Hi Readers,

Yes, it's been a long time since I updated. I apologise for that. I haven't forgotten about the story but life has been busy. Six children tend to keep a mom busy, not to mention teaching part-time and now YARD WORK. Oh, and did I mention garage sales? I love them!

I hope you will take some time to review and let me know if you're reading along still. I'm a starving artist...okay, not really, but I do love to hear from my readers.

Enjoy!

Makayla sat outside shivering in the early morning sunshine. The weather was uncharacteristically colder than normal, dropping down to near freezing at night. It made for some chilly mornings. It was nearly Thanksgiving and autumn had pretty much shown off its finest colours for all to see. The brilliant hues of golden yellow and the fiery crisp oranges and reds set ablaze the trees in all the parks and surrounding areas. It was always such a beautiful time of year. Makayla took in the scenery as she waited to face the music. She watched a flock of geese land in the duck pond across the way, only to stir up such an awful ruckus with the ducks who flew away in a seemingly annoyed huff. Makayla found herself giggling at the sight.

"Something funny, Mak?"

Makayla closed her eyes and silently said a prayer of thanks for the voice she heard. She had been hoping and praying that of all the people to be sent to discover who had set off the alarms that it would not be her aunt or Gibbs. She told herself that the Director of NCIS would never be sent on an errand like that anyway and she was glad to know she was right. She figured that Gibbs would be too busy and would send one of his team or another team to check things out.

"A bunch of geese just scared the ducks away," explained Makayla not even bothering to look up at who was speaking to her. She recognised the deep voice as belonging to Tony.

Makayla heard him make a muffled phone call. The teen didn't bother trying to strain her ears to hear what was said. She didn't even want to know. Riley had escaped, and he was going to find Aimee. That was all that mattered. Even if she paid the price for his escape, it would be worth it. Abby had agreed with her. Riley was trained to do this kind of thing and who better than a newly trained Marine. Only Makayla was pretty sure helping Riley escape was against so many laws that she might even be considered a criminal on some level.

"So, what made you change your mind about taking off again?" asked Tony, taking a seat beside her and shoulder bumping her in the process. "You do realise that your aunt is going to freak out, and I don't even want to speculate what Gibbs is going to say. Gibbs has reached his limit of patience with everyone."

"I know." Makayla turned to look into Tony's concerned green eyes. Her pulse was racing and it felt like her heart would leap out of her chest wanting to escape from her stupidity. Makayla hated being in the limelight. She hated confrontation with a passion. She told herself she would always blend in and never ever again get in trouble especially while at NCIS. She had no wish to mess with Gibbs under any circumstances.

Tony bumped her again. "What's going on? I was under the impression that Gibbs already set your carcass straight about running away. Nothing personal or anything, Mak, but your timing sucks."

Makayla shrugged off his reprimand. "I wasn't running away, Tony."

"You set off the emergency alarms, kiddo. I'm fairly certain you know how to read signs and it was pretty clear that this door would set off alarms. If you wanted to watch the ducks, you could have asked permission from your Aunt Jenny."

Makayla gulped. This was looking really bad. Her aunt was going to let Gibbs kill her and probably watch with great satisfaction. Makayla stood to her feet and took a few steps towards the sidewalk. If she'd wanted to run away, she wouldn't have been stupid enough to set off alarms and stay around to witness the aftermath.

"Why are you even here, Tony? Why aren't you out there searching under every rock looking for Aimee? She's been gone too long! Why isn't anyone looking for her?" Tears fell down Makayla's cheeks. There was no use trying to convince Tony that she wasn't running away again. All evidence pointed in that direction.

Tony stood up with a compassionate expression flooding his face. He knew that Makayla felt responsible for Aimee going missing.

"Makayla, trust me, we are doing everything we can to find Aimee. It's complicated. There's a lot going on that you know nothing about…much of which you wouldn't even understand…"

Makayla spun around. "Give me a break! I'm not stupid, Tony. None of you know where she is, for Pete's sake. Aimee could be dead for all you know!"

