Chapter 1:
Elliot was four when the accident happened. Her father died in impact and Elliot was left paralysed from the waist down. Her earliest memory was waking up after her head had hit the dashboard. She could not remember a life in which she could walk or a life where her father was breathing. Elliot, now, without her father, held her breath for every Saturday when her godfather, Jethro came to visit. Jethro worked for a government agency which had once gone by the name NIS but was changed to NCIS later on, he had also had a daughter once, and Kelly was her name. Elliot could remember the days when they were young and Jethro would bring Kelly over to play with her. Kelly was 6 months Elliot's senior and died when she was eight.
Elliot was excited for this Friday because she was going to stay at Jethro's for the week because her mum was flying out for business. Elliot's mum, Sophie, was an ex-NIS agent and currently worked with JAG as a lawyer, she had quit NIS after Elliot's father had died.
It was Friday morning when Elliot was in the bathroom and heard the front door kicked in, 2 loud gunshots and then complete silence. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. She turned her head and saw in the reflection in her mirror a growing pool of red slowly taking over the cream carpet in the corridor. She reluctantly wheeled herself to the edge of the bathroom to see her mother, lying on the ground lifeless and red.
Gibbs had only just stepped out of the lift when his mobile rang. He answered it, called for his team and turned back into the lift before the doors closed. Within five minutes they were turning in to a street oh too familiar to Gibbs. They slowed down in front of a single storied cream weatherboard house. The door was open with the locks broken; Gibbs cautiously entered and called out to his goddaughter, Elliot.
Elliot heard Gibbs voice calling for her but she could not move or make any noise, she couldn't even take her eyes of her mother's body, the shock was too much for her. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder; she flinched but was then comforted by the familiar facing staring into her eyes. It was Jethro.
"Elliot? Are you ok? I've been calling for you?" asked Gibbs.
Elliot could see his mouth moving but couldn't comprehend the voice coming out.
"It's ok. I'm going to get DiNozzo to take you back to the Navy Yard."
"Hi Elliot, I'm Tony. Are you ready to go?"
Elliot did not reply, her eyes were looking straight through Tony at her mother.
"Ziva, what's the story?" asked Gibbs
"It's looks like one gunman kicked the door open and fired three shots."
"Yes, it looks to me that the second bullet penetrated her skull, killing her immediately." Ducky added.
"I'm going back to the yard to make sure that Elliot is ok"
"Yes, go, Jethro. We'll be fine here."
Gibbs had only taken three steps before he noticed that Tony and Elliot were still there. From what Gibbs could tell, Tony was still trying to figure out how to fold her chair. At this realisation, Gibbs simply walked up next to Tony and in less than two seconds, folded the chair and placed it in the boot of the car.
"Tony, it is ok, stay here I'll take her back to the yard."
"Ok boss."
Elliot stayed quiet for the entire car trip and as they came out of the lift, Elliot was smothered by Abby's love and tears.
"Gibbs told me what happened... Are you ok?... You must be really scared and shocked."
It was then that Elliot made the first sound since her mother's death, "I'm fine Abby. Really, thanks for your concern." Abby began to cry again when she gave Elliot a large bear hug.
When McGee turned on Sophie's computer, he found the hard drive completely wiped. There was nothing left on it, not even the operating system. He found this puzzling; it was as if they had completely replaced the hard drive. He bagged and logged the computer for evidence but could not forget the fact that the operating system had been wiped as well.
Ziva looked down at the body of Sophie and noticed a small round burn mark on her forehead, surrounding one of the bullet wounds. It was small, barely noticeable. Her initially thought was being shot at close range, but if that had happened, the make would be darker. She looked at Ducky, he looked puzzled and confused by the same mark that Ziva had seen.
"Maybe she was shot at close range after she died, you know to make sure she was dead?" Ziva suggested questioningly.
"I don't think so my dear, if you notice the mark is almost completely faded which suggests it either occurred 3-4 hours after her death, which is possible but we won't know until Elliot talks," suggested Ducky.