"Yeah Sam, it's Gibbs." He spoke into the receiver. "I'm coming over. Tim needs to hear it from me." Gibbs told Sam.
"I told you it wasn't a mistake." Sam replied into the phone. "Tim's going to flip out, isn't he?"
"Don't think so." Gibbs answered truthfully. "He'll be shocked, but that's to be expected. I'm in shock, too."
"Well hurry up. I've just pulled up. I can't keep him distracted forever." Sam begged.
"Do something, come on try," Gibbs begged. "I'm in Alexandria, I'm on my way."
Sam was so frustrated at Gibbs. First he denied it, now he wants to be here. 'How the hell am I supposed to distract him?' Sam thought. She instantly dismissed the idea of sex. She knows him well enough to knock that wouldn't work. 'Coffee won't work either.' She thought.
Tim had other ideas though, he let himself in to the apartment that they've now shared for over a year. It was a little cramped at first, but that was because they hadn't worked out the kinks of living with each other.
"Hey," Tim called out as he entered their shared apartment, locking his gun and clip away in the biometric lock box in his room. "What are you upto?"
"Hey" Sam called out, "just a minute." She made a quick decision, not really expecting it to work as she stripped off and wrapped herself up in a towel.
"Hello!" Tim said as he saw Sam come out of her bedroom.
"You coming?" She asked, as she headed to the bathroom, knowing Tim wouldn't resist. Tim followed her, stripping off along the way. He kissed her when he caught up with her climbing into the shower. "You're so predictable, Tim!" Sam teased him as she got under the spray.
"So are you, Sam." He said as he followed her in and cuddled her tightly.
Soon enough, they were making out under the hot spray as their hands explored each other's bodies for the umpteenth time, since their arrangement began again after her last break up.
A banging on the apartment door bought them out of their reverie and back to the present. "Finish your shower. I'll get the door." Sam told Tim kissing him and getting out of the shower.
Sam wrapped herself up in a robe and answered the door, knowing it would be Gibbs. He'd said half an hour, but Tim had been home later than she suspected. "Gibbs, come in."she told him, allowing entry into their apartment. "Let me just go pop some clothes on."
Gibbs entered the spacious apartment. He hadn't been to Tim's new place, but he knew Tim had moved two years ago.
"Take your time, McGee home yet?" He called out as he saw Tim leave the bathroom in a towel, too.
"He won't be long." Sam told him, returning to the living room in leggings and Tim's MIT tee. "Coffee?" She offered, ushering him into the kitchen to make coffee.
"Hey" Tim greeted them as he joined them, kissing Sam's cheek, before taking over the coffee making duties from Sam.
"Hello." He said. Gibbs chose not to comment on the fact that both Sam and Tim had wet hair and ignored the fact, he'd have bet his last dollar that Sam had been distracting Tim with a joint shower.
As soon as the coffee was prepared, Tim ushered them to get comfortable in the living room. "I have the results, Tim." Sam told him and handed them over for the two NCIS agents to read.
"What's this? This your idea of a joke Sam?" Tim asked, looking at the details of his father's page. "Gibbs?"
"It's not a joke. It's not a contaminated sample either." Sam told him truthfully.
"Turns out maybe Jenny and I didn't meet in '93." Gibbs commented.
"Ya think, Gibbs?" Tim asked sarcastically, using his own catchphrase on him.
"Sam called to question whether or not the sample was contaminated." Gibbs explained. "Tim, I swear I didn't know. I didn't remember."
"So you just didn't remember meeting her? Is that it?" Tim asked getting angry at his former boss. "It's a mistake! Sam fucked up! We cross contaminated the samples, somehow. You can't be my father!"
"Tim, you need to calm down. Just breathe." Sam said calmly, bracing Tim with - hand on each forearm. "I didn't screw up, I didn't make a mistake either."
"I didn't say you screwed up, I said you fucked up, big difference!" Tim told Sam, harshly. "As for you, don't you have anything to say to me? Anything at all?" He asked Gibbs in a hostile and angry tone of voice.
