Title: To Catch A Falling Star
Author: Wonderland
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Don’t own ‘em, wish I did, you know who does, yadda, yadda, yadda
Summary: Special Agent Leroy Gibbs has his hands full with a dead Marine and an amnesiac seven-year-old. Stargate SG-1/NCIS crossover
Season/Spoiler info: SG-1 Meridian, NCIS- Season threeish

To Catch A Falling Star

“Sheriff,” Gibbs thrust his hand out at his fellow officer. “What have we got?”

The other man had a firm handshake. “Not much. Got a Marine, shot full of holes. Guy out there in a fishing boat saw a flash of bright light, called it in. We found the body, found his military ID and called you guys.”

“Thanks,” Gibbs ducked under the tape. “Someone said you had a witness?”

“Don’t know if you’d call him that. What we’ve got is a kid, six or seven, buck naked, scared to death.”

“He wasn’t hurt?”

The sheriff shook his head, glad the fed’s first concern was for the kid. “Not a scratch on him. We sent him in to the hospital, just in case. I sent two men with him.”

“Good man,” Gibbs nodded. “McGee, pictures. Ziva, sketch it out. Ducky...”

“I’m right behind you, Jethro, no need to shout.” He stepped around Gibbs with a frown. “What have we here?” He peered at the body. “Oh, yes, poor fellow, you are quite dead, aren’t you?”

Tony glanced at the activity. “Boss…”

“Sheriff says there was a kid found at the scene. Go to the hospital and stick with him. I don’t want anyone-anyone-to know this boy is still alive. Last thing we need is for the killer to go after some kid.”

“What if it was his kid?”

“Then he’ll lead us to his father. Now go.” Gibbs walked over to the body. “Got an ID on him?”

*

There was, Tony mused, something strangely alluring about women in starched white clothes. “Dr. Jeffries?” He stood as a tall, black man walked over. “Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS.” He flipped his badge open, hiding a smile while the man adjusted his reading glasses and perused it carefully before waving his hand.

“Yeah, come this way.”

“How’s the witness?”

“Not hurt. Blood tests came back clear so he hadn’t been drugged or anything.”

“Physically, he’s okay.”

“Yeah. Emotionally, well, I don’t know. He isn’t talking much, doesn’t remember anything.”

“Doc,” Tony stayed his forward motion with a hand. “The local LEOs say he was naked, the boy. Any signs of…trauma?”

“No indication of sexual molestation. No marks, no bruises, no tearing, no blood.”

“You said he has amnesia?” Tony scribbled even as he gave an inward sigh of relief.

“Can’t remember his name, how old he is, where he’s from. I’m not a shrink but I gotta imagine what he saw would scare the crap out of an adult. I’d guess he’s about six or seven. He’s kinda small, a little on the skinny side but he wouldn’t let us feed him. In here.”

Tony noted the two deputies flanking either side of the doorway. “Thanks, guys.”

“No problem,” the guy on the right spoke up. “Got a little boy of my own, ‘bout his size. It’s always harder when it’s kids.”

Tony supposed he was right, it was tough for anyone. But when that anyone was a frightened kid with amnesia, somehow that made it that much worse. “Hey, kid, my name’s Tony.” Don’t scare the kid with your badge, title and all that stuff, Tony recalled his training. “They tell me you don’t remember your name?” Tony perused his witness. It was hard to tell what size he was, he was scrunched up under a blanket. His hair was a light blonde, long, shaggy, curly; his large eyes were the kind of blue usually created by contacts. He was dead pale, except for a skip of freckles across his cheeks and nose; obviously they’d cleaned him up since the tangled hair looked damp.

He seemed to draw himself even smaller. “I…I don’t know.”

Tony snagged one of the white boards from the wall and grabbed markers before flopping down on a task stool and rolling over. “I just want you to write anything that comes to mind.”

The boy reluctantly took the marker, eyeing it carefully. “Okay.”

“I remember when I was a kid and having to sign my papers in school.” He wrote in an exaggerated script. “Anthony DiNozzo. I always wanted a shorter name, so I started not answering to anything but Tony.” He eyed the child surreptitiously, watching him draw random figures on the board. “I never could draw worth a da…, until I studied drawing in school. You go to school?”

