Published on 2/27/2021

Previously on NCIS Family

"Get her an ambulance. She was hit on the eyes and head. She can't see anything." Ziva notices the blood and dirt all over me.

"How many times were you shot, Nick?"

"5. He even shot me when I was unconscious. What time is it?"

"9," Tony says.

"That means he just arrived back where he was keeping us."

"Where is that?" Tim asks.

"10 miles away. That building where there was the murder and you found your service number."

"Jenny, Tony, and Ziva. With me. Tim, go with them to the hospital."

"Tim, when the ambulances get here, go with Ellie, she is blind and she needs you more than I do." I pass out cold onto the floor.

Theme song now

Tim's POV:

"Tim?"

"I'm here Ellie."

"I still can't see you."

"You wouldn't be able to see me anyway. Your eyes have medical patches over them. Silly." That made her giggle. I love her giggle, it has been 2 years since I heard it for real. MTAC calls aren't the same.

Her eye patches look like this with no design. They are blue.

"Why are my eyes covered?"

"To prevent you from moving your eyes so you don't cause more damage."

"Oh, okay. Is Nicky okay? How many times was he shot?"

"Before I answer that, how many shots did you hear?"

"I don't know, he used a silencer. I know he was shot at least twice because when we were trying to escape."

"How do you know that?"

"He screamed twice. Have you ever heard of twin telepathy?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"It was sort of like that. I could feel where he was shot. My Palm, Shoulders, Foot, and leg tingled. I'm not sure if that is where he hit me or something though."

"Weird. Nick was shot in his palm, shoulders, foot, and thigh."

"Which hand?"

"Left."

"Which foot?"

"Right."

"Which leg?"

"Both. The bullet went through the left and lodged in his right thigh."

"So that means he has six bullet holes, but he was only shot five times?"

"Yeah, he was shot in the leg and right shoulder while he was unconscious. You guys also have multiple knife cuts and cigarette burns. Nick also has some grease burns on his stomach. That makes me think that you guys were sedated pretty heavily if you didn't wake up from any of that."

"Do I have any grease burns, Tim?"

"We aren't sure yet. You have to get a tox screen before the doctors can do anything because you might have to go into surgery."

"Can you send our tox screens to Kasie so it gets done faster?"

"No, people here are perfectly capable of doing it themselves."

"Come on, I'm not stupid. People here could take up to a week if it's positive for drugs. Kasie can have it done in 20 minutes.

"Fine, I will talk to Abba."

"Thank you! Do you think Abba will kill Abraham?"

"Who is Abraham?"

"The kidnapper."

"Oh. It probably depends on if Abraham shoots or not."

It feels like an eternity of silence goes by. 

"Can you call Abba, please?  I think Abraham has my phone."

"Yeah sure.  It's dialing."  I put it on speaker since Ellie can't hold it, too many wires.

"Abba?"

"Ellie? Are you ok?"

"I think so, I am still in the ambulance."

"Do you need something?"

"Yeah, Abraham said, 'للعودة إلى العميل الخاص ليروي جيثرو جيبس.' He wants to get back at you for something." (To get back at Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.)

"Did he say why?"

"No, he said, 'هو اذانى.' and, 'إنه مصنف. الى جانب ذلك ، أنتم مجرد أطفال. عمرك 3،102 يومًا فقط. ألست كذلك؟'" (He hurt me./It is classified. Besides, you are just children. You are only 3,102 days old. Are you not?) (Arabic)

"Did he say anything else?"

"Not really, if you find my phone, I recorded everything. I suspected it wasn't Ziva because of the way she sits versus the way he sits."

"What did you record it on?"

"Voice Memos."

"I have to go. I will talk to you guys later, okay?"

"Wait, Abba, do you have Abraham? Is he in Interrogation? Are going to Interrogate him now?"

"We have two people, one dead, one alive, but we don't know which one is Abraham and the alive one isn't talking so we have to wait till Nick is out of surgery."

"Describe the alive one to me. I might be able to tell you if he is Abraham or not. Oh, and by the way, Abraham only speaks Arabic."

"Okay. Let's see. Black hair. Brown eyes. Fair, dark, tan-ish skin, almost brown. A weird scar that looks like a zigzag on his left jawline. Um... Pointy no..." Ellie cuts him off.

"It's Abraham."

