Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters.
Chapter 11
Taylor felt like crap when she eventually woke up the next morning. In fact if she hadn't been so thirsty she'd probably just have stayed exactly where she was. Heading straight for the kitchen she filled a glass with water, drinking more than half of it before actually turning to see who else was there.
Her mom and dad were there at the table, but so was Abby. All three were staring at her, giving her that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach, the one that always put her on the defensive. Taylor looked down at her pyjamas, just to make sure she hadn't put them on back to front, or inside out, or something. Nope, everything was in order.
"What?"
No answer. Just three pairs of eyes watching her. Taylor wasn't in the mood to hang about just to find out what their problem was. Filling her glass up again Taylor left them to it, and took her drink back up to her room. Maybe a shower would make her feel better.
Patricia spoke first. "She doesn't remember does she?"
Jethro shook his head. "Doesn't look like it."
"Maybe it's still in her system, Taylor's not very big, after all." Abby added.
"I'll go and see if she's okay." Patricia almost expected Jethro to stop her, but he didn't. That just warned her how afraid he was of losing his temper.
The shower did waken her up, and the drink rehydrated her. As Taylor dried herself, and pulled on some clean clothes, she replayed the scene in the kitchen over in her head. It had almost seemed as if she was in trouble, but the only thing she'd done lately was the car thing, and there was no way anyone could have found out about that. Still …..
When Taylor opened the bathroom door, her mom had made the bed, and was sitting waiting for her. That uncomfortable sensation returned with a vengeance. Taylor stood in the doorway, not wanting to get any closer until she knew what was going on.
"What did I do?" She asked nervously.
"Who said you did anything?"
"No one, but you're all acting weird, and why is Abby here?"
Patricia tapped the bed beside her.
Taylor shook her head. "Uh uh." Fully intending to stay out of reach until she found out what was going on. "Not until you tell me what I did."
"I just want to talk to you Taylor."
"You're not hiding that spoon?"
Her mom smiled, not a big smile, but a smile none the less. "No."
Feeling a bit more reassured, Taylor moved to the bed and sat down.
"Are you feeling okay?" Patricia placed her hand on her daughter's forehead.
"Fine. I was just thirsty."
"Do you remember what you did yesterday?"
That was a strange question, but Taylor answered anyway. "Sure. I went to see Dorothy, then I went skating with Jared. You should see all his new gear!"
"Then what?" Her mom prompted.
"Well, then ….. I….." Taylor thought hard, but there was nothing. "I can't remember."
"You don't remember meeting DJ?"
Taylor shuffled away a bit. "How do you know about DJ?"
"How we found out isn't important, what you did is."
"But it was just a prank!" How the hell had they found out?
"You call taking ecstasy a prank?" Her mom sounded shocked.
"Ecstasy? Who said anything about ecstasy? I was talkin' about …"
"About what Taylor?" Taylor's head snapped round to see her dad standing just inside her door, leaning up against the frame.
"Nothin'!" She had absolutely no idea what was going on. It was like an episode of the Twilight Zone.
Her dad pushed himself off the frame and moved a few steps closer, just enough to make her feel threatened.
"What'd I do?" This was not lookin' good. Taylor was frantically trying to filter through everything stored in her head, but the car was the only thing she could think of, and that was the only thing that involved DJ.
o
She watched as her dad lifted the chair from her desk and set it in front of her, before straddling it and leaning his arms on the back.
"When's the last time you spoke to DJ?" He didn't sound angry, just curious. That just made Taylor think he was trying to be sneaky, and lull her into a false sense of security.
"I'm not allowed to talk to DJ cause you don't like him."
Jethro didn't raise his voice, but Taylor had no doubt he meant business. "The truth Taylor, now!"
She sighed, what was the point in hiding it anymore? "Maybe a couple of weeks ago."
Her dad pulled a sheet of paper out of his back pocket. "DJ's phone records." He explained. "June 14th was it? You called him, although I don't know how you managed to do that, considering you didn't have your phone."
"I didn't have my iPhone. I took the SIM card and put it into my old phone." Taylor confessed, as she tried to think of some reason why her dad had DJ's phone records.
"Why did you call him?" He asked voice still calm.
"I wanted him to help me. I don't know what the big deal is. It was just for a laugh! You know, let off a bit of steam, school being out and all."
His eyes were darkening. That was never a good sign. "You figured there was nothing wrong with taking drugs, just to let off a bit of steam?" He was standing now, not quite believing what his daughter was telling him.
Taylor reacted to his increasing anger by scooting a bit further back on the bed. "I don't know what you're talking about. I only got him to ..." She wasn't quite ready to admit her guilt in the prank just yet.
"YOU GOT HIM TO WHAT?" Gibbs roared, moving the chair out from between them.
Glancing at her mom Taylor mumbled her answer. "To take the wheels of Millar's car. I don't know anything about drugs."
She watched as her father paced up and down in front of her, it didn't look as if he knew what to say. Either that, or he was counting. She hoped it was the latter.
Finally he spoke. "Do you remember Jason being at the skate park?"
