"We searched what food they had in the apartment, Boss, which wasn't much considering they had barely been in the house a day," Tony said leaning on the door of Jacks room.

They were having a meeting in the middle of the hallway of the hospital to give Alex a moment alone with Jack.

"And? What did you find?" Gibbs asked.

"There was an open container of salad on the counter. We took it to Abby, but were pretty sure that's where the poison came from," Ziva replied.

"How sure?" Gibbs asked.

"Fairly to pretty damn," Tony answered, "They pumped Ms. Starbrights stomach and all that was in her stomach was remains of a salad."

"Hey, boss? What are we gonna do with Alex now? He can't stay at that apartment alone. And we can't make him stay in that stiff chair till his guardian wakes up," Mcgee asked.

"Well do you have room at your place Mcgee?" Gibbs asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

But Mcgee didn't seem to catch it an answered, "Not really, Boss. My place is more of a one person place."

"Oh, you just don't want Alex messing with your typewriter, and old musty records, and your on line video games, Elf- Lord," Tony said smirking.

"I would much rather have Alex stay at my place than you, Tony. And I've only known him for a day," Mcgee relented.

"Well, he is more quieter than Tony," Ziva teased.

"Sucks about his guardian though. She was pretty," Tony complimented.

"Well she's not dead yet DiNozzo. But be careful, she's a redhead," Gibbs said wisely.

"Ducky how good are Ms. Starbrights chances of coming out of the coma?" Ziva asked.

"It will be touch and go for awhile, I'm afraid. On a scale of one to ten I'd say she's about a five or six. But these are very capable Doctors, Gibbs. And she's young and healthy so she will have greater chances of coming out of the coma as opposed to a older, unhealthy woman. Yes, if there is a way they will help her," Ducky replied.

Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider*

Alex could hear the team talking at the door, but only bits of it.

"Can't stay at that apartment ....Barely even know the kid.....Much quieter than...."

But he wasn't that interested in what they were talking about. His focus was on Jack.

He was remembering all the Christmas's they had together, every birthday. She was always there for him. Every sick day he had she would pamper him and smother him with blankets till he was all better. Always there.

And now in the blink of an eye he could lose her.

His parents, then his uncle, now Jack.

He put his head in his hands unable to look at Jacks limp form anymore. He was certain anger would come later for the person that did this.

Then the door creaked open very gently, and presumably, Gibbs walked in.

"Alex, you can't stay in that chair until Jack wakes up," Gibbs said standing over him.

Alex stood up, "Sure I can." He replied trying one again to hide his emotions. He didn't want this mans pity. He had enough of his own.

But Gibbs could see right through him, "Alex I know you're worried. But not sleeping, and being uncomfortable isn't going to help Jack. And I'm sure she wouldn't approve of it."

"I'm not leaving her alone to let this happen again," Alex said firmly.

"No one's asking you to," Gibbs promised. He was going to say more when Ziva walked in.

"Gibbs, I've spoken to the Doctors and staff. No one's allowed in here except Alex, the doctors, and NCIS Special agents. And there will be two NCIS agents outside the door at all times."

"You can come back in the morning too see her, Alex. Visiting hours are way over."

This made Alex feel somewhat better. NCIS did apparently know what they were doing.

He took one more look at Jack then nodded. "Are you taking me back to the flat?"

"Now why would I do that? Alex like it or not you're still a minor. And considering what happened today I want you with a NCIS agent at all times," Gibbs said as Alex stood up.

"So where are you taking me?" Alex asked.

"My place," Gibbs replied simply. Like that explained it all.

Alex went over to Jack and brushed some of her red hair out of her eyes and leaned down and whispered that he would be back as soon as he could.

Then he followed Gibbs out of the door, where he was met by two NCIS agents stationed on either side of the door.

"Very efficient," Alex thought as he followed Gibbs out of the hospital.

They were in the parking lot when Gibbs' cell phone went off.

"Yeah? Gibbs?" He asked, answering the phone.

He listened for a few seconds, then "I'll be right there Abby,"

Then he hung up and unlocked the doors so they could get in.

"I need to make a pit stop at NCIS," He stated.

"Okay. Er, who's Abby?" Alex asked.

The reason why we're making this stop. We took what we think is is source of the poisoning and gave it too Abby, our forensic analyst. She says shes got something. I'll think you'll like her, most people do." Gibbs explained.

"So she might know who personally gave Jack the poisoned food?" Alex asked.

"Possibly. And that way we'll know at least one face to look for," Gibbs replied.

Alex hoped so. Some of the anger that he knew was coming was starting to seep through now. Alex was going to find out who personally did this to Jack no matter what.

Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider**NCIS**Alex Rider

They arrived at NCIS with no problems, with the exception of Alex, unconsciously, peering in the rear-view mirror. The car ride there had been silent. Gibbs made no effort to make conversation, knowing Alex was still terribly worried about his guardian. He also knew this was no ordinary fourteen year old. Pretending everything was okay when it wasn't would just make him mad.

They entered the building and Alex followed Gibbs to the vending machines, coffee, and drinks. He got a Caf-Pow! And a coffee and asked if Alex wanted anything, to which, Alex turned down.

Then they went to the elevator and Gibbs told Alex to hit the down button since his hands were currently full.

Alex and Gibbs were still silent both lost in their own thoughts. Alex was thinking about Jack, of course. And Gibbs was thinking about Alex.

"He doesn't seem like he wants to be a spy," Gibbs thought. When they were at the pizzeria Gibbs could tell Alex didn't want to talk to him about MI6 so he changed his questions to his schooling, and friends. Nothing too personal. And he caught the comment Alex said when Tony said MI6 was hard to get information out of.

