Thanks to everyone for your reviews! There are a couple of notes after the chapter...

Chapter 3

The team and kids had a meal in the restaurant café before they left and the little ones slept the entire trip, safely secured in their child safety seats in the back seat of the sedan. A large suitcase with the children's clothes, books and toys had been thrown several feet from the wrecked vehicle but most of the contents survived in decent shape. The suitcase would never roll again, the fabric badly frayed but there were no holes and the zipper was intact. After taking extensive photos, the whole thing came with them for the children's use, along with the diaper bag.

Unfortunately, the double stroller was beyond repair, it looked like it had bounced on rocks or pavement, losing pieces here and there. Luckily, the children's safety seats were undamaged and after taking enough photos to show the placement of them in the victims' SUV, they'd been moved to the agency sedan for the drive home.

Most of the rest of the physical evidence traveled to DC in the van, now occupied by Agents Bishop and Chalmers while Gibbs and McGee were in the sedan with the children, their belongings and the rest of the evidence. They made good time as the bulk of the traffic was headed away from DC for the long weekend, although as Gibbs remarked, "Those folks may end up spending the weekend sitting in their cars on the road." Tim chuckled, amused by Boss making a joke.

D'Arcy McKinna, their usual representative from Child Protective Services, was contacted when they were about 15 minutes out from the Navy Yard and was pulling into the visitors' parking area as the sedan and the MCRT van entered the Yard. Ellie was driving the van and Tim texted her kudos for keeping up with the boss. Gibbs pulled the sedan close to the front door and helped remove the kids from their seats. Ty was awake and crawled out of the seat and the car on his own but Bryn never stirred as she was lifted into Tim's arms. Reaching up, Ty took Tim's hand and quietly walked beside him in through the doors while Gibbs moved the car. The security guards had already spotted the sleeping baby and were quieter than usual, having been briefed that these kids were involved in a case. Ms. McKinna walked in with them, gently removing the diaper bag from Tim's shoulder and carrying it. Ty gave her a curious look but wasn't frightened by yet another stranger.

They went straight to a conference room where they found small beanbag chairs and a portable crib someone had provided for the children. There were a few coloring books and crayons, picture books and two teddy bears sitting in the beanbags and more snacks for the kids. When Tim looked surprised, Ms. McKinna explained, "I gave Director Vance a list of what the children would need. We won't take long tonight; all of you are tired and obviously need sleep."

Tim opened his mouth to say the team would be working on the case and then stopped. He wasn't sure what was going to happen with the children but he really didn't want them to have to deal with more strangers. While he was thinking that through, Gibbs and Vance slipped into the room, quietly greeting the social worker. Tim introduced Ms. McKinna and Vance to Ty who surprised them all by shyly holding out his hand to each of them for a shake. Smiling, Gibbs took Bryn from Tim's arms and settled her in the crib, covering her with a light blanket.

With Ty coloring and getting to know his new friend the teddy bear, the adults spoke softly. When the social worker asked which of the two foster parents would be taking the kids, Gibbs looked at Tim who gave him a discreet nod. The team leader said, "They'll stay at my house but Tim will be in charge of the children. He's bunking with me until he finds a new place to live."

Both McKinna and Vance were startled although for different reasons. From Ms. McKinna's point of view, it sounded like one of her certified foster parents was homeless. From Vance's point of view, that meant something had gone awry between McGee and his girlfriend Delilah Fielding, with whom he'd been living. He'd heard that McGee had purchased a ring and was ready to propose. Vance had been happy for him, glad to see at least one of the agents on Gibbs' team with a life and support outside of work and the team.

Tim caught both looks of dismay and quickly explained, "This only happened last week; I don't even have all my stuff out yet. My girlfriend and I broke up; I left because she's in a wheelchair and a wheelchair friendly apartment that matched her tastes took us several months to find. It'll be easier for me to find someplace new."

Ms. McKinna nodded, figuring if she had more questions she'd ask later. Vance also nodded, saddened to hear the news and not surprised that whatever happened between the two, McGee was taking the high road by leaving the apartment. Gibbs was torn between wanting to comfort his agent and moving the meeting along so they could get back to work. Then he realized, as Tim had, that one of the two of them would have to stay with the children. He looked around the room, wondering if they could bring in some sort of bed for Ty, almost immediately dismissing the idea.

