Dedicated to: David McCallum who played Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard on NCIS. He was always one of my favorite characters on the show and I was sorry to learn about his death

This story is dedicated to him.

Aleah Rossi came out of the hospital from where she had just had a meeting and headed for her car. She had been a doctor for a long time, centuries in fact, because unlike most of his family she had inherited the talent to heal, which of course had inspired her to go into her career. She had her own private practice of course, though she visited the hospital at least once a week to spend time with the children that had things like leukemia. She tried her best to help people, especially those that were going to die if she did nothing. Like her brother Aeon and sister Alana it was a very useful talent, but since she was currently living in Chicago she had to be careful.
Unfortunately, she had not inherited her mother's bakery magic but then, she wasn't the only one who hadn't either.
Aleah got into her car and started the engine driving very slowly out of the parking lot. The meeting had been with the chief of the hospital who wanted to put her on staff in oncology but Aleah had turned him down.
"You have such a talent with children who have cancer," the chief of the hospital Bradford told Aleah. "Children can genuinely sense that you care about them, which is why they respond so well to your caring bedside manner and we could really use somebody like you on staff. You haven't let your profession jade you like so many doctors do, at least those that go into the profession for the right reasons."
"That's kind of you to say Dr. Bradford, but while I care about the children that have tumors and other cancerous growths I have my own private practice and can't abandon my patients," Aleah had responded calmly. "I don't mind coming to visit once a week or so but other than that..."
Aleah and Bradford had talked for a long time before Aleah had finally left.
What Aleah didn't tell Dr. Bradford was that once a week she used her talent to heal the worst patients, healed them at least enough that the medical treatments would actually help them. There had been talk about the miracles of some of the patients recovering when their doctors had thought it impossible.
While she could've healed those patients all the way that wasn't a good idea, especially not here at the hospital. Besides, she could only heal so many people at a time with her healing power and she didn't want to burn out so had to be very careful.
Aleah arrived back home and quickly fixed herself a meal before relaxing back into her recliner falling asleep while watching the news.
Aleah had no idea that his future was about to change majorly.

~~~Aleah and Ducky~~~

The next day

Aleah was in her office at her practice when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Aleah called.
The door opened and her assistant came in.
"What can I do for you Bria?" Aleah asked noticing the look of shock and awe on her face. Aleah immediately wondered what had caused the look, as her assistant was normally not one to experience such emotions, not at work anyway.
"There is another doctor out here that is requesting a moment of your time," Bria told Aleah differentially, seeming very excited.
Aleah was her ultimate boss, so treated her with respect.
"Who is he?" Aleah asked.
"He says his name is Donald Mallard," Bria reported.
"The Donald Mallard?!" Aleah blinked at her in surprise.
"I have no idea, but I can't imagine there's another doctor with that name," Bria said.
Both women knew exactly who Donald Mallard was, as he was well respected in his field, which was the same as her own, with the exception he was a Nero-oncologist, which basically meant he treated cancer in the spine, brain, nervous system in adults, while she was a pediatrics oncologist, which meant she dealt with children with various cancers.
She had always greatly admired and respected Donald Mallard, although she had never had the privilege of meeting him. He was said to be one of the greatest doctor in cancer treatments of his time. He was very good at identifying what type of cancer that somebody had and he didn't have her talent to heal.
"Send him back," Aleah told her assistant getting over her shock quickly and Bria nodded eagerly. "Let's see what he wants, shall we?"
"Yes doctor," Bria agreed eagerly.
Bria full name was Briallen, but while she didn't dislike it, it was so unusual that she just usually went my Bria, which was much more common and didn't cause comment, negative or positive.
"Dr. this is Dr. Donald Mallard," Bria introduced formally. "Dr. Mallard, this is Dr. Aleah Rossi."
"It's nice to meet you Dr. Mallard and also an honor," Aleah said rising to her 6 foot height to shake the doctor's hand. Aleah was a very pretty woman with her father's black hair and her mother's gray eyes. She shook her visitors hand automatically, as she was in complete shock at what it happened when she had looked into Donald Mallard's face as Bria had been introducing them. This Dr. Donald Mallard was her mate, somebody she had never expected to find despite what had happened to so many members of her family in the last few decades.
