Willow slept in the next day, groaning as she woke up to find the sun filtering through her drawn curtain. She barely remembered stumbling up the stairs and to her room when Gibbs had taken her home at about three in the morning.

Willow moved and whimpered at the pain that flared up through her entire body. Her entire body hurt. She wondered if this was what being run over by a car felt like, because it definitely felt like there wasn't a part of her that wasn't covered in bruises or just ached. She turned her head, observing for a moment the chair that was beside her bed. Gibbs had obviously not left her side all night. She remembered how he'd kept waking her up to check her concussion. She'd passed the check each time, lucid enough to answer his questions, before she'd succumbed to her own exhaustion and gone back to sleep.

Willow noticed with a grimace that she was still wearing the clothes that she'd put on at NCIS. She'd been too tired and too much in pain when she'd gotten home to bother getting changed, so she'd simply collapsed onto her bed. She'd just had a concussion check, so Gibbs had obviously just let her crash. He'd taken off her shoes and tucked her in under the covers. Willow smiled to herself at the thought of the gruff retired marine tucking her in like a little girl. She couldn't remember the last time either of her adopted parents had tucked her in. It felt nice to know that someone had cared that much about her.

She was brought from her musing when she heard Gibbs enter the room, followed by Ducky.

"Ah, I see our young heroine has awoken." Ducky smiled. Willow cringed.

"To an extent."

"How do you feel, Willow? Don't lie, I'm here to help you."

"Everything hurts. If it's not bruised, it just aches," Willow admitted

"Getting thrown around a cemetery like a rag doll will do that to you," Gibbs commented form the doorway. Willow pouted as Ducky prepared a light to shine in her eyes. She winced as the light made her head throb even more and tried to move away, which just made everything else throb more. She groaned.

"I'm sorry, Willow. I know it hurts. Both of your pupils are reacting well, though. Much better than what they were last night. You'll be sore for a few more days, I would think, but after that there should be few signs of the concussion."

"Good." Willow smiled weakly. She moved to roll over, biting her lip to prevent a yelp erupting when her ribs shifted at the movement.

"Easy, Willow. I wouldn't recommend much moving around today. Just take it easy."

"Oh, but wasn't your dad coming today?" Willow said, panic beginning to build up in her chest. Gibbs shrugged.

"He's just going to be glad to be able to meet you… The fact that you're not up to doing much at the moment isn't going to bother him."

"I do believe that you would be able to venture down to the couch in the living room," Ducky said as he continued his examination of the cut on Willow's head. He'd determined the previous night that it hadn't required stitches but he wanted to be sure that there were no signs of infection.

Willow stayed still throughout Ducky's examination, letting the doctor check each of the places he'd notice injured the night before. Willow ruefully noticed that she had been right. Beneath her clothes, she was black and blue with bruises already. It was a good thing she still had a few weeks left of summer holidays in order to give her body time to heal, so it wouldn't look like she'd been beaten to a pulp on her first day.

Eventually, Ducky nodded and gave Willow some painkillers and a glass of water. She took the pills without a word and drank the entire glass of water.

"I must say, you are a much more compliant patient than your father or Tony," Ducky smiled. Willow shrugged, feeling her cheeks go red.

"You're just trying to do your job," she said.

"Yes, I do wish others felt the same way." Ducky gave Gibbs a pointed look. Gibbs returned the look with a smirk of his own.

"Can't have you getting bored, can we, Ducky?"

"I can assure you, Jethro, that I could never be bored while working with you at NCIS," Ducky replied. Willow watched the pair banter back and forward. It was oddly soothing to watch her father interact with another in such an informal way. She'd seen him interacting with the others out of work before (actually, she'd never seen them interacting at work before), but she couldn't help but feel that what she was witnessing was evidence of a friendship that had existed for longer than the one she shared with Xander. Obviously her little escapade the previous night had not shaken her father too much… or at least, she hoped it hadn't.

NCIS/BtVS

Willow was lying stretched out on the couch, a blanket draped over her, when Abby burst through the front door. Willow jumped, wincing at the pain that flared through her ribs at the movement.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Abby apologized. "Where's Gibbs?"

"Down in the basement, working on the boat, I think," Willow replied.

Abby nodded before she perched on the edge of the couch near Willow's feet.

"Um, listen ,Willow, about last night. I really appreciate you saving me last night. I've heard from my friends… they all got home safe. If you hadn't been there, I don't know what would have happened. Thank you. Thank you so much." Abby leaned forward and gently hugged Willow. Willow smiled.

"It's okay, just think of me as your friendly neighborhood Scooby," Willow replied. Abby laughed.

"So, you're friends with a souled vampire… what's he like?"

"Tall, dark, broody, kind of handsome, very attached to his girlfriend and not much of a talker," Willow replied. Abby smiled.

"Strong and silent type?"

"Oh yeah, Angel's very silent. Xander often comments that we should make him wear a cow bell to stop him from sneaking up on us."

Abby dissolved into laughter at that and Willow couldn't help but join in, only to stop quickly when her ribs throbbed.

"You two okay?" Gibbs asked from the doorway. Abby looked up at Gibbs, beaming.

"Hey, Gibbs, we're just talking about vampires, more specifically Willow's non-biting vampire friend in Sunnydale."

"He's got a girlfriend, Abbs," Gibbs said with a smirk as he headed back to the basement. Abby rolled her eyes.

