Chapter 7
He was warm…he was warm and wrapped in something soft, he sighed and pulled it closer, he knew he had to be asleep, never had he felt this comfortable or safe.
Safe?
He slowly came back to full wakefulness and opened an eye…he was in a bed.
He screamed and sat up instantly scrabbling out of the bed looking for the danger. He saw a desk and hid underneath it, it wasn't great cover but he could hold his own well enough.
A strange woman walked into the room and started talking to him, "Hey Adam, it's ok, you're safe here, your dad'll be back soon, he just popped out to get you some things…my name is Abby McGee, I won't hurt you either." She said
She backed off and Adam looked down.
"Where…my clothes please?" he asked he was wearing clothes that were not his and he didn't know what was happening.
Abby smiled and sat on the edge of the bed.
Adam shook…Adults and soft beds were dangerous…neither had ever been good for him.
He couldn't help as a terrified tear rolled down his face. Abby looked horrified as she figured out what was scaring him.
"Oh, Adam…sweetheart, what did they do to you?"
She grabbed a plate of pancakes that she had been bringing up off the desk and put the plate a short way away from Adam and backed off like she would have done with a stray dog.
Adam looked at the pancakes, he wasn't sure what they were but they were on a plate, so he wasn't allowed to touch them. He knew this…but the lady had placed them near him, he looked at them and his stomach made a noise that betrayed him.
They smelt delicious.
He looked at her and then pancakes…if he got out from there and ate one she might grab him and then punish him for taking from a plate. She didn't look mean, she was pretty…but Ima was pretty and she hurt him.
Eventually his hunger won out, as fast as he could he reached out, grabbed a pancake and ducked back under the table to eat it all the time not taking his eyes off of her if she just so much as moved…
But she didn't, she sat smiling at him…Not the cold cruel smile Ima gave him before she punished him, but a kind smile, like Rebecca when she would leave him a bag with a whole sandwich inside, or a carton of juice without the nasty tasting stuff he got before he ended up in places with beds in them.
Abby watched Adam eat and she wanted to just hug him, he reminded her of the animals that sometimes ended up at the shelter she volunteered at after they had been rescued from bad owners. Slowly they had learned to trust humans again and she hoped that he would learn to trust people too.
She had been worried when Tony had told her he had to go to NCIS to make a call from MTAC, she had an idea who he was calling and why, but she had hoped that he would be back before Adam woke up.
She slowly and carefully pushed the plate nearer to Adam, "Hey Adam, do you want some more?" she said and sat back.
He ate two more. On the last one he looked at her like he wanted to ask a question, but didn't know how to ask it. She didn't push she just waited.
"Cold." He said.
"Oh I can warm them up?" Abby said leaning down to reach for the food. Adam flinched.
"No take please? I eat…" Adam grabbed the remaining pancakes and took them under the desk.
He ate them and shivered. Suddenly Abby figured it out, He was cold, of course, and Washington D.C. was a lot colder than Israel.
She stood up and walked out of the room, then stuck her head back in, "It's ok Adam," she said smiling "I will make it warmer for you,"
He sat there astonished, she had given him food and noticed he was cold…And she was going to make it warm? For him?
She came back with two hot drinks on a tray which she set down in front of him gesturing to him to pick whichever one he wanted. He looked at them and picked one she took the other and drank from it, she handed him a blanket which he pulled over himself and then he took a sip of the hot drink.
His eyes flew open wide; it was without a doubt the most wonderful thing he had ever tasted.
"What?" he asked pointing to the cup.
Abby smiled, "Hot chocolate." She said enunciating each syllable so he could get the word.
"Hot. Choc. O. Latt." He repeated back to her and she nodded.
He said it again, just to make her smile. He like it when she smiled, it was then he realized…He was dead…that had to be it…she was an Angel…if she was an angel and this was Haven, like the men on the street talked about then she had to be here…He remembered, all the pretty Angels end up in Haven.
He got up quickly and ran out of the room
Abby panicked and followed him, "Adam?" she called worried she had scared him.
Adam made it to the front door and opened it going into the street with Abby close on his heels and he stopped as he realized he wasn't in haven, just in a cold, wet town…he had been stupid, of course she wasn't here…or maybe he was dead and this was his punishment.
He sank to his knees and cried, "Puttana?" he cried.
Abby stood shocked, Tony had taught her some Italian and she knew that word. It was not one that she would have ever used and she was shocked.
"Adam?"
"I…I thought she was here…I thought this heaven and Ana was here." He cried.