"It's nice to meet you too Dr. Rossi, as I've heard what good work you do with children," Ducky told Aleah smiling.
Dr. Mallard had blonde hair and blue eyes was tall and fairly slender. He was also a very handsome man that looked a few years older then her supposed age. Donald Mallard reminded her of one of those old fashioned doctors with glasses pushed on the end of his nose dressed in one of those old fashioned lab coats. The impression of her visitor was so strong that Aleah nearly gasped out loud.
"Thank you, why don't you take a seat and tell me what you need," Aleah offered and gestured to her assistant to leave. Bria left closing the door gently behind her. "Now, what can I do for you Dr. Mallard?"
"You can call me Ducky," Ducky told Aleah.
"Very unique nickname, I'm very curious how you acquired such a moniker," Aaliyah said. "You can call me Leah."
"Perhaps we can discuss that over dinner," Ducky offered. "As for the reason, I wanted to see you, I have a rather interesting case that should be right up your alley."
"Why don't you tell me about it and I'll see what I can do," Aleah offered fiddling with an elegant silver pen, as she listened raptly to Ducky's voice with it's slight Scottish accent.
"You see, this friend of mine, Jethro Gibbs has a little girl called Kelly. Unfortunately the mother Shannon was killed by some dangerous drug dealers and Kelly barely survived. Kelly is only 10 years old and unfortunately, the car crash that killed her mother left her without the ability to walk and to top it off she now has cancer."
"What kind of cancer," Aleah said feeling a deep sympathy for Kelly Gibbs and also, for the father who were going through so much hardship after the death of Kelly's mother Shannon.
"I'm afraid that's not my specialty doctor and while I could probably identify it if I did some research, I thought I'd ask you to help instead. You see, Jethro came to me, as we are friends and he knew I could probably help with Kelly's condition. I love Kelly, like she was my own, as I've known that girl all her life. I was there when she was born and held her in my arms. It's bad enough that Kelly is now stuck in a wheelchair, but to also have this cancer is just too much. Jethro has already lost his wife, I don't want him to lose his little girl to, as that would destroy him. I can see him becoming a military sniper again, only to die, because he had lost his reason for living. Kelly is the only reason Jethro is hanging on. Jethro loves her fiercely."
"I understand," Aleah said. "I've never lost someone that I love so much like a brother or a sister, but that doesn't mean I don't understand what your friend is feeling. Of course, he's desperate to save his daughter, as she is the only reminder of his wife. I believe you said her name was Shannon."
"That's right," Ducky agreed really liking Aleah Rossi who he'd heard a lot about, though it was mostly rumors.
It was said that some of the children who had the worst kinds of cancer suddenly got better or at least well enough that they managed to beat the cancer that was overtaking their bodies. It was only the most hopeless cases where doctors had declared that those children were going to die, as no matter what they did the cancer kept returning and refused to stay gone.
The rumors went on to speculate about Aleah Rossi and how she had such a way with children and just spending time with her was enough for the cancers to start disappearing. Many of the doctors at the hospital where she helped out speculated about Aleah and if she was really responsible for those children's cancers going into remission or if in was just a coincidence that when she saw the children in the cancer ward there were minute improvements in the their condition until they could fight it off on their own.
Ducky for his part thought this was hogwash. Sure, Dr. Rossi had a empathy for children, but that's all it was. If the cancer in the children disappeared it was simply their small bodies fighting back, refusing to give up and die. The body was amazing and could recover a lot of times with proper treatment, even if the doctors had given up all hope of a complete remission.
"As for helping, I'll be glad to," Aleah said warmly.
"Jethro can't afford a lot, I'm afraid," Ducky told her truthfully.
"Insurance doesn't cover it," Aleah said in a knowing tone.
"You're right on the nose," Ducky said. "Good hypnosis, doctor.
"I know how insurance companies work Ducky," Aleah told him. "They don't care if they lose a future customer. I'm assuming that the father gets his insurance through the military, which probably doesn't cover things like treatments for cancer. It probably doesn't cover much more then general check ups and things that don't need expensive treatment. Unless you have really good insurance a lot of them don't cover really expensive medications or surgeries. Such insurance might partially cover the cost just not everything."
