Windstar: Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews, I truly appreciate it. One reviewer made a comment about Gibbs hitting a kid and how that was a bit out of character, and that's true. For current Gibbs we see on the show - it's unthinkable. But right now, Gibbs isn't the same character, he's someone whose suffered a great loss. In a way, he's exactly like the Gibbs we saw on the show if he never killed Hernandez - he hasn't received that catharsis yet.
Thank you again for your wonderful reviews, and enjoy.
Chapter:
Gibbs went to every movie theatre in a twenty-mile radius to try to find Danny, but no one had ever heard of him before. He walked around his neighborhood in every direction for miles, and when his leg gave out and he couldn't walk anymore, he forced himself to hire a cab to drive him around too. He searched for the teen relentlessly, but Danny was gone, and he knew that that was how it was going to stay.
Guilt had poured into him that flowed far deeper than the guilt he had about leaving Shannon and Kelly. In his mind, he kept replaying the series of events that led him to attacking Danny. The kid had been in the throws of a nightmare, obviously calling out to his father for help, and instead of helping him and talking to him after the kid had woken up…he'd thrown the teen down a staircase and banished him from the house without so much as a pair of shoes on his feet.
Gibbs had forced himself to pay attention to the weather, and his heart sank deeper and deeper as horrific cold fronts landed on DC and refused to budge. Without a doubt, Gibbs knew that if the kid didn't find a place to stay to weather the storm…he'd be as good as dead and it would be all Gibbs' fault.
He tried to find the anger that had been thriving for so long, but in the end he just found an empty chasm where his heart used to be. In the end he just had the memory of a teenager who desperately needed help…and was thrown down a flight of stairs for his efforts.
Guilt poured through him, and Gibbs wished he could blame it on the alcohol, but he hadn't had a drink since he'd seen "Kelly's sign." Even then, though, he wasn't sure if he could ever forgive himself for harming a child, even if he had been inebriated at the time. The guilt was overpowering him, and he wondered if there were other ways he could kill himself just as effectively without his missing gun.
He knew though, that he couldn't do that. Not yet. He needed to find that kid…make sure that he was okay, and find out if there was any place that the teen could go where he'd be settled and safe. A part of his mind kept telling him that it didn't matter, the kid didn't matter…but that wasn't fair, and he couldn't bring himself to just leave the boy in the lurch.
After four days, though, he'd felt his hope dwindle and his depression return full force. In his mind, he was certain the kid was dead, or dying, and there was no way he was going to find him. He returned to the store to buy some more liquor and drown in his sorrows.
There were messages on his answering machine from his father, from more well-wishers, and from Mike Franks. He glared at the device in annoyance, and eventually just pulled it from the wall. "Fuck all of this."
He crawled into a bottle, and he didn't know how long it was before he crawled back out of it again.
Danny hated living on the streets. He'd gotten away with dealing with too much crap when he managed to slip in the theatre at night. Then his shift was rearranged, and he no longer had the night duty. He couldn't slip in unnoticed to sleep in the office until the morning, and without the Gibbs' home…he didn't know where he was going to go.
During the day he managed to keep busy, and he found a few places he could stash clothes and the like to make sure that he was able to at least appear to be presentable. He cleaned himself in public washrooms, and he worked as much as he could. He wasn't doing too badly during the day. It was at night when everything went to hell.
Winter's chill would bite into him, and he'd shiver violently and do whatever he could to find somewhere that was out of sight from the world around him. Homeless shelters would turn him away time and again because he didn't have any benefits or information as to who he was. He tried explaining to them that he just didn't have the paperwork, but as one snotty woman put it: "How do we even know you're an American citizen? We don't want any illegals here." He'd had nothing to say to that, and so he'd gone to the next place, and then the next.
Eventually, the cold got to be too much for him, and he stubbornly wrangled up as much money as he could…everything he'd been saving…and he bought himself a new pair of shoes, a jacket, and a room at a local hostel. It was worse then some of the shelters he'd been turned down from.