The kid seemed to consider the question seriously. “I don’t think so, I don’t remember school.” The marker seemed to be moving of its own accord. Tony glanced over and watched a series of letters emerge. He waited until the kid seemed to finish. “D-A-N. Dan? Danny? Daniel?”

The kid’s head jerked up sharply, then looked down at the board, silently tracing the letters with his finger. “Daniel. Daniel.”

“I like that name, Daniel.” For some odd reason, it seemed to fit the kid.

“Me, too,” the kid whispered.

“Okay, Daniel it is. Now, how about we get out of here. They find you some clothes to wear?”

“The nurse brought me some…” He struggled for the word while he pointed at the stack of clothes.

“Scrubs. Docs wear them when they go into surgery…”

A quick grin skittered across his face. “And they scrub before they go in, so…”

“Scrubs. You catch on pretty quick. Need some help getting dressed? No, okay, let me catch the doc and check you out.” He stepped to the door, making sure he shut it behind him. “I’ll be taking him with me. Can we get his paperwork?”

“Got it right here. Doc says anytime you want to leave, its okay.” Tony glanced down at the folder; they had labeled him as a John Doe. “Sheriff Pierce said to sign him in that way, keep it as quiet as possible.”

“Smart man.”

“We’ll be out in the parking lot, we’ll follow you back out. There’s a McDonalds down the street, if the kid wants something to eat.”

Tony perked up. The kid wasn’t the only person who’d missed lunch.

*

Scrubs they found, shoes they hadn’t so Tony hefted the kid into his arms as the emergency room doors slid open. Even though they’d gotten some little rubber-soled socks, it was plain he couldn’t be allowed to walk across the parking lot to the car. One of the officers, the one who’d talked about his own kid, offered to carry Daniel but Tony wanted the kid to get to know him, trust him so he declined and carried the kid himself. He hadn’t had a lot of experience with kids but he thought they ought to weigh more than this one did.

Tony carefully put him in the car, buckled him in and gave him a smile before jogging around to the other side. With a glance in the rearview, he saw the deputies following at a discreet distance. “Ahoy, McDonalds. Happy meal, here I come.” He swung into the drive through. “So, what can I get you?”

“Not hungry,” came the little voice beside him.

“Me neither. I’m starving,” Tony growled out the last word, buzzing the window down as he pulled up to the speaker. “Um, I’ll have the double quarter pounder with cheese meal, with a Coke and a cheeseburger Happy Meal, milk to drink. And a large coffee, plain. What kind of toys we got today?”

The disembodied voice gave him his total and the information that the toy was a Star Wars bobble head. “Great!” Tony enthused. “I hope it’s Darth Vader.” He dropped his voice, cupped his hand around his mouth. “I’m your father, Luke,” he intoned menacingly.

“I thought it was my Happy Meal?” The voice was cool and trying hard to be disinterested.

“Yeah? So?”

“My meal, my toy.”

“My credit card, my toy.” Tony countered.

*

The two of them bickered lightly all the way to the scene; Tony hoped Daniel didn’t realize he was trying to distract him.

“I’m alright.” Daniel whispered softly.

“Listen, kid, that was a lot to take in. Anyone would be…shook up.”

“I…I think that’s not the first dead person I’ve seen.”

Tony’s head swung around sharply. “What do you mean by that?”

“I just think I’ve seen dead people before. Lots of them.”

“Kid, you’ve seen too many movies, that’s all. You all done? Good, get the trash all together, Gibbs’ll never let us hear the end of it if we litter up the car.” Daniel obediently put all the trash into one of the bags.

Tony stopped abruptly when Gibbs flagged him down. “Hey, boss.”

Gibbs knelt down on the passenger side after Tony buzzed the window down. “Who’s your friend?”

“We’ve decided to call him Daniel.”

“Well, Daniel, my name is Special Agent Gibbs.” He took the coffee Tony handed over.

“You’re here because of the dead guy?” Daniel met his eyes tentatively.

“Yeah, I’m here for the dead guy. What do you know about that?”

