Chapter 1. Gibbs POV

Gibbs walked into the bullpen early on a Monday morning, grumbling to himself the whole time. When he saw Tony annoying Ziva, it did nothing to help his mood, or his headache. He took a sip of his strong coffee, only to realise it wasn't strong enough for him. He was still grumbling when he sat down at his desk. To make things even worse, his computer wasn't working, on the day he really needed to use it (which wasn't very often). Suddenly his phone rang.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

When he got off the phone, Tony and Ziva were still arguing. Gibbs walked over to DiNozzo and slapped the back of his head. He jumped and apologized.

"Sorry boss."

"Don't apologise, it's-"

"A sign of weakness, yeah I know boss."

"Then why do you continue to do it then?" Gibbs walked over to his desk as he said, "Get to work."

Just then McGee walked into the bullpen.

"Probie! Where you been? You're late!" DiNozzo looked at him curiously. McGee ignored him and turned to Gibbs.

"Director wants you up in MTAC boss." Gibbs looked up at that piece of news. He wasn't expecting a meeting today.

"Thanks McGee." Gibbs walked quickly up the stairs to MTAC. Before he opened the door, he turned back and looked at his team. DiNozzo was now annoying McGee and Ziva was sitting at her desk looking amused at the whole spectacle. Gibbs chuckled to himself, and then he opened the door and stepped into MTAC.

Gibbs sat next to the Director of NCIS, Jenny Shepard (his former partner). He turned to her to ask why he was supposed to be there.

"Jen?" she looked at him and answered his unasked question.

"You are here because one of the teams from LA has disappeared in DC during an undercover mission. The junior member of their team was not in the field, but back monitoring their progress on computers, back at base you could say. She is using a high priority feed to talk to us about finding them." Jen then turned and looked at the screen before turning back to him again. "I talked to her on the phone last night. She says she knows you." Gibbs looked at Jen, wanting to know who it was, but, before he could ask, the feed came through on the screen.

"Director? Thanks for doing this, I mean, you didn't have to and it's nice to know I won't be the only one investigating this." Gibbs jumped when he first heard the young girls voice. He then remembered that Jen said he knew her. She obviously saw him at that moment because she spoke to him curiously. "Hey Gibbs, that you?" For the first time that morning, he looked up at the screen to see a familiar face with green eyes and rosy cheeks. He soon remembered the name that went with the face.

"Yeah. That you Bec? Haven't seen you in a while. How long has it been? 2, 3 years?"

"More like 5, but that's not the point. The point is that my team is missing. They were going undercover to take down some terrorist cell before they disappeared." Bec looked freaked out went she said that. Gibbs didn't have any time to wonder why before she continued. "Mum was on that team, and she had Sharnie with her." Bec saw Gibbs and Jenny's puzzled looks so she explained herself. "Sharnie's my younger sister. Mum didn't want to leave her at home, so Sharnie went undercover with her." Bec looked and sounded like she was going to cry soon, so Gibbs said something in a voice he saved for situations just like these.

"We'll find them Bec; you know I'll do anything I can to find them. Don't worry."

Bec nodded at this and Gibbs was relieved that his words had calmed her down some; her eyes had cleared and voice didn't wobble when she replied to his comment.

"Gibbs, I know that, but do you mind if I come to DC until you find them? It'll be good cause it'll feel like I'm actually doing something, you know? I mean, their almost the only family I've got," Bec stared at Gibbs, then smiled before continuing. "But you know that already, don't you." Gibbs noticed that when she said that, Jenny looked really confused. Bec noticed it too. That girl never misses anything, does she?

"Director-"

"Don't call me that, it's Jenny."

"OK, Jenny then. To clear up all your confusion-"

"She doesn't miss anything, does she?" Jenny whispered in Gibbs' ear.

"No, she doesn't, she's too much like me." Gibbs whispered back. He then realised that Bec had been listening to them with an amused expression, her eyes twinkling.

"Heard that guys. Anyway, to clear any confusion, Gibbs is my uncle. If mum and Sharnie are dead, he's the only family I'll have left." Seeing Jenny become even more confused, she explained herself further. "Shannon was my mum's sister. She was killed when mum was 21 years old, just after Christi was born. Christi's my older sister." Just at that moment, Bec's phone rang. She answered with a short "Hello?" As the call progressed; her face went from vaguely annoyed to confused then horrified disgust. She didn't say a word until she'd rolled her eyes.

