Chapter Eighteen: Every Little Thing

Nicole sat in the backseat of the car staring out the window. She hadn't spoken a word since they had left Gibbs' house, even though both Dawn and Justin had attempted to converse with her. She learned she was going to a house in a nice neighborhood and that these people most likely came from money. There were also three other children in the house, and these people somehow thought another girl her age would make this burden less on her.

She didn't bother to tell them that she was used to being an only child, that she didn't need another child to comfort her. She simply ignored them as she thought about the last forty-eight hours or so. She couldn't help the image of her mother creeping back into her conscious mind. Her fingers tightened over the scrape of paper in her pocket, numbers to a lifeline she thought.

The two in the front didn't take the hint and continued to talk. Nicole was already annoyed with them, but their meaningless rambles helped to occupy her brain with something while she mourned the loss of another loved one. She wasn't sure when it had happened but she knew she had connected on a different level with Agent Gibbs.

Finally they pulled into a driveway, leading up to a large house, in a stellar neighborhood. Nicole climbed from the backseat and stood next to the car looking around. It was hard to notice anything since it was dark but she got the feel for the place instantly. She didn't think she would like it here. Dawn came up beside her and motioned that she go in the house. After a brief pause she finally pushed from the car and slowly walked into the house through the front door.

She was immediately greeted by another woman who smiled at the two adults as they came in. There were three other kids, two younger and one about the same age as her, sitting quietly in the room doing various things. Two of them brightened when they saw the couple come in behind her, the third simply stared at Nicole. It annoyed her but she just ignored the child.

"Mandy, Derrick, and Ricky, this is Nicole," Dawn said in a cheery voice that made Nicole want to kick her in the shin. The three children looked at her with smiles on their face; Nicole faked one in return then looked down. She didn't want to be here, she felt like crying.

Derrick and Ricky, she wasn't sure which was which, looked younger than her. Nicole's best guess was they were six or seven. Mandy was probably close to her own age, but Nicole didn't care. She didn't want a friend; it wasn't what she was looking for. She looked up at Dawn.

"Where's my room, I'm tired," Nicole said half heartedly. Dawn frowned but then led her through the house and up a flight of stairs to a room on the second floor. She opened the door and Nicole groaned internally as she saw two beds, one obviously used, in the room. Mandy was right behind them. Nicole walked to the open bed and sat down on it. She decided it would do and lay back onto the pillows.

"I'll leave you two alone," Dawn said with a smile. Nicole ignored her as Mandy smiled in return. The door slid shut and Nicole sat up and looked around. She felt the emotions building again, but wouldn't crack. She made that promise to herself. Mandy came over and sat down next to her.

"Hi, I'm Mandy," she said with a smile. Nicole wanted to smack the girl but decided it would be a bad start. They had to share a room now. She took a deep breath, plastered a fake smile on her face, and nodded.

"Nicole," she said.

"They told us what happened, I'm sorry," Mandy said. Nicole looked away; she didn't want a stranger's sympathy. She scanned the room again but didn't see a phone. She would have to use one out in the main house if she would call the numbers. She fingered the paper again, wanting desperately to call him. She felt like the monsters were getting closer.

"I'm really tired," Nicole said with a weak smile. Mandy nodded and left the room as Nicole lay on the bed hugging her new pillow. It was then she allowed herself to cry, burying her face into the fluff of the pillow to muffle her sobs. She felt alone for the first time since Agent Gibbs walked into her life after her mother had been killed.

Nicole feel asleep crying, holding her pillow tightly willing herself to wake up from this bad dream, to find herself in the basement. She wanted it all to be a sick joke and Gibbs was really just downstairs sanding his boat. She knew that wasn't true. She was here to stay, it was her new home. It felt wrong, but that's what she fell asleep to…her new home.

Abby was sifting through the belongings that had been brought back from the Conrad residence after the murder. She had been slowly going through the boxes for two days now as the rest of the team chased the case to California, well except Gibbs. She cut the tape on another box and pulled up the top.

Inside she found stacks of file folders. She pulled the first one up and saw the contents were notes on one of her cases. Abby quickly flipped through it but found nothing more of interest. The next two files were the same as the first, legal notes on cases that were either pending or closed. The fourth file was different though.

When Abby first opened it she squinted at the contents in confusion. Where the other files had been well thought out sentences and flowery language, this folder contained documents in a cryptic short hand or code. Abby flipped through the rest of the file and every single document was in the same script. She frowned and looked at the clock. She didn't know if anyone was up in the bullpen yet but she thought she would check before calling the Bossman at home.

When she came into the bullpen she thought she had missed everyone but then McGee popped up from below his desk in his chair. Abby ran over to him, startling him. She put the folder down in front of him and pointed at it.

"What's up, Abby?" he asked cautiously. Abby gave him a look, shaking her head, making her pig tails bounce.

