Chapter 1

Disclaimer- I do not own NCIS

Difficult.

The boy slowly worked his way down the black ally way his whole body felt like it was on fire. His chest hurt, his arm felt like there were several knives sticking out of it and the makeshift splint he had rigged for his leg was beginning to fall apart. He finally collapsed just behind a dumpster he was just getting ready to close his eyes when he heard the voices of two men arguing right in front of the dumpster suddenly there was a lot of struggling and then a loud pop and one of the men fell to the ground right in front of the boy, the other man bent down and checked to make sure the other was dead and then pulled a brown envelope out of the other mans pocket, them he noticed the boy sitting a few feet from them and with an evil glare said, "If you say a word I will kill you."

Before the boy could react the man reached out and hit him over the head with his gun. The boy gasped as stars exploded in his already pounding head and then allowed the darkness to envelope him.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs "Gibbs" to all who knew him stormed into the bull pen and grabbing his gear yelled "We caught a case lets move" his agents all snapped to attention and were quickly following on his heals his SFA Katelyn Todd was the first to ask any questions "What do we have?"

Gibbs took a swig of his now stale coffee and said "Dead petty officer found twenty minutes ago with a GSW to the chest and a little boy laying next to him unconscious."

This time his other agent Special Agent McGee asked "does the boy have any connections to the dead petty officer?"

Gibbs shrugged and said, "I don't know McGee guess we'll find out."

All three of his agents sighed and the third one Special Agent David Graceton said, "Looks like this one will be interesting?"

It took them all of fifteen minutes to reach the crime scene and by that time the local LEO's were struggling with the boy who was now awake and being difficult, it was evident that he wasn't allowing people near him, and was refusing to talk. Any time someone made a move to touch him he would quickly deflect and position himself a little farther out of their reach. Gibbs took a deep breath and then started issuing orders. "Kate photo's and evidence tagging, McGee sketching, measurements, and help Kate with evidence, Graceton I want statements and see if there is any available footage from security camera's in the area."

With that he left them and walked towards the boy. The boy eyed him suspiciously as he squatted down in front him. They stared at each other for quite some time before Gibbs took a candy bar out of his pocket and asked, "Are you hungry?"

He waited for the boy to nod then gently extended the candy bar towards him and waited for the boy to take it from him. Once the boy had took it he hungrily tore it open with his right hand and his teeth and then practically inhaled it. Gibbs noticed that the boy was only using his right arm, his left he was holding very carefully at his side. Gibbs cleared his throat and asked, "So what happened to you?"

The kid quickly glared at him and then diverted his eyes to his hands. Gibbs nodded and said, "Not a talker huh? That's ok me neither."

He could tell the kid was covertly checking him out and after about ten minutes of silence Gibbs heard a soft voice say, "I fell down some stairs."

Gibbs nodded again and said, "That's too bad. What's your name?"

The kid met Gibbs's eyes as he said, "Tony."

"Just Tony?" asked Gibbs with his head to the side. The kid nodded and Gibbs shrugged and said, "If you want I have more food in my car that you can have."

The boy nodded eagerly, Gibbs smiled and asked, "Do you mind if I help you up so that we can go over and get it?"

The kid looked suspiciously at him for a minute and then conceded, "Just my arm."

Gibbs nodded calmly but the kids' statement was sending warning signals flaring in his brain and his gut. He took this opportunity to examine the kids' physical state, he noticed that he was very light too light, and that he was hardly able to bear any weight on his right leg, his clothes were dirty but you could tell that they were quality clothes. Even his shoes were high-end sneakers. He also noticed that as soon as he was standing the kid tried to yank his arm out of his grasp but Gibbs held tight. The kid tried again but Gibbs's hold was too much for the kid. He got the kid to the end of the bus and hauled him up into the back of it. He then dug around in a bag and pulled out a bag of peanuts and another candy bar and handed them to the boy, and then produced a bottle of water.

