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How do you know if you're doing the right thing...

***

Maya didn't know if it was coincidence or some sort of divine purpose that she was where she was at the right moment. It was a Navy case and the cops were there when Maya was driving by. She spotted a young man in a flannel on the ledge of the building. She rushed up the six stories and made her way onto the ledge. What they hell am I doing? She grabbed onto the back of his flannel and pulled him back.
He tried to fight her, "what the hell are you doing?"

"Don't, don't," she let in a breathe, holding him as he tried to fight her, "please, don't struggle or you'll pull me down with you."

"Maya!" She heard Gibbs voice coming from the window, she jerked her head toward him in surprise. She didn't want her Godfather thinking she was a flight risk or even a hero. Her eyes met Nick's first before moving to Gibbs, "what are you doing?" He sounded concerned, but also stern.

"Are you crazy?" This time it was Nick's voice that spoke to her. He was worried, too.

"I'm not entirely sure," she muttered, glancing down and realizing just how high up she was. Sure, she'd been on roofs and helicopters because of the job but never anything like this. She rested her head against the wall and told herself that she was doing the right thing, the thing she was called to do. She didn't believe in coincidences...and neither did Gibbs.

"Let me go," the flight risk says, his tone angry. "Let me go! I don't want to hurt you."

"Then don't hurt me, kid," she says, "don't jump."

"Maya, what are you thinking?" Gibbs asks again after not getting a response from her the first time.

"I--," she paused, " I--I was thinking that it wasn't a coincidence that I pulled up to this crime scene. I just reacted and before I thought it through, I was already out here."

He looks flabbergasted at her and throws his hat off, tossing it into the apartment. He started climbing onto the ledge, "switch places with me." Maya shoots Nick a worried gaze, but he already hands on Gibbs.

"No! Stay back or I'll take her with me!" The young man threatens. 

Her eyes meet the kids, "don't, please don't."

The boy begins to cry, "my dad's dead and it's my fault."

Maya looks back at Gibbs and her eyes tell him to go back in, they tell him that she has this. He's reluctant but begins to climb back in. "Come on," Nick mutters, helping him. Maya can hear Nicks low whisper, "Let me trade places with her. I'm not afraid of heights. I can pull them both in."

"No, no, no," Gibbs says just as quietly, "As much as I hate to admit it, Maya has this." Gibbs pops his head back out the window, "Maya!" She waits for him to continue, "keep him talking."

The boy continues to struggle and her attention returns to him, her grip still strong, "if you won't come inside, let's just sit down and talk about this."

"No, I'm not sitting or talking.  I'm jumping," he pauses, "no hero is going to stop me."

"I'm no hero," she says, as he pulls against her, "my name's Maya, what's your name? Huh? Just tell me your name, kid."

"Ryan," he says, sighing in defeat and frustration by her attempts to save him.

"Ryan, okay. Good," she paused, sucking in a breath, "I never thought I would be a hero. Especially, after I screwed up big time awhile back...but a friend of mine set me straight." Maya thought back to before she was a director and the choices that brought her to where she was now. She was afraid to say more because she knew Gibbs and Nick were behind her. But she had to say it to help this boy, "I was really depressed and suicidal before I took my current job title and it really affected my work. I remember I was on one case and it was late. I was on a stake out by myself and I was there for hours. There was movement inside and crashing noises, I rushed inside before calling for back up and I aimed my gun. I shot through the intruder and the home owner. I messed up. Big time. But my friend and co-worker, Tony, looked me in the eye, knowing all that was happening in my life at the time. He told me that any one of them would have made the same snap decision and he told me not to let it overcome me. He told me to keep fighting. So I'm telling you now, to have some healthy self-perservation, I ask you to please, keep fighting so that we can both die like heroes a long time from now when we are old and gray. Okay?"

Ryan faced her, struggling and angry, "my dad was 53! He was an actual war hero. Thanks to me, he didn't die like one."

"Why? Why thanks to you? Why?" Maya urged him, pressed him to keep talking, to keep fighting.

"Everything I touch..." he pauses, fighting tears, "I swear. Please, let me go." Fire trucks approach, their sirens wailing and Ryan sighs heavily, "oh no." Maya tightens her grip on his belt as he tries to push her away, "you got too much to live for, I don't. Let me go!"