Tony pointed his finger towards her, his face taking on an almost parental appearance. "Hold up a sec. I never said you were stupid. I said that it's complicated. This case is much bigger than just NCIS, Makayla. It's all-encompassing. FBI, CID, DIA, NCIS, DCIS," Tony started listing off names of organizations on his fingers. Makayla blinked back more tears as she listened. She didn't even recognize some of the abbreviations nor did she know what they stood for. Tony hesitated and softened when he noticed her face pale significantly. "The point is NCIS doesn't call the shots on this one, Makayla. We've been told to sit tight and wait for instructions. There are no choices here. It sucks but it is what it is."

Makayla felt a shudder ripple throughout her body. It was true; she hadn't known things were this convoluted. She thought Gibbs and the NCIS team could just swoop in and rescue Aimee and everything would be okay. Abby gave Riley information about what she knew and she'd said she told Gibbs too. Makayla was frustrated and angry and she didn't understand why NCIS was just sitting around with what information they did have and not doing something. Riley promised to do what he could, but if this whole thing was as complex as Tony insinuated, maybe Riley would end up hurt or worse. That would be her fault. Makayla choked back a sob.

"Hey now, don't cry, Mackie. I'm didn't mean to upset you."

Makayla covered her mouth with her hand, shaking her head and trying to keep her emotions in check. She was beginning to think it would have better if she had managed to escape to New York. Maybe it wasn't too late to follow through with her plans after all. Anything was better than feeling like everything was her fault.

Tony reached out to brush a tear from Makayla's cheek. "C'mon, we better head inside. Your aunt has probably already been told about this. How about I help you explain?"

Makayla took a few steps backward away from Tony's grasp. "No!"

Tony looked surprised. "Mak…"

"This is my fault, Tony. If I hadn't have been so hell-bent on taking off, I could have stopped Aimee from leaving. I could have called for Gibbs but I didn't. Now Aimee could be hurt or worse…"

Tony reached out to touch Mak's shoulder but she backed away farther. "Mak, listen to me for a minute…"

Makayla shook her head. "No, I'm finished listening to you and I'm finished listening to Gibbs. None of you are doing anything to help. Isn't there ever a good reason to break the damned rules?" Mak choked back a sob before continuing. "CIA, DIA, CBC or whatever the hell they are called; Why do they get to call the shots? Aimee is Gibbs' daughter. He should be out there turning the town upside down finding her." Tears streamed down her flushed face.

Tony's heart went out to the young teen girl, and he managed to grab Makayla's forearm and pull her into an embrace. Makayla fought it at first, pounding on his chest with her free hand until finally melting into the hug and sobbing so hard that her body was trembling. Tony released his grip on her arm and wrapped both arms around her shuddering frame. He stroked her red hair and did his best to calm his mind. He'd been an agent a long time and he'd seen a lot of horrific things but he understood procedure. He hadn't always, especially when he'd still been wet behind the ears, but it was impossible for a young teen like Makayla to grasp the subtle politics within the system. Tony knew for a fact that Gibbs was being eaten alive standing around. He also knew that if Gibbs had even a hint of a clue where Aimee was being held captive, nothing short of death would have prevented him from going to her, screw policy and procedure. But the powers that be knew that about Gibbs so those above them were keeping things on the highest level of classified as possible.

"If Gibbs knew where she was, he would have found her by now, kiddo," whispered Tony, knowing that the sobbing girl wouldn't hear him but he needed to hear the words himself at the moment.

Tony felt the girl pull away so he released her. She remained sobbing and choking back tears, wiping her face frantically. Tony's heart went out to her as she struggled to gain her composure. It didn't look like it was going to come any time soon but she tried to speak anyway.

"R-Riley…"

Tony frowned. "What about Riley?" Tony had actually forgotten about the young Marine but he suspected that Gibbs hadn't. Tony had managed to find the kid's DI but the man had been a force to be reckoned with. James Adam's had been more than a little pissed off that he was being hauled into NCIS to be interrogated over one of his recruits who had gone UA. Once Riley's name had been mentioned, the old guy's eyes had dangerously darkened making Tony feet very uncomfortable. Tony's gut told him there was a lot more going on with Riley and Adams then any of them knew.