There were people everywhere, and the room he shared with wasn't so much a room as it was a cesspool. He found that while he was away from the cold, it didn't mean much…he was exhausted and yet he didn't dare fall asleep.
All around him, people were fornicating and shooting up. The ground was covered with class and needles and he was in constant fear that someone would steal what few belongings he did have. Despite paying for a place in those precious living conditions…Danny did whatever he could to avoid the place as much as possible.
The result was that he was unbelievably strung out, and he was heading for a crash and burn he knew he wouldn't be able to control. And it was during this time, that the Mexicans found him. He'd been sitting in a daze, when one of the drug runners from the neighborhood had stopped by to collect something from one of his roommates.
At first, Danny had been so exhausted he hadn't recognized him, but that had changed the moment that someone mentioned "Shit, isn't that the kid from the park?" And with that in mind, Danny turned and took off running as fast as he possibly could. It was a miracle he'd made it to the door, and from there…somehow he'd made it into an alley.
He'd never been so happy for a dumpster in his life, but he crawled in it just as those pricks from the boarding house had started their chase. Shivering from cold, sick with hunger, and burnt out from countless days without sleeping, Danny could at least say he was alive…something that might not be a factor in the days to come. The Mexicans had picked up on his trail, and now he didn't even have any money to get the hell out of DC before one of them picked him off. Cursing himself for being such an idiot, he tried to keep warm through another horrible night where sleep evaded him, and his body was pushed just that extra step closer to oblivion.
Gibbs had known that eventually someone would get pissed off enough to come and see him. He hadn't expected it to be Mike Franks, though. The man had been standing in his living room for the past ten minutes shouting about something and Gibbs was still trying to figure out why exactly he was even dealing with Franks and his self-righteous attitude.
"….with you?" There was a question in there somewhere, but Gibbs could only stare blankly up at the man in honest confusion. He had no idea what he was being asked, but the look on his face made it clear that Franks thought that he was probably the biggest waste of space on the planet Earth. "You just gonna live in the bottle for the rest of your damn life? Huh? Not give a shit about anyone around you for as long as you live? Why don't you just put a bullet in your brain and get it over with if you're so eager to stop living?"
"I would, but the damn kid stole my gun." Gibbs snapped back, irritation at being belittled finally rearing its ugly head. Mike's eyes narrowed at the soldier in pure frustration, and he took a step forwards.
"What kid?" He hissed in utter disgust, and Gibbs blinked.
"Danny…" Franks' hands snapped out and grabbed Gibbs' arms.
"Where is he? When did you last see him? Damn-it Gunny, do you know how much time you've wasted?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I told you weeks ago, that there was a kid that was missing from the accident, who was with Shannon and Kelly in that car. I told you that we suspected he'd been kidnapped. I told you we were trying to find him, and you've known where he was the whole time?" Gibbs stared at Franks for a long while, mind racing at the words. He was struggling to get passed the numbness his brain kept insisting it wanted to maintain. He struggled to look into his memories from the earlier days…and then he did remember.
He remembered how Danny had looked up at the door when Mike had knocked, and then had bolted only moments before Gibbs had let the man in. he remembered how Danny had stayed scare for days after that. How the kid hadn't said a damned thing about anything.
"Danny…Danny's the kid you were looking for?" He felt like he was playing catch up and he pressed a hand to his head to ward off the feeling of nausea that was starting to course through him.
"Who the hell did you think we were looking for? Bugs Bunny?"
"No…I…we never met before. This was the first time…and he never said…he knew Shannon and Kelly?" That one thought kept rocket firing in his brain. All he could see was Danny lying on Kelly's bed, and now his mind supplied one final thought that he hadn't counted before. The kid had been crying before Gibbs had hauled him out of bed and thrown him down the stairs. "He knew them?"
"Jesus Gunny, you let kids in your house and near your guns and you don't know jack about them?"
"Haven't exactly been thinking straight, Mike." Gibbs snapped back, fury coating his tone.
"Yeah. I can see that. Where is he, when'd you last see him?"
