Hey! For those of you wondering why I took so long... I'm lazy ;) But I finally finished the chapter. Viola! Hope you enjoy ;) Buon divertimento!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. Except Arty. Arty is mine.

Characters are slightly AU (especially Gibbs, if you haven't already noticed)

~Very Special Agent Bandit

All We Are

Chapter 6

"There," Ducky sighed as he finished the checkup on the victim. "I'm done."

Arty examined her arm, admiring the tight bandages covering the large gash that had formed when she hit the ground, and she knew McGee had similar wounds, "Thanks Doctor."

She hopped off the cool metal autopsy table and headed towards the elevator, where Kate and Tony were talking.

"All good?" Kate smiled kindly at her.

"Yep," Arty paused and wiggled the fingers of the her left hand, "Though this is going to be hard to deal with."

"What?" Something seemed to be bothering the senior field agent.

"I'm left handed," Arty shrugged.

"Ready to go home?" Kate seemed glad to change to subject.

"Yeah, sure," Arty smiled and headed after Kate.

"Hey," Arty noticed Tony jump slightly as she walked into the bullpen with Kate the next morning.

"Hey Kate, Arty," Tony greeted them, "Ducky wanted to see you both."

"Got it," Kate smiled, and winked at Arty before leading her back to the elevator.

"This is going to be fun," Arty smirked and exchanged looks with Tony.

Kate pressed the up button and chuckled. The doors opened, and Gibbs was inside, apparently looking for someone. Arty jumped back ten feet in surprise with a small, childish yelp. She cowered behind Tony and Kate, and gave a feeble whimper. Kate turned in surprise and looked at the crouching girl with a questioning look.

Arty drew a long breath, trying to calm herself, "Sorry," she rubbed her nose and stood up again.

"Come on," Gibbs gestured for her and she sighed.

"Are you going to interrogate me now?" she shuffled forward like a little child.

"Not now," the two stepped into the elevator, and Gibbs pressed a button. Arty stood silently, her lips pursed, trying to look as innocent as she could. The elevator lurched forward as it started up again, and she lost her balance. She stumbled a few steps forward, and her left arm struck on of the rails. She gave a loud cry.

"Ouch!" she flinched back into the corner, holding her injured arm gingerly.

Gibbs said nothing, though Arty could see his eyes flashing with what looked like concern.

She listened to the elevator's lurched as she massaged her arm, and leaned against the wall of the elevator. Did they really think she was a killer? She wouldn't do that. Not in a million years.

Arty scowled, and brushed a strand of her blonde hair out of her face, and waiting impatiently for the doors to open. She couldn't fathom why Gibbs refused to talk to her. Perhaps he was mad. About what, though? Maybe he thought it was her fault for getting shot at. But that didn't make sense. Was it her fault? Maybe it was. Arty huffed, crossed her arms in thought, which earned a look from Gibbs. He must want it to be silent. She pursed her lips again, and continued her thoughts.

She jumped when the elevator dinged, and gained her composure enough to stumble out of the doors after Gibbs. She didn't recognize the hallway they were in.

"McGee's waiting for you in there," Gibbs pointed to a doorway across the hall. Arty tried to make out what the words on the door said, but Gibbs opened the door for you, and gave her a gentle shove in the direction of it, so she had no choice but to go in.

It was dark in the room; she had to blink several times before she got a little accustomed to it. She saw a bunch of odd electronic things pushed up against the far wall, and she noticed a person sitting in a chair, headphones over his ears, looking at what seemed to be a TV. McGee stood closer to her, looking out what seemed to be a large window. She approached him, and frowned at the many bandages littering his arms.

She touched them gingerly, and he turned fast, almost hitting her head, "Oh McGee."

"It's fine," he paused and turned back to the room, "Abby already comforted me enough for the whole team."

She kept her eyes on the side of his head, "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," he shifted, and Arty turned to look out the window.

"Karen!" she pressed her hands against the window and snarled. "What're you doing to her?"

She watched as the person who had raised her as much as Arty's own parents had, sat fidgeting nervously in a chair. She pressed her shaking hands on the dark table in front of her, and her face grew pale. Arty could tell she was extremely frightened, and Arty didn't like it.

"What are you doing to her?" she demanded again, her voice harsh.

"Nothing," McGee replied calmly, "Yet."

"Yet?" she cried out, "Where are we?"

"Observation," Arty was incredibly annoyed by his even tone.

"Observation? Where is she?" Arty snarled at him, running a hand through her hair in an aggravated fashion.

