Title: Danny

NCIS

Summery: The gang offers protection to a twelve-year-old girl who is the key to stopping an anti-government group.

WARNING: Contains some foul language, but no more then are on the actual show.

WARNING: Contains reference to child abuse.

Special Agent Jethro Gibbs was tired, all he wanted to do was relax. Him and his team had just gotten off of a very exhausting case in which they arrested three Navy Officers of rape and murder. Gibbs took it personal when someone in the Navy committed such horrendous crimes.

He knew that just because you joined the core did not mean that you were not still just a human being. And he knew that humans were capable of such acts. But he still found it depressing when someone in the Navy hurt innocent people instead of protecting them.

He parked the car in front of his house and got out. His plan was to pour himself a generous glass of Jack, and unwind while working on his boat. He was halfway up the walk when he noticed that the door was slightly opened.

"Damit." he mumbled, as he pulled his gun. "I don't care who's in there, they are getting shot."

He quietly entered the house and scanned the living room, it was clear. He cautiously made his way into the kitchen and saw nothing, after a search downstairs reveled nothing, he headed upstairs. The door to the spare room was open and he went there first.

He looked confused at the lump in the bed, who the hell was sleeping in his guest room. Whoever it was was covered from head to toe.

Gibbs aimed his gun at the unknown lump and pulled back the covers. The lump turned out to be a young girl, he guessed around twelve. She had short brown hair and was thin and short for her age. There was a large bruise on the left side of her face, and her lip was cut. She had bruises on her arms.

Gibbs re holstered his gun and gently knelt beside the bed. About that time the young girl woke up and looked at the man. Gibbs saw fear in her brown eyes.

"I won't hurt you." he said gently.

"Are you Special Agent Gibbs?" she asked.

"Yes."

"I need your help." she said, as she started to raise up. Gibbs noticed her wince in pain and heard the slight gasp. He gently reached out and took her arm intending on helping her.

The girl's eyes went wide and she jerked her arm away from him and then punched him in the nose with her other fist. Then she rolled out of bed on the other side.

"Damit." Gibbs rubbed his nose. The punch hurt, but not much. He stood and walked to the other side of the bed and saw that the girl was laying in the floor, not moving.

Gibbs gently picked her up and laid her on the bed, then took out his cell phone and called for an ambulance.

"Who are you, Honey?" he asked quietly.

It only took the ambulance a few minutes to get there. While the EMTs were getting the young girl ready to transport to the hospital, Gibbs was going through a blue jean tote bag that was laying in the floor. He knew it had to be the mystery girl's.

Inside was two pairs of jeans, two tee-shirts, a couple pairs of panties and a couple pairs of socks. Checking another pocket, he found a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. A third pocket reveled an UBS hookup. Gibbs recognized the small electronic devise, but was not completely sure how to use it.

"Damn." One of the EMTs swore. Gibbs walked over to the bed where they were examining the young girl. They had her laying on her side and had the back of her shirt raised. Her small back had several welts on it.

"What could have made those welts?" He asked as anger flooded over him.

"My best guess it a belt." One of the EMTs said.

Gibbs swore under his breath.

"We're ready Sir." One of the EMTs said.

Gibbs nodded and followed them to the ambulance. As he walked, he called DiNozzo and told him to meet him at the hospital along with Ziva and McGee.

Half an hour later, Gibbs was standing in a hallway at the hospital, waiting on news of the girl's condition. He saw Tony, Tim, and Ziva walking towards him.

"Boss." Tony said. "We got another case?"

"Yeah." was the reply. He told them what happened, then handed the UBS hookup to McGee.

"Get back to NCIS and find out what's on here."

"On it Boss."

Before Gibbs could give out any more orders, a middle aged man walked over to them.

"Doctor Preston." Gibbs said.

"The girl will recover completely from her injuries." the Doctor assured them. "She is dehydrated and malnourished, and has been used for a punching bag."

"For how long?" Gibbs asked.

