Aimee shivered in the cold October wind as she huddled closer to the old stone chimney atop Gibbs' house. That last phone call had shaken her up even more than the first one. She knew who Davy was now. David Brody. Her father. She used to have dreams that her biological father wanted her for his own little girl. Now she knew that he did want her, but not to be her father. He wanted her for the chip in her head. Gibbs had told her that she was safe and that David Brody couldn't hurt her. He said that she wasn't in any danger anymore, but he couldn't have been more wrong. Part of Aimee wanted to blame Gibbs but another part of her knew he couldn't have known that David Brody was still working to get his hands on the information on the chip. The man was in jail. How could he possibly be a threat to her? Aimee didn't know much about life, but to her credit, she'd been alive long enough to figure out that life wasn't fair and it didn't have to make sense or follow any rules. David Brody was a powerful man. Even Gibbs had said that. He was powerful enough that he could do what he wanted, even from prison, and this time he had threatened to hurt Janessa. Davy expected her to take every one of his calls and do exactly what he said. He wasn't in the mood to play games with her. He'd made himself perfectly clear this time.

Aimee reached up and wiped the hot tears from her frozen cheeks. She'd wanted to destroy every phone in the house the first time he'd called. It hadn't been hard to figure out who Davy was. She'd just been too shocked to believe it was possible. Then she thought she could escape him by hanging up and destroying the phones. Only that didn't work. There was always going to be another phone. He warned her that she must take his calls. She had to make people believe that Davy was her friend. She had to do what he said or he'd hurt Janessa or Gibbs or anyone else she dared to love. Aimee closed her eyes, allowing the tears to cascade down her cheeks. She choked back the lump in her throat, feeling like she might vomit. She wasn't going to love people anymore. Everyone she loved died. Her mother. Baby Sarah. Andrew. It wasn't hard to figure out that loving people was dangerous. Maybe she should just leave and go away. Her heart ached at the thought of leaving Janessa behind but perhaps that was the kindest thing she could do. If she just went with Brody then everyone would be safe.

"Aimee Percy!" called a voice from below her.

Aimee felt herself jump at the sound of what seemed like an angry, frustrated voice. She didn't dare move though for fear she'd lose her balance and fall. She'd only wanted some time alone with her thoughts. She didn't want to be caught out on the roof. She felt certain that Gibbs wouldn't be overly impressed with her choice.

Aimee shifted her foot a little and felt herself slip, losing her footing. She pulled her foot up but her shoe caught on one of the loose shingles causing her to slide further away from the chimney. The bitter wind picked up and sent shivers up her spine.

"Aimee, where are you?" echoed the stern voice once again, this time from the backyard in the other direction. "Check the treehouse, Abbs." Gibbs' voice didn't sound happy. Aimee could hear other voices. Tony's deep voice was froth with concern. Abby's higher pitched voice sounded almost panicked. Papa Jack's voice was deep and gravelly; she could just barely make out the figures walking in the dimly lit backyard.

"No sign of her, Boss." Tony's voice sounded tired. Aimee's heart ached a little knowing that Tony should have been resting and not searching outside in the cold evening air.

Aimee attempted to reposition herself again but she couldn't seem to free her shoe from beneath the shingle.

"Great," she mumbled, sniffling loudly. She leaned forward and yanked at her foot only to find herself sliding even further down the side of the roof, well away from the chimney. Aimee shivered again in the brisk night air and looked around the roof, trying to see where she could crawl safely but felt afraid to move.

"She's not in the treehouse, Gibbs." Abby's voice this time, echoing in the silence of the evening carried by the ice-cold wind.

"Leroy, this is ridiculous. It's obvious she isn't out here, and if she is then she's hiding." Gibbs' dad sounded irritated as well. His voice sounded sombre and curt, only the bitterness seemed directed more towards Gibbs than her.

"Aimee!" shouted Gibbs once again. "Answer me this instant."

Aimee put her hand over her mouth as more tears filled her eyes. She didn't like how angry Gibbs sounded. It filled her with trepidation and made her stomach ache. She reached down and untied her shoe, carefully pulling her foot out. She turned and started to crawl back towards the chimney. She dragged her feet behind her dislodging another shingle and as she crawled, the shingle went sliding off the roof and hit something below her with an ominous thunk sound. She lost her footing again and smacked her face on the roof. She sucked in her breath as she felt her face sting sharply from the gritty surface.

"Aimee, crawl towards me," came a soft voice from above her.

Aimee looked towards the voice and noticed a bright light shining through the window directly above her. She quickly swiped tears from her eyes with her icy fingers and made her way carefully upwards towards the open window. Several more shingles dislodged under her feet as she crawled slowly upwards on the sharp peak. As she reached the sharpest pitch of the roof, she could see Makayla reaching far out the window towards her.

