Author's Note:

Thanks for the reviews! You inspire me!

Special thanks to 90The General09 for his contribution to the military side of things. He helped me write a portion of this chapter, and I'm very grateful. The military aspect is not my specialty but I wanted to make the story as authentic as I can.

I hope you enjoy!

Until next time,

Jenny Wrens :)

"Can't do nothing right, can you boy? Good for nothing is all you are. Don't know why your momma thinks you're so special." The drunken man's words were slurred as usual but his aim was always accurate, thanks to his Marine training. The belt cracking down making him cringe and cry out. He tried hard not to cry out, but it hurt too much not too. His father wanted him to act like a man, not a baby, but he couldn't help it. The man continued to berate him and shout obscenities at him, all the while beating him soundly. Riley curled up into a ball to try and protect some part of his body from the blows. Sometimes, if he was lucky he could drift outside of himself to escape the worst of it.

Riley moaned in his sleep.

"You're a useless pile of excrement, Janssen." The D.I. looked to the rest of the recruits in disgust. "Remember whose fault it is." The recruits all glared at Riley as they began their run again after already cooling down. Riley felt the D.I shove his head into the doorway as he exited the room. He kept walking without a word as blood gushed from his nose.

Riley's head tossed and turned in his sleep.

"Son of a bitch!" shouted the DI, slamming Riley's head into the wall. "I'm going to kill you, Janssen, you hear me?" Riley swallowed hard as the large man wrapped his hand around his throat and began choking him.

Perspiration dampened his hair. "No, stop," he mumbled out loud as he thrashed around in his bed.

Riley quickly gulped a breath of air before his head was shoved under the water once more. He fought as hard as he could to get up. He arms and legs flailed and he punched at the person holding him under. He felt himself being pulled up again and he gasped for air, trying to gain his wits about him only to be slammed in the gut and held under again.

Riley sprang up in the bed covered in a cold sweat. His eyes were wide in terror and his reflexes took over as he lashed out at the closest person to him.

"Hey there, Riley, calm down. You're safe, "said a vaguely familiar voice.

Riley turned to see Agent DiNozzo standing over him defensively. His heart was racing in his chest as he tried to make sense of where he was and how he got there.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital at Quantico."

"Why?"

Tony relaxed his shoulders a little and sat back down. Riley was not a threat at that moment; he was too overwhelmed and confused. "You were exhausted, Riley. They sedated you."

Riley leaned back in the bed once again, trying to remember how he'd gotten there and the events that led up to it. His head was clouded with so much garbage that it was hard to discern what reality was.

"Those must be some dreams," commented Tony, looking at the young man sympathetically.

Riley raked a shaky hand through his damp, sticky hair. The dreams were nothing new to him, but he couldn't help wondering how much he'd revealed about himself. He wasn't used to being watched while he slept.

"How's the girl?"

"We don't know yet," said Tony. "You were a big help in getting her out, Riley. Thank you for that. You could have taken off but you didn't. That's a sign of real maturity."

Riley nodded. He didn't recall much of what happened. He just remembered doing everything in his power to keep Aimee safe. He didn't know why he'd felt so drawn to the girl, but he knew he couldn't not help. He wouldn't have been able to live with himself had he just left.

"I can't remember much," he admitted.

Tony smiled at him. "It's okay."

Riley closed his eyes and listened to the sounds in his room; water dripping in the bathroom, machines beeping and ticking, and his own heartbeat thudding in his ears. He never remembered feeling this helpless before. He had no idea what was going to happen to him, and he was too tired to do anything about it. He hadn't been faring well on the streets either but he didn't know where to go from here. He probably could escape but then what? He was at a complete loss.

"So, what now?" asked Riley, turning his head to look at the agent beside him. "Are you here to arrest me?"

Tony shook his head. "No, and to be honest Riley, I don't really know what to tell you. I know about as much as you do right now."

Riley chewed on his lip thoughtfully. He wanted to feel something. He wanted to feel angry or scared or something….but instead, he felt numb and without hope.

XxXxNCISxXxX

Gibbs sat in his car in the parking lot at the hospital silently thinking. He glanced in his rearview mirror at the child in his backseat. Makayla was a mystery. She'd stubbornly climbed into the backseat of his car and inserted earbuds. He knew she didn't want to talk to him anymore, and he was okay with her shutting down for a while. Everyone needed some downtime, including him. They hadn't been driving more than a few minutes when he realized that she'd drifted to sleep. The poor kid was exhausted. She never noticed when he put the car in park and shut it off.