"That's very true," Ducky told Aleah. "It's how insurance companies make their money by bleeding the people. "
"I'll do it pro bono," Aleah said, "though I can't guarantee you I can do anything at all. Still, I'll run some tests once I get a blood sample and I won't charge your friend for them."
"That's very kind of you Dr.," Ducky said impressed, as not many doctors would've offered to do pro bono work without it being some sort of high profile patient. Lawyers often did work pro bono if the client was high profile enough and the same went for really good doctors with good reputation and excellent skill in their field. "You don't need to do that though and Jethro will never accept what he considers charity, as he's a proud man.
"How about I reduce my rate then," Aleah decided. "I promise I won't charge him more than he can afford to pay."
"That might work," Ducky decided after thinking about it. "Why would you be so, though as you need to be paid for your expertise and all the test and everything that you're going to run."
"For one thing I'm already very wealthy, not only from my practice, but from my trust fund that my parents set up for me and my siblings," Aleah said. "I don't need the extra money that helping out your friend would bring in, in order to make a living. I have more than enough to live on quite luxuriously. Taking a case every now and then as pro bono or at a reduced rate isn't going to affect my standard of living in the slightest. Besides, I was taught how to give to others, to be generous and kind and I take those lessons to heart."
"I understand," Ducky agreed. "You're kind of attitude is so rare in today's world and thank you in advance for your help."
"Happy to do it and I'm looking forward to that dinner," Aleah smiling, shaking Ducky's hand. "I'm also looking forward to meeting Jethro and Kelly."
The two exchanged link numbers before Ducky left Aleah's office.

~~~Aleah and Ducky~~~

A few days later

"Meet Aleah Rossi, the lady I told you about," Ducky introduced her to his good friend Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Dinner with Ducky a couple of days ago had been wonderful Aleah thought smiling inwardly. They had talked about many subjects for several hours, even as they enjoyed the food. They had ended up getting ice cream after a long dinner and continued to talk. They had never seemed to run out of things to talk about.
"It's nice to meet you," Aleah told Jethro shaking the man's hand.
Jethro's hair was brown threaded with gray and cut military short. There were lines on his face from stress instead of from laughter, Aleah figured. His eyes were dark brown much like her own.
"It's nice to meet you, but you don't look old enough to have become such a well-known doctor of cancer," Jethro commented, studying Aleah closely.
"I might not," Aleah told him not taking insult at Jethro's assessing look, "but I graduated top of my class from Harvard medical school. I promise you I'm old enough to not only have gotten my degree, but have been serving as a cancer specialist for children for quite a few years. Besides, if you enjoy what you do then it's hardly work, which reduces the stress."
"That's true, but I would think it would still be a stressful occupation, as you tell parents that their beloved child is going to die and there's nothing you can do," Jethro commented.
"While that's true, I still enjoy getting to know the children as I don't have any of my own as yet," Aleah said. "I might have numerous nieces and nephews that I adore, but that doesn't mean I don't want my own children someday."
"She has a very high success rate in curing children of cancer," Ducky who had been watching the meeting broke in.
"I don't want to give you false hope and can't give you any guarantees," Aleah said, "but I'll do my best for your daughter. While I've never lost anyone super important to me, I have lost patients before. Children that I had gotten to know that were very sick."
"Well, Ducky says you have a well earned reputation for excellence and a high success rate, so I'll have to trust him on your credentials," Jethro said.
"I do, but I also have quite a few failures," Aleah modestly. "Children I wish very much I could have saved."
"As a doctor there's only so much you can do," Ducky interrupted.
"True," Aleah agreed. "Medical technology as well as treatments for things like cancer, has made great strides in the last few decades but that doesn't mean we can cure everything. Every few decades some new disease pops up one that we don't have treatments for."
"Before you two surge into medical talk maybe you should meet Kelly," Jethro offered.
Both Ducky and Aleah looked embarrassed, as they hadn't meant to start talking in doctor speak, which was practically another language to laypeople who didn't have the training in a medical field. Doctors tended to use a lot of big words that most people didn't understand.
"Kelly is in her room. I'll take you there," Jethro said.
Aleah and Ducky followed Jethro up the stairs and down the hall to where Kelly's room was.
"Kelly, sweetie are you awake," Jethro called after knocking on the door.
"Come in, dad," Kelly called.