"Grab my hand, Aimee!"

Aimee forced herself upwards on her knees, wincing as she crawled further forward. Her knees were stinging as she dragged them against the rough shingles, afraid to lift them up too high and lose her balance. Her right knee skidded backwards and she slipped once again, smacking her face another time much harder against the coarse surface. She couldn't help crying out in pain. She should have answered Gibbs the first time he'd called, rather than trying to hide from him.

"Keep crawling, Aimee. It's okay, I've got you now. Keep going!"

Aimee startled when she realized that Makayla had crawled out the window after her, grasping her wrists firmly to keep her from slipping further.

"NO!" she whimpered. "You're gonna fall too."

"Just crawl, Aimee!" said Makayla, her voice scarcely heard over the wind. "Don't worry about me."

The wind blew harder, whipping Aimee's hair against her battered cheek. She winced as her face throbbed in time with her fast beating heart. She forced herself back up on her knees and did her best to crawl further towards the open window. She closed her eyes as she felt Makayla pull her forward further. She couldn't help but whimper as her knees and legs were dragged along the final section of the roof.

"Hold on to me," Makayla ordered as she wrapped one arm tighter around Aimee and pulled her inside the window. Once inside the warmth of the room, both of the girls sat breathing hard as they leaned against the wall in Gibbs' bedroom. It took several minutes before either girl could catch her breath enough to speak.

"Are you ok?" asked Makayla softly as she rose to her feet to fasten the window above their heads.

Aimee nodded. "Yes." She put her hands up to her mouth and blew on them. She was trembling and shivering, feeling like the wind had blown right through her.

Makayla looked around the room and briskly rubbed her hands up and down her arms, equally as cold as Aimee. She saw a blue checked duvet folded at the end of the bed and grabbed it, sliding back down the wall and covering Aimee and herself.

Aimee shivered again but managed to smile at Makayla. "Thanks. I didn't know it was so cold out tonight."

"Yah, I know. Next thing you know it will be Thanksgiving. The air has that crisp feel and it smells so fresh." Mikayla leaned against Aimee and pulled the heavy quilt tighter around her.

"Thanks."

Mikayla smiled. "Why did you climb out on the roof? Agent Gibbs and everyone is looking for you." Mikayla's eyes suddenly bolted to the doorway. "Oh, crap, we should let everyone know where you are…"

"No!" said Aimee, grasping Makayla by the arm to keep her from getting up. "Wait, don't tell Gibbs yet."

Makayla relaxed and turned to look at Aimee closer in the dim light of the room. "Oh, Aimee, your face is cut up. You must have hit your cheek on the roof when you fell."

Aimee blinked back tears. Her face stung a lot as did her knees and ankles. She felt sure that she was all scraped up but she still didn't want to move from where she sat. The cuts and bruises would heal over time but her predicament wasn't going anywhere. David Brody was still looming big and large in her mind.

"Why did your Aunt pawn you off on Gibbs, anyway?" asked Aimee, deciding to deflect the subject from her back to Makayla. Aimee was much wiser than Makayla knew when it came to figuring out things.

Makayla sighed. "Aimee, I will gladly tell you all about my Aunt Jenny another time, but for now I think it's more important we talk about you. Agent Gibbs is very worried about you and so is Abby and everyone else." Makayla rose to her feet but Aimee jumped up and pulled on her arm with all her might.

"Please, Makayla, don't tell him I was out on the roof! Please!"

Makayla pulled away gently. "One look at you and I'm sure he'll figure out." Aimee's eyes continued to plead with the older girl and soon Makayla relented. "Okay fine, I won't say anything, but I'm not going to lie if he directly asks me. Between you and me, he kinda intimidates me and I don't think I want to risk getting on his bad side."

Aimee rolled her eyes. "Don't let him bother you. His bark is worse than his bite."

"It's not his bite I'm worried about…" Makayla hesitated when she saw Aimee shiver again. "Anyway, maybe you should take a hot bath or something, and clean yourself up. I can maybe get Abby to help you unless you don't mind me." She reached out and brushed Aimee's hair out of her eyes and grimaced as some of the blonde locks stuck to the dried up blood on her face. Aimee winced and pulled away. "Sorry. Gee, your face is really scraped up badly, Aimee. C'mon, I'll help you."

Aimee blinked back some more tears and followed Makayla into Gibbs ensuite bathroom. Makayla switched on the light and both of them blinked as their eyes adjusted to the bright lights. Aimee looked in the mirror and gasped out loud. Her right cheek was scraped and bloody as was her nose and chin. She hadn't realized she'd smacked her face so hard on the jagged shingles.

