"What do you mean you need to give the case away? I thought you said you had it." Director Shepard stared at Gibbs.

"Well I don't have it anymore. Give it to a different team." He left her office, but she followed.

"Why exactly do you not want your team on it?"

Gibbs spun to face the director. "Because my team is one man down at the moment."'

"Who's down?" Abby's voice piped up from the bottom of the staircase. "McGee and Ziva are right down there. Though Tony hasn't been here all day. Oh my god, where's Tony? Is he ok?"

"Don't worry Abby. Tony is gonna be fine."

"How long has it been?"

"About 3 hours." He had left Jenny behind by now, and Abby followed him into the bullpen.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I didn't want to worry you."

"I told you; you need to tell me these things." She returned Gibbs' stare. "What can I do to help?"

"We found a metal pipe at the crime scene. Could you lift some fingerprints off of it?"

"Right on it, Gibbs." She ran off to her lab.

Gibbs was as worried as she was. It was obvious that this was no accident; someone was out to get Tony.

NCISNCISNCISNCIS

"You don't shut your mouth up and you are going to be very, very dead Tony." Dorman cracked his knuckles.

"As opposed to just regular dead. There is quite a difference." Tony bit his lip as Dorman shoved his knife into Tony's leg again.

After half an hour, Tony had a black eye, bitten to the point of bleeding lips, and close to 10 stab wounds running down his left side. He'd only spoken twice. The first time was to tell Dorman not to hurt Eli, which actually ended with Eli having a rather large gash in his arm.

"I think I'll give you a break. Maybe the little brat over there will wake up." Before leaving, Dorman ripped off a piece of Eli's shirt and used it to wrap up Eli's arm.

"You ok there, kid?" Tony was breathing harder.

"My arm hurts."

"Besides that."

"You are clearly in more pain than I am." He was trying to avoid looking at Tony, who Dorman hadn't patched up.

"Did I ask about me?"

"Who the hell are you?" A new voice jumped in from the other side of the room. Both boys turned to see the girl awake, fire burning in her eyes. "What the hell is going on?"

"There's no need to swear, sweetie. You just need to cal-"

"You are not my dad, boyfriend, or brother. You cannot call me sweetie, you creeper."

"Okay, then what is your name?"

"None of your business."

"Okay, my name is Tony DiNozzo. I'm a special agent at NCIS. This is Eli. And notice that we're trapped, same as you. Now, what is your name?"

The girl was wary. "Most people call me Lily."

"Okay, Lily."

"Stop saying 'okay.' And if you try any of that baby reassurance crap I'll…" She was at a loss, just discovering she was tied very tightly to the chair. She looked at Eli. "Why the hell are you dressed so weird?"

"I am Amish." Eli stated simply.

"Again with the swearing," Tony directed at Lily. "You're only what, 10?"

"I'm 12 and a half, you moron." He almost spoke, but, "And don't tell me to calm down. How do you think I should react when I wake up tied to a chair stuck in a room with two bozos?"

"What is a 'bozo'?" Eli was blank.

"You are," Lily quipped.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Oh yeah, I forgot, I'm talking to one of the Great Medieval."

"We are not medieval; we simply do not use modern electronics."

"That's pretty damn medieval to me."

"Lily, Eli; both of you be quiet." They turned to look at him. "We need to work together if we're going to get out of this."

"I am not working with you and the winner of the Pretty-Boy-of-the-Year competition."

"Well I'm not a big fan of you either at the moment. But we don't have any other options, now do we?"

She huffed. "Point taken." She slouched into her chair. "So what's your plan MacGyver?"

"Who is MacGyver?" Eli asked.

"What, do you live under a rock?"

"And that is enough, thank you!" Tony cut them off. "I am in enough pain right now; I don't need more from you."

Lily examined Tony for the first time. She saw all the blood and bruises. Her eyes widened. "What the he-" switching her words, "what on earth happened to you?"

"Nothing compared to what is going to happen if we don't get out of here."

"Okay," Lily looked back and forth between her new companions. "I'm listening."

"The first step is getting us untied."

"I think I'll help with that." Dorman was in the doorway. He went over to Eli and cut his hands free. "Eat up," he threw a piece of bread and a banana on each person's lap. "It's the only food you'll be getting for quite a while."

"Aren't you gonna cut our hands, Dorman?" Tony asked.

"Sure Tony." Tony hissed as a knife sliced open his palms. "Little Mr. Knepp is the only person in here who I'm helping right now."

"I'm 17." Eli said as he picked up his bread.

"I know that Eli." Dorman walked over and tilted the teenager's chin up. "In fact, you probably don't even remember the reason you're here. You were only 4. Agent DiNozzo knows why you're here."

Tony had been searching his brain for the answer. 13 years was a long time. "Eli Knepp… the little boy who saw the murder."

"Ding, ding. We have a winner." Right in Eli's face, "if you hadn't wandered away from your mommy, you wouldn't have wound up outside my door, and no one would have called 911."

"He was just a kid, Dorman." Two hard slams to the gut.

"You better eat before I start pulling your teeth Tony." And he was gone again.

"How the he- eck are we supposed to eat without our hands?" Lily was watching Tony. She had asked about the food, but she was really wondering if her new protector was still conscious. His head hung down and he drew labored breaths.

"Here," Eli bent down and untied his ankles. He left his own food on his chair and went to Lily. "I will help."

"What are you going to do; feed me? Just untie my hands."

"I watched the man commit murder. I fear he will harm you if I free you." He held the bread to her mouth and she hesitantly took a bite.

They continued like this for a few minutes, eventually moving on to the banana. The whole time both were staring at Tony. He was their only hope, and his outlook wasn't very good.

so yeah, no real action here, but i promise it'll get better next chapter… anywho, please R&R =)