A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed "Oh Brother!". Thanks as always to my beta, harmonfreak1...you ROCK!

Note: Parts of this story occur within the same time frame as "Oh Brother!"


From "Oh Brother": Fornell hung around for a few minutes and then turned to leave. Gibbs had been studying him and he admitted to himself that he was a bit worried about the man. He seemed far more troubled than he had ever seen him, far more than even his obvious remorse over the "inquisition and accusation" warranted. Gibbs watched him leave and then silently followed him, noticing the slow pace and hunched shoulders.

PROLOGUE:

Watching Tim sleep in his hospital bed, Fornell was grateful he'd failed in proving anything against Tim, as he'd known he would. He wished the whole mess would go away. He could deal with his fractured friendship with Jethro, he still had hope the man would forgive him and at this point he didn't give a rat's patootie for his career; however having his daughter, father and ex-wife in continual danger was beginning to wear on him.

He silently turned to leave, noticing Gibbs watching him. He gave him a slight nod, and then plodded out the door. Reaching his car, he noticed his tail de jour parked close by and heaved another sigh. Climbing into his own vehicle, he buckled up and drove out of the parking lot, heading for nowhere.

As he drove, his thoughts returned to the event that had started his current situation. They'd thought it was a simple illness. His immediate superior, Deputy Director Calloway, had suddenly been taken ill. Fornell was in Florida with Emily for an extended weekend visiting his father, and hadn't heard about the illness until his return Monday night. By Tuesday morning, a man for whom Fornell had no respect and even less liking had jockeyed himself into position as the "Acting Deputy Director", Tobias's new, albeit temporary, boss. S.A. Gehob had clawed his way up the FBI ranks, ruthlessly riding the coattails of others and making some rather astute if reprehensible political moves. Tobias had worked a case with him early on when both were young agents. When Gehob severely beat a 'person of interest' who proved to have had nothing to do with their case, Fornell followed the rules and reported the beating to their supervising agent. Although Gehob was censured, he survived the black mark on his record much to Fornell's surprise and disgust. Tobias Fornell was anything but naïve; however this was the first breach in his belief in his agency. Gehob never forgave him for 'ratting him out'; Tobias had made a lifelong enemy. They never worked together again, but watched each other warily and Fornell was dismayed when his boss announced the transfer of S.A. Gehob to their department.

As the first week of Gehob's transition to Acting Deputy Director rolled on, they were told that Calloway was quite ill and would be on leave for several weeks at least. Fornell's spirits sunk even lower. The ADD was already going out of his way to make Tobias' life miserable, now that the vermin knew he had free rein for an undefined period of time, who knows what he'd get up to.

What he 'got up to' was worse than any of Tobias' nightmares. Rumors were spread about Fornell's ineptitude, airtight cases were found to have loopholes and evidence disappeared. Tobias soon found himself isolated within the Bureau, his only support came from his Senior Agent, Ron Sacks who was on the West Coast.

As it happened, months ago a young agent in Florida had heard a rumor of a covert operative in the south of that state. When he'd tracked her down and questioned her, she denied being a spy but said she did know something; she knew of a sleeper agent from the now dissolved Soviet Union who had replaced the son of a Navy Commander. She gave the name of the child, now a man. The agent could find nothing to substantiate any charges, but dutifully passed on the word about the sleeper agent to Washington, figuring it was worth a laugh.

Gehob heard of the report as it was indeed bandied about as laugh material. With his new authority he had access to the written document and nearly danced with glee when he recognized the name of one of Fornell's pet NCIS team members.

Through the years, as Gehob's hatred of Fornell grew and flourished, it had extended to include the man's good friend, the great almighty Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Now he saw a chance to take them both down and one of Gibbs' little minions too. Calling in favors from some of his unsavory friends, he started to put pressure on Fornell. At first it was minor annoyances, trash bins were overturned, plants were uprooted, the ex wife's car was keyed. It soon escalated, tires were slashed, Emily's favorite sweater went missing and was found with slashes and blood stains on it, Diane's dog was poisoned, although rescued in time, much to Gehob's disgust and her car was broken into while in a mall parking lot and smeared with animal blood.

