Not Beta'd; Standard disclaimer applies.

Science doesn't lie, Chapter 12 Scripted Invitation

After warning Abby not to interfere with the testing, Gibbs left the lab. As he approached the elevator he wondered where his young had gone to. Even though Tim had said he was returning to work, Gibbs wouldn't have been surprised if Tim had detoured someone to calm down first. He had actually hoped that the younger man would be standing by the elevator so he could confirm that Tim was okay.

He looked at his watch, and impatiently pressed the button for the elevator again, as he realized that he was going to be late meeting Vance. Unfortunately, that meant he didn't have the time to locate Tim, much less talk with him. Perhaps he could stop by the bullpen on his way to the Director's office and ask Tony to check on Tim, it would only take a minute of the SFA's time. As the elevator started to ascend Gibbs mentally gave the back of his head a slap. No way was he sending Tony after Tim, not with the way this day has been going. Ziva. Ziva would be the better choice he decided as the elevator doors opened on his floor.

Exiting the lift he was surprised to see Tim sitting at his desk reviewing files. Blinking at how calm Tim appeared, Gibbs finally tore his gaze away and headed to the stairs. As much as he wished to ask Tim how he was, they didn't need the added attention that would bring, for now, Gibbs would just have to assume that things were as they appeared.

"Boss," Tim called from a few steps behind him. The moment Tim had seen Gibbs head up the stairs, he had followed in pursuit.

"Problem, McGee?" Gibbs asked, searching his agent's face and eyes for a sign that all was not well. He didn't want to say anything more since he was aware of all the eyes and ears turned in their direction. If needed, he would have Tim accompany him to the Director's office where they could talk.

"The whole day has been one problem after another," Tim bluntly replied. "I would like to change that and tell the team everything. They really should know, especially since we will be spending some time at work trying to figure this out."

Gibbs nodded in understanding. "Okay. After we get the confirmation results from the retesting we'll tell them."

"No," Tim replied firmly. "I'm telling them today."

"McGee,"

"Today," Tim repeated, not backing down. "With or without you," he added. "If necessary, I'll tell them away from NCIS, after work, either at a bar or at my house."

Gibbs just looked at his in shock. It wasn't often that Tim refused to follow orders, but when he did, he was as stubborn as Gibbs himself as he held to his convictions.

"I'm late meeting Vance," Gibbs stated turning around to continue his climb upwards, not commenting on his agent's words or tone.

"Gibbs," Tim called softly before the older man was out of range, "This is our team," The unspoken words of 'our family' had Gibbs pausing in midstep. "These secrets are going to tear us apart. Maybe I was wrong to keep everything a secret and not give them a chance," Tim shrugged in his uncertainty even though his boss couldn't see it. "We'll never know, especially if we continue to keep secrets like this from each other."

Hearing Tim turn and walk back down the stairs set Gibbs moving again as well.

"What was that about, McGoo?"

"Is everything all right?" Ziva asked as he returned to his desk.

"Later," Tim replied, looking at Tony as if daring him to pursue the conversation.

Meeting his eyes, Tony nodded, "Later," he agreed. "I'll hold you to that."

Ziva's gaze flicked between the two of them as she wondered if she had missed something.

Tim nodded before getting back to work on the file in front of him. It felt good to yell at Abby about what she had done. It felt even better informing Gibbs that with or without him, he would be sharing recent events with their team. He just hoped that Tony was as sincere in his apology as he seemed and that Tim wouldn't regret sharing this information with them.

About a half hour later Gibbs left the director's office and headed back to the bullpen. Aware of the fact that his presence was going unnoticed, he decided to spend some time observing his team. For what seemed like the first time today, his team seemed engrossed in their work. Not only was it quiet, but there seemed to be an overlying feeling of tranquility in the usual chaotic bullpen. Tony wasn't constantly sneaking looks at Tim, nor was he consistently asking the new father questions. Tim seemed more at ease, less tense than he had been all day. Ziva, she occasionally looked between her two teammates, a pleased, yet confused look upon her face.

While observing them, he walked around the outer rim of the floor and entered via the back hallway. Stopping by Tim's desk, he quietly muttered, "Okay," before looking at his other agents.

"Conference room," he barked as he started to walk away, Tim already following him, while Tony and Ziva exchanging looks as they wondered what this meeting was going to be about.

