CHAPTER 4

Anya took one look at Gibbs' sparsely furnished living room and decided this place was more of a dump than the safe house the FBI had tried to keep her in. Ziva stepped through the doorway behind her and grasped her arm, pulling her further into the room.

"It is not a good idea for you to stand in open doors."

Before she could say anything in response, Tony entered the house and shut the door. Gibbs had stayed behind to finish some last minute details regarding Anya's protection and had sent Tony to accompany Ziva. Anya noticed that he didn't lock it. "What kind of protection is this when you don't even lock the damned door?"

Tony and Ziva exchanged a glance. "Bossman doesn't lock his doors. In fact, I don't know if they actually lock," the senior agent replied. "Doesn't matter, though, you're going to be safer here than you will be anywhere else."

"Gibbs said you are to take the quest room upstairs. It is the first door on the right at the top of the staircase.' Ziva motioned toward the backpack slung over Anya's shoulder. "Why don't you go put your things there?"

The girl ignored the directive and dropped the bag on the coffee table. She plopped down on the couch and propped her feet up next to her bag. Despite her earlier confrontation with Gibbs, Anya wasn't going to make it easy for anyone.

Several minutes passed in tense silence until Tony stepped out of the kitchen. He took a bite out of the apple he held in his hand as he watched Ziva and Anya. "You just going to sit there all day?"

"What else is there to do in this dump?" Anya demanded.

Toni moved to stand in front of Anya and said, "let me give you some free advice. Lose the attitude. Gibbs won't put up with it, and life will be a whole lot easier for you without it."

"Like I care."

"Tony is correct," Ziva commented. "Gibbs will not tolerate you acting this way. I think you know how he is going to react."

"React to what?" Gibbs asked as he stepped into the room and closed the door. He wasn't surprised when the other three people started at his interruption. He, of course, had heard the entire conversation.

"Nothing, Boss," Tony was quick to reply.

"Uh-huh." Gibbs didn't believe Tony for a minute, but he chose to let it go. Instead, he walked over and pushed Anya's feet off the coffee table. "Did Tony tell you where you'd be staying?" he asked the teenager.

"Yeah."

"Then why is your stuff still down here instead of in your room?"

"What stuff? All I've got is this fraking backpack."

"I don't care; it still needs to be put in your room. Go do it now." He picked it up and held it out to her, waiting impatiently for her to take it. "Besides, Abby will be here in a bit with some clothes and other things for you."

Cursing under her breath, Anya grabbed the backpack out of Gibbs' hand and stomped up the stairs. He waited a moment before turning to speak to Ziva. "I'll change the sheets on the bed, and you can take my room. I'll sleep on the couch."

"That's not necessary, Gibbs. I can stay down here."

Gibbs sighed. Save him from stubborn females, he thought. "I know it's not necessary, but it's what I want you to do." He studied Ziva's face for a moment. "Do I have to make it an order?"

In turn, Ziva studied Gibbs for a moment before replying. "No. But, I see no reason why you should have to give up your bed." At the change in Gibbs' expression she quickly continued, "but I will do as you ask."

"Good." He moved past the small group toward the kitchen, intent on putting awa the groceries that filled the bags in his hands. "There's a third bedroom upstairs that I've been using for storage. I'll shift some stuff around and make enough room to be able to fit at least a cot in there."

Ziva nodded. "That will do."

"Good." Gibbs glanced at Tony. "DiNozzo will hang out for a bit if you want to run home and pack an overnight bag."

"That's not necessary, Gibbs," Ziva stated. "I have a bag in my car." At the men's surprised expressions, she quickly continued. "I always carry one in case of emergencies."

As she started toward the car to retrieve it, the doorbell rang. All three agents immediately reached for their weapons, and Ziva moved forward to stand beside the door. None of them expected Lubivich to discover that Anya was there, but they weren't taking any chances. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Abby," came the reply through the wooden door. Guns were quickly re-holstered, and Abby was soon ushered into the room. She was carrying several shopping bags from a few of her favorite Gothic apparel stores as well as the local drug store.

"Abbs, when I asked you to pick up a few things for Anya, I didn't mean for you to buy out the entire store," Gibbs stated in lieu of a greeting.

"Gibbs, you can't expect a girl to live with just the clothing she has in her backpack, now can you?" Abby looked around and was slightly disappointed when she didn't see Anya – she had been planning a big entrance to surprise the girl. "Where's Anya?"

