Anthony DiNozzo Jr had seen hundreds, if not thousands, of crime scenes. It never ceased to amaze him that human beings could knowingly inflict such pain and damage to one another, and this was no exception. He didn't want to be the one to say it, but knew it had to be mentioned. "Boss, the kid...?" Gibbs looked at him with a fear in his eyes that the younger man had seen only on rare occasions. "On it, Boss, I'll find him."

DiNozzo hated cases that involved children. His had not been the happiest childhood, especially when his parents had been drinking, but he had made it through. It always broke his heart when he saw innocent kids being caught up in things they didn't understand. He walked from room to room before finding what had to be young Zeke's room. Batman bedspread, a Bat Signal night light, Lego on the floor, toys everywhere – yep, he'd found it. But there was no child in sight. "Zeke?" he called softly. "Are you in here?" He heard a soft whimper, but couldn't track it. "Zeke, my name is Tony, I'm an NCIS Agent. Do you know what NCIS is?" No response. "We're like the Police, except we look after the Marines and the Navy – just like your Dad." Tony moved into the room slowly, and flicked the overhead light on. Looking around the room, he had a hunch. He walked over to the wardrobe and carefully opened the door. Curled up in a ball on the floor was the young boy. "It's okay buddy, it's all over now. I promise it's safe to come out." Zeke looked up at him with big frightened eyes. Tony crouched down to his level, and held out his hand. "I promise. See, this is my badge. That says I am a Federal Agent with NCIS." The child cautiously reached out and grasped the proffered badge and examined it, before looking back at Tony with a glimmer of trust in his eyes. "How about we get out of here hey little buddy?" Zeke took Tony's hand and crawled out of the wardrobe.

"What happened to my Mommy?" he whimpered.

DiNozzo sighed heavily; this was definitely the part of the job he hated. He sat on the edge of the bed as he tried to find the right words. "Well, Zeke, your Mom died. The man that attacked her hurt her badly and she just couldn't hold on anymore."

The big brown eyes looked searchingly into the agent's green ones. Apparently satisfied with what he found, he let out a small sob. "I heard her yelling, but I was too scared to go down there. Maybe I should have..."

"Hey, listen to me." Tony, never entirely comfortable around kids, found it surprisingly easy to comfort this one. He pulled Zeke over so that the boy stood in front of him, and they were at eye level. "There is nothing you could have done to stop this happening, okay? You did the right thing by hiding in your closet, don't ever think that you did bad." The poor child merely nodded his assent, as the tears flowed silently. Not quite understanding the urge, DiNozzo enveloped him in a gentle hug. Zeke stiffened slightly at the initial contact, but relaxed; this was a man he instinctively trusted. DiNozzo felt the child harden, but thought nothing more of it. After all, who wouldn't be a little off after finding out their mother had been killed? Still, he broke the hug first, all the while maintaining superficial contact with Zeke. "C'mon, let's go. Me and my friends are gonna take good care of you, I promise."

DiNozzo started to walk down the stairs, holding Zeke by the hand. Ziva met them at the bottom of the staircase. He gave Ziva a look that simply said 'play nicely'.

Ziva smirked; she knew how to deal with kids, thank you very much! "You must be Zeke! My name is Ziva. I hope you are keeping Tony in line," she said holding her hand out. Zeke looked firstly at her, then up at his protector, then back at Ziva. He gave her the faintest glimmer of a smile, and reached out to shake her hand. She grinned, then reached out to tickle him. He squirmed away smiling a little more, but didn't let out more than a faint giggle. "Come," she said. "I think being up this late deserves some chocolate, yes?"

Again, Zeke looked up at DiNozzo, who nodded and smiled. "Yes, please," he whispered, and taking Ziva's hand, walked off through the kitchen and out the back door.

DiNozzo sighed heavily, before pulling himself together and rejoining his team in the living room. Thankfully, Ducky and Palmer had bagged the two bodies; all that remained was the spatters of blood all over the room.

Gibbs looked up as Tony entered the room. "How's the kid?" he asked.

"Oh, fine. Thinks it's his fault that his Mom is dead because he didn't try and save her, but apart from that, everything's just peachy," muttered DiNozzo.

Gibbs stared intently at his Senior Agent, wondering, not for the first time, what was going on inside the thick head that he so often slapped. DiNozzo purposely avoided eye contact with his boss, instead moving around the crime scene making sure everything was accounted for. Gibbs smiled grimly to himself – if there was one thing he could count on, it was that Tony DiNozzo could not lie to him. He decided to save the conversation for a little later on in the day – maybe when it was actually daylight.

"Finished photographing Boss," reported McGee, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Good. Let's pack it up and get back to the Yard."