"He's gone," Makayla managed to choke out.

Tony felt his blood run cold. Tony was 6'2 and towered over Makayla considerably. Her short stature and her emotional state caused Tony to drop to one knee and stare up at her. He needed to know what she meant.

"Makayla," he said gently staring intently into her green eyes, "What do you mean 'gone'?"

The teen struggled to catch her breath, trembling as she brushed her long hair from her face. "I-I kinda let him go," she managed to choke out. "He's gonna find Aimee, Tony. H-He's a Marine. If anyone can f-find her, R-Riley can."

Tony closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Makayla's presence outside was making more sense to him now. The girl hadn't been trying to run away again; she'd been helping Riley escape.

xXx—NCIS—xXx

Gibbs scrubbed a hand across his face, a shadow of stubble darkening his jaw as he paced impatiently in Jenn's office waiting for her to finish her phone conversation. He'd been summoned to speak with Jenny privately after his rather vocal display with the President and the Vice President earlier. He knew it was coming but it still pissed him off. Under any other circumstance, he'd have been livid but this was past personal on every conceivable level.

"Thanks for letting me know," concluded Jenny as she hung up her phone, slamming the receiver down much harder then she meant too. "Damn it," she muttered loud enough to pull Gibbs from his revelry and turn to face her.

He lifted a brow. "What's up?"

Jenny rubbed the back of her neck and leaned on her chair looking weary. "Makayla took off again."

Gibbs frowned.

"I guess you didn't make the impression you thought you did." Jenny's tone was accusatory.

Gibbs shrugged. "Oh, trust me, I made an impression."

Jenny's face flushed. "Well, she took off again, Jethro, so obviously you didn't."

Gibbs remained unfazed.

Jenny sighed loudly and came out from behind her desk. "Damn it. I knew it was a bad idea when I agreed to watch Makayla. I know nothing about kids and I fooled myself into thinking it would all be slumber parties and shopping. It was easier when she was younger…"

Gibbs walked towards her, cutting her off. "Where is she now?"

"Tony caught her outside…"

"Jenn, you're gonna need to have it out with Mak…"

"Me? I don't know what to say to her." Jenn looked at Gibbs with desperation. She honestly was out of her element in every way. Give her a depraved and despicable criminal any day and she was as tough as nails, completely at home even in heels. Being behind a desk at times was tedious as all hell because deep down Jenn was still a field agent at heart much like Gibbs. Jenn knew Gibbs had turned down the job of Director numerous times, so much so that the powers that be stopped asking. Jenn felt much the same way but she had a personal agenda to keep, one known only to her.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes in response. "You're going to have to suck it up, Jenn, and do what needs to be done. Mak is screaming for your attention."

Jenny growled under her breath. "I warned her I'd sic you on her again. That in and of itself should have been enough to stop her nonsense."

"I'm not the answer, Jenn."

Jenny glared at Gibbs and stomped her foot in frustration. "What am I supposed to do? Her parents are thousands of miles away and not coming back any time soon."

Gibbs was quiet for a moment, lost in his own thoughts, feeling like he had reached the end of himself in more ways than one. He was past the point of exhaustion and what little patience he had left was dissipating faster than he could manage.

"Damn it, Jenn, what do you want me to say? That I'll handle it for you? Is that what you want from me?" Gibbs' voice came out forceful and loud, almost a yell which was unusual for him. The only time he ever allowed himself to lose his temper like this was in interrogation and that was always a show. Gibbs prided himself on staying in control of his emotions. Once a Marine, always a Marine. Marines stayed in control. Hell, even his blow up at the President had been controlled despite what it looked like.

Jenn pursed her lips and lifted a brow at Gibbs outburst. She, too, knew it was not characteristic of Gibbs to lose control. It was then she remembered why she'd called Gibbs into her office to chat in the first place. Gibbs had more than overstepped his bounds with the President. The aftermath of that wasn't going to be a pretty one for NCIS. Things were delicate and it required a certain level of decorum, despite the personal nature of the situation.

