It had started off as a good week. After 4 weeks of the most annoyingly itchy cast being on Kristin's arm, she finally had it removed. After a few minutes of scratching Gibbs head slapped her gently and told her to leave her arm alone before she took all the skin off. Laughing quietly, Kristin reflected on the last few weeks. So much had changed. She no longer had to hide her insulin in the bathroom, secretly checking her blood sugar and giving herself injections when she needed them. Now it was seemingly a public affair. Gibbs watched the whole process and when this took place at NCIS, it usually resulted in a wager of what her blood sugar level would be.

The week however had taken a turn for the worst when Gibbs told her they had to be in court for the beginning of her hearing against her father. Or what Kristin believed to be a room full of people deciding her future with no consideration of what she thought at all. In fact, she wasn't even sure she was allowed to speak. There was a lot said about her though. Her father's lawyer, a partner from his firm, spoke at great length about how she was a wonderful actor and how essentially nothing she said could be taken at face value. This mad Kristin mad, but she just had to sit there. She couldn't speak, she could only sit and stew while Gibbs sat and watched this normally calm and silent girl fight an internal battle to challenge the allegations against her.

But at the end of the day, it wasn't the court session that upset Kristin the most. It was the slip of paper passed to her by a random person in the bathroom, clearly from her father. She had trained herself to remain impassive to her fathers critique and criticism but this took her by surprise. It was an old newspaper article with a post-it attached to it stating "think about someone else, stop interfering in people's lives." Removing the post-it to read the article underneath she was shocked to see a picture of a much younger looking Gibbs with a women and small child. Skimming the article she felt sick when she realised that Gibb's had a wife and child who had been killed. And suddenly, she felt something she rarely did. Her father was right. She had been thrust into this man's life without him really wanting her to be. He had to raise someone else's child after losing his own? Without his wife? Kristin had always wondered why he wasn't married until Tony had made multiple snide remarks about ex-wives, but she never thought it could be something like this. Throwing up into the toilet, Kristin made a decision, she wasn't going to ruin someone else's life. She wasn't his responsibility anymore.

The car trip from the court house was unusually silent, even by their standards. Gibbs knew Kristin was upset about the trial but he would wait to talk to her about it tonight. She had to get back to school and he had to go to work. There was no point upsetting her now.

"So you'll come to NCIS after work," Gibbs stated, "and we'll talk about all this tonight. It'll be ok, I promise."
Kristin didn't look at him but nodded, knowing the silence annoyed him, she didn't really care. She wasn't his problem anymore.

Watching Gibbs drive away, Kristin stalled, entering the school slowly, planning her escape. Heading around the back of the school so as to sneak off on the main road behind it, she was so immersed in watching the school for teachers, she didn't see Mr Franklin walking back from his car with what she assumed was a forgotten textbook in his hand. Certain she was caught, Kristin froze and watched Andrew come straight toward her.
"Kristin, what are you doing here? Are you skipping class?"
"Technically I was never here today but yes I am"

Andrew, stared at this girl, normally so quite and almost timid, speaking so firmly and with definite anger in her eyes.

"You know I can't just let you leave. Gibbs would crack it. Why are you doing this again?"
Kristin was angry now, but she didn't know why she angry at him.

"I'm so sick of everyone watching me all the time. Like they know me. Like they know what's going on. Here's what's going on. I don't know who you think you are, but you're not my father, my brother or my friend. You're my teacher who happens to know my guardian, but he's not going to be my guardian much longer, so just leave me alone!"
Stopping briefly, Kristin felt an overpowing sense of guilt. She never unloaded like this, on anyone. Why had she unloaded on Andrew. He hadn't done anything wrong. Wondering if he would physically stop her, Kristin took a chance, dashing past him, running up the street before he could see the tears streaming down her face.

Springing back into life, Andrew patted his legs, feeling for his phone, he swore softly when he realised it was still in his office. Running towards the school he had only one thought. Calling the only man who could stop Kristin from the path of self destruction she was running head first towards.

On the bus on the way to the train station, Kristin pulled out her old cell phone and switched it on. She scrolled through the numbers until she found the one she needed. "Cameron work". She still smiled when she thought of what her brother did and how it could possibly be considered work. Nonetheless she needed her brother. Getting frustrated by her inability to reach him, she knew she had to find him. He had tried to sneak her out of the country and away from their father before and he would do it again.

30 minutes later, the NCIS office was crazy. Andrew had finally gotten in contact with Tony who had relayed the story to Gibbs. Of course, the technicalities had been lost but all Gibbs knew was Kristin was gone and they didn't know where to start to find her. Her phone was off and she seemed to have travelled a considerable distance from the school given the relatively small time frame.

Dividing up into teams, DiNozzo and McGee and Ziva and Gibbs headed out in opposite directions in search of Kristin. Having searched all the local bus and train stations, Tim suggested they try a train station a little further out from town. Perhaps, he suggested, she knew they'd search close by first. Or, Tony thought, she was headed a little further than a few towns away. There was one thing he felt certain of, she wasn't heading back to Baltimore.

Driving up to the next train station, Tony jumped out before McGee had even stopped the car. Known for spotting the impossible, a flash of blonde hair had caught his eye and he was chasing after it. Rounding the side of the building where the smokers sat waiting for their trains he saw her. Her face was flushed and pale all at the same time. When she looked at him, she didn't run or try and escape him, but she didn't come towards him either.

"Kristin, what the hell? Gibbs…well all of us were so worried, what the hell were you thinking?"
Backing away slightly, Kristin replied, "I can't come with you Tony. I'm doing him a favour. I'm not going to ruin his life anymore. He doesn't need me there reminding him of them."
With absolutely no idea what she was talking about, Tony saw McGee in the background, blocking her escape and he walked up to her, firmly planting a hand on her shoulder, guiding her towards the car.

She had never really planned to put up much of fight, she'd lose anyway, but when Tony relaxed his firm grip on her shoulder to pull her into a hug, she lost all of the defiance and anger she had, instead relaxing into his shoulder and crying.

Noticing Kristin was now coming with Tony, Tim pulled out his phone and called Gibbs.

"Boss, we have her, she's with Tony and we're bringing her to NCIS now."

"Watch her closely, McGee, make sure she doesn't run again. And take her straight down to see Ducky, I'll meet you there."
Hearing Tim relay this to Tony, Kristin felt her stomach drop. She didn't know how to explain this or where to start. Feeling Tony by her side, she knew she had support, but she didn't think it would be enough.