hiya!... sorry it took so long for me to update… after a combination of computer crashes, writers block, and falling off my horse again I finally finished… also, from falling off my horse I have learned two things; 1. rocks are very good at hiding in dirt and appearing at the worst possible moments, and 2. typing one-handed with my off-hand is rather difficult (and annoying)… anywho, to the story!
Dorman had Eli on drugs.
Every half hour for the past 6 hours he came in and gave Eli a shot of something. Tony wasn't sure what it was, but it made the boy delusional.
At one point he was trying to balance his chair on his head. That didn't work so well for him. Then he tried eating Tony's jacket, which Tony didn't let him do.
Tony's pain was numbing over time. He moved as little as possible after sitting up against the wall. Lily had gotten her wish; she was no longer attached to the chair. Instead, her arms were behind her with her wrists tied to the chair leg. She was very happy to be able to move again, though it was restricted; their captor had bent her leg at a very odd angle, stepped on it, and it stayed that way after. She avoided looking at it.
"Hey Tony?" She said as they watched Eli try to climb the wall.
"Yeah."
"What's your family like?" She tilted her head.
"My family?" DiNozzo thought for a minute. "I have no siblings, my mom's dead, and my dad disowned me when I was 12." He smirked. "Some family."
"So you don't have anyone?" This set Tony thinking again.
"Actually, I do." His thoughts were on Gibbs, and Ziva, and McGee. Ducky, Abby, Jimmy, even Director Shepard was in the list. "We're a different kind of family." He smiled. "What about you?"
"My parents probably don't even realize I'm gone."
"What do you mean?"
"We have like a billion kids at my house. They've never noticed me when I ran away before; they won't notice me now."
"It's been almost a week, they know you're gone." He was ignored again. Lily was now talking to herself.
"They wouldn't care even if they did notice. They hate me." She laughed. "Everyone always hates me."
"Everyone doesn't hate you." He got her attention back.
"Oh really," she countered. "I went through 36 foster homes in 4 years. Why do you think it was that many? They all sent me back. They all hated me."
"Well maybe if you were a bit nicer-"
"I was nicer when I was 7. I still am nice… sometimes. To certain people."
"People, not me and Eli, people?"
"Nothing personal." She looked at Eli. "He had his birthday here."
"Huh?"
"Eli turned 17 a few days ago," she turned to Tony. "You were unconscious."
"Really happy birthday, huh?"
"Yeah, really." She sighed. "So tell me about this, uh, 'different' family of yours."
He did. He talked for a long time about the team. He didn't even realize how long he was talking until he saw that Lily was asleep. It had been 20 minutes since she'd nodded off.
He then realized his eyes were watering, so he blinked back the tears. He missed his family. He hoped they were on their way.
NCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS
"Gibbs!" Abby spun around from her computer. Sure enough, Gibbs had just walked in, CafPow in his outstretched hand. She took it. "I finished with the metal pipe. There are fingerprints all over this thing, from two different people. The only thing from Tony on here is, uh," she hesitated, "blood. But I ran both sets of prints, and check this out."
She pulled the id up on the screen. "The first set belongs to one Aaron Dorman. The second set confused me, so I ran it again, and that was when I got the results on the rest of the blood back. There's both prints and blood from," another id came onto the screen, "Adenydd Beatte." She turned, but Gibbs was already halfway to the elevator.
"Thanks, Abbs," he called back to her. He went to the bullpen where McGee had something on the plasma.
"Boss, we think we know who has the Beatte girl." Clicking a few buttons, "she went into custody of the state before she was a year old. Reason being, her father went to jail for killing her mother. Her father-"
"Aaron Dorman." Gibbs cut him off.
"Yeah," by now, McGee wasn't too surprised when Gibbs just knew things. "He broke out of jail a month ago and went completely off the radar."
"What's his connection to DiNozzo?" McGee looked confused.
"Tony?"
"His and Adenydd's blood were both on that pipe. Why would Dorman want Tony?"
Ziva looked at the case file, and then entered a search in the computer. "Tony put him in jail, back when he was a Baltimore cop."
