A Multi-ship Story **in Editing*

*Limp*

Lexi jumped out of her sleep with a yelp. Her heart was racing and she felt tears on her cheeks. She covered her face and tried to slow her heart rate.

Suddenly, the door to her bedroom opened and Jenny and Gibbs entered. Gibbs had his gun out. They looked like they'd been jolted awake, too.

"What's going on?" Jenny asked.

Lexi looked up and startled slightly, then motioned to the gun. "Really? Is that necessary?"

"If you were in danger, you'd be grateful," Gibbs said before leaving to secure his gun beside his bed again.

Jenny sat next to Lexi on the bed, defeated. "Lexi, what can we do to help? None of us have gotten a good night's sleep in... well, weeks. There has to be something we can do to help you feel safe..."

Lexi groaned. "I don't know... I already tried talking to that therapist lady.. I just... I don't feel safe knowing those people are still out there.."

"I know, I hate it too... but it may not be quite possible to catch them yet... It's almost like when I was almost murdered. I was constantly scared that those people would come back for me. But then I was surrounded by people who loved me and protected me, like Jethro. I felt safe, and it helped... If you want, you can hang out around the team for a while, volunteer a little bit. It may make you feel a little safer knowing all those people are fighting to protect you."

"Maybe..." Lexi admitted

Jenny nodes. "Tomorrow, you can go with us to work and hang out with the team. I'm sure Abby would love it. Now try to get some sleep." She kissed Lexi's forehead and left.

~~~

Lexi grabbed a banana from the counter and followed Jenny to the car. The drive to NCIS wasn't too far, so she didn't have long enough to fall back into her memories that seemed to claim her thoughts anytime she wasn't focusing on anything else.

At NCIS, Lexi noticed everyone was being a little too friendly, as if they knew Lexi was there because of her anxiety. She nodded in greeting to Harry, the man who took her father's spot on the team. He actually smiled in greeting, which was very unlike him.

Ellie Bishop, who took her mother's spot, wasn't in the room. McGee stood, a little too happy for the morning. "Lexi, you're here!"

Lexi's eyebrow quirked. She looked between him and Harry. "I'm fine, you can stop now."

"Stop what?" McGee asked, while Harry only returned to his normal, stoic self.

Lexi rolled her eyes. "Treating me like that. It's just me. Normal me."

McGee sat again. "Lexi, you went through a major trauma, we just care about you, and we want to help."

"That's what everyone says," Lexi groaned. "Can't anyone just treat me normal?"

McGee gave a side smile. "It just means we care."

Lexi rolled her eyes again and sat at Gibbs's desk. Gibbs, who had gone up with Jenny to her office, returned about half an hour later announcing they had a case. Everyone grabbed their stuff and followed him to the elevator.

"Can I come?" Lexi called after Gibbs.

He turned to her, stared for a moment to think, then nodded quickly. "Sure."

Lexi grabbed her messenger bag and hurried after them, a smile plastered on her face. She was going to her first crime scene.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It took an hour to drive to the field where the scene was reported. Lexi's stomach twisted when she joined the crew standing around a decapitated body. She squinted her eyes in a sort of disgusted look.

"Ew. Where is his head?" she asked.

Ducky, who was starting to kneel beside the body, began to answer. "As it appears, some kind of wildlife is responsible for the decapitation of this poor man. Although, it is a mystery why only the head is missing. I imagine he suffered some wounds to his neck, and the blood attracted the scavengers to chew through the flesh, carrying away their prize."

Lexi scrunched her nose as Gibbs turned to the nearby woods. "McGee, Bishop, search the woods."

The two looked at each other and begrudgingly marched off.

"Murray," Gibbs said, nodding to Harry. "Talk to the witness."

As Harry walked away, Lexi turned to Gibbs. "Can I help?"

Gibbs hesitated, trying to find something she could do. "You can help McGee and Bishop if ya want."

Lexi considered for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders, "Sure, why not? What teenage girl doesn't love looking for a severed head?"

Gibbs smirked as Lexi ran after the two who were nearing the first set of trees. The three walked about 20 feet apart from each other, all in the same direction, scanning as they walked.

After 20 minutes or so of walking, Lexi began getting tired of it. She casually scanned around, but let her thoughts drift. She wasn't paying attention at all when her foot caught on a root and she crashed to the ground with a yelp.

She heard McGee call her name and start making his way over.

"I'm fine," she groaned as she pushed herself off the ground. She rubbed her hip, where it hit something hard, then she examined what she landed on.

Startled, she screamed and crawled back a few feet, before regaining her composure. McGee, who had run over then, stooped beside the lump of mangled flesh with skull showing through in parts.

"Well, you found the head," he simply stated.

"Are you alright?" Bishop asked, helping Lexi up.

Lexi, still startled by the events, stared at the head. "I'm... I'm..." Her thoughts began to clear. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine."

She started to walk back to the scene, but stumbled slightly, not falling entirely this time. She hissed and looked at her ankle. It looked normal, but she couldn't put a lot of pressure on it.

"Ow," she said. "I, uh, think I twisted my ankle a little..."

"Bishop, can you carry it back?" McGee asked, handing her a large evidence bag. Bishop did as he asked. McGee walked over to Lexi and knelt in front of her.

"Hop on," he said.

Lexi couldn't help the heat rising to her cheeks as she climbed on his back and let him carry her back to the others. She tried not to be embarrassed as the others all questioned why McGee was carrying her. He set her on the back of Ducky's van.

"Hey, Jimmy, can you help Lexi with her ankle?" he called.

Jimmy, after checking that it was okay with Ducky, examined her now bruising ankle.

"I'm fine, really, it's nothing." Lexi insisted as Jimmy wrapped it.

"Oh yeah," he replied. "I'm sure it's nothing compared to the gunshot, huh?"

It took about three seconds for his own words to register in his head before he looked up at her, his mouth dropping slightly. Even Ducky looked over to them, surprised at his words.

"I- I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- That was insensitive, Lexi, I'm sor-"

"It's fine." Lexi said, her voice taking on a firmer tone. "Are you done?"

Jimmy sat up, "Yes. Lexi, I'm sorry to bring it up so casually. I didn't mean anything by it."

Lexi ignored his words as she hopped off the back of the van and walked away, a slight Limp to her gait now.

~~~

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I hope you enjoyed this slight change of the typical chapters. I figured we needed to highlight some of my other favorite characters.

Happy Reading!

~Abi<3