Daniel shrugged. “Nothing. I don’t know how I got there, I don’t remember him. All I remember is a bunch of cops coming up and people making a lot of noise.” His shoulders hunched up as he slid lower in the seat. “I don’t think I like people shouting.”

“I’ll try to hold it down, kid.” Gibbs ruffled his hair before he stood up. “We’re about done here. Why don’t you hang out here with Daniel until we’re ready to roll?”

Tony nodded, acknowledging that he was to stay on Daniel.

*

By the time they were done, Daniel was slumped in the seat asleep. Tony had unfastened the seat belt and covered him with the hospital blanket.

“Okay, McGee’s riding with Ducky.” Gibbs eased the door open and with a tenderness not often associated with him, picked up the sleeping child and eased him into the backseat, buckling him in and tucking the blanket around him before softly closing the door. “Drive gentle, Tony, the kid needs his sleep.” Tony’s eyebrows rose as Gibbs slid beside Daniel, leaving the front seat for Ziva.

“Yes, boss.”

*

Daniel slept all the way back to DC, not even waking when they stopped for gas and a bathroom break. “Shouldn’t we wake him up?” Ziva frowned.

“Why?” Gibbs took a satisfying gulp of coffee.

“He might need to…”

“If he needs to pee, we’ll find a tree by the side of the road. Right now he’s asleep and he’s gonna stay that way.” Gibbs stepped back around the car.

*

Instead of parking in the lot, Gibbs instructed Tony to drive directly into the underground lab. “Boss?”

“DiNozzo, this kid may be a witness to a murder. Until we find out who killed that Marine, Daniel doesn’t leave our sight. One of us is going to be with him when he eats and sleeps and goes to the bathroom. Ziva, get some measurements and go get the kid some clothes and shoes. Take Tony with you. I’ll keep him in Abby’s lab.”

*

“Gibbs, he’s beautiful.” Abby carefully peeled the blanket away from the head resting on his shoulder.

“He’s a guy, Abby. Guys are not beautiful.”

“Well, he is, look at those eyelashes.” She watched him carry the boy into her office. “There’s a sleeping bag in the closet if you want to tuck him up in it.” She dug the sleeping bag out and between all of them, they inserted Daniel in it, wadding the blanket up for a pillow. “What have we got?”

“Ducky’s got the body downstairs, got a tentative ID.” She signed for the bag of evidence Gibbs handed her. “McGee, stay with Daniel.” Gibbs headed for the elevators.

Abby peered back into her office. “Daniel?”

“Tony said he wrote Dan, just scribbling so…” McGee shrugged his shoulders before he plopped down at the desk, eyeing their visitor.

*

Daniel reluctantly opened his eyes, slitting them against the light. Okay, he thought with a huge feeling of relief, not lying beside a dead guy anymore. He was on a floor, a hard floor, wrapped in, his fingers explored, a sleeping bag and wearing some type of cotton pajamas. He peeped around at the sound of a rhythmic tapping. He thought he recognized the man playing on some type of machine at a desk. Daniel ducked his head guiltily as McGee looked up and caught him staring.

“Hey, I don’t think we were introduced, I’m Tim.” He rose. “Wondered when you were going to wake up. You okay? Need anything? Water? Food? Bathroom?”

“Um.” Daniel nodded, his face flushing with embarrassment.

“Come on, kid, I’ll take you. Don’t want you getting lost in Abby’s lab. Floor’s kind of cold, want me to carry you?”

“No, thank you,” Daniel looked back over his shoulder at the desk. “What’s that thing you were playing with?”

Tim’s face froze, then an uneasy smile appeared. “The computer? I thought every kid had their own computer these days. How about I explain it to you after we take care of business?”

*

“Okay, what do we know?” Gibbs frowned as Tony and Ziva dumped several bags on their desks.

“That it takes more than a village to raise a child, it takes a damn trust fund. Do you know that a pair of little kid’s shoes cost as much as an adult’s?”

“It’s not like it’s coming out of your checking account, DiNozzo, since he’s not your child.”

“One can only give thanks that there aren’t any little Tonys running around.” Ziva echoed Tony’s sigh.