"Find out where Dorman lived before jail, his hangouts, his work, everything. Any place he could be right now." They split up.
Gibbs stared at the screen. It'd been 6 days since Adenydd went missing, 5 for Tony. They needed to hurry up. They needed a break in the case-- now.
NCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS
Tony glanced at the door. Dorman hadn't come in for quite a while. The only one unhappy about that was Eli. He was clawing at the ground by the doorway, and his nails were bleeding already. He was in need of his drug fix, which he hadn't gotten in several hours.
When Dorman did walk in, Eli held out his arm for the shot. Getting nothing, he went back to clawing. Tony tensed- he saw a toolbox in Dorman's hand.
"Hello Tony." He dropped the box at Tony's feet. "How have you been? In pain?" Tony didn't move. "I see." He hit the back of Tony's head, and instantly Tony's mind flashed to Gibbs.
Was he looking for Tony? Was he on his way right now? Gibbs had a habit of always showing up right when he was needed.
Then Dorman pulled out a drill. Tony focused his eyes on the metal bit. It was big. He tried moving farther away, but there was nowhere to go. He was already backed into the wall. Dorman took his hand gently.
"Let's start simple, shall we?"
Tony winced and closed his eyes as the point of the drill touched his skin. His hand jerked away from the drill's bite. That angered Dorman, who pinned Tony's wrist to the ground.
This time, the drill broke skin. Tony felt it wind through his flesh. He couldn't help squirming. In fact, he was to the point of thrashing away from the pain, but Dorman's strong grip held his hand in place.
The whirring of the drill rung in his ears. The pain seemed endless and he could feel warm blood running down his hand. When the drill broke through the other side, Dorman pulled it out.
Tony only glanced at his hand, and he couldn't bear to look any longer. It was a bloody mess, with a hole in the middle.
When Dorman went to grab the other hand Tony lunged sideways. He frantically scrambled to the far corner of the room. He didn't care that his body felt like it was on fire; anything to get away. However, in a small room there aren't many places to go. Dorman was back next to him in a second.
"Tony- stay still." Dorman repeated the act on Tony's other hand.
From the doorway, Eli watched curiously as a wire was threaded through both of his friend's hands. The wire was pulled up and wound together near the agent's thumbs.
Uninterested, he turned and saw the toolbox by the wall. Eli went to it, hoping the shot he was craving was in there. Inside he dug through tools until he found a small bottle. He couldn't read the label, but it smelled like his stuff. He opened the bottle to drink from it.
"Eli!" He jumped at the sound of his name. He looked to Tony dazedly. He couldn't really see Tony's injuries, so he wasn't scared by the man's battered and bloodied appearance. Dorman came and took the bottle from Eli's grip.
"That is not yours Eli, that's alcohol. Although…" Dorman turned and went to Tony. He dumped the bottle over Tony's head. Tony cried out in pain. The alcohol was getting in his wounds and it hurt like hell. Alcohol and blood ran down his body, drenching his clothes and pooling on the floor.
As Tony struggled, Dorman gave Eli his shot. Eli happily sat on the floor and began humming.
The next item out of the toolbox was a lighter. Dorman flicked it on and held it in Tony's face. Tony turned his head away. Alcohol is flammable; this couldn't end well.
Dorman grabbed Tony's hair and slammed his head on the wall. "I said- stay still."
Dorman put the flame to Tony's cheek. It caught.
Tony writhed in pain as the flames spread down the right side of his face, making their way to his neck. The wire tore at his hands as he thrashed.
It was five minutes later that he rolled the fire out. His whole right side, from shoulders up, was raw and bleeding.
He lay on his back and tried to relax, to ignore the pain. It was impossible to do.
A few feet away, Eli rocked back and forth and quietly sang his song.
"Now don't you laugh when the hearse goes by,
'cause you may be the next to die.
They wrap you up in bloody sheets,
they throw you down about 6 feet deep…"
The tune was slow and soft. Tony somehow drifted to sleep.