Chapter Text
"Somethings going on in the woods, I think the cops are involved," Nick said, his back was against the wall and he stealthily peaked through a gap in the curtains. They had heard the sirens but assumed they were passing through. Turns out they were not.
"We're fine here, they'll do whatever they need to then leave," Tim said.
"No Tim, this is the only building for miles. It's obviously going to be the first place they look," Abby corrected, they all looked between each other, worried about what would happen if they were found.
"We should run," Ellie said.
"We can't outrun them, let's just all go into the bathroom and hide there," Tim said. As the oldest, they always looked to him as he should know what to do. Thankfully, in this situation, he did.
The only person who hadn't said anything was Jimmy. He stood still, frozen with fear. Tim, along with Abby, helped him get out of his shocked state and move into the bathroom with the rest of them.
Ellie and Nick sat in the bathtub together, pushing and shoving at each other for more space. Jimmy sat leant against the side of the bath as far into the corner as possible. Abby sat in herself in a similar position opposite. Tim's heart was racing but he kept a calm face and sat directly in the centre of the room, facing the door. He'd be the first one seen and if they were armed, he could risk himself to save everyone else's lives.
"So, what do we do now? Just sit and wait?" Nick asked. He was already bored, not to mention starving. Beside him, He could hear Ellie's breathing getting faster so he reached out for her hand and gave her a reassuring smile.
"Yes, and be quiet. If luck is on our side, which is rarely is, we'll be fine and this will all be over in an hour," Tim said. He switched the light off, surrounding them in darkness. The rest of the cabin’s lights were already switched off due to it being the middle of the day. Tim wasn't religious but he prayed. He prayed for his friend’s safety along with his own and he prayed this nightmare they'd been living for weeks would be over soon.
"If we do get caught, just remember our rules," Tim instructed and while he couldn't see them, he felt them nodding.
They had 5 rules; without them they'd probably be dead. Rule 1. Don't trust anyone other than each other- this was the most important rule. Rule 2. Don't tell anyone your personal details, that included your name, age and even your favourite type of pizza. Rule 3. Don't let them find out who you are. Rule 4. Don't let them separate you- they were stronger together then they were alone and finally rule 5. Always have each others backs.
There were a few minutes of silence when the only things that could be heard was all of their heavy breathing and the constant dripping of the tap. This was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door.
"NCIS, open the door," a man yelled.
"What's NCIS?" Nick asked Ellie in a whisper.
"I don't know but it doesn't seem like they're going to leave us alone," she whispered back.
They didn't leave them alone like they'd hoped. The front door came crashing door and they could hear the living room flood with footsteps. Abby resisted the urge to scream and they knew any minute now they'd be found.
"The bathrooms locked," someone said, it was woman this time. The rest of the speech was muffled so they didn't know what was going on. They heard scratching sounds and metal clanking against other metal. They were picking the lock.
When the door opened, the kids tried to keep a brave face but their fear was unable to be masked. The adults staring at them, guns pointed, looked confused. They lowered their guns and a man with greying hair crouched in the doorway.
"I'm agent Gibbs, you're safe now," he said and the kids looked confused until it hit them. He thought they had been kidnapped. Which was true but they were past that now and we're already safe. While he was wrong, it wouldn't hurt them to go along with that lie.
Tim nodded and the others played along, acting as if they were being rescued. The agents helped them out and they left the cabin. Once they were out in open, Ellie glanced at them all then towards the trees and subtly nodded. Nick was the first to catch on to her plan and the others followed.
With her fingers by her side, she used them to count to down from three. Once all her fingers were down and her hand turned into a fist, they sprinted off into the woods. The adrenalin helped power them further and they broke out into laughter as they run. What they were doing was crazy. Running from federal agents could easily land them in jail.
Unfortunately, they could not outrun the agents and didn't get a mile away until they were caught. All were placed in handcuffs which was not a first but it felt more frightening this time as they didn't what the consequences would be. Since there were 5 of them, they couldn't all travel separate which played into their favour. Tim and Jimmy went in one car and Abby, Nick and Ellie were in the other.