Gehob took great delight in his twisted plot, making sure to involve the daughter and ex-wife, but not the ex-wife's current husband who worked for DHS. He extended his operation to Tobias' father in Florida and the elderly man received hate mail and odd phone calls. His smoke alarm went off twice in the middle of the night and his bank account was hacked into although nothing was taken. The worst came when he was nearly run down while crossing the street.

The Acting Deputy Director brought the pressure not quite to the point of boiling before he summoned Fornell to his office. He threw the 'sleeper agent' report in Fornell's face and accused him of collusion with that sleeper agent, now a federal agent at NCIS. Fornell was speechless and could only sputter denials; he didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he finally was able to see the name on the report: Timothy McGee. Gehob told Fornell he was being watched, in trouble with his cases falling apart and that if he wanted to redeem himself and stop the 'madness', he would successfully bring McGee in and that 'might' lead to reduced charges against Tobias himself. Fornell understood the threat and suddenly his gut was telling him this man might just be the one responsible for suddenly forgetful or disappearing witnesses from his RICO cases, along with the current problems of his family members. And that meant Gehob had links to organized crime and that Fornell had a more threatening nemesis than he'd ever supposed.

Sacks' West Coast project was handed off to another team, much to his frustration and he was ordered back to DC by his boss's 'new' boss. On his return, he was puzzled when he walked into the Hoover Building his first day back; very few people spoke to him, most turned away. He was given some looks he could only describe as sympathetic and, incredibly, an offer for transfer from another team. He turned it down with a smile, wondering what the hell was happening here.

Fornell took him for coffee and on the bench where he and Gibbs occasionally met, briefed Ron on the case, but as warned by Gehob, did not tell him of the attacks on his family. He would find a way to do that, but it would have to be done covertly. The two of them took the rest of the week to put together something to take to NCIS, although it was all hearsay and there wasn't much at all.

Friday afternoon, Diane called in a panic; Emily had not been on the school bus returning home. Fornell immediately issued an Amber Alert. It was another warning, although far more serious. Emily was found asleep in a restroom at a local mall; she was unharmed but had no memory of what happened. A blood test revealed traces of chloroform. He spent the weekend helping to care for his daughter, wanting to stay as close as possible. Diane knew something was wrong with all the things that had been happening, but Tobias was even more close-lipped than usual. She goaded Victor into trying to talk to the man, but he also got nowhere.

Hoping to get some help, Fornell tried to reach Gibbs over the weekend, but was unsuccessful. It was only later he remembered that Gibbs had gone to Stillwater for his father's birthday; the plan had been to take his dad fishing for the weekend, so not only was Gibbs' cell out of range, it hadn't done any good to call the elder Gibbs' store. They were out on a lake somewhere.

Monday morning, Ron picked him up and they headed for NCIS to make fools of themselves and to prove nothing except that Timothy McGee had survived a horrific childhood and they were idiots. Fornell planned to pursue Svetlana Stacevyko on his own, but when he returned to the Hoover Building after his failure to bring in the sleeper agent, he was relieved of duty, suspended and told he was under internal investigation. Feeling even more trapped than he had when framed by the mob mole, Agent Charles, he slipped into a deep depression.

As far as he knew, the internal investigation had gone nowhere, possibly not even gotten off the ground. He had retained counsel, none other than the renowned Ms. Newell, Tim's attorney during his 'inquisition' as she termed it. He warned her she might be putting her life at risk; she promptly accepted his case just on the strength of that. When he told her the details of what was happening, she urged him to consider the Witness Protection Program for his daughter, ex-wife and her husband. He had been thinking about that as well, he still had some connections outside the Bureau, old friends who wouldn't believe the rumors and innuendo swirling around him.

