Title: The Truth in the Lie
Author: Shannon - shannyfish
Disclaimer: I do not own "NCIS" or its characters, CBS does. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The case of a missing marine leads Gibbs down into the past and questions if the truth he knows if true. Takes place during Season Six.

Warnings: Spoilers for Season Five Episode "Judgment Day".

Chapter 1 – "The Trail"

Author's Note: Okay, this is my first "NCIS" fanfic...I've mostly stuck with "Bones" lately...though I am still working on my epic fanfic. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

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NCIS Headquarters

"I don't see how a missing marine is our purview," Tony complained. He spun around in his chair, so that he was facing the screen with Captain Andrew Macklyn's picture on it.

"Wow, using big words today, Tony? Were you reading the dictionary?" McGee teased.

"Very cute, McGeek."

Ziva shook her head. "He has a clean record and he just vanished, Tony. Obviously he's in some kind of trouble."

"Or he's just out having a good time," Tony pointed out. "If I was all work and no play, eventually I think I'd need to go to Hooters and have a break."

"Hooters?" Ziva inquired with disgust.

"What? It's an honest establishment," Tony shrugged it off.

"We don't even have any clues to follow past the marines that we've already interviewed," Ziva said aloud. "It's odd...really."

"I even hacked his system, there are no hidden files," McGee spoke up. "He's practically the poster boy for the Marine Corps."

"Except he's missing," Gibbs said as he walked in with his cup of coffee in hand. "Where are we?"

"No where?" Tony offered. "His buddies and family all say the same thing. That he loves his job and has no life...basically, Boss."

"We've searched his quarters and his parents let us search his bedroom at their place, but we didn't come up with anything suspicious or anything to give us any leads," Ziva added.

McGee noticed the look on Gibbs' face. They were not scoring any points. "His computer's clean too, Boss."

"Did you have Abby look at it?" Gibbs questioned as he eyed McGee.

"No."

"Get it down to Abby," Gibbs instructed. "A marine just doesn't disappear..."

"Do you think he might have just decided that he was done?" Tony asked. "I mean, it seems like all he does is do his job."

"He's a captain, DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "If he wanted to walk off, he would have done it a lot sooner."

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Abby's Lab

"Please tell Gibbs that I wasn't wrong," McGee pleaded. Abby wasn't letting him see what she was doing, he had a feeling it was because she was feeling competitive. It wasn't often that Gibbs had her double check his results.

"But I found something," Abby said with a bright smile and then changed the screen that McGee was near to what she'd found.

McGee studied the picture for a moment. "A little girl?" he questioned. She was a beautiful child that couldn't be older than ten. She was in a uniform; it was obvious that she went to a private school. She wore a white blouse, a dark red vest, a dark blue plaid skirt, and a dark blue coat with a cold crest embroidered on the left breast.

"She's adorable," Abby commented. The girl's pale skin was contrasted by her bright red hair, which was curled and pulled back away from her face. Her bright blue eyes looked happy as she smiled in the picture. "You don't think this is like kiddy porn, do you?" she questioned.

"It looks like she's outside," he said as he studied it. "She may attend boarding school. It looks like a picture that someone took at school."

"But what school?" Abby asked. "And how does she fit into the missing marine? I mean, I've seen Captain Macklyn's picture and he's hot, but I doubt he's her father."

McGee shrugged, "She could be. Sometimes kids don't always have features from both parents."

"Trust me, McGee."

"So, why do you think that he has the picture?" McGee asked.

Abby pulled down the picture and then pulled up an e-mail account she'd found. "Something else you missed, Timmy," she told him.

"I looked over the hard drive twice," McGee told her. "Where did you find all of this?"

"It wasn't on the hard drive," Abby explained and held up a belt buckle. "It was hidden," she told him with a smirk.

"In his belt buckle?" Gibbs asked as he entered with a Caf-Pow for Abby. "What was hidden there, Abs?"

Abby smiled as she accepted the large cup and sipped for a second before bringing up the information. "There were hidden files on a two gigabyte flash drive that I found in his Marine Corps issued belt buckle. It contains correspondences along with a picture of a little girl." She turned to Gibbs with her bright smile, "The reason McGee couldn't find it on the computer was because he saved it directly from the internet to the flash drive."

"What do these correspondences say?"

