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."
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