New - The Secret Life Of Us
This is an AU piece, backstories, dates and timelines have changed to suit my story. Obviously KellyLives!
Thanks CRed1988 for the suggestion (a very long time ago) and I know it's not the story that I know you're really hanging out for me to post, but that one's coming soon too. (Hit a snag and had to rewrite a whole chunk of it.) But in the meantime ... enjoy!
A/N: the term "Boots" is used in this story. ICYMI, Boot or Boots is a pejorative term for a new Marine fresh out of boot camp. The term's origin apparently comes from the Vietnam war era, as an acronym meaning "beginning of one's tour." New Marines joining a unit are usually referred to as "boots" until they go on a deployment or have at least a year or two in the Corps.
November 2002 - Navy Yard, Washington DC
Everything was about to fall apart in Leroy Jethro Gibbs' life that he had worked and fought so hard to protect. To shield from the life that he led to the outside world.
In the world according to Gibbs, the only thing that would make his life perfect was to still have his beloved Shannon by his side. But without her, right now, life was currently perfect enough. He was blessed to still have his beautiful twenty-three year old daughter and his incredibly smart and truly gifted son in law. They lived far enough away that he could come and visit any time he liked or needed to and he was always welcomed.
Gibbs was a man who actually liked his son in law, a lot and he respected him too. He had known his son in law for a long time and it had been a long time from when the time the two of them first met to when the kids fell in love. As far as he could tell and as far as he knew, his son in law had always done everything right by his daughter - and by him.
They lived far enough away that his work rarely took him in to their town and far enough away that he and his son in law didn't cross paths in their jobs. Even though they worked for the same agency.
The less people that knew about his family, the easier it was to protect them. After all, he was the patriarch of the family, it was his job to protect them all.
All of that was about to change with the callout to crime scene at the Norfolk Naval Base he had just received. The body of a sailor had been found in a vat of hydrochloric acid and the case agent had called in the MCRT due to operational requirements. After the agent on base had made the formal request, he'd pulled out his personal cellphone and had spoken to his father in law to give him a heads up.
The miles had began to disappear from the road between the Navy yard and Norfolk, a drive that he'd made a million times since his son in law got stationed at Norfolk last year when he became a green rookie NCIS agent. As he'd promised Tim back then, he would never interfere in his son in law's career. Just as Tim never told anyone that his father in law was the NIS/NCIS legend, the very famous Supervisory Special Agent in Charge; Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Gibbs reflected back to the very first moment, that he'd met Tim and he smiled.
March 1984 - Alameda Joint Base, California
"Hey Kell!" Gibbs greeted his six year old as he came home from his first day of his new joint duty assignment at Alameda.
"Dad!" Six year old Kelly replied exuberantly, running up to her father excitedly for a hug and kiss hello. After all he had confided in her just that morning, that he was nervous about his first day, after she had told him that she was nervous about her first day of school over breakfast. "Come and meet my new friend."
Kelly took her father by his hand and lead him into the den where a small blonde haired, green eyed boy was sprawled out on his living room floor reading a book. "Hi there." Gibbs smiled at him and he immediately saw the young boy go shy and try to hide behind his book. "I'm Gibbs, Kelly's Dad." Gibbs offered his hand for a handshake.
"Hello Sir." Tim automatically replied, straightening himself upright, standing ramrod straight immediately. "Staff Sergeant Gibbs. I am Timothy McGee." Tim threw a salute to Kelly's father. A perfect, by the book, textbook salute, the kind that a general would fire off to their commander in chief. That threw Gibbs a little, he hadn't been expecting that, especially from a six year old boy who'd been shy and timid less than thirty seconds beforehand.
"Nice to meet you." Gibbs replied, saluting him in return, hiding his grin at the six year old's antics. "Please don't call me Sir, though. I have a job and I work hard for my money. I'm not a sir."
"Yes Sir!" Tim answered automatically and Gibbs had been stunned when Timothy had flinched at his lecture about calling him a 'Sir'.
Shannon was watching the scene carefully from the back of the room, where the kitchen door was. "Snacks on the bench you two. Come on, let's go." She called out and Kelly headed into the kitchen while Tim continued to stand, ramrod straight in front of Gibbs.