"You have no idea." What could he have meant by that? If a teenager was an agent it would have to be voluntary wouldn't it? They couldn't make him. It was official this kid absolutely stumped Gibbs.

Gibbs was snapped out of his thoughts as the elevator doors opened and he stepped out, with Alex following him closely. They made a left and entered a room that was blaring heavy metal music loudly. Alex thought he recognized the song as No Shelter by: Guns up! But it was up too loud to be sure.

Gibbs went over to a white CD-player and shut the music off.

"Bossman!" A woman said as she came out from a glass sliding door. She walked up to Gibbs and attempted to take the caffeine away from him

"Abs," Gibbs greeted pulling the caffeine fix away from her.

Alex was surprised. This pretty, young, gothic wasn't what Alex had been expecting a forensic analyst to look like.

Abby looked at Alex and smiled warmly.

"You must be Alex! Or do you prefer Bond?" Abby said jokes while coming around to his side to give him a hug.

Any other time Alex would be annoyed by a comment like that but the way Abby said it all he could do was laugh lightly and say, "Alex is fine." He blushed slightly at the contact, but held his composure.

"Abby? You said you had something? Please tell me you didn't call us down here so you could make small talk with Alex." Gibbs replied. Hinting that her reward was coming if she gave him what he was looking for.

"Actually it was for both! Even with my computers to keep me company it does get lonely down here," Abby said. But she walked over to one of her many computers and started hitting buttons.

" I got a partial fingerprint from the container that the salad was in. Now it wasn't easy, but we got a match," Abby reported to Gibbs.

"We?" Gibbs asked.

"I had to get Mcgee's help. We kinda...Sorta...Maybe... Had to hack into the CIA database to get the identification. There was no match in any of my searches. And since Alex is a spy we thought we might have better luck with the CIA's information," Abby admitted.

"Does the CIA know? And was that totally necessary?" Gibbs asked, not that he really cared as long as he got the information he needed, he didn't really care how Abby got it. But he needed to know if he should expect a conference with Vance for his 'undisciplined' team. And the 'you're teaching them to disobey authority' speech.

"Gibbs give Mcgee some credit here! He's a hacking genius!" Abby complimented her friend.

"Yeah, I guess the Elf-Lord does have his moments, huh? Now are you gonna show me what you got or not?" Gibbs asked again.

Alex got the feeling Abby got sidetracked in conversations a lot.

"You're very pushy today, M," Abby said as she hit the final buttons on her computer and a TV that was mounted on the wall came on and a man in his late thirties appeared. He had bright blue eyes with dark brown hair.

The three of them walked around to stand in front of the TV for a better look.

"This is Eric Yokov He's Russian. And a assassin as I'm sure you've figured out. From the file the CIA has on Yokov he's working for a organization called SCORPIA. Which is of course, the group that's after Alex. At first I was just glancing at the file and I thought it said he was a Scorpio. Which is what my zodiac sign is. Terrorist groups sure do pick odd names to call themselves," Abby stated.

"Thanks Abby. Now we got at least one face to watch for," Gibbs said staring at the picture of the assassin.

"Golden heart poisoning, huh? That's some really nasty voodoo in that plant. You're lucky they caught it before you ate it Alex...Which I'm curious: How did you know it was poisoned?" Abby asked obliviously.

Gibbs inwardly groaned. No one had informed Abby about what had happened to Jack Starbright. She always said she wasn't told anything down here, and now was a perfect example.

"Abby, it wasn't Alex, Eric was going after. It was his guardian, Jack Starbright. She ate the poisoned salad and is now in a coma," Gibbs said softly. "There. Quick, like a band aid." He thought to himself.

Abby eyes went wide as she stared at Gibbs and gasped. She then turned around to Alex who was staring at the picture of Eric Yokov intently.

"I am so sorry! Man I really put my foot in it. You must be crushed!" Abby exclaimed as she ran up to Alex and pulled him into a massive hug.

Alex was momentarily taken aback. He had known this woman for less than ten minutes and here they were hugging not just for the first time, but the second!

"Well I think my ribs are," Alex said referring to the hug, smiling slightly. He had too. This girl was just plain hyper.

"Abby's a hugger," Gibbs said watching the scene, looking amused. Abby bonded easily with just about anybody.

"Sorry....Again," Abby apologized letting him go but still looking intently at Alex. She looked on the verge of tears.

"It's okay Abby. You didn't know, and it's not like it was a secret or anything. And you're not the one that did this," Alex said looking pointedly at the man on the TV screen.

"Are you okay? Where are you going to stay?" Abby asked, but looked to Gibbs for the answers.

" We've got everything covered, Abby. He's staying with me," Gibbs answered.

"Wow! Your first day and you're already staying at the Bossman's house? He must really like you," Abby said smiling at Alex.

"He's barely known me a day," Alex said to her.

She was about to reply when her phone rang.

She answered with a "Abby's lab."

Then she held the phone out to Gibbs, "It's the Director. He wants to speak with you."

Gibbs looked at the phone for a few seconds then grabbed it and answered with the usual "Yeah? Gibbs?"

Then he listened for a few moments then hung up the phone.

"I gotta go up to MTAC for a few. Alex, you stay here with Abby until I get back. Abby if you need me you know the number. And you know what? While you're at it give it to Alex so he'll have it on him. Just in case," Gibbs said walking out of the lab.

"You got it Bossman!" Abby said with a salute.

"So it looks like it's just you and me now," Abby replied, smiling. Alex had a feeling that the smile didn't leave her face often.

A/N- Hope you all liked Abby! Good news Sheluby94dreamer is my new Beta reader! So now my chapters will be extra good! And she helped a lot with Abby cause Abby's not my strong point (even though she's my favorite).

Thanks Sheluby94dreamer!

Reviews rock!