“What do we know about the scene?” Gibbs leaned back in his chair.

Tony flipped through his notes. “I finally tracked down the owner while Ziva was picking out clothes. He rents it out most of the year, mainly to DC bigwigs who like to pretend they’re living off the land. His words, not mine. The cabin isn’t exactly your roughing it kind of cabin. Microwaves, internet connection, central heat and air, private fishing dock. Throw in a cooler of beer and a couple of blondes and I’d vacation there. If the ID holds up, it’s out of a staff sergeant’s salary range.”

“Find out who rented the cabin in the last six months.”

“Already asked, he’s going to fax it from his office.”

“What about our dead Marine?”

“Staff Sergeant Carl Trenton, reported AWOL from Quantico four days ago. He was a mechanic, didn’t have any security level. Commanding officer, Major Samuel Freeman said he was a good soldier, no spots on his service record.”

“Well, he pissed someone off enough to fill him full of lead.” Gibbs walked over to rifle through the bags of clothes, holding up a stuffed horse with a grimace. “Isn’t he a little old for stuffed animals?”

“How would I know?” Tony defended his choice, grabbing the animal from Gibbs with a yank.

“Yeah, Tony still sleeps with his teddy bear.” Ziva smiled sweetly.

“Well, let’s take this stuff down to Abby’s lab and see if our young friend is awake yet.”

*

“Where’s the kid?” Gibbs scanned the lab.

“He’s in Abby’s office, on the computer,” McGee inclined his head. “Something I want to talk to you about, boss.”

“Yeah?” Gibbs stationed himself where he could see Daniel sitting, legs dangling from the desk chair.

“Something strange about the kid. He didn’t know what a computer was…”

“I thought kids these days were born with a mouse in their hand,” Tony speculated.

“And I had to show him how to operate the computer and the remote to the TV.”

“Unless he was raised in a cave, that is odd. Could it be related to the amnesia?” Gibbs leaned against the glass, still watching the boy.

“Uh, I took the liberty of calling a friend of mine at Bethesda, she’s a psychiatrist. She said…”

“She?” Tony quipped.

McGee continued with a frown. “She said the amnesia could be related to emotional trauma, and no, I didn’t tell her what was going on. But she said forgetting how to operate things is pretty rare. Most people who suffer amnesia still remember how to walk and talk and how to take a shower, for example. Anyway, it’s all pretty much guesswork.”

Gibbs seemed to tune them out, opening the door and walking over to Daniel. The rest of the team jockeyed for position, watching as Gibbs knelt by the boy, one hand on the back of the chair, appearing fascinated by the paper on which he’d been scribbling.

“Gibbs should have kids.” Abby sighed.

“Nah, wild dogs eat their young.”

“Tony!” She slapped his arm. “Don’t you think they’re sweet together?”

“In no way, can I use the words sweet and Gibbs in the same sentence.”

*

“Can you make this snappy? I don’t really have a lot of time.”

Gibbs slowly considered the Air Force Colonel on the screen in front of him; they’d already interviewed everyone else who’d stayed at the cabin. However, this guy had been stonewalling them all day, hence Gibbs’ volunteering to question him. He just wished he’d been able to get the guy in person and not on webcam. “Sorry to take up your valuable time, Colonel O’Neill, but I have a dead Marine who ran out of time.”

“And you think I have something to do with his being dead?”

“We found him at a fishing cabin out at Lake Anna, Virginia.”

“Bill Todd’s cabin?” Gibbs nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been out there, couple of times this year.” O’Neill flipped through his calendar. “First week of April, this year. Middle of October, last year.”

“You haven’t been out there since then?”

“No.”

“You weren’t out there this past weekend?”

“I’m stationed at Colorado Springs, Cheyenne Mountain. I haven’t been to DC in, I don’t know, six weeks or better. But I suppose you need proof? I’ll get someone to fax you something. Pictures of me asleep at my desk or something. Okay?”

*

“So, everyone who rented the cabin within the last six months has an alibi?”

“Yes, sir,” McGee scrolled through the list. “All can account for their time. None of them, as far as we can tell, even knew the sergeant.”

