Sarah woke up and looked around. She no longer saw the dark, cinder block walls, but the white, bright walls of a hospital. She had to squint until her eyes adjusted to the brightness. The last thing she remembered was the doctor giving her antibiotics and something to knock her out while they cleaned and stitched the cut on her face. She reached up and felt a string of gauze covering the stitches on her face. She was still able to see; she thought she would be temporarily impaired. She did notice a corner of gauze in her field of vision, and she hoped she could adjust that. She felt more stitches and bandages all over her body. There was an IV taped onto her wrist as well as her upper arm and she immediately had to force herself to calm down. The catheters were causing her to panic. She felt another on her chest that was connected to bags of medications. A clock on the wall told her it was creeping toward noon.

The doctor quietly knocked before entering. "Good morning, Sarah. How are you feeling?"

"Sore," she said quietly.

"That is expected. The cut will probably scar. When the stitches are removed, I'll give you something to minimize the scarring." She looked behind her. "I examined your injuries and based on what I saw, I did a rape kit as well if that is ok." Sarah closed her eyes and quietly nodded. "I started you on medications to inhibit any STDs. And I promise, no one else, besides my team and I, will know about it. We won't tell your family unless you want them to know."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"I'll go tell them you are awake." She stepped out of the room. A nurse came in and quietly checked her vital signs and the various monitors she was hooked into. As she finished up, the doctor returned with Gibbs and Ducky. Gibbs was the first to approach the bed.

"How are you feeling?"

"Sore," she repeated quietly.

"When will we be able to take her home?" Ducky asked the doctor.

"It will be a few days. We have to slowly build her nutritional health back up first off. We do not want to release her until she is at least able to eat solid food properly. She also has many cuts that were severely infected that we must monitor and currently require IV antibiotics. Then there is the cut on her face. I want to be sure that it will not get any worse. She also lost a lot of blood, so she has required multiple blood transfusions. It is a miracle that she survived with all the infections and blood loss."

Gibbs looked down at Sarah. She was hiding her weakness well, but he could see through the façade, and that was crumbling. She looked like she was barely holding on. Something was on her mind, but he didn't want to pry yet. He could see she was avoiding making eye contact with him. He was afraid of making it worse for her. He wanted to help her get better. Like Ducky said before, they had to show her that everyone was there for her, to help her recover.

One month later, Sarah stepped out of Gibbs' car in front of his house and reached for her bag. Gibbs beat her and quickly picked up the bag. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it carefully and reassuringly. He walked with her inside the house. She settled herself in the family room while he set her stuff in her room. She curled up on the couch and flipped on the TV. He made a quick dinner for the two of them, giving her less on the plate. She couldn't stomach a whole plate yet, but the doctor had cleared her for most solid foods before she left.

He set the plates on the dining room table and looked into the other room for her. He smiled as he stepped into the next room. Sarah had fallen asleep on the couch with the TV on. She seemed to be calm, which was a good sign, but he was worried it could easily turn bad.

He decided that she needed to get up and eat something, and then he would let her sleep again. He knelt beside the couch and rubbed her back.

"Sarah, you need to wake up. I made dinner." She groaned and rolled over. "Come on." She rubbed her eyes and sat up.

"What?"

"Doctor said you need to eat." She sighed and made her way to the table. She picked at her food and ate a couple bites. Gibbs gave her a look when she tried to get up without eating. She sighed and slowly finished the plate. Even though he finished before her, he didn't leave the table until she finished her plate.

"Can I go to bed now?" she asked quietly.

He nodded. "Let me know if you need anything." She nodded and hurried upstairs.

He watched her rush upstairs, but he was worried. Before going to bed, he was going to check up on her. He finished cleaning up the dishes and headed up the stairs. She was sound asleep in bed, and she clutched her childhood wolf tightly against her chest. He adjusted her blankets on her and lightly kissed her head. He made sure the door was cracked so he could hear if anything were to go wrong from his room.