"You know you have to stand down, Jethro," she said, knowing he would know exactly what she meant despite the sudden topic change. " NCIS has no jurisdiction."

Gibbs spun on his heel and headed towards her door.

"Jethro, just where in the hell do you think you're going?"

Gibbs stopped when he reached the door, his hand on the handle. "Going to do your dirty work," he muttered cryptically.

Jenn crossed the room to stand directly in front of Gibbs, leaning her weight on the door to prevent him from leaving prematurely.

"Like it or not, Agent Gibbs, the President of the United States is the one calling the shots. He is the Commander in Chief and," She glared at him sternly. "He. Trusts. Brody. His word supersedes us all. There is nothing any of us, including you, can do about that. He has everything so encrypted that the classified is classified. God himself wouldn't be privy to that information."

Gibbs glared. Jenn glared back. Gibbs pulled on the door but Jenn kept her weight on it.

"I'll talk to Mak."

Jenn lifted a brow. "Talk?"

Gibbs dropped his hand from the door and sighed. "Damn it, Jenn. What do you want from me?"

Jenn moved from the door. "Just play nice, Jethro, okay? I know you don't play well with others but I need you to this one time. I don't have to tell you what is at stake, do I?"

A pain looked flooded across Gibbs' face and Jenny's heart skipped a beat in her chest. The pain was unmistakable. Gibbs was hurting and Jenn had no authority to remedy it.

"No, Madame Director, you do not." His voice was cold and brusque.

Jenn stepped aside and Gibbs flung open the door, stalking out of the room heatedly.

"You might want to cool off before…" Jenn's words froze on her lips when Gibbs stopped mid-step. Seeing his stoic expression, she didn't finish her sentence but closed her door quietly. She knew she didn't need to remind Gibbs to calm down before speaking to Makayla. Gibbs was a lot of things but his love for children was instinctive. He would never lose control with a child. Makayla was in good hands and Jenn was thankful she didn't need to deal with it on her own. Gibbs had her back.

xXx—NCIS—xXx

Rick Almeida stood frozen in place, his heart and head racing at speeds faster than he thought possible. He was stunned as he watched an attendant gather up a portion of Aimee's long blonde hair and snip it at the roots, tossing the straw coloured locks to the floor almost callously. Almeida didn't have any kids of his own but something screamed sinister in his mind as the scene played out almost surreally before his eyes. Russ Mitchell had long since put on his doctor's hat, seeming to forget exactly what was at stake. Almeida believed that his friend would do what he could to save Aimee, but ultimately his role was to recover the chip. That was what his orders were and Russ, much like Rick, took his job seriously. The only trouble was that this job wasn't like any other. This time around was different and Rick was suddenly very uncomfortable with the proceedings.

Rick swallowed a lump in his throat as he watched the attendant begin shaving the little girl's head at the spot just above her forehead. It wasn't a large portion of her head, just a section about 5 inches in diameter before her hand was stopped by another attendant.

"That's enough," hissed the large man, standing beside the woman.

The woman scowled at him but moved to increase the diameter of the shaved area.

Suddenly a commotion began that left Rick standing with his mouth ajar.

The large male attendant knocked the razer out of the smaller woman's hand. The razor clambered onto the floor with a dull thud. The room seemed to stand still for several long seconds as everyone stopped and stared at the razor. The man removed his face mask and everyone in the room gasped at the same time. David Brody stood in their midst and not one person in the room had expected it. No one had time to process the how and the why of it before Brody scooped up the unconscious child in his arms and disappeared from the room.

xXx—NCIS—xXx

Riley sat behind a dumpster quite a distance from the NCIS building. His heart was still racing in his chest and his head was still reeling wondering what the hell had just happened. His mind was spinning with his options as he sat down and pulled one knee up to his chest. He never expected to be given the reprieve he had. He hadn't even speculated what was going to happen. He didn't even know why Agent Gibbs had seemed to be so kind to him given the circumstances. Marines that went UA were not respected, but then to have some kid come in and then that Forensic scientist and then to be set free without any tracking device. He was beginning to think that he was being set up somehow. The question was why? Why would they set him up? To what end? And what about Aimee? There was no doubt in Riley's mind; he was connected to the small girl. He felt responsible for her. More than anything Riley just wanted to disappear, never to be found again yet the teen, Makayla, her words seem to burn fiercely in his mind.