"What are you waiting for? Go get a snack." Gibbs said, still curious as to why this young boy was still standing at full attention in front of him. He had barely moved since he introduced himself a few minutes ago. Gibbs was actually impressed with the boy, he stood more ramrod straight and more at attention than most of the Boots he'd ever met.
"Waiting to be dismissed, Sir." Tim said, looking Gibbs directly in the eye, not backing down. Gibbs was in awe, that the six year old was trained so perfectly. However his heart broke that it was obvious that whichever parent was in the military, they were setting him up for a life time of service already, instead of letting him be a kid.
"Tim, listen to me." Gibbs said getting down on the ground to look him in the eye at his eye level. He noticed that Tim flinched again as he went to reach out to touch the boy's arms, seeing the young man's reaction, he immediately retreated. "Our home is not a military base, it's on a base yes, but not a base all of it's own. Besides, Shannon is the boss around these parts, just ask her." He winked at Tim, trying to make him smile and relax his stance. "Now go and get your snack before Kelly eats it on you. Dismissed."
Tim scampered off, having been dismissed and joined Kelly in the kitchen for fresh cookies and a hot chocolate. As soon as Tim was dismissed, he saw the switch flick back to - kid and was amazed that this kid had the ability to do something like that.
Later that night in bed, Jethro turned over to Shannon, kissing her cheek to get her attention. "Can you believe that kid, Shan? The change between being a kid and a mini soldier. He saluted me and Sir'ed me. He knew my rank on sight and immediately offered his hand for a handshake. Are you sure he's only six? I've got Boots that don't even know my rank."
"I don't know much about the family, hun." Shannon told him, cuddling into her husband. "Kelly met him at school today. She asked him to come over, he said he could. That as long as he was home by 1700 when his mum was due home from the hospital."
"She works at the hospital?" Gibbs asked surprised.
"I'm not so sure, he told Kelly he needed to be home in time to cook dinner because his mom would be too tired after being at the hospital." Shannon sighed out loud, knowing what she had to say next would greatly upset her husband. "I'm not really sure that his Dad's a good man. His response to seeing you in uniform for one thing. It was like Tim flicked a switch and became a pod person."
"Oh sweetheart! I guess we'll just have to watch this space and see what else we learn about him." Gibbs whispered softly to his wife and he kissed her and tried to get her to shift her focus off the sad situation with Kelly's new friend.
Having finally succeeded at persuading Shannon to change tracks and open herself up to him. He rolled her body under his, making love to her mouth with his as his hands began exploring her body.
"You know what I don't get?" Gibbs sighed out loud, pulling back from his wife as he sat up off his wife completely. Becoming angry and frustrated at how Kelly's new friend had behaved. "How can a father treat his home like a military base and his son like he's in boot camp? I bet you he's one of those pretentious naval officers who think their career is the most important thing in the world and everything else should take a backseat."
"I don't know, Darling." Shannon answered him dejectedly. She knew that neither of them would be getting much sleep tonight now. She knew that the blonde haired, green eyed boy had stirred something up in her husband.
Gibbs flew off the bed, running his hand through his hair in frustration as he paced. "Why can't men like that just let their kids be kids?" He looked to his wife, begging her to have all the answers he sought. "I want nothing more for Kelly to look back on her childhood and have happy memories, to know that she was loved unconditionally. When I crouched down to talk to him, he flinched. He was scared of me. God Shanney, I've never seen a child so scared of an adult before."
"I know baby, but it's like you said, we tread lightly until we know more." Shannon reassured him gently.
November 2002, on route to Norfolk, VA
That first meeting with the young and militant Timothy McGee had been a severe shock to Gibbs. His stiff and distant persona changed at the flick of a switch. He knew some great Marines and Sailors that had never mastered that skill. Tim had it done pat by the time they had first met when the man was only six years old.
He reflected on it as he drove the sedan down the highway towards Norfolk. In his rear view mirror, he saw Tony driving the MCRT truck and Ducky with Gerald bringing up the rear of their convoy.
