"What...is...your...name?"

The American woman annunciated every syllable as she tried to speak with the North Korean child that had been rescued from his illegal slave treatment. He had to be twelve at most, but he was so emaciated and bruised that he looked much younger. The child refused to speak to her, merely gazing up at her with blank eyes before letting his eyes fall to the floor again. She was just trying to help him, but she wasn't sure what language he spoke. Or if he even could speak...

"I...am...Ms...Rosalind...Keener...but...you...can ...call...me...Rosie."

She tried again and looked at the boy expectantly. But once again, the child said nothing. Only gazed at the floor, blearily. Then she thought of something, could the child have sight problems? What if he needed glasses? Finally as she was trying to think, she heard a small noise from the boy before he whispered hoarsely.

"My name...is Im-Yong Nam, son of Im-Yong Hao"

He whispered in heavily accented English, probably something he had picked up from somebody else. But to Rosie, it was a beginning, a start. That meant that maybe, just maybe, she could help this scared little boy. Rosie made sure to smile as she rested a hand on the little boy's knobby knee.

"It's nice to meet you Nam."

-PresentDay-

"Hey guys!"

Jimmy Palmer smiled as he walked into the bullpen, his smile not even darkening as he saw the way McGee, Tony and Ziva were all talking in hushed and worried tones. But he did hurry over to join in the conversation. When he approached it was only Tony who grinned and slung his arm over Jimmy's shoulders, comfortingly.

"Hey Autopsy Gremlin."

"What's going on?"

Jimmy asked but he did smile even wider at the familiar recognition Tony gave him. The Senior Agent just shrugged at his question and it was McGee who decided to answer him. But the computer geek's next words made his heart clench in worry and sadness.

"We got a strange-looking letter from Korea, so Gibbs and Vance went to go get it translated."

The young M.E assistant froze, did something happen to Soo? Was she finally trying to contact him after all this time? Was she free too? All these thoughts rushed past the forefront of his mind, dizzyingly quick, so he barely had anytime to register any of it. All he was that the letter they were talking about was undoubtably his. But if it was Soo contacting him, how did she find out where he was? He had told nobody of his Korean origins. So how would she have known?

"Where did they go? Can one of you take me there?"

Jimmy whispered urgently, his words stressed and taut. The rest of the Team in the room, instantly noticed his change in demeanor, his eyes were full of a sadness that they had never seen there before and the young man's trademark smile had been completely wiped clean from his features. This wasn't the Jimmy they knew and loved. Something was dangerously wrong and it was Ziva who voiced it.

"Jimmy? Are you alright?"

-FlashBack-

"Sonrisa, pequeña mocosa!"

The Mexican woman who was his new Mistress, glaring at him with seething eyes. His cheek was stinging from where she had slapped him across the face. He couldn't stop the tears that bubbled in his eyes and he looked at the floor in shame. The horse-faced woman grabbed him by the shoulders once again, and shook him roughly. Making him whimper loudly as she requested for him to smile at her.

"Sonrisa, esclavo. Usted no sabrá lo que es la verdadera tristeza! Usted no tiene el derecho de no sonreír! Le he dado todo!"

She sneered, grabbing his stinging face roughly with both hands. He didn't know sadness according to his mistress. He was just a piece of cattle for her, he was nothing. She gave him a mat to sleep on and chores to do. He was given everything a slave could ever want, but he didn't want to be a slave.

"나는 더 이상 노예 되고 싶지 않습니다"

He whimpered in the language of his birth, but gave a low moan as his Mistress' hand darted out once again and slapped him on the same still burning cheek as before. Nam's hand reached up and ghosted over the irritated skin with gentle fingers.

"No me hablan en idioma que asco!"

She sneered in her own mother tongue. She didn't want him to speak Korean anymore. But he didn't want to learn her language, her language of harsh words that slide across the tongue. Letters and phrases and meanings that he couldn't understand...so finally he just nodded and did whatever his Mistress ordered. He was still a slave...a child who didn't look like the other children. A child who was different from them. He was still nothing. She always said that she would have Soo killed, his older sister, his only family. But he knew that she wouldn't, it was too much effort.

You don't waste effort on nothing...