Ch. 5

When Abby woke up the next morning, she found Tony lying down on her couch with his back facing her direction. She walked up to wake Tony up, but before she could shake the man awake, he said, "Abby, I don't know what to do now. Everything's so confusing to me. How am I supposed to protect her, when I can't even be with her?"

Abby's heart dropped to her stomach after hearing Tony's painful expression in his voice. She said to him, "I'm sorry, Tony. We tried our best to keep her from leaving us. At least we got to lower the number of days." Abby felt tears of sympathy fall down her cheeks. She sat near Tony's head, picking it up and setting it on her lap.

"The thing is Abby I couldn't help her when she was getting attacked, when she had a mental break down, when she was sent away. MCGEE did a better job at helping her than I did. I was going to let her suffer through a week of hospitalization, and McGee got to lower the number of days she was going to be put in there. I don't know why I didn't think of that." Tears flooded out of Tony's eyes, clutching his fists together. Abby started petting Tony's hair, trying to comfort the lonely man.

"Tony, just remember that NCIS is always here for you. How about this, after work, you and I will go see Sarah, OK?" She tilted Tony's head so she could look in his eyes, smiling a little to help give ease to the man.

"That sounds wonderful, Abby," replied Tony, getting up from the couch and walking to the bathroom to clean himself up.

Abby sighed after Tony closed the door to her bathroom. "How are we supposed to survive when our dearest one is away? I know you know the answer to that question better than anyone else, Gibbs," Abby whispered to herself.

After a long, tiring day of work, Tony was somewhat happy to go see Sarah. Not that seeing Sarah wasn't a joy, it's just seeing her in a prison like setting was… depressing in Tony's eyes. After grabbing Abby, Tony drove them both to see Sarah at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington.

Once there, Tony walked up to the front desk to put in his information and gave away his gun so he could visit his ward. The room he walked into had carpeted floor, blue painted walls, the doors to all the rooms were open, and patients were scattered across the room, some talking to parents, some talking to other patients, or some by themselves, alone. Sarah was one of the patients by herself, playing with her bracelet, she looked positively bored. Seeing her like this made Tony and Abby's heart stop.

"Sarah!" Abby called to the girl with a smile on her face.

Sarah looked up from her hands at the sound of Abby's voice. A smile spread on the girls face, making her face glow. "Abby!" Sarah called back. She realized Tony was with the older woman and her smile widened. "Tony!" Sarah practically screamed and she jumped up from her spot. An orderly yelled at her to sit back down, but she ignored the order and ran over to Tony and gave him a big hug. "I missed you so much!" The girl started to cry tears of joy. Tony hugged her back just as much, then let go of her, and led the three of them to a table so they could talk.

About an hour later, the trio said their tear filled goodbyes. The orderlies had to hold Sarah back so she wouldn't run away with Tony and Abby. Abby waved to the girl, her sniffling making Tony feel slightly uncomfortable.

"We'll come see you tomorrow, Sarah. I'll bring McGeek with us, OK?" questioned Tony, smiling at Sarah, making her smile in return.

"That sounds good!" Sarah replied to her caretaker, waving back to Abby.

The next three days went by agonizingly slow for Tony, even when trying to solve Mrs. Goldings's murder; he couldn't find the excitement on making another case closed.

On the last day of Sarah's hospitalization, everyone on Gibbs's team was noticeably happier than they were before the incident happened.

"Tony, aren't you excited that Sarah gets out today?" shouted Abby to Tony across the squad room.

"I am, Abby Sciuto, and what are we going to do when we go pick her up?" Tony asked in his announcer voice.

"Have a party at my house!" Abby yelled, making everyone outside of the team look at the girl strangely.

"That sounds fun, may I join you in the festivities, Abby?" asked agent David walking up to the two excited people.

"Of course Ziva, McGee and Gibbs can come too if they would like," replied Abby, gesturing to the other two men in the room.

"I'll take you up on the offer, Abby," Gibbs expressed with a small smile on his face.

"I have nothing else to do, and besides, a party sounds really good to me," stated McGee, smiling at Abby.

"OK, Tony, go pick up Sarah while Gibbs, McGee, Ziva, Ducky, and I prepare the home coming. Sounds good to everyone?" inquired Abby in which she received a nod from the group. "Well, let's go then!"

Sarah couldn't describe what she felt when she stepped into the apartment, finding that it had been decorated just for her. Sarah never had a "welcome home" party after she came back from any hospital visit before, so it was a joy to see a change. That's when she knew that she had a family here in Washington D.C. She never wanted to be separated from them, no matter what. She will fight for them, and they will fight for her.

She started crying tears of joy, and whispered, "I'm home, finally home." All of them gathered in a big hug. Forgetting everything that had happened that week: the tears, the yells, the fights, the blood, and the death.

Their happiness only lasts the night and till noon. When Vance said that there was going to be visitors looking to donate to NCIS, the team didn't know what to expect from the people.

Tony was confused on why Sarah was hiding under his desk her arms holding her legs, and rocking back and forth. She was muttering, "They can't be here. They couldn't have found me. I don't know who would have told them... That's right, Chad! We shouldn't have trusted Uncle Joe... I know Angel that he's my uncle and such... Don't get prissy with me, Aang!... No! Tony would do no such thing! He loves us, remember?"

"Sarah, honey, what's wrong? I can help you and your friends out, if you guys want my help," Tony intervened in the conversation, seeing that a fight would erupt between the four, he thinks, people.

"They're here, Tony! In this building! They can't see me! I have to hide here!" the girl whisper shouted at Tony.

He just looked further confused on who she was talking about. "Who do you have to hide from?"

"Them! They're here! In this very building, my worst nightmare has come to life!" Sarah started crying at her saying this. "Shut up, Chad! That's not funny!"

"Sarah, if you want me to protect you, you're going to have to tell me who to protect you from," replied Tony, not taking notice of Sarah's yelling. Some people are starting to stare at Tony, since he was the only person they could see. They did hear Sarah's shout at a guy named Chad, that's when they started walking away at that point.

"They're the visitors today. Don't let them see me Tony! Promise me that, at least!" she grabbed ahold of his shirt, tears, sadness, and insanity in her eyes.

He took the girls hands, held them close to him, and replied, "Of course, Sarah. If it brings you comfort I'll do it for you." He kissed her hands and let her stay under his desk for the rest of the day. "How am I supposed to tell the difference between the visitors, and the people Sarah was so afraid of," Tony whispered to himself, going off to find Abby to help him in his quest.

Not to Tony's knowledge at the time, he didn't know he was being followed.

-Sorry the chapter is so short, and that it took me two days! I'm sorry! I hope you liked it!-