They would make the drive whole, as the standard operating procedures dictated with a less than four hour drive. When it was just him, he could make the drive in two, but with two trucks in the convoy, he knew it'd probably take the three hours and he'd have to stay on or under the speed limit.
He'd spoken with the base MP's and they had ensured him that NCIS had effectively taken control of the scene and that Agent McGee was in charge until he arrived on scene.
His thoughts once again, turned to the first time he'd ever had to deal with a base MP and a certain young kid that had needed him more than ever at that very moment.
June 1984 - Alameda Joint Base, California
It was another three months before either of Kelly's parents saw something else that made them wonder about her friend. Tim had never faltered though, never set a foot out of line. He always called Gibbs either Sir or by his rank of Staff sergeant. He was a normal kid around Shannon and Kelly, though. But he continued to show Gibbs just how scared he was of him.
Gibbs had been on the late starts for afternoon shift for about a month now, when he headed home on dinner his break. He'd noticed the base crawling with MP's, NIS agents and search teams combing the streets, as he pulled up at his home. "Hey sweetheart" Gibbs said, as he entered their home, kissing wife's cheek. He noticed that two base MP were sitting in the kitchen with Shannon. "What's happened? Is Kell ok?"
"Kelly's fine, she's in her bedroom. Hopefully doing her homework." Shannon answered him, placing her hand on his forearm to comfort him. "Her little friend Timothy is missing. Apparently his father raised the alarm when he came home from the hospital and he wasn't there. His mother passed away this morning, he didn't take the news well."
"Crap" Gibbs swore out loud, turning his back on his wife and two of the base MP's. His heart had broke for the little boy in that very moment. He'd been keenly watching and observing the young boy play with Kelly and interact with Shannon all summer. He'd tried to break through that tough militant shell and found he couldn't. "I'm going to help you look for him." Gibbs declared, turning back to the MP's.
"Sir, we have search teams and NIS agents out looking. Base MP are searching too, we have it covered." The older of the two MP's told him.
"Let me phone my CO. I'm helping with the search." Gibbs reiterated.
"Best thing you can do staff sergeant is let us do our jobs." The MP told Gibbs.
"Look with all due respect, you don't understand." Gibbs said frustrated. "That boy has been in our home. He has probably spent more time at our house than his own. He's here on weekends, after school. Hell the kids have spent the first two weeks of their summer vacation practically attached at the hip. We have to find him."
"I understand your concern, Sir." The MP placated him. "But let us do our job."
The MP's left, thanking Shannon and Kelly for their time answering questions.
"God Shanney!" Gibbs exclaimed in frustration, letting him vent his emotions. Shannon knew that her husband had been the same age when his own mother had died. She had died of brain cancer, just like Timothy's mother had. She knew that the young boy that had captured her daughter's heart and she knew that he had wormed his way into her husband's heart, just as much as he had into her own heart.
Wordlessly, he picked up the phone and called his CO. The CO, a father himself understood the dilemma that he had on his hands. After all, Staff Sergeant Gibbs had spoken of the boy often, getting his opinion on how to break through to him. Wondering if maybe he was struggling to because he didn't have a son of his own. After being given the evening off, to go and unofficially search. Gibbs wasted no time, he gulped down the coffee and took the offered thermos that Shannon had prepared as well as his SAR bag filled with all the necessities he needed to keep him going. Shannon, she knew he wouldn't stop looking for the little boy.
"You bring him back safely, your hear me Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" She said, trying to stop herself from getting upset. It had been almost four hours now since they discovered that the boy was missing.
"Yes Ma'am." He grinned at her as he kissed her lips, throwing his SAR bag over his shoulder and he headed off into the outside darkness.
Gibbs was exhausted, he had been searching for hours, he'd joined an SAR team and they'd combed through the woods behind the base for any sign of the boy. But they hadn't found any clues. After combing the woods, that team disbanded to take a break and he joined a new team, this time it was a navy team. But that didn't matter, he had to find the boy. He was the only marine and they searched the entire strip of sandy beach that neighboured the west side of the base.