“So that’s a dead end. Find the wife yet?” Gibbs leaned over his shoulder.

“No, not a trace of her and no one by her name with a driver’s license.”

“Fake name?” Gibbs theorized.

“I’d say that was a good possibility.”

Gibbs flipped his phone open. “Abby’s got something. Find out who she really was.”

“Oh, yeah, no problem,” Tim muttered under his breath as Gibbs left.

*

“Abs, tell me some good news.”

“Daniel beat Tony’s score on Donkey Kong.” Abby beamed at her apprentice, who smiled back at her with what looked suspiciously like adoring eyes.

“It was nothing. I’m younger and I can learn faster.”

“Did you make Tony cry?” Gibbs squinted down at the boy.

“Almost.”

“Well, Abby and I have some business to conduct so why don’t you hop into the office and see if you can improve your score.”

“I can do some more research for you, Abby.”

“Good idea, wonder boy.” She saluted as he loped into the office; her smile dropping when the door closed. “Gibbs, I ran his prints.”

“And why the long sad face?”

“Because I got a hit.” She tapped on the computer. “The problem is that his fingerprints match a guy who is listed as MIA from the Air Force. One Dr. Daniel Jackson.” She guiltily turned the screen away from the office glass. “Who was thirty five years old when he went missing overseas.”

“You matched his fingerprints to a grown man. A grown man who is MIA from the Air Force?”

“Yeah.”

“Is it possible for two people to have exactly the same fingerprints? Say, father and son?”

“You think he’s the father?” Abby glanced worriedly at her office.

“I think turning up two different Daniels with matching prints is a hell of a coincidence. Can you pull up a photograph?”

“Sure.” Abby tapped a few more keys and a color photo filled the screen. “Okay, I’m thinking I’ve seen those big blue eyes somewhere before. Gets his looks from his dad obviously.”

“It’s something, anyway. The fingerprints?”

“Statistically, it’s impossible for any two people to have exactly the same fingerprints. They can be close, but exact matches aren’t possible.”

“So what else can you tell me about this Jackson?”

“Was a senior civilian consultant for the Air Force when he was listed. Worked out of Cheyenne Mountain…”

“Colorado Springs, Colorado.”

“You know your geography, Gibbs.” Abby nodded her approval.

“No, I just questioned a guy who rented the cabin a couple of times. An Air Force Colonel out of Cheyenne, O’Neill…”

“Jonathan O’Neill?” Abby interrupted him.

Gibbs scrubbed his face with his hands. “Why am I getting a bad feeling?”

“Because O’Neill was Dr. Daniel Jackson’s commanding officer. And is listed as his next of kin. There’s no mention of a son in his file; he’s listed as a widower. So if Dr. Jackson is our Daniel’s father, then O’Neill would have been pretty far up in the custody line.”

“Dammit! O’Neill seemed pretty up front to me. But, he may be in this up to his Air Force bars. I’m going to talk to the director, see if we can get this O’Neill out here for questioning. Keep an eye on the kid for me.”

*

“Okay,” Gibbs looked at his team. “O’Neill will be here in the morning for questioning. I’m going to take Daniel home with me, get him out of here for the night. Tony, in the morning, come to the house, you can stay with Daniel while I question O’Neill; I don’t want Daniel anywhere near here. And no one-no one-mentions the kid to O’Neill. If he didn’t know the kid was there, I don’t want him to find it out until I decide how to play it.”

*

Gibbs shifted the bags of food in his arms. “First door on the right is the guest room, you can put your stuff down there.” He watched Daniel peek around the open door before darting in. “What do you want to drink with your dinner? I don’t have any milk, I might be able to find some Kool-aid.”

Daniel crawled up on one of the stools at the island. “What are you going to have?”

“I’m having coffee,” he fought a smile at the expectant look. “And, no, you can’t have any.” He tapped the freckled nose. “Coffee isn’t good for little ones.”

“I like coffee and I’m not that little.” Daniel announced grandly.

“Besides, how do you know that you like coffee?” Gibbs handed him a fork and a bottle of water, which caused Daniel to frown. “And who do I have to kill?”