"Interrogation," McGee pulled her back from the window as Gibbs came into the interrogation room.

Arty gaped at him. Her mind went fuzzy as Gibbs started demanding things of the women. "I'm witnessing an interrogation?"

"Yes," McGee sighed, and tried to focus on the conversation.

Arty just stared as she listened faintly to Gibbs and Karen.

"Where were you two days ago?"

"At home, with Kennedy."

"Can you tell me exactly how your day went?"

"Why is he being so nice to her?" Arty whispered to McGee, "Tony tells me that he's always rough with suspects."

McGee shrugged nonchalantly, "He wants her to trust him before he breaks her."

Arty gulped, "Break her? That sounds nice."

"Sir, why am I here? I didn't do anything."

Oh, just tell him how your day went. Arty was silently begging herself. "I don't want her to be broken."

"It's nothing," McGee replied coolly, "Nothing bad. Well nothing too bad."

Arty gulped again.

"Where's Arty? Is she safe? What have you done with her?"

Arty scowled and kicked the wall silently. "Answer the dang question, Karen," she muttered to herself, before returning back to the window.

"Arty," McGee turned to her, scratching his right hand nervously.

"Yes?" Arty didn't want to tear her gaze away from the interrogation.

"Can you tell me everything that happened?" he seemed to regret asking the question.

"Everything?" Arty swallowed, "Why are you interrogating me? Someone tried to kill me last night. Doesn't that prove I didn't do it?"

"You could've had an accomplice that you told to shoot you. So it looked like you didn't do it," McGee shrugged, and sighed.

Arty scoffed, "I didn't do anything."

"What happened on Tuesday?" McGee turned on her, his eyes oddly bright.

She gave a resolute sigh, "I left in the morning. Michael, Natalie's older brother, told us that Kennedy was sick. Michael is good friends with Kayla, Kennedy's other sister. So my brother and I walked to school, it's not far from our house, and since he has totally different classes, I didn't see him until later that day, when I saw Austin, Ethan's best friend, walking alone. So I asked her where Ethan went. She said he got a call on his cell phone, and he ran out, saying he had to go some where. I just thought maybe Dad or Mom needed help with something. So, I called Natalie's mom, and she picked me up, because I didn't want to walk alone. On the way to our house, we have to pass through this scary neighborhood where a bunch of crimes happen and stuff."

"You didn't call your brother to see what was going on?" McGee raised an eyebrow at her, and she barely resisted slapping him for suspecting her.

"No, I figured they wouldn't mind if I hung out at Natalie's for a while. I usually don't get caught up in what happens between my brother and my parents," she shrugged nonchalantly, "After that, I hung at Natalie's for about an hour or so, and then her mom said I should probably go home, so she dropped me off on the corner. I told her I wanted to check on Kennedy. And I was just about to go to their house, when the bomb went off. I raced to my house, and the first thing I saw was my brother. I freaked, of course. And then all the neighbors saw me. Then Karen came out and got me up, called you guys, and took me inside her house. I told Kennedy what happened, she got all teary eyed and then the police and stuff came. You know the rest."

"You didn't plant a bomb or anything?" Arty snorted.

"No, I barely have time to eat breakfast in the morning. We only have to walk, because we only have two cars. My brother never got one, and my parents have to get to work in time," Arty sighed, and continued to watch the interrogation, only catching faint words of the angered conversation, "And besides, if I really had planted to bomb, do you think I would tell you if I did?"

"You have a point there," McGee chuckled, "Though you'd be surprised what could happen in a year of working here. You see the oddest stuff."

Arty laughed, and leaned against the glass so she was facing McGee, a sly look on her face, "Why do you let Tony harass you?"

McGee shrugged in a "dunno" way, "He's senior field agent."

"Doesn't give him an excuse," Arty sighed, "Yet you let him do it. It's not like he's that strong. You could take him," she squinted her eyes as if scaling him, and they both laughed, "And yet you let Kate do it too."

"I don't mind," McGee shrugged again and looked away from the girl.

"Sandy, don't make me laugh. Ha ha ha," Arty smiled brightly at him.

He turned towards her, and she instantly frowned at his blank expression, "You know, Grease? 1978? Olivia Newton John and John Travolta?" her jaw dropped, "Come on! You've have got to have watched it? It's a classic!"

"It might be," McGee shrugged, "I didn't have time for movies. I mostly read."

"You've got to be kidding," she put her head in her hands, "I'm what, thirteen years younger then you? And I've seen the movie a billion times."