Within a few minutes, it had been decided the kids would stay at Gibbs' home over the long weekend and probably into the following week while the murders were investigated and questions about the women's estates and guardianship of the children were settled. One of the questions they had was about the kids' fathers and Ms. McKinna verified it was one of the items on her list. Vance offered to have the kids' DNA run to help the process along and she agreed.

In the meantime, Ty had fallen asleep curled up in one of the beanbag chairs and Gibbs covered him with another of the blankets in the room. Ms. McKinna signed the legal agreements to have the kids' DNA tested and the foster parent arrangement for Tim and Gibbs and then she left, promising to be in touch with Tim over the weekend.

With the door propped open so they could hear the children, Vance beckoned Tim into the hallway while Gibbs headed to the bullpen. "Agent McGee, I'm sorry to hear about you and Ms. Fielding. I hope this didn't have anything to do with you being away."

Tim had been in Southern California two weeks previous, working with the OSP team on a project. Now he sighed, "I haven't figured out yet whether it was a good or bad thing that I was away. I caught a standby seat on the redeye Saturday night instead of waiting for my scheduled Sunday flight. I wanted to surprise Delilah and Tony had some time before his flight to Italy, so he and I met for breakfast and then he went with me to run an errand. We said goodbye, I bought flowers and then went home to surprise her. Delilah was home but she wasn't alone, the surprise was on me and eventually I ended up at Gibbs'. Chalmers knows and now you but I haven't told anyone else."

"Oh geez, Tim, what a godawful mess, that came out of the blue!"

Tim nodded, surprised at the use of his first name and definitely done talking about it. Vance took a breath. "The other thing is, McGee, those kids are the spitting image of you, especially the boy."

"Is that why you offered to do the DNA?"

"Yeah. Now I think about it, I'll send it to an outside lab. You've got enough on your shoulders right now without anyone getting too curious."

Tim was quiet for a beat and then decided to jump in. "I know a lab in Bethesda where no one knows anyone here. And they're reliable."

"Have you used them personally?"

Tim blinked in surprise and Vance realized it was none of his business. "Very well, I trust your judgment." His agent nodded as he sent him the contact information.

Gibbs returned a few minutes later, handing Tim his laptop. He set it on the end of the conference table the farthest from the children. To his surprise, Gibbs sat next to him and leaned in, speaking softly.

"You ok? This is all pretty overwhelming, the situation with Delilah and now this. You know I'll foster the kids with you, but one of us has to be on record."

Tim managed a smile, "Yeah, I knew that. I'm okay for now. I'd rather not deal with the other situation, but I guess at some point I'm gonna have to get the rest of my stuff."

"Got a lot of room in the basement, kiddo."

"Thanks, might take you up on that. Timing sucks; Tony's gone and now one of us is gonna have to stay with the kids."

"We'll trade off and either of us can work from home. See if we can find a good daycare."

"Have to look into how to handle little kids' grieving process, Boss. When we lost the Commander and Patrick, I was in the hospital and Sarah was through the worst of it by the time I got out. As for me…not sure I ever took the time. You know what happened."

Gibbs nodded, patting him on the shoulder. "I know, Tim and that's a good point, we need to do that. I'll put a call into Doc Cranston; see what she has to say."

"Thanks. Uh, I put him off but Vance made a comment about the kids looking so much like me. Do you think so too?"

Gibbs inhaled and then nodded, "Yeah, noticed it in both of them as soon as we saw them."

Tim shook his head, deep in thought, jumping when his laptop chimed with an IM from Bishop saying Abby had something. Gibbs took off for the lab while Tim sent Abby a request to put the meeting on video with closed captioning rather than audio so they wouldn't wake the kids. Then he disabled the chime and turned the speaker volume down.

She had an id and address for the owner of the red pickup truck and orange cap. While they waited for the warrant needed to bring him in, search his residence and impound his truck, Tim found a list of known acquaintances, including previous cellmates. They ran DMV records for all six and found one with the right vehicle, a black Hummer. Abby also had facial recognition on the Hummer guy by that time, the same man.