"You should probably get those pants off too. By the looks of it, you skinned your knees pretty good as well."

Aimee looked at her face to her knees, noticing that she had ripped the knees out of her blue jeans. Both her knees were a bleeding through her pants and she had torn her pants in several places.

"I had no idea how hard it is to walk on a roof."

Makayla smirked as she took a warm cloth and wet it with some warm water. "I'm pretty sure roofs are not meant for walking on, Aimee. Whatever possessed you to climb out on the roof?"

"I was wondering the same thing," said a stern voice from behind them.

Both girls turned to see a very exasperated looking Gibbs standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at both girls, sizing up the situation. His eyes scanned them both up and down, stopping momentarily on Aimee's injuries. His expression softened a little but remained stern and unrelenting.

Aimee gulped nervously. "Gibbs!"

Makayla offered a tentative smile. "Hi, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs walked into the bathroom and gently tipped Aimee's head up to get a closer look at her cheek. He took the washcloth that Makayla offered him and dabbed at her face gingerly. Makayla chewed her lip silently as she watched Gibbs clean Aimee's injured cheek. Gibbs blocked the entrance so there was no way for her to escape so she fidgeted her with her hands instead.

"I can explain…" began Aimee, blinking back tears.

"Aims, right now all I want to know right now is who was on the phone."

Aimee stiffened at his words. There was no way Gibbs could find out about Brody. There was no way Aimee would let on anything about him.

"My friend, Ruthie, called…"

Gibbs stopped cleaning her face and tipped her chin up towards him once again, narrowing a suspicious eye at her.

"Ruthie?"

"Yah. She wanted to know if I can visit her at Thanksgiving," improvised Aimee, straining to swallow as he held her chin up high forcing her to look him straight in the eye. Aimee was thankful she was quick on her feet, remembering the name of the one friend she had made at the last base her family had been stationed at. Ruthie Connor had been homeschooled as well and often had played outside during the day when the other kids on base were at school. Even though Aimee's family had only been on base for a couple of months, Ruthie and Aimee had become fast friends. Aimee wished that it was the truth she was telling and that Ruthie did indeed know how to reach her. She would have liked to get to know Ruthie better and have a more lasting friendship.

Gibbs dropped his hands to his side looking suspiciously at her. He wasn't buying any of it and Aimee knew it. She dropped her chin to her chest, suddenly finding the specks of lint on the floor extremely interesting. She was a horrible liar.

"Mak, would you mind letting the rest of the team know I found Aimee?"

Makayla nodded and went to slip past Gibbs but he caught her by the arm gently, cupping her chin in his hand.

"Are you hurt?"

Makayla shook her head. "No, I only scraped my knee a little. It's no big deal."

Gibbs nodded his head. "I would like to speak with you later so don't go to bed or disappear until I do, okay?"

Makayla's face went pale as her heart skipped a beat in her chest. "I…um…did I do something wrong, Agent Gibbs?" She couldn't stop herself from asking the question much to her chagrin. Her mouth went dry and her hands trembled as she made eye contact with him. Makayla definitely did not like to be in any kind of trouble.

Gibbs cast a look of confusion her way. "I promised your Aunt Jenny that we'd talk some more about today."

Makayla breathed out a sigh of relief.

Gibbs offered her a smile and patted her shoulder lightly. Makayla returned the smile and offered a similar smile of sympathy to Aimee who was still counting lint balls on the linoleum tiles of the bathroom floor.

"I'll be around later, Aimee, if you want to talk, okay?"

Aimee looked up at her with tears glistening in her eyes and gave a subtle nod. Makayla gave her one last look of compassion before disappearing from the room.

Gibbs took a few steps towards the bathtub and sat down on the edge. He rubbed his hands on his jeans and rubbed the back of his head, fixing a look at Aimee that told her she'd better start telling the truth.

xXx—NCIS—xXx

Gibbs watched as Aimee squirmed and shuffled her feet around. He knew she was telling him a tale. Aimee had never mentioned any friends that she'd had from her past, and certainly no one named Ruthie. From what he knew of her past, her family had never stayed at one base long enough for the girls to make many friends. All the research that he'd done had led him to believe that the girls were pretty much isolated. Being that they had been homeschooled, they had never been registered in any school on base or any activities in surrounding areas. In fact, his investigations turned up virtually nothing about the girls' existence on any base other than a few scattered medical records. Those records were sparse at best and alluded to abuse. It wasn't hard to see how easy it was for the girls to fall through the cracks.

