Willow sat beside Gibbs, watching the children playing on the play equipment. She could feel Gibbs rubbing her arm reassuringly, holding her close, protecting her. They were both content with the silence, both of them appreciating the quiet aspects of life.

Willow could tell that her father was a quiet kind of guy that didn't like using words when actions would do. It was something she related to. Maybe it was something she had inherited from Gibbs. Then again, maybe it was just something she'd learned throughout her childhood to make the long days seem less lonely.

God, Sheila was right. She was an experiment; something to be stared at and studied, the ultimate case study for the nature versus nurture debate.

Obviously, Willow's thoughts had somehow projected onto Gibbs, because he held her a little tighter and she felt him press a gentle kiss to her head.

"They're not going to hurt you anymore, Willow. I'm never going to let anyone treat you like that. Sheila was wrong to lash out at you like she did."

"I know," Willow said softly before she sighed. "When do you want me to leave with you?' she asked. Gibbs frowned thoughtfully.

"When do you finish school?" he asked.

"I finish my exams a week from Wednesday. That's when my summer vacation starts."

"I have to go back to work this week but I'll come back the weekend after you finish your exams so we can come back together. It's a long way to go by yourself, even when you're flying."

Willow was touched by the gesture. She half-expected that Gibbs would have simply gotten her a ticket and waited for her at the other end.

"Are you sure?" Willow said. Gibbs smiled.

"Of course, I never say anything I don't mean. Besides, I can pack lightly, which means that you'll be able to bring more things over on the plane in the leftover space in my bags."

Willow nodded at the cunningness of the plan. It made sense, she guessed.

"The rest of the stuff, the things you won't need straight away, we can get trucked over, if you want."

"That would be good." Willow smiled. She'd been a little worried about how she was going to get her stuff across the country. Naturally, the things she no longer wanted was going to get left behind, but Willow knew that there was still going to be a fair amount of stuff she wanted to take with her. She might not act like it most of the time, at least not to Cordelia and Buffy's standard anyway, but she still was, after all, a girl.

NCIS/BtVS

Gibbs watched on in amusement and Willow seemed to bounce in her seat, smiling happily at him. After leaving the park, Gibbs had decided he really needed a coffee, so Willow had directed him to the Espresso Pump and Gibbs had bought them both coffees. Willow had smiled shyly and accepted her drink from him, saying conversationally that she wasn't allowed to have coffee very often, only at exam times, which it was, so it was fine.

Gibbs hadn't put much thought into why such a rule had been put in place until Willow had started bouncing in her seat slightly.

Obviously, Willow had not inherited his tolerance for caffeine. Now, she vividly reminded Gibbs of Abby when she'd had a few Caf-Pows too many. Gibbs was tempted to put his hand on Willow's arm to see if she was actually vibrating in her seat because the way she was moving around, Gibbs wouldn't be surprised if she was.

Willow's phone chose that moment to go off and Willow quickly answered it.

"Hi!" she brightly answered the phone, slightly louder than was necessary. Gibbs cringed in sympathy for whoever it was that was on the other end.

"My dad and I are at the Espresso Pump, Xander. We were at the park and he felt like a coffee, so we came here. It's been a fun morning," Willow babbled quickly. If Gibbs hadn't had experience with Abby when she was babbling, he wouldn't have understood what Willow was saying. It was fast, even by her standards.

Willow suddenly blushed guiltily and shifted her eyes, even though Xander couldn't actually see her. "I might have had a cup of coffee," she sheepishly admitted, guiltily glancing up at Gibbs as Xander obviously said something to her through the phone.

"Okay, then." Willow sighed before handing Gibbs her phone.

"Xander wants to talk to you."

Gibbs nodded, accepting the phone. "Gibbs."

"Rule number one, NEVER give Willow coffee. It's like in Gremlins, when you get them wet or feed them after midnight. It's not good," Xander lectured through the phone. Gibbs fought the urge to snort. Xander and Tony were definitely related.

"Yeah, I'm getting that now. What do you recommend I do?"

Xander actually snorted at that. "No offense but since you're the one that gave it to her, you're the one that has to deal with the consequences."

"Doesn't she know that she reacts badly to it? I mean, shouldn't she know to avoid coffee?"

"She is sitting right here." Willow pouted from across the table.

"She likes it and I don't think she knows how bad she actually gets. Just watch her for when she slows down."

"She crashes, huh?"

"Oh, yeah, big time."

"Thanks for the pointer."

"You're welcome. Good luck."

At that, Xander hung up and Gibbs raised his eyebrows at the phone. That had been one of the stranger phone calls he'd ever had. Gibbs handed Willow back her phone and led her out of the coffee shop. Willow bounced and skipped down the street beside Gibbs. Thankfully, there weren't many people out and about, so there weren't any strange glances being aimed in the direction of the teenaged girl skipping down the street.

Gibbs knew that the best way to help Willow recover more quickly was to have her do physical exercise, so he figured a lengthy walk was in order.

"Hey, Willow, do you think you could show me around town?" he asked, hoping Willow wouldn't see right through the plan. He relaxed slightly when she beamed at him.

"Sure, okay, where do you want to start?"

Gibbs thought quickly. "The school," he said. Willow nodded brightly.

"Good idea, follow me." Willow hurried off, Gibbs following closely as she headed towards her school, still skipping away contentedly.