"How do you know?"

"The scar... it has 3 points going towards his ear, not including the beginning of the scar."

"Wow, kid... I'm glad you have a photographic memory, but we'll have to have Nick and AFIS identify him too."

"I know, protocol."

Ellie's POV:

We arrive at the hospital.

"We are at the hospital now. I hope I can see you later."

"Ellie Remember. אתה לא לבד." (Aht lo leh-vahd you know? Ziva, Tony?) (You are not alone.) (Hebrew)

"I know. I love you Abba."

"I love you to Ells."

Tim hangs up because the EMTs are pulling the stretcher out of the truck and wheeling it inside. I can tell because of the temperature change.

Nick's POV:

(After Surgery)

I wake up. I hurt everywhere, I have grease burns on my stomach, knife cuts, and chest and sewed up gunshot wounds everywhere.

"Tony?"

"Yeah. How are you buddy?"

"I hurt."

"We got Abraham...He just isn't talking."

"Is Ellie okay?"

"I don't know. She is in surgery right now. They are trying to repair her vision."

"If they can't can she still be an agent when we are older?"

"Yeah, probably. We have had blind agent's before."

"Good. Her dream is to become an agent someday."

"I know."

"What word did Abraham cut on my arm? I have a really bad headache so I can't open my eyes to read it."

"It says 'Fighter'"

"Sweet! That's an epic scar."

"On the other arm it says..."

"THE OTHER ARM?!?"

"Yeah."

"What does it say?"

"He cut 'سلام' in Arabic letters and everything." (peace) (Arabic)

"That is even cooler."

"You're going to brag to all of the kids aren't you?"

"Yep!"

"Typical Nick. I bet Ellie won't even though she has the same writings."

"Yeah."

Gibbs POV:

"Well hello, Abraham."

"Agent Gibbs."

"You know me?"

"You did a very bad thing."

"What did I do?"

"You put my sister and brothers in Gitmo."

"And who might they be?"

"Soraya, Asa, and Osman Zoranj." (From Engaged part 1 and 2) (Season 9 Episodes 8 and 9)

"Oh yeah... them. They did a very bad thing Abraham." He just stares at me. "Let me guess... You are just part of the 'Cause' too?" I say while air quoting the word cause.

"We are martyrs for the cause. We want to hurt you."

"So does that mean you confess to kidnapping and torturing my children?"

"Anything to be with my brothers and sister again."

"Good thing you guys are already being split up. Osman is already in ADX Florence, Asa is already at Leavenworth, and Soraya is in Gitmo. That just leaves me to figure out somewhere for you to go." He screams and throws his chair across the room. He tries to run towards the door but he has seemed to have forgotten that his feet are chained to a strong point in the ground. He falls on his face an I just can't stop myself from laughing.

"How about San Quentin? No, that's mainly for death row. Well, we will see. Did you know that California's only death row is located at that prison? It is also the largest Death Row in the states. Yeah. I think we will send you there. Unless, maybe if you write a signed confession we can let you go somewhere else."

"Fine." I hand him the notepad and a pen and he starts writing.

Ellie's POV:

I wake up but I still can't see anything. I just got out of surgery which means that I wouldn't be able to see anything anyway because my eyes would be taped up. 

"Ziva?"

"I am here."

"Is Nick okay?"

"Yeah, he got out of surgery a couple of hours ago and he is fine."

"Did Abraham cut anything particular onto my arms? It feels like a distinct pattern."

"Yeah, on one arm he cut 'Fighter' and on the other arm he cut 'سلام'."

"In Arabic letters even?"

"Yeah."

"That's cool I guess. Did he do that to Nick too?"

"Yeah. Same words. Same arms."

A doctor or nurse or someone comes in.

"Good news Ellie! We can take off the bandages now, and you should be able to see!" he says excitedly.

"Yay!"

"Keep your eyes closed while I take off the bandages. Okay?"

"Okay!" He takes off the bandages and I keep my eyes closed.

"You can open them now."

I open my eyes... 

"I can see!!!!"

"Good!" Ziva says.

"But..."

"What's wrong Ellie?" the doctor asks.

"I can only see out of my right eye."

"That is to be expected because some eyes don't heal as fast as others."

"Oh okay!"

Don't forget to ask my characters questions on my new book called Character Interviews!

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