"Sit down, Aims," he said, pointing to the toilet seat across from him. Aimee obliged and Gibbs glanced at her knees. "Can you roll up your pants for me?"

Aimee nodded and leaned down to pull them up. She grimaced as the cuffs came up to her knees.

"It hurts," she gasped and sat up again.

Gibbs tossed her a towel that was hanging on the hook. "I'll step out. You take off your jeans and cover yourself with the towel. I want to get a good look at your knees and get them bandaged up if need be."

Aimee nodded quietly and Gibbs left the bathroom. He flipped the light on in the room and latched the window to his bedroom. He glanced out at the roof and shuddered. Aimee was a lucky little girl. The pitch on his roof was steep. Very steep. How she'd managed to get from her room to his, across the perilous ridge, was beyond his imagination. His heart had nearly leapt out of his chest when he saw her climbing around on the rooftop, to begin with. A section of one of the shingles had slid down and smacked him on the head. His heart was still racing thinking about how easy it could have been for her to slip right off the roof. He wasn't sure how Makayla knew to look on the roof or if she had just heard or seen Aimee out there. He was grateful to the teenager for having the bravery to rescue Aimee. He was a little miffed that she'd put herself in danger though. He had to remind himself that she was a little girl as well and not trained to know what to do in every circumstance. He didn't like it one bit that she had taken the risk and climbed out on his roof as well. The pitch of the roof on his side of the house was a potentially deadly.

"Are you decent?" Gibbs asked as he walked towards the door and knocked on it.

"Are you mad, Gibbs?"

"What do you think?" he asked her, trying the handle of the door and finding it locked. It wasn't a surprise. He figured she'd lock him out if she could. "I'm coming in so cover yourself up if you don't want me to see your underclothing."

"I'm not unlocking the door," she said boldly.

Gibbs looked at the small hole in the doorknob and smirked. He'd installed safety knobs on all his doors when he'd renovated a few years back. He'd felt silly putting the locks on his doors, but it seemed like the modern way and he'd gotten a pretty good deal on them.

"Aims, I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not happy about you climbing out on my roof and yes, there are going to be consequences. Locking me out isn't going to make things better. Please open the door and let me in."

"No!"

Gibbs sighed and pulled open the top drawer to his dresser beside the bathroom. Inside was a long piece of a wire hanger he had snipped to do just the job. He poked it in the hole and popped the lock with ease, opening the door and staring at the bewildered girl inside.

"How'd you do that?" she asked, her mouth still gaping.

Gibbs showed her the hole on the outside of the handle. "Safety locks for just a time like this."

She rolled her eyes and sat down on the toilet seat once more, not bothering to cover herself. Gibbs took note. Aimee hadn't reached that self-conscious stage yet and didn't seem to care that he could see her floral underwear. He supposed nine-year-olds all developed at different stages. Aimee seemed mature on one hand but on the other, she was still very much a little girl. Gibbs sat down across from her on the edge of the tub once more glancing at her knees. They were scraped up pretty good but not too bad. He grabbed some disinfectant out of his first aid kit and set to work cleaning and patching up her knees and cheek.

"Who was on the phone?"

"I told you…"

"No, you made up a story, now I want the truth."

"It is the truth," insisted Aimee.

Gibbs closed the kit and set it on the floor. "I'm going to find out sooner or later, Aims, and I prefer you tell me yourself."

"Ruthie calls me all the time…"

Gibbs sighed. "Who is davy?"

"Her brother."

"Why does he call you?"

"We're friends."

Gibbs hit her with a penetrating look but she didn't back down. She kept steady eye contact but Gibbs could see her hands trembling. He decided to change tactics.

"Why did you climb out on the roof?"

Aimee chewed her lip. "I wanted to be alone."

Gibbs shook his head, feeling exasperated. "One of the shingles from the roof came down and hit me on the head while I was outside searching for you. Did you hear me calling you?"

Aimee looked up at him and slowly nodded.

"Why didn't you answer?"

She shrugged.

"A shrug isn't an answer, Aimee."

"I…I didn't want you to know I was on the roof," she admitted.

"Why?"

She shrugged and dropped her eyes to the floor once again. Gibbs saw the lint on the floor thinking it was time he cleaned the bathroom. He couldn't remember the last time he'd taken a broom and mop to the floor.

"Did you think you'd be in trouble with me?"

Aimee licked her lips and nodded again, not looking up. Gibbs reached out and cupped her chin with his weathered hand.

"I think you knew exactly how dangerous it was to climb out on the roof, didn't you?" Aimee attempted to pull her face away but Gibbs held tight. "I also think you were avoiding me because you knew I was going to ask about that phone call. Am I right?"