"DiNozzo, David, you coming or waiting for a special invite?" Gibbs called from the hallway.

Tony blinked and looked at Ziva, "I think that was our special invite," he mumbled to her as they took off to join the other half of their team.

"'Bout time you joined us," a Gibbs grunted in greeting.

"Sorry, boss, thought this meeting was private as well," Tony replied, glancing between McGee and Gibbs.

Gibbs rolled his eyes, "This will remain between us for now," he stated before nodding his head to Tim as a sign to start talking.

"Me?" Tim squeaked before clearing his throat. "Right," he paused as he thought about what to say. Even though he had pushed Gibbs to tell the team, he thought that Gibbs would take the lead on that, or that if he hadn't, then Tim would at least have some time to figure out what to say. "Well, earlier today, in the bullpen, Abby mentioned running the DNA of my kids against the system,"

Tony and Ziva blinked as they now recalled that being the last thing Abby said before Gibbs had pulled them into the conference room for the private meeting.

"She stole"

"McGee,"

Tim ignored the older man and continued, "my kids DNA and illegally"

"McGee,"

"Ran it against the system," Tim paused and looked at Gibbs wondering if he had anything to say about that. "The results were surprising, especially to her,"

"McGee." Gibbs cautioned again, shaking his head at the younger man's antics.

Tony tried to hide his smirk as Gibbs once more repeated the younger man's name to no avail.

Tim simply lifted an eyebrow in silent question before continuing, "Because she either thought there was no way I had been with someone or I was a fool or was so desperate for a family that I eagerly believed someone when they claimed I was the father. The first surprise for Abby regarding the results from illegally running the stolen DNA"

"McGee."

"Showed that my DNA came up as a match."

Ziva blinked at his latest statement. Why would Abby have been surprised about that, Tim had told her they were his children, had he not?

Tony groaned. If Abby had expressed doubts regarding the twin's paternity, no wonder why Tim had been so upset regarding his joking comment doing the same. Not to mention, it provided additional reasons why Tim might have been reluctant to tell them.

"The second surprise, for Abby, first for myself and everyone else,"

"McGee," Gibbs repeated, more tiredly, as if he too realized repeating his agent's name wasn't have the chosen effect.

"Was that there was another match. As you might suspect, that match was Gibbs."

Tim pauses and looked around the room. As usual, Ziva's face didn't show much expression, while Tony seemed partly amused and partly horrified. Tim frowned as he looked at the SFA, wondering what was he thinking about to cause that reaction. Gibbs just looked impatient, frustrated. Tim turned to hide his smirk, well if the boss didn't like how Tim told this story, he could've done it himself.

"Now, rather than quietly pull us aside and show us the results of her illegal-"

"McGee,"

"-ly run tests, like any sane,"

"McGee," Gibbs reprimanded the young agent again, though he was beginning to wonder why he bothered. He wasn't even sure what he would say or do if Tim paused in his retelling.

"caring, compassionate person would, she runs to the bullpen and not only blurts out the news that I am a father, but shares with everyone. She also comes up with a cockamamie explanation about why that is,"

Tony choked when Tim used that word. Mentally, Tony gave Tim bonus points for his selective vocabulary and well executed word play

"Something else she readily divulged to everyone."

"So, this is confirmation that that's definitely not true?" Tony blurted out before he could stop himself. That comment earned him a slap to the head. "Ow!" He muttered. He hadn't been expecting that since Gibbs had only repeated McGee 's name and hadn't slapped him.

"Idiot," Tim muttered under his breath shaking his head at Tony's reaction before continuing.

"No," Tim replied, finally giving a direct answer to Tony's question, "It's not, Gibbs is not the other parent to my children."

"But the DNA results..." A perplexed Tony questioned.

"Abby made a mistake," Ziva stated calmly. "That is the only possible explanation."

"Perhaps," Tim said, addressing Ziva's comment first. "After all, when you're running illegal tests with stolen DNA,"

"McGee," Gibbs sighed. As much as he doesn't appreciate Tim's…descriptive telling of recent events, it seemed to be helping the younger man. The more Tim talked, the more comfortable and open he became, in other words, the more he seemed like 'Tim'. Obviously, he had made the wrong decision earlier, preventing Tim from talking about this, Gibbs realized.

