A/N: This chapter completes the story. I didn't cut anything, just merged two chapters. Enjoy!

Chapter Seven

Charlie jumped when he heard a baby cry. Or was it two babies? Tim chuckled, "That's my youngest niece and nephew, my sister Sarah's twins. Like us, they have a house of their own, I mean Sarah and her husband have a house, but Sarah's a writer and likes to work in the library here. Plus it's easier for the baby wranglers to have them all in one place during the day. You were probably in the pool last time they were awake. I hope you're staying in a guesthouse!"

"We have a hotel room; I didn't call Mac until we got to Albuquerque."

"Well, it's up to you, but we'd love to have you stay here on the ranch with us. We have rooms here in the house, we have furnished guesthouses or you're welcome to stay in the guestrooms in our home, Ellie's and mine."

Charlie opened his mouth to say something when a voice drifted in. "Tim, are you in the kitchen?"

"Yes, Sari, where are you?"

"On the back porch. Could you please heat 2 bottles of my milk?"

"Yeah, sure. Are you coming in?"

"I'm by myself right now, Uncle Dave helped move the three of us out here when I couldn't stand being inside anymore. But if you'll help, we're ready to come in."

Tim huffed, "Why didn't you just say so? I'll be right there."

He chuckled as he moved to the refrigerator and Charlie smiled back. Tim took a container of something marked "Sarah" and poured the liquid into two bottles. There was more crying and Charlie said, "Go help your sister, I can heat those."

"Thanks! Be back in a minute."

He left the kitchen and Charlie heard a door being opened. Tim quickly reappeared, carrying his little niece Charlotte Shannon, a large diaper bag hanging from his shoulder. "Charlie, this is Charlotte Shannon. She's named for our mom and our cousin Charlotte, who is Sarah's two-times great aunt and my paternal great-grandmother."

"I thought Sarah is your sister?"

"She is the daughter of Lily and Dan McGee, the people who bought me from Joann Fielding. Until 5 years ago, we believed we shared sibling DNA. Turns out we do share DNA but we're cousins, not siblings."

"Geesh! How do you keep all this straight in your head?"

Tim laughed, "We don't talk about it much and most of it happened gradually, not all at once. It really only comes up when we have to explain things to new family members like you. Although you're one of the originals. Anyway, we know we're family and that's all that matters."

When Sarah walked in with a still squalling Timmy, she and Timpa traded babies. Timmy stopped wailing long enough to inspect his new big person and gurgled at Tim. Sarah shook her head, "He sure likes his Uncle Tim!"

Tim grinned as he played with his namesake, "It's the name." He turned to Charlie, "Charlie, I'd like you to meet my sister Sarah McGee Chalmers. Sarah, our cousin Charlie Fielding, Grandpa's nephew. And he's brought us a new toddler to play with, his daughter Eleni."

Sarah greeted him with a finger wag as she was feeding Charlotte. "Hi Charlie, welcome to La Serenidad! I heard through the ranch grapevine that you were here but I've been housebound all day."

"Have you been writing all day?"

She snorted, "All day, what's that? I did get in about 90 minutes between doing laundry and catching a nap while babies slept."

"No helper today?"

"Lu was scheduled but she's fighting a cold; Liz was on yesterday and Claire the day before so I decided to be brave and mommy all by myself. Bob is on his way to Canada, they caught a case in Calgary, so I don't know when he or Tony will be home." She grimaced, "When are Mom and Dad coming home?"

Tim started to say something when the kitchen door opened and their mother walked in. Sarah and Tim cheered, "Yay, Mommy's home!"

Shannon laughed, "Mommy, really?" Spotting Charlie, she smiled, "Hello?"

"Mom, this is your cousin Charlie Fielding, Grandpa's nephew. Charlie, your cousin Shannon."

Charlie smiled at her obvious confusion, "I was ten when you were born, Shannon. The only time we met you were still a baby."

"Thanks, good to know I haven't lost my memory. Welcome to La Serenidad!"

They shook hands as Jethro walked in, carrying their bags. "Hey, Timson, Sari! And cuter than ever grandbabies!" Puzzled, he stopped to look at the newcomer. "Do we know each other?"

Tim cut in, "Yes, Dad. This is Charlie Fielding, Grandpa's nephew. Although years ago, we knew him as Delilah's father."

Sarah was glad she had her face down, watching her daughter eat. She still felt bad that Tim hadn't been told before he got home.

Shannon wasn't lucky enough to be looking down but she managed to quickly school her expression into something approaching neutral. Dad didn't even try; his eyebrows flew up and he looked at his son who gave him a look that said something was off but not between Tim and Charlie.

"Charlie, good to see you again." The two shook hands.

Charlie nodded, "You too, Gibbs, and Tim. I was certainly shocked when Mac introduced us, I looked up and there was Tim McGee!"