NCIS/BtVS

By the time Willow had slowed down, she and Gibbs had visited the school, the Bronze, the mall, various cemeteries where Willow had patrolled over the years, Jesse's memorial marker, and they were heading towards the park. Gibbs sighed in relief when he noticed the skipping had stopped and Willow had shaken her head a couple of times.

"You want to sit down?" he asked as they were passing a bench. Willow nodded and dropped onto the seat heavily.

"Why did I do that?" she groaned. Gibbs snorted.

"I don't know, but at least now I know never to give you coffee."

Willow cringed. "You aren't mad at me?"

"I think you're paying for it now. Besides, we all have our vices and liking coffee is one of mine. I just have a higher tolerance for it than you."

Willow laughed softly. "So I get it from you, the liking coffee part anyway, not the going psycho after drinking it, but then, a lot of people like coffee, and I'm getting better than what I was. The first time I had coffee, I was thirteen and Xander couldn't look at me with a straight face for days afterwards. I think we're all hoping that I'll grow out of it."

Gibbs nodded, glancing around the area they were in. They were near the park they had started off at. He sat down next to Willow, stretching his legs out in front of him.

"What was my mom like, and Kelly?" Willow quietly asked. "I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, it's okay. I was just, you know, curious."

Gibbs shook his head. He'd known, ever since he'd learned of Willow's survival of Shannon and Kelly's murder, that the question was coming. He'd been prepared for it.

"Shannon… you look a lot like her. Kelly did too, but she had my eyes. You've got your mother's. She was very sweet and kind to everyone. She was a teacher at the elementary school Kelly went to. She taught kindergarten. All of those kids loved her. She was strong too. She knew that every time I left to go abroad, I might not come back. Kelly hated it when I went away, especially the last time. She begged me not to go, as if she knew that she wasn't going to see me again. Shannon just stood beside her, hugging her and trying to reassure her that I was going to come back while at the same time being scared that I wasn't going to make it back in time for you to be born, or that I wasn't going to be able to ever see you. She cared so much about you and Kelly. I lost count of how many times I walked in on her singing to you, even though you weren't even born yet. Kelly was Shannon's little girl but she was always up for an adventure. She loved horse riding on the beach and playing in the garden with her best friend, Maddie. She was so excited about being a big sister. Shannon and Kelly decorated your room together. It was simple, because we didn't know if you were going to be a boy or a girl, but Kelly and Shannon worked hard on it." Gibbs faded off, surprised that he had talked for as long as he had, especially when talking about Shannon and Kelly was usually so painful.

"Do you have any other family members? Parents, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces?"

"I was an only child. My mom died when I was about your age. My dad and I sort of fell out after that and I joined the Marine Corps. After Shannon and Kelly died we didn't talk for years, up until last year. We've been getting in touch more often since then. He's going to be ecstatic when I tell him about you. He loved Kelly and he was excited about being a grandfather again when we told him that Shannon was pregnant with you. He's the only blood family I have left, other than you."

"Where does he live? Near you?" Willow asked.

"A few hours drive away, Stillwater, Pennsylvania. I'll take you out there one weekend," Gibbs replied. Willow nodded.

"That sounds good. I don't remember my grandparents from, you know, before. They were all already gone when I was born, or they died when I was young. Both of my par… adopted parents were only children, so I never had cousins or aunts or uncles."

Willow and Gibbs sat side by side in a comfortable silence, both of them unknowingly thinking of the same thing, the other two members of their little family that should be there with them. At that moment, Gibbs felt Shannon and Kelly's loss keenly, simply because they should have been part of Willow's life. Kelly should have been able to show Willow how to play with dollies and how to sweet-talk Shannon or Gibbs into doing something for them, and Shannon should have been there to pick Willow up when she fell down and to hold Willow when she cried when Gibbs was leaving and to try and be the firm one who wouldn't let the girls race when they rode horses on the beach.

Willow thought about how nice it would have been to have had an older sister when she was growing up. Someone who would look out for her and be her friend and would take her to parks and do all the other things older sisters did for their younger sisters. Willow felt her heart clench painfully as she thought about what Gibbs had told her about her mother. Shannon sounded like a wonderful person and a kind and caring mother. Willow thought about how different things would have been if Shannon hadn't died and she'd been raised as a member of the Gibbs family, with a mother and father that actually cared about her.

Willow honestly couldn't imagine, from what she had seen and heard of them, Shannon and Jethro Gibbs not noticing if their daughter came home with a reasonable amount of blood on her clothes, like she had one time when Ira and Sheila had unexpectedly come home while she'd been off with Buffy helping with some demon. Willow had gained a few deep cuts that, although they hadn't needed stitching, had bled profusely during the fight, and neither one of her adopted parents had questioned where the blood that had stained her clothes had come from. After that, Willow had kept a change of clothes at Buffy's, Xander's, in her locker at school, and at Giles', lest her parents notice if it were to happen again, but she couldn't imagine Gibbs not noticing had he been the one at home that night.

Naturally, it was a moot point, because if Shannon was still alive, they'd all be living in Washington D.C. still, and Willow would never have learned about the supernatural and befriended the Slayer, but it was a plausible theory.

As it was, Willow knew that she was going to spend at least a year living with her biological father, barring any tragedies, and she was going to make the most of it.

A.N. Here's a new update. I hope you've enjoyed it. Writing Willow on a coffee high made me laugh.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Thanks to my beta, and everyone who has been reviewing, it's been great.

The next chapter will be up…eventually.

R.W. ee her, "ed guiltily, and shifted her eyes, even htough Xander couldn'llow was saying. It was fast, even b