But he did nothing, he had no energy. If Ducky had seen him, he would have diagnosed him as clinically depressed. However, his NCIS friends were still not willing to deal with him. Finally, at the urging of his daughter he called Tim and was slightly encouraged that the young man would speak to him. The young agent told him of Gibbs' volunteer work at the shelter in Bayopolis and suggested that also volunteering might be a way to start building a bridge over the gulf of anger that separated them, or words to that effect.

That Saturday morning Emily dragged him out the door and before she would get out of the car at her mother's, extracted a promise from her father that he would go on to Bayopolis. After promising, he sat in his car, watching until Victor opened the front door and waved him on as he took Emily inside, closing and locking the door after them. The vandalism and trouble had stopped after Fornell's suspension, but none of the adults in Emily's life were willing to take any chances, one of the three of them always drove her to and from school and her activities.

Fornell figured Acting Director S.A. Gehob had more things to do now than torture him. He also knew, had been warned, that if he tried anything to prove his innocence, the problems would not only resume but escalate. He needed some serious help and from outside the Bureau. So he'd volunteered and had suffered through the floor scraping and the other crap jobs Gibbs had assigned him. It didn't bring him much, but he thought at least he was doing some good while he worked to get back into Gibbs' good graces.

Weeks later Ron called him to tell him of the disintegrating bridge, Tim's fall and survival. He was dating someone from NCIS so knew more about what was going on than in the past. Ten days later, Ron mentioned that Tim was still in the hospital. Summoning the shreds of his life, he decided to go see the injured man. He was genuinely fond of Timothy McGee and hoped his injuries hadn't been too severe or debilitating. When he ran into Gibbs outside the hospital, he wasn't sure he'd be allowed in. Jethro was still pretty angry with him. As it turned out, it was a wasted trip although it was a relief to see an obviously alive McGee being carefully guarded by boss and brother.

And now…

Chapter One

Tobias drove aimlessly after he left Bethesda. At some point he realized he had lost his tail. For a brief moment he found that amusing and then decided to make a run for it, to head for the safest place he could think of and stay there until he was thrown out. He believed Emily, his dad and Diane would be safe as long as nothing happened to implicate or disturb Gehob. Sticking to all the short cuts he had learned over the years, he soon found himself where he should have come directly all those weeks ago. As usual the garage was unlocked, oddly it was empty. Fornell pulled his car in, closing the garage door after him. Amazingly the front door was locked for the first time in Fornell's memory. He went around to the backdoor and found it unlocked. He smirked with the thought that Gibbs apparently hadn't quite mastered the art of locking up yet.

When he got in the house, he sighed with relief. He looked around; it seemed Gibbs was not living alone anymore. He spotted a Marine jacket and realized Tim's brother must be staying here. Starting to grab a bottle of beer from the refrigerator, he tried to remember the last time he'd eaten. When he couldn't remember, he put the beer back and looked through the kitchen for edible food. He found bread, bacon and turkey, lettuce greens and part of a tomato and made himself a club sandwich. He ate half of it before he allowed himself to drink the beer.

Feeling better, he took his sniffer, one Tim had given him before all this started and checked out the house. Clear so far. He wandered down into the basement, curious to see what projects Jethro might have going. He found an assortment of puzzling items; it looked like he was making several things at once. Too large to be toys, they looked more like furniture and he wondered for whom they were being built. After putting the sniffer to work down there and again finding nothing, he sat down on one of the sawhorses for awhile. Feeling very tired, he moved back up to the living room, took his shoes off and laid down on the couch for a quick nap.

He woke up in late afternoon, deciding he'd better text Jethro; let him know he was here. If the Marine kid was staying here, it'd be best if he knew the stranger on the couch was a friend…or at least a former friend.

