It had been a long night at the offices of NCIS. Leroy Jethro Gibbs and his team had been working non- stop on a case of a murdered Marine private. There were no leads and nothing seemed to be going right in this investigation. Now it was almost 8 am and they were no further into solving this case than they had been at 8 last night when they got the call. Cases like this frustrated the former Marine Gunny. He picked up his coffee cup and realized that his cup was empty. He looked at Timothy who was working hard on a computer search, Tony was looking into the BOLO they has issued on the black Durango truck that was speeding away from the scene and Ziva was waiting on hold for the private's commanding officer.

This was his team and they would find out something sooner or later. Tossing his empty cup into the trash he decided he needed to go for a walk and clear his head. "Keep looking for a lead. I need coffee and a walk. Call me if you get anything" he barked as he stomped off toward the elevator. All three agents looked and him a breathed a sigh of relief. He was not happy when there were no leads in a case and he was not happy this morning.

Outside the sun was just coming up on a cool but not a cold September morning. This was good thinking weather he thought. He knew of a good coffee shop off near a base school about half a mile away. He started walking with thoughts of the case running through his head. He had been walking a few minutes when he observed a little girl being harassed by three boys. They were calling her names and then they pushed her to the ground. He could hear her calling for help. So in that split second he ran up and grabbed 2 of them by their belts and held them tight. The third boy started to run away. "Freeze son," Gibbs yelled. He looked at the little girl. She was crying, with a torn dress and a coupled of skinned knees and her face was scratched from where they had pushed her face into the pile of leaves under the tree where they were standing. "Are you ok sweetheart?" Gibbs asked. She did not answer for a few minutes. She was obviously scared of the stranger standing over her. Gibbs smiled at her and nodded. "It's ok baby I am here to help you"

"Did you see what they did to my new dress? My mother is going to be so mad at me. I promised I would keep it looking nice if she let me wear it," she said between sobs. She was crying so hard that Gibbs had trouble understanding her. "It will be ok sweetie. I am sure your mother will understand," Gibbs tried to make her feel better but it did not seem to be working so he turned his attention to the three abusers in front of him. Giving them his patented Gibbs stare, he could see that they knew they were in for it by the scared looks in their eyes. "Do you all go to school at George Bush Elementary?"

The three scared boys nodded and the little girl, who was now just whimpering gave him a smile knowing she had a protector in this man. Gibbs smiled at her and took her hand. "My name is Jethro. What is yours darling?" "My name is Kelly Elizabeth Williams. I am 6 years old," she said proudly. The name Kelly caught him off guard. It hit him like a knife was thrust in his heart. How could these boys pick on such a sweet little girl?

" Ok let's walk over there and talk to your teachers. You realize that you guys are in big trouble," he growled. In the mood he was in he wanted to give them a more threatening speech but decided against it. The boys looked at the ground and nodded. All three of them were shaking at Gibbs' stare and rough sounding voice. They knew when their teacher and the principal got through with them they would not be having a good day at school.

Gibbs walked up to the front door of the school holding the little girl's hand and his three prisoners were leading the way. As they got closer he saw a teacher walking up and down the sidewalk opening doors, greeting students and smiling and visiting with parents. When the little girl saw her she let go of Gibbs' hand and ran toward the teacher yelling and crying "Miss Waverly, Miss Waverly."

The teacher ran to meet her. Gibbs could see she was a beautiful woman with light auburn hair. Her hair was long and hung down about shoulder length and glistened in the early morning sun. " Kelly sweetheart what happened?" she said hugging the little girl who was now crying again. "Are you alright baby?" the teacher held her why she cried.

" I'm ok now, Miss Waverly. It was Tommy, Daniel and Sean they were picking on me again. They pushed me down and called me names. Look they tore my new dress and messed up my hair. They are always doing stuff like that. When will they ever just leave me alone" Kelly replied through her tears. "Miss Waverly, this is my new friend Jethro he stopped them. I was afraid they were going to really hurt me this time." She gave the boys an evil stare.

Miss Waverly looked up at Gibbs and saw his deep blue eyes and smiled. "Looks like you have a protector Kelly. Why don't you go into the nurse's office and get cleaned up? I will talk to these three and then during PE today maybe I can do something about fixing your dress. Don't worry. I will call your mother and tell her what happened. She will not be mad at you. We will fix it before your dad finds out I promise."

