Disclaimer: Oh you know…the usual… (:

A/N: I love how you all love (or so it seems so in your reviews) this story. It just makes my day to know that I'm capable of producing something worth taking the time to read and possibly enjoy ( I know, I know, way too hard on myself, but hey everyone does it) So anyway, thanks for the support little dudes and dudettes. Read onn (:

Saving Melanie

Mr. Riley

"McGee, sit out here with our guest and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble, ya got that?" barked Gibbs, as he, Tony, and Kate went back to the house to talk to Ducky. McGee grumbled to himself as Mr. Riley did the same.

"So, McGee, is it? What the hell are a bunch of feds doing out here in the Ross' house?" he growled. McGee composed himself and turned, looking him straight in the eye.

"With all due respect sir, I could ask you the same damn thing. How do you think it looks to find you popping out of a closet, threatening to shoot one of our own? Not good, sir, I can assure you that," he fumed. The man calmed down, before speaking again.

"Listen kid, I didn't mean to scare you, or hurt your lady friend over there, but I'm just trying to look out for the place. Last night I heard a gunshot and rushed over here. When I got here, Melanie was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn't find anyone in there. I love that child like she's my own. Her mother's had it rough the last few years, ever since that no good son of a bitch husband left her, and I've been here to help pick up the pieces. We've been there for each other after my wife Rosie died. Now I know what it looks like, sir, but I swear to the Good Lord that I did NOT kill that man in there," he finished his rant, grumbling to himself again.

"Sir, what is your name?"

"My name is Mr. Jeremy Riley. I live in the house next door. The Ross' are my neighbors, and all I was doin' was tryin' to protect Melanie, you got it kid? I didn't kill nobody, didn't shoot nobody, just trying to protect them,".

"Well, Mr. Riley, I appreciate the honesty, but we're still going to need to take you into NCIS custody for questioning. You did assault a federal officer after all. We won't press charges, but if you do anything else to instigate it, we will not hesitate to do so," explained McGee.

"I don't' know if this will help or not, but that man you found over there, he's a new guy. Just moved here in the house next to mine. He knew Lucy though. Don't ask me how because I haven't a clue, but it sounds like they knew each other back in college or something. Don't know his name either," said Mr. Riley, before lying on his side.

"Thank you sir," muttered an irritated McGee.

In The Ross House

"Duck, did you find any ID on him?" Gibbs asked, as he began searching the room for any clues. Tony and Kate were snapping away with their cameras, bagging and tagging any "evidence".

"I'm afraid not, Jethro. We'll need to run his fingerprints through the system, when we get home,"

"What about the COD and TOD?" Gibbs asked, impatiently. He didn't' like it here; he felt as if he were being watched.

"It appears this young lad was strangled I'm afraid. You can tell by the abrasive marks along his neck. As for the time, it couldn't have been any more than eight hours," he checked his watch, "putting it at around 0400 or so," he finished, as he zipped the man up, and toted him out to the truck.

"Gibbs! Over here!" called Kate, indicating for the boss to follow. He walked over to her and was met with a partially crushed cell phone.

"Can Abby fix it or what?" he asked impatiently.

"Maybe not by herself, but with McGee, it's possible," she assured him.

"Check it out! Security cameras!" called Tony, as he showed them the camera he'd managed to snag from the living room wall. Gibbs took it and began inspecting it trying to find…what was that thing called that stored the video? McGee had told him before, but of course he didn't remember.

"There a reminder cord in there any where DiNozzo?" he asked, still inspecting the contraption.

"Memory card, boss. Yes there was one. I took it out, it's been bagged. I'll have McGeek and Abby go over it, I'm sure there's feed on there," he explained, as he bagged the other three he'd found.

They continued to survey the house, before coming to the sitting room. The once white piano was smeared in dried blood, and debris littered the floor. Tony immediately began sifting through it, trying to salvage any possible evidence they could use to determine how the man had been murdered. Suddenly it dawned on him, they hadn't found another body; a female body.

"Hey boss, you sure the kid's mother was killed here? Her body's not in the house anywhere," he reported. Gibbs just grumbled. Not only did they have an unidentified body, they also hadn't any idea where Lucy Ross' body was, if she was really murdered as Melanie had told them.

"Put a Missing Persons out for her when we get back DiNozzo, c'mon we're heading out," he announced as he and Kate exited the building. The drive back to NCIS was a quiet one; Mr. Riley had conveniently dodged talking to Gibbs by falling asleep.

Abby's Lab

"Aww oh my god, you look ah-mazing Mel!" squealed Abby in delight. Melanie stood looking at her reflection in the mirror in awe. Her purple t-shirt was replaced with a sparkly skull shirt, her capris replaced with black skinny, child-sized jeans, and her hair in two braided pigtails. She wore an NCIS hat that was two sizes too big, but she didn't care, she liked it that way.

"Abby, why are there two holes in the top of my hat?" she asked. Abby just laughed before speaking,

"Kate and Tony weren't on the best of terms that day," she joked. Melanie's eyes went wide, before looking back at the hat again in the mirror.

"I wish they wouldn't do that, they might get hurt really bad, like Mommy," she said sadly. Abby just nodded, before giving her the small Caf Pow! they had gotten before. Melanie took a huge sip before making a content (and very cute) Ahhhhh noise. This had been her third one, and she was already exhibiting signs of a caffeine rush.

