Gibbs noticed the limp right away. He put a hand on his charge's shoulder, halting his movements. "You're hurt."

The boy pulled uncertainly on a lock of black hair and didn't respond. Gibbs sighed. He wasn't sure that he could get used to that silence. It wasn't natural for someone so young to be so afraid of speaking. Harder still because when you looked closely, you could see Tony's features on the child. No one who looked like DiNozzo should be able to remain so silent.

Gibbs gestured impatiently at the sidewalk. "Sit. Let me see."

Nuka sat down, but when Gibbs reached a hand out to push the pant leg away, he shot away from him like a frightened squirrel, eyes narrowing. Gibbs sighed, wondering what the boy had been through to make him so skittish. "I was trying to see your injury."

"Uncle Tony already put stuff on it. It just hasn't finished working yet."

"Tony knew you were injured?" He couldn't believe he hadn't been told before he left the house. He would have brought an ice pack.

"Yeah," Nuka gave him a suspicious look. "Of course he knew. Everyone knows."

"Everyone knows?"

"Mhmm. It's how come they started asking me questions about Daddy and how he treated me."

Gibbs frowned. "Wait, so you've had the injury for a while?"

"I got it the day Daddy died."

That didn't make any sense. "You weren't limping earlier."

Nuka frowned. "Limping? Why would I… Oh! You're talking about my leg!"

"Ya think? What are you talking about?"

"My back," Nuka shrugged. "My leg's not that bad. I stepped on an old log and it broke. It just hurts 'cause it's recent."

Gibbs looked at the leg more carefully. Now he could see tears in the jeans and… Was that dark stain blood? "Can you roll up your pant leg so I can take a look?"

Nuka looked at Gibbs like he had two heads, but he carefully pulled the pant leg up. Three long cuts ran raggedly up Nuka's right leg, red with blood. They were shallow, but even still Gibbs knew they must be hurting wildly. Whatever had happened to Nuka's back must be fierce if this seemed mild in comparison.

"Why didn't you tell me you'd hurt your leg?"

"It's not a big deal. I'm not a baby."

"Rule number six, Nuka."

"Rule number six?"

"Always mention an injury, even if it doesn't seem important."

Nuka made a face. "My leg hurts."

"No kidding."

Where the hell was Ducky? Gibbs scowled as he shut his cell for the third time. It wasn't like Ducky to not have a phone on him. It wasn't like any of his team, quite frankly. They learned Rule Number Three early- Never Be Unreachable. One of the most important things in their line of work was to know where the team was at all times. Of course, Nuka's leg wasn't seriously injured. Gibbs knew that. It didn't make him any less frustrated that Ducky wasn't available right now.

He glanced into his rearview window. Nuka was sleeping, head against the window. Gibbs frowned. DiNozzo had said that Nuka was having nightmares, but in Gibbs' mind that hadn't translated to the boy passing out two minutes after getting in the car. Sighing, he hit his blinker and turned towards headquarters. With any luck, Gerald would be there. Maybe he could say what happened to Ducky as well.

Five minutes later, Gibbs was rousing a groggy Nuka and helping him out of the car. Nuka had made it clear back in the park that he didn't want to be carried, so Gibbs walked slowly and allowed himself to be made into a human crutch. Even that was a bit too much contact for the boy. Every few steps he'd stop, take his hand away, and breathe slowly in and out as though just walking with Gibbs was hard for him. It took a while to make it down to autopsy.

Gerald was sitting on one of the autopsy tables, listening to his ipod, when Gibbs walked in. Gerald looked up, surprised. "I thought you taken the day off?"

"I did. I'm off the clock," Gibbs nodded at Nuka. "He cut his leg. Can you look at it?"

Gerald laughed. "Well, I've only been dealing with dead guys up until now, but yeah. I don't think it will be a problem. Hop up on the table, uh-"

"Nuka," Gibbs supplied when it looked like Nuka wasn't about to. He helped Nuka up onto the autopsy table.

"Alright, Gerald, check his leg and his back. Apparently there's an injury there as well. Bring him up to me when you're done."

"Wait, where are you-"

"Abby's lab."

The music playing in the lab was, if possible, even more obnoxious than usual. Abby was clearly not expecting Gibbs to pay her a visit- or anyone, for that matter. She had discarded her usual lab coat and was standing on a chair, dancing with her arms in the air so that her shirt exposed her midriff, singing at the top of her lungs.

"Abby!"

Growling under his breath, he pushed the power button on her stereo. Abby froze, dropped her arms, and turned around. When she saw him, she smiled a bit sheepishly. "Uh, hey, Gibbs. It's not what you think…"

"Just tell me that you managed to find a match on the print Kate gave you."

"I found a match on the print Kate gave me," Abby hopped off of the chair and made her way over to a computer screen, typing furiously. "Petty Officer Kurt Richards. Thirty-two years old, married, no children, and no criminal record aside from a couple of speeding tickets. I also managed to get a hit on the plant found in our dead Petty Officer's boot. Apparently, it's a type of seaweed found generally in small creeks. There was also some salt water residue that suggests that his foot, at least, has been under water recently."

Gibbs smiled. "That's good work, Abby. You show all that to Agent Todd?"

