Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. I do own Jake Gibbs and Section Eight.

Chp. 1

Jake Gibbs eyes fluttered and then opened. He saw blue sky above him. Sitting up, he saw that he was in a park, complete with basketball courts, swings sets, slides, picnic tables, etc. Pushing himself up, he stood and looked around, knowing exactly where he was. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see his sister, still the cute as a button eight year old that she had been when she was tragically taken from Jake and his parents, on his watch no less. He knelt down and she walked up to him, throwing her arms around his neck. Leaning closer, she whispered. "It's ok to forgive yourself."

Before he could respond, he heard a new voice. It was coming from above him and suddenly the ground seemed to shake.

000

Jake's eyes snapped opened to see a smiling women in a flight attendant's uniform standing in the aisle next to his seat in first class. "Sorry to disturb you, sir, but we'll be landing in about fifteen minutes. All seats and tray tables need to be returned to their fully upright and locked positions." She said this with a smile, even though Jake was sure she'd said it so often it probably drove the women nuts.

He returned the smile and nodded. "That's all right. Thank you." He said, and glanced down at the legal pad he'd been writing on when he dozed off. "You're welcome, sir." She said and moved down the aisle. Jake rubbed his eyes and thought about the dream, which he'd had most nights when he wasn't working, for the past five months. Because even though Jake looked for all appearances to be another worn out business traveler, he was in reality a mercenary who'd spent the last three and half years running deniable operations for certain agencies of the U.S. government as the leader of a covert unit known simply as Section 8. Before forming Section 8, Jake spent fourteen years in the U.S. army, enlisting in 1993 at age 18 as an 18X-ray, a Military Occupational Specialty that gave Jake the right to 'try out' to be a member of U.S. Army Special Forces, more commonly known as Green Berets. Jake had joined the army as a self-imposed penance. His sister, Kelly Gibbs had been kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered while under his care. Kelly had accompanied Jake to the park near their home on Marine Corp Base Camp Pendleton, in Oceanside, California. Jake left Kelly on the swings and joined a pickup basketball game. When the game was over, he went to collect Kelly, but she was nowhere to be found.

After completing Special Forces training, Jake served six years as an 18 Bravo, Special Forces Weapons Sergeant. In March 1999, he joined Delta Force, the army's super secretive counter terrorism force. He served in Delta until his retirement in 2007, when he was approached by the Central Intelligence Agency and asked if he would be interested in forming Section Eight. Five months earlier during a mission with Section Eight, Jake had been forced to confront his past. His team had been assigned to take out Anthony Dinozzo, Sr. CEO of Dinozzo Defense Systems and traitor to the good old United States of America. If that was all it was, the whole thing would've been pretty simple. But, as with most things in life, it got really complicated, really quickly. While conducting target research, Jake's team had discovered that Dinozzo had a seven year old son named Tony and that his teacher was none other than Shannon Gibbs, Jake's mother.

Shannon had discovered that Dinozzo was abusing his son and filed a complaint, as well as involving Jake's father, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, former Marine sniper and current supervisory special agent in charge of the Major Case Response Team. By calling her husband, Shannon had inadvertently managed to weave a very tangled web.

Section Eight's cut out between them and the CIA was Mike Franks, the elder Gibbs former mentor. Having Franks' as a cut out had been one of Jake's conditions for forming Section Eight. The elder Gibbs team had been assigned to work with Section Eight until Dinozzo Sr. was terminated, effectively using little Tony as bait. This was the part Jake hadn't even been able to figure out, but he supposed it was just one of those things he'd have to learn to live with. Due to the mission to terminate Tony's father, and the fact they'd been thrown together after so long, Jake had decided to repair his relationship with his parents. It was still a work in progress, but they were working diligently at.

The plane touched down and brought Jake back to the present. One of the unforeseen upsides to reconciling with his parents was that Jake had met, and fallen in love with, Ziva David, a former member of the Israeli Mossad and current 'probie' on Gibbs team. Every minute that they weren't working, Jake tried to spend it with Ziva. At first, the attraction had been purely physical, but as he got to know Ziva and she got to know him, Jake realized that they were perfect for each other. She understood him, what he was, what he did for a living, accepted it and didn't try to change him. He offered her the same kindness.

As he deplaned and made his way through the airport to baggage claim, Jake thought about what Mossad in general and Eli David, Ziva's father in particular, had done to her. It took every ounce of restrain Jake had not to fly to Israel, march into Deputy Director David's office, and empty his .45 automatic into the bastard's head. The fact that the operation had taken place before he and Ziva had even met, let alone become involved, was irrelevant to him. After collecting his baggage, Jake made his way to the cab stand, eager to get home and relax.

000

As Jake entered his Georgetown apartment, his eyes scanned every room as he walked to the bedroom. He took a mental inventory and found everything as he'd left it three weeks ago. Tossing his bags on the bed, he saw the red light blinking on his answering machine, indicating he had new messages. Not usual, as he'd been out of contact for the aforementioned three week period. But something about the messages made his gut churn. After all, the only people who had his number were his father's team, his own team and his parents. Deciding he needed a shower and coffee before he tackled whatever issues the messages pertained to, he headed for the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later, freshly showered and refreshed, Jake decided to skip the coffee and get it over with. Dress in only a towel, he sat on the bed and pushed the play button.

"You have 3 new messages. First new message, sent December 12, 3:15pm."

"I have not heard from you in several days." Ziva's voice said, no malice in her tone, only genuine concern. Jake couldn't help smiling. She always had that effect on him. "I can assume that you are 'on the road' and will most likely receive this message upon your return. Call me when you get this." Then a click sounded as she hung up the phone. 'Call me when you get this' was as close as Ziva got to an 'I love you' or 'I care about you', and Jake was ok with that. It would take time, and he was content to give her the time she needed to heal.

"Second new message, sent December 10, 1:15pm."

"Jake…this is…" there was a pause and Jake's heart dropped as he heard a voice that he had long thought he would never hear again. "This is your Grandma, Joanne. Your mother told me about little Tony and what she and Jethro are trying to do for him. She asked me to come meet him and I'm leaving tomorrow. I…" she faltered. "I'd like to see you. Jake, I know you have no reason to ever want anything to do with me after the awful things I said to you, but…please Jake." Then there was a click as the line went dead.

"Third new message, sent December 10 4:02pm."

"Jake, hi, it's mom. You're probably out, but I just wanted to tell you that Tony's final placement hearing is on the 15th and that both your grandparents and the team are going to be there. Tony's really nervous, even though he tries to put on a brave face. He's worried that you won't come because of me and Gibbs, or that you're too busy. Jake, I don't care if you hate me or not, but please he's just a little boy. Don't break his heart. I know this is hard, I know you're still getting use to this but…" she paused, and he could tell she was struggling. His mother was the strongest women he knew and he felt like a bastard for putting her in that position. "I know you'll do the right thing, honey. I love you."

A final click signaled the end of a long day and the beginning of a very long night.