"No one else is doing anything," she had sobbed in desperation. "You're a Marine; you have to save her. They're gonna kill her."

None of it made any sense to Riley. How could an organization like NCIS not be able to help the girl, especially considering Agent Gibbs claiming that Aimee was his kid?

Then the kid had dragged the Goth chick into the room, further messing with his head. The woman, not wasting any time, briefed him on classified information. It was enough to make his head spin. Did she know that he was just some flunked out Marine recruit who'd gone UA? To be honest, the dark-haired woman had confused him the hell out of him, quite literally messing with his mind. God knows, his mind was already screwed up enough. She looked about as old as the teenager with her jet black hair pulled up into pigtails and her wearing a short school girl skirt yet her knowledge of things blew him away. The Goth was no kid. She knew her stuff and she helped the teenager arrange a diversion so he could escape.

Riley puffed out his cheeks as he leaned against the cold wall weighing his options. It would have been easier if he was ruthless like his deadbeat father. But, no, Riley had much more of his mother's blood coursing through his veins. Grace Janssen had made a terrible mistake in her life when she'd married his scummy father but deep down she was a good God fearing woman. His drunken father might have beaten her but Grace kept her chin up. She did what she could to raise Riley properly, including making a life for herself so she could raise her son. Riley never blamed his mother for being young and stupid when she married his father. Every single beating Riley took from his ole man was to protect his mother.

Riley raked a hand through his hair. It had grown remarkably fast, considering he'd had a good Marine haircut at one point. Thirteen weeks in basic training and another 30 days running had given him a mop of hair once more. His mother always said his hair grew like a weed, even more so that he did which was saying something. Chewing his lip in contemplation, Riley forced himself to his feet. The Goth has armed him with some coordinates and as much as his head was screaming at him to escape, he ignored it and started his mission.

xXx—NCIS—xXx

"No one is doing anything!" screamed Makayla, her face reddening in anger.

"Mak, we're doing what we can; you have to trust us on that," replied Tim softly.

Makayla was in the same conference room that Riley had spent the night. Tony had left her with Tim in order to speak privately with Gibbs and her aunt. Makayla was under no false impressions. Her butt was toast and her aunt was going to give Gibbs permission to kill her.

At that moment, Abby burst into the room and gathered Makayla in her arms defensively.

"None of this is Mackie's fault, Timmy. It was my idea to let that Marine go free. He isn't part of NCIS and technically, he's UA so he's working on his own."

Tim frowned. "Abby! That just makes it worse and you know it. It makes him acting like a vigilante."

Abby opened her mouth to say something but stopped when Gibbs entered the room followed by Tony.

"Gibbs!" gasped Abby, chewing her lip when she saw his grim face.

Makayla pulled away from Abby, swallowing hard and backing up until her back hit the window sill behind her.

Gibbs crossed his arms and stared at them both. Abby remained speechless which was an unusual event. Under another circumstance, Gibbs might have found amusement in the situation but not at this moment. The room felt deafening as the two females in the room squirmed under the scrutiny of the three men.

Tony cleared his throat and broke the silence. "Probie, we have some paperwork waiting for us."

Tim nodded and made his way to leave. Abby began to tap her knuckles together nervously as she watched Tim walk from the room. Tim usually was the first to come to her defence with Gibbs so seeing him leave made her feel somewhat vulnerable. Her eyes found Tony's who looked at her in sympathy.

"If you need us, Boss…"

"You better stay DiNozzo," groused Gibbs. "I may need someone to hold me back."

Abby's eyes widened and she moved back towards Makayla.