"Not sure yet, just found them," Abby reported.

"And the girl?"

"There's no name attached," Abby explained. "I can run it through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database."

"Do it," Gibbs instructed and started to leave.

"Boss," McGee spoke up. "I think we may be able to blow up the crest on her school jacket. That may lead us somewhere."

"Do it."

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Autopsy

"I don't understand why I was brought in to consult this case, there's no body, Abby," Ducky complained as he was pulled against his will towards his computer. "What exactly are you going to have me look at Abigail?" he asked as her fingers flew over his keyboard.

"I still don't even know what to make of it," McGee admitted.

Abby brought up the e-mails and then opened one of them. "Look," Abby instructed as she pointed to the signature. "J. Shepard." She turned and looked at Ducky. She didn't think that he'd hide her faking her own death, but Abby couldn't be sure until she saw the look on his face. It showed her nothing. Ducky looked rather confused and surprised than like he was hiding anything.

"We need to know about Director Shepard's autopsy, Ducky," McGee spoke up. He didn't want to think that Ducky was keeping something from them, but they needed to cover every angle.

"I didn't conduct it," Ducky told them honestly. "Her body was removed from cold storage before I could do one. I can assure you, though, that her injuries wouldn't be able to be healed, let alone Jenny Shepard being brought back to life after lying in a cold box for so long. She lost a lot of blood."

Abby frowned, that wasn't what she wanted to hear. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure there are plenty of other J. Shepards, Abigail." He frowned and turned to McGee, "And shame on you for not talking some sense into her earlier. I just hope that you haven't talked to Jethro about this. You can't just go around making assumptions with no evidence."

"Abby hasn't shown you the picture yet," McGee spoke up.

"Unless it's Jenny with a date stamp, I doubt I'll believe it," Ducky told them. "You know date stamps on cameras can even be tampered with."

"I know, Ducky," Abby told him and then changed the screen to the picture. "Tell me that she doesn't look like Director Shepard."

Ducky turned and took in the small child. "There are some resemblances," Ducky allowed aloud and then thought differently of it after a moment. He knew that he shouldn't be encouraging her direction. "I still don't understand the link of this girl, the e-mails, a missing marine captain, and Director Shepard."

"In the e-mails," McGee explained. "There are instructions dating back to when Captain Macklyn was stationed overseas in England and France to look in on Sophia."

"That's what we think her name is," Abby spoke up.

"So, what do you think with all of this? That Director Shepard had a secret daughter that she kept in England and France and none of us know about?" Ducky asked.

"The e-mails from J. Shepard haven't stopped, Ducky," McGee spoke up. "It was quiet for about two months after Director Shepard's death, but then they picked up again."

"The last e-mail requested that he meet J. Shepard at Heathrow today," Abby spoke up. "The travel arrangements that we looked into were made by the NCIS account and were okayed by Jenny Shepard."

"That doesn't prove anything, I'm afraid, Abigail," Ducky said.

"But, Ducky—"

Ducky patted her shoulder, "Abigail, Darling...listen to me. Jennifer Shepard is death. God bless her soul. Don't pursue this; it's only going to end up with people crushed. I don't know if Jethro can go through thinking that she's alive only to find that this was all faked by some sick person. Do you understand?" he asked.

"Yes, Ducky," Abby said quietly.

He turned to McGee, "And as for you, Timothy... I expect that you not encourage Abigail so. You're only both going to get yourselves into trouble."

"Yes, Ducky," McGee responded with a frown.

"Okay, off with you both. No more Caf-Pow today, Abigail," Ducky instructed. He had a feeling that the caffeine enhanced beverage had something to do with her crazy ideas.

As Abby and McGee left autopsy, they both walked in silence as they made their way to the elevator. McGee hit the button to call the elevator and then waited. "Is it just me, or does Ducky make you feel like you're five, too?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah," Abby said. "I feel like that too."

"You know what this means we have to do," McGee said as they stepped into the elevator together.

Abby smiled and looked over at him. "Pull the tapes from Heathrow and prove that Director Shepard is alive?"

"And call the boarding school and see if they have a Sophia Shepard on their student list?" McGee asked.

"She's probably going by a different last name," McGee pointed out.

"Good point."

McGee smiled, "Let's do it then."

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TBC...