"Do you reckon you could introduce us? I don't want to date him, I like warm people, but it would be very cool to have a vampire as a friend."

Willow shuddered. "As long as he had a soul or something like that, so he wouldn't eat me."

Abby rapidly nodded. "Yes , that would be a condition. No biting… Have you ever been bitten?"

Willow nodded. "Only the once and it was on my shoulder, not my neck. It wasn't for very long either. There's a tiny scar. I'd show you but moving kind of hurts at the moment."

"When you get better?" Abby asked hopefully. Willow shrugged.

"If you want."

"Excellent." Abby beamed.

The pair sat quietly for a little while until Tony arrived at the house, hoping to have the chance to meet up with Jackson Gibbs again. The older man had promised Tony that the next time he saw him, he would regale him with stories of young Gibbs and Tony was eager to hear Gibbs senior talk. Tony genuinely liked the guy and Jackson Gibbs was yet another reason that, deep down, he wished he was a Gibbs. Tony didn't remember having a grandfather but Jackson Gibbs seemed like the perfect one. Willow was lucky to have him and Tony was glad that now Jackson would have another chance at having a granddaughter to love and dote on after losing Kelly so tragically.

"Hey, Tony," Abby smiled.

"Hi Abs, hey Willow, how are you feeling after last night?"

"Pretty sore but other than that, okay," Willow said softly from where she lay on the couch. Tony nodded.

"That's good. Do you two know where Gibbs is?"

"He's in the basement with the boat," Willow replied. Tony nodded.

"Has Jackson got here yet?" he asked Abby. The goth shook her head.

"No, but then, it's still pretty early. He's got a fair way to come."

Tony nodded understandingly and left the two girls, heading to the basement. As he descended the stairs, he was surprised to see that Gibbs wasn't sanding the boat. Instead, he was standing there, holding a piece of wood in his hands, staring at it.

"You okay, Boss?" Tony asked. Gibbs looked p at him.

"DiNozzo, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted the chance to see Jackson again… He's a nice guy." Tony walked the rest of the way down the stairs, crossing the floor over to Gibbs. Gibbs looked back down at the wood.

"And you wanted to hear stories about me when I was a kid."

"Well, that too," Tony admitted, knowing that he wouldn't be able to convince Gibbs otherwise. The former Marine knew him too well.

The two men stood in silence, Gibbs studying the piece of wood and Tony studying Gibbs.

"What's bothering you, Boss?" Tony softly asked. Gibbs sighed.

"I almost lost her last night. I could have lost her after just a month. She must have been down here for hours yesterday making up stakes to use," Gibbs said and there was no way in hell that Tony was going to ever mention the fact that Gibbs' voice had hitched dangerously when he'd spoken.

"Boss," Tony began. "If Willow hadn't done what she did, Abby would probably be dead. She was the only one who could have saved her. If any of us had tried we would have been killed as well. Well… maybe not you or Ziva, but McGee or me anyway."

Gibbs ran his hand over his face. "I know, Tony. I know she's the most trained demon fighter we know, but…" Gibbs faded off.

"She's still your baby girl and she doesn't seem to be very dangerous," Tony finished for his Boss. Gibbs nodded.

"I've already asked Ziva to train Willow in self defence and if Willow agrees, I'm going to teach her how to shoot."

"Giles told me when we were in Sunnydale that Willow was a very skilled shooter with the crossbow, more accurate than Buffy, despite her lack of training and experience with the weapon. It looks like she inherited your targeting skills."

Gibbs felt pride well up within him at Tony's comment but he didn't let it show upon his face. In his head, Gibbs knew that Tony was right, that Willow had been the only one who had the faintest chance of being able to save Abby without getting herself killed in the process. Having seen the amount of strength the vampires had possessed when Willow had effectively been thrown around that clearing, Gibbs had no doubt that he wouldn't be able to take one out in hand-to-hand combat and he had his doubts about Ziva as well. They'd trained to fight against humans while Willow, from day one, had been trained to fight against vampires and demons and that was the biggest thing she had going for her.

On the other hand, in his heart, Gibbs had been scared about his daughter's safety. From the moment he'd found that note, Gibbs hadn't known what they were going to find. Willow, her body torn to pieces, possibly with Abby's at her side, their blood drained. Maybe they would be turned and Gibbs would have to face the prospect of slaying the demon possessing his daughter's body, staring into Willow's eyes when he pointed a crossbow at her unbeating heart and fired it.

Even if Willow had survived the attack, Gibbs had been worried that she would be badly injured and require hospitalization. It wouldn't look good to anyone from child protection for, mere weeks after moving into Gibbs' home, Willow to show up in hospital with serious injuries consistent with a severe beating. Gibbs, as a Marine, could have potentially caused those injuries in the eyes of a judge and jury.

"What are they doing up there?" Gibbs asked, changing the topic slightly. Tony shrugged.

"Just watching TV, and talking a bit. I think Abby wanted to get to see Jackson."

"Like you, DiNozzo?"

"What, he's a nice guy?" Tony defended. Gibbs chuckled, realizing that he should put aside what happened to Willow. It was in the past. Willow had taken care of the assailants and there hadn't been any witnesses. Her injuries were not serious and would heal and Willow was obviously in enough pain to have decided that she was not going out to do something like that again any time soon.

Much to Gibbs' relief. He didn't want any more gray hairs after all.