear and panic and he dashed about the house, searching high and low for any clue as to where Kelly might be.

In her room, Kelly's snow boots, winter coat, gloves and scarf were missing which only made Gibbs more frantic. Especially when he noticed that her backpack was also gone.

"Jethro, where could she be?" Shannon asked, worried, as she looked outside at the new snow falling. "She's never run away before."

"We'll find her, Shannon," Gibbs promised as he grabbed his boots and coat.

"Promise?" Shannon said, scared that her only little girl was outside… alone…

"I promise," Gibbs said as he gave her a quick kiss before heading out to the yard. Not finding Kelly in the newly finished treehouse, or at the pond two streets over, Gibbs stopped and looked around. He was looking at this the wrong way. He was thinking like a worried father. But what was Kelly thinking when she'd run away from home?

The first place Gibbs tried was the nearby playground but when he saw a young girl in a pink winter coat, his brief hope was dashed when he got closer and realized that it was Maddie. "Maddie?" Gibbs asked, kneeling down in front of her. "What's wrong, honey?"

"Can't tell," Maddie mumbled, looking at her shoes.

"Maddie, did someone hurt you?" Gibbs asked, gently, as he put his hands on the little girl's shoulders. "Or Kelly?" When Maddie shook her head, Gibbs felt his patience wearing thin. But he took a breath and asked, "Did Kelly run away because she was sad?" Maddie shook her head. "Angry?" Gibbs asked, a sneaking suspicion starting to creep into his mind. Maddie nodded and Gibbs sighed again. "At me?" When Maddie nodded again, Gibbs said, quietly, "Maddie, look at me." When the little girl raised her eyes, he said, "I know you'd never want anything bad to happen to Kelly… Right?"

Maddie nodded slowly. "Right."

"Okay," Gibbs said, knowing that if he pushed Maddie too hard, she'd never tell him where Kelly was. They were best friends and when you swore a best friend to secrecy, it was almost a crime to break that confidence. "I want to find Kelly so something bad doesn't happen to her. Is she somewhere safe?" Maddie nodded, slowly, which didn't make Gibbs feel much better. To Kelly, being up in a tree was… "Is Kelly at Climber's Point?" Maddie's scared look and the way her lower lip was trembling was answer enough. Hearing sirens coming closer, Gibbs looked up to see two MPs hurrying up followed by Lucas Tyler who quickly swept his daughter up in his arms.

"Did you find Kelly?" Lucas asked, looking worried.

"She's at Climber's Point," Gibbs replied.

"We'll come with you, sir," one of the MPs said as he signaled to the other car to move out.

Gibbs nodded and 5 minutes later, he came to a group of trees clumped tightly together. "Kelly!" Gibbs shouted, looking for any sign of his little—"Ow!" Gibbs exclaimed as something hard, icy, and wet hit him on the back of the head. Looking around, Gibbs didn't see anything and as he brushed wet snow from his hair, he cursed himself for getting Kelly her own camouflage outfit. That, and giving his little girl the nickname of 'Sniper'—one she certainly lived up to.

"Over here!" One of the MPs shouted as he crouched next to the foot of a tree where there were a few footprints. On the lowest branch, some of the snow had been brushed off. Gibbs nodded and flicked his gaze upwards before signaling that the other two were to continue looking around.

Starting to climb, Gibbs kept an eye out for movement, but it was hard to concentrate on scaling the snow-covered branches and looking up at the same time. When Gibbs felt a second snowball hit the back of his neck, he found a limb sturdy enough to sit on and looked around. Across from him and about 8 feet up was Kelly who was holding onto the trunk of her tree with one hand, and in the other, she held a third snow missile and was clearly ready to launch. "Kelly, come on."

"Go away, Daddy!" Kelly said, angrily.

Gibbs made sure he was secure in his own tree before he said, "Come on down. Your Mom's worried sick."

"Go away!" Kelly repeated, throwing the snowball and hitting her father in the side of the head before climbing higher.