"No." Taylor answered, but then started to remember. "Yeah, I remember now. Jason was there, but then he pissed me off when he tried to boss me about, so I ...oh!" The 'oh' came out as a whisper as the memories of what she'd done came flooding back. Now she knew what was going on.
"So what did you do Taylor?" His voice brought her out of her thoughts and back into her bedroom.
"I wasn't gonna take it, I didn't even know what it was. I was just gonna flush it, I swear! But then Jason had to butt in, and I swallowed it just to annoy him."
"Let me get this straight. You swallowed something, having no idea what it was, just to annoy Jason? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DANGEROUS THAT WAS?"
Something clicked in Taylor's mind, and she shouted back. "HE TOLD YOU? JASON?" Not quite believing that Jason would betray her like that.
"HE WAS ONLY LOOKING OUT FOR YOU! AND THE STATE YOU WERE IN YESTERDAY, YOU WERE DAMN LUCKY HE WAS!"
Cringing, Taylor fought back the tears. There was no way anyone could yell louder than that!
o
"Jethro." The sound of his wife's voice interrupted his rant.
Taylor took advantage of the break in the tirade. "I didn't think it was real dad, I didn't!"
"Go give Ducky a call, he said he wanted to check her out again this morning." Patricia quickly suggested, before he responded to Taylor's excuse.
Gibbs gave his daughter one last glare before leaving the room.
o
"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Her mom asked her again.
Least she wasn't yellin' at her, Taylor thought. That would change though when she remembered Millar's car. "I'm okay mom."
"Good. I'm going to find your dad and try to calm him down before he has a stroke. You stay right here!"
o
Left on her own, Taylor heard the familiar sound of Jason's skateboard from across the street, and before she knew it, she was outside, standing in front of her so called 'friend', hands on hips, eyes shooting daggers.
Jason spoke first. "I'm not sorry Taylor, I didn't have a choice."
Taylor wasn't going to accept that, and threw herself at him, knocking him to the ground. She managed to get one good punch in, before he caught both her hands, and rolled over, effectively trapping her underneath him.
"Will you pack it in! What did you want me to do? Let you wander about completely wasted? You were gonna get hurt!"
Still struggling to free herself, she wasn't listening. All she wanted to do was hit him again. Taylor was getting nowhere as she tried to wriggle out from under Jason, when he suddenly leaned down and whispered. "Stop it, your dad's coming."
Letting go of her, he stood up and held his hand out to help her up. Taking it, Taylor was on her feet before her father had reached them.
o
Expecting to be dragged back across the street with a stinging backside, Taylor was surprised when her dad just pointed at their house, and gave an order. "Home!"
Shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans she made the short walk back again. She did glance over her shoulder, her dad wasn't watching her. He was checking Jason's lip that she'd managed to split. Now Taylor felt guilty. How could she have hit him like that? He'd always stood up for her, even when she landed him in trouble, and she had to admit that happened a lot.
Taylor stopped and turned just before she reached her front door, and walked back over to Jason again, risking her dad's wrath.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…." She shrugged. "You know ..."
When Jason nodded, Taylor didn't hang around, she double timed it back home.
XOXOXOXOXOXO
Flying past her mom, and up the stairs, Taylor took refuge in her bedroom. She wanted some time on her own, to see if she could remember anything else she'd done, but didn't get more than a couple of minutes before Abby appeared.
"You here to make sure I don't make a run for it?" Taylor asked, not happy at having a guard.
"I thought I'd keep you company."
Taylor was tempted to give a sarcastic response, but Abby didn't deserve it. What Abby said, Abby meant.
"Do you know what I did? I can't exactly remember."
Abby frowned at her. "You scared the crap out of everyone. I found you on the roof of NCIS, feet dangling over the edge."
"Oh. That's so not good. Does my dad know that bit?"
"Afraid so kiddo."
"That explains why he's so pissed then."
"Well, that and the fact you took a drug that's so dangerous, it can kill, even the first time you try it." Abby gave her a disapproving look. "That was really dumb."
"Yeah, well I didn't die, did I?" Taylor heard Ducky's old car pulling up outside and went over to the window to look out.
"Just for the record, did I like it?" She asked as she watched him lift his leather medical bag out of the car.
"Ow!" Taylor spun round. Abby had swatted her, hard. "What was that for?" She asked as she rubbed her backside.
"For thinking about doing it again!" Abby was outraged, her stance clearly giving that fact away. She had her hands on her hips, and appeared willing to smack again if she had to. This was a dangerous Abby.
"I was just curious, and don't you think my butt's gonna be in enough trouble later, without you adding to it?"
Abby closed the short distance between them until their feet almost touched and Taylor had to crane her neck to look up at her. "Don't you dare look for any sympathy Taylor Jacqueline Gibbs, because believe me, you deserve everything you're going to get!"
Taylor fought back the tears, yet again, then threw herself down on her bed, realising she didn't stand a chance of getting out of this one. Not when easy going Abby, who usually had her six, had changed allegiances. She was doomed!