Fawn Donovan was in her car, parked outside the studio that she had begun to hate five years ago. In the past six months, that hatred had grown and she could kick herself for ever getting into this mess.

Getting out of the car, she walked to the door ready to do just about anything to break her contract. Laughing ruefully, she acknowledged that she was already doing everything they wanted. And she still had three years left on this stupid contract. Mentally kicking herself, at the same time she was putting on her "business" face and separating this part of her life from her reality.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Several hours later, Fawn awoke in a dark room wondering what the hell had happened. She remembered changing clothes and getting onto the set. They were all set to start filming; that's when things got fuzzy, and not the fuzzy they got when she closed part of herself off to do her job, either. Completely fuzzy and out of focus. She didn't remember ever shooting the scene.

As she sat up, she noticed the smell. It was a heavy smell, thick in the air as if the room had been shut up for a while. Not knowing what it was or where she was, she reached out with a hand and touched a lamp. At the contact with her hand, the lamp came on. She touched it again and the light brightened. Not knowing what else to do, she looked around and cried out in horror and disbelief.
Shaking, she ran to the man lying in the middle of the room. Crying, her hands searched for a pulse, her hands touching him heedless of the blood.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," was all she said over and over again. "Baby, NO!" she shouted and pulled him into her arms. Rocking back and forth, she cradled him, crying for what seemed like hours when she realized she had to call for help.

Slowly moving away from the man, she searched for and found her bag. Pulling out her phone, she dialed the number she knew by heart.

Three rings and a familiar voice answered. "McGee."

"Tim!" She cried.

"Lexi! What's wrong?" Tim asked and she heard him moving.

"I don't know where I am. I'm in a room somewhere and... " breaking down, she couldn't go any further.

"Leave your phone on. I'm tracing this call. I'll be there before you know it."

"Tim wait. It's Trevor! He's, oh my god, Tim, Trevor's dead."

Within the hour, Tim and the rest of the team had arrived at the old shack where Lexi was. The door was locked and he could hear her crying and murmuring denials from inside. Not waiting for Gibbs to ok it, he kicked the door in which surprised Tony and Ziva. Ziva had never seen this side of Tim before. He was absolutely fierce looking and if she wasn't so jealous that this woman she didn't know had brought it out in him, she would have gotten turned on by it.

Tim rushed inside the building but his training kicked in when he saw Lexi covered in blood. He wanted to hold her and comfort her in her grief but he couldn't until they processed her clothing as evidence. Tony photographed the scene, including several shots of Lexi but he kept looking at her funny as if he were trying to place her from somewhere. Ziva did a perimeter search while Ducky and Jimmy examined the body.

"What have we got, Duck?" Gibbs asked.

Ducky looked up and glanced in Lexi's direction. "He was stabbed multiple times Jethro. But on initial inspection, I would say the wound that killed him is the cut on his neck. It nicked his carotid artery and he bled to death."

Gibbs looked around the room and studied the arterial spray on the wall. There was a void as big as the woman sobbing quietly next to McGee. He motioned with his head and Tim lead her out of the room.

"Do you think a woman could have done this Ducky?"

"It's possible Jethro. You know that as well as I do. However, do I believe that young woman did this? No."

Nodding, Gibbs stood. "Let's go. Ducky, we'll see you back at NCIS."

Ducky waved and looked down at the dead Commander. "Now, would you care to tell me who did do this to you?" he asked as the team grabbed their gear and left.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Back at NCIS, Ziva delivered Lexi's clothes to Abby and then returned to watch Gibbs question her. Tim looked as if he were about to bolt into the other room and when she placed her hand on his arm, he shook her off. Hurt and not liking it, Ziva turned to watch Gibbs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What's your name?" Gibbs asked.

"Lexi…Alexa McGee." Lexi answered.

Shocked, Gibbs stared at the woman sitting across from him. Her black hair would rival Abby's, medium height and slim but well-proportioned. And her last name was McGee.

"Alexa McGee?" He clarified.

"Yes, sir. Tim is my brother."

Tim stiffened as Tony and Ziva turned to look at him.

"Her brother?" DiNozzo asked, but Tim motioned for him to be quiet.

Gibbs was still questioning her. "Do you have any alias' I need to know about?"

Tim watched her eyes go from Gibbs face to the window. He didn't understand her hesitation.

She looked back at Gibbs and answered quietly, "Fawn Donovan."

Tony shouted, "I knew she looked familiar!"

Tim looked at his partner, wondering where the hell he had seen his sister before. Tony was about to say something but caught himself when Tim glared at him.

Tim turned back to look at the glass and heard Lexi explaining her alias.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"How did you know Commander Anderson?"

"He is…was my boyfriend." Lexi said and rubbed her arms.

"Were you two having problems?"

"No!" She exclaimed. "No, we weren’t having problems, not with each other."

"The two of you were having problems with someone else? Problems Anderson would have been killed over?"

Shaking her head, she replied, "No, at least, I don’t think so."

"Let me be the judge of that, ok?" Gibbs asked in a gentle voice.

Lexi looked at the older man and nodded.

"Trevor was trying to convince my boss to cut my contract short. She told him no. She said that I still had three good years ahead of me and that cutting me loose would cost her too much money."

"What contract?" Gibbs asked, trying to make sense of what she was telling him.

Scrubbing her face with her hands then running them through her hair, she said bluntly, "My porn contract, Agent Gibbs. I’m an actress in adult films. I get paid to have sex and it’s legal. My contract can’t be broken. You see, even though I signed it when I was young, dumb and too high to care, it holds up in a court of law." She looked over his shoulder again as if seeking understanding from her brother.