He used a burn phone he'd had for awhile and was blunt in his text, saying it was from Tom, a nickname that predated his time at the Bureau, used an old code, bbb, for Gibbs' house and that he needed to eat, which in Gibbs-Fornell speak meant 'hide'. He sent it and waited. Finally he got an answer, one word, 'ok'. He sighed with relief, he had hoped his old friend would not be even angrier that he was here but after everything that had happened he wasn't sure of anything anymore. He sat down on the couch again, idly picking up one of the magazines from the coffee table. He blinked in surprise as he looked at the cover,

'Cosmo', what the hell was Jethro doing with this? He started looking around the house, finding a medical textbook and a pair of sneakers that were definitely not Jethro's, they had little stars painted on them. He was starting to wonder if the entire McGee clan had moved in with Gibbs. As he climbed the stairs to the second story, he noticed there were new photos on the wall, Tim and Ziva; Ron had told him about her having just one house key that funnily enough opened the door to McGee's place. He looked at the next one, Huh, that's an odd one, he'd seen it somewhere before. Oh, on the wall at that shelter, it was a young Tim, a little girl he assumed was Sarah and a tiny toddler who must be Rob and another kid who maybe was Geordie. And another one; this one with Tim, Ziva, two younger adults, an older woman, a couple and two youngsters who looked they might be very young teens. One with Tim and Jethro; Tim, Jethro and Jack; and the last new one, Jethro with Tim, and the same two young people he'd seen in the picture with the older woman. Must be his sister and a very tall young man, maybe Rob? Fornell went back to the one from the shelter and looked at the little boy's face and hair, yeah, might be Rob. Why the heck did Jethro have these, the magazine, the textbook and the shoes? Had he suddenly decided to adopt McGee or were they involved in some other kind of relationship? Tobias laughed out loud at that thought, Gibbs, yeah right! Not that there would be anything wrong with that.

He continued up the stairs, letting the sniffer do its thing up here and nearly went into shock when he reached the hallway at the top of the stairs. The door that had been closed in all the years Tobias had known Jethro was open and it was clear someone had been staying in there, in Kelly's old room. He spotted a hair dryer and a few paperback books, surely not still remnants of Kelly's life here. Taking a step in, feeling he was in violation somehow – as if poking around the house wasn't violation enough – he peeked at the books and then gave a sad huff. Oh no, not books left from an 8 year old girl's all too brief life. These were definitely adult books. After running the sniffer, he stepped back outside the room, closing the door. Turning he took a quick peek in the room across the hall and spotted fatigues and other clothing that looked like the scrubs he'd seen medical people wearing. So, Geordie was in that room and maybe someone else…Rob perhaps?

This didn't make any sense to him but he decided to wait to be told, or figure it out himself, rather than ask. He quickly finished looking for bugs and feeling guilty about snooping while he was looking for electronic snoops, he padded back down the stairs to the kitchen. He'd spotted some pasta in a cupboard earlier, now he remembered he'd left minced garlic and olive oil here awhile back. He dug the bottle of minced garlic from the refrigerator and the olive oil from a cupboard. Funny, it wasn't buried back as far as he'd expected, maybe one of the current residents also cooked. The refrigerator also yielded fresh mushrooms and a bag of fresh spinach. Putting them all on the counter, he spotted more fresh tomatoes in a bowl on the table and wondered if he should step outside and check the house number because he could not believe this was still the home of Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

The freezer contained a bag of frozen chicken breasts which he hauled out. Before he started anything, he dug out his burn phone and sent Gibbs another text: "mess #" The answer took a few minutes, "4". Satisfied he'd been understood, "mess" meant cooking/preparing/getting dinner and # simply asked how many to expect. He smirked, thinking about all the funky codes they'd used over the years, seemed silly but they sure came in handy when they needed to keep things private. Pulling out of his reverie, he started thawing the chicken breasts.

He was still working on dinner when he heard the tumblers in the lock click back and the front door opening. Stepping out, he saw the new arrivals were the guy he'd seen sleeping in Tim's room earlier and a young woman he believed was Sarah. Mentally preparing himself for a less than cordial welcome, he introduced himself. "I'm Tobias Fornell." Geordie nodded, "I'm Lieutenant Geordie Perry and this is my sister Sarah. The Gunny told us you were here. What smells so good?"

