Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize I do not own. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.
A/N: Not going to make a whole lot of excuses, but I have wanted to make sure that I have the correct information before I did a lot of this chapter. While I did find some things, I will be going along with it as well with some things I need to fit into this chapter and possibly the next few. Also check my profile regarding In Your Arms and Surviving Judgment Day.
****NCIS****
Almost two weeks after Callen's arrival onto the team, they were out on a case involving an attack on a female petty officer, when a call came to Gibbs' cell phone that made his stomach drop.
"Agent Gibbs, there has been an incident at the school," the prim voice of the secretary of Kelly's school said. "We need you to come and pick up Kelly. She is not injured or anything, but we think it would be best if she was picked up."
"What in the hell happened?"
Having heard stories about the Special Agent, the secretary let out a deep breath, knowing he would want to interrogate the kids involved with the prank. "Apparently some kids thought it would be funny to pull the fire alarm. We had been avoiding doing fire drills, cause of the events of the shooting. We knew that most of the students would have flashbacks or something of that nature to that day, cause the alarm was going off then. Kelly has had a more traumatic reaction to it, she's essentially shut herself down and isn't saying much more than asking for you."
Looking at Jenny pointedly, he tossed her the camera from around his neck and rushed off to the sedan. Finishing his conversation with the secretary, he flipped his phone shut, before flying out of the parking lot to get to the school.
"Any idea what that was all about?" Will asked, looking over at his teammates questioningly.
Rolling her eyes at his complete and total denseness, Jenny answered him. "Something is wrong with Kelly, and Gibbs went to go pick her up."
Nodding lightly, he went back to taking sketches of the crime scene, knowing they probably wouldn't be seeing their boss for the rest of the day.
****NCIS****
By the time Gibbs had gotten to the school, the feeling of dread in his gut hadn't left him. He knew that any progress that Kelly had made, was more than likely shot to hell. Going inside, he walked straight to the principal's office. Looking at the secretary that called him, he started to sign Kelly out.
"Agent Gibbs, may I have a word with you?" The principal, Mr. Meyers asked, as he came out of his office.
"Make it quick," he replied gruffly, as his only concern then was to get Kelly home.
Taking in the worry and irritation of the man in front of him, Mr. Meyers quickly got out what he wanted to say, hoping to not piss off the agent. "Has Kelly been to any kind of therapy since the shooting? The school psychologist has tried talking to her, since the incident today, but she hasn't been responsive to it."
Fixing his all too famous glare on him, he replied through gritted teeth. "Yes, she has seen counselors, but I can't force her to talk to them anymore than you can make her talk to the psychologist here."
"Look Agent Gibbs, I'm not trying to start an argument with you," he started. "All the staff is concerned about the students mindsets since the shooting. If there is anything we can do to help them with their recovery, we want to be able to."
"Thank you," Gibbs said. "Now I would like to take my daughter home."
Sighing a bit, the principal nodded his head, and went out to get Kelly. Once Gibbs got a look at her, his heart broke for her all over again. She looked as terrified as she did the day that Jenny and Abby had taken her Christmas shopping, and she'd freaked out when the plywood had fallen into the store. Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, he pulled her into a tight, protective hug. "Come on Kel, I'm going to take you home," he whispered, knowing that's where she wanted to go.
****NCIS****
After getting back to the Navy Yard—Jenny, Callen and Decker got to work following up the leads they had found from the scene. In the back of all their minds though, they were worried about their boss and Kelly. Finally taking a break from going over her notes from the witness statements, Jenny went down to the lounge and decided to call Gibbs—hoping to get an idea on how Kelly was doing.
"Yeah, Gibbs." he answered gruffly, not even bothering to look at the ID on the screen.
"Hey Jethro," she said softly, not wanting to have their conversation overheard by anyone. "How's Kelly?"
Running a tired hand over his face, he tried to figure out what to say to Jenny. Truth was, he really had no idea on how Kelly was. He knew what happened at the school, but she hadn't said a word to him since he picked her up. "Some kids thought it would be funny to pull the fire alarm at the school," he started, laying his head on the back of the couch. Staring up at the ceiling he continued. "Needless to say, it sent a lot of the kids back into a panic. The principal said that Kelly shut down, basically only saying she wanted me. She's upstairs in her room right now, I'm hoping she will take a nap. Not even really sure that will help her."
"Do you want me to send Decker home?" she asked, as she sat down at one of the tables there. "Callen and I can come to the house, try and get her to talk about it."
Shaking his head lightly, he closed his eyes in frustration with the whole incident. "Nah, you don't need to leave right now," he replied. "Just stay till 1700 then you guys can leave."
Hearing the exhaustion in his voice, she knew that they would be dealing with the repercussions of this latest incident for awhile.
Sighing a bit, she leaned back against the wall and looked up toward the ceiling. "I'll call you on my way, see if you want me to stop and pick up dinner."
"Sounds great; thank you," he said quietly.
****NCIS****
By the time Gibbs had hung up from talking to Jenny—Kelly had come back downstairs changed into a pair of warm up pants and Gibbs red USMC hoodie that engulfed her practically.
"Were you talking to Jenny?" She asked more like muttered to him, as she walked over and curled up beside him on the couch.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head before answering. "Yeah, she was calling to check on you."
"Oh," she mumbled, picking at the frayed sleeves of the shirt.
Looking down at her face, worriedly, he nudged her arm lightly to get her attention. "Want me to fix you a grilled cheese?"
"Sure, thanks."
Getting up from the couch, he walked out into the kitchen, casting another worried look back at Kelly. Seeing her curled up in a ball in the corner, as she attempted to pay attention to whatever she had just turned on the TV, was concerning him. He had a really bad feeling in his gut, that this relapse would trigger something worse with her recovery.
"Kel, do you want anything else with your sandwich?" He called into the living room, as he waited for the pan to heat up so he could make the sandwich.
"No thanks," she muttered, staring blankly at Aladdin that was playing on the Disney Channel.
Grumbling lightly under his breath, Gibbs sent up a silent prayer that all that happened that day, didn't send all the progress that she had made to that point, down the drain.
A/N: Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to get posted. I've got the outline of it ready, I just need to sit down and type it all out. Thanks for being so patient in waiting for the updates.
*amanda*