"Taylor Rawls holds that contract and refuses to release me. I’ve been fighting her unsuccessfully since I was twenty years old. Six months ago I met Trevor at a bar. It seemed unbelievable at first that he didn’t recognize me. I was terrified I would scare off the nicest guy I’d ever met. I didn’t tell him what I did for a living until our fourth date. He was shocked. Very shocked. When I explained to him that I was trying to break my contract, he told me he would help me any way he could."

Suddenly feeling older than her 25 years, her head dropped forward. Raising her eyes to stare at Gibbs again, she swore, "I didn’t kill Trevor. I loved him. He’s the only man I’ve ever known, other than Tim, who would defend me without question."

Gibbs looked into Lexi’s eyes and saw all the grief and pain that she couldn’t hide. "I believe you Lexi." He stood and walked out thinking that now all they had to do was prove it.

"Ah, Jethro, I was just about to call you."

"What have you got Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"Commander Anderson was a fighter. See the bruising on his knuckles? He was in a fight shortly before he died. The stab wounds in his chest were made before his throat was cut and definitely by a different blade. They are clean, made from a smooth blade. The knife used to sever his carotid artery was jagged, serrated actually. That final cut was the cause of death. He could have survived being stabbed."

Taking all of this in, Gibbs nodded and started out.

"The killer is right-handed Jethro."

Gibbs paused to reply, "That’s good to know, Ducky." He stepped into the elevator remembering that when Lexi had signed her clothes over, she was left-handed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Talk to me Abby." Gibbs said, walking into the lab.

"I didn’t know McGee had a sister." She started. Smiling at the look on Gibbs face, she said, "Oh, you want results?"

She turned to her computer and told him what she had found. "Okay, Lexi’s shirt was pretty much a mess since she held the Commander after she found him. I did manage to spot differences in the bloodstains so I enhanced them, and then separated the older stains from the more recent. Look at this."

She clicked a button and the stains appeared on the big screen. "The first picture is of the total stain. The other two are enhanced results."

Gibbs stared at the middle shot. "Abby…"

"Ahead of you Gibbs." She told him and clicked again. Lining up the second shot of the shirt with the picture of the blood spatter on the wall. "From the match we have here and the position of the blood spatter on Lexi’s shirt, she was standing when he was killed, but she didn’t kill him."

"Good work, Abs." Gibbs told her, smacking her rear as he walked by.

Grinning, Abby spun and said, "Thank you, Gibbs. My bum has been feeling neglected lately."

Shaking his head, he continued down the hall.

Lexi was sitting in a chair next to Tim’s desk watching him work. He hadn’t said a word to her since Gibbs questioned her. She looked so hurt and rejected it almost broke his heart. He stood up and the look on her face was too much. Pulling her into his arms, he held his baby sister as she fell apart.

"I’m so sorry Tim. I’m so sorry I got involved with Taylor and her company."

Petting her hair, he murmured, "Shh, Lexi. You were so young when you left home. You couldn’t have known what you were getting into. Don’t cry, little one. We’ll figure this out."

"How?" She demanded. "Trevor’s dead, possibly because of me. How can we fight them? How can I ever hope to get my life back?"

Ziva walked over and put a hand on Lexi’s shoulder. "It’s what we do. Just let us worry about it for now."

Lexi looked at her from the circle of Tim’s arms and nodded. As Ziva turned to go back to her desk, Tim caught her hand. Startled, her eyes searched his face and saw him mouth ‘Thank you’. With a smile she went back to her desk.

Gibbs came back into the bullpen. He looked at Lexi and asked, "Are you sure you don’t remember anything after you got in the studio?"

"Not until I woke up and found Trevor. Why?"

Tim was watching his boss. He had never seen Gibbs tread this lightly with an adult before. As if he knew what he was asking could break Lexi.

"Lexi, the evidence is telling us you were there when Trevor was killed." Gibbs told her.

Shaking her head, she froze then nearly collapsed but Tim caught her.

"Oh Trevor, oh no, baby."

Showing a patience that surprised everyone, Gibbs sat on the edge of his desk and waited for her to continue.

"I got to the studio and changed clothes. It was supposed to be an easy shoot so security wasn’t that tight. Trevor showed up and tried to get me to leave. Taylor got pissed. She said if we were going to keep on bugging her about it, three years wasn’t worth it. We drove out to the shack and I didn’t think anything of it. We had filmed there before and I knew she had a safe there. But the safe was empty. Trevor got in a fight with Clay from security. Clay hit him in the chest several times and Trevor started bleeding. Taylor pushed me and said she’d take care of him."

Storming the studio, Gibbs and his team arrested Taylor Rawls and Clay McQueen, head of security. Once they were in custody, more than half of the actors and crew came forward and admitted to being threatened in various degrees to keep their mouths shut. They also revealed that Taylor’s pockets ran deep when it came to bribing the judges in Lexi’s case to break her contract. Most of the other actors had also been duped into signing long-term contracts just like Lexi had been. Perhaps not surprisingly then two days after the team had finished processing the studio – it burned down.
Lexi was relieved and amazed at how many of her fellow actors had felt as trapped as she did. She decided to have a dinner for her brother’s friends to thank them for all their help. After the meal, as everyone was leaving, Tony turned and studied her for a long moment.

He smiled and asked, "So how many of your work friends has McGee dated?"

Tim’s head jerked up and he stared at his sister.

Lexi smiled at Tony and replied, "Several." Watching Tony and Tim’s eyes widen, she added, "But none of them were ever on film."

~The End~

~Calalily~