"I'm Jethro. Leroy Jethro Gibbs." He said softly.

She just stared at him like he was insane.

"I was married to Shannon and we had a daughter named Kelly. I was overseas when they-" He stopped. He knew that Robyn got the gist of the story. "I didn't know about you." He said, hoping that she would believe him. "If I had, I would have never given you up. You would have been here this whole time. I don't know how you slipped passed me."

She looked out the door. McGee, Tony, Ziva, Ducky and Palmer were all there. They were standing at the end of the lawn, waiting impatiently, wanting so much to just run up and see what was going on. Robyn looked back at Abby, then at Gibbs. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Gibbs knew that she was having trouble figuring out how to react. He gave her the time that she needed.

"But I…you…here." She had so many things she wanted to say and they were all trying to come out at once. Finally, the only thing she could manage to say was, "So does this mean… I don't have to pack?"

Gibbs laughed and Abby finally burst into a tidal wave of tears. Robyn and Gibbs both went to comfort her, unable to help being the slightest bit amused.

Robyn had never been happier in her life. She had been home for over a week and she hadn't even known it. But, there was still the sadness tearing at her. She just wished that it would go away. She wished that she didn't have to always focus on the bad end of a good thing.

"Stop blocking the door, Tony!" Ziva yelled, trying to push by him along with McGee who was just behind her.

"I can't move because you are pushing me into the doorjamb, Ziva!"

The bickering went on for almost a whole minute before Ziva gave one final shove and Tony went flying into the house, followed by everyone else. For hours it seemed like a party was going on. Everyone wore a smile the entire time. They had taken off work to be there, but they were still on call of course.

McGee made his way over to Robyn a while later and stood there for a second.

"Something bothering you?" He asked casually.

She looked surprised. "Of course not. What could be better than this?" She asked, her smile forced now.

"I think you have something in mind."

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just always kinda knew that my mom was dead. But…I never knew I had a sister. So, it's fresh… you know?"

McGee nodded. "Yeah. That sucks…"

She couldn't help but laugh. "Good talk, Tim."

He smiled. "What I'm trying to say is, don't think about it like that."

"How am I supposed to think about it?"

McGee was quiet for a long time until finally, he asked, "Could you tell me what you think a brother is like?"

"A brother?" She asked, feeling like this really wasn't pertinent to anything. "Well, a brother is someone who likes to mess with you and make you mad, but they always stick up for you when you really need them, I guess."

"Okay. Now a sister?"

"The person who you can talk to about anything. When you just want to rant when you're mad or joke with when you're bored." She still looked confused as McGee smiled.

"Okay. Without thinking, tell me who is the first person you go to with anything."

"What?"

"Just don't think. Answer the question. First name that comes to mind."

"I can't."

"Why not?" McGee asked, as if he was expecting this answer.

"Because, I go to whoever is closest. Tony, Ziva, Jimmy, Ducky, Abby, Gibbs and you."

"Alright. And who do you think would drop everything if you needed help?"

"Same answer…" She said as she started to smile. She understood where he was going with this.

"We are a little unconventional, but we are closer than most families out there. And you aren't going to find a more classical grandfather than Ducky. He has stories to last until you're as old as him."

She laughed. "Alright. I'll take it." She said brightly. For the first moment in her life, nothing was eating at her. Everything was perfect and she was happy. Her and McGee just talked and laughed for a while and eventually Abby and Ducky came over and they all listened to one of his stories. This time, everyone seemed captivated by the story even though it did drag on and started to branch into other stories and memories just like they always did. But today it just didn't seem to matter.

Robyn wasn't sure exactly when Gibbs had ventured over to the little huddle, but she was aware of his presence when she felt a warm had on her shoulder.

When Ducky's story came to a sudden close at that phrase, "And that is how little Jumper got out of his cage." everybody decided that it was time to leave. Robyn realized that she wasn't entirely sure if Jumper was a rabbit or a dog or anything. It could have been a rhinoceros for all she knew. What she did know was that the story had started out as, "The story of Macbeth was actually written for James I, but…" And it went on from there.

This time, everyone wasn't rushing to the door, so they didn't have the problem of being squished into the doorjamb. They said their goodbyes for the day and headed off, Tony and Ziva giving each other the cold shoulder which would quickly dissolve by tomorrow morning. The door was then closed with the quiet, finalizing click.

"What are you thinking?" Gibbs asked, turning to look at her.