"Abs, need you to fix this," announced Gibbs as he walked into the elevator, passing by Melanie, without even looking down. She frowned, before walking over to him. Abby's eyes widened at the heavily damaged device.

"Are you kidding me? I may be good, but I'm not a magician. This looks pretty bad, Gibbs. I'm not sure I can promise you that I'll have it 100% by the time you want it," she rambled.

"Get McGee to help you, you've got three hours," he called over his shoulder as he made way to the elevator. Melanie's lip began to tremble as he walked past her again.

"Gibby!" she cried, hurt that he'd completely ignored her. He turned around and stared at the small child. He was…well shocked. The once adorable little girl was replaced with a mini- Abby.

"Abs, " he semi growled, semi joked.

"Fix her back to how she was when we got here," he warned, before patting her on the head, and walking back out.

"Aww Gibbs, c'mon. She's so cute this way!" she pleaded. He just gave her a glare, before exiting into the elevator.

"Sorry kid, what he says goes, he is my boss after all," she said dejectedly, as she gave Melanie her old clothes back. She put them back on, but left the pigtails and hat on.

"I like it," she said simply, when Abby arched her eyebrow at her in question. Thankfully, they had managed to go to a toy store when they were out on their small shopping spree. Melanie had acquired two Barbie dolls, four outfits, and a pink beetle car, which she pushed around, making vroom vroom noises, while Abby got back to work on fixing the damaged cell phone.

"Whatcha doing Bee bee?" asked Melanie, as she went over to a very stressed out Abby, who was currently trying to re-wire the circuit board.

"Trying to revive this phone, even though I'm pretty sure that it's impossible," she grumbled the last part to herself.

"That's mommy's!" exclaimed Melanie as she went to grab the phone. Abby quickly took it from her and put it out of reach. Melanie's eyes began to water at the sudden and unexpected action.

"I'm sorry, kidd-o but this is evidence now. Evidence is only allowed to be touched by me or the team, okay?" she explained gently. Melanie nodded her head in understanding.

"But can I say that mommy has another phone like that? She telled me that it was a….a…back down phone! In case she lost her first one," Melanie explained.

"Melanie, do you have any idea where it could be?" asked Abby, who suddenly lost interest in the damaged circuit board.

"She always kept it in her pocket, no matter where she was. Even if she was sleepin', but I never got why," she speculated. Abby cursed lightly under her breath before going back to work on trying to fix the circuit board.

Interrogation Room #1

"McGee! I did not agree to this! When the hell can I leave!" shouted an angry Mr. Riley from his seat in interrogation. Suddenly, Gibbs entered coffee in hand.

"It's about time someone came to take me out of this damn room. It gets boring; same old view all the time you know?" rambled Mr. Riley.

"You're not going anywhere before you tell me what the hell you were doing in the Ross' home, hiding in a bathroom closet with a gun," growled Gibbs. Mr. Riley sighed, before explaining.

"Look, Mr…" he stopped and looked for a name tag anywhere, before Gibbs flashed him his badge.

"Look, Mr. Gibbs, I did NOT kill that guy you found there. I swear to you he was NOT there when I went to the Ross' house. I heard a gunshot at 1:00am and came over to see if Melanie was hurt. When I came over there, everything was ruined. It was a disaster. Melanie was nowhere to be seen and neither was Lucy. I decided to stay there in case Melanie came back,"

"Still doesn't explain the gun, or why you hid in the bathroom,"

"I heard someone, sir. I heard someone running through the house, so I grabbed the gun I found hidden under the bathroom sink, and hid. I must've dozed off, because when I woke up, that lady of yours was searching the damn place, pointing the gun all over the place like it was some secret spy mission," he grumbled.

"So you didn't get a look of who it was then," assumed Gibbs, laying his arms across his chest.

"No, I didn't but they sounded pretty heavy footed. I heard some furniture being moved, a loud thud, and then like I said, I hid, and fell asleep," he explained, starting to get slightly agitated again. Gibbs just stalked out of the room.

"This mean I can leave now?" called Mr. Riley.

Behind the glass, stood McGee, Gibbs, and Kate.

"Well, Kate? What'd you manage to piece together from that?" he asked.

"He's telling the truth Gibbs. He loves that little girl. From what McGee's told me, sounds like he was Melanie's grandfather-like figure of her life. You can let him go for now," she explained. Gibbs nodded, before going back into the room and letting him go. Tony escorted him to the elevator.

"Security will handle it form here," he explained, after pushing the down button, and going back to his desk. The others were scattered throughout the building, working on the case. He kicked back in his chair, staring at the picture of Lucy Ross and her ex-husband, Matthew Ross, trying to piece together where she could be. There hadn't been any hits yet as to her whereabouts but he was determined to find her, dead or alive. And though the optimistic side of him hoped alive; the realistic part won.

"Where are you Lucy Ross?" he asked, as he began to make phone calls to all the connections that she had.

So I'm hoping this will hold you guys off for a little while. I need to draft out five and six before I can start writing them again. I'm also hoping to get the review meter up a little. How about if we get the review number up to 25-30 then I'll update? Either way I'm updating, lol, but it'll get it there faster hehe.