Tim nodded solemnly, "Wish everyone could have met Carol, too. So glad you have little Eleni." He turned toward his parents and sister. "Charlie's daughter Eleni is 18 months old and is the product of both egg and sperm donors. She's upstairs with Ellie, Claire, Jim and my gang, changing into dry clothes. Carol and Charlie were given custody when she was 4 months old, after her mother, Delilah, decided she couldn't handle a small child. They raised her together until Carol died suddenly."

Jethro thought of Tim learning this and wanted to comfort him.

His wife squeezed his hand while Sarah covered for both of them, "That's terrible, Charlie, I'm so sorry for your loss. Thank God you and Eleni have each other."

Tim nodded, "And all of us now."

"Thanks, Sarah, Tim. We have a live-in nanny and we've been doing all right. Until I realized that if anything happened to me, Eleni would end up in foster care. I haven't kept up with the Fielding family. Joined the Marines at 18, got married, had a baby, got my 20 in and somehow my wife's family took over what little spare time we had. Told myself it was good for my daughter to have at least one grandparent.

"Anyway, recently I started looking online for Fieldings. I can use Google but that's about it. Found obituaries for my dad Fergus' two younger brothers, went looking for a cousin and gave up at the thousands of pages for "Jack Fielding". Finally started looking for Uncle Mac and found the article about his ex-wife. Sorry all that happened and Shannon, Mac's told me what she did to you and Tim. Horrible, I'm so sorry all that happened and so grateful that you all have found your way to each other. I found a reference to the ranch online and through some miracle, I have no idea what I did but I found a list of owners and there was Uncle Mac and my baby cousin Shannon.

"I was going to call first but was afraid that the media might have been hounding you and didn't want anyone to think that's who I was. And something happened between my mother and your mother; the time I met you was the last time we attended a family gathering. I never knew what the problem was and just decided to wing it. Turns out that Aunt Jo is the reason we didn't know each other.

"So here we are, Eleni and I drove over from Sedona this morning and I called Uncle Mac from our hotel room."

Tim laid his hand on his shoulder, "Glad you're here!" He turned to his parents, leaving his hand. "Liz thought Grandpa knew about Delilah and thought he would tell Charlie about me. Sarah called Tony at work, asking him to tell me but then he and the team got a call out to Calgary, so he didn't have time to call me. He did send a text to Maggie telling her about the case and asking her to call Sarah but Maggie was in meetings all afternoon and didn't see the text until she'd left the office. Since she didn't know what happened, she decided to wait to talk with Sarah when she got home. By then, Charlie and I had already seen each other."

Shannon frowned, not liking that at all but understanding how the communication had broken down. She did wonder why no one had called Tim or Ellie directly. She looked at Charlie, "Did you know that my dad's grandson Tim was the man you knew through your daughter?"

"No, Shannon, I didn't know until Mac introduced us and then we both stared at each other, our mouths hanging open. Liz did apologize to us and Mac later. As Tim said, she thought Uncle Mac knew and expected him to say something to me. Guess he didn't."

Tim made a face, "That's because he'd never heard her name. By the time I met Grandpa for the first time, I had already moved on. I told him what happened but never mentioned the name."

Shannon's face cleared and Charlie smiled at Tim, "That's all right. It's all good now."

Tony's father-in-law, entered the kitchen then, smiling at Charlie. "Charlie, it is you! Dick Barnes, we served together at…" Barnes named two Marine bases. His smile grew wider when Charlie nodded, "Dick Barnes, yes, it's great to see you! An amazingly small world we live in."

The two men reached to shake hands and ended up in a one armed hug. Barnes eventually replied to Charlie's last remark, "It certainly is, never thought I'd be living on a ranch in New Mexico, part of a very large family! Welcome home, old friend!"

As he enjoyed his dinner that evening, Charlie reflected that he'd decided to look up his relatives and ended up as part of a large, loving family and friends. He'd gained his Uncle Mac, his cousin Shannon, his almost son-in-law Tim, his old friend Dick Barnes and all of their families.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Charlie and Eleni Fielding's visit was so successful that they never returned to Arizona to live. Once Eleni was comfortable with the adults and children, Charlie left her with the Palmers while he returned to Sedona long enough to sell most of his furniture, storing everything else and putting his house on the market before flying home to the ranch. The next time Pete the mover had a run into Arizona, he loaded up the contents of Charlie's storage unit, delivering it to the ranch.

Surrounded by family and friends, Charlie and Eleni had truly found their forever home.

The End!

The next story in this 'verse is titled "Progeny", which I will start posting, fingers crossed, by the end of this month. Possibly sooner but it needs work before it goes 'live'. And there will be another story after that! I originally said 2 (or 3?) new ones but then 'Heartbreak' happened, so there will be 4 by the time I'm finished.

Thanks for coming along to discover why there are two characters named Fielding on the show, to meet Charlie and Eleni and to take a peek into what's happening at the ranch.

ENJOY THE PREMIER OF SEASON 18 OF OUR BELOVED SHOW, NCIS, AIRING TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17 IN THE U.S. (AND HOPEFULLY CANADA)!