"Thanks. After I get cleaned up can I get breakfast? I did not get to eat this morning. "

" Go get your breakfast and bring it into the nurse's office. Tell Mrs. Ortega I told you to." Miss Waverly watched her walk up the steps to the door and then turned to the boys. Gibbs saw her wipe away a tear that had rolled down her face. " Ok fellas. This is the last straw. I have told you over and over to leave her alone." She barked. Gibbs smiled because she sounded like a Marine drill sergeant he knew at boot camp. "Now march into the office. I want to find you there sitting in front of Mrs. Wright's desk criss cross applesauce with your mouths shut. Oh and you better be working on your statements. Remember we have a witness this time." She grabbed her phone and dialed a number. "Mary, I am sending three boys in. I will be into take care of the problem as soon as I am done out here. If Jan asks what they are in for, tell her that they were picking on Kelly again."

Miss Waverly then turned her attention to her "witness" "Thanks for taking care of Kelly. They just will not leave her alone. I am Miss Samantha Waverly and I am their teacher."

"You are so welcome Miss Waverly. I have a great affection for girls named Kelly," he smiled. "I am Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I work for NCIS."

They shook hands and both of them held on a little longer that would be necessary for a greeting. Gibbs just could not get enough of her sparkling blue eyes and her soft features. She liked his rugged good looks, the salt and pepper grey hair and the deeply attractive blue eyes. He smiled at her as he heard bell ringing inside the building. "I guess you need to get inside" he suggested. "Yes I do. Kids will be in my classroom by the time I get there. Could you come in and tell the principal what you observed? These boys are sneaky and we have known they were bothering her but we had to get a witness so that their parents would believe us."

"Sure thing, Miss Waverly. Anything I can do to help. Maybe if we take care of it now I won't be seeing them in my office in 20 years."

"So true, and it is Samantha, Agent Gibbs, "she whispered "Call me Jethro" he whispered back. She smiled and walked into the office after getting a teaching assistant to cover her class. Almost immediately the expression on her face changed. She had her own version of his stare. She turned and faced the three aggressors who were sitting next to the wall with their legs crossed with very dejected looks on their faces. "Stand up" she ordered "March into the office" The three walked into the office and stood in front of the principal's desk. She was just as Jethro remembered his principals to be in elementary school. Stern and cross with glasses on her nose and no sign of a smile. "Well Miss Waverley, why are these young men here to see me this time?"

"Mrs. Brown, this is Special Agent Gibbs from NCIS. He can tell you why these boys are here." Samantha said winking at him where the boys or her boss could not see.

"Yes Agent Gibbs. What happened to bring you into our school today?"

"Well I was walking by headed toward the coffee shop at the end of the block and I observed these three pushing, kicking and insulting a young lady from your school. I stopped them and escorted the young lady to school along with her tormentors." Gibbs reported.

"So you saw them hurt her," the principal asked.

"Yes"

Mrs. Brown turned to the boys and glared at them. "Well what do you three have to say for yourselves?"

Then all three started talking at once each blaming the other for starting it. "I didn't do anything Mrs. Brown honest," said one. " It was Daniel's fault," said another "Enough! Agent Gibbs were they all involved in the assault?

"Yes ma'am."

"Well then each has earned two days in ISS. Miss Waverley send Mrs. Williams in here and get them lots of work to do." Mrs. Brown ordered "And I will be calling all three of your parents. If this happens again then you will be suspended from school." The boys each looked at the floor mumbling something that neither Gibbs nor Samantha could understand. " What did you say" Mrs. Brown asked. " I think I am being very fair. You three have been hurting Kelly for sometime and it is going to stop. Do you understand me." "Yes Mrs. Brown" they said in unison.

Gibbs and Samantha stepped out of the office and into the hall. "Looks like I am going to have an easy couple of days" she told him smiling. " True" Gibbs said smiling back at her. She seemed to be a tough lady when she needed to be.

Gibbs looked at her. She stared back at him. Neither of them wanted their meeting to end. He knew he should leave and get back to the bullpen but for some reason he did not want to go. He was drawn to this pretty lady and he did not want to leave just yet. "Well I better get my friends here some work to do and get to class." Samantha finally said.

"Yes me too. We are in the middle of a big case and we are not getting anywhere with it." Before he left he reached into his jacket pocket and handed her his card. "Call me if you ever need anything or if Miss Kelly needs her protector again."

"I will and thanks again. Kelly needs all the friends she can get," she said taking his card.

Gibbs took her hand and looked into her eyes. "She is lucky to have you as a teacher" He then walked out of the building with a wink.

Samantha looked at Mrs. Williams who observed the exchange. "Wow" she mouthed and walked toward her classroom. Mrs. Williams nodded and smiled. This could get interesting she thought.