"Two or three months." Was the answer. "I'm not certain though, but none of the injuries are older then that. Her teeth are in perfect condition, and her overall health is good."

"Is she awake?"

"No, we had to sedate her. She should sleep through the night."

"We need to take her picture and get fingerprints."

"Of course, but please try not to wake her. She needs her rest."

The doctor walked away and Gibbs turned toward Ziva. "Get her picture and prints, then call Abby and work with her to find out who the girl is."

The woman nodded and headed towards the young girl's room. "DiNozzo, you're on guard duty."

"Right Boss."

An hour later, Gibbs walked into Abby's lab and winced at the loud music. He never would understand how the Goth could stand listening to the noise. He saw Abby and Ziva standing in front of one of the plasma TVs. He turned off the music.

"Bout time Gibbs." Abby said, spinning around. "We had the info about three minutes already."

"You find out who the mystery girl is?" Gibbs asked.

"Yep. Her name is Danielle Starlight Harris. I love her middle name, kinda....."

"Any information other then her name?" Gibbs cut her off.

"She was raised by her Grandfather." Ziva said. "Until he passed away two years ago."

"What about her parents."

"It's really sad Gibbs." Abby said. "Her Mom died during birth and her Dad signed over custody to his Father-in-law, Danielle's Grandfather. Then her Dad killed a man in a bar fight about four years ago, he's in prison."

"After her Grandfather's death." Ziva said. "She was sent to several different foster homes, she never stayed at one for more then five months. Then she vanished three months ago."

"That's when the Doctor suspects the abuse started." Gibbs said.

"I have asked the officer that investigated her disappearance to fax over all of their information. He did not like being waken this late at night, but assured that he would fax it over." Ziva said.

"Gibbs." Abby said, looking at the girl's picture on the plasma. "How can someone hurt a little kid like that?"

"I don't know Abby." Gibbs said. "But we'll find him."

Gibbs's cell phone rung and he answered it, then hung up without saying a word. "McGee has something."

"We're not done Gibbs." Abby said.

"Then come on. McGee said it was important."

He left the lab, with the two women following him. They entered the bullpen and saw McGee standing in front of another plasma.

"Boss." he said, urgently. "We have got a major problem. You have to have them cancel the Governor's speech tomorrow."

"Mind telling me why?"

"This." McGee said, using the remote to the plasma. A building blueprint appeared on the screen. "Is the blueprint to the Imperial Hotel, which is where the Governor is staying and where the speech is taking place." he hit a button and another diagram appeared.

"A sniper's diagram." Gibbs said, instantly recognizing it. "A professional one."

McGee hit the button again and a schedule appeared.

"This is all of the emergency personal that would respond to an attack on the Governor, alone with the estimated time of arrival. It also has standard procedures for such an attack." he hit the button one more time and another diagram appeared.

"Another sniper diagram." Gibbs said. "Of the outside of the hotel" He examined it closer and said, "they plan on snipping the emergency crew when they try to help."

Gibbs crossed to his desk and grabbed his phone. Fifteen minutes later, a very angry Gibbs slammed down the phone, "Damn idiotic FBI."

"They taking the threat serious, Boss?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, they're moving the Governor to another hotel."

"How could a little kid get hold of that information?" McGee asked.

"I know the answer." Abby said.

"Care to share?" Gibbs asked.

"Danielle is a supper genius, I mean really really smart. She's only twelve, but she's taking advanced collage courses in computers. This kid is even smarter then I was at that age."

"What does that have to do with the assignation attempt on the Governor?" Gibbs wanted to know.

"Her uncle is an ex-Marine named Brian Harris." Ziva explained.

"And he's very anti-government." Abby added.

"Brain Harris." Gibbs repeated. "You sure?"

"Yep." Abby said. "You know him?"

"No, but I know his father." Gibbs answered. "He was one of my DI's in the Marines. I used to imagine myself running across the exercise field with his cut off head held high on a stick."

"That bad?" Abby asked.

