Hey! I feel super sad, because none of you reviewed! At least I'm out of the hopsital! I hope you enjoy this chapter, what little amount of you are reading it, because I worked super hard on it. I just wanted to show how much Arty already trusts the team. Oh yeah, if the words are in italics, it means it was sign language. Buon divertimento!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

Characters are AU

~Bandit

All We Are

Chapter 2

Arty didn't remember falling asleep, but apparently she did, because she woke with a start. She looked around the room, and realized she was sitting in a chair behind a desk. She noticed Tony sitting on a desk across the room, apparently Kate's, because she was sitting in a chair identical to the one Arty was. They were having a heated conversation, a disgusted look on Kate's face as they bickered. Arty guessed it was because Tony was on her desk. McGee was nowhere to be found, and neither was Gibbs or Ducky. She figured Ducky was down in autopsy. She shuddered, and blinked groggily. She sat up in the office chair and it squeaked, but Kate and Tony continued on with their argument.

She looked around at the office. There was a desk off to her right, that looked somewhat messy, files and papers were strewn everywhere. Another desk sat in the corner, that looked clean, save for the stack of papers and a steaming coffee cup. Her eyes trailed to Kate's, which looked perfectly organized. She noticed that Tony had something of Kate's in his hands, it looked like a cell phone, and Kate was now standing, reaching across Tony while trying to get it. She shouted words, but Arty was too tired to pick up on them.

She smirked as she padded noiselessly across the room to the desk in the corner. She'd noticed that it had two computers instead of one, and when she sat down in the chair, she noticed it was much more comfy than the one she'd been sitting in. She rocked back and forth nonchalantly and looked around the room. Kate paused, and her eyes trailed to Gibbs' desk. She opened her mouth slightly, and looked at the girl.

"Arty, you're awake," she smiled at the girl. Tony jumped from his seat and knit his eyebrows.

"Does Gibbs know you're in his desk?" he looked almost concerned.

So it was Gibbs' desk. She arched her eyebrows, glanced around the desk again, and looked calmly up at the two agents, "No," she shook her head.

"Uh-huh," Tony puffed his cheeks and exchanged looks with Kate. "Well he won't be very happy when he finds out."

Arty shrugged, "I'm not the one who could lose a job," she cracked a sly smile.

Tony started and stared at her. "Don't kid about that."

"Why?" she smiled and got to her knees on Gibbs' chair, "Does it scare you?"

Tony approached her slowly as he spoke, "You never want to mess with Gibbs."

"I highly doubt he'll do anything to you," she covered her nose as he continued to creep forward, "You wear too much cologne."

He leaned towards her. He still looked incredulous.

"Tony," Kate said coming towards the two. "You are the most immature 'grown-up' I've ever met."

"Kate," Tony turned towards her, "She was joking about me losing my job."

Kate rolled her eyes, "If you're still so unsure about Gibbs, I'll tell him you two tried to get me out, but I didn't listen," Arty crossed her arms.

"No," Tony sighed, "That would only make things worse."

"Make what things worse, DiNozzo?" Gibbs came striding into the bullpen, his icy eyes trained on Tony.

"Nothing boss," Tony flinched, like a child that got caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar.

Gibbs' face turned stony. He stopped in his tracks as he caught sight of Arty. She smiled brightly, her face angelic, as she resisted the urge to wave too.

"Where were you?" she propped her elbow up and rested her cheek on her closed hand.

"With the director," he said slowly, his eyes squinted suspiciously.

"Where was McGee?"

"Down with Ducky in autopsy," Arty climbed out of his chair and onto his desk, sitting on the surface like Tony had. She could see Gibbs hold back his breath, his eyes flashing dangerously. She was rather enjoying this. He reached for his coffee cup, and Arty shrank away from his arm.

Her mouth dropped as she watched him down the thing in one go. Kate and Tony looked as if they saw this every day. Perhaps they did. She got from the desk shakily, her blue eyes wide as saucers.

"Send her to Abby," Gibbs tossed his coffee cup into the trashcan. Tony's jaw dropped as Kate raised her eyebrows.

"You mean our Abby?" Kate stepped forward to persuade him.

"Yeah," Gibbs strode off.