"Running was a stupid idea," Nick said and it was obvious who he was mad at.
"You didn't have to, you had the choice to stay there so don't blame this on me," Ellie said, defending herself.
"Guys please don't fight, not now," Abby said. Her legs were shaking and her face pale, more pale than usual. Ellie held her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"I'm sorry, we both are," she said and Nick nodded in agreement. "We'll be fine,"
She sounded confident but she was tying to convince herself as well. The trees faded into the distance as they approached the city, the tall buildings and people everywhere made her heart rate speed up. It had been ages since she had seen this, a place so full of life and people.
The others rode in silence. Jimmy was too scared to talk and Tim was deep in thought. He made a mental note of each building they passed and when they made a turn, he needed to her his bearings.
Tim recognised where they were going when they got closer. It was a navy yard. He knew this due to his father's involved with the army. He didn't like to think about his dad- it brought up too many memories. None of which were too positive.
The cars arrived at the same time and the were escorted in together. People stared at them with mixes reactions. Some seemed sympathetic, they were probably parents themselves. Other reactions weren't so pleased, it was many the older people who seemed disgruntled. Probably blamed every thing on today's youth. None of them took much notice of them as they were more concerned as to where they were being taken.
"I'm starving, do you think they'd give me something to eat?" Ellie asked.
"How can you even think about food right now?" Nick asked and she shrugged.
"Don't ask for food, we don't know anything about these people and you had breakfast so it's not like you're going to starve," Tim said and Ellie sighed but deep down she knew he was right.
They were brought into a room with a large table and the same bright orange walls as the rest of the interior. The kids were all seated on one side and their handcuffs were removed. It didn't seem like they were going to be interrogated so hopefully that meant things would be ok.
An older, blonde woman entered the room along with agent Gibbs. She hadn't been in the woods. Her smile seemed sincere and helped to put some of them at ease. Tim wasn't fooling for it though; he wasn't older by much but that didn't matter. He still felt protective of the others.
"Hi, I'm agent Sloane. Would it be ok if I asked you all a few questions?" Tim wanted to say no, to have them all refuse to talk. Most seemed to understand what his eyes were saying but Abby wasn't looking at him so she was unaware.
"Yes," Once she had responded, there was no backing out or else it would seem suspicious. They just had to be vague and stick to their rules. Things would be fine. No matter how many times Tim said that in his head, he didn't start to believe it.
"Why were you all staying in that cabin?" She asked and her eyes scanned across them all- pausing briefly to make eye contact. Rembering rule 1, they all stayed quiet and glanced at each other periodically to make sure they all did the same.
Agent Sloane let them stay quiet for a bit before getting the impression they weren't going to answer. So, she moved on to her next question. What they didn't know was that she was already beginning to make profiles on each of them based on there body language.
"Do you know this man?" She placed a picture of a man in the centre of the table- insuring they could all see it. The man looked young; he couldn't be older than 25. An American flag stood tall in the background of his picture and he wore his navy uniform. His posture was upright and conveyed a professional attitude. This question they could answer.
"No," Nick said and they others shook their heads.
"Is he the- um- dead guy?" Jimmy asked and met Sloane's eyes.
"Yes, this is sergeant Bell. He owned the cabin that we found you five in,"
"What happened to him?" Tim asked, they had to ask questions and seem engaged to help distract the agents from asking any personal questions.
"He had been hit in the back of the head by a blunt object, this happened around five this morning. Did any of you see anything?"
They looked amongst themselves; they hadn't thought to talk about this. The only ones who were ever up that early was Abby and Tim and despite trying to be discreet, the agents noticed how the attention turned onto the pair.
"I saw him walking through the woods, I don't what the time was. I just assumed he was a hiker- there was no one else around and he was fine then," Abby said then looked at the ground. She felt bad. She could have stopped this, somehow. Maybe.
