Kristin looked at the classroom in front of her. She was nervous. Not about making friends, she'd never had friends, why would she care about that now? She just didn't want to piss anyone off by sitting in their seat.

It wasn't that she hadn't had friends before. She had acquaintances. Sons and daughters of the partners in her father's firm. She hung around with them because she had to. But they weren't close. They knew what went on at home and they didn't care. Their father's made sure they knew not to care.

Kristin looked down at the schedule in her hands and pretended to be studying it intently. Her year advisor, Andrew Franklin, the friend of Tony's, had given it to her after their brief meeting this morning. Kristin had stood off to one side, watching as Gibbs and Mr Franklin chatted like old friends and brushed over the technicalities of her mid semester enrolment. A few jokes at Tony's expense later, she was on her way to first period. And here she was. Where to sit….

Suddenly she noticed a girl in the back row, with 2 free seats to her left and 1 free seat to her right, her head was buried in a book, her softly curled hair falling over her shoulders, completely oblivious to the classroom around her. Kristin approached slowly and the girl looked up and smiled softly,

"You can sit here if you want?" She said, whilst marking her page in her book.

"Thanks," Kristin replied, taking the seat next to her.
The girl watched her closely and Kristin nervously tried to flatten her fringe over her ever present bruised eye that a full round of make-up had failed to cover.

"My name's Capri," she started slowly, "and I don't normally sit by myself, in case you're wondering, my 2 friends are away today. Soccer tournament. Having said that, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra girl around. There's only so much testosterone a girl can take in one day."
Kristin laughed softly and looked at Capri whilst unpacking her books.

"I'm Kristin…….glad I could help even out the ratio"

The girls, laughed and Capri helped Kristin figure out where the class was up to in their textbook, all the while Kristin felt the most relaxed she had in a week. It was only first period at everything was going smoothly.

A book slamming on a table brought the class's attention to Mr Franklin entering the room, smiling as looked around at the faces he had startled. In a soft British accent, with the same hint of laughter Tony had in his voice, he directed the class to start on the equations from the textbook. As Kristin read down the page she realised that her old school had covered this work already, and sighed in relief. One less thing to worry about.

The day passed more or less incident free as Kristin continued her pledge to remain invisible. The exception to this rule was Capri, who had an amazing ability to make Kristin feel like she had known her for years. Over lunch, Capri had begun to ask the questions Kristin was reluctant to answer. Where had she moved from? Why the move? What did her parents do? Though she never pressed the vague answers she received, Kristin felt the need to explain her unusual story to Capri and began to explain Gibbs and why she was here, delicately dancing over the details of the removal from her home, allowing Capri to draw the obvious conclusions from her bruises.

Finally the day was over and the two girls sat together on the bus, Capri directly Kristin on how to get to NCIS from the nearest bus stop. As Kristin exited the bus and waved to the first real friend she'd ever had, she started to think there was hope for this arrangement.

In NCIS, she was introduced to the rest of Gibbs' team she hadn't managed to meet on her whirlwind tour of MTAC and autopsy yesterday. Having been introduced to Ziva, McGee and (quite clearly Gibb's favourite) Abby, Kristin noted that they were all nice and friendly enough, yet she felt wary. So many knew people, who all knew the details about her life she would prefer no one knew. As she sat at the table behind Gibbs, she buried herself in her math homework, ignoring the eyes that watched her every move.

After 15 minutes of awkward silence and glances, Tony announced that he was going to see Abby and a quick look in Gibbs' direction indicated he should follow. In the elevator Gibbs pulled the emergency brake and turned to his senior field agent, wondering what insights he had on the girl he had bonded with so quickly.

"Boss, I'm not sure if you've noticed and I don't know how things were last night, but I just get the feeling, mostly from how she acted in the car…." Tony rambled,

"Get on with it DiNozzo, you're not going to hurt my feelings" Gibbs barked

"She'd terrified of you. She thinks you're going to be just like her father and beat the crap out of her when she does something wrong. Or when she doesn't…." he trailed off thinking of his own father.