"I don't know, Tim, look at it though. It's all in some weird code. The rest of the folders in the box were clean written flowery legal crap," Abby said with a shrug. McGee looked at what she was pointing at and frowned. He didn't recognize the short hand.

"Where'd you get this?" he asked turning the page so he could read it more.

"It came in with the other stuff from the Conrad house," Abby said. "What do you think it means?"

"I don't know, but we need to find out. Maybe someone she worked with would know her short hand code."

"It's too late to call the office here," Abby said looking at the clock.

"Yeah, it's pretty late in California too, besides I don't think anyone here would know it. I'll call and leave a message for someone to get back to us ASAP from San Diego."

"You think it's just another case that she hadn't written up her formal notes on?"

"Could be, but Gibbs said to be thorough on this one. I'll see if I can get it…translated," he said as he picked up his phone and dialed the California base. He routed his call to Lt. j. g. Michelle Pearce and waited. He got her voice mail and he left her a brief message asking her to contact him in the morning.

"Just a message, huh," Abby said a little disappointed. McGee nodded. He was tired and looked up. Tony and Ziva were already gone for the night. He turned to Abby and smiled.

"I'm exhausted, let's get out of here," he said standing up and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Abby nodded slightly and then headed towards the lab to get her things with McGee on her heels.

A darkness she had never experienced surrounded her. She couldn't see where she was running to or where she had come from. She had seen him, he had no face. He pushed that knife into her mother over and over and she couldn't stop him. She stood in horror and watched as the redness spread. It consumed everything, colored the darkness, and took away the life from her mother.

She screamed, but all that did was draw his attention. His featureless face turned to her slowly holding the knife in his hand. It dripped, slowly dripped red, to the floor. Her mother's blood. She watched in fascinated horror, unable to mover her feet. They were cemented to the floor.

Finally he moved towards her and she turned. Her heart felt like it was about to explode, and she couldn't move her feet fast enough. RUN! She thought but her feet moved in slow motion. He was catching her, the man without a face. All she could do was scream. Why wouldn't anyone help her!

The red was all around her now, it was overtaking her. It was upon her. She couldn't move anymore, the redness had trapped her feet. She fought viciously, thrashing and punching, kicking and jerking. Nothing worked and she felt him coming closer. He was right behind her now and she was trapped.

She screamed again as the man with no face bent down with the knife in hand. He was thrusting it forward when someone grabbed her shoulder. She screamed again in complete terror as she was unable to escape the man. His grip tightened…

Nicole sprang forward with a gasp, tears soaking her face, sweat soaking the rest of her. She was completely disoriented, terrified, and out of breath. There was a strange figure next to her speaking but she didn't hear them. She pulled her shoulder from their grasp and shrunk to the corner of her bed. Her first instinct was to run. The man was going to get her.

She leaped from the bed around the startled figure and headed for the door. She tripped over something on the floor and stumbled forward hitting her head on the corner of the dresser. She felt the skin split but didn't care. She fumbled in the dark and yanked the door open. She was lost, in a strange house, not sure if she was awake or still dreaming. Her only thought was to find Gibbs.

She heard a voice behind her but it only motivated her to move further from it. She was scared, but slowly her senses were returning. She remembered leaving Gibbs and coming to a new house, she remembered the new people, her foster parents and she stopped running. She fell to her knees with a sob as more doors opened in the house. There was someone beside her now and she looked up through blurry tear filled eyes into the face of a stranger.

She cried harder now. She didn't have anyone anymore; they had taken it all away from her. And the man with no face still chased her at night. A hand came to her shoulder and she felt the stinging in her eye. She felt something trickle down her face and she collapsed against the body next to her.

"Shhh," someone said to her as arms wrapped around her. "It was just a bad dream."

But somehow it wasn't comforting. It wasn't the same. It didn't chase the demons away; it didn't make her feel safe. No one called her Kido, or even Kelly. He wasn't there to help anymore. She cried harder and it made her eye hurt more. Whoever had a hold of her didn't know what to do to calm her. She heard someone tell the others to go back to their rooms. It didn't matter. She was haunted and they didn't know what to do.

"Nicole, it was just a dream, honey, it's ok now," a woman's voice soothed her, a hand gently rubbing her back. She couldn't stop crying. The woman was trying desperately to console her, comfort her, and help her, but it wasn't helping. Nicole shuttered as she breathed. She couldn't see out of her right eye, the skin around it swelling from the impact. She felt something cold being placed over it and pulled back.

"It's ok, it will help," Justin's voice said softly. She let the cold pack be put in place. She wanted her mother, but knew that couldn't happen, so her heart turned to a grumpy silver haired agent of the NCIS next. But they took him away too. Now she must face the man who chased her with people who didn't know how to stop him.

A few hours later they had her calmed down enough to put her back in her room…with just Mandy as company. Nicole felt the tears coming down her face as she was afraid to close her eyes, no one had chased him away, if she shut her eyes, he was waiting. The red was waiting. She didn't want to see it anymore.

TBC…