“Um,” Daniel pointedly played with his food. “Um, Tony got you a cup and I thought it smelled good so he gave it to me then told you he forgot.”

“Hmm,” Gibbs frowned heavily, but Daniel wasn’t fooled at all. “Eat your dinner, kid. And later we’ll talk about what little kids are not supposed to be eating and drinking.” Daniel pushed his food around on the plate. “Something wrong with the food?”

“Gibbs,” he laid his fork down. “How much trouble am I in?”

“You’re not in any trouble.”

Daniel held up one finger, “I don’t know who I am, I was with a guy who got murdered and why isn’t anybody looking for me?” He ticked the count off with two more fingers.

“How do you know no one is looking for you? We don’t even know that for a fact. I think we’re gonna find that someone, somewhere, loves you and misses you. The other two things, well, there’s nothing you can do about either one of those by worrying yourself gray-headed. Eat and I’ll let you help me work on my boat.”

As he hoped, the kid pepped up. “You got a boat?”

*

He shouldn’t have been surprised, he supposed, that the kid didn’t want to go to bed. “Come on, kid, you need some sleep.”

“But I’m not tired,” came the petulant reply.

Gibbs smothered a smile, knowing that would only make it worse. “Well, I am and I need my sleep.” He sat patiently on the side of the bed as Daniel finally crawled under the covers. “I’ll leave the hallway light on for you, in case you need to go to the bathroom.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

Gibbs nodded. “Sure.”

“What’s going to happen to me? If you can’t find out who I am and where I belong, I mean.”

“I’m not even thinking that far ahead.” It was plain, however, that Daniel had spent some time investigating that possibility. “Okay, say we can’t find your family. We’ll find you a family. One who will love you and take care of you.” Gibbs had a feeling the first was, to Daniel, much more important than the last. “And I’m going to keep up with you, you know. We’re not just going to forget you, Daniel, I promise.”

*

Gibbs gave his suspect a good, hard look. Impatient without being afraid, O’Neill spent most of his time slouched in a chair, looking bored. Finally he broke the silence. “I know what you’re doing.”

“You do?” Gibbs replied slowly.

“You’re trying to break me, hoping I’ll go nuts and confess to, I don’t know, the Lincoln assassination or something. Sorry to disappoint you but I didn’t kill your Marine, although there’ve been a few jarheads over the years I’d like to have throttled. If I were going to kill someone, I’d want the satisfaction of doing it with my bare hands.” He noted with a straight face.

“Yeah, you strike me as the hands on type.”

“So, you gonna tell me why you tapped me for this kill? Yeah, I rented the cabin a couple of times, but you know I wasn’t there, haven’t been there in months.”

“How do we know you didn’t sneak into town? You don’t have travel manifests for all your trips to DC.”

O’Neill smiled crookedly. “Sometimes, my means of transport can be a little…unconventional.”

Gibbs had had Tony bring Daniel in, was hiding him down in Abby’s lab. He gave Tony the pre-arranged signal through the glass, instructing him to fetch Daniel. “See, the dead guy wasn’t alone.”

“You got a witness and you still dragged me all the way out here?” O’Neill seemed to be on the verge of losing his temper. “Do you know, Special Agent Gibbs, just how busy a Colonel is?”

“Yeah, all that deep space telemetry stuff. Relax, flyboy, the stars have been there a few billion years, they ain’t going nowhere for the next couple of hours. Talk to me about Dr. Daniel Jackson.”

O’Neill froze. “What the hell does Daniel have to do with this? He’s MIA, has been for better than a year.” Three hundred and seventy two days, to be exact, Jack thought wearily.

And there was what Gibbs was looking for, the chink in the armor. “What would you say if I told you I’d found a link between Dr. Jackson and this murder?”

“You’re either lying or you’re crazier than hell.” Jack chastised himself for losing his temper but it’d been an extremely bad week.

“How do I know he’s not just AWOL? Exactly how much effort would the Air Force expend to hunt for one missing civilian?” Gibbs allowed jus a bit of disgust to enter his voice.

