Hm, this chapter sucks. And I wasn't updating for a while. Sorry. I'm having a total writer's block for this story right now and only updated this chpter because I wanted to update it somehow. Even htough it's senseless and I don't really know where this story is going...

I was gone for too much time when I realized I had no place to go. And not only this - after I got the bus ticket I only had two dollars and couple of dimes left which was barely enough money for me to get back to the last place I wanted to be right now. I couldn't just get to my grandparent's place since the Navy had security checks and I was pretty sure that Law Enforcement was searching for me by now. Heck, I didn't even had a cell since I handed it to Gibbs.

So I found myself being stranded in the middle of an anonymus crowd somehwere in DC. I was lonely, broke, haphazard and about to regret my 'escape'. What did I think? That running away from the people protecting me would do any good? At leats I wasn't hungry.

"Excuse me, I know this sounds weird but can you tell me where I am?"

The passerby I asked, a trustworthy looking woman wearing a blazer and dark jeans, deliberately ignored me and didn't even deign to look at me.

"Yeah great, why care to spend five seconds on answering me?", I mumbled to myself and decided to just walk down the street - since I was alrady lost this wouldn't make it any worse. Maybe I'd find a place I knew and then... well, I would think about what to do next then.

But the farther I went the worse it got. Yes, it was possible. Because worse than not knowing where one is in a crowded place is not knowing where one is when einding up in a dark, deserted byroad that reeks of faeces. I heared a noise behind me and turned around quickly while cursing myself for being that close to panic again. It was just a cat but the final staw that made me turn around and run back the same way I came. I had no choice. I would deliver myself up to the next cop I would see to get back to some better place.

"Sir?", I asked, immediatly being a little shy again, "I think I need your help."

The police officer I asked turned around eyeballed me biding. Maybe I was annoying him already? To protect and serve I reminded myself. Or whatever motto the police in DC had. It was his job to not be annoyed by me3.

"Sure, what can I do for you?"

"I, ehm... that's going to sound a bit ambiguous so: I am not a criminal or anything. But I kinda escaped from an NCIS Agent and a colleague of hers and now I don't know how to get back to them even though it's the best place for me to be now. Oh - Jessica Montenegro is the name. There are some people who sorta killed my family and maybe they'll try to kill me, too. And they took my friend and her father and that's why I shouldn't be here right now and... yeah, that's pretty much it."

His doubts were obvious.

"You know it's not allowed to mislead the police?"

"I swear I don't. If it turns out I did you can arrest me but, well, that won't be happening."

He went over to his car and opened a door to the back seats. I felt bad sitting down having the security barrier between me and him. But after all I didn't do anything illegal so those bars didn't really mean anything.

"So you said they are NCIS?"

"Yes."

"Haven't been there so far", he said and I was glad to see him smile, "us ordinary patrolmen don't get in contact with the federal guys that often."

"Thank you for bringing me there."

"You're welcome. Makes my day a little more interesting than usual."

And when I saw the unfamiliar streets and the results of my idée fixe pass by, recognized the little restaurant and finally went into the NCIS building again I felt like belonging at least a bit.

"Did you two even bother thinking?", Gibbs snarled at Ducky and Ziva as soon as they arrived at the bullpen, "she's a kid, how is it possible she can run astray while being with you?"

He looked at Ziva, trying to hold back most of his rage.

"Are you an NCIS Agent or what?"

"How could we have known that?", she immediatly defended herself, "I payed attention all the time but there were so many customers and yet it... blind-sided me that she just went out of the restaurant."

"Paying Attention is a good point, David."

"Seriously Gibbs - how am I supposed to know about her reaction? I have no clue. Tell me!"

"That's a minimum of attentiveness. Gosh, you've been working with us for years you shoudl be able to judge people's state of mind better by now!"

"Oh really?", she snapped and one of her innermost instincts of hitting back whomever offended her began to sprout again, "Being attentive like the man who sended her home to find her killed brother the other day? And after what I heared from Palmer you didn't do that great in autopsy earlier today."

"I wouldn't have lost her."

"And you know why? Because you are not the one who's been picked to be with her all day. But I would love to see you running after a bus that drives away from you in the middle of a street full of crazy rush hour traffic and stopping it. Show me and I'll be glad to take all the blame on earth. I already said that I did not expect her to run away and yes, this was a mistake. But that some troubled kid comes to us one day seeking protection from her family's killers and decides to do the oposite the next day is not rational and neither is it obvious or comprehensible. So please don't act as if Ducky and I would have been the only ones screwing. If something happens to her it's as much her own fault as it is ours!"

Gibbs stared at her in disbelieve, trying to realize what just happened. Tony and McGee had followed the conversation but now they dropped pretending to concentrate on something else and exchanged eagerly glances. Gibbs' jaw dropped and for the first time ever they saw their boss speechless - not that much because of Ziva spurning all the guilt but more due to the downright outburst of her's caused by a relatively small issue. He had seen her taking worse things calmer that she just did.

"Ehm... what?"

"You heared me."

"Excuse me?", Ducky interrupted, "may I remak something?"

"Hold on!", Ziva and Gibbs said simultaneousley.

"It's just that... you can stop searching. She's back now."