"Last week or so…"
"Or so." Franks' voice was irritated, annoyed, and more than a little pissed off, but Gibbs didn't know what to say about any of that. Right now he was still struggling to get over the fact that he'd just obstructed his own family's murder investigation by telling off a kid who just wanted a place to sleep.
"We got into a fight…he left." Gibbs mumbled.
"Any idea of where he'd go?"
"I looked for him all last week…"
"Well, I guess we're going to be looking harder, aren't we?"
"We?" Gibbs blinked stupidly.
"Yeah, if I leave you behind, you might just end up shacking up with all the other missing witnesses there are out there. Get in the car." Mike glowered, and he turned on his heel and stomped back towards the door. Gibbs stared after him for a long while, before he felt his resolve set firm in his stomach and he hurried after the man.
Danny was shivering violently as the rain pelted his skin. He coughed, struggling to breathe through the crackle in his lungs. He'd gotten sick sometime the night before, and the chill in the air hadn't helped in the least. He felt his head grow heavier and heavier, but he couldn't put it down.
Somehow he just knew that closing his eyes and falling asleep, like this, would lead to his death. He had been running for so long now, that he wasn't certain if he could keep going. His feet ached terribly, and he tried to push back the numbness in his mind as snow started to drift down upon him.
He'd finally found a homeless shelter that would take him, but if the hostel had been bad…this place had been worse. They hadn't bothered to even argue with him about ID. They just opened their doors and led him to a room that could have been a gymnasium in another life. Now it was covered head to toe with bodies that were all lying down and slumped in various states of consciousness. The past few days in the homeless shelter had taught him many things he hadn't cared to know before. First and foremost, if you're going to survive out here, you might as well go all in. His body ached from the countless fights he'd gotten into, and he was sure he'd gotten infected with something in the last one.
The respite from the gang that had been following hadn't lasted long, though. When he'd seen the Mexican men that were hanging around the shelter, that looked just a little too out of place, he hadn't thought twice about turning and running in the opposite direction. They'd followed him for three miles, and he'd only lost hem after he'd managed to stuff himself into a drainage pipe. He'd nearly frozen to death there, but he managed to keep moving and keep heading out.
He could just see Empire Theatre up ahead, and his heart thundered in his chest. He knew he could climb up the fire escape and into the top floor of the building. From there, he could stuff himself under the desk in the reel room and go to sleep – try to forget about the horrible week he'd had and move on from there.
Stumbling forwards, Danny's head spun dizzily. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten. He couldn't remember the last time anything had gone the way it was supposed to. With shaking hands he pulled down the ladder for the fire escape and he slowly fumbled his way up it. The window was locked when he reached it, but he had worked out how to jimmy the lock and within a few moments it was open.
Shaking uncontrollably, he settled himself into the office, and felt tears start to poke into his eyes. Off in the corner of the room, he could see the office phone. He wondered what would happen if he made the call he'd been avoiding for so long. He wondered if anything was going to be fixed. Shivering badly, he shook his head.
He'd rather die than go home. He'd rather die than return to that hell. Forcing himself to stand up straight, he started to walk to the window to close it, and that's when everything went to hell.
A man appeared there, and he jumped back in fight even as he was crawling through.
Turning, Danny bolted towards the door, but it was thrust open at the exact same time. Danny's numb fingers reached for the gun he'd stolen from Gibbs almost two weeks ago. He never had a chance to grab it. The man behind him caught him around the torso and threw him to the ground. Kicking and thrashing he tried to move, but he wasn't successful. A rough grip on his hair lifted his face up and then smashed it back down into the unforgiving tile of the office floor. Everything blurred together for a moment, and Danny lay there in a daze for a long while. His vision was swimming, his attention was failing, and he couldn't bring himself to connect the dots of what was happening.
"Should'a stayed out of it, gringo." One of the men hissed, his mind happily supplied him with the memory of Pedro Hernandez blowing the brains out of that two-bit drug dealer in the park. A little girl's delightful call of Mommy! Was cut off by the sound of a gun firing, and even though Danny was certain that none of this was real- he still flinched away from the noise. Reality snapped back into focus and he struggled twice as hard as he had before.