"Up in her room."

Abby headed toward the stairs. "Well, I'll just take this stuff up to her."

"Hold on, Abbs,' Gibbs stopped her with a hand on her arm. "What's in the bags?"

Abby looked a bit confused. She couldn't think of a reason why Gibbs would be questioning her. "Clothes, a tooth brush and some toothpaste, other girl essentials. Everything's harmless, Oh Suspicious Leader."

Gibbs glared at Abby for a moment before releasing her arm and sending her on upstairs.

"What was that about, Boss?" Dinozzo asked.

Gibbs usually didn't explain himself to his agents, but he shrugged his shoulders in response. "My gut's telling me something's going on, and I can't quite put my finger on it."

Ziva looked more concerned than surprised. "Do you think that Abby is planning something with Anya?" Except for a few notable incidents, Abby wouldn't normally do anything that would set Gibbs against her.

"No, it's something with Anya. And I don't doubt for a second that she would think twice about conning Abby into going along with her if she thought it would give her an advantage."

"You'd have thought she'd have learned better than that after what happened this afternoon," Tony commented as he moved into the kitchen to toss his apple core into the sink. He'd heard all about what had happened between his boss and the teenager in the conference room, and couldn't believe anyone would be dumb enough to risk the ire of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs twice in one day.

Anya turned from folding the last of the t-shirts Abby had brought her into the dresser drawer. "Can I borrow your cell phone? The battery on mine is dead, and I didn't think to stick the charger in my backpack. I just want to call a friend and let her know I'm okay." When she saw the skeptical look on Abby's face, Anya pressed on. "We were supposed to meet for lunch yesterday, and I haven't been able to call her and explain why I wasn't there. I know she must be really worried, because I've never stood her up without an explanation before."

Abby, of all people, knew what it was like to be worried about your friends. She was surprised she hadn't gone prematurely gray worrying about McGee, Ziva, Tony, and Gibbs - although thanks to her hairdresser's handiwork, she really didn't know if she had any gray hair or not. But, she was also a bit suspicious. "Have you asked Gibbs about calling your friend?"

Anya shrugged. "I haven't asked him." She hadn't had to ask him because Gibbs had already make it perfectly clear that she wasn't to attempt to contact anyone. He had even gone as far as to confiscate her cell phone and locking it in his desk at NCIS headquarters, explaining that Lubivich could be listening in on her cell phone conversations in order to find information about her whereabouts. But, as with many teenagers, she chose to ignore Gibbs' order and do exactly what she wanted. And what she wanted to do was find a way out of this situation. She didn't know if she would be able to survive living under Gibbs' thumb for very long without going crazy.

Abby weighed her options carefully. She knew exactly what Gibbs' reaction would be if she helped Anya break his rules, and she really didn't want to experience that particular event again any time soon. But, she considered, what if Anya was telling the truth. "Okay," she finally agreed. "But you can only send a text message, and I have to read it first." Abby only hoped she was doing the right thing.

Anya moved across the room in a flash and grabbed Abby in a hug. "Thanks." She readily accepted the cell phone that the forensic scientist handed over and was pleased to see that it was designed for texting. That would make what she was about to do much easier. Moving away from Abby, she quickly typed a message and sent it, making sure to go in and erase it from the phone's memory. She then quickly input a random telephone number and typed a message. When she was finished, Anya took the phone to Abby. "Sorry it took me so long. I wasn't quite sure what to say and had to start over a couple of times."

Abby accepted her phone back. "That's okay. It's hard to put a lot of information in such a limited number of characters." She looked down at the phone and read the message that had been typed in:

"Kat. Sorry about yesterday. Something came up. I'm okay. Will tell you more later. Using someone else's phone so U won't be able to contact. A."

Since she didn't see anything wrong with the message, Abby handed the phone back to Anya. "Okay. You can send it." When the phone was handed back to her, Abby looked at the sent items under the messaging menu and saw that the message had, in fact, been sent.

The two women chatted for a few minutes more before Abby excused herself, explaining that she had bowling practice with the nuns in a few minutes and had to leave. After Abby left, Anya lay down on the bed. She fell asleep trying to come up with a plan to get past Ziva and Gibbs.

*** TBC ***