Aimee's lip came up in a pout.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at her sternly. "And…I also think this Ruthie person is a made up story…"

This time Aimee stood to her feet and shoved him away from her. "Shut up! Ruthie is my friend and you don't know nothing!"

Gibbs remained sitting as he was right at eye level with Aimee. "I can't prove or disprove your story but I can have McGee tap my phone line. And the next time Ruthie or Davy calls, I want to speak with one of their parents. Do you hear me? No more secret phone calls."

Aimee glared at him. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest and her face was red. Gibbs glanced at his watch noting the time. It was getting late and he still wanted to have time to speak with Makayla. He felt tired. He wasn't used to parenting and he was feeling his fifty years and then some.

"Do you want to tell me anything else?"

Aimee continued to glower at him.

Gibbs rose to his feet. "I'll take that as a no. Well, I believe you knew going out on the roof was dangerous, and you admitted that you heard me call you but you choose to ignore me. In my books, deliberately doing something dangerous deserves a spanking. Same as running away…"

Aimee's eyes widened and she took a few steps back, her back towards the door. Gibbs had shut the door once again when he'd come in so Aimee was very much trapped.

"No!" she shouted at him. Gibbs' heart softened when he saw the look of panic cross her face. It was obvious she remembered the last time they'd travelled this road and she wasn't a fan. He could hardly blame her. He didn't like this part of parenting at all and a big part of him wasn't sure if he should use corporal punishment on Aimee at all. Something deep within him nagged at him to not go that route very often. He just didn't know enough about Aimee's background. Running away had become a very dangerous pattern and it needed to be stopped immediately. Even then he hadn't chosen to spank right away, not until it had become habitual and on-going.

"Are you going to climb out on the roof again?" he asked, knowing the answer. Aimee wasn't a stupid kid; in fact, pretty much any kid in her shoes wouldn't be stupid enough to admit they were willing to do something again even if they were.

She shook her head.

"You could have fallen and killed yourself!" he snapped, allowing his worry and anger to escape.

Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Gibbs saw her wince as the salty tears touched her scraped cheek.

"As it is, you probably damaged the roof. Roofs are not meant to be walked on. The shingles are there to protect the roof from weather damage. You knocked off quite a few."

Aimee sniffled and then sneezed suddenly.

Gibbs walked towards her, knowing she was pinned against the door. He placed his large hand on her forehead. It was very cold outside and he wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting outside huddling from the wind in only her sweatshirt and light indoor shoes. Her skin felt warm to his touch but he figured most of it was from being under scrutiny and thinking she was about to be punished. He tipped her chin up so he could see her shimmering blue eyes.

"It's almost 9 pm. I want you to take a warm bath and get ready for bed. For the rest of the weekend, you are to stay right beside me like my personal shadow. Do not make me look for you. I should be able to see you at all times. Do you understand me?" He released her chin.

She swallowed slowly as she digested his words and blinked back a few tears. "Like Peter Pan's shadow?"

Gibbs frowned. He hadn't seen the movie and she probably was banking on that, but Gibbs had read the book and he distinctly remembered that Peter Pan's shadow was not attached and could travel places without him. Pan's shadow was the trouble making part of Peter. He tapped the top of her head sternly.

"Definitely NOT like Peter Pan's."

Aimee visibly trembled having been caught in her attempt to trick him. Gibbs reached above her head and opened the bathroom door, shoving it open firmly.

"Bath and bed, Aimee. And if Ruthie calls, I want to speak to one of her parents. Got it?"

Aimee nodded and went to scoot past him out of the bathroom at breakneck speed, but not before he was able to land a firm swat to her scantily clothed hindquarters. Aimee froze and spun on her heel to look at him with fresh tears forming in her eyes. Gibbs looked at her sternly.

"Do not EVER climb out on the roof again." He wagged his finger at her.

"I'm sorry," she muttered softly, rubbing the sting from her bottom.

Gibbs opened his arms hoping Aimee would come to him but she stepped away instead. Gibbs' heart ached a little at her standoffishness, but what was he to expect. He'd swatted her pretty hard. He was fooling himself if he expected her to thank him for that. Aimee remained transfixed to her spot blinking back tears. Gibbs walked towards her and drew her into his arms anyway despite her stiffening at his touch.

"I was worried, Aims. If you'd fallen, you could have been seriously injured or maybe even killed. You may not think so, but I love and care about you. I don't want to see you hurt."

He hoped she would melt into his embrace but she remained stiff and aloof. He reluctantly let her go and she rushed from the room without looking back. Gibbs dropped his hands to his sides and sighed. What was it going to take for Aimee to let him into her heart and really trust him?