"No, that good. He was a damn good DI, and a damn good Marine. He pushed his men hard, but he pushed himself harder. I heard about his son five years ago, called him to see if I could help. But Colonel Harris said that his was guilty, he knew it for a fact. Brian and another Marine sabotaged some diving equipment and killed fifteen Marines during an exercise. Then they ran. Turned out that they were with a radical group called Children Of A New Order."

"I've heard of them." McGee said. "The groups believed to be responsible for countless murders, bombings, and just about everything else."

"That little girl couldn't be involved." Gibbs said, not wanting to believe that a twelve-year-old could be involved in a group like that. Although he knew that they recruited young, and that Brain Harris was only seventeen when he joined."

"I do not believe so, Gibbs." Ziva said. "After the death of her Grandfather, Danielle went to the Police and told them that her uncle contacted her. Her uncle was wanted at the time and she lead the Police to him. There was a shoot out, and three of the group were killed. Brian Harris and several more escaped."

"That would explain the abuse if he's the who hurt her." McGee said. "He's mad about her betrayal."

"There is no explanation for the abuse of a child." Gibbs growled, standing in front of the younger man and putting his face close to his. "And that little girl did not betray him, he betrayed her."

"I...i know Boss." McGee stuttered. "I w..was just..."

"I know McGee." Gibbs said softly. "Good work on getting the information."

"Thanks Boss."

At the hospital, Tony was sitting beside the young girl's bed. Two armed officers were standing outside the door. After discovering who the girl was and who might have hurt her, Gibbs ordered the extra protection of the armed officers. He figured that the Children Of A New Order would not be happy about her giving them the information to stop their plan.

Tony was tired and wanted to sleep, but he wasn't about to sleep until he was relieved in a couple of hours. He knew that the two officers were outside, but he also knew that if someone got past them then he needed to be awake to protect Danielle.

The young girl started waking up. She moaned slightly and blinked her eyes opened.

"Morning sunshine." Tony said softy. Gibbs told him about her reaction to being touched, so he made sure to move slowly. He didn't want to scare her. "My name's Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, but you can call me Tony."

"Where am I?" She asked.

"The hospital."

"Where's Gibbs?"

"NCIS."

"I need to talk to him."

"He'll be here soon."

"Now." she closed her eyes in obvious pain.

"I'll get the doctor."

"I'm fine." she gasped.

"Sure you are."

"They're going to kill the Governor." she said, as he stood up.

"I know. Gibbs found the UBS hookup. The Governor is safe, so are you."

She nodded and opened her eyes. Tony walked into the hall and got the doctor, then the two men entered the room.

"How are you feeling?" The doctor asked, as he began examining her.

"Fine."

After a few minutes, the doctor said, "You are healing just fine. I will send a nurse in here with something for the pain."

"No." she said. "I need to talk to Special Agent Gibbs and I need to be awake and clear headed when he gets here."

"You're in pain." the doctor argued.

"I need to be alert."

"Okay." he sighed. "I will prescribe something that does not make you drowsy."

"Thank you."

The doctor left and Tony sat back down in the chair beside the bed.

"I need to see Gibbs now." she said. "It's very important."

"Okay." he called the older man and told him that Danielle was awake and wanting to talk to him. "He's on his way." Tony said, after he hung up.

"So, you already know who I am?"

"Yes."

"Does Gibbs remember Grandpa?"

"Yes, he remembers him."

Danielle smiled and said, "Probably used to fantasize about playing kickball with his head at times."

Tony chuckled and said, "More like running through the exercise field with his head on a stick."

The young girl laughed and said "Grandpa had that effect on people." then the smile vanished and she added "But he was a good man."

"Yeah, that's what Gibbs said also. Said he was a damn good Marine."

"The best. He was a true Marine, not like Uncle Brian. He only joined to sabotage."

"So, your Uncle is involved in the assignation attempt."

"Among other things."

"Like what?"

"I'm not saying anything else till Gibbs gets here."

"Okay."

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