"Hello, I'm Dr Mallard, I would like to see Eliana Shepard's doctor, I'm here on behalf of NCIS as part of an ongoing investigation." Announced Dr Mallard at the nurse's station on the paediatric ward.

Just as he finished, a young woman with long blonde hair approached, smiling at Ducky.

"Hello, I'm Dr Elizabeth Moore but please call me Liz, you must be Dr Mallard." Introduced the woman.

"Yes, I go by Ducky though, an unfortunate nickname I acquired back in London as a young lad." Explained Ducky as he followed Dr Moore to her office. They sat down at her desk with several scans on her table, and she explained that when Eliana came in the FBI gave no information about what the young girl had been through apart from being held hostage.

"This meant that we had to do extensive tests and work from what we could see externally. We rushed Eliana into surgery after getting her CT results back, she was bleeding internally due to a ruptured spleen and pancreas, the large intestine and stomach were also damaged. We managed to repair the stomach and large intestine but had to perform a partial resection of both organs. Unfortunately, the spleen and pancreas were damaged beyond repair." Explained Eliana's doctor.

She continued to explain that because of Eliana, having her whole pancreas removed, parts of her small intestine had to be removed too. Eliana would need close monitoring of her diet and more frequent small meals, due to the decreased stomach size. She also noted that because of the splenectomy, Eliana will need to take low dose antibiotics for the rest of her life. The most difficult to manage effect of Eliana's first surgery would be diabetes as a result of having her pancreas removed and having to take pancreatic enzyme pills. Eliana was also taking high dose antibiotics for the moment because there might have been a slow leak from the ruptured and damaged organs.

"There were no complications in surgery but Eliana did not wake up from the anaesthetic. We did a head CT after the operation and found severe swelling in the brain. She had cerebral oedema in the somatomotor area, as a result, she was rushed back to surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain."

Dr Moore also explained how the head CT showed trauma to the cerebellum and that combined with the damage from cerebral oedema would likely mean that Eliana would have to re-learn how to walk and deal with seizures. Eliana alongside internal injuries had a severe concussion causing extensive facial swelling, 6 broken ribs, a fractured skull, first degree burns covering 20-30% of her arms, third-degree burns caused by electricity covering 10% of her torso, and more third-degree burns covering 90%+ of the soles of her feet.

Ducky looked on in despair, anger bubbling inside of him but the doctor had not yet finished. There were cuts from knives and whips all across her body along with bruises, scars and incorrectly healed bones. Dr Moore explained that they were expecting more complications to arise. There was also a particularly deep cut on her abdomen that required surgery to repair, it had been done when Eliana was first brought in.

"There is also the matter of psychological damage, the girl had obviously been tortured but by the looks of the incorrectly healed bones and abundance of scars this girl has been physically abused for years. I believe that your colleagues came in this morning and worked out that Eliana understands Hebrew but expresses herself using sign language." Ducky nodded and allowed the doctor to continue.

"That's an excellent start because as of yet Eliana has been unable to communicate with us at all, we have no idea how much pain she is in or how she is feeling emotionally. Agent Gibbs also explained that Eliana is autistic which will have massive implications in terms of treatment methods."

"So what exactly is the plan for treatments? Eliana has pulled through against all odds, she deserves the best treatment possible." Said Ducky

"She does indeed, I am proposing that tomorrow agents Gibbs and David come in to help Eliana communicate her needs, I will likely require them all day because we have noted that emotional distress and fatigue are big contributors to seizures. I would like to have a comprehensive treatment plan by tomorrow evening. We are looking at the possibility of transferring to Walter Reed because they have experience and specialists for POW and torture survivors, which we believe match Eliana's situation. She is eligible because Agent Gibbs is ex-navy and works for NCIS and her biological mother was a navy dependent."

Ducky nodded his agreement and promised to pass on information to David and Gibbs about tomorrow's meeting. He then thanked Liz and headed back to NCIS with a new admiration for Eliana.

When Ducky got back from the hospital, he headed to the squad room to update Jethro and Ziva, but when he arrived, only Gibbs was there.

"Duck how did the meeting with the Doc go?"

"Dr Moore explained Eliana's condition, she is by no means out of the dark and has a long road to recovery. The doctor asked if you and Ziva would spend tomorrow at the hospital to translate so that she can make a treatment plan for Eliana."

"Of course Duck, I will let Ziva know when she gets back. How was Eliana after her seizures this morning." Asked Gibbs. Ducky reassured Gibbs that whilst Eliana was sleeping, it was normal after having as many seizures as she had. Ducky then headed down to autopsy to do some research with Mr Palmer into possible ways to help Eliana.

Once Ducky had left, the elevators 'ding' alerted Gibbs to his agent's return. There was no bickering between them which made Gibbs suspicious. He stood up and looked at his agents. Ziva looked as though she had been dragged through a bush, absolutely exhausted, hair tangled and clothes crumpled. Tim looked very awkward, more so than usual. Tony's expression was neutral but for Tony that was a sign something was amiss, he usually wore his emotions on his face.

"What you got?" Asked Gibbs.

"Tire tracks Boss, I'll take them down to Abby" offered McGee, he was eager to escape the awkwardness. He knew Ziva suffered from nightmares and occasional flashbacks but he had never witnessed either first hand. When Ziva returned from Somalia she switched between Gibbs and Tony's places for a couple of weeks. McGee also suspected, along with almost everyone else who knew Tony and Ziva, that there was something else between them but today he saw a side of Tony he didn't know existed.

Ziva sat down at her desk and removed her crumpled NCIS field jacket and cap, she then took a pill from her desk and got to work. Tony was looking at her carefully checking for any residual signs of a flashback, he was also painfully aware of Gibbs watching them both. Ziva looked up at Tony and their eyes met, Gibbs watched the two agents as they seemingly had a conversation without words between the two of them. Tony sighed and stood up and walked over to Gibbs' desk.

"Boss, Ziva had a flashback at the cabin, it was a pretty bad one but she's okay now." Explained Tony, Ziva was glaring at Tony, she wasn't impressed with her partner.

"Ziva you want the rest of the day off?" Asked Gibbs.

"No, I would rather be here working the case to keep me busy." Gibbs nodded but told her to take it easy and to let them know if she needed anything.