He didn't know why he felt so drawn to her or why she was so drawn to him. It was like they were cut from the same cloth which made no sense at all. He was a grouchy, old Marine Gunny turned NSIC agent. He was a simple man, and Makayla came from a family of both intellect and breeding. What could she possibly see in him? Gibbs chuckled to himself. What Jenny saw in him all those years ago begged an answer as well. It was no wonder she'd dumped him. The only woman who seemed to get him was Shannon.

Gibbs felt shaken for a moment when the truth hit him in the face. Shannon! Makayla reminded him of a younger version on Shannon. He'd met Shannon when she was 18 and Makayla seemed very similar, her tenacity and determination not to be put in a box. Shannon had run away from home at 18 to escape her overbearing mother. Shannon never could measure up to her mother's dreams for her. Gibbs was drawn to Makayla's independence and willpower. He envisioned that Makayla would have been exactly like his daughter, Kelly too. Makayla needed to be strengthened and taught to control her passions, not harnessed. Shannon would have never tried to bridle the girl. Jenny was fighting a losing battle trying.

Gibbs puffed out his cheeks as his thoughts turned to Jenny and her command regarding Riley. He knew that she'd been more than generous with the time frame. Jenny was being hounded now, but Gibbs didn't want to bring Riley in. He wanted—no, he needed-to talk to the kid and find out the whole convoluted story. Gibbs' gut told him a lot. McGee's Intel on Riley's childhood was horrid, and it made Gibbs furious. He had no tolerance for child abuse. Riley needed a break. The trouble was Gibbs wasn't sure how he could help. A Marine recruit going UA after assaulting his drill instructor was bad. Really bad. Riley could find himself facing a court martial and jail time.

He knew he had to make a decision concerning the kid, but he didn't know what. He knew that things were complicated; probably more complex than he even knew and what he did know was abysmal. It didn't sit well with Gibbs just turning Riley over to his authorities without some kind of resolution. Riley was a victim more than he was a criminal. Under ordinary circumstances, Gibbs would have handed him over straight away and not been bothered with the specifics. He knew he should have done that right from the get-go, but seeing the kid, looking into his eyes and observing the hurt and exhaustion on his face, Gibbs had just wanted to give the kid a break. He never would have guessed how his decision would start such a crazy snowball of events. He could never have speculated that Makayla and Abby would interfere as they did.

Suddenly, it hit Gibbs. He knew exactly who he should call. It was so simple; he could hardly believe he hadn't thought it earlier. Captain Joshua Marshall was just the man he needed.

XxXxNCISxXxX

During Operation Desert Storm, Gibbs' 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines had been attached to Bravo Company, 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marines for one component of the multi-pronged assault on Kuwait International Airport, which Saddam Hussein's 3rd Armored Division had occupied and turned into a base. Just after breaching a minefield blocking their approach, Bravo had come under fire from an Iraqi Army force ten times their size. Captain Joshua Marshall, Bravo's commander, had been knocked unconscious when his tank was fired on. His gunner had been struggling to open a hatch to get him and the badly injured loader out when Gibbs had climbed on top of the burning tank, climbed in and gotten all three of the turret crewman out, one by one. The driver was shot while bailing out, so Gibbs rushed to move him to cover and was shot himself.

Gibbs never knew the Marines won the battle until nearly a month later. His injuries left him comatose for nineteen days. Josh Marshall had pinned a Silver Star and Purple Heart to his hospital gown while he was out, and left a note, calling Gibbs "the bravest man I've ever known." Since that day, he and Josh Marshall had kept in touch with each other. It hadn't been easy considering Marshall stayed in the Corps and Gibbs signed on with NSIC, but somehow they managed. It was hard to forget somebody who'd been there when you stared death in the face. Gibbs, through various friends and contacts, kept track of Captain Marshall, who then became Brigadier General Marshall. The command he currently held couldn't have been more convenient for what Gibbs needed. He pulled out his cell and dialled the main number for the Commanding General's office, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island.

XxXxNCISxXxX

Josh Marshall looked up briefly from the stack of papers he was working through, glancing at the clock on his wall. As the Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, he had thousands of things to do each day. Even though his day typically started at 0400 and he spent as much as twelve to thirteen hours at work Monday to Friday, it often seemed like ten of him wouldn't be enough to stay on top of everything.

Even with the staff he had allocated to him as a 1-star general, the situation remained the same: there just weren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. But then, you couldn't command an 8000-acre military installation and expect things to be simple or easy, and it certainly didn't help when you had a recruit assault a drill instructor during a Crucible and go on Unauthorized Absence from the base. It had been over a month, and still, nobody knew here Riley Janssen was. That the kid had assaulted Gunnery Sergeant Adams and taken off from his platoon was more than a little disconcerting. Adams was a damned good drill instructor—one of the best, in fact—and he'd been decorated in 2005 for the extremely high quality of the Marines he made out of recruits. In the pursuit of victory in the War on Terror, the Marines needed men like Adams…even if scuttlebutt said he sometimes went to extremes doing his job.