"It's ok, you're all doing a good job," there was a knock at the door which agent Gibbs answered. It was the agent that drove Tim and Jimmy to the navy yard. He was whispered something to Gibbs who beckoned Sloane to follow him out. "I'll be back in a bit,"
Once they had left and the door shut behind, they all smiled in relief before bursting out into laughter. They didn't even know why. Nothing about the situation they were in was funny. It was probably a stress thing.
In the squad room, Jack sat on Gibbs' desk while the other agents crowded around. On the screen in front of her was the same picture of Bell that she had shown to the kids.
"Any luck on finding out who they are?" She asked.
"No, Jenny looked through missing children reports and there was nothing matching their descriptions. Without names or any details, it's going to be nearly impossible," Fornell said.
"What do you know about them so far?" Gibbs asked.
"The oldest boy seems to be the one in charge, not in a controlling sense more like an older brother. All are very closed off and the fact they were hiding tells me some thing bad had happened to them. They didn't want to be found and they don't want us knowing who they are,"
"What if they don't know?" Jenny said and they all looked at her confused so she continued. "Who they are, I mean,"
"I don't think that's the case, they all seem close and are withholding the information rather then not knowing it. They are careful with what they say to ensure they don't say too much,"
"Did they kill our marine?" Tobias asked.
"No, I don't think so but something happened to them. I want to try figure out what,"
Gibbs gave her his approval and she went off to her office to begin coming up with ideas to not only get the kids talking but also to find their families. Their appearances could've been changed and she would hate to be one of their parents, in the dark for so long about their kids where abouts.
"How much longer do you think we're going to be kept here?" Nick asked, he was already bored and had turned to annoying the others.
"I don't think they'll just let us out. You do realise they're going to call child services," Tim said and their faces dropped. He was right.
"We're screwed," he said and leant back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling. As soon as child services showed up, they'd have no chance. They had been on the run for a reason, not going to school and staying away from the public but now their names would be put on databases. Databases that anyone with intermediate hacking skills could access.
"We should tell them, maybe they could help," Abby said. They were only kids after all so they couldn't exactly do much.
"Help with what?" They all looked towards the door where agent Gibbs was now stood. He entered along with a ginger woman who seemed around his age. The pair made eye contact before quickly breaking it which didn't go unnoticed by the teenagers who felt they had a deeper connection then what met the eye. It wasn't romantic though, not on agents Gibbs's end. It was a look some of them knew far too well after having the evitable crush on the person you can never have. It was different to the other woman Gibbs had been in her with earlier, there had been a shine in his eye- the one you get when talking to the person you love.
None of them answered and Ellie mouthed the words 'rule 1' to Abby to remind her why they couldn't speak to the agents.
"I'm agent shepherd, Jenny. What are your names?" She asked and sat opposite them at the table. Gibbs sat beside her. Unlike Jenny, he showed no emotions on his face least of all sympathy. They looked between each other and despite it being against the rules, they agreed to say them. It was not like they were giving them their full names.
"Nick,"
"Abby,"
"Ellie,"
"Jimmy,"
"Tim,"
"We'll it's nice to meet you all. Agent Sloane has been trying to find your families but she's having no luck, do you know where they are?" They didn't even consider answering this. That would be too much information to give.
"My friend had a daughter, she wasn't much younger than all of you and when she died, he was the first to know and I reckon your parents would like to know that you're all safe," Gibbs said, he looked away from them as he spoke. It was clearly painful for him to speak about. beside him, Agent Shepherd seemed surprised to hear this, she was also just finding out about this. She wondered who the friend he was talking about was.
"They're dead, they're all dead," Abby said.
"Seriously Abby? Have you forgotten about the rules?" Tim said.
"Ever since it happened all of you have ignored it and tried to pretend it hasn't happened but it did. They're dead and we're not, we all know why,"
"You didn't even loose your real family so you can't talk, I watched my brothers die as well as my parents so you can't blame me for not wanting to think about it," Ellie said, their voices raised as did the tension within the room. Gibbs and Jenny decided to stay quiet and let them argue with each other- it was the most information they'd managed to get so they were going to take it.