If expressing his anger at Abby had helped a little, this had more than doubled the effect. That was probably something Gibbs should have realized. Timothy McGee was a wordsmith. Putting what happened into his own words, expressing his feelings regarding the situation, whether spoken or written, would be cathartic for him. A way for him to release his feelings, whether they be from anger, frustration, or disappointment.

"It is hard to gauge the accuracy of the test and purity of the samples." He paused before turning to look at Tony, "Or the test could be right and the other explanation is that Gibbs is somehow related to my kids."

"Oh," Tony uttered, unable to believe that he didn't think of that possibility himself. It definitely made more sense than Gibbs and McGee as a couple. Why Abby hadn't thought of it as an explanation of the results was incomprehensible.

"So what happens now?" Ziva asked.

"We are currently rerunning the DNA test Abby did to confirm the results."

Ziva frowned at that statement, but didn't comment.

Tony nodded his understanding, "Check, double check, then check again, especially when you are unsure of the integrity of the samples or test."

"How long will that take?"

Tim shrugged, "Could be a while. It can take hours to get an exact match, the test then stops running once that happens. In this case, we are asking it to compare my kids' DNA against everything in the system," at this point Tim started to explain about how DNA is measured.

"Tim," Gibbs called softly, lifting an eyebrow to remind his agent about what they were here to discuss.

"Right," an embarrassed Tim muttered before completing his response. "Well, it will find one, but rather than stopping, will continue to check every DNA sample registered in the system. My best guess is at least 12 hours, but less than 24, probably closer to the 15-18 hour range."

Ziva and Tony nodded, each making a mental note to be especially nice to McGee during that time since he would probably be anxious about the results.

"Then what?" Tony asked.

"If we get the same results, we get DNA from myself and the twins' mother and compare that to Gibbs's to see how it matches."

Tony nodded, "Resulting in one big happy family reunion."

"Have you ever been to a family reunion?" Tim snorted. "Hell, in my family, we don't consider it a family get together until someone has a meltdown or storms out."

Tony snickered in amusement even though he doubted those words regarding Boy Scout McGee's family were true.

"The Director knows you are doing this on NCIS's time and dime?" Ziva asked curiously.

"Cases come first, both with our time and equipment," Tim repeated what he had been told.

"He does," Gibbs answered, and other than stating McGee's name, spoke for the first time since giving Tim the go-ahead to share. "The situation developed because of the actions of one of his employees," he continued in explanation.

Tony nodded, thinking it was a variation of Rule 45-clean up your own mess.

After a few more questions, Gibbs ordered them back to the bullpen. Tony of course has to make at least one more comment as they stood up and prepared to exit the conference room.

Tony smirked, "So just let me make sure I understand this, I don't want to overlook anything," he added.

Gibbs nodded, even as his hand rested on the conference room door knob, giving him permission to speak.

Tim, however, tensed as he wondered what his teammate was about to say. Telling the team about what had happened had gone much better than he had thought, he really hoped that Tony wasn't about to ruin it by making some snide comment.

"Abby ran these tests illegally?" Tony asked, smirking at Tim.

Tim grinned, "With stolen DNA," he added.

"With possible contaminated stolen DNA," Tony corrected.

"DiNozzo! McGee," Gibbs shouted, "Back to work. You too, David," he ordered, giving the male members of his team a headslap as they walked by him to exit the conference room.

The three agents had returned to their desks, each in a better mood than they had been in earlier, as they quickly got back to work.

Of course, they couldn't help but think about the events of the day, and the conversation they had just taken part of in the conference room.

"Tony? Are you okay?" Tim asked in concern. Since their return, Tony had been quieter than Tim had seen him in a long time. The fact that he wasn't asking any additional questions or making comments about the twins, DNA tests, the possible relationship between Tim's children and Gibbs, or Abby was beginning to make the junior agent nervous.

"Yeah," Tony replied distractedly. "Just trying to think of a movie that this reminds me of."

Ziva snorted, not surprised that Tony was wasting valuable time and brain cells on that.

"And?" She asked.

"And I've got nothing," he reluctantly admitted. "Oooh, Probie, want to try your hand and script-writing? You could use this as the basic plot."

"I'm good," Tim replied, declining the offer.

"Come on," Tony cajoled. "They said to write about things you know, and well," he shrugged, "You know about this."

"Not something I want to relive or have anyone else read about," Tim admitted.