After giving Fornell an icy nod, Sarah had moved into the kitchen. "It's real food, Geo." Fornell nodded, "I'm sautéing chicken breasts right now. We'll have them with pasta, olive oil, minced garlic, fresh spinach, tomatoes and mushrooms. Do you know what time Gibbs will be here and is he bringing someone else?"

"He was talking with Dr. Mallard when we left and I believe he was going to ask him to join us for dinner as Maisie wanted to spend some time with Tim and Ziva."

Fornell blinked, Ducky…Maisie…was that a girlfriend? Seeing his confusion, Geordie took pity on him. "Maisie is our grandmother and she and Ducky are seeing each other. There's a pretty cool story there, but I'll let Ducky tell you."

"Grandmother? I didn't know…well, good for them. Is anyone else coming?"

"No, Rob is working a double tonight, won't be home til morning. And Ziva is at the hospital till Gibbs or I relieve her. You staying here?"

"That's up to Gibbs, but I hope so."

"Since Rob's not here, you and Gunny can have the boys' room upstairs and I'll rack on the couch."

"That's not neces…"

Sarah chuckled as she interrupted him, "Forget it Agent Fornell, you may as well just accept your fate."

"Thanks and it's just Fornell, or Tobias, I'm no longer an agent."

"Did you retire?"

Fornell just shook his head.

"Wow, don't think D…Gibbs knows that."

"I know Sarah, and I should have come to him when this first started, but I couldn't and I shouldn't even have said that much."

Sarah frowned, "Don't tell me, it's classified."

"Not exactly."

Geordie took a long look at this man. He didn't know him, but he knew at one point Tim had programmed the kids' phones with Agent Fornell's phone number, added him into their emergency protocol. He also knew he'd been a friend of the Gunny's prior to the case that had brought the four siblings to their 'new' family. Frankly, the guy in front of him looked like a bum. His hair was too long, he had stubble upon stubble; his clothes were wrinkled, although they didn't smell bad, his socks each had a hole in a toe, he'd noticed his shoes in the living room, looking like they'd seen better days, his shoulders slumped and his eyes were bleary. Something was definitely wrong and he was suddenly glad the man had come to his dad for help.

Sarah looked between Geordie and Fornell and realized that was all the information they were going to get. She sighed as she moved into the living room, picked up her jacket and bag and headed upstairs.

Fornell tilted his head in question, so much like Gibbs that Geordie wanted to laugh. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Nah, she says she gets tired of being told things are classified or 'can't talk about it'. She was telling me on the way home she's decided to get a job at NCIS at whatever the lowest level is that has a security clearance, so she can get in on all the conversations."

"That's a unique reason for wanting to be a federal employee!"

Geordie nodded, "Anything I can do to help?"

"You can slice up those mushrooms and the tomatoes." Geordie got busy, "So Fornell, how long since you've had a real meal?"

Tobias stopped and leaned on the counter, "It's that obvious?"

"Marine Special Forces, I'm a trained observer among other things. Your clothes are hanging on you, your hair is too long; your socks have holes in them…never met you before but you look like hell."

"My daughter Emily made me macaroni and cheese with hot dogs and broccoli one night." He gave a rusty chuckle at the look on Geordie's face.

"Yeah, afraid she's got her mother's non-cooking gene rather than mine. But she's willing to learn."

Geordie smirked and leaned in, "Sarah doesn't cook well either, although I've always thought she just didn't want to get stuck cooking for all her brothers."

A voice drifted down from upstairs, "I heard that!" The two men smirked at each other and continued their tasks.

Gibbs and Ducky walked in just as Fornell was draining the pasta. Geordie had sent Sarah to the store to buy baguettes, while Tobias made garlic butter. When she returned with two of the thin loaves, he prepared them as his grandmother had taught him years ago. She also brought home an apple pie, still warm from the oven and ice cream. So dinner was ready.