"Kelly, please!" Gibbs begged. If anything happened to her…

"I heard you telling Mommy!" Kelly shouted and Gibbs sighed as his fears were confirmed. She knew he was leaving again.

Climbing until he could see Kelly again, Gibbs said, "Kelly… Do you remember… when you asked about what marriage is?"

In her own tree, Kelly nodded. "When a Mommy and Daddy promise to love each other."

"Well… I made a promise to the Marines," Gibbs said, wondering how to best explain patriotic duty to a 7-year-old. "I promised… that I'd help them keep bad people out of our country. I need to go… so other little girls can stay safe with their mommies and daddies."

Kelly didn't respond to that. She knew her daddy had to help fight the bad guys. She'd watched enough cartoons to know that one person could make all the difference. But why did it have to be her dad? "Daddy?"

"Yeah, Kelly?" Gibbs asked, feeling another promise coming on.

"You're going to come back… right?" Kelly asked, scared.

"Kelly…" Gibbs sighed and as he spoke he silently prayed that he wasn't about to tell his little girl the biggest lie in the world. "I will never… ever… break a promise to you." When he saw her eyes widen, he went on. "I promise I'll come back. Okay?" When Kelly nodded, Gibbs was about to try and make his way over to her, but he stopped when she quickly shimmied down the tree. After a few moments, Gibbs smiled when he heard Kelly's voice from the ground, saying, "Daddy, hurry up! I'm hungry! I want pancakes!" Praying that getting out of the tree wouldn't involve the fire department or an ambulance, Gibbs slowly started descending the tree.

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Present Day

"Come on, you little son of a…" Mike Franks grumbled as worked on his truck. The problem with parking in the sand was that the damn stuff got everywhere and if you weren't careful could help ruin a car engine faster. Looking up when he heard a car coming up the beach, Mike's eyes widened when he saw who was behind the wheel of the Jeep. "What are you doing here, kid?" Mike asked as Kelly got out of the car and started towards him.

"Um…" Kelly brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I…"

"Is Jethro okay?" Mike asked, starting to be a bit worried.

"Dad's…" Kelly started towards the beach and Mike followed her, wondering just what exactly was going on. At the water's edge, Kelly stopped. "He's… He's getting married again."

"And that's a bad thing?" Mike asked, still a bit confused.

Kelly stopped and frowned. "Well… No."

Mike sighed. "You want to go get a beer?"

"How about something stronger?" Kelly said as she started towards her car again.

Mike frowned as he got into the passenger seat and he and Kelly headed out towards the local cantina.

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Back in Washington, DC, Gibbs was more than a bit distracted. Kelly had disappeared and no one in the tri-state area had seen her. There was only one other time that Kelly had run away and just like back then, Gibbs had a feeling that Kelly had run away because of him.

"Any news on Kelly?" Holly asked as she came down into the basement where Gibbs was working on his boat.

Gibbs set his tools down and shook his head. "McGee and Abby are trying to track her movements… Ziva's helping Tony with the kids…" Pulling out a beer, he looked at Holly who nodded. Handing her a cold one, Gibbs sighed. "Holly… I love you…"

Holly smiled. "I know, Jethro…" Sipping her beer, she sighed. "But Kelly's always your #1, isn't she?"

Gibbs nodded. "Ever since she was a little girl… Every time I'd ship out… I missed Shannon, but… That moment when I'd come home and see Kelly's smiling face… She's the one who always reminded me what I was over there fighting for."

"But where could she have gone?" Holly asked, wondering if somehow all this was her fault.

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"And then… and then Dad t-told me that… he gave her… my mother's engagement ring," Kelly said, feeling rather drunk.

Next to her, Mike sipped his coffee and sighed. He'd ordered one beer while Kelly had ordered shot after shot of bourbon. "If you don't like the woman," Mike asked, curiously. "—then why did you ask her to—"

"I wanted… my kids to have a grandmother," Kelly replied, grabbing Mike's coffee cup and finishing it off in one go. "I like Holly… it's just…" Playing with the coffee mug, Kelly sighed and felt tears in her eyes. "I miss my Mom."