"But think of who we could get to play me," Tony whined while Tim rolled his eyes.

Ziva paused and tapped her pen against her lip, "Bozo the Clown is dead, is he not?"

Tony narrowed his eyes at her and opened his mouth to retaliate when the sound of Tim laughing had him pausing. Instead, he shrugged and smiled at Ziva, glad that Tim seemed to let go of some of his anger.

Ziva returned his smile before turning to Tim. "Tell us more about your kids," she pleaded.

Tim's features softened as he thought about his kids. "Even though they are so young, they've already exhibited personalities and differences."

"Like what?" Ziva curiously asked. She hadn't been around too many babies to understand what he meant.

"One of them fights so hard to stay awake. His eyes constantly roaming, taking in everything he sees. I think he's afraid he'll miss something if he goes to sleep. Kiva," Tim smiled fondly, "just wants to be held. She is perfectly content laying in your arms. Holding them," Tim shook his head, "It's just amazing. Everyday they seem to change and grow."

Ziva smiled indulgently at him, "And their names?" She questioned. "Why did you choose those names for them?"

Tim shrugged, "Seemed to fit them. I definitely wanted Irish names," he added. "Shane's middle name was my paternal grandmother's maiden name."

Ziva nodded, "Honoring your family, I can understand that. What about Kiva? That name is unusual," she stated. "Pretty, but unusual," she added.

"You're just saying it's pretty because it rhymes with your name," Tony teased.

Ziva shrugged, not denying it.

"I actually hadn't planned on naming her Kiva," he admitted. "My top contenders for her first names were Aisling and Siobhan."

"Not Maureen?" Tony asked in surprise. "Since that's her middle name, I figured it would've been up there," he said when Tim looked at him inquiringly.

"No, that was most likely going to be a middle name. I wanted something Irish, but not overly popular," he explained. "Plus, I hate when it's shorted to 'Mo'," he added causing Tony to snicker at him.

"So, Kiva," Ziva prompted.

"I had looked at the name, and liked the meaning, but it didn't scream Irish to me, unless I went with the celtic spelling,"

"Which is?" Tony prompted.

"C-a-o-i-m-h-e,"

"How the hell do you get Kiva from that?"

"And that's the problem," Tim stated wryly. "At least with Siobhan, many people are aware how to pronounce it."

Tony shook his head, "I don't think I want to know how to spell that or Ashling," he muttered.

"Anyway," Tim continued, stifling a laugh at Tony's actions, "When she was born, I held her in my arms and was amazed at how beautiful she was and promised that I would always protect her."

"Ah," Ziva softly sighed, wondering if she figured it out.

Tim smiled at her. "When it came time to tell the nurses her name, Siobhan and Aisling didn't seem to do her justice. I remember reading that the Irish name Kiva meant gentle, kind, beautiful, all the things I wanted her to become. Further research showed that the Hebrew name Kiva meant protected." Tim shrugged, "After that, nothing else seemed to fit."

"Hmm," Tony hummed as he thought about it. "I am sure she will be gentle, kind, and beautiful," he shared. "And grateful she and her brother aren't named Sonny and Cherish."

Tim just rolled his eyes, not bothering to comment, but instead got back to work.

It wasn't long after that when Gibbs told them to pack it up and head home. The trio looked at him questioningly, since it was earlier than normal, but he merely replied that it had been a long day and no doubt they could all use the down time, especially since none of them knew what tomorrow might bring.

After saying that, the bullpen was emptier almost faster than he could blink.

Driving home, Tim wondered if Gibbs was going to stop by tonight. He had appreciated the break while he was home all day with his kids. While he didn't need the break today, he was curious to see if the older man still had an interest in the kids, especially since it was suspected they were related to one another.

1-31-2020

And so ends their Monday work day. What a long day for them...especially Tim.

I know some readers are frustrated that 12 chapters in and we haven't found out how Gibbs is related to the kids, but well, what can I say? I'm a 'it's the journey not the destination' type of person. Please bear with me; story 'tomorrow' will reveal things.

Some of you have speculated have the relation might be, all I ask, again, is that you bear with me, things are not always what they seem.

I loved the seen of Tim tell Gibbs that he was going to tell the team what was going on (and when he tells them and continually slams Abby...love that as well), part of me wanted to end the chapter after the stair scene to see how you guys thought Gibbs might react to that

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to reading the reviews