Saving Eva.

Chapter 1

Disclaimer- I don't own NCIS.

It had been a long day. In fact, it had been an excruciatingly tragic, miserable, tiring, long three weeks for Eva Leigh Hammond. She sat staring into the reflecting, one way window of the interrogation room making an effort to stay absolutely still. She knew there was someone on the other side of the glass looking for any minute sign of guiltiness. She was so bored. Sitting in an interrogation room for nearly two weeks straight was absolutely no fun. She hadn't listened to music, talked to her friends or slept decently in all the time she'd spent at NCIS headquarters.

She heard the doorknob turn and had to force herself not to look at the door to see who would be asking her what she thought to be completely meaningless questions that made her want to scream in frustration. She'd been interrogated by most of Gibbs' team- first Gibbs himself, then Agent David, then Agent DiNozzo, and back to Gibbs. Director Vance had even taken time out of his day to come and yell at her, trying to figure out how her mother's boyfriend had been murdered, and why. He wasn't phased when Eva began sobbing and saying she didn't know. She swore that man was born without a heart.

Eva slowly opened her eyes to see Agent DiNozzo leaning against the glass with his arms folded across his chest, staring intently at her. She hesitantly stared back, hoping he would say something to break the tense silence. When he didn't, she looked down at the table and inaudibly sighed, knowing he wanted her to say something first.

"I want to go home," she said softly, without looking up.

"I know," he replied simply.

"I miss my mom," she said, still not looking up.

"I know," he replied again.

"Well do you KNOW that I didn't kill my mother's boyfriend, Agent DiNozzo?" I asked, a little louder this time, getting slightly frustrated. He just gave me a sad look and sat down across from me.

"You know, it's just me and you today. No Ziva, no McGee. No microphones. Gibbs is in the other room, but he can't hear us," For now , he thought, knowing Gibbs would check the tape after he was done speaking with Eva.

Eva visibly relaxed, but she was still quite tense. She still wasn't quite sure about Tony, especially after hearing Abby and McGee's hushed conversation in the lab.

"So," Tony began, "Is there anything else I should know? Something you're not telling me?"

Eva shook her head vigorously. "I already told you," she said, somewhat exasperated from telling the same lie repeatedly, "I swear, if I knew I would tell you."

Tony leaned back in his chair, preparing to go into bad-ass-interrogator-Tony, but then he saw the sincerity on the 14 year olds face, and instantly backed down. She was either a damn good liar, or she was telling the truth.

"I finally got a chance to look at your record today," Tony said after a moment of awkward silence. Eva looked at the wall to her right, trying really hard to look uninterested. "I was just being curious. Everyone else had already dug through it, so I thought I'd just take a quick glance," Noticing the tears in her eyes, he contemplated whether to continue. He decided he would. "Honor roll student, all honors classes, multiple choir and singing extra-curricula's, perfect attendance, except for the time you broke your leg in the 5th grade. You stay out of trouble, from the looks of it. But there was one thing that caught my eye," he said.

"Looks like you did more than glance," she whispered, the tears now freely flowing down her face.

"Eva, you were raped when you were twelve. Why didn't you tell anyone?" Tony asked, concerned.

She finally looked at him. "It wasn't relevant to the case. It would have been insufficient information," she replied. Tony's heart broke for the teen.

Tony sighed. "I also saw that you almost got suspended from school three months ago. Eva, you got into a fight with your best friend."

"That's also irrelevant information, and none of your business," Eva replied sharply.

"Ok. I just wanted to try to talk with you." Tony said, trying to calm her down.

"That's not your job, Agent DiNozzo."

"Eva, look at me. Please," Tony said, retreating from his earlier plan. She slowly looked up at him. "I believe you. I think you're innocent. You just have to tell me everything you know. Please," He almost begged her.

"Ok," she whispered, almost inaudibly. But Tony heard. He smiled softly as she started at the beginning.

3 Weeks Earlier

"Mom, I'm going to be late!" Eva yelled up the stairs.

"Ok, ok, I'm coming. Calm down," Her mother, Rena Anne Hammond said as she came down the stairs. Eva envied her mother because she was so beautiful. She knew she was pretty, abd she took some pride in knowing so, but she just looked nothing like her mother and she knew it. Her mother had blonde hair that cascaded halfway down her back in perfect ringlets and blue eyes, with a body like a model. Eva had stick-straight light brown hair and green eyes, and she was considerably more curvy.

