"Gibbs," Kate began confidently, "I have a daughter."

Her reflection gazed coldly back at her, saying nothing. She sighed. The drive to work had never been shorter and she considered going around the block until she had composed a decent explanation. Reason won out, though, as she realized that putting it off would only delay the inevitable.

"Gibbs," she tried again as she walked into the building, "When I was a teenager – no." She stopped herself, vowing she would not tell anyone the circumstances of Grace's conception. It was far too personal.

"Agent Todd?" the security guard asked, bringing her thoughts back to the present. He looked mildly surprised that she was in so early; she normally didn't turn up for another hour or two. She smiled quickly at him and stepped through the metal detector, collecting her weapon on the other side.

It's not too late, she thought. I can still go back. I don't have to tell him anything. Another, more practical, voice retorted, Yeah, right. Gibbs not notice anything? Maybe when Satan passes out snow-cones. She sighed again. This was not going to be pleasant.

As she walked into the bullpen, trying desperately to look calm and confident, she noticed Gibbs' mouth open. It was difficult to tell whether it was merely surprise at seeing her in so early or the beginning of a rant about yesterday's behavior, but she guessed the latter. Gibbs was hardly a jaw-dropper.

Before he could say anything, she cut him off. "Gibbs, I need to talk to you."

His expression didn't even change as he shaped his already open mouth around different words. "I'd say you do."

"Look, I'm sorry about yesterday, okay? It was…an emergency," Kate explained lamely. He raised an eyebrow, his way of saying that was not nearly enough. "I had to go see a lawyer," she continued carefully. His eyebrow inched further upwards. "About…my daughter." There, it was out.

Both eyebrows reacted this time. Kate didn't think she'd ever seen Gibbs so surprised. He recovered with unbelievable speed, though, so fast she wondered if she'd even seen the look at all.

"Daughter," he repeated slowly, his eyes narrowing. "Why didn't I know about her before?"

His tone was dangerously casual. Kate swallowed hard; the conversation had definitely taken a turn for the worse.

"Um," she started, all of her practiced explanations suddenly erased. "I…she…hasn't exactly been living with me." There was the eyebrow again, although this time it had a far more accusatory tone. "She hasn't even really been in my life. At all. Since she was born." In her nervousness, Kate's sentences came out in bursts.

"Father?" Kate hadn't thought it was possible to convey so much meaning with one word. He somehow managed to express disappointment, faint anger, and even two different questions, all in just two syllables.

"Boyfriend," she answered one of the questions. "And no," she answered the other. "He didn't even know. She was adopted. Her adoptive parents were killed last week, so I get custody." There was something about the way Gibbs said nothing that made people want to fill the silence. Kate had often seen him use it on suspects and now she found the tactic at work on her.

"Adopted? You didn't want your own child?" Kate was shocked at the outburst. The only time she had ever seen Gibbs react like that was when Captain Watson had tried to explain why he'd put his family at risk. Like then, she found herself wondering what more there was to Gibbs' story.

Her more immediate concern, however, was Gibbs' accusing remark. Indignant, she replied with more information than she had planned to give. "Gibbs, I was sixteen years old! I couldn't take care of a child!"

"Maybe you should have thought of that before," he charged with quiet intensity. Her eyes widened in hurt. She hadn't been prepared for blame. When she was sixteen and hiding Grace from her parents, yes, but not from Gibbs at age thirty. Even aware that he didn't know about Dominic, she couldn't help feeling betrayed by his condemning glare.

She couldn't speak. The growing sense of unease, telling her that maybe she shouldn't say anything to Gibbs, had exploded into full-fledged dread and left her immobile. She wanted nothing more than to flee his penetrating stare, go somewhere private and have good cry, but her feet would not obey. Her eyes stung with tears and her throat hurt from the effort of holding them back.

Her vision blurred by tears, she didn't see Gibbs' expression slowly soften. His next comment had less of a bite to it, which constituted an apology in Gibbs-speak. "You didn't choose to go that far."