Arty looked around the room, "Um, guys, I'm right here."

"We know. She's our forensic scientist, and her name is Abby," Tony grimaced and beckoned for Arty to follow him. Arty felt unsure. Whoever this "Abby" was, she didn't sound that good.

"Don't worry, Arty!" Kate smiled as they stepped into the elevator. "I have a feeling you'll like her."

Arty nodded, obviously not believing Kate. "Sure I will."

Tony chuckled.

Arty was really starting to feel nervous when just before the doors of the elevator opened, she heard loud, blaring music.

"Ah, she played this song last week," Kate smirked in recognition of the song.

"Yeah," Tony snorted, "Night Reaper."

"What was the band again?" Kate turned towards him. Tony shrugged.

The doors slid open. Arty was pressed against the wall of the elevator. "I'm not going in there."

"Yes, you are, come on," Tony gently grabbed her arm and led her through the doors. Arty tried her best to resist, but it didn't work.

The trio walked through the glass doors, and she noticed a person, dressed in a black shirt with a skull and cross bone on it, a red and black plaid miniskirt, tall, black boots with flames on it, and black hair pulled into pigtails sitting behind another door, working at a desk.

"That's Abby," Kate smiled at Arty, "probably the happiest Goth you'll ever meet," Arty's jaw dropped.

"Abby!" Tony called, making sure she could hear him over the loud music.

"Tony!" Abby turned and darted out of what Arty presumed to be her office and tackled Tony into a hug.

"Oof! Hiya, Abbs," Tony hugged her back and pulled back from her.

"I don't have anything yet, but I was thinking and I was just about to go down to Ducky to ask some questions," Abby paused to breathe, "Have you met the victim yet?"

"Abbs," Tony nodded to Arty, who was biting her lower lip, watching the whole thing, standing rather close to Kate. "Gibbs asked us to bring her down to you."

"Hi!" Abby burst out. "I'm Abby Scuito, the forensic scientist at NCIS!"

Arty let out a short breath, "I noticed. I'm Arty King," she held out her hand for Abby to shake, but Abby instead hugged her. She gasped and tensed up. She looked uncertainly at Tony, but he had his eyes shut tight, his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing. She then looked at Kate, who mouthed "Go along with it."

She patted Abby's back awkwardly, still tense.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Arty," Abby pulled away. Arty breathed deeply in relief.

"It's fine, unless you murdered them."

"What makes you so sure they were murdered?" Abby turned towards one of her computers.

"Well, they weren't the type of people who would commit suicide. Unless it was an accident like gas thing, but I swear it was a bomb," Arty followed her.

"We'll leave you two alone, 'kay?" Tony and Kate slipped into the elevator, unnoticed by either of the two, snickering their heads off.

Abby and Arty exchanged looks, and Abby turned the music off. "If you ever need to talk to anyone—,"

Arty shushed her, "I'll be fine, Abby," she bit her lip again, "For now, at least."

There was a long awkward pause, where Arty stared into Abby's intense green eyes, and she felt almost grateful for the Goth.

"Well," Abby started again, turning towards her computer, then turning once again to Arty, "Want to come down to autopsy with me? Or do you want to stay here? I think Ducky's done for now."

Arty took a deep breath. "Sure, I'll come."

Abby raced around her lab, and Arty came upon the fact that she never stopped moving. Her eyes darted around as Abby did, and she was so entranced in the work, that she didn't notice the elevator open. But Abby apparently did, and she turned around expectantly and did a fist pump when she saw Gibbs. He arched his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.

"What have you got, Abby?" Arty noticed he had a large cup of Caf-pow in his hand. She licked her lips greedily. She loved that stuff.

"Well, Gibbs," Abby started towards the computer, and Arty scooted out of the way, "Ducky found this bullet in each of," she paused and looked at Arty, whose head was down, "Arty's parent's heads. It was shot by this really old gun. A 7X57 Mauser. Ducky confirmed they were not killed by the explosion, but Ethan King was. He said that he predicted the time of death to be about five hours before the explosion."

"That'd be about lunch time," Gibbs looked entranced by the computer screen.

