Susan turned and looked at him, not really knowing what to do next.
Gibbs put both hands on the back rest of the chair.
"Erin, I'll give you one more chance to go over your decision. But if you still prefer staying
with me over going to jail, then you do what Susan asked you to. None of us takes pleasure in
scaring you, but this has to be done."
He spoke matter-of-factly, keeping his voice down.
Erin very slowly lay back and put her legs on the stretcher too.
Susan stood up.
"Turn around, sweat."
Erin did and tried to lock the world out of her mind. When Susan gently pulled up her t-shirt,
Gibbs felt like his heart would stop to beat. Susan's description hadn't prepared him for what
he saw. Somebody really had taken an effort in causing damage. He could literally feel the
pain she must have been going through. Then Susan exposed the "G" that she had been
branded with. He swallowed down the curse that formed on his lips, knowing that any
outbreak of his would scare her even more.
Susan pointed out two really thick scars.
"Those and the "G" must be giving her a hard time moving", she said.
"I'll give you something to massage into these scars to soften up the tissue."
"Am I going to hurt her?"
Gibbs managed to keep his voice on a neutral level.
"At first maybe a little. But it will soon start to feel much better for her."
She pulled the t-shirt down again.
"You can get up now."
While Erin sat up Susan turned to Gibbs.
"You best take care of her arm after she showered. And treat her back once a day. I want to
see her back in five days, but if anything starts looking suspicious, come in any time you
want."
"Ok, thank you Sue."
"I'll get you what you need till Thursday."
While Susan packed everything needed, Gibbs watched Erin put her shirt back on. She was
calm, her face showing no emotions at all. He had always felt uneasy in the presence of a
crying woman; now he wished she would. This was so much worse.
The drive to the boat was spent in silence. Having parked the car, Gibbs picked up Erin's
backpack and they went to the boat. Despite her being seriously worried about being alone
with Gibbs, she had to admire the beauty of the old vessel. She loved boats; one of her
favourite jobs was to work as a crew on a sailing boat. And this one was high class. Given
different circumstances she would have been looking forward to this.
Gibbs gave her a quick tour of the boat, showing her the cabin in the bow, where she would
be sleeping.
He tried not get too close, to give her room, which wasn't easy to do in the restricted space of
the boat.
Back in the cockpit he looked at her directly for the first time since they'd left the doctor.
She still seemed emotionless and Gibbs could only guess how she felt.
"Want to go shower?"
She nodded her head.
"Ok, I'll walk you up to the club-house to get you introduced and supply you with a key-card
for the facilities. You'll get a towel up there; do you have everything else you need?"
Instead of answering she picked up her backpack and stepped off the boat.
The club-house was built and furnished old-fashioned. It looked like money – plenty of
money. She was not too surprised about this though. There had been some pretty expensive
toys in the marina as far as she had seen by now. During her working as crew on several
boats, she had been in clubs like this one before. She had always liked the kind of "British"
atmosphere, all the boat models, paintings, high polished dark wood, the classic art of
understatement.
Gibbs was standing at the counter, talking to a clerk. He having turned his back to her she
dared a closer look. He was tall. She could see he worked out. He had silvery hair, military
hair-cut. She guessed him to be somewhere in his late forties. He had an air of authority
around him. She depended highly on the ability to judge people on first impression and she
knew instinctively that he was used to his orders being followed without asking.
If he was the skipper of a boat she was working on, she would have liked him.
He turned around and walked up to her and she looked down at the floor again.
He handed her a key-card, a towel and a cotton bag.
"Leave your laundry at the counter, when you're done. They'll have it cleaned and they'll
bring it back to the boat. This club is full service."
Then he showed her where the ladies washroom was. Outside the door he stopped and pointed
at the bandages on her arm. "Need help getting them off?"
She shook her head.
"Ok then. I'm back on the boat. You'll find the way, will you?"
"Yes Sir."
She was barely to be heard.
Before he could tell her how much he disliked being addressed as "Sir", she had entered the
washroom.
Standing in the shower and enjoying the warm water on her body, she wondered about the
fact that Gibbs trusted her to come back to the boat. Well, maybe he didn't. Maybe he'd be
somewhere outside observing the club. Maybe this was a test. She would go back to the boat.
If she did a few times, he might stop observing her and it would be easier to get away once
she felt she had to, or once Ben demanded to see her.
She turned the shower off, dried herself using toilet paper for the area around that cut on her
upper arm that had started to bleed again. She didn't want to stain the towel. For the same
reason she taped a piece of clean cloth she took from a small first aid kit she always carried
with her, over the cut. She didn't carry to many spare clothes, so better keep them clean.
Then she put the dirty clothes in the bag Gibbs had given her. It carried a name tag that read
"Morning Glory".
"Must be the boats name", she thought.
She left the bag at the counter and headed back to the boat. She didn't see Gibbs anywhere
around, but then – he was with the NCIS. No way she would see him if he didn't want to be
seen. The nearer she got to the boat, the slower she went. She didn't feel ready to face Gibbs,
she never would. And he would want to dress her wounds, meaning he would come real close.
He would touch her. She felt sick. She stopped for a moment to steady herself before she
stepped on board. Gibbs had watched her approach through the window over the pantry. He
saw her stop, hesitating for a moment, then straightening herself up and moving on.
"Brave girl", he thought. He was glad she came back out of her free will. He had made his
mind up on not constricting her freedom to move in any way. If she wanted to get away, he
would let her. He would never be able to win her trust by holding her as a prisoner. He would
deal with the consequences rather than waste the chance he hoped he had.