Ducky greeted him, giving him a concerned look. Gibbs took another look at the man who'd been his friend for so long. "You're taking a shower after dinner and I'll dig out some of my clothes and cut your hair. You're a mess, Tobias."

"Yeah, I know, Jethro, that's why I'm here. Ran out of options."

Sarah appeared from upstairs and kissed Gibbs and Ducky. Tobias' eyes widened with curiosity but he didn't ask. They squeezed together at the small table and silence reigned while they enjoyed their home cooked meal.

After dinner, while the others cleaned up, Gibbs found a clean towel and some clothes for Fornell, then steered him toward the bathroom. Tobias had to admit, the steamy hot water felt great. He'd been showering but to keep costs down, he'd been running cold water and that didn't soothe him like this did. He toweled off afterward, donning his own boxers and the sweat pants and long sleeved tee shirt Gibbs had given him. He laughed as he noticed both items were Marine issue; Jethro had been slightly slimmer when he'd been in the Corps so they fit Tobias well now. He'd shaved before the shower and washed his hair, now when he stepped out, he found Geordie waiting to cut his hair.

"I won the coin toss, trust me, you'll be happier."

"It's just hair; whatever you do it'll grow back." Geordie snorted as he pulled a tall stool out for Tobias to sit on in the bathroom while he quickly clipped the raggedy hair.

When he emerged from the bathroom, he felt much better. Not only was he being accepted back into the fold but he'd eaten well and knew he looked and felt better. Geordie poured him a cup of coffee and then gave him another mug full of the dark brew. "Don't know how you take your coffee, there's some sort of creamer in the fridge, think it's DiNozzo's but I'm sure he wouldn't mind. The other one's for Gibbs. Sarah and Ducky have gone for a walk. The Gunny's in the basement, wants to talk with you before Ducky gets back."

Tobias absorbed all this and nodded. He stopped long enough to treat his coffee to some of the creamer and then headed down to the basement, padding softly in the slippers Gibbs had found at the back of his closet. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he set Gibbs' mug down on the work bench, pulling out the stool he normally sat on down there. He reflected that it felt awfully good to be here. Jethro looked at him. "That's better, you looked like hell."

"So I've been told. You want to hear mine or ready to tell me yours?"

"Me first, Ducky wants to hear yours." Gibbs quickly outlined the McGee family's cold case and their apprehension and interrogation of Svetlana. The facts of the case divulged, Gibbs paused, with a soft smile on his face, then continued telling the story of finding Tim's relatives and how he and Tim found out they were father and son. To say Fornell was shocked would be a serious understatement. His jaw dropped and stayed in that position as Gibbs continued, telling him of his adoption of Tim's siblings and finishing with Ducky and Maisie's romance. Fornell was flabbergasted with the entire story. He had no words, just sat there staring at Gibbs, who was grinning at him like a…like a proud father.

He shook his head and pounded the other man on the back. "It's nearly thirty years too late, but congratulations, old man. A readymade family, that's good for all of you." Gibbs nodded. "We almost lost Tim when that damn bridge fell and I hadn't even met Geordie yet, he'd been gone for nearly two years, so we brought him home on emergency leave. Now he's decided to stay home, or as close as possible. Transferring out of Special Forces. And Rob is in medical school, did you know that? My son the doctor! My daughter's a writer, two writers in the family. Sarah's first novel is in the editing stage, it'll be in bookstores and online for purchase within another two months! "

Fornell grinned, "I can't believe you used the word online and apparently know what you're talking about."

"Aw, they tease me about it, but I'm learning stuff."

Ducky appeared at the top of the stairs carrying the bottle of whiskey he kept at Gibbs' home and two glasses. Gibbs motioned him down. "All right, Fornell, your turn. What the hell happened?"

