"It was the beginning of a week of celebration, mother and my father, that would be Iain's grandfather were in Kenya, father having secured a posting with the FO, that would be the Foreign Office, when Britain had a full Commonwealth and Dependant States, I was at Eton, boarding. Father was older than mother, he had sort of swept her off her feet. I didn't realise until 1953 that I actually had a brother. It was my aunt Gertrude, she lived in the West Country, and was slightly strange and eccentric…..used to sit naked at the table. But she was my father's sister, and she knew of George….I never actually met George, it was almost as if he didn't want anything to do with me, but then again Gertrude was both our aunt," as Ducky began to look sad, "Where was I, oh yes, June 1953, I was 14 and had been sent on holiday to Gertrude's, the school being closed for the week to allow its pupils to celebrate, my parents didn't think I should travel to Kenya so my father asked his sister if she would take me, she was having a street party, lines had been drawn across the street between the lamp-posts and I was to hang bunting and lanterns. I remember Iain, cute lad, it was his birthday that week, the 2nd if I remember rightly, it was the same day as the Coronation, and I remember hanging a pinata up for him. He was accompanied by his mother, can't remember her name, but she was a frail looking woman, you must tell me what happened to her?" as Ducky continued talking.

"You have to remember that TV back in 1953 was not as it is today. The most popular size was a 14-inch screen, and of course no colour, it was black and white and what they called 405 lines, I am sure if you did look carefully you could see them," as he laughed at the memory. "Anyway, Gertrude had money and she had bought the TV set and so it was at 11 o'clock on that Tuesday morning, we settle down, the children all cross legged in our short trousers and watched the screen with fascination. But you were going to tell me of Doreen?"

"My grandmother, Doreen died of tuberculosis, in 1954, and Iain being only 6 years old went to live with her family, your brother having died in 1952 I believe, I'm sorry Ducky, he too was a victim of a heart attack.…we seem to be a very dysfunctional family. Iain never talked of his father or his mother; I suppose being so young memory didn't stay intact. "

Ducky looked at Gibbs who nodded, "My dear, we all seem dysfunctional, as family goes in NCIS," as he thought of Tony and his father, Tim and the Admiral, Ziva and her father, and of course Gibbs and Jackson, and not forgetting his very own father. "True Gwen, but he must have in later years wondered of his past."

"As I was growing up I used to ask dad of his family, he only said that his grandfather had remarried, my grandfather, his father, George had died young of a heart attack, before Doreen, they say she died of a broken heart but the death certificate said tuberculosis, that was one of the things that made Iain so vulnerable, in the 50's he would have been sent to an orphanage, but family again came to the rescue, this time Doreen's, and that would be why you never met your brother, he died young, and was probably away working, it said on his death certificate that he was a ships' stoker, which would make him Navy, probably Merchant," Gwen replied, looking at the old man wondering if she was going the right thing being here.

"Doreen's family? Where were they from?" Ducky now asked.

"They were from Liverpool, so I would say Merchant Navy. Iain was brought up in West Kirby, I believe, before he moved to London for the swinging sixties," as Gwen laughed.

"So Iain would have been about 16 years old, did he go himself?" Ducky enquired, "And I must say you are very knowledgeable in your family tree."

"That is where I have run out of trails. The next I have, are mother and Iain marrying, mother said he was in banking all his life, he was an accountant, but he did say once he went to King's College. His funeral didn't actually bring much, as we didn't get any of Doreen's family at the funeral….sorry we got a cousin, and an elderly gentleman. As I was saying it was only when we started to clear dads personal effects I found out more of his family."

"I wish I had taken more time to get to know him, but then again I was 14, and I really wanted to get back to Eton and my schooling," Ducky sighed thoughtfully.

"I'm sorry Ducky if I have brought back memories, good or bad but I just wanted to meet you," Gwen continued, "I think maybe I should just go."

"No my dear, that would only bring more regret. I am free tonight, so allow me to treat you and your family to dinner, that is, if you are free, and it will make an old man very happy," as Ducky now stood.

"I am sure Gordon and the children will be delighted, and yes we are free, but one question, the children being children and of a gruesome age, I am sure they would love a visit to your place of work," as Gwen now stood and looked at her great uncle.

"Ahh yes, your children may I ask their names?" Dr. Mallard now enquired.

"Of course, Vicky and Donald," Gwen laughed, "I never realised until I found the papers just how those names now mean something, I just liked."

"Now that is a coincidence," as Ducky winked to Gibbs, as he watched Ducky and Gwen walk arm in arm from the conference room.

The End (maybe)