Chapter 1: When It All Began

Gibbs had known there was something wrong with her for quite a while, his suspicions were only confirmed when his old friend, Ducky, refused to name the latest 'John Doe' which had mysteriously popped up from a non-existent case.

Gibbs knew Ducky well, probably better than he knew himself, so he knew for a fact that the Director, Jenny Shepard, was the only person he'd ever stick his neck out for. He knew that she was the only person Ducky would ever risk his career over if it was ever officially discovered that he was using his access to medical equipment to do something personal.

Saying he was worried was a massive understatement and unfortunately, there were more indications he had seen lately that suggested not all was well with Director Shepard. Not only had she become ridiculously distant from him and the others but her behaviour had changed too… and he wasn't the only one who had noticed. Molly had too.

Every single day when Gibbs saw her, she would always mention to him that something was wrong with her Mommy and no matter how much he tried to convince her - and himself - there wasn't a problem, he knew she knew he was lying. She may have only been seven years old but she wasn't stupid.

Sat at his desk, leaning unmercifully on his hands, Gibbs' eyes soon picked up and then followed the said red-haired woman as she crossed the bullpen. With her head down, she simply continued on her way and headed up to her office, not even so much as a 'good morning'.

Noting her completely disappear on the upper level, Gibbs found himself sighing roughly to himself. His relationship with Jenny hadn't always been the smoothest, but they'd always been close. After she joined the agency as Director and introduced him to his unknown daughter, Molly, a couple of years ago, they soon rekindled their strong friendship and underlying love for one another. Whether it was sexual or not, which it was - or rather had been - made no difference to either of them. What they had, it worked for them. They both only looked at each other, silently committing to each other without a spoken declaration, and that was that. Perhaps that was why her sudden change in behaviour had been noticed by him so quickly… he knew her that well.

Ignoring the noise around him, mostly coming from DiNozzo as he terrorised his two fellow agents with his usual, daily antics, Gibbs stared down at his desk. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get her off his mind. He needed to get through to her; he needed to show her he was there, not just for his sake but for Molly's too. She needed her mother back in the same way he needed his Jenny back… and as quickly as possible.

Staring down at the pill-box in her hand, her mind far from understanding anything other than what it stood for, Director Shepard couldn't help but internally scream to herself. It all seemed so unfair. It's wasn't that she was unfit, in fact she'd always been very careful with her health, but then that damn thing came along and that was it. She was dying, and there was no power on God's earth that could change that.

It hurt her to think of all the things in her daughter's life that she would miss: her graduation, her wedding, her children's births… All those things would be nothing more than bitter-sweet daydreams for her; all those details of Molly's life would be nothing more than figments of her slowly fading imagination. The only comfort she had was that Molly had Jethro. Through all of what Jenny knew was coming, at least Molly would have her Dad after she was gone…

Jenny didn't want anyone to see her suffer. That was why she hadn't told anyone of her condition. To be honest, if she'd have had her way, Ducky wouldn't even have known. The sympathetic looks she got off him now as they passed by were more than enough to make her feel worse. She really didn't want Jethro to wear that same look too every time he was around her.

Fishing out two pills before slamming them harshly against her tongue, Jenny begrudged the tiny white capsules as they made their way down her throat. They were just another harsh reminder that she wasn't dreaming. No matter how much she wished, she wasn't going to wake up one morning to discover it was just a bad nightmare. It was her unfair reality… and it was only going to get worse.

Grunting once the pills were long gone down her neck, the Director slammed back onto her chair, silently cursing the pain in her lower body the pills would soon be battling against. That too was just another reminder that her body would soon be overpowered by the incurable condition. She was going to die long before what she had expected to.

It was the sound of her office phone ringing that caught her attention. Looking towards it, she sighed to herself before reaching her tired arm towards it and bringing it to her ear to answer.

"Shepard." she introduced, releasing a breath as her secretary's voice responded.

"Director, I've got a Mr. Harold Banks on the phone for you." her secretary, Cynthia, informed her.

Frowning, Director Shepard automatically shuffled in her chair. Lifting her one leg and tucking it under her body, she shook her head to herself. She'd never even heard of a 'Harold Banks'.

"Is he a representative of someone?" she found herself asking, trying to recall who on earth this man could be. However, her chaotic thoughts just couldn't find any recollection of any Mr Banks, Harold or otherwise.

"I'm afraid I don't know." Cynthia confessed down the line, "The information he has for you is classified. I can do nothing more than patch him through."

Even more confused than before, Jenny continued to shake her head. Not only had she got absolutely no idea who the man was but the entire situation was very strange. For something to not even be allowed to be partially discussed on the phone with her secretary was a rarity. Surely that meant that whatever the man needed to tell her couldn't be said over a phone line either. If it truly was classified,surely either a MTAC feed or face-to-face meeting would have been more appropriate.

"Very well." she relented, too tired to get carried away by her concerns, "Put him through."

Waiting a moment as Cynthia did as requested, the Director listened intensely for the line to change.

"Director Shepard…" she introduced.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the bullpen, Gibbs' jumbled thoughts were soon interrupted by the shriek whistle of the phone sat before him. Dragging him harshly back to reality, the grey-haired agent reached for the device, grateful for the silence pulling it off the receiver caused.