"She told you this?"
"She didn't have to. She won't stand near you, she tenses up when you come past…"
"So what do you suggest?" Gibbs asked, not quite sure why he was asking DiNozzo's advice

"Talk to her. Explain to her how it's going to be. Like you do with us. Well maybe not as blunt as you did with me. She wants to know what will happen when she screws up and she's 14, she will screw up. Tell her you're not going to give her a black eye and broken ribs."
Flipping off the emergency switch, Gibbs reasoned the Tony had a point. His gruff exterior was probably making her think she was exactly like her father. They needed to talk. Tonight.

Gibbs watched as Kristin moved the last pieced of her salad around her plate. Dinner had been quiet. Everything was quiet with this girl. He had however, managed to learn about her day at school and her new friend. He felt better that she had Andrew for a teacher. Not that he wanted him to spy on her but it was nice to know he had a man on the inside, who could keep an eye on her, keep her safe. But for right now, he was on his own and they needed to talk.
"So.." Gibbs started and waited for Kristin to look up from her plate and put her fork down, "you've had a lot going on the last week or so, lots of changed, I was thinking we should talk, about some rules and things, to make sure you're safe while you're here."
Kristin nodded, but to Gibbs surprise, didn't react either way.
"So first, I need to know where you are. At all times. We, that is to say, Andrea and I, don't want another incident like the other day occurring and you get hurt. So if plans change, you call and tell me your new ETA."
With that, Gibbs slid across a new cell phone.

"I already have a cell phone" Kristin replied

"Take this one, god knows who your father has tracking this one"

"Secondly, I need you to be honest with me, all the time. If there's something you don't want to talk about with me, that's fine, you can talk to any of my team, but if something happens to you, anyone contacts you, anything strange happens at all, you need to tell me about it if I'm going to keep you safe. Ok?"
Kristin nodded again.

"I think we can figure out curfew and things later. I'm sure you're not old enough for the drinking and drugs talk?" Gibbs asked warningly,

Kristin smiled and laughed softly and Gibbs smiled in return, maybe they were getting somewhere,

"Don't do it?" She asked.

"Got it in one."

Gibbs watched as Kristin looked back down at the table, noticeably uncomfortable again and looking like she was struggling to say something,

"What is it?" He prompted gently,

"Wh…what if I screw up?" She asked so quietly he nearly didn't hear.
Gibbs paused and thought about how to tackle the question.

"What did your father do if you lied to him, or missed curfew?"
Kristin blushed and looked away, determined not to answer a question she was sure he knew the answer to anyway.

"Whatever he did and I have a pretty good idea, I won't do that. I will never hit you or strike you or deliberately injure you in any way."
"So then…."
"Kids make mistakes, we deal with it and move on. Maybe I ground you for a bit, maybe I make you clean some tools for me. But if you put yourself in danger, or deliberately disobey me, I will spank you. Spank you, not hit you. I won't break bones or leave wounds, but you will think again before you do whatever it was you did in the first place. Understand?"
Kristin stiffened a little and kept looking down during his speech. She didn't have a problem with spankings in theory, her grandfather had done it all the time when he was alive. It was when it turned to a full blown beating that she got scared. She wanted to trust that it wouldn't go down like that this time. But she didn't know for sure yet.

Gibbs watched Kristin look uncomfortably down at her lap, her cheeks bright red. He debated with himself a moment longer, the reached over and gently lifted her chin so they were looking eye to eye, ignoring her body stiffening and obvious effort to avoid moving away.
"Understand?" He repeated,

"Yes sir" She replied and Gibbs smiled and let her go, reaching down and taking her plate as he stood. He had to give DiNozzo credit, it seemed to have worked. The two stood together, side by side washing dishes, talking about school and Gibbs work. She didn't seem relaxed but she did seem as though a weight had come off her shoulders.

That night, as Kristin lay in bed again, she thought about her conversation with Gibbs. He had promised he would never beat her. But what if he was lying? She couldn't stay with another man who beat her. Not again. And who would believe her over an ex Marine. She needed to know for sure and there was only one way to do it.