"What do you want me to say, Tim?" Gibbs asked dejectedly. "I had a half an hour head start on knowing longer than you. I don't remember that whole week. I called a buddy who was with me at the party and he filled in some blanks. Jen, your mother …"
"She's not my mother, my mothers name is Nicole McGee, Nikki for short and she is buried in Virginia. She died in 1985 of breast cancer." Tim told him. "I was six, when she passed and I remember it like it was yesterday, Gibbs."
"Your birth mother." Gibbs corrected himself. "I don't remember meeting Jen. Apparently we went to a Bachelor Party for a guy in the platoon. We snuck off base and went to the rave party. There's where we supposedly met."
"So I'm a mistake then?" He asked Gibbs. "A one night stand with a woman you'd just met. That's not the Gibbs I know." Tim chastised, sounding disappointed in Gibbs' behaviour.
"I'm not perfect, Tim. I'm only human. That version of me was definitely not the Gibbs that Shannon knew either. We'd only just met the summer before that." Gibbs told him sadly. "I don't know what else you want me to say."
"Nothing. I don't expect you to say anything. There's nothing to say." Tim told Gibbs remembering all the times Gibbs could have helped him and didn't, especially in relation to the hazing and bullying he received from DiNozzo and Abby's torture over the blasted dog bite.
"I am sorry, Tim." Gibbs told him. "I guess I'm not who you were expecting as a father. You deserve better than me."
"The universe doesn't seem to think I deserve anything. My mum, whom I loved more than anyone else on the face of the earth, died too soon. My birth mother, who at times treated me with such contempt is gone as well. Now you're telling me, I could have grown up with a step-mother, who by your account, was the sweetest woman that ever lived. Three mothers and they're all gone. Not to mention, a sweet and innocent little half sister who I would have loved, adored, maybe even been a fiercely over protective big brother to. Like the way I'm protective of Sarah, maybe even more so." Tim explained, dejectedly. "I like to think I'd have been a good big brother, not that Sarah thinks much of my brotherly skills."
"Sarah's a fool then. Shannon and Kell would have adored you and loved you like you were their world." Gibbs promised him. "Whether you like it or not though, your father is still alive and would like to have a relationship with you. For what it's worth, he's loved you like a son since before he knew that you were his biological son." Gibbs put the coffee mug in the sink, waved goodbye to Sam and let himself out.
"Sure he has." Tim muttered sarcastically to himself as he heard the front door close.
Tim excused himself for the evening too and got in his porsche to go for a drive. He found himself out the front of the cemetery where they'd buried the Director earlier in the week. His birth mother. He sat there, at her headstone, thinking about everything that had unfolded, between Jenny and himself. He thought about when he shot the cop, when he wrote his book, when he was attacked by the dog and how Jenny had reacted, both personally and professionally. He thought about Gibbs and everything that had happened between the two of them. How appreciative he was with helping him find and track Ari, how caring and sympathetic he was when Kate died, but also how neglectful he was when he was attacked by the dog. Finally, he bought Sam a small bunch of daisies to apologise with, before heading home.
Gibbs went to Jenny's house, using his own key and letting himself inside. He opened her desk drawer and found the bundle of letters. Grabbing the letter numbered one, he was determined to let Tim have them all eventually, but he'd start with just one. He just prayed that Tim would read them and didn't shred them instead, in his hurt, his pain, his anger.
"Just wanted you to have this." Gibbs told him as he met Tim on the sidewalk, out the front of his apartment. "Maybe she can answer some of your questions more than I can." He handed the letter to Tim.
"Gibbs?" Tim asked, not really sure what he was going to say.
"It's ok Tim, you're allowed to be angry, to feel hurt and abandoned. Just know I'm still here for you." With a nod, Gibbs took his leave and Tim went upstairs, taking his letter with him.