The thing was, nobody ever actually reported or officially complained about Adams in any way, so Marshall let the scuttlebutt alone. But now, with a man missing and even Adams having a difficult time explaining why the guy—no more than a kid really—had assaulted him before he vanished, it left Marshall wondering.

Someone knocked on the solid oak door to Marshall's office. Like the panelling on the walls, it was polished so it shone like a mirror. "Enter!" Marshall called.

Captain Jake Ellis, Marshall's aide, stepped into the room, looking like a living recruiting poster as always. He'd ranked third in his class at Remington Military Academy, ditto at Harvard. 'Dependable' was an understatement.

"NCIS on the phone for you, sir," Ellis said.

"What for?" asked Marshall.

"Special Agent Gibbs just said it's a matter of importance, sir."

"Put him through."

"Yes, sir." Ellis pulled the door shut and returned to his own desk. Marshall could just hear him say, "Thank you for waiting, sir. I'm transferring you now."

The phone to Marshall's right rang just a moment later and within two rings the general snatched it up. "Marshall," he said. He never bothered to say anything else. Not one word or second was to be wasted.

"I have your missing recruit," Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs said right away. That was classic Gibbs, all right. He wasn't a man to waste time either.
"Hold him," Marshall answered immediately. "Military police will come to take care of him inside of twenty-four hours."
"It's not that simple, General."

"And why's that, Gunny?"

"Riley Janssen's not a deserter. He's got reason for going UA."
"It had better be good."

"You know of Gunnery Sergeant James Adams?"

"I do."

"He's the reason."

"One of the best DI's I've got on this sandbar is the reason?" Marshall retorted.

"You need to pull him off those recruits, General. He's gone too far for too long and it needs to stop."
"I'll tell you what's gonna stop!" Marshall roared, pounding his desk. "I'm gonna have this friggin' deserter nailed to my office door! If you think I'm gonna take the word of some kid who just doesn't pack the gear over-"

"General, hold your fire. You need to hear me out on this."

"And why should I do that?" Marshall demanded, still breathing hard, fighting to get himself under control. He wasn't given to such outbursts and that he had let one go this fast told him he was more stressed or tired than he realized, or both.
"Kuwait International. I'm calling in a favour."

Marshall sighed, putting his hands over his eyes. "All right, Gunny," he said finally, his voice strained. "Let me hear it."

XxXxNCISxXxX

Gibbs told the story as he'd put together-mostly from the tidbits Riley had let slip in conversation. He still planned to get more; he knew there was more. Gibbs started with the necessary background on Riley's abusive father that McGee had uncovered, and the effect that it had on Riley's behaviour. Then he went through the process that led Riley to enlist, and everything Riley had said about what recruit training had been like once he got there. Gunnery Sergeant Adams singling him out, the cruelty he'd subjected Riley to and how he'd imagined it came to a head with the recruit assaulting Adam's during the Crucible, then going UA.

The boss of MCRD Parris Island listened with some skepticism at first; Gibbs thought he heard the man scoff once or twice, but that was all. Being someone who remained calm in the face of practically anything, Gibbs just kept telling Marshall what he knew of Adams and what he'd been doing down there at Parris Island for a while. Riley's story wasn't the only one he'd heard. There had been plenty more. Some of it must have hit home because the general swore a few times. By the end, he fell silent.

Gibbs didn't need to press for a reply when Marshall remained silent at first. He simply waited, glancing at Makayla sleeping soundly in the back seat. He was grateful she'd remained sleeping. He hadn't wanted her to hear some of the things he had said regarding Riley.

"Gibbs." Marshall's voice was quiet, almost a whisper.

"Yes?"

"You're asking me to start an investigation into one of my best Senior DI's. This thing could get out of control fast. Or, I could be about to throw away a damned good DI's career for nothing. We're fighting a war on the other side of the world, and I need men with Adam's drive to make the Marines that're gonna win it. So, I'll ask you…what's your gut tell you, Gunny? You believe this kid?"

"Yes, I do." Gibbs said it without a second's hesitation.

Marshall sighed. "Alright. I'll make some calls. Tell that kid, Janssen, that Anvil Actual is on it."

Gibbs heaved a sigh as his phone went dead. He'd just released a hornet's nest and there was no telling what was going to happen now.