"Get off of me." He hissed, kicking and clawing, but it just earned him another strike to the head that left his body feeling heavy and sluggish. He simply didn't have the strength to fight back any longer.
"You jus' had to disappear. But you went with the nice lady an' the kid, didn't you?"
"Get off me…"
"You gonna die gringo…hope it was worth it." He was rolled over and a boot collided with his stomach. He gasped out in pain, even as he felt the ribs crack under the weight of the man's foot. The putrid smell of gas started to fill his senses and he stared up as a third man arrived.
"Whole place just needs a match." The man said, and Danny felt his heart hammer in his chest.
"Not gonna…get away…" He murmured, even as he was shoved under one of the desks and one of the assailants kicked at him again and again. He felt his consciousness slip away and pain flooded his mind.
The next thing that happened startled him, because he wasn't even aware he'd passed out. The entire room was filled with smoke and the door and far wall were alight with fire. Everything was burning, the ceiling was starting to catch; the floor was blistering hot.
Panic coursed through him, and he scrambled. There was fire all around him, it caught on his pants and jacket and he gasped as he ran. Tripping over his own feet he felt his cheek collide with the windowsill. Terror invaded him and he struggled to stand up.
Pulling himself out of the window, he collapsed on the fire escape. Throwing off his jacket and slapping at his burning jeans, he barely noticed that there was someone shooting at him until it was too late. A new kind of pain slammed through his arm and he shouted out as he curled to his side and looked around him. The three assailants from earlier were just beneath him, having left the burning building before he'd even woken up. They were all more than happy to become reacquainted with him, however, and they were shooting up at him. Bullets were glancing off of the fire escape, ricocheting in every direction.
"Just go away…" He whispered, tears coming to his eyes as he struggled to move his battered body. "Leave me alone…just leave me alone…" His feet wouldn't give him any purchase and he collapsed, curling up in a ball even as he heard foot steps on the ladders coming closer and closer.
"You're going back in there, gringo, and you gonna stay there. You gonna die tonight – boy." Filthy breath washed over his face and he shivered and shook violently.
"Go away…just go away…" He mumbled as his strength began to fail him completely.
"Not happening." The man reached down to grab his hair, and he felt himself get lifted up. Danny stared into the man's face, even as he was starting to be hoisted back towards the burning building behind him. They were taking this slow. They wanted him to die with no claims or explanation. They couldn't kill him with their guns or it could all be brought back to Hernandez. If he died in a fire…there wasn't proof – just a lot of motive. Circumstantial evidence didn't hold up in court.
But Danny didn't want to go back to the burning pain of that building, he didn't want to die, and he definitely didn't want to suffer any longer at the hands of these pigs. His fingers fumbled with the gun that was still in his possession. He'd never fired one before, but he'd seen a lot of movies, and he was reasonable certain he knew what he was doing. His assailant barely had a chance to realize what was happening, before he fired off three shots directly into his chest.
"A movie theatre?" Mike asked looking towards Gibbs skeptically. The soldier just nodded. He hadn't explained the fight to Mike, and Mike hadn't asked.
"He said he worked at one, and that he stayed there before he decided to break into my house." Gibbs muttered.
"Shit, no wonder we never found anything on this kid."
"You don't know anything about him?" That surprised Gibbs more than he cared to admit. He'd thought that at least Franks knew something about this brat.
"Wouldn't tell us shit. Didn't give a last name, didn't agree to anything. Shannon," Mike glanced towards Gibbs who stiffened at the name, "she vouched for him. Said she'd known him for months and that he was a good kid."
Gibbs didn't know what to say to that. He'd never heard of the boy before, and he certainly would have remembered if they'd met. Shannon hadn't said anything about him, and he wasn't sure what to think about all of this.
"Apparently he was with Shannon and Kelly that day in the park. He and Shannon both got a good look at Hernandez. When that bastard realized he had witnesses, he started going after them. Shannon said the kid grabbed Kelly and her and started running down the street. He saved their lives that day, Gunny." Gibbs' guilt only intensified at hearing the news, and he felt his heart plummet to his chest. The kid had saved Shannon and Kelly…only to have them die a few days later when they were on their way to a safe house. And to reward the kid for his efforts, Gibbs had tossed him down a damn staircase.
