Gibbs had gone to Abby's lab after leaving the bullpen. He needed her to prove or disprove his and Tony's theory. After that, he went to Autopsy to speak with Ducky. He found him and Palmer cleaning up after Bradley's autopsy. "Hey, Duck."

Ducky looked over at him. "Jethro. You have all my findings, so I can only assume this visit is unrelated."

Gibbs looked over at Jimmy. "Find something to do elsewhere."

Jimmy quickly retreated into the office.

"Is everything alright with Timothy?" Ducky asked. He assumed that this had to do with the young agent, as most of this case did.

"Case has taken an unexpected turn," Gibbs said.

Ducky stiffened a bit. "Has Timothy been arrested?"

"No. In fact, proving his innocence is no longer the only concern. Let me ask you something, Duck. What would it do to McGee to find out that Bradley wasn't just some stranger who raped and killed his mother?" Gibbs asked.

"I'm not following," Ducky said.

"It turns out that McGee's mother may have been having an affair with Bradley when she was killed. If so, that means…"

"He may not have been guilty," Ducky finished for him.

"It's possible. Though it's also possible he killed her because she tried to end the affair. Not sure which one it is yet," Gibbs said.

Ducky sighed. "If you're asking how Timothy will respond to the affair, probably not well. He will probably deny it even happened. He won't want to think about his mother, who isn't able to defend herself, stepping out on her marriage. The fact that it's a man he has spent half his life hating will only make it worse."

"He may not be able to deny it. Abby's running a test right now," Gibbs said.

It took him a minute, but Ducky managed to figure out what his friend wasn't saying. "You believe the affair went on for some time."

"We're not sure how long it went on, but I can't ignore the possibility, even though Tony would prefer I did. He doesn't think McGee can handle it," Gibbs said. Honestly, he was worried about how McGee would take it too. He believed the younger man would survive it, but it would be painful as hell. Whether Bradley was guilty or not, McGee would wrestle with the information and what it meant for a very long time.

"Well, I can certainly appreciate Anthony's concern. He is right that Timothy will find the information incredibly painful, no matter what the outcome with his mother's case becomes. This type of information would be damaging to anyone, but the circumstances here are much worse. At best, he'll have to live with the fact that he hated this man for something he may not have done. If it turns out to be the worst, he'll have to live with this man's guilt along with this new connection. It will not be easy," Ducky said.

"You saying you agree with Tony?" Gibbs asked.

"No. He won't want to, but Timothy can survive this. He's survived worse. He was forced to deal with his mother's murder at a young age, as well as the fallout from her murder. He can handle this too," Ducky said.

"But he shouldn't have to. I know he can do this. I told Tony the same. It'll be hard, but he'll survive. That being said, if I thought I could keep a lid on this, I would. Yeah, McGee can handle it, but he shouldn't have to. Like you said, he's been through a lot already," Gibbs said.

Ducky nodded. "They say the truth hurts. They're right. Sometimes we prefer the lie because it's easier to live with. But in the end, it's still a lie and you can't hide behind it forever. You're doing the right thing. Anthony might disagree and Timothy probably will too, but he needs to accept it."

"I don't know. Maybe DiNozzo's right. Bradley's dead. What good could the information do now?" Gibbs asked.

"Maybe none, but that's not for us to decide. We can't decide whether or not someone else is entitled to the truth or not," Ducky said.

"Right. Thanks, Duck," Gibbs said before turning around and heading back towards the elevator.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Several hours later, Tony was in the bullpen on his phone. He ended the call and turned to Gibbs. "Boss, I managed to track down Bradley's attorney from fifteen years ago. He's still in California, but I got him to agree to conference with us through MTAC in the San Diego office tomorrow morning," Tony said.

"Good," was all Gibbs said.

"I'm also going through the court transcripts to see if there's anything in there that could be helpful," Tony said.

"Gibbs, I have Bradley's criminal record. I am putting it on the plasma," Ziva said before doing just that.

They all got up and went over to the TV, which now held a photo of Colin Bradley, as well as his file.

"The most Bradley was charged with was Grand theft and the charges were dropped. He and a couple of his friends took one of their father's cars and he pressed charges for a day or two to scare them. Bradley was barely eighteen. There is nothing indicating rape or murder," Ziva said.

"That doesn't mean anything. It could either mean that he didn't get caught before or that Allison McGee was his first victim," Tony said.

"Anything else?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes. I made some calls and was able to verify Sandra Griffin's story. She knew both Bradley and Allison McGee. All three grew up in the same neighborhood. Bradley and Allison dated in high school, all the way up until he joined the Marines," Ziva said.

"When was that?" Gibbs asked.

"January 4, 1977," Ziva said.

Gibbs sighed. That was the year before McGee was born. Their theory was looking more and more accurate.

Just then, Gibbs' phone began to ring. He immediately picked it up and answered it. "Yeah, Gibbs. Be right there, Abs," he said before hanging up.

"Boss?" Tony asked nervously.

Gibbs looked at him for a minute before walking away without saying a word.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Gibbs walked into Abby's lab a few minutes later. He found her standing over the DNA computer. "Abs."

Abby turned to him. "Gibbs, good you're here. How's the case going? Have you cleared McGee yet?"

"Working on it, Abs. You got my results?" Gibbs asked.

"Gibbs, Timmy didn't do this, and even if he did, that guy deserved it for killing his mother," Abby said. The situation had finally been explained to her and she agreed with everyone else. Bradley deserved to die.

"Abby, later. What have you got from me?" Gibbs asked impatiently.

"Right. Well, I compared Bradley's DNA to the hair from the comb you gave me. It's a match. There's no doubt. Bradley and whoever that comb belonged to are father and son," Abby said.

Gibbs sighed sadly. Well, it was done now. It was no longer a theory but a fact, one McGee would have to live with for the rest of his life. The man he hated so much, that may have murdered his mother, was his father.