Mike sighed again. "I know, kid." Calling for another cup of coffee, he added, "I never met her… but hearing your father talk about her… She must have been a hell of a woman."

"My favorite bedtime story was the day Mom and Dad met at the train station," Kelly said as the bartender refilled her coffee cup. "When I was a kid… I always wished I could find someone that I loved as much as Dad loved Mom."

Mike thought about that as he lit up a cigarette. "Did you?"

Kelly smiled and nodded. "Yeah… And I love my little girls…" Sighing, she sipped her coffee. "I'm being stupid."

"No, you're not," Mike insisted.

"I'm… 27-years-old… and I'm running away from home… because my Dad's getting remarried… again," Kelly said, frowning. "It's stupid."

"What's stupid..." Mike replied, looking at Kelly. "--Is that you think that any woman is going to take your mother's place in Jethro's heart."

"When did you get so… philosophical?" Kelly said, eyeing the liquor bottles again.

"I know you," Mike insisted as he paid for the drinks and coffee and he and Kelly headed out to Kelly's car. "And I know that you and Jethro are closer than tequila and a shot glass." After helping Kelly into the Jeep Mike waited until she looked at him before saying, "And nothing is ever going to change that."

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The next morning, Kelly thought that her head was going to explode. Slowly getting up and getting dressed in Shorts and a sleeveless top, Kelly headed to the kitchen where a cup of coffee and a bottle of aspirin was sitting on the counter.

"Morning," Mike said as he came in from the beach.

"Thank you, Captain States-The-Obvious," Kelly said as she took a couple painkillers.

"Drinking will do that to you," Mike said with a smile, chuckling when Kelly flipped him off. When Kelly sat down at the table, he asked, "So… what are you going to do?"

"I am… going to pout here for a few days… and then I'm going to go home so Dad can smack me on the back of the head," Kelly said as she started making breakfast.

"You really think Jethro's going to smack you for that?" Mike asked, looking puzzled.

Kelly shrugged and after a hasty breakfast, she grabbed her shoes and headed into town and to the nearest café before pulling out her cell phone and calling DC.

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"Autopsy," Ducky said, cheerfully when he picked up the phone.

"Hey, Ducky," Kelly said, quietly.

"Kelly!" Ducky exclaimed, both happy and relieved. "How are you?"

"Um… Okay… I guess…" Kelly replied, hesitantly.

"Well, where are you?" Ducky asked as he looked at the caller ID.

"Mexico," Kelly replied. "At Mike Franks' place. I-I just… wanted to let you know where I was."

"Kelly…" Ducky said, looking up when he heard Gibbs come into the room. "Why did you leave like that? Your father's been worried about you."

"Dad's there with you, isn't he?" Kelly said, ice in her tone.

Before Ducky could give the phone to Gibbs, Kelly hung up. "Jethro…" Ducky said as Gibbs gave him a look.

"Did she say where she is?" Gibbs demanded.

"Yes," Ducky said, standing up and facing off with Gibbs. "And before you go running off, you need to find out why Kelly just ran off, leaving Tony, you, and her own children behind."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that when Kelly won't even talk to me?" Gibbs asked, angrily. But after a moment, he sighed, remembering when Kelly was a little girl. He was thinking about how he felt… not about how Kelly felt.

--

Up in the squad room, McGee saw Gibbs come in and said, "Boss, I found Kelly."

"Where, McGee?" Gibbs asked, locking up his weapon and heading for his agent's desk.

"Baja, Mexico," McGee replied as Gibbs headed for the elevator. Looking at Tony and Ziva, McGee said, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That she's with Franks?" Tony said, sadly, looking at his desk.

"Tony…" Ziva said, quietly, as she crossed over to her partner's desk.

"I'll be back in a few hours," Tony said, getting up and heading for the elevator. But once inside, Tony stopped the elevator and sighed. No one really knew Kelly had up and left and that meant that it was something personal. She hadn't told Gibbs anything, so that meant that she was angry at her father… After starting the elevator again, Tony decided to head to Gibbs' house, hoping that maybe he'd find a few answers.

