Eleanor

        Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was coming up the stairs from his basement one Sunday night, when there was a knocking on his door.
        "Come in, it's open." He shouted, brushing some sawdust off of his USMC sweatshirt.
        The door opened to reveal a woman in her early thirties, with her long brown hair tucked into a slick bun, along with a teenage girl with long blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders.
        "Hello Agent Gibbs, I'm Daphne Culver, we talked on the phone earlier." The woman with the brown hair introduced herself.
        "Yes, nice to meet you Ms. Culver, and you can call me Gibbs. And this is...?" He asked, gesturing to the blonde girl beside her.
        "I'm uh, I'm Eleanor. Eleanor McKinney." The young girl said, wrapping her arms around herself.
"I'm going to get my papers organized here, how about the two of you go to talk in the kitchen, get to know each other a bit?" Daphne suggested.
Gibbs nodded and made a hand motion for Eleanor to follow him, which she did. They sat down at his kitchen table, and Gibbs stared at the girl. She had her legs crossed, and her hands were in her lap fiddling with the edge of her sweater.
        "Agent Gibbs, can I ask you a question?" Eleanor said quietly.
        "Sure, and please, just call me Gibbs." He replied, as warmly as he could, to try and help the girl open up.
        She looked up, and her chocolate brown eyes met his icy blue ones.
        "Why would you want to adopt me? Most people adopting want a baby or a toddler, not a teenager." The further along in the sentence she got, the more her eyebrows furrowed.
         Gibbs chuckled, and smirked at her.
        "Eleanor, look at me. Do I look like I'd be adopting a baby? I've been wanting to adopt for a few years now, and the agency called and said you had just gotten in, and they thought you'd be a perfect fit for my family and I."
        "Wait, your family? I was told you lived alone, who else is there?" Eleanor questioned.
        "No one else lives here, I was talking about my team. We're all like a big family, though none of us are biologically related. There's the main four on our team, Abby, Ziva, Tony, and Tim. There's also Ducky, Jen, and Palmer." Gibbs explained. "So Eleanor, I hear that you're new to Washington."
        "Yes sir." She answered.
        "Don't call me sir, I work for a living." He said. "Where are you from Eleanor?"
        "I was born and raised in Edmonton." She said quietly.
        "Oh, so you're from Kentucky." Gibbs said with a half smile.
        "Oh, no, I'm from Edmonton, Alberta. In Canada."
        Gibbs was shocked. Edmonton to Washington, that's a 6 hour flight! She just got in tonight, no wonder she's so quiet, the poor girl must be exhausted!
        "Okay, you just stay here for a few minutes, I'm going to going to talk to Ms. Culver." Gibbs said before he walked out of the kitchen.
"So, what do you think?" Daphne asked, packing up the last of her files.
"I'd love to adopt her, but I need to ask you something first." Gibbs said with a serious look on his face.
"Yes, Agent Gibbs?"
"Why did Eleanor come to DC?" He asked, both curious and worried.
"I'm sorry Agent Gibbs, that's confidential." She said frowning.
There was an awkward silence where Gibbs was staring the social worker down. Daphne broke the silence by grabbing her papers, and telling Gibbs that they should go talk to Eleanor, sign the papers, and make the adoption official. Gibbs just grunted, and led Daphne into the kitchen.
Eleanor was sitting in the position Gibbs had left her in, legs crossed fiddling with the edge of her sweater. Her head snapped up when she heard the sound of the the two adults feet shuffling on the floor. Her big eyes stared up at them expectantly.
Daphne smiled widely at her before speaking.
"Agent Gibbs has decided to adopt you!" She exclaimed.
Gibbs rolled his eyes at the fact that she was still calling him Agent Gibbs, but he gave one of his rare full smiles to Eleanor.
Eleanor's eyes opened wide, and her jaw went slack for a split second, before she let out a beaming smile.
"Thank you, Agent Gibbs." Eleanor said sincerely, her eyes full of joy.
"No need to thank me, I'm so happy to have you become a part of my family." Gibbs replied.
He meant it too. Gibbs, for the first time in a long time, felt genuinely excited. He felt lucky, like he was getting a second chance. He felt something he hadn't felt since Shannon and Kelly were killed. He felt like the hole he'd had in his heart for years was filled.
        An hour later, the adoption papers had been signed, Daphne had left, and now Gibbs and Eleanor were sitting on the couch, each of them both mentally and physically exhausted from the day. Eleanor hopelessly tried to stifle a huge yawn. Gibbs looked at her knowingly.
"Go to bed." He said, his voice full of concern.
"It's only 8:30, I don't want to be rude." Eleanor protested, although with every minute her body ached more and more for a warm soft bed.
"Oh Eleanor, you have every right to be exhausted. You've had a crazy day. Go, sleep. You can't sleep in that though"
Eleanor glanced down, seeing her dark wash skinny jeans and chunky knit sweater.
"I've got an old NIS t-shirt on your bed you can wear. Up the stairs, second door on your right. The bathroom is right beside."
"Thank you Gibbs. Goodnight."
"Goodnight Eleanor. Sweet dreams."

A/N: Hey guys! So this is my first NCIS fic, I hope you guys like it!! Please comment, I'd love to know what you guys think, and I love constructive criticism! Feedback is always good, and thanks for reading! Xoxo -B