"Just because I was adopted it doesn't make them any less my family, besides it was your mom who had to be rung 5 times until she picked up,"
They were both out of their seats by now and getting closer to each other. Nick got up too and stood between them. "Guys relax, both of your parents loved you. Yes, our parents are dead and we cope with that in different ways but fighting won't make things better,"
He stayed between them until he could be sure one of them wouldn't go crazy and attack the other. Jimmy pulled out Abby's chair so she could sit down and Nick went to sit back along with Ellie and they all turned to the pretty speechless agents.
"We are very sorry for your loss and we will be getting in contact with child services," Jenny said. She had kept the same expression of empathy throughout the revelation as had Gibbs. He remained showing no emotion even as the kids had tears gathering in their eyes.
It wasn't that he didn't feel bad for them, he did. But looking at them just made him think of Kelly and that brought up a cohort of sad emotions. They reminded him of her and he began to wonder about her being in this situation.
"You can't, please. We can't explain so don't ask but when you call them, they'll make us files and then they can find us," Tim said.
"Who?" Gibbs asked.
"We don't know, we never saw their faces," Abby said.
"Ok We won't call them but that means you will have to stay with one of our agents, is that ok?" Jenny asked.
"That'll be fine," Tim said.
"Wait, so who will it be?" Nick asked.
"We're just going to go discuss that so we'll be back in shortly," the agents left the room and once they were gone, the kids could let their guard down and they began to cry. A lot had happened in the past few hours and even Nick, who liked to keep up his tough exterior, let a few tears slip.
In the squad room, Gibbs had gathered all the agents, including director Vance and he was updating them on the situation with kids.
"There isn't much we can do, it's not our jurisdiction. We have no choice but to turn them over to social services, if someone is after them then the local police can have a security detail placed outside wherever they end up staying," Leon said, the agents did not seem pleased with his answer but there was no alternative. They already have one case to solve.
"These people are dangerous, they've already killed their families and would've killed the children too," Jenny said
"We have to believe them, if they think calling child services will get them found then it's too risky and those journalists would have a field day," Fornell said.
"Leon, these children are traumatised. They trust no one and we've only been able to get their names which we can't be certain are real or not. Calling them would break what little trust they have in us and they'll end up on the run again," Jack said and she kept eye contact with him before they all turned to Gibbs. Leon, especially, wanted to know his opinion.
"We're taking this case too; it may even be related. I'll have them stay at my place and we'll have a security detail out front," Gibbs said. It wasn't a question of 'if' anymore, they were taking on the case whether Leon agreed or not.
"Fine but I want both cases to be given equal attention, A marine is still dead,"
"Do you think you'll be able to handle 5 teenagers?" Jenny asked and Gibbs nodded.
Gibbs sat back in his chair and around him, the agents got to work. He looked towards the room where the kids were. One child had been hard enough and he wasn't there half the time, but he still had experience so he would look after them. And if they were staying with him, he'd make sure he also got more answers about what happened.
There was nothing in the news about 5 teenagers ever going missing, he looked years back and still came up empty. There must have been something, whether that was a threat or action, that stopped their parents from contacting the police. That was where he would start but he'd need the kids help.
"You should take them back to your place now, we can handle things here and we'll call you when we have an update," Jenny said.
Gibbs contemplated this offer. Work was always his top priority and even more so as they had two cases but it wasn't only himself that he was now responsible for. There were 5 kids who had gone through hell and he knew what he'd want someone to do if it was Kelly.
"Ok but as soon as you get anything, no matter how small," his made sure to emphasise this "You call and tell me,"
"Yes boss," Fornell said and mouthed 'good luck' to him. Emily was only one but he was already dreading her teenager years, he couldn't imagine looking after five.
Gibbs left his team working and made his way to the room where the kids were. They were all laid either with their head on the table or back against the chair- all where very bored. Their heads perked up when they heard the door open since some thing was finally happening. It appeared they would be staying with agent Gibbs.