I don't own NCIS or Alex Rider...though I wish I did. :(

This chapter is slightly longer than the last. I tried to make Alex as Alexish as possible. It will soon all fall together. Enjoy!


Chapter 3:Discoveries ad Questions

Alex stopped frantically searching through his pockets and looked up. "What are you doing?" Gibbs questioned his voice demanding. Alex knew what this might look like; a kid alone in the bathroom looking frantically for pills. Overall, not a perfect picture.

Ignoring Gibbs, Alex resumed his searching. Finally coming up with the bottle, Alex straightened and looked at it. What he saw made his heart clench and his wound make a particularly nasty throb. The pill bottle was empty.

"What is the bottle for Alex?" Confusion and worry was evident in his voice.

"Nothing." Alex gasped out while glaring at Gibbs and rubbing his chest lightly which only made the pain worse. Gibbs wrapped his arm around Alex to support him. "Can you make it to the elevator?" Gibbs asked lightly. Alex put up a feeble sound of protest, but Gibbs ignored him and began walking him out of the restroom and to the elevator across the room.

Tony was the only one to notice them. He started to get up when Gibbs shook his head no. Getting into the elevator, Gibbs leaned Alex up against the railing to give Alex some stable support and himself some rest. Punching in the number that would take them to Ducky's autopsy room, Gibbs began to inspect Alex. To sum it up, Alex looked like death. His face was pale and you could tell that his breathing was labored. Gibbs's eyes darted to Alex's hand and saw the pill bottle tightly grasped in his hand like he was using it for a life line. Prying the bottle from his hands he saw the heavy dosage of Vicodin the boy was on.

"What could cause him to have this? Gibbs stared at the boy quizzically, but Alex did not notice. Darkness was clouding in the corners of his eyes as he stared at nothing.

The elevator gave a ding and the doors slid open. Half dragging Alex, Gibbs pushed open the glass door to the room and called out for Ducky. Ducky emerged from the room and stood there assessing the scene before him. Before him was a young boy who had his eyes half closed and being supported by Gibbs. "Jethro" Ducky started but Gibbs impatiently cut him off. "Duck, something is hurting him."

Ducky immediately went into doctor mode and helped lay Alex down on one of his cold autopsy tables. Gibbs stood off to the side watching Ducky bending Alex's limbs and prodding here and there.

"Come here." The command from Ducky was aimed at Gibbs.

Coming closer, Gibbs could see that Alex looked like the dead bodies that often occupied the table he was sitting on except for the rapid movement of his chest.

"Hold him up while I take off his shirt." Gibbs complied and gently pushed Alex into a sitting position. Ducky took off Alex's shirt with ease, but the sight before them had Gibb's breath stolen away from him. Both Ducky and Gibbs looked upon an inflamed red circle that was no doubt made from a bullet. The shocked and confused men stood before him. Gibbs felt his anger flare. It wasn't directed at Alex, but for the people who could have done this to a kid. "Alex, how..." Gibbs started to say but trailed off.

Alex decided to answer him. "This is the reason you are protecting me Gibbs."


******Thought of stopping here, but I decided to make it a little longer ******


Ducky stared intently at the bullet wound before him. "It couldn't be more than a week old." he mumbled to himself. You could see the tiny stitching that was keeping the skin together so it could heal faster. Shuffling over to the cabinets, Ducky grabbed a soothing cream and pain killers.

Ducky kept a first aid kit for when he had live patients like this one. Squirting some of the cool cream onto his middle and index finger, Ducky reached out to tough the rapidly rising and falling chest. "Jethro, help Alex calm down a bit so I can make this a painless as I can." Gibbs quickly but carefully slid behind him despite the protest from Alex.

"Alex, hold my hand, lean back and match your breathing to mine." He held out his hand which Alex ignored and did not lean back on Gibbs's chest. Gibbs slid a hand onto Alex's stomach and pressed down lightly, so Alex was forced to move back. Alex obliged but tensed at the contact to which Gibbs frowned even more.

Ducky started to apply the cream only to have Alex's breathing hitch while he held his breath. Gibbs murmured behind Alex. "Breathe Alex, breathe." While Gibbs said that, Ducky had finished applying the cream and started to wrap the chest that had started to move now, but much more slowly. Ducky handed Gibbs pain killers based on how old the wound was and on how much pain Alex seemed to be in. He held them put for Alex who accepted them gratefully and swallowed them before Ducky could give him water.

A movement caught Gibbs's eye and he looked at the entrance to the room. Ziva, Tony, and McGee were staring at the situation. Gibbs mouthed the name Ziva. Evidently seeing the name mouthed, Ziva entered as quietly as she could so she wouldn't bother Alex who was trying to escape the arms holding him close. "Please tell me this was just a random shooting." Gibbs said, but his eyes were pleading. Ziva went to the front of Alex and examined his chest. Shaking her head disbelievingly Ziva looked at Gibbs. "He was sniped Gibbs. It was by a professional."

Alex glared at the woman in front of him. Couldn't they tell he was in the room? Adults could be so inconsiderate at times. And they had the nerve to call kids rude.

Gibbs took Alex's shirt and handed it to him. Finally standing up from the table, Alex put the shirt over his fit form. "Is there anything we need to do for him?" Gibbs asked Ducky.

"Don't let Alex over-exert himself. Our boy here shouldn't even walk right now because he has strained his injury far too much. It is only a week old at most. To state it simply, Alex should be in a hospital resting, not going to other countries." Ducky handed Gibbs the cream bottle he had used for Alex. "Just rub a little bit of the cream on the sore three times a day to get the inflammation down and have him take this new set of pills two times a day." Ducky handed Gibbs a bottle of pills prescribed by him.

Gibbs turned to leave, but Ducky caught his arm. "The prescription he was carrying was not just a regular pain-relieving dosage." "What are you saying Duck?" Gibbs questioned looking into Ducky's eyes.

"I'm saying that whoever gave Alex those pills deliberately wanted Alex completely numb so he could walk and feel absolutely no pain. The only problem with that is if you don't take your pills on time like what just happened here, the patient experiences excruciating pain."

Gibbs turned to Ziva who had made a noise in her throat. "Mossad does that to their agents. Instead of allowing rest time, we are given a higher dosage so that we can't feel the pain on missions." Ziva had a dark look in her eye which gave him a really bad feeling.

"I was right. You are Mossad." Gibbs looked to Alex who was starting to walk out the door despite the twisted expression of pain on his face. The medication hadn't quite kicked in fully yet.

"بقية اليكس. لا يجب أن يصل. (Rest Alex. You should not be up.)" Ziva said in Arabic. Though she knew Alex didn't speak it, the language had a soothing sound to it. " ويمكنني أن أعتني بنفسي.(I can take care of myself)" Alex replied much to every one's surprise including Tony and McGee's who had come in just a second ago seeing that Alex was trying to leave.

Gibbs added the fact that Alex could speak another language to his list of questions he wanted to ask him later. "Come on Alex. There is someone I want you to meet." Gibbs told Alex. Alex looked to the rest of the team and for some odd reason, Tony was grinning like mad. "You will love her" Tony said after seeing Alex's eyes on him.

Alex said nothing. He was pretty sure that the team would make him do what they wanted. Alex was used to being used for someone else's gain. He didn't like it, but usually he had no say in the matter. For some odd reason they always had one up on him.


Hope you liked it! R&R PLZ!