Chapter 1

It was going to be a year to remember, that Dabi Moore-Gibbs was sure of.

During her spring break, Dabi had witnesses the murder of a Navy officer. This had brought in NCIS, which had brought in Supervisory Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

A routine DNA search through CODIS had brought to light a very interesting, much unknown secret; Dabi was the daughter Gibbs had never known he had and he was the father she had always wondered about.

Neither of them could talk to Amanda Moore about it, Dabi's mother, because she had been killed by a drunk driver when Dabi was eleven. Since then, Dabi had lived with her grandparents, Daniel and Sharee Shemo, who owned and operated Kranz Bakery. It was the same bakery they lived above and Dabi worked at part-time.

The relationship between father and daughter was good; Dabi usually spent the weekends with Gibbs, unless he was working a case. If that was the case, then she made a point of stopping by NCIS at least once to visit him. When they weren't together, and one wasn't busy with work or school, they were texting.

Agent Ziva David had become as much a friend as a teacher to Dabi, who now knew how to throw a punch without hurting her hand, how to kick and make it count, and how to throw a knife.

Agent Timothy 'Tim' McGee had also accepted Dabi, treating her like a kid sister and making sure he always had doggie treats for Azan, Dabi's Golden Retriever Hearing Dog and constant companion.

Senior Agent Anthony 'Tony' DiNozzo, on the other hand, had a Torment-The-Hell-Out-of-The -Other relationship with her. The truth was, as his boss's daughter, he was terrified of her. For one thing, it didn't help that she had learned the fine art of walking quietly and had, on several occasions, deliberately scared him so badly he had spilled his drink all over himself.

In fact, her most memorable one had been when she had scared him in to dropping his ice cold drink on his crotch.

There was also the time she had, with a little help, rigged his desk chair to emit a harmless but painful shock every time he sat down on it. Then his pen and stapler had gotten rigged, and his coffee mug had been changed so it said, "I'm A Douche" on the bottom.

Tony had responded with pranks of his own and it had become an ongoing war between them.

On her eighteenth birthday, her friend, Abby Sciuto, had taken her to a tattoo parlor and helped her get a really nice butterfly tattoo across the back of her shoulders, with tribal designs on the sides, and four smaller butterflies dancing around the larger one.

The first time Gibbs saw the tattoo, Dabi was wearing a bright blue strapless crop top and her favorite jeans. He knew she'd gotten a tattoo, he just didn't know what it looked like. Having seen Abby's tattoos, he thought the one on Dabi's back was nicely done, but he did wonder about the smaller butterflies, until Dabi explained; the four butterflies were her parents and her grandparents.

Azan, sadly, passed away about a week after Dabi's birthday, having been diagnosed with an inoperable cancerous tumor, earlier that week. Having been a vital part of her world since she was twelve, Azan's death rocked Dabi's world and sent her tumbling into a depression that scared everyone she knew. That was when Gibbs planted Dr. Rachel Cranston in front of her. Dr. Crangston was a psychologist who had worked with Gibbs and his team before, and had become a friend.

"As a matter of doctor-patient confidentiality, I can't tell you everything, but I will tell you this; she's lost her mother and now Azan, and she's terrified of losing you and her grandparents," the kindly doctor later reported to Gibbs. "She's terrified of being alone, especially with the loss of Azan."

"So what do we do?" Gibbs asked.

"Be patient. She's grieving, just as I'm sure you've done," was the reply. "She mentioned a possible trip to Stillwater in the summer? Take her. Also, she wanted to bury Azan with her mother, but the cemetery officials won't let her, so..."

Gibbs smiled.

That was how Dabi found herself out in the cemetery, in the middle of the night, dressed in black, and carrying Azan's cremated remains. With her was Abby, Ziva, Tim, Gibbs, and Tony, all dressed in black, and all carrying flashlights and small digging tools. Gibbs knew the cemetery caretaker and had told him the problem. The caretaker, understanding, had agreed to look the other way that night and "accidentally" leave the gate unlocked if Gibbs would lock it up after they were done.

"This is the most creepiest thing I have ever done, I swear," Dabi muttered as they made their way through the cemetery.

"When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth," Tony intoned, quoting from the 1978 movie, Dawn of the Dead. He grinned evilly at Dabi, who glared at him. He knew how much she hated scary movies.

"Keep that up and you'll be a zombie, DiNozzo," Gibbs warned.

"Yes, boss."

They quickly found who they were looking for; Amanda Moore. Her headstone was a simple granite stone set in the ground, with her name, date of birth, and date of death on it.

"Hi Mom," said Dabi softly, feeling the tears well up again as she kneeled beside the headstone. "I'm sorry I haven't been by lately, but I found Dad. It's kind of a long story, but I'm sure you know it already." She wiped her eyes, feeling Gibbs hand on her shoulder. "If you don't know it by now, Azan just left. Cancer got him. Could you meet him at the Gate for me? Just so he knows where to go?"

She watched as Tony and Tim started carefully digging a hole beside the headstone. Azan's remains, in a nice little wooden box Gibbs had made, were carefully put in the hole and covered up.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to know you very well, Mandy, but for the short time I did, I'm glad, because we have a daughter, and I'm glad to know her," Gibbs said quietly. He glanced over to a different section of the cemetery.

"Is that where Shannon and Kelly are?" Dabi asked, seeing the movement.

Gibbs nodded.

"We'll finish here, Gibbs," Abby said, smiling reassuringly. "You two go say hello."

And that was how Dabi said hello to her half-sister, Kelly.

A few days later, Dabi stopped by NCIS. She was looking better than she had the previous days. Wearing sneakers, dark blue leggings, brightly colored leg warmers, a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on it, earrings that looked like ice cream cones with googly eyes, and her hair in two braids with colorful extensions running through them, she looked a bit more like herself. She was even wearing the jacket Eric Armstrong had given her when they had first met, and had a little make-up on.

"Hey," she said, handing Gibbs his coffee and accepting his kiss on her temple.

"Hey yourself," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"I'll be okay," she said, before suddenly jumping nearly a foot as Tony came up behind her and startled her, again. Dabi watched as Tony walked away, cackling. A gleam came into her eyes, one that made Gibbs get nervous for Tony's sake.

"Abby is going to help me study for my finals," she said, indicating her book bag.

"Good idea," he said.

"I'll catch you later," she said. "Ignore the scream."

"Don't hurt him too much." He was getting used to the relationship between his senior field agent and his daughter. It was odd but harmless, sort of.

"I won't," was the reply. She trailed after Tony quietly, vanishing down the hallway.

A moment later;

THUD!

"Wha- No, no, please, no! Yaaaaah!"

Tony reappeared a moment later, walking a bit funny, with a pained expression on his face.

"What happened to you?" Ziva asked, having heard the commotion.

"Wedgie," Tony mumbled, his face turning scarlet.

Gibbs nearly choked on his coffee.