The kid eyed him warily for a few seconds before grabbing the food and starting to scarf it down as fast as he could. Gibbs smiled slightly and said, "Slow down buddy I'm not gonna take it away and there's more were that came from."

The kid did not respond but tried to slow down his actions and began to chew his food a little more thoroughly. He was so busy eating that he didn't notice Gibbs signaling a man over to him. He looked up suddenly when a man with a strange accent walked up to him and said, "Ah yes Jethro is this the young man you were telling me about?"

The kids eyes shifted between Gibbs the strange man and the bag this man was carrying. Gibbs nodded, "Yah this is him. Says his name is Tony and that he fell down the stairs."

"Oh my, I guess we should just take a look then shant we."

Gibbs could see the kid getting anxious and said soothingly. "Don't worry Ducky here is a friend of mine he wont hurt you."

Tony still wasn't too sure but both men seemed like they were very nice and he wasn't getting any weird vibes off of them so he allowed the man named Ducky to come closer and look at his head. In the process of examining his head Ducky accidentally bumped into Tony's leg and caused the boy to hiss suddenly and pull away from him. Ducky looked down at Tony's leg and asked, "Tony is your leg hurt?"

Tony didn't respond and instead moved a little farther away from the men. Gibbs and Ducky looked at each other, Gibbs nodded that they should step away and Gibbs called McGee over to him and asked him to watch Tony. Gibbs and Ducky walked away a few yards before Ducky said, "He needs to go to the hospital Jethro. From what I can tell he at least has a concussion and has several lacerations, and I barley bumped his leg and did you see the way the he reacted? Some thing tells me there is more to his story."

Gibbs nodded, "Yah my guts been giving me a fit since I met him. Something is just off about the whole situation. I mean did you see his clothes and his shoes they are high end, but he looks like he hasn't ever had enough to eat. Something just isn't right. What was he doing out here Duck? And he is so scared he won't let people touch him, almost like a person who has been exposed to abuse long term. I don't like it Duck! Not at all."

Ducky smiled slightly and said, "Why Jethro I do believe that is the most I have heard you say in one setting. But I quite agree that the boy is hiding something and that he is very wary of people in general."

"Yah my guts sayin he isn't going to take going to the ER very well."

The old ME just shrugged and the men turned back to the bus and found that the young boy had fallen asleep on the floor. Gibbs glared at McGee when he saw that he didn't even put a blanket over him. McGee just sighed and said, "I tried boss he wouldn't let me get near him."

Gibbs walked to the boy lifted him up in his arms the kid stirred and moved slightly but didn't wake. Gibbs and Ducky managed to get half way to the hospital before the young boy woke up. He looked around confused for a few minutes and then bolted out of Gibbs's arms or at least tried to; the sudden movement hurt his already broke body and then the agent had his arms wrapped tightly around him holding him in place. Tony glared up at Gibbs and Gibbs returned the stare they remained like that until they pulled up in front of the hospital. As soon as he saw were they were Tony started to literally freak out. He pushed and pulled desperately trying to escape the hold of the former Marine.

It took Ducky and Gibbs ten minutes to get the kid out of the car and headed towards the ER. As they neared the doors to the hospital Tony landed a well-placed kick to Gibbs's leg that caused him to lose his balance and momentarily lose his grip on Tony, and Tony used this to his full advantage and he quickly removed himself from Gibbs's grasp and started running as quickly as he could which was not very fast due to his injured leg in the opposite direction of the hospital. He hadn't gone more than a few yards when he was strong arms wrapped securely around him and locked him in a vise like grip. He fought as hard as he could as he was forcefully carried into the ER room. He could feel his heart beating a thousand miles a minute. And his breathing escalated into hyperventilating.

Gibbs burst through the ER doors and yelled, "Hey we need help over here!"

Nurses and doctors popped their head out of various rooms and then a doctor about mid way down the hall said, "Bring him down here I can take him."