Tony had walked up on hearing this and it brought up some questions of his own.
If Amelia had died, how come Adam knew about her?
He placed his hand on Adam's shoulder. "Come inside son." He said. Adam turned at his father's guiding hand and walked back up the steps.
Abby put some slippers on Adam's feet and gave him a blanket as he sat on the couch in the front room.
"Abba?" Adam said and Tony stopped and looked at his son.
"I am sorry." He said then he let out a grin, "Hot Choc. !" he grinned pointing at the cup.
Tony smiled and looked at Abby, "You making your famous Hot chocolate again…I'm in," he said as she went to the kitchen.
He sat next to his son. "Adam…I talked to your Ima…She told me about your sister, she died, I am sorry." He said.
Adam looked confused.
"Your sister is in Heaven." He reiterated.
"Ah yes, Puttana is in Haven…I saw her…Can she come and live with us Abba?"
"People who are in Heaven can't come back…" Tony said confused.
Adam understood, it wouldn't change his opinion, his Abba was a good man, he saved him, and he just didn't want his sister that was all…
He wasn't going to argue, if at any point Abba got mad with him, he might send him back, or worse send him back to Ima.
Abby had an Idea, she ran round to Gibbs' and grabbed the maps off his shelf and she told him what she was doing he helped her with the books and followed over.
"Hey Boss." Tony said as Gibbs came into the house.
"Abby said you have a logistic problem." Gibbs said
Tony looked at Abby.
She put the books in front of Adam on the table.
Adam looked at the interested, he loved books and knowledge, the lettering on the books was strange, but he knew it was a map book, like they had a Mossad, when he had snuck in at nights with Rebecca to look at books in the library.
"Library?" he asked.
"Maps." Abby corrected him. She spread the maps on the table; the first one was a map of the United States. "Washington, D.C….Here" she pointed at the book and then the floor.
Adam nodded, he got that.
"Israel…There." She pointed at the world map and then a Map of Israel, that Gibbs had had from when Ziva had been a part of the family.
He pointed to the close up version. "Mossad." He said pointing to where it was on the map. "Ima."
Tony nodded.
He went to move the maps and Adam grabbed his hand and focused his attention, this was his last ditched attempt.
He pointed to a blacked out area of the Map about thirty miles from Mossad on the edge of the desert, Haven…Ana…Puttana in Haven…Puttana…Sorella!" he said he looked into his father's eyes and watched as they got wide.
"Your sister is alive?" he asked, "Sorella…Vivente?"
Adam nodded his head.
It suddenly occurred to him that the words that Rebecca had taught him, the strange language had a purpose.
"Abba? Si fa a parlare questa lingua?" he asked.
Tony sighed, finally a language they could talk in.
"Sì, parlo italiano, chi ti ha insegnato a parlarlo?" he asked.
"Rebecca…She say my father's people speak it." Adam smiled for the first time in total relief. Now he could tell him.
"Volevo dirtelo, ma non sapevo come, Abba, ho una sorella, lei era per strada con me finché Ima ha preso mia sorella a Haven, lei ha detto che c'era lavoro importante da fare per lei; Lei non avrebbe lasciarmi andare Abba, e ho supplicato e supplicato, ma lei ha preso mia sorella via da me, è possibile salvare mia sorella Abba favore?" Adam asked.
Gibbs and Abby stood there stunned, this was the most both of them had heard him speak even though neither understood a word it was obvious that Tony did. They looked at Tony who looked like he had been head-slapped into the next century.
He held his arms open and hugged his son.
"We will find her…." Tony said holding his son tight.
"Boss, she's alive, Amelia is alive, Ziva sent her to some place called Haven."
Gibbs nodded and understanding what it was Tony needed to do, he opened his phone before he made the calls he needed to make he turned to his SIC, "DiNozzo, you will get what you need to get her home, everything I can swing for you I will, but we need to plan this, we can't go onto foreign soil to rescue and Israeli national from Israel"
Tony understood, "I need some time alone with my son, Boss." Tony asked and Gibbs and Abby went to the living room as Tony walked upstairs with Adam.
"Abba?" Adam asked as he walked into his room
Tony patted the bed and Adam sat down.
"I need your help." Tony said.
Translations.
Father, do you speak this language?
Yes, I speak Italian. Who taught you to speak it?
I wanted to tell you but I didn't know how, Abba, I have a sister. She was on the streets with me until Ima took her to Haven, She said that there was important work for her to do; she wouldn't let me go Abba. I begged and pleaded but she took my sister away from me. Can you save my sister Abba, please?