The newest theatre on their list was coming up ahead, and he leaned closer to the window in case they saw anything. What he did see, though, startled him more than he cared to admit. The entire bottom floor of the theatre was on fire, and standing at the bottom of the fire escape were two men with pistols – shooting up into the night. He followed their aim to their target and could just make out a flash of dirty blonde hair in the midst of the billowing smoke and fire.
"Shit, Mike- Danny's up there!" Gibbs shouted. He tore the seatbelt from his waist and threw the door open. The car barely had had time to stop, but Gibbs didn't care, he stumbled from the car and once he caught his balance he threw himself into the nearest gunman. Behind him he could here Mike getting out of his car and another gun started firing into the night.
Up on the fire escape Danny's legs had given out as he collapsed to the ground. The man he'd shot slumped forwards onto him, and blood was dripping onto his face. He stared at the man in horror, and he struggled to get out from under the man. His body was aching in pain and he couldn't find the strength to push the man away from him. He could hear gunfire in the distance, and he squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his hands to his ears. "Go away…go away…" Exhaustion was coursing though him and he felt his mind starting to slip from around him. He was tired of running and fighting and dealing with these people and he didn't want to be there anymore. He just wished everything would just-
"Danny." It was the voice more than anything else that caught his attention, but the feeling of someone so close to him made him jump back in fear. Smoke was billowing out of the window and surrounding everything in sight. He coughed against it, and struggled with the gun in his hands. Someone touched his wrists gently though, and kept his aim faced in the other direction. "Danny…Danny it's Gibbs. Look at me, kid. Come on." The teen shook his head and coughed badly, and suddenly was being drawn up to his feet.
His legs were shaking too badly to steady his weight, and he felt an arm go around his chest and hold him upright. His body howled in pain and he let out a sharp gasp. "Sorry, just hang on. We need to get down, okay?" Consciousness blurred around the edges, and time skipped again.
Somehow, and he really didn't know how, Danny found himself sitting on the cool concrete ground. Gibbs was crouched in front of him in a T-Shirt, looking cold in this weather. It was only then that Danny realized that he was wearing what almost certainly was Gibbs' coat.
Tears were still slipping down Danny's face, and he felt everything of the past few weeks slam down into him. "Gibbs?" He whispered fearfully, wondering if the man was going to try to go after him too.
"I'm right here, kid, and I'm sorry…so sorry."
"Sign of weakness." Danny murmured softly.
"And I was weak." Gibbs replied, pulling the kid's head to his chest. "Shit, kid…I've been weak a lot lately."
"Those…guys…"
"Mike's got them." Gibbs replied.
"Mike?" Danny tried to remember the name, but his mind was too numb at the moment.
"NIS Agent, you know him…don't you?" Danny nodded shakily and Gibbs held him closer. "Shit…kid, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me anything?"
"Sorry…"
"Damn it, kid. You have nothing to apologize for, Danny."
"I don't feel good." The teen murmured, and Gibbs pulled away somewhat so he could look at him closer. Bruises littered the teen's face, and blood soaked his right arm. His jeans were torn and burnt around his knee, and he was leaning awkwardly to one side.
"I'm gonna take you to the hospital, okay? Then you're coming home."
"Home?" Fear tinged the kid's voice at the word, but Gibbs shook his head and squeezed his shoulder.
"With me." He stated firmly.
"With you?" Blinking slowly up at the man, Danny looked stunned at the offer. "I…I was in her room…"
"I over reacted, son." The word slipped from Gibbs' lips, and Danny stared at him in stunned amazement. Then, slowly, his mouth quirked upwards, and he felt his eyes close. Slumping to the side Gibbs barely had time to catch him, and his ears barely picked up the softly spoken:
"Okay…" before the boy was out like a light.