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Holly was a bit surprised to see Agent DiNozzo coming down the basement stairs. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see you," Tony replied as he went to Gibbs' secret stash of beer and pulled out two bottles. Handing one to Holly, he asked, "So… You and Gibbs set a date yet?"

"Next summer," Holly replied, nodding. "Nothing fancy…"

"Nice ring," Tony said, looking at the engagement ring on Holly's finger. After a few moments, he asked, "Bit old… isn't it?"

"What is this?" Holly said with a wry laugh. "An interrogation?"

"That's Shannon's engagement ring, isn't it?" Tony asked, giving Holly a meaningful look.

"Yeah…" Holly said, not sure what Tony was getting at. But after a moment, she let out a long sigh. "Kelly left because of me, didn't she?"

"I think so," Tony replied, sadly.

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Arriving in Mexico, Gibbs wasn't sure where to start, but he figured Mike's house was as good as any to start. After driving down the beach for about 10 minutes, he stopped at the end of the road and parked, getting out of the car and walking down the sand, finding Kelly standing just at the water's edge, fishing.

"Been wondering when you'd get down here, Probie," Mike said as he came off the porch and headed towards his former agent. "I take it you figured out what happened."

"Yeah…" Gibbs said, quietly as he watched Kelly reel in a second bass. After a few moments, he walked down to her. "Hey…"

"If you're going to stay here, grab a pole," Kelly said, coolly.

"Thought you were taking care of dinner," Gibbs said with a smile.

"Catch your own dinner," Kelly snapped as she cast her line out again. After a few moments, she said, "Mom's engagement ring, Dad?"

Gibbs sighed. "Kelly, Shannon is always going to be my first love. But I love Holly, too." After a few moments, he said, "Kelly… If you don't want me to marry Holly… Just tell me."

Pulling in a third fish, Kelly set her fishing pole on the ground and faced off with her father. "I want you to be happy, Dad. I just…" After a while, she said, "I was being a child."

"Yeah… you were," Gibbs agreed. "And I can understand."

"Really?" Kelly said, gathering up her pole and the fish and heading for the cabin. In the kitchen, she lay out newspapers before starting to clean and scale the fish.

"After Diane and Stephanie… I guess I just figured… It wasn't that important to get married again. You had Jen… Then Kate…" Gibbs said, helping Kelly take care of dinner.

"I liked Viv," Kelly said looking at her father. "Did you hear she married that Hollywood TV producer, Bellasario?"

"The two of you keep in touch?" Gibbs asked, curiously.

"We email sometimes," Kelly replied, as she started filleting the fish. "Just… updates, really. I sent her pictures of Jen and Kate… She thinks Jen's got a future as an actress."

Gibbs laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like Viv." Looking at Kelly, he said, "Did I ever tell you Bellasario wanted to use me for information on a show about NCIS?"

"You're kidding!" Kelly said, laughing. "I mean, the FBI, sure…" After a while, she said in a more serious tone, "Dad, I'm sorry about running away. It was…. It was stupid."

"No, I…" Gibbs sighed. "I should have told you I was going to give Holly your mother's ring." When Kelly went to grab a skillet, he added, "When we get back I'm going to get Holly a new ring."

"No, Dad…" Kelly said, in protest. "I-I'm… I'm okay with it… Really…" But when she felt her father's stare, she sighed.

"It's okay, Kelly," Gibbs insisted. "I'm sorry I put you in that situation."

"No, Dad…" Kelly gave a wry laugh. Standing facing her father she raised a hand behind her head. "On three…"

Gibbs laughed and raised his own hand. "One…"

"Two…" Kelly said, smiling.

"Three," They both said at once, smacking themselves on the back of the head.

"Feel better?" Gibbs asked, looking at his daughter.

"Yeah," Kelly said, turning back to the fish which were now frying on the stove.

"Good," Gibbs said, raising his hand again and smacking Kelly on the back of the head.