"I'll be in the car, mom." Eva said.

"Ok honey, I'm right behind you." Her mother replied.

When they were both in the car, Rena turned to her daughter and began the same lecture Eva heard everyday. "How are your grades, Eva?" Rena asked her as she backed out of the driveway.

Eva sighed, irritated that she had to go through this again. "Fine." She replied simply.

Her mother frowned and kept driving toward the school. "You know I want more than that, Eva. I want a copy of all your grades and test scores when I get home today."

"No. You need to trust me. I'm smart. I don't blow off studying, I do my homework, and I'm honest with you. If you're really that concerned, you can get it yourself." Eva said, raising her voice slightly.

Rena was stunned. Her daughter had never directly told her 'no'. She sat there shocked for a while, then regained her composure and began to yell back at Eva.

"You do not speak to me that way!" She told Eva as the pulledin front of the school.

Eva opened the door, slung her bag over her shoulder with a "whatever", slammed the car door and stalked into the school.

The day went by uneventfully for Eva. She didn't get a printout of her grades as her mother had asked. Truthfully, they weren't that hard to get, but she really just didn't want to get it. Just to make her mother angry.

She walked home that day, not wanting to take the bus. When she arrived hom, she was surprised to find the door standing open. She hesitantly walked inside. "Mom? Are you home?" She slowly walked in the living room, her phone in her hand, ready to call 911. When she rounded the corner she saw the worst possible thing- her mother was laying on the floor, soaked in blood. She wasn't moving and she wasn't breathing. "Mom!" Eva screamed, spriniting the short distance while dialing 911.

"911, what's your emergency?" The woman on the other line asked calmly.

"My mom... Sh-she's dead, I think. I don't know." She replied.

"Ok, sweetie can you tell me where you are?"

"347 Harrington Circle," Eva sobbed into the phone.

"Ok, emergency vehicles will be arriving shortly." The operator replied. "Have you begun CPR?"

"N-no. I can't. I-I don't think... She can't be saved." She said, almost unintelligibly.

"All right, just try, we need you to try untill the EMT's get there."

"Ok." she sniffled. She did CPR. She tried and tried and tried and got nowhere. It seemed like forever. She heard someone walk in, and she turned around to see that it was Eric, her mother's boyfriend. He smiled smugly.

"I see she's dead." He stated blankly.

Eva just gawked at him. She couldn't believe he had done this. "Why?" she whimpered. "Why did you kill my mother?" It was then that she noticed the gun in his hand.

"She was a bitch anyway," he replied, aiming the gun at himself from an arms-length away. "Have fun in prison, Eva."

Before she could speak, he pulled the trigger, the gun landing inches from her feet. Eric fell to the ground, dead. Not five seconds later, the EMT's and police arrived. The walked in to see a shocked and scared Eva staring at the gun at her feet.

Everything happened so quickly after that. The EMT that was in charge came in to tell her that her mother had died, that they had been unable to save her. NCIS arrived to investigate the death of Petty Officer Eric Crawford. The police asked her so many questions, she couldn't quite process them all. NCIS Team Gibbs eventually took her to headquarters to question her. Eva was scared. She had no family left now. She didn't know who her father was. She had no where to go. And for the first time in her life she was scared.

Present time

"That's all," Eva said. "After that, I was brought here and you've been questioning me, and pounding 'you killed him' into my head. But I didn't do it. I promise," Eva said, still crying.

Tony stood up, walked around the table and gave her a hug. For the first time in three weeks, Eva felt reassured and safe. "I believe you, Eva. I really do. How about we take a break? Go and get a snack? Does that sound good?"

Eva nodded into his chest. Tony gently pulled away, and walked to the door. He pulled it open and looked at the clock on the wall. Oh My God, we were in there for three hours. Tony thought.

Eva followed him closely to the staff room. Tony led the way and opened the door to the snack room for her, gesturing for her to go in. "Pick whatever you want," he said, handing her a five dollar bill.

"Thank you," she said quietly, turning to make her selection.

She heard someone come into the room and pretended to be intently studying the vending machine choices.

"Tony! I've been looking for you!" She heard Abby say.

"Hey, Abs."

"So, are you going to tell her?" Abby asked him, now in a more hushed voice.

"Yeah. Later." Tony said under his breath. But Eva still heard. She made her selection and walked to the table, acting oblivious.