"Mike!" Gibbs shouted the Agent's name even as he turned to find the man. The three Mexican gang-bangers were getting looked after – the man Danny had shot was spread out on the ground while the other two were in cuffs. Franks was talking rapidly on a radio, but at Gibbs' call, he turned to see what was going on.
"Take my keys, get him to the hospital." Mike snapped as he tossed the keys towards the Gunnery Sergeant. "I'll meet you there when I'm done with these idiots." Nodding sharply, Gibbs lifted the boy upright and carried him towards the car.
Danny was unconscious for the whole of the trip, and for the first time since Shannon and Kelly died, Gibbs was praying not for them, but for this teenager who deserved it more than any other.
Gibbs came to a screeching halt in front of the hospital, and he carried the teen inside with adrenaline pouring through him. He didn't care that his leg hurt, nor did he even notice it at this point. The nurses and doctors hurried to help him with the teen. His shirt was removed, and Gibbs watched in dumb horror as they revealed knife wounds, countless bruises, cuts and bruises, all off set by the bloody gore that was Danny's right arm. The teen was a mess, and Gibbs couldn't help but feel more than a little responsible.
He stood silently, watching them whisk the teen into the ICU, and he was left to wait for news. Collapsing into a chair, he struggled to answer the information on the paperwork that was presented before him. He didn't know the answer to any of these questions, and he didn't know what to say. If he said he wasn't the kid's father, though, he knew he'd never hear how the boy was. So he tried to stick to what he thought was accurate.
When the police showed up to figure out just how the kid got so banged up, Mike appeared at the same time. The man quickly sent the local LEOs packing, and then he looked down at Gibbs with a slightly annoyed expression.
"You get anything from the scum bags, Mike?" Gibbs asked softly, and Mike nodded his head.
"A whole lot of crap, that's what. By the way, you should keep a better hold on this gun of yours." The man passed the pistol to Gibbs who immediately hid it from view. It didn't stop a Nurse from looking towards them disapprovingly, and Mike all but growled towards her. "What?" He snapped, and she quickly looked away. "How's the kid?"
"Don't know…they're not back yet." Gibbs sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Kid's taken some hard knocks, but he'll be fine." Franks shrugged easily and sat beside the soldier. "Heard what you promised Danny. You really gonna take him in after this?"
"Yeah…"
"Sure that's such a good idea? We still can't find anything on him. No one in the area has any idea where the kid's from, no one's seen him before, and no one's claimed him missing."
"He said that no one was looking for him."
"You figure an orphan or something?"
"I don't know, but I do know that if no one else is looking out for him…I will."
"Why? He's not your responsibility."
"Yeah…yeah he is." Mike just nodded his head, and the two men sat in silence as they waited for anyone who would tell them about the kid.
Their answers came sooner than they thought it would. The doctor who came to see them was a young man with blond hair and thick glasses. "Danny's going to be okay." The man started without preamble. The most concerning injury he had was the bullet wound in his arm. It broke his humorous, and there's been some muscle damage, but with some rest and rehabilitation he should be able to use it at full capacity again. We've treated him for smoke inhalation and dressed the burns on his arm and leg. For now, we'll have to watch the bruises on his chest, but they don't seem to be life threatening. He broke several ribs, but they've been wrapped and he'll need to take it easy to make sure he doesn't stress them during the healing process. Other than that, he should be okay."
"Can we see him?" Gibbs asked quickly.
"Yes. He's resting now, but you can sit with him if you'd like." Nodding sharply, the two men hurried down the hall to where Danny was sleeping off the effects of quite a few drugs.
"He's going to need to answer a lot of questions soon, Gunny." Mike told Gibbs evenly as the soldier stood over the sleeping kid.
"Yeah…I know." He murmured in reply. "For right now though…I think the kid needs a break." Mike just grunted.
"Probably does." He muttered. "I have suspects to intimidate."
"Don't you mean interrogate?"
"Same difference." The grizzled man replied as he stalked out the door. Gibbs found himself laugh slightly, and he sank into the chair across from Danny's bed. He had every intention to spend the night, and make sure that when the kid woke up, he'd know that he wasn't alone.
