Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Sorry for the delay. I have a few chapters in my mind, but I needed some links. This chapter is one of those links. I hope you don't find it to be a "nothing" chapter, but I wanted to create some back story to the characters for when the drama hits. And trust me, it's coming.

Thanks for reading.

Kristin was bored. She looked around the room at the rest of the class still battling away at the math test on a topic she'd covered months ago. She'd didn't mind. It gave her time to think. About her father. Gibbs. Her life. How to move her paper to just the right angle so Mr Franklin couldn't see she was showing Capri the answers.

Life was becoming less complicated. She knew it was the calm before the storm, so it always was with her family, but for once, she was appreciating it. She had 3 wonderful friends, a nice school filled with amazing teachers and most importantly, someone looking out for her. Watching over her. Kristin and Gibbs, well, mostly Kristin, had taken a few days to get over the initial embarrassment and awkwardness of the spanking, but she had now accepted that it really was over. He had forgiven her and they had moved on. Admittedly a new concept for Kristin, but she was learning.

"I swear to god Kristin," Mr Franklin interrupted her thoughts, "if you move that paper any closer to Capri you may as well swap with her"
"Damn" Kristin thought, smirking as she moved the paper back.

At first it was exceptionally awkward having a teacher who was best friend's with Tony. But Mr Franklin, Andrew if she ever saw him outside of school, was the height of cool. And the inside jokes she had gotten on Tony hadn't hurt either.

But Andrew was on to her. Grading the math quizzes after lunch, there was something not quite right with Kristin's. It wasn't bad. 80, a perfectly acceptable grade, but all the working out seemed to be correct, in fact, it was done to a much higher level than they had learnt, yet some of the answers were wrong. This girl surrounded with mystery had just gotten a little more mysterious.

The next day after class, Andrew held Kristin back, ready to confront her about her test. Kristin was ready for the conversation assuming he'd caught the girls cheating yet wondering why he had laughed it off the day before.

"So Kristin," he started, "you got an 80 for your test"
Kristin maintained a look of quite innocence coupled with slight confusion before answering,

"Is that bad? There were some tricky questions."
Andrew smiled, she was actually quite a good liar, her test however, told a different story.

"Really? Well, all your working is correct, yet mysteriously your answers randomly appear to be wrong. Am I to believe that you just mistyped your calculations at the final stage……….5 times?"
Kristin sighed and rolled her eyes slightly before returning his stare but saying nothing.

"C'mon Kristin, this is ridiculous, why on earth would you throw a test?"
Kristin looked down and thought how to answer,

"When I came here," she said softly, "I wanted to be invisible. Blend in and eventually, when this was all over, move away like nothing had happened. Then suddenly, everyone knows who I am, where I come from and what I'm doing here. Everyone knows I came from one of the most exclusive schools in the state and yes, I have done this work before and sorry but the test was really easy, but I'm not going to rub it in anyone's faces. I may not be invisible, but I don't have to stand out that much. I don't want any special treatment."
Suddenly Andrew understood she was embarrassed by what was going on. If he started to single her out and performing better than anyone else it would only draw attention to her perceived fall from grace from a prestigious private school to the local one. It was silly, but it probably meant the world to her.

Cuffing her head softly he smiled and handed her the paper. As he rifled through his desk he spoke,

"Don't do it again," handing her a think text book, "work from this tonight, I want you working on something a bit tougher, but I get it, keep it quiet."

Sitting at the kitchen table that night Kristin struggled to focus on her new math homework while Gibbs did paperwork. Sensing her distraction he took off his glasses and looked at her, smiling when she ducked her head and pretended to get back to work.

"What's wrong?"
Kristin looked up and pretended not to know what he meant. Over the last week they'd started to talk more and she'd opened up. He, in return, started to recognise when something was wrong. When regular quiet Kristin turned into worried, practically mute Kristin.

"Come on, you've been sitting there pretending to work for 20 minutes. Did something happen at school today? Did you go?" He asked the last question with a smile to lighten the mood.

"I went." She said, not returning the joke. Sighing, she reached into her bag and passed Gibbs the math quiz Andrew had given her.

"80. That's good. You've had a lot going on and it's a new school…." He trailed off realising that she wasn't upset about the mark.

"I threw the test." Kristin announced in a whisper. "It was easy. Like, really easy…but I got some answers wrong on purpose."
"Why?"
Kristin looked at the man's eyes which weren't mad, liked she'd feared, but questioning and concerned. Realising she was all in now she gave him the same explanation she had given Andrew. When she finished she realised that Gibbs had moved to her side of the table and was turning her to look at him. As she still struggled with the closeness of the situation, she forced herself to return his gaze.

"You're allowed to want to keep your old like private. I get privacy better than anyone. But it's not right that you sacrifice your grades for it. I know Andrew and he's not the kind of guy to embarrass you over topping the class. Furthermore, everyone seems to know why you are here anyway, don't hide yourself away. You've been doing that for too long already."
Kristin flushed, embarrassed remembering the talk they'd had briefly the other night about how she used to hide the marks that had resulted when her father…lost his temper. But she knew he was right. And she owed Andrew an apology.

"You're not mad?" She asked, still concerned she hadn't gotten her guardian quite figured out.
"I'm not thrilled. But it won't happen again, right?" At her quiet "yes sir", he continued, "Then no, I'm not mad. I'll never be mad at you for getting a bad grade if you tried your best."
Looking at Kristin's face, she was obviously surprised.
"Is that something you've gotten in trouble for in the past?"
Deciding she owed this man something, she spoke hesitantly,
"I always had to top the class. My father said I had to uphold the family name. But once, I was sick during a test. I had a headache and I was dizzy and I couldn't understand the paper and I got a really bad grade. When my father saw the paper he said I would never get into a good college with grades like that and Delaney's went to Ivy league schools. Then….then he punished me. He hit me so hard he cracked a rib. When he found out later, he told the doctor I'd been playing soccer with the neighbours. Then he told me to use my recovery time to study so we'd never have to have the discussion again."
Gibbs looked surprised. Not at the story. The snippets he'd gotten from Andrea and occasionally Kristin herself meant he was never surprised at what this bastard had done. But he was surprised that Kristin had told him so much. She look exhausted now, like she'd run a marathon with a weight on her shoulders, but the weight was gone now.

"I would never do that you. Ok?" When she nodded, Gibbs continued, "why don't you stop doing homework for now and help me on the boat?"
Later, when Kristin was sanding, she looked at the man who continually surprised her when he took all she said without batting an eyelid. He accepted her like her own father didn't. She wished she could tell him all of it, but she had so many secrets, she didn't know where to begin.