"You sure you want a witness, Boss?" joked Tony, attempting to lighten up the mood in the room.

"Shut the door." The tone of his voice brooked no room for debate. Tony shut the door and leaned against it, looking awkwardly amused in a way only Tony could.

Abby cleared her throat nervously. "I can explain, Gibbs…"

"Where did you send Riley?" he asked, cutting her off.

"You already know that," came her reply. This time her voice was equally clipped.

"Do you realise how reckless that was? Riley is…"

"He's a Marine, Gibbs. Just like you. Only he is in the position to help and you know it. You can be mad at me all you want but I refuse to apologise for doing something you wanted to do yourself. Why else did you let Riley stay here instead of locking him up, huh?"

Gibbs pursed his lips and frowned. He couldn't deny that he hadn't thought of it himself, but he quickly let reason take over and he'd dismissed the idea. Riley Janssen was a messed up kid, running from abuse and UA from an abusive DI. There was no way he wanted to subject the screwed up kid to risk his life for something Gibbs didn't even have the entire picture figured out yet. Him letting Riley stay the night in the comfort of the conference room had been his way of offering the teenager a reprieve. It had been a simple act of kindness and nothing more.

Gibbs pointed at the chairs. "Sit, both of you."

Abby made a move to sit but Makayla stayed frozen where she was.

Gibbs lifted a brow, knowing Makayla was remembering another time he'd been angry with her and he knew she was worried how things were going to go between them. He wasn't going to be so quick to relieve her fears either.

Thankfully Abby saw the hesitance in Makayla's face and grabbed her arm, forcing her to sit down. Gibbs wasn't in the mood to play games with either of them.

"Regardless of what you thought I was going to do, that gave you no right to jump the gun and send Riley in on something so dangerous," began Gibbs, beginning to scold Abby but all the while keeping one eye on Makayla who looked ready to bolt from the room.

Abby chewed her bottom lip and remained quiet. Gibbs sighed. Scolding Abby was like scolding a wounded puppy. It only succeeded in making him feel like the bad guy. What was done was done. He was quite certain that Abby acted knowing all the trouble she'd be in. In all honesty, that fact alone made all the anger melt away. He knew Abby loved Aimee as much as he did. Gibbs took a few steps forward and planted a kiss on top of her head, whispering genuine gratitude into her hair. Abby reached up and patted his cheek gently.

"Give it to her good, Boss," chuckled Tony from the door, still leaning against it.

"Shut up, DiNozzo," growled Gibbs, but a smile shined behind his eyes.

Taking a few steps back, Gibbs looked at Abby again. "Will you at least tell me what his plan was?"

Abby shrugged. "I'm not even sure he's going to help us. He looked pretty spooked when I told him stuff. I think he thought I was setting him up or something."

"What makes you think he's going to have any more luck then we did?"

Abby twisted one of her pigtails around her finger thoughtfully. "No offence Gibbs, but Riley isn't you…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

This time Makayla piped up softly. "You scare people," she muttered.

Gibbs surprised himself when he laughed out loud. He must have been losing it because it was certainly not like him to laugh out loud at things that weren't even funny.

"Mackie," hissed Abby, hitting her with a stern look.

Makayla shrugged. "It's true."

"I know it's true but you didn't have to say it so plainly. I usually like to beat around the bush a little to soften the blow."

Tony snickered and Gibbs scowled at him.

"What?" said Tony, "I didn't say it." Tony held his hands up in his defence.

Gibbs turned to Abby once more. "Tell me you bugged him."

Abby's face melted into a pout. "I'm hurt you doubt me, Gibbs."

Gibbs grabbed her gently by the hands and pulled her to her feet, pushing her towards Tony.

"Track him, Abbs, and report back to me as soon as you know where he is."

Abby saluted him and went to leave the room.

"DiNozzo, get Tim to help Abby and I want you and Ziva on that kid's ass. Call me when you have an idea where he's at."

"On it, Boss," said Tony and him and Abby disappeared out the door leaving Gibbs and Makayla alone together.