She shook her head mutely in confirmation, not trusting her voice. He looked at her for a long moment before reaching over to McGee's desk and handing her a Kleenex. She took it, appreciating that the act was as sympathetic a gesture as she was ever going to get from Gibbs. She hated being so emotional, especially in front of Gibbs, but there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it now. After dabbing her eyes and blowing her nose, she threw the tissue away and turned back to Gibbs.

"So," she began, forcing her voice to stay strong. "Are you going to tell me I should have been more careful? Taken self-defense classes? Carried mace?"

He gave her a look somewhere between reproach and, oddly, sadness. Perhaps he was troubled that she thought he was so callous. Maybe he was just irritated that she was being so disrespectful. She didn't really care. She had been hurt and no matter how nice he was now, her defenses were up.

"I would appreciate it," she bit out, her bitterness strengthening with every word, "if you didn't tell anyone." She couldn't explain why she was being so nasty to Gibbs, except perhaps that his comment, however ignorant, had touched a part of her she thought she had buried. All the fear and hurt and rage she had felt toward Dominic was resurfacing and it had no place to go but out.

Unfortunately, Gibbs didn't take well to being disrespected. "Agent Todd, you are out of line," he growled, eyes blazing. "Get that attitude in check or you will be looking for another job."

Something about the familiar gruffness in his voice called her back to reality. Before she could say anything, though, the ding! of the elevator caused both their heads to turn. A moment later Tony came around the corner, whistling cheerfully and oblivious to the tension in the room.

"Morning, boss," he greeted, still apparently blind to the looks on their faces. "You're in early, Kate."

"So are you, DiNozzo," Gibbs retorted sharply, sweeping past with a muttered comment about coffee.

Tony looked puzzled. "What'd I do?" he asked Kate, once Gibbs was out of earshot.

"You were born, Tony," Kate returned halfheartedly. Tony noticed her lack of enthusiasm and turned to look at her, finally realizing that she was not well.

"Kate," he started, concern edging into his voice. "Are you okay? What happened yesterday, anyway?"

"I'm fine, Tony," Kate dismissed him, before remembering that this was Tony; if she couldn't trust him, who could she trust? "Yesterday…I met someone. Someone I hadn't seen in…a long time."

"Old boyfriend?" Tony joked. She stiffened slightly, determined not to make the same mistake she had with Gibbs. They didn't know. It's not their fault.

"No," she answered simply. "My…daughter."

Tony reacted much the same as Gibbs, only more obviously. His eyebrows scurried toward his hairline and his eyes widened in unrestrained surprise. "Daughter? Really?"

She nodded, waiting for his inevitable comment. She wasn't disappointed.

"You?" he asked unthinkingly.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Tony, me."

He seemed to be slowly recovering from his shock. Sputtering only slightly, he managed, "Wow, Kate. Um, congratulations. So, what's up with her?"

Kate sighed, wondering how much to tell. She settled for the bare facts. "Her adoptive parents died last week. Custody reverts to me."

Tony nodded as if he understood, but there was still confusion in his eyes. Kate ignored it; if he didn't ask, she wasn't going to tell. "That's, um, that's cool. So, how old is she? Four, five?"

Kate swallowed. She knew what he would assume, what he already assumed. Why it seemed worse when they found out she was underage she didn't know, but it did. Nevertheless, she had to answer. She wanted to answer. "She's fourteen," she said, barely above a whisper.

She could see the wheels turning as he processed the number, subtracting it from what he knew of Kate's age to come up with…Tony had the decency not to say anything as he connected the dots but when his eyes widened again, she knew that he knew.

Kate excused herself quickly and made her way to the ladies' room. Wiping her face with a damp paper towel, she stared in the mirror and gritted her teeth. I'd better get used to it, she thought grimly. Everyone's going to think it.

Somehow, that happy thought didn't cheer her. She dabbed her eyes, breathing deeply to calm herself. With a depressed look at her watch, she realized that it wasn't even her usual arrival time. It was going to be a very long day.