O’Neill’s leap upward sent his chair crashing to the ground. “God damn you! You will not sit there and insinuate that we didn’t give a damn about Daniel; you don’t know the first thing about it! Now either tell me why you dragged me in here or I’m gonna have to make a phone call that won’t make you or your boss happy.”

“DiNozzo.” Gibbs called out.

O’Neill followed his gaze to the door, watching as another agent entered, with a small boy in tow. O’Neill stood frozen as large, wary blue eyes met his. He seemed incapable of speech.

“You know this kid?”

Gibbs registered the fact that O’Neill’s shocked eyes only held his for a second before returning to the child. “What?”

“Well, we found him at our crime scene. And we matched his fingerprints to your missing civilian. Care to tell me why a six-year-old boy and a missing thirty-five-year-old have the exact same fingerprints?”

But O’Neill was no longer listening, he was kneeling in front of the child, his hands unsteadily cupping the boy’s face, staring into those eyes. Suddenly, he grabbed the boy’s arm, seemingly searching for something, his hands not quite steady as he traced a small scar across the knuckles of a small right hand. “Daniel. I’m sorry, we didn’t know, we didn’t know.” Suddenly, he swept the boy into his arms. Tony started forward but stopped as Gibbs shook his head, held his hand up. “We didn’t know.” O’Neill kept repeating as he rocked the boy in his arms.

Finally, slowly, the child’s hands touched the man’s arms before creeping around his neck. “Jack?” He whispered.

O’Neill sat hard, clutching the now crying child, stroking his hair. “Oh, god, I’m sorry, Daniel, I’m so sorry.”

Gibbs motioned for Tony to follow him out into the hall. “Well, I’d say that those two know each other.”

“You did that on purpose, boss.” Tony frowned at the man trying to console the boy. “You wound him up then sprang the kid on him. You’re good.” Tony confessed with admiration.

“I wanted to see their reactions to each other. I didn’t tell Daniel that O’Neill’s friends call him Jack. And I hoped seeing O’Neill might shock the kid into remembering something.”

“And he did. Just not anything to help us.”

“I don’t think Daniel has anything to do with the murder.”

“So what do you think?”

“I think, DiNozzo, that someone intentionally dumped that child out there, knowing we’d eventually track down the connection to O’Neill.”

“Someone who wanted O’Neill and Daniel to get together? Then why not just take the kid to Colorado?”

“Hey, I came up with the theory, it’s up to you guys to prove it.” He glanced back in the room. O’Neill was sitting on a chair, one arm holding Daniel steady on his knee while he gave someone hell over his phone. Gibbs walked back in and sat down. “Daniel, how are you?”

“Um, okay, I think.”

“Come over here, I want to ask you a couple of questions.” Daniel glanced at Jack uncertainly. “Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere. Let the colonel finish his phone call.”

Daniel reluctantly walked around the table, let Gibbs heave him up to sit on the table so that they were fairly close to being eye to eye. “You recognized him.”

“Not really recognized. But… you’re gonna think it’s stupid.”

“Promise, no one here thinks you’re stupid.”

“When he hugged me? I…recognized his heartbeat. And I just knew that I knew him.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

Daniel glanced back over his shoulder. “Is he going to take me home?”

“Do you remember where home is?”

“No,” he hesitated. “I’m probably never going to remember, am I?”

“Why do you say that?”

“When I was playing with Abby’s computer? I kinda looked up amnesia. Seeing that guy dead counts as trauma, right? Well, a lot of trauma induced amnesiacs never get their memories back. I think I had a mama and a daddy, but I don’t remember.”

“I don’t know anything about your mother, but Colonel O’Neill was a very good friend of your father. I think your dad’s just a little lost right now. And I think your dad would want you to stay with the colonel. I believe he wants to keep you safe, don’t you?”

“He…he said my dad was a hero and he got lost saving a lot of people from getting killed.”

“Sounds like he would have made a good Marine.” Gibbs tapped a denim-clad knee.

“Bite your tongue, Daniel was Air Force all the way.” He motioned for Gibbs to follow him out of Daniel’s earshot. “Your boss is, as we speak, getting a call from the Secretary of Defense, who is personally sending over a letter from a judge giving me permission to take Daniel into my custody. What’s the latest on this dead guy? How much danger is Daniel in?”