"I'm thinking, I wish I knew you a lot sooner." She said simply.

Gibbs nodded, agreeing silently. "After everything, you turned out to be a great kid." He acknowledged.

She sat down, her face turning a light shade of red. "Yeah…right." She said, trying to sound convincing. She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him just yet.

Gibbs knew that she wasn't telling him something, but he also knew that he would find out eventually so he let it slide this once.

. . .

The next day, she went to school. For some reason she seemed a little more tense than usual about it. Gibbs dropped her off and watched her make her way over to a boy with dark brown hair, slightly tanned skin and deep green eyes. Gibbs didn't think twice about him. Robyn had told him that they had been friends since middle school. His name was something like Orville… Oleander… Gibbs couldn't remember. He guessed that it started with an O.

. . .

A week went by since the discovery, but the shock just didn't seem to wear off. Everyone had smiles on their faces almost all the time, forcing them into frowns whenever the time was obviously inappropriate. The team was working on a case of a murdered Naval Officer when Robyn got back from school. Gibbs and McGee were down with Ducky and Palmer, discussing the case. Robyn made her way to the bullpen and sat down at Gibbs' desk.

"What's up, Robinson?" Tony asked with a playful smile.

"Nothing much. Except I made the softball team, but ya know." She said with false modesty.

"That is fantastic!" Ziva chimed in, both her and Tony remembering what she had said about trying out for the school's softball team.

"What position are you playing?" DiNozzo asked, clearly excited.

"I don't know yet, but the main pitcher graduated, so I'm shooting for that. If we don't get a good one, then we're stuck with Maddie Jones. She only threw four strikes all season last year. One was just because she threw the ball too close to the batter's face so they tried to swat it away with the bat. She missed." Robyn explained.

Tony laughed.

"Are your grades up to spar?" Ziva asked.

"Par, Ziva. Up to par." Tony corrected.

Before Ziva could argue back, Robyn answered, "Well, the school doesn't really look at grades too much when it comes to sports…"

"Uh, oh." Tony said with a wince. "Gibbs isn't going to like that."

"He won't care that much…will he?" Robyn asked, getting nervous.

Ziva thought for a second. "How bad are they?"

"Well, we got report cards today…" She unfolded the paper that had been stuffed carelessly into the pocket of her jeans. She then carefully folded it into a paper airplane, throwing it towards Ziva who caught it in the air. Robyn was tense as she watched her unfold it once again and read those little letters. Tony came over and looked over her shoulder.

"Wow…" Tony said. "That's probably worse than my worst report card." He said with a grimace.

"How did you even manage this?" Ziva asked, shocked.

"It's like you have to try to get grades that bad."

"You guys aren't exactly making me feel better here." Robyn said, getting even more worried than she had been.

"You aren't giving us anything to work with here." Tony couldn't help but laugh a little. "You are in so much trouble."

She groaned.

"On the bright side, that was a great paper airplane." He smiled.

She got up and retrieved her report card. "He doesn't have to know." She said, stuffing it in her pocket once again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Tony warned. "It's better if you just tell him, cause if he finds out some other way, it's going to be worse."

"For once, I agree with Tony." Ziva said. It sounded like those words burned her throat as they came out.

"Maybe he just won't find out." She argued.

Ziva and Tony exchanged a quick look.

"He always finds out." Tony said with a shrug.

Robyn was frustrated. She wasn't used to people actually caring about the grades that she got, and so far, it was really annoying.

"What could you possibly be doing all day to get those?" Ziva asked.

"Get what, Ziva?" Gibbs asked as he entered the bullpen with amazing silence.

"Nothing boss. We were all just talking about how Robyn got onto the softball team." DiNozzo intervened.

Gibbs looked over at her and smiled. "Good job."

"Thanks." Robyn responded nervously. Tony and Ziva acted like he was superhuman and had the ability to read people's minds, which made her sink down in the chair a little more.

Gibbs noticed her acting strangely but decided to wait to say anything.

. . .

When they got home that night, Gibbs decided that it was time to talk.

"Where is it?" He asked simply.

"What?" She tried to act like she had no idea what he was talking about but she wasn't succeeding.

"Report card."

"I didn't get one." She said quickly.

"Don't lie to me."

"Gibbs, come on. It's not that important. They're just grades."

"I'm not asking you for your opinion on them. I'm telling you to hand it to me." He said coolly.