To bring in both suspects at once Gibbs asked Vance for a second team and the director once again assigned Carter's team. In the meantime, Vance had also contacted Ms. McKinna to see if she could arrange for someone to watch the children at the agency while the teams brought in the suspects. She returned to the Yard before the teams left, bringing meals for the kids and wishing them good hunting. Tim was relieved, he hated the idea of his team out there short not just one but two of their experienced agents, with one inexperienced agent who was a relative stranger and another agent with only a year of experience under her belt, serving an arrest warrant on the white supremacist dirtbag who'd targeted and killed the couple. The women were both Caucasian but the hatred that applied to anyone of color apparently also applied to same sex couples.

Gibbs' team returned several hours later, their suspect in handcuffs, his feet shackled and duct tape covering his mouth. They'd surprised him pulling out of a gas station and had him out of the truck, cuffed, his rights recited, before he could reach for one of his weapons. That hadn't prevented him from trying to take McGee and Chalmers down with his legs, but all the mixed martial art work Tim had done with Ziva and in formal classes paid off and every move the killer made was blocked. His mouth was taped due to his foul if unimaginative language and a tendency to spit. Ultimately, the weapons uncovered in the truck and during the search of his home proved to be unpermitted and many were illegal.

Carter's team followed them into the Yard an hour later. Their suspect, the driver of the black Hummer, chose 'suicide by cop' as this would be his third felony, subject to Virginia's 'Three Strikes' law. That law stated that a third felony conviction was an automatic life sentence. Unfortunately for the dirtbag, Carter and team anticipated his response and shot the gun out of his hand as his finger touched the trigger. He too arrived in cuffs and duct tape although his feet were not shackled, as he had not tried kicking, tripping, blocking or any other of the leg and body movements futilely attempted by his buddy Orange Cap.

Hummer man confessed, hoping for prison privileges, as he already knew he was going down. After that, they had Orange Cap dead to rights as the saying goes. There was no need for a confession from Orange Cap although Gibbs and McGee tag teamed him and got one anyway.

Once the two were safely in the agency holding cells, both teams called it a night or morning, as it was nearly 0300. Paperwork could wait until later in the day. Ellie and Chalmers helped Tim and Gibbs get the kids, toys and the portable crib into the agency sedan. The evidence had been removed from the trunk but everything else was still in the vehicle and for now Vance told them to keep it, they could exchange it for their own vehicles over the weekend. Then he chuckled, realizing neither the Challenger nor McGee's Porsche would be the ideal vehicle for two toddlers and their paraphernalia. While the Porsche would be impossible, he supposed they could make the Challenger work and said as much to his agents who nodded their agreement.

Finally back in the car with the kids, Tim swallowed a yawn, "Oh man it's late. Need to get the kids tucked in and need to crash for a few hours. I'll work on my reports in the morning, uh, later this morning, ok?"

Gibbs had no problems with that, "Sounds like a plan." Abby left at the same time as the others and smiled as her phone buzzed with a text from McGee. He said it was from Gibbs and him; they wanted to say thanks for her quick work and help in breaking the case. Abby replied that she was just glad they got the monsters and that by the way, she'd already let Jimmy know the kids were staying with Gibbs and McGee. She sent the text and then a second one saying she needed to know why Tim was staying with Gibbs but was willing to wait.

Tim stared at the message for a minute, wondering why letting Jimmy know was important enough to mention. As for the second text, only Gibbs and now Vance knew the real story of what happened with Delilah and he really didn't want to talk about it with anyone else. Not yet, he was still trying to process what happened.

Reaching the house they carried the kids in and Gibbs stayed with them while Tim brought the portable crib in, taking it upstairs to the room he'd been sleeping in. Carrying Brynie and followed by an awake if groggy Ty, Gibbs walked up after Tim, verbalizing a decision he'd made earlier. "We'll clear out Kelly's old room and the kids can sleep in there. You can't sleep on the couch; I know what it does to your back."

Tim's eyes widened but he just nodded, recognizing the look and knowing the issue was not up for discussion. "Tomorrow then. We'll be fine tonight."

Ty looked at them, "I c'n sleep wit' Bryn."

"Won't that be crowded?"

The little boy shook his head, looking sad and Tim realized the kids would probably do better together, for a few nights anyway. He made a decision. "All right, I'll sleep in the big bed; you can sleep with me or with your sister."