“I’m not going to lie to you, Colonel. If the killer finds out Daniel was there, if he or she suspects the kid saw something, he could be in trouble. The question is can you protect him?”

O’Neill snorted with laughter. “I’m a highly trained Air Force officer; I think I can take on a six-year-old.” Gibbs watched him walk over and scoop the child off the tabletop and Gibbs thought O’Neill might just be okay. For a flyboy, anyway.

“I don’t have to tell you that he’s a pretty special kid, O’Neill. And if you let him get hurt, I will come to Colorado and kick your ass.”

O’Neill grinned. “Trust me, if I let him get hurt, my team will kick my ass and you guys will never find the pieces.”

“I’m liking your team already. DiNozzo, get Daniel’s stuff together. He’s going home with Colonel O’Neill, who will leave me an address and a contact phone number.”

“Yes, sir. Come on, Daniel, say good-bye to your friends. And Gibbs? Thanks for taking care of him, I owe you a big one.”

“Just make sure you bring Daniel to visit when you come back to DC and we’ll call it even.”

*

Abby was crying unashamedly. “But why can’t we keep him? We can make him a little bed right in the corner and we can take turns taking him home with us.”

“He’s not a Dalmatian, Abby. He’s going to be among friends in Colorado.”

Abby lifted Daniel off the floor. “Okay, you’ve got my email address and you’d better write me. And call me if you need me, you know, just to talk or anything.”

“I will,” his voice was muffled by her lab coat. “And, thanks, Abby.”

“I love you, wonder boy.” She left a lipstick mark on his cheek.

“I love you, too, wonder girl.”

McGee and Ziva settled for a more dignified hug. Daniel gave them both a big smile. “Thank you guys for taking care of me.”

Daniel turned to Tony, who shook his hand, then with a muttered oath, used the hand to drag the boy up into his arms. “I never really thought I’d like kids, kid, but you’re not half bad. Give the flyboys hell for me. And if you need advice, about girls or anything like that, give me a call, okay?”

“I think I’m a few years away from that, but thanks for the thought.”

Gibbs deftly plucked him from Tony’s arms. “Oh, don’t think you’re getting out of here without a proper hug.” He slipped a card into the boy’s back pocket as he kissed his cheek. “Work phone, home phone, cell. If you need me, call me, that’s an order.”

Daniel hugged him tightly. “Thank you for finding me and then finding Jack. I think I’m gonna be alright, Gibbs.”

“Yeah, you’re gonna be just fine. O’Neill has to bring you back for a visit, so this isn’t really goodbye. Oh, and Ducky said to remind you they have some very fine universities in Europe, keep it in mind.”

Daniel giggled as he slid down. “I won’t be going to college for years and years.”

O’Neill rolled his eyes. “Kid, if you’re anything like your old man, you’ll be in college before you’re shaving. Come on, we’ve got a flight to catch. I can’t wait to spring you on the gang at the mountain; boy, are they ever gonna be surprised.”

They all sighed as Daniel turned and waved one last time before taking O’Neill’s hand and stepping on the elevator.

*

In her strangely quiet lab, Abby looked mournfully at a hand-drawn picture on the table. “I need to get this framed and mounted.”

Gibbs clapped his hands loudly. “Come on, we’ve still got a killer to catch.” The rest of the team languidly followed him onto the elevator.

Gibbs swung his chair around, started to sit, then stopped. Reaching down, he slowly picked up the stuffed horse, sitting silently waiting for him. With a smile, he sat the little animal beside his computer, tweaking its long tail. “Yeah, kid, I think you’re gonna be alright.”

“Whatcha got there, boss?” DiNozzo sneered openly as he made his way to his desk.

“Uh, Tony, I wouldn’t be so quick with the laugh if I were you.” Ziva pointed out the Darth Vader bobble-head resting in the middle of his desk.

Tony gently set Vader to bobbling, blinking rapidly. “Sun’s bright today.” He said gruffly as he turned away.

***