"Gibbs." he gruffly introduced, soon hearing the near monotone voice of the man from Dispatch.

His call had near enough silenced the three people on his team, Agents DiNozzo, McGee and Officer David, all who were slowly already reaching for their gear. They'd been in the job long enough to know a call about that time a day was usually meant they were moments away from beginning an active case.

Like expected, Gibbs' famous order followed the moment he slammed the phone down.

"Gear up."

Gathering his things without even looking, his eyes glued firmly to his Boss, DiNozzo couldn't help himself from wondering the specific details Gibbs had just been given.

"What we got, Boss?" he queried, moving around his desk to head towards the elevator that Officer Ziva David was already stood by waiting for.

"Two marines have been shot downtown." he explained, joining the three of them as the elevator opened and allowed them all to step in.

"They dead, Boss?" McGee wondered.

"Not yet." Gibbs answered.

With the crime scene in an abandoned warehouse being processed with a fine tooth-comb by Agents DiNozzo and McGee, Gibbs and Ziva found themselves down at the local hospital. One of their victims, 27 year old Romeo Barraclough, has been rather lucky compared to his friend, Dwayne Mulligan. Despite the fact he'd taken two bullets, he was surprisingly okay and awake, eager to help the pair with their investigation.

"So what happened, Mr Barraclough?" Gibbs asked after their initial introductions.

"What can I say, sir?" he asked rhetorically, "Dwayne and I were just trying to protect our kids."

Gibbs found his face forming a frown. "Okay, now I'm lost." he confessed, "What have your children got to do with this?"

"It's… it's complicated, sir." he admitted.

Sighing to himself as his eyes met Ziva's, Gibbs fell against the chair behind him.

"Okay." he declared softly, "Take it from the beginning."

Nodding softly, Romeo took a moment which allowed Ziva to fall against the window overlooking the hospital corridor. She had a strong feeling it wasn't going to be a short story.

"About two months ago, Dwayne got a phone call from a man who called himself 'Harry'. The same day this Harry sent Dwayne an email filled with photos of his little girl… he'd been watching her for months." he begun to explain, "Dwayne came to me and told me he'd been told to pay $2 million to an offshore account or his little girl wouldn't be safe… and you know, Agent Gibbs. He's a Marine; he doesn't have that kind of money."

"So he was being blackmailed?" Ziva tried to simplify, earning nothing but a nod from the man.

"He wasn't the only one…" Barraclough confessed, his head dropping, "About a month ago, I got a call and email too. Turns out this Harry had been watching my twins, Levi and Ellie, for the past six months too… and I couldn't protect them from him."

Gibbs felt his lips tightening. "He wanted $2 mil. off you too?" he probed further.

Romeo nodded. "I… I couldn't afford that." he whispered, his eyes welling up as he spoke.

Gibbs sighed silently, leaning his elbows against his knees while Ziva spoke up.

"Why didn't you go to the police?" she enquired.

Barraclough gulped. "We knew he'd find out…" he explained, "We couldn't– We wouldn't put the kids at that kind of risk…"

Gibbs briefly rubbed his nose with his knuckle, allowing Barraclough to turn back to face him.

"So what happened this morning?" he quizzed softly, aware the young marine was getting more and more distressed.

Sighing shakily, Barraclough met Gibbs' stare.

"Dw-Dwayne and I contacted Harry who agreed to meet us at the warehouse. We were gonna pay off what we could." Romeo began to explain, "Honestly, we just wanted him to back off and leave the kids alone. I mean, we'd mustered together 300K between us… That's pretty good for two marines."

"But not good when he asked for $4 mil." Gibbs trailed off slowly.

"No, sir." he agreed, "And-and we didn't expect him to be armed. We… we just gave him the money and asked him to leave the kids alone." his head dropped as his voice broke, "And he didn't like that."

Realising that was the point where the pair of them were likely shot, Gibbs pushed himself up off his legs into a sitting position.

"Did you see this 'Harry's' face?" he questioned.

Barraclough regretfully shook his head. "No." he confessed, "I went down first and missed actually seeing him. I mean, it was real dark in there, sir, and-and he was stood in the shadows… but I'd bet Dwayne saw him."

Feeling her heart drop, Ziva briefly shared a look with Gibbs before Romeo looked towards her.

"Do you know how he is?" the young man asked her, "Freya said she'd go and find out for me."

Understanding that he meant his wife, Gibbs kept his head down, looking at his notes as he stood up.

"I'm sure she'll let you know." he stated, seeing the said woman and two young children appear outside the room. Right on time…

Turning back to Romeo, Gibbs smiled. "Thank you, Mr Barraclough." he nodded.

"Catch that bastard, Agent Gibbs." he looked desperately towards the older man, "I don't doubt he wouldn't hurt any kids if his victims don't pay up."

Nodding adamantly, Gibbs silently promised the man he would do as requested while Ziva pushed herself up off the window she was leaning against.

"Oh, we will." Ziva swore, voicing the promise Gibbs shared, "Don't you worry."