Chapter Seven:
Time Change
"Gibbs." Ducky looked up as Gibbs as he entered the morgue.
"What is it, Duck?" Gibbs asked quietly as he approached the X-ray reader.
"His age, Gibbs. His age." Ducky murmured obviously horrified.
"You already knew he was young." Gibbs replied quietly.
"Yes. But I also had no idea the trama he's suffered. Gibbs, this single arm as been broken at least twice. One, that I can tell, a while ago. Another that I am sure of is rather recent, within the last year or two." Ducky said, he's eyes seeking out Gibbs'.
"Your point, Ducky?" Gibbs asked clearly unmoved.
"Gibbs, from this X-ray I've concluded Max is fifteen of sixteen…which would me he suffered from this very traumatic injury when he was thirteen of fourteen."
Gibbs finally understood what Ducky was trying to tell him. He dropped his arms and stared at the arm. "I want you to do a full examination of him, Ducky." Gibbs said. "He'll be down shortly."
"Of course." Ducky replied as Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and headed for the door.
"Hey boss. Um, yeah. We're getting pizza to bring back. Yes…no…Gibbs!" McGee glanced at Alex horrified by whatever Gibbs had said. "I…okay…" He finally conceded before hanging up his cell and turning to Alex. "We're going to eat at Gibbs', there's a case and he…he doesn't want you involved." Timothy whispered ashamed, not meeting Alex's eye.
"I understand. Gibbs doesn't trust me." Alex turned away, slightly hurt in a way only a teenager could be.
Tim watched as Alex turned his back on him, giving him the perfect opportunity to slip a sleeping drug into his drink.
The drug didn't take effect until after Max was back in the car, much to McGee's relief. He would have hated to flash his badge in order to get the other man out of the pizza joint.
"I'm on my way over…I hope this is worth it." McGee muttered into the phone pressed tightly against his ear.
"Gibbs believes it is." Tony replied, glancing nervously towards one of the only men he trusted with his life.
"As do I." Ziva added confidently into Tony's phone since he'd put it on speaker.
Palmer decided to jump in. "Regardless, Ducky is talking to him about it right now." Both Tony and Ziva glanced across the room to where Ducky and Gibbs were conversing.
"Well, maybe he'll talk some sense into him." McGee replied uncertainly.
Tony snorted, Ziva's eyes darted back to Gibbs, and Palmer actually let out a short chuckle which attracted Gibbs' attention, drawling him over.
"Got to go, McGeek." Tony whispered and hung up. "They're on their way, boss."
"Good. Go up and meet them." Gibbs said and went to get Abby.
Twenty minutes later Max was stretched out on one of Ducky's table with Ziva and Tony standing guard outside the door. McGee was up on the bullpen on phone duty and running interception/cover stories for where everyone was. Gibbs, Abby, Palmer, and Ducky were all in the morgue either examining Max or collecting samples to run DNA.
"'K. I've got everything I need." Abby declared and gathered everything before leaving.
"I want results-" Gibbs started.
Abby cut him off. "ASAP! Got it boss-man!" She called as she rushed out.
Gibbs smiled as he turned back around only to frown again when he looked down and Max's half naked body. The kid was covered in scares Ducky had already determined were from shootings, stabbings, beatings, etc...
"Who," Ducky stopped to think before asking a different question. "What is he, Gibbs?"
Stepping away from the table and heading for his desk, leaving Palmer to re-dress the boy.
"A child that is turning out to be more trouble than he's worth." Gibbs replied, patting Ducky on the back before heading for the door. "Tony! Get in here."
"Sure thing boss!" Tony called. "What do you want?" Tony asked as soon as he was inside.
"We're going to take him to my house." Gibbs said shortly.
"Oh…to lessen the whole "we drugged you" thing?" Tony asked.
All he got was silence and a glare.
"Right. I'll go head." Tony called and rushed past Gibbs to the table where Max was still laid out looking a little bit too much like a dead body for the comfort of the team who'd seen him alive only hours earlier.
Alex opened his eyes and frowned. He glanced around; the scenery outside had changed. He glanced at both the car's clock and his wrist watched, they both showed about twenty minutes of time had passed.
Alex shrugged and rested his head against the head-restraint. He must be more exhausted than he'd originally thought. Probably due to the reoccurring nightmares he'd been suffering from for a year or two now.
McGee glanced nervously at Alex, hoping Gibbs plan of "time change" had worked.