"I have Dr. Mallard and another doctor with me," Jethro warned through the door, just in case his daughter wasn't decently dressed for visitors.
"Come in already," Kelly said and Jethro opened the door.
Kelly was sitting on her bed laying against a large pillow reading a book. There was a TV in front of the bed and what looked like a closet or possibly a bathroom on one side. On the opposite wall was another door. All in all, it was a little girl's dream room as the walls were painted purple and there were dolls sitting on one shelf that was against the wall on one side of the room. It was also a large window off to the side with curtains that could be closed to not let the light in when the sun was out. There was a wheelchair right by the bed as well, and Kelly used her arms to get herself in it when she wanted to move to the window or another other place in her room. The wheelchair was motorized and all Kelly had to do was use the remote to move around the room or out into the hall.
"How are you doing Kelly?" Ducky asked the girl laying on the bed.
"I am fine, Ducky," Kelly said smiling. "And you are?"
Kelly was looking at Aleah so she hastily introduced herself.
"I'm Dr. Aleah Rossi, Miss Gibbs," Aleah said. "I'm a specialist for children who have cancer and Ducky asked me to assess you to see if I can help identify it and come up with a treatment plan for you."
"She has her own practice, but also visits the children in the cancer center at the hospital at least once a week to do what she can for them," Ducky said.
"Do you think you can help me?" Kelly asked Aleah.
"I can't answer that, because I don't know, but I'm certainly going to try," Aleah said honestly. "It all depends on what kind of cancer you have and I need a sample of your blood in order to examine it to identify it, so we can set up a treatment plan. I'm hoping I can, but I want you to know there are no guarantees as it depends on a lot of different factors."
"I'm scared," Kelly admitted having put a book aside. "I don't want to die."
"Kelly..." Jethro started to say, but Ducky held up a hand and Jethro stopped what he was about to say.
"Of course you're scared as cancer can be a big scary monster," Aleah told her gently, even as she walked over the bed and checked Kelly's pulse and heartbeat using her stethoscope that she got it from her pocket.
"I would be scared to if it was me. I know though, that you're a brave little girl from what Ducky has told me about you and you'll fight this monster with everything you have. I know that your father is scared to, for you and for himself, as he doesn't want to lose you but a lot of times bad things happen to good people. However, let's not give up hope just yet," Aleah smiled Kelly making the young girl smile back. "You be a brave girl for me, for your dad and for Ducky as all of us care for you."
"I'll try," Kelly said, as Aleah sat beside her on the bed.
"That's all anyone can do and that's try, sweetie," Aleah smiling. "Now, I need a sample of your blood so you be a brave girl for me," Aleah added taking a pressure syringe out of her pocket.
Pressure syringes had replaced the old-fashion ones a very long time ago and were easier on the patients.
"Now, hold out your arm and I'm going to swab it in order to wet it a little and then I'm going to prick it with this needle to get a blood sample. I promise I'll be gentle. Is that OK with you Kelly?" Aleah asked.
"Sure, Ducky takes blood samples all the time, I'm not afraid of pressure syringes," Kelly said holding out her arm.
"That's very good," Aleah said smiling, even as she drew a package that had a wet swab in it and tore it swiftly before applying it to Kelly's extended arm. Once the arm was wet Aleah swiftly pricked her with the needle and quickly shoved in a vial for the blood to drain into, all in one swift motion.
Even Jethro was impressed with Dr. Rossi's efficiency, as no motion was wasted, which told him the doctor had done this numerous times. She was also being very gentle with his daughter as well as kind and Jethro was grateful.
"They're all done that should be enough to get me started on those tests I need to run," Aleah said, as she put a Band-Aid on Kelly's arm. The Band-Aid had a tiny picture of cat on it. "I hope you'll allow me to visit again Miss Kelly."
"I certainly don't mind," Kelly said.
"You're welcome back anytime Dr. Rossi," Jethro told the woman.
"Thank you, I'll let you know the results as soon as I do," Aleah promised. "You both can call me Aleah, if you like or Leah, as Dr. Rossi is way too formal."
"Goodbye Kelly, I'll see you soon," Ducky said, as he gave the girl a kiss on the cheek stroking her hair gently.
Both Ducky and Aleah left together after Ducky told his friend goodbye.

~~~Aleah and Ducky~~~