Chapter 11: Finding and losing

One of the shepherds of the kingdom lived in the woods with his only daughter. The king, knowing that he had to sacrifice someone for the sake of his kingdom, demanded the young maiden to be delivered as a bride for the Lindorm.

The father pleaded, begged and cried, terrified of the horrible fate his sole daughter would suffer. The girl, once informed of it, ran to the woods in despair to cry her lost future.

After all, even poor shepherd's daughters dream of romance and storybook happy endings… and that didn't seem to be what was in stock for her.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

I came back with my things, changed into my clean clothes and was fed with a delicious breakfast, all that without getting a single word from Laura. There was an aura of sadness and misery around her that I couldn't shake and I also couldn't find a way to break the silence which hung heavily over us.

Finally we cleaned everything and got ready to leave, but Laura stopped me before opening the door and looked at me with those big green eyes of hers, silently begging me for understanding..

"Listen … I..."

"I've got it. It was mistake." I couldn't help the bitterness in my voice. I finally jump without checking the water level in a relationship and I hit my head in an unseen rock in what seemed deep waters. Just my luck.

"Yeah. Thanks." She muttered as she nervously played with her keys, "Ah... just … just don't tell anyone, please?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

There was a cold cloud over us when we walked into the bullpen and Laura went immediately to Ziva's desk, grabbing her share of files to study muttering a light hello to the agents already on their desks.

I sighed and saluted my colleagues and went back to my searches from the last night.

Last night. Before taking Laura home. Before kissing Laura... Before…

Ah crap.

"Gear up!" Gibbs said as soon as he stepped into the bullpen.

"Do we have another dead body?" Tony popped his head from behind his monitor, already getting his gear.

"Nope, the little girl called her parents telling them to pick her up. She's being taken to Bethesda to be checked out."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

We reached Bethesda and were immediately taken to the child's ward, where the relieved parents were hugging and kissing the young little girl sitting in a hospital gown in a bed, hugging a gray bunny toy desperately in her arms. She didn't seem to be harmed in any way, but we would still have to question her about her ordeal with our suspect.

After a few minutes with the doctor, Gibbs asked the parent's if we could interrogate the little girl about the place where she had been held and about the man who took her away. After a small talk, the parents agreed with the condition that we stop if she showed any kind of distress.

Gibbs gestured to Laura, indicating that she should take the lead. She was surprised for a second, before walking towards the little girl whose teary face was looking at Gibbs, me and Tony with distrust.

Laura sat down on the hospital bed and smiled at the little girl, making herself as nonthreatening as possible. Finally the little girl smiled a little and Laura started.

"You are a very brave girl, Jessica."

"No, I'm not. I was very afraid."

Laura gently played with the bunny ears, smiling lightly to the cute figure of the little girl with her best teddy bear friend in front of herself. I had the sudden insight that moment why Gibbs chose Laura to conduct the interview. She was very gentle and kind if she needed to be, her young face would naturally calm the little girl after being in the presence of what the other little girl had called a monster like Voldemort.

"Courage is not absence of fear. It's not letting yourself be paralyzed by fear. Calling your parents was very brave, in my opinion."

"You think?"

"I'm sure of it." Laura smiled, receiving a nod from Gibbs to continue. "But I have some questions for you, and I need you to be brave again, okay?"

"You are going to ask about the monster, aren't you?"

"Was he really a monster, Jessica?"

"He looked like one."

"Describe him for me."

Jessica rubbed her face on the bunny, looking at her parents for support. She glanced at Laura over the toy and said, "He didn't have a nose."

"Was it just missing or there was a hole in its place?"

Jessica frowned, trying to picture the man in her mind, "Ah... there was a hole... which spread to his cheekbones showing part of his teeth. And his eyes..." she shuddered and folded her legs, hugging it.

"You're doing very well," Laura said, noticing the little girl's distress. "You're very brave. You fought and escaped the monster."

"I didn't escape." The little girl was vehement in her denial of the statement.

"No?"

"He left me go. He drove me to the phone booth and told me to call my parents to pick me up."

Gibbs signaled to me so I immediately took my phone and requested the traffic cameras of the area she had been left.

"What else can you remember?" Gibbs asked from his position by the door. I received confirmation that Abby would have the videos for us as soon as we returned to the office and shut the phone, just to hear the little girl's description of our perp.

"His eyes were slipping out of their places, as if his eyelids were not able to hold them inside his skull and his smell was funny."

"What do you mean by that? How funny?" Laura asked, noticing Jessica's unfocused eyes as she tried to remember.

The girl sniffed a little, rubbing a hand over her eyes.

"He smelled like here."

"Like here? Like a hospital?" Gibbs asked, receiving a nod from the little girl.

"Yeah."

Gibbs gestured to the parents that we were done, and pointed to the door indicating that our interview was over, we were in our way out..

"Thanks Jessica," Laura said, turning to follow Gibbs out of the hospital room.