Fornell waited until Ducky was all the way down the stairs and had poured the two of them a 'wee dram' while Gibbs poured himself a bourbon. After taking a sip of the smoothest Scotch he'd had in a long time, he started with his sad and strange story. When he finished, Gibbs reached out and smacked his head. "I can't believe you didn't tell me right away, Tobias! Especially after they kidnapped Emily!" Tobias nodded then told them the reason, that if he told anyone anything, Gehob seemed to know and retaliated. "If I'd told you before that whole debacle with Tim, it would have been ok, but I didn't see that coming and then he had me so turned around with everything going on… I did try to call you the weekend before that, Jethro, when Emily was kidnapped but you were out fishing with Jack."

"You could have called me Tobias; we might have been able to figure something out."

"I am sorry, Ducky, I was frantic when he kidnapped Emily and when I couldn't find Jethro that weekend, I guess I just gave in and did what he asked. I didn't want to risk my daughter's life again."

Gibbs nodded. "I understand that, Tobias, believe me. But don't ever pull that shit on us again." Tobias nodded. Gibbs continued, "We have to figure out what to do. First thing is to get Emily out of harm's way." He paused, "Does Diane still keep in touch with that friend of hers in Australia…uh, can't remember… "

Tobias nodded, "Joy, yes, she does. Still talks about going down to meet her after all these years of being pen pals."

Ducky was curious so Fornell explained, "When Diane was in elementary school, her teacher got a bunch of names of students at a 'sister school' in Australia. Diane drew a name out, a girl named Joy. Long story short, they've been 'pen pals' for all these years and have never met in person. Diane's always wanted to take Emily and g…oh, that's a great idea, Jethro."

Ducky nodded, "I should say so."

"Will Victor go or is he in any danger?"

"Nothing has happened to him so far, not personally. I doubt he'd go anyway, he's got some hot new project he's focusing on, Diane has not been happy."

Diane's ex-husbands rolled their eyes at that while Ducky chuckled. "Tobias, is it safe for you to call them directly?"

"No, I haven't been doing that. Emily does; she calls each of us but I don't, I'm sure my landline and cell are tapped."

"All right, maybe Jack can help us; I doubt they'd bother with him or even know about him."

"Has he ever met Diane?"

"Once and that was when he was up here for Christmas last year and Diane and Victor stopped by the house Christmas Day to pick up Emily."

"That's right; you introduced her to Jack as his former daughter –in-law and then turned it around for him. Victor laughed and Diane shoved an elbow in his gut. Yeah, I remember that!"

Ducky chuckled again as he too remembered the incident. The group had teased both men mercilessly after the Sterlings and Emily left.

Jethro thought for a moment, "You have a burn phone, right?"

"Yes."

"Used it yet?"

"Yes, to text you today."

"Ok, we won't use that one. Hang on; Tim's got some around here somewhere." Gibbs moved over to a wooden chest and opened it, pulling out a cell phone, still in its plastic shell. "Ok, this will do." He peeled the phone out of its shell and looking at the time, took a chance and called his dad. Jack answered promptly and Jethro was glad he caught him before he went to bed. "Hello, who is this?"

"Dad, it's me. "

"Leroy, Tim all right? I can hop on a plane tonight, not wait until the weekend."

"No, Dad, Tim is still doing all right, sorry, didn't mean to scare you. It's another problem, hope you'll be willing to help us."

"What is it Leroy, you know I'd do anything for you or the kids or any of the others for that matter."

"I do know that Dad, why I'm calling. Need you to call Diane Sterling, remember her from Christmas when she picked up Emily?"

"One of your ex-wives, isn't she? Oh, yeah, she's the one both you and Tobias were married to."

"Yep, that's the one. Need you to call her and tell her this: 'This is Jack G.; we met at the holidays last year when you picked up your kid. The king says Tommy boy is safe and needs you to show the kid some Joy in a land far away. Be joyous as long as you can. A month would be good, more is better.' Can you remember all that, Dad?"

Jack snorted, "I'm not senile yet son. Going to tell me what this is about."

"You don't want to know, trust me."

"Ok, yeah, let me repeat it back to you. 'Hello Diane, this is…" Jackson repeated the brief script word for word.