She had stepped on board by now and he motioned her to come inside.
"Feeling better?" he asked pointing at the birth beside the navigation table.
"Sit down there."
She nodded a "Yes" and sat down where he'd asked her to.
Gibbs got the bag with the medical stuff Susan had given him and took out, what he needed.
"Put your arm on that table," he said gently.
She did. He cleaned and dressed her wounds. Erin had to concentrate on breathing. He was far
too close, treating her with steady hands, careful as if trying not to hurt her. She could feel his
eyes on her all the time.
He knew he hurt her, but she didn't even tense. That told him a lot about her being used to
dealing with pain. He didn't like it, although it was no surprise. When he was finished, he sat
down on the berth opposite of hers.
"You ok?"
"Yes Sir." She didn't look up but took her arm from the table, putting it in her lap.
"Could you try and call me something other than "Sir"? Not even my subordinates at the
office do. Call me Jethro or Gibbs, what ever, but please don't "Sir" me, will you?"
She didn't react, so he got up and stepped to the pantry.
"Let's sit outside and have something to eat. You must be hungry."
She wasn't, but when he filled two bowls with soup, she got up, took the bowl he handed her
and went up the hatchway into the cockpit. She put her bowl down at the table and sat on one
of the benches.
Gibbs sat down opposite of her. He started to eat and was glad to see she did too. After few
minutes had passed he put his spoon down.
"Can I ask you a few questions?"
She didn't say "no", so he continued.
"Are they going to find a match, checking your fingerprints?"
He spoke quietly and friendly. He didn't want this to appear to be an interrogation.
She put down her spoon too.
"No."
"And Erin really is your Christian name?"
"Yes."
"Your last name…can't you tell me or do you just not want to?"
She seemed to be thinking about it for a moment.
"I can't."
"How comes?"
"I don't know it."
He was surprised. But his instincts told him what she said was true.
"You don't know your last name?" he inquired.
"No."
So you never had any kind of ID?"
"No."
"Birth certificate?"
She fell back into silence.
Gibbs blamed himself for pushing too hard.
"Hey, look. I just want to help. What are your parent's names?"
"I don't know who my parents are."
"Who brought you up then?"
"Stayed with different people."
Gibbs started to get an idea of what kind of life she'd had until now.
"Where do you live now?"
"I'm moving around."
"You have to earn some money."
"I take all kinds of jobs."
"Like what?"
"All kinds of things."
"So you're telling me that you never had a last name, you live nowhere, go from job to job,
always ready to leave, is that right?"
She didn't answer. She didn't have to. He knew it was the truth.
He leaned back, never taking his eyes off her.
"I changed my mind about making you promise not to run away. If you want to leave, you can
– any time. But I really want you to stay. I think you need a rest from all this moving around.
And I can help you get the papers you need."
She couldn't believe what she heard. Did he really tell her she could go? She felt like a bird
released. Suddenly it was so much easier to breathe. And what did he say about her getting an
ID? He wanted to help her? He wanted her to stay and he wanted to help her. She couldn't
believe it. But then – Gibbs didn't seem like someone who didn't mean what he said.
Gibbs sat silently, watching her think about what he had offered.
Erin's first thought had been to just get up and get away. But then, it would be much easier if
she had proper ID. And yes, she needed a rest. But why would he offer to help her.
She knew where she would find the answer. She didn't want to, but something made her look
up.
Their eyes met for the first time. Nobody had ever looked at her the way Gibbs did. She
wanted to look away, but she couldn't. His eyes promised something she couldn't name.
Somehow his thoughts seemed to bypass her brain and connect directly to her sub conscience.
She forced herself to break the eye contact and end that connection. She needed to have full
control to make sure she was safe. But something had reached her. Deep inside she felt a tiny
glimpse of hope.
Gibbs didn't want to loose her attention.
"How about trying for a while; see how this works out? If you think you're not up to it you
can still decide on leaving in a few days."
She heard herself agree. She wasn't convinced, but maybe it was worth a try.
They heard a canon shot and Gibbs stood up to take in the flag. Erin knew this happened
every night at sundown.
She got up too, took the bowls and spoons to the pantry inside and rinsed and dried them. She
put them back into the cabinet and went back outside again to hang the towel over the railing.
Gibbs wondered whether she had been on boats before. She moved easily in this special
environment and hanging things on the railing to dry was a typical sailor's thing to do.
When she was finished, Erin stood a while, watching the scenery.
Gibbs figured she didn't know what to do next. He knew he couldn't expect her to get used to
the new situation this fast.
"Do you play chess?" he asked.
Erin turned his way, not looking directly at him though.
"No, I don't."
"Want to learn?"
"Yeah, why not."
He got the board and they spent the next two hours playing. She caught on really fast and was
obviously able to think of many possible moves and their consequences pretty fast.
He had suspected, she was smart, and after he'd had the chance to look in her eyes he knew
for sure.
She really concentrated on learning to play but he saw that she was aware of what he was
doing every second.
"It's getting late. Let's call it a day and get ready to get some sleep."
They packed up the game.
On their way back from the day's final visit to the club-house, walking along besides Gibbs,
Erin suddenly could no longer fight back her fear of what was coming next.
It hit her full force, knocked the air out of her. She was hardly able to walk.
Gibbs noticed her pale and slow her steps. He knew immediately, what was going on.
Tbc?