"Hey to you to… Just fine thanks… Mum's not here at the moment what can I say to her... Nothing? Fine." She put the phone back into her pocket and rolled her eyes. "That was my sister. I told her ages ago that mum would be going undercover this week. Didn't listen obviously." Bec turned around at that point and yelled at someone for interrupting her. She listened to their reply before sighing and turning back to Gibbs and Jenny.

"That's my cue to "get off the hpf (high priority feed)!" I guess I'll be seeing you guys soon yeah?" This time it was Jenny's turn to speak. Well, she started to speak before Gibbs did anyway.

"Yes, you shall. Have a nice trip, OK?" Bec grinned at her before nodding at her. She waved once then the feed went dead. Jenny turned to Gibbs and raised one eyebrow. Gibbs stared back at her for so long she blushed and turned away. Gibbs chuckled to himself at the sight, though it wasn't long before turned to look at him again.

"You have a niece?" She asked this question quietly.

"Statement or question?" This made Jenny turn around and gave him a death glare. A pretty damn good death glare too. Gibbs just raised his eyebrows at her until she replied.

"A bit of both." Jenny looked in the distance for a while before turning back to Gibbs. "Why didn't you tell me?" Gibbs looked up at her in surprise. "Oh, that's right, you thought I already knew." She turned away angrily. Gibbs leaned in and kissed her cheek gently. He leaned in further and whispered in her ear.

"You were always so good at reading me." He leaned back and stood up, then turned around and offered her his hand.

"Well, come on. We've got a fourteen year old girl coming to find her family. We have to get ready for that." Jenny took his hand and looked confused. Gibbs explained himself by saying, "She's a handful, that one. She's-"

"A lot like you, yeah you said." Jenny started walking towards the door. "Aren't you coming? We have to brief the others on the case. Well, what we know about it anyway." Jenny turned around when she got to the door. "Come on!"

Gibbs followed Jenny out the door and down the stairs.

"Hey, Jethro? Where's she going to stay during the investigation? I can organise-"

"Jen, she's staying with me. Don't you worry about accommodation for my niece. That's my job" After that comment, Jen looked relieved. Probably cause she didn't have to arrange a place for Bec to stay. Gibbs realised that they'd reached the bullpen when he saw DiNozzo playing games on his computer. For the second time that morning, DiNozzo was slapped on the back of his head.

"Thanks boss." Gibbs noticed Jenny trying not laugh at that response as she pulled out her phone – obviously she'd got a message of some sort. After she read it, she looked up at Gibbs.

"She'll be here tomorrow. Her plane's leaving tonight." This made the rest of Gibbs' team look up in interest, though only Ziva had the courage to ask.

"Who will be coming tomorrow Gibbs? It must be important if you're only finding out about this now." It was only then that Gibbs remembered that Ziva would probably already know about Bec from when she profiled him for Ari. And that DiNozzo and McGee had already met her.

"My niece, Bec, is coming to help us find her missing team members from LA. They went missing in DC during an undercover mission. She lost all contact. She has requested that we are to be the team that will run the investigation. She will be helping us find them." During his explanation, he was watching the teams' reaction to his words. Ziva looked surprised, McGee recognised the name almost instantly, then looked worried as the reason why she was coming was said and DiNozzo just looked confused.

"Bec, as in the gorgeous 9 year old that came a few years ago Bec? And she's your niece? Wow. How could I not know that?" Ziva rolled her years and answered his question.

"She'd be about 14 now wouldn't she?" she looked up at Gibbs for approval. He nodded. "So she'll be a lot different now than what she was then."

"And she's a lot like me, so don't be surprised if she does something the way I would. Like you DiNozzo, if she hits you, it's because you're doing something stupid."

"Oh great, a mini Gibbs." And DiNozzo thought he couldn't hear him. "When's she coming? Next week?"

"No, tomorrow." Everyone, including Gibbs, laughed at the look on DiNozzo's face. McGee even took a picture. When Gibbs looked at him, McGee hurriedly explained; "So Bec can see how funny it looked boss. I think she'd have wanted to see it." Gibbs just nodded. After a few minutes of laughing at DiNozzo's reaction, Gibbs ordered everyone to get to work.

"Come on guys! She'll be here tomorrow and we need to know everything we can about this case. Get to work." Gibbs was sitting behind his computer when he received an email. It was from Bec. It was a family portrait. The only text on the email was 'Hope this helps you find us. Love from Bec.' Gibbs smiled at the screen, at the gesture that meant she really did want to find them, and fast. He forwarded the email onto Abby, so she could run facial recognition. Gibbs smiled even wider when he realised that Bec would be here, safe, protected from harm. He liked that idea. He liked it a lot.