1967 – Romania.
Running along the beach he and Clara laughed as she sank down in the surf, "Gibbs you are so funny, I love being with you." She smiled kissing him.
He silently thanked his father who thought that a vacation abroad with his uncle at his compound in Romania was a good idea; He had met Clara on his second day in and fell in love instantly. He had spent every day of the last month with her, and he had reached a decision, Clara Callen, I love you will you marry me.
"Jethro Gibbs, we…I…I mean I can't…." She said sadly knowing that her uncle was watching her. She put her arms around his neck. "Be outside tonight I will marry you, but it must be in secret, my family have plans for me." She whispered.
Later that night with a bag packed he waited as he saw her climb out of a window.
"Jethro, we must hurry!" She said urgently as they ran hand in hand for the small car Jethro had borrowed from his uncle.
Gibbs had married her in secret that night and they had lived happily with the birth of his first daughter and then finding out Clara was pregnant with another child in late 1969 his life was happy.
Then one morning he came back from the local market to find his house wrecked.
He had been working as a carpenter in a local village, but people didn't like the American couple and their blonde haired daughter, Clara had been feeling off color for days and he had been pleased when she had told him she was pregnant again. At 19 years old he didn't feel like he was too young to be a father to two children, hell he felt like he was a better father than his own had been.
He panicked, looking for his daughter, "Amy...Clara!" he called looking everywhere. He knew in his gut that her uncle had found them. He grabbed a bag to pack his stuff and go looking for them when the local immigration was knocking on the door.
"American, we know you are there, you must let us in!" a woman's voice called.
Shakily Gibbs opened the door, a man and a Woman in suits with a clipboard stood there, "Leroy Jethro Gibbs, you are to be deported, I am to advise you that your marriage to Clara Callen has been declared illegal and you are not to contact her."
Gibbs crumbled and allowed them to take him away.
1970- USA
Arriving back in the US his father was at Washington international Airport and was with two policemen who took Gibbs to a holding room.
Looking angrily at his father he listened to all the questions that were posed to him, and he said nothing.
Jackson sadly looked at the angry form of his son glowering at the immigration officials as they told him he could never go to Romania again. Jackson picked up his bag as he gave his missing son a tentative hug.
"I am glad you're back Leroy, I heard you married a local girl but it got annulled." Jackson stopped at the sadness and anger radiating off his son.
"At least she wasn't pregnant." Jackson said trying to lighten the mood as he threw his son's bag into the back of the truck.
For the next six years, Gibbs completed his education and tried not to think about what he had lost although he said nothing to his father.
The gulf between the two men grew and Gibbs' eventually had enough, His father had told him he needed a trade and should work in the store. All Gibbs could think about was getting out of Stillwater and back into the world. Storming out of the store and down the road he was trying to keep a reign on his emotions as he pass the local Marine recruitment center.
Packing his bag while his dad was yelling in the background made leaving home again all the more easier.
Within hours he was sitting at the train station when he struck up a conversation with a pretty red head about rules and lumberjacks. The red-head's smile lit a flame in him he thought had gone out when Clara left.
1970- Romania,
Clara had been distraught when the police had told her, her beloved husband had been killed in a drive by shooting. In their village it was unthinkable, they had told her that she should go back to her uncle for the safety of their daughter and unborn child.
She had left with them sobbing the whole way holding Amelia tight in her arms.
Three months later she found herself in a hospital giving birth to her son.
She looked at him his eyes were so like his father.
"What do you want to call him?" she was asked.
"Nicolai Callen Gibbs." She answered.
1974
George woke her up with a start.
"Clara, my cover's been blown you need to get the children and get to the beach!" he said quickly, "I have arranged for two of my contacts to get you and your children to America. They will go separately, pack them both a bag and wait on the sand for your contact.
Clara quickly packed them bags; Amelia had a small pink bag with Amy Callen G. written on it.
She grabbed a small blue bag for Nicolai; she packed some clothes and his favorite bear.
Due to the lack of space the bear had Callen G. written on the tag.
Running to the beach they sat waiting as Clara's uncle's contact was due to meet them Nicolai playing in the sand as Amelia ran down to the water's edge.
Amelia was the first to turn around and see as the man shot her mother, she watched shaking from the water's edge as her mother died and some other men with guns swarmed the beach. Clara was dead, but Amelia screamed as a man picked up her little brother.
"Little Brother!" she screamed his name forgotten in the horror of what she had just witnessed. She ran for the man who picked her up and held her.
"Shh! It's ok little one we are here to help you and your brother, what's your name?" The man asked.
"Am…..Amy Callen G….." the last word was drowned out by her sobs. Her little brother clung to his bear and stared at the body of his mother.
Another woman picked him up. Looking at the tag she looked at the little boy, "Callen G?" she looked over to Amy, "Can you tell me your brother's name, he wasn't on our files."
Amy's eyes grew wide as she realized she couldn't remember. "Baby brother." She sobbed holding his hand.
The woman looked at the two terrified children. "Come on then Amy and Callen G. it's time for you to come with us, your uncle arranged us to take you to America."
Amy sniffed, "Dada is from America." She said.
The woman looked surprised, "He is? Do you remember his name?" She asked.
Amy shook her head sleepily and she curled up holding her baby brother tight and they fell asleep on the plane.
Owen Granger looked at the woman, "Ok this is Clara's daughter Amelia. Who is the boy?" he had only been told she had one child.
"Amelia insisted she was his baby brother, that's all she's called him." Tracy Fielding sighed, "I think she has traumatic amnesia. Until we can locate their uncle we will have to go with what we have."
Granger picked up the boy's bear, "Well we know the surname is Callen, so I guess his name starts with a G…..Just put that on the paperwork for now." He said. Watching the two children sleep.
Present day- Washington D.C.
For years after Shannon and Kelly's deaths Gibbs had looked for them, using all the means that NIS and then NCIS had at their disposal. He had found out in about 1985, that his beloved Clara had died but that he had had two children who had been brought to America, try as he might he couldn't find them, Amy Gibbs just didn't exist in any database. He had searched for years when a tip had lead him to an orphanage in Los Angeles. He had just hired a new agent called DiNozzo and he left him with his other agent Vivian Blackadder to get to know the ropes while he checked out his lead for a weekend.
Coming back to work a week later, Gibbs had said nothing. He had been moody and sullen, but that was the same as normal, the only thing that changed was a small photograph he tacked up behind his desk of a small beige tombstone. The inscription read Hannah Lawson. Aged 11. When DiNozzo had asked Gibbs about it he had shot him such a glare that he never asked again.