'To my darling baby,
Hi, my name is Jen, I guess I'll be your birth mother. We haven't met on the outside yet, but I talk to you, everyday. I really don't know what kind of mother I'll be, I'm only sixteen and definitely not anyone's mother. My father has sent me away to have you, as not to bring shame to our family. I haven't seen them in almost a year, now. Since I found out I was expecting you. Since you were conceived out of wedlock, the Colonel doesn't want anyone knowing about you.
I don't know much about your father. I wasn't sober or really with it. We were at a party on the beach in Oceanside in California. A friend encouraged me to try this drink, I'd never had it before. It was Absinthe, I think that's how it's spelt, my friend stole it from her parents liquor cabinet. I don't remember much after that, I swear. I don't know who he is, or what he does. Does it matter? He certainly isn't here helping me in this situation.
It's not long now, until you grace the world with your presence. I've checked my self into the hospital. The nuns are being very supportive, however I have heard the horror stories from the homeless mothers on the street, of what could happen and how they may treat me if I don't comply with their wishes. My father, I can not disappoint him and his wishes are aligned with the nuns.
I wish in my heart of hearts that, I could keep you forever, close by and safe in my arms. But I am not yet seventeen. Most nights, I dream of the two of us, Mother and child, living our life freely, without struggles and without a care in the world. Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in. The reality is that I can not be a mother and have a child out of wedlock. My father will not support me and with no way to find out who your father is, my father can not force us to marry.
Currently, I am living in a foreign country. My father sent me to live in Naples, Italy. Away from the prying eyes of our family, our friends and his army buddies. It's beautiful here, a city full of history and culture, right by the ever so magnificent Mount Versuvius. It's the home of classical music and opera. Your Grandfather - Colonel Jasper Shepard loves this place. He sent me here to better understand what I would be giving up if I keep you, I think. (I'm not exactly sure why he chose Naples)
I do not yet know if you are a baby boy or baby girl, either way I love you and will love you always. I hope to only place you up for adoption with the best family. I'm requesting an open adoption. They're relatively new and they would have to send me updates and photos on you. But I'm afraid that the Colonel will overrule me anyway.
I hope and pray that one day, you look me up. No matter where my future takes me, know that I will always hold you in my heart. I will always love you, my precious little one.
Love your birth mum,
Jen'
Tim folded up the letter and put the letter in a wooden chest he kept at the end of his bed, under a false bottom. The letter didn't cover much, but at least he knew that his birth mother had been in tight spot and had been left no other choice. She had been clear that she loved him and didn't want to give him up.
He knew he wasn't being fair to Gibbs either. Gibbs didn't even recall meeting his mother, let alone know about him. It seemed his mother didn't even recall meeting him either.
Gibbs had a rule about coincidences, that 'there is no such thing.' 'So how is that two people meet randomly at a beach party? One a marine and one a teenager, barely legal and they get together for a night of fun. Nine months later I am born and twenty-five years later, he was my boss and she is mine. We all work for the same federal agency, protecting the interests of the US Navy and Us Marine Corp, and their respective personnel.' Tim thought that despite Gibbs' rule, it was a huge coincidence.
He wondered if Jenny would have still loved him, if had she known Tim was her son. 'Did she feel anything when she looked down at me? Did her heart skip a beat when we met?' He thought bitterly, as he skimmed over their first meeting in his mind.
Tim did the right thing, he apologised profusely to Sam for his harsh words and childish behaviour. He respected her too much to let the crap with the DNA test come between them. "I am truly sorry." He whispered to her as he let himself out of his bedroom.
"I am sorry too." She apologised. "I knew this was big news and I let Gibbs bully me into telling you, his way. You should have heard it from me."
"Yes, I should have." Tim chastised. "But Gibbs does tend to bulldoze his way through any and all situations."
"What are you going to do about Gibbs?" Sam asked, wondering if the duo would avoid each other now or not.
"Nothing." Tim told her. "He may have contributed to my DNA, but he's hardly my father. Maybe if he actually trained me more, I could say he was a mentor. But there's no training. It's just, do it this way, sink or swim Tim and I hope you don't drown. Not because I care, but because I don't want the hassle of hiring someone new."
"Oh Tim!" She sighed, hugging her dear friend tight.