"Actually, I showed it to DiNozzo. Is that not right? I just figured that since he'd been here longer…"

Gibbs waved her off. "When did Tony get back to work?"

"He stopped in a few minutes before you did to say that he was in and to ask what I had."

"That's fine, then. Just didn't realize he was back on duty."

"Agent Gibbs?"

He turned around to see Gerald, looking more grim than usual. Nuka was clutching onto his arm for support, as though he was having a hard time standing up. Gibbs walked over, helping Nuka to the chair Abby had just vacated.

"What'd you find, Gerald?"

"Um…" Gerald looked from Nuka to Abby. "Can I talk to you outside?"

"Nuka, stay with Abby. Abby, this is Nuka."

"Family?"

"Something like that."

Satisfied that Nuka was secure, for now, Gibbs followed Gerald into the hallway beyond and shut the door behind him. He turned, arms over his chest, eyebrow cocked in invitation. Gerald shifted nervously.

"What's your connection to Nuka, sir?"

"Is that relevant to you telling me what's wrong with him?"

Gerald swallowed hard. "I cleaned up the cuts on his leg. They were long but fairly shallow- no stitches needed or anything. I put antiseptic on and wrapped the leg in bandage. He should keep weight off of it for a while, if he can, but it's not serious. The injury on his back is a large black and blue bruise extending from his hip almost to his shoulder blade. He won't tell me how he got it, but considering the scars beneath it, I had a suspicion that I checked up on. There were some bruises on his forearms as well. My guess is that someone grabbed the kid and shoved him up against a wall. Hard."

Gibbs winced, glancing over his shoulder. He could see Nuka through a pane of glass at the top of Abby's door. She'd managed to break him out of his shell somewhat; he was waving his arms above his head in a small imitation of the dance she'd been doing before.

"Tell me about the scars on his back."

"There were a lot of them, ranging from a couple of millimeters thick to a couple of inches thick, crisscrossing up and down his back, and probably lower. I didn't check his whole body, he seemed uncomfortable enough taking his shirt off."

"Cause?"

"He didn't say," Gerald winced at Gibbs' look. "I'd say he's been beaten, though, many times over, with various implements."

Gibbs growled. Tony had mentioned that Nuka had been abused, but he hadn't gone into detail. If what Gerald was saying was true, there was no way DiNozzo didn't know. Nuka himself had said that Tony had been helping him with his back problem. He shook his head, figuring that having been called at three in the morning, he was lucky to have heard Nuka had been abused at all, and turned back to Gerald. "What do you think I should do about his back?"

"Nothing to do about the scarring, I'm afraid," Gerald said, "Although they may fade over time. As for the bruise, I have a cream you should put on it every four hours or so, and I'd keep him on ibuprofen for a couple of days, if you can."

Gibbs nodded. "Thank you, Gerald. You've been a huge help."

He pushed open the door to Abby's lab and flipped the music back off. Now both Abby and Nuka were looking at him like he was the boogeyman. "Nuka and I are heading out. I'll be back in tomorrow, but if you need me- 911 need me- call me on my cell."

Abby gave a mock salute. "Got it, boss!"

Gibbs held a hand out to Nuka and helped him down the hall to the elevator. Nuka stared at the elevator when it opened, his mouth working silently. He didn't move to get in.

"What's wrong?"

"Do we have to take the elevator?"

"I can't see you taking the stairs with your leg like that." Gibbs frowned at him. "You took the elevator to get here."

"Gerald helped me up the stairs."

They hadn't taken the elevator to get to autopsy, either. Nuka had asked to ride the banister down. He'd said that he'd seen it in movies and had always wanted to try. Gibbs hadn't had the heart to say no. Now, he suspected the ride had served a different purpose.

"You don't like elevators?"

Nuka shook his head slowly. He was biting on his lower lip. Gibbs reached a hand out and slowly pried the lip from Nuka's teeth, wondering if it was a fear of the elevator itself or of all small spaces in general.

"What don't you like about them?"

Nuka shook his head and took a step back. "I don't like them."

"Fair enough." He crouched down so that he was at eye level with Nuka. "We have a problem, though. I don't like the idea of you walking up the stairs with your leg the way it is. Gerald said you shouldn't put any weight on it."

"Well maybe…" Nuka shook his head. "Never mind."

"Rule number 5. Never start to say something if you're not going to finish it."

"Where do you come up with these rules?"

"They're from when I was working in the marines."

"You were a marine? Cool!"

Gibbs laughed. "Very. What were you going to say?"

"I was going to say… Maybe you could give me a piggy back. Daddy never gave me one, but Uncle Tony did once." He looked Gibbs up and down. "But maybe not."

"You think I can't give you a piggy back?"

Nuka blushed. "Well, I mean… When you get older, it's harder, and…"

"You saying I'm old?"

"No!"

"Alright, then." He turned around and crouched a little lower. "Hop on, and don't jar your leg."

He expected that there would be some hesitation on Nuka's part, and was surprised when he felt two small hands on his shoulders almost immediately. He tried not to move around too much as arms hesitantly wrapped around his neck and Nuka pulled himself up onto Gibbs' shoulders. Nuka moved slowly, carefully, as though afraid that Gibbs would change his mind, but at long last he was settled.

"Ready?"

"Yes, sir."

Gibbs laughed. "Don't 'sir' me."