"Ok."

They got the crib set up again and then changed Bryn into a clean diaper and her favorite jammies. Tim hoped the kids would sleep a few more hours but wasn't sure, they'd already slept during the car rides and at the agency. Gibbs went to look for anything Brynie could drink from, even a travel mug would do for tonight. He came back upstairs with a baby bottle full of milk.

Tim looked at it and then at him, his eyebrow raised in surprise.

"Breena left a note saying Jimmy told her about the kids. She brought us what she thought we'd need for tonight and Ms. McKinna looked up the kids' medical records, no food or dairy allergies."

Tim grinned, "Yay we're saved! That's what Abby meant when she said she'd told Jimmy we have the kids. Food, diapers, milk, bottles?"

"Yeah and I saw grownup food too."

"Good because I'm starving!"

Ty watched them curiously, not understanding what was going on. Gibbs turned to him, "We wanted to make sure you had everything you and Bryn need, Ty, and now we do."

"Oh, dat's good." They'd brought the kids' suitcase upstairs and once the boy was also in his favorite jammies, he and Tim looked at the books while Gibbs went for food, although Tim heard some strange noises in the hallway. Ty pointed to "Winne the Pooh".

"Dat's our favorite. Mama and Mum know da words widou' looking." His little face scrunched up as tears rolled down his face. Tim picked him up and scooted backwards on the bed, rocking him in his arms. Eventually Tyler fell asleep and Tim shifted him to a more comfortable position for both of them.

Once he was sure the little boy was sound asleep, Tim carefully tucked him in with pillows surrounding him to keep from falling off and then moved off the bed, leaving a Pooh Bear next to him.

He paused at the head of the stairs, now blocked by a baby gate that explained the noise he'd heard earlier: Gibbs installing it. Wondering just how thorough Breena had been, he peeked into the hall bathroom where he found the drawers and cabinet had toddler locks on them and the electrical outlets were covered. The doorknobs on the other rooms up here all had some sort of plastic thing over them that Tim vaguely recognized from Sarah's babyhood.

At the bottom of the staircase, he discovered a second baby gate, this one left open. Mentally he started a list of items he'd need to make whatever new place he found safe for Bryn and Tyler but quickly gave it up, certain to locate a list online. Gibbs was at the table, eating a large sandwich. As Tim sat, he looked at his boss, saying "Outlet covers" before picking up his own sandwich. Gibbs nodded, figuring the younger man was too fried to make more sense than that. Food consumed, Tim went back upstairs while Gibbs settled onto the couch with a deep sigh of contentment. Man he hoped those kids slept later than Kelly had as a toddler!

Tim woke to a whisper in his ear. "Tim, we're hungry!" He smiled as he recognized the voice and when he opened his eyes, he found Ty half snuggled in one of his arms and half laying on his chest. He blinked, deciding he'd better not play scary morning Tim as he did with Sarah and Rob when they were little. Across the room, Brynie babbled something at him and he smiled at her. He was surprised when he saw the time - it was nearly 11 AM!

"Ok, I'm awake. Let's get you two changed and have some breakfast."

He'd grabbed a towel last night and now was glad he'd thought ahead, he didn't want to put the baby down on the floor or directly on the crib sheet to change her diaper. Once she was clean and he'd found a plastic bag for the garbage, he helped Ty change. He decided to wait to change out of his own jammies, he and Boss would have to take turns watching the kids while they showered and changed.

Holding the kids' hands, he walked them out to the top of the staircase. "Know what this is?"

Ty nodded, "Baby gate; not 'sposed ta go up or down widou' help." Bryn nodded, echoing her brother. "Beby ga', no go."

"That's right! Ok, let's see if Gibbs is awake yet."


Notes:

Alixx33 and julschristine975 asked if Gibbs and the rest of the team know Tim's personal history (see my profile) in this story. The answer is yes, Gibbs, Tony, Ducky, Jimmy, Abby and Leon know about the siblings, the abandonment and living on the street. Ellie knows the siblings but there are things she doesn't know. The TAD Agent Chalmers has no idea.

Also, the foster parent certification for Tim came from my story "Finding Home" and Gibbs' certification exists but is new in this story. (It really comes from another story I'm writing not related to this one but I don't know when or even if I'll post that.)