Chapter 14: Fairy tales

They arrived in the second floor where the exam room 15 was and rushed to the nurse's station, asking directions for the correct room. The chief nurse pointed to the last door in the corridor and the agents, after a deep breath to restore their calm, started to move in a cohesive mass towards the indicated door.

Once they reached the door they peeked into the room, finding a nurse gently talking to a little girl not older than six, lying forlornly against the pillows of her hospital bed. She was in a cast from her waist down, in a bilateral long leg hip spica cast which left only the tips of her tiny toes out. She pouted and wiggled her toes, basically ignoring the nurse who was lecturing her on not stuffing colored pencils under her cast.

They tried to look away but the little girl looked so lost and fragile that their hearts went out to her plight, mentally trying to figure out where her family might be and what could have possibly happened to land her in that situation.

"Excuse me, I need to see my patient." A very familiar voice sounded behind them.

They turned around and found Jimmy in blue scrubs all doctors used in that hospital, his eyes fixed in whatever was written in the file in his hands.

"JIMMY!"

"Mr. Palmer!"

Jimmy barely had time to look up before being grabbed into a bear hug by Tony, who squeezed him around his middle and made him squeal in pain. As soon as he was put down the floor both Ziva and McGee took their time to hug him as well, shocking him into a stupor.

"Guys?" He looked confused from one to the other, before his eyes finally landed on Ducky who took two steps and hugged him, slapping him heavily in his back as the older man struggled to contain his emotions.

"What are you doing here?" The young doctor could barely hide his surprise at their visit.

"What are we doing here? We thought you were dead, man." Tony complained.

"Me? Dead? Why?"

"You simply disappeared from the face of the earth." McGee complained. "You left without saying goodbye and when we finally hear from you – actually from your car – it was in a horrible accident. We simply assumed the worst case scenario."

"Oh, really?" He gulped, seeing the pained looks on his old mentor. "I … I completely forgot about the car, things have been crazy since I've arrived here and I barely had time to crash in the doctor's lounge before the next emergency."

"It's no wonder Ducky couldn't find you in the wounded list. You were never in it." Gibbs muttered, approaching Jimmy and glaring down at him, expecting to see the usual intimidated face in the younger man but he was pleasantly surprised when Jimmy just looked at him with glazed eyes, his mind obviously elsewhere.

"No, I have been in the E.R or in the O.R. right from the beginning."

"And why didn't the E.R. chief recognize your picture when we showed him your picture?" Gibbs asked.

"Who did you talk to in there?"

"A Dr. Carson."

"Ah… that explains a lot. He hates Gloria and he got quite pissed off that Gloria handpicked me to be in her team."

"Really?"

"Who's Gloria?" McGee interrupted.

"Ah… Gloria is…"

"I'm Gloria." Jimmy closed his eyes and gulped, turning around to look down to the impassive face of his supervisor who seemed to have the power to materialize in thin air. "And I'm the Supervisor of the Trauma Unit in this hospital. And I am wondering who you are and why my new trauma doctor is not doing his work."

"Ah… ergh... Gloria, may I introduce you to my former team. These are NCIS Special Agents Anthony DiNozzo, Ziva David, Timothy McGee and Gibbs and… this is Dr. Mallard. We used to work together at NCIS."

"Uhm… " Gloria studied them unimpressed, her gaze stopping briefly on each of them before settling on Dr. Mallard, who took a step forward and offered a hand in greeting.

"It's a pleasure to meet such charming physician."

Gloria raised an eyebrow at that, not making any move to take his hand. Ducky seeing her haughty look lowered his hand.

"Sweet words and pleasantries won't take you anywhere here, Dr. Mallard. May I enquire what is your area of expertise in medicine?"

"I'm currently a medical examiner but during several years I was a practicing trauma doctor working for the military."

"Uhm…" She smiled thinly, not willing to expose her surprise at that. "Not bad." She glanced at Jimmy, who was looking anxiously from her to his former mentor, unsure of who to help. "Dr. Palmer, have you already given the news to little Emma?"

"Ah…" Jimmy scratched his head. "No… I was on my way to her room when I've met them."

"So you'd better do it soon. Social Services have already been notified and a child psychologist will drop by sometime today to ascertain her case."

Jimmy hunched his shoulders, glancing uncomfortably to Ducky before his gaze went back to Gloria. "What's going to happen to her?"

Gloria fixed hard eyes on him, stiffening her spine and glaring at him from the height of her five foot one.

"It is not your concern what happens to her from now on. What you must focus now is ensure that she leaves this hospital walls physically and psychologically able to endure the next stage in her life. It's going to be a hard slap of reality in her face, yes, it will be. But she's a survivor; she will adapt and thrive in a different environment far from the pernicious influence of her previous life. Life is made out of choices, Dr. Palmer, and we have to teach our patients to make the right one despite of how difficult it might be. Do you understand?"

"Chrystal clear, ma'am."

"Good." She looked briefly at the agents who had watched the exchange in silence. "I appreciate your visit to your former colleague but this is a hospital, not a country club. You may meet him again once his working hours are over. There is a hotel two blocks from here, you may settle down there and schedule an appointment later on, but right now I need my doctor back."

Gibbs' eyebrows went up at that forceful statement, a small smirk gracing his lips as he folded arms and studied the small general like doctor in front of him.

"Your doctor?"

Gloria smiled evilly at him squinting her eyes at his cheekiness. "Ah… don't get me wrong, Agent Gibbs. You've held him under your thumb for a long time but …" she approached him and said in a stage whisper, her eyes never leaving his. "… he's mine now."

Gibbs' face didn't move a muscle, but it was clear to him that Gloria had stuck her claws – either physical as well as metaphorical ones – in Jimmy, claiming him as one of her own. And she was not shy of letting him know that if he tried to fight her on this she would play hard and dirty to get her way.

Gibbs smiled thinly, nodding slightly in acceptance of the threat. Gloria took a step back and acknowledged the nod, her gaze going back to Jimmy just to find him staring at her goggled eyed and with an open mouth in surprise.

"Dr. Palmer?"

"Ah… ehh… yes ma'am?"

"Back to work. "

He gulped and after a thin smile to his friends apologizing for his escape, scurried to the door of exam room 15 grabbing the patient file of the paper holder and studying it lightly before going inside to talk to the little girl.

The agents observed with surprise how the little girl seemed to brighten up with his arrival, exploding in a beautiful smile and lifting her arms so he could hug her.

"Dr. Jimmy!"

"Princess Emma! I've missed you!"

"I've missed you too!"

They hugged as long lost siblings, her delighted childish laughter ringing in the room. Jimmy opened a small drawer and took a book out of it, opening it in the bookmarked page. The agents moved closer to the door to look at the scene wondering about the strange little girl and the book in Jimmy's hand.

"Were were we?"

"We were reading about Rumpelstilskin."

"Ah… yeah… Rumpelstilskin…" Jimmy made a show of looking for the right story, frowning his forehead deeply as if looking very hard for the right paragraph in the page. He smiled when he found it. "Here it is. Once upon a time, in a very far away land, there was a wicked man…"

Ducky felt his heart squeeze in his chest as he watched the little girl fist her eyes tiredly before leaning – as much as she could despite her cast - against Jimmy's chest, who had sat down on the edge of the bed and was leaning against the pillows.