She sighed, unable to look him in the eye as she dug into her pocket for the now crumpled piece of paper. "Before I give this to you, is there any chance we can mark this down as an 'oh well, you tried. You'll do better next time' thing?"

Gibbs didn't answer. He just held his hand out. Robyn finally handed it to him, defeated.

As she watched him read through the paper, his expression didn't bring her any comfort.

"How in the hell can you fail Gym?" He asked, clearly not happy. He had been expecting bad but this was ridiculous.

"Well, apparently the teachers like it if you actually show up…" She said, nervously. "And they don't like it when you actually do show up, that you…uh…"

"That you uh, what?"

"That you…uh…call the teacher a pig-headed moronic bigot… among other things…" She admitted.

There was a pause.

"Seriously?" Gibbs said, rubbing his eyes in frustration.

"Yeah… But she deserved it… Now, I'll admit I may have gone a little too far when I called her a miserable old worn out c-"

"Stop! Just stop." Gibbs interjected quickly, not wanting to hear that last word. "I don't understand how you can't shut your mouth to pass gym, but English, the language you are so colorful with, you manage to scrape out a B."

"Well, the teacher isn't a miserable old worn out-"

"This isn't funny, Robyn." He said plainly.

"I'm just saying!" She retorted. "English I can do! I just hate all the other stuff."

"You think the other kids do?"

"Well…no…not all of them."

"Then why do you think they pass?"

"I don't know…" She said, not sure if she should actually know the answer.

"Because they actually go to class and can control the things that come out of their mouth!"

"Why is my mouth such a bad thing?" She shouted.

"Because! I know damn well you're smart! You have no problem talking to anybody about any subject. And you're not just guessing your way through it, you understand it. I never understand half of what Abby says, but you talk to her for hours just about that kind of stuff. Ducky too! You learn faster than anybody I've known. Your mom was the same way." This was the first time he had compared her to Shannon out loud. It was only the second time he brought her up with Robyn. Yet, he continued without drawing attention to it. "But because you just can't seem to keep thoughts to yourself, and don't feel like doing the work, you're failing." Although in that respect, she was like him, but he didn't want her to know that part.

This answer caught her off guard. She just stared at him for a moment, not knowing what to say.

"Now, I'm done talking about it. But if these grades don't come up, then you will have to come straight home after school. No showing up at NCIS. You understand me?"

"What?" She yelled, snapping out of her silence. "That's crazy! I love hanging out there!"

"Then get your grades up and you won't have to worry about it." He said with just a shadow of a shrug which drove Robyn insane. She had never been more determined in her life to actually do well in school, which really showed the next day.

. . .

A month later, Robyn's grades were way up. Nobody could believe the change, not even her best friend, Oliver.

"How is it that you haven't paid attention all year, but all of a sudden, you know every answer the teacher asks?" Oliver asked as they were walking out of school.

She shrugged. "It's not that I wasn't paying attention. I just didn't feel like answering."

"So you put wrong answers on your papers on purpose?"

"Yep. Pretty much along those lines. Why?"

He just laughed.

"What's funny?" She asked, confused.

"Nothing." He said with a grin. "It's just that you're probably the smartest idiot I've ever met."

She pushed him lightly with a smile. "You're so jealous."

Still grinning, he nodded. They had just walked off school grounds. "I'll see you tomorrow." He said with a short wave.

"See ya." She called back and started making her way to NCIS which was about a mile away.

"I really am jealous." This voice didn't belong to Oliver, but she recognized it immediately. Cold, gripping terror shot through her spine. She turned around, looking into the clean shaven face of Richard Frost. She opened her mouth to talk but was quickly cut off.

"Escaped." He answered her question perfectly. "I just missed you so much." He said as he reached out and put a hand on her cheek. She could almost feel the hate emanating off of him just from this simple gesture. She flinched away, trying to get her legs to respond to her brain yelling Run! Just run!

"Aww, come on. I thought we had no hard feelings here." He said with a mock pout. "Oh, by the way, before you get the sense to start running, you really shouldn't tell anyone about this. Not even your new daddy. You never know. He might end up being the one to pay for your screw ups. Just like Sara did." His face was only a few inches from hers. He put a finger to his lips and finished off with a "Shhh"

The familiar scent of hard alcohol mixed with an almost sulfuric smell brought her to her senses. Instinct allowed her to drop her book bag so she could run faster and she took off down the street.

She would never breathe a word of this encounter with anyone, unaware that this decision would haunt her until the day she died.