"That's great, Dad, can you do it tonight?"

"Sure son, what's the number?" Fornell had the number written out for Jethro so he read it to Jack.

"Dad, call me back when you're done, ok?"

"On which number, son?"

"Just call my cell and tell me you're fine or there's been a problem. If there's a problem, I'll call you from this phone again."

"All right son, feel like I'm a covert operative, that the right term?"

"Not quite that involved, Dad, but you're really helping out an old friend and a young girl."

"Say no more Leroy." Jethro disconnected the call and they sat, waiting.

Geordie appeared at the top of the stairs, "You all need anything? Fornell, I dug out a set of my sweats for you for tomorrow. I can go buy you some clothes that will fit if you'd like."

Tobias closed his eyes, feeling the warmth from this new family of Gibbs envelop him. Ducky put a hand on his shoulder, "They're all like this, Tobias, I believe because they had to fight so hard for so little while they were growing up. They are the most generous children you'll ever meet."

Tobias nodded, his eyes still closed and he felt a hand on his other shoulder, Jethro. He finally trusted himself to open his eyes again and looked up at Geordie, "Thanks Lieutenant, I appreciate that. I'll give you some cash before you go."

"It's Geordie and your money's no good here, from what I see and hear you're family. Maybe the black sheep right now, but family is still family. Dad, you and Tobias can have the boys' room tonight, I've got the couch. "

Gibbs glared at him until Geordie laughed, "Yeah, that's not going to work on me, Gunny. Going to fight me about relieving Ziva too?" Gibbs growled, "Dad, I slept all day and I haven't seen Tim in nearly 2 years. You work with him every day."

Gibbs shook his head, "That was low, Lieutenant."

"I do what I have to do when stubborn mules won't do what's best for themselves."

Gibbs shook his head, unknowingly paraphrasing Abby, "And in my own home."

The other men laughed as Geordie completed the trip downstairs and gave his new dad a quick kiss on the cheek. "Night Dad, love you. Night almost-Grandfa; Tobias. Don't stay up all night, gentlemen."

Gibbs grinned as Geordie spun around and ran back up the stairs. Tobias stared at him, "You won the lottery, Gibbs, you freaking won the family lottery. You deserve it though." Gibbs clapped him on the back. "Funny, that's about what Tim said when he found out he was a Gibbs, that he'd won the lottery. They are the best, that's for sure, proud of them even though I've had no say, everything they've accomplished they've done on their own and with each others' help."

They raised their glasses in a toast to the McGee -Gibbs clan. Ducky soon took his leave, Gibbs locking the door after him. He grabbed his cell when it rang and listened to the caller, saying no more than, "Uh huh and thanks, love you," before he hung up. Tobias felt an enormous relief knowing it meant his little girl would be out of danger for the next few weeks. He and Jethro quietly headed upstairs to the boys' room, not wanting to wake Geordie or Sarah. Tobias smiled when he found a pair of pajamas and an unopened package of men's underwear on one of the beds. "Who?"

"The briefs, Geordie, gotta be. The PJs are mine, I've never worn them but the kids washed them for you tonight. Don't look at me like that, Tobs, we'll get you squared away with new duds tomorrow, Geordie needs new clothes anyway. We'll get you beefed up a little and rested; then we'll tackle how to solve this thing."

Tobias just nodded, feeling he'd already used up all his words of appreciation. He crawled into bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow. Jethro shook his head watching him and then walked around his bed to turn off the light on Tobias' side of the room. He lay awake for a while working different plans through in his head. His first plan, after getting Tobias ship-shape again, was to find a safe haven for him. He couldn't live as a virtual prisoner in the house for long or he'd slide right back down again. And Jethro thought it might take a few weeks to prove Fornell was not the inept, corrupt agent the ADD had painted and to break the SOB. Just as he was falling asleep, he thought of Pat Cooke, his buddy at ATF. Now retired, he had a ranch in a remote area of Virginia. That might be the perfect safe haven for Tobias.