Title: Princess Copper Saves the Day
Author: Matrya
Feedback: Is like your former partner's long lost daughter
Disclaimer: Angel does not belong to me. Nor does NCIS.
Fandom: Angel/NCIS
In Canon: ...Post-Not Fade Away, but largely canon-less for NCIS.
Characters/Pairings: 'Anne Steele', Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Mike Franks
Word Count: ~300
Author's Notes: ...Stupid hat.
Summary: The only link to Anne Steele's past is cracked wood and flaking paint.





The girl looked to be serious when she told Gibbs, "Mike Franks was my father."

"Does he know that?" Gibbs asked. It felt like the right question to ask and was rewarded with a pained look.

"Yeah. Kind of."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at the young woman.

She sighed heavily. "You know me, too."

"I've never met..." He looked at the ID she had handed him. "Anne Steele in my life."

"But you met little Joan Franks."

Of course he had. This woman couldn't be little Joanie, though.

"When I was six years old, Mom died. I was sent into foster care because Mike couldn't be bothered. I ran away for the first time at twelve and the last time at fourteen. That was after my eighteenth foster home." She recited the story like facts, something she distanced herself from. "I traveled, a lot. Joined a few cults, fell in love a few times. When I was sixteen, I met this girl

"She was amazing and had the perfect life." Her voice filled with awe and admiration. "But when I met her again a year later...she was falling apart. She had run away and started over, but she had a home and all and she missed it.

"She saved my life, and she gave me hers. I've been Anne ever since." She let out a long breath and the look she gave him could be labeled 'expectant'.

Gibbs was weary. Girls like this were a dime a dozen.

Then, she did something he didn't expect. She pulled a small wood figure out of her purse. "I always kept Copper with me, though."

Gibbs stared at the carved wooden doll, a crude princess with a missing arm and paint that had flaked off almost totally.

"Joanie?"