"That's not all," Abby paused for dramatic effect, a smile creeping onto her face. Gibbs turned to her expectantly, "Well Ducky noticed rope burns on what little skin they had on their hands. That means either they were tied up or they were wearing these awesome new rope bracelets that they tied too tight."

"Good job, Abbs," Abby smiled and reached for the Caf-pow, but Gibbs pulled it away. He set it on the table and started to talk in sign language.

The director wants me to interrogate her. Entertain her until then. Arty watched as Gibbs moved his hands quickly.

That's not fair. Abby's frowned as she replied swiftly.

I know, Abbs, I tried to reason with him, but he doesn't trust her. Gibbs sighed.

Gibbs, I've been entertaining her for hours. She's not the most enjoyable person. I'm not saying I don't like her. I adore her! But all she does is sit there.

She doesn't look that bad.

Looks can be deceiving, Gibbs. You should know that! They both turned to look at Arty.

You know I can understand everything you're saying, right? It's not nice to say to talk about people. Arty signed just as quickly as Abby or Gibbs. Gibbs looked mildly surprised.

"You can sign?" Abby blurted out, her eyes wide.

Yes. My good friend Tammy and my brother David were both deaf.

"Wow! I didn't know that!" Arty chuckled. Abby turned to Gibbs, "Did you know that?"

"Nope," Gibbs shrugged.

"So you must sign all the time, right? That's so cool!" Abby returned her attention to Arty.

Arty seemed to have gotten a sudden interest in her hands, "No, not really," she picked at her fingernails, not meeting Abby's eyes, "They both died."

She heard Abby gasp, but still didn't meet her eyes, "Really? I'm sorry. How?"

Arty decided to look into Gibbs' icy eyes instead. "Tammy drowned. David was killed in a car wreck," she swallowed.

She looked around the room, and settled back on Gibbs' eyes, but she was gazing off into her memories "I was there when Tammy died. She hit her head on a rock. We were swimming in a river by her house. I could have saved her. But I couldn't decide what to do. She passed out, the current pushed her over. I nearly drowned too. And David was killed by a drunk driver. He was driving home with his girlfriend and her little sister. Out of the blue, a huge SUV comes charging through the red light. He was going about ninety, he hit David straight on. His girlfriend and her sister died right away. He died a few hours later. But we didn't get there in time. It was a long drive to the hospital from our house and when we got there, he was already gone," she licked her lips, tears threatening to spill from her sad eyes. "I didn't get to say good bye to either of them. I don't have any family left, now. I can't even trust my two best friends, Kennedy or Natalie. They weren't like Tammy, she was like a sister."

Abby watched her with intense eyes. She slowly pulled the girl into a hug, as silent tears fell from her eyes, smearing the Goth's makeup, "Oh, Arty, I'm so sorry."

Arty hesitant, but she weakly hugged Abby back. She felt one or two tears fall from her own eyes, and she buried her face into Abby's shoulder. She pulled back, and met Gibbs' softened eyes, which were flashing, but not at her. She could tell what he was thinking, "I'm going to find whatever bastard took what little family she had left from her and kill him." She smiled weakly, and she felt a new connection with both of them. She trusted them. Kind of.

Gibbs handed Abby the Caf-pow, kissed her forehead, and muttered "Good job, Abbs." He passed by Arty, and took her hand, squeezed it gently, and briefly kissed the top the head before leaving the room. Arty looked down at her feet, a smile spreading on her face. She looked up at Abby.

"Want some?" Abby offered her the drink. Arty's smiled widened and she accepted it, smiling at Abby.

A/N: So I had SO much fun writing this! I hope at least one of you reviews! I'm sorry for the liong wait ;)

Here's a sneak peak for chapter 3:

"Abby!" Arty exclaimed, jumping up from her chair.

"Yeah?" Abby turned from her work, and pushed the goggles up from her eyes.

"This computer-"

"That's Calvin," Abby arrived behind her.

"You name your computers?" she turned to Abby, an icredulous look on her face.

"Only the special ones. It started a couple of years ago, when-"

"Abby! Focus!" Arty returned her attention to her discovery, "Sometimes I wonder if you and Ducky are related," she added under her breath.

;)

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! YOU ARE ALL AWESOME!