"DiNozzo would be proud of you," McGee snorted at her reaction, "He makes movie references all the time."

Arty laughed, "I don't know many movies. Just some of the little collection my parents had."

McGee nodded, and turned back towards the interrogation once more, "Seems like she's telling the truth. We'll have to see what Gibbs says."

"She's telling the truth," Arty said instantly, "I'm sure of it."

McGee raised an eyebrow at her, "How are you so sure?" his tone was suspicious. Arty nudged him playfully on the arm.

"She's not the type to lie. Stop suspecting me!" she growled at him, her voice hurt. "I didn't do anything."

McGee said nothing, but watched as Gibbs left the room, leaving Mrs. Clark sobbing. Arty's eyebrows furrowed and she gave a soft moan, along with a short sigh.

"He broke her," Arty muttered.

McGee shook his head," She didn't confess-."

"She didn't do anything!" Arty turned on him, her eyes filled with rage.

"She didn't confess," McGee continued, "So he didn't break her."

Arty held back a scream as she watched Karen cry in the room, "Why do you have to do this? She obviously didn't do anything."

"What makes you think that?" Arty turned around quickly, only to notice Gibbs was standing there, an unreadable expression on his face.

Arty looked down quickly, "She just—she just…"

"Are you so sure she didn't do anything because you did?" Gibbs stepped towards her, Arty rolled her eyes.

"You don't scare me, Gibbs," she smirked at him in an amused fashion.

"I should," he growled at her. She laughed.

"Well, you don't. I most certainly did not do anything. I don't even know how to make a bomb," she adverted her eyes, looking back to McGee.

There was a long awkward pause, where Arty kept her eyes held on McGee, waiting for Gibbs' reply, but he didn't say anything. She swallowed with difficulty, and tried not to notice Karen's wails.

"Boss, what do you think?" McGee finally broke the silence, and looked at his boss expectantly.

"I think she's telling the truth, McGee."

"Which she?" Arty looked towards him, only to find that Gibbs'd gone, and she was now left alone with McGee once more.

McGee didn't say a word as he led her out of the observation room, and back through the twisting hallways, into the elevator, and back into the bullpen, but she could tell he mind was racing. She didn't want to say anything either.

She sat down leisurely in a chair from the desk in the far end of the bullpen, and watched as McGee started to do work. She knew Kate and Tony had gone to go collect some witnesses or something, and she figured Gibbs was off checking evidence from Abby's lab. She crossed her arms as she watched McGee's fingers fly across his keyboard, his face pulled into an expression of concentration as he watched the screen with interest. "What are you doing, McGeek? Gibbs hasn't given you anything to do."

McGee sighed, but didn't stop, "I'm doing whatever Gibbs might ask me next. You pissed him off. I don't enjoy being yelled at," McGee snorted at her.

"It never ends well for the kids," Tony said as he strode in the bullpen, an angry Kate following him. He expertly dodged Arty as she raced in her chair across the room towards where Tony was walking. He smiled and chuckled.

"Something wrong Kate?" Arty rolled towards Kate's desk, where the fuming agent sat.

"Is something wrong? Is something wrong? Yes, something is very wrong," Kate muttered as she shuffled through the papers on her desk, growling something incomprehensible.

Arty raised an eyebrow at Tony, who was waiting for his monitor to start up, "Kate was displeased about the way Mrs. Durnil was acting."

Mrs. Durnil. Arty had heard that name before. From where, she hadn't the slightest. "Acting?" Kate burst out, standing suddenly.

"Yes, her actions," Tony replied calmly. Kate's jaw dropped.

Arty looked at her a little cautiously. She had no idea what Kate would do next.

"You've got to be kidding me! She abused her three-year-old daughter! In front of us!" Kate stomped towards Tony's desk.

"We've got no proof of that," Tony didn't look up from the computer screen.

"How can you be so damn, sorry Arty, calm about this whole thing?" Arty watched the intense conversation, along with McGee, who looked just as puzzled as she felt.

"We don't know if she's done it before, or if she was just nervous about NCIS special agents being there," he finally looked up and met Kate's flashing eyes, "I'm not saying I wasn't too pleased about it either."

Kate growled and sidled back to her desk.

"May I ask," Arty's voice faltered slightly, "May I ask exactly what she did?"

"Punched her daughter, Emily, in the face," Kate practically screamed.

Arty's stomach dropped, her breathing becoming shallow, "Oh," her voice went rapidly quiet.

She looked down at the floor slowly, biting her lip with a quiet sigh, which did not go unnoticed by either of the three agents.

"Arty?" McGee questioned, his voice gentle, "What wrong?"

Arty shook her head, as if removing something from her head, "It's nothing," she could tell that they weren't convinced, but she didn't elaborate.

"What's nothing?" Gibbs strode into the bullpen, avoiding Arty and her chair, which she didn't care to move.

"Nothing's nothing," she hissed and glared at him as she stood, "It's just a stupid story I was telling them."

She knew he didn't believe her, but she didn't care. As long as he didn't find out. Well, come to think of it, he probably already knew.

"What did you find, Todd, DiNozzo?" he shrugged it off, and sat in his desk, sipping the new cup of coffee he'd just bought.

"We have a main suspect, Mrs. Durnil," Kate growled at her name, "Claims she saw somebody following both Petty Officer King and Mrs. King. We brought her in for questioning."

"Where'd you put her?" Gibbs asked, looking at both of them in surprise.

"Interrogation," Tony replied quickly, "Kate couldn't stand to look at her anymore."

"She beat her child," Kate said protectively, glowering at Tony.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at them, before heading towards the elevator. Tony started after him, but Arty was in his way. He sighed, but she gave no sign of moving, "Move," he growled, reaching out to grab her arm, so he could pull her out of the way, but she instead flinched, stepped back several steps, her arms flying up as if to protect her face, and she let out a yelp of distress.

Tony's eyebrows furrowed as she did this, Kate stopped going through her papers, McGee stared at her in alarm, and Gibbs stopped in his tracks, having watched the whole thing, and started back towards the bull pen.

Arty lowered her hands, but still sat in her crouching position, watching Tony carefully.

"What was that about?" Tony stepped forwards slowly. Arty didn't say anything, but simply looked away, as if trying to blink back tears, but she wasn't crying. Gibbs approached her quietly.

He took her hand gently, gripping it protectively, before pulling her up, putting his free arm around her shoulders. He shot a look at Tony. Arty looked down once again.

"Gibbs, Arty, what's going on?" Kate looked uncertain as to why Gibbs was being so caring.

"Arty's parents used to abuse her," Gibbs said evenly, not letting go of Arty's hand.

"But, Boss, it didn't say that on her report," McGee exclaimed without thinking, but Arty still didn't look up.

"She asked me to remove it from the report as long as I knew. She didn't find it relevant to the case, and neither did I. She still loved her parents," Gibbs shot him a look too.

Arty stuck out her right arm, the one that wasn't bandaged, and showed everyone the fading bruises that littered her skin.

"I thought they were from your brother and you wrestling or something," Tony muttered, obviously disturbed.

Arty gave a quiet scoff, coming back to reality, "My brother and I never fought. We were closer than blood. He was more of a father than any one else was."

Gibbs removed his arms from her shoulder, along with his hand from hers, and looked her in the eyes, clearly saying, "Are you okay?" She nodded, and looked at Tony.

"You're okay, Tony, you wouldn't know," she tapped his shoulder slightly as his expression turned guilty. She looked around at his co-workers, "You guys wouldn't know either. I don't blame any of you."

Tony then looked sympathetic, and it pained her, "Honestly, no need to go feeling sorry for me. I'm fine. It just—well it just takes some getting used to," she smiled sheepishly, and sat down in her chair again.

"Get back to work," Gibbs barked at them all before heading towards the rapidly closing doors again, "Tony, with me, interrogation."

Arty watched as this time Tony stepped around her chair and darted after Gibbs. She watched them all work wistfully. She sure hoped they would catch the killer soon.

A/N: Pretty angsty. Yep. And Gibbs was all off, but it was necissary. And by necissary, I mean I did it so it would have some reference later on in the story. Hope you review! Sure makes me happy ;) (especially you, Nayster). Oh yeah, I do realize I have no chapter 5. The things were confusing me, so I skipped to chapter five. No worries. Just leave it there. Preview for chapter 7:

The two were met with three pairs of blank stares. Arty scoffed and Tony groaned in embarresment. They exchanged glances, and Arty suddenly jumped into his arms bridal style, opening her arms wide.

"Ta da!" they both said symtainiously, and grinned wide.

So basically in the next chapter, there's a bunch of Arty and Tony brother/sister love. And stuff. And they progress in the case and such. So, I really do hope you review. ;)

smush68: Haha, I hope this is soon enough ;) Thank you so much for reviewing

Candy77: :D Thank you so much ;) I try my best to be awesome! Thank you SOOOOOO much :)

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO READ AND REVIEWED! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!