Finally, he knew he needed some rest. His CO had joined him in the search when their shift had finished at 1900 hours. Once the beach had also been searched thoroughly, his CO pulled them both off the search detail. "Come on, Gibbs. Get some rest." William Ryan urged his buddy and subordinate.
"No, we don't rest 'til we find him." Gibbs argued with his CO. "Coz if we don't. I have to face Shannon. I have to look into the eyes of my little girl and tell her that Daddy couldn't find her lost friend. Her best friend. Those two are joined at the hip. You know how hard it is for her to make friends with her intelligence?"
"Gibbs we will find him, but you need to take a breather. You've been at this for over ten hours now." Ryan said, comforting him. Even his friend Ryan, knew that Kelly didn't make friends easy because of how smart she was. If this kid was as smart as Gibbs had said, it was no wonder the two kids became friends. Sounded like they were kindred spirits.
The two men walked along J street on base, heading to their respective homes. The Ryan family lived across the road from the Gibbs family. He and William Ryan had been young boots together and met at boot camp. They'd been buddies ever since. When Ryan was promoted above him, he requested the young Gibbs family join him and he transferred his friend into his command. The Ryan family had four boys and Gibbs envied his friend slightly and although they were all a lot older than Kelly. He wouldn't trade their little miracle daughter for anything. They tried and were still trying for that illusive second miracle child, they were just never blessed.
The two men stopped to bid one another goodbye when Gibbs noticed some dirt had been scuffed down near the side gate of their house.
Silently, he told his friend to follow him. He'd built Kelly a cubby house when they were stationed in North Carolina and it had been moved there from the moving truck when they'd arrived at Alameda.
Stealthily, Gibbs made his way through the gate, Ryan on his tail. He snuck up to the cubby house and peaked inside.
Right there, his heart ached. There was Timothy McGee curled up in a ball, his face tear stained. Gibbs could very well sympathise with the young boy; he had been right where he was now. Except his mom took her own life before it had gotten too bad. Not wanting to be a burden on him and his Dad.
"I'll leave you to it." William Ryan whispered to his friend. "Take tomorrow off too and spend some time with your daughter." Ryan was always watching his men and the men under his command for signs that they needed downtime. And this counted as needing downtime. "Want me to notify the base MP's?"
"We'll take care of it, get some rest Sir." Gibbs told his friend and his friend left.
"Am I in trouble?" A small, scared voice mumbled from the exhausted boy.
"No Tim, you're not in trouble." Gibbs said as he sat down beside the young boy.
"My mum is dead." Tim stated emotionless. Gibbs could see Tim was trying to get a hold of his emotions.
"I know, Tim." Gibbs said as he put his arm around the young boy. He knew exactly where his head was at. "She was sick, wasn't she?"
Tim looked at him and Gibbs felt Tim's whole little body relax. He'd never seen the boy relax with him before. "It hurts." Tim admitted in a whisper. "I didn't want her to die."
"I know you didn't." He told Tim as the boys tears began to flow. "Why are you hiding in here?"
"Kelly said she always feels safe in here." Tim explained. "She could come here and cry if she needed to. Or if she ever wanted to be alone, this is where she hides."
"Tim? It's ok to cry." Gibbs told him, he just hoped the boy would listen to him and trust him. Trust what he was saying. "It's a perfectly norm-"
"No!" Tim snapped, cutting Gibbs off in anger. "Real men don't cry!" Gibbs knew how out of character it was for the little boy to be angry. He remembered being angry a lot in his grief when he was the same age.
"Did your dad tell you that?" He asked, as the little fair haired boy buried himself into Gibbs' side.
"Today, just before he told me mom died." Gibbs patted his back, drawing comforting circles on his back. Gibbs was trying to get him comfortable enough to keep opening up. "He said 'real men don't cry, so don't cry but your mom's dead now.' I couldn't stop crying and he called me a sissy." Tim sobbed harder. His breath coming in hiccups now.
"Shh! It's ok. Just breathe Tim, just breathe." Gibbs instructed him. He just hoped that Tim would listen to him. "That's it, now listen to me. It's ok to cry. You love your mom and she's gone. Want to know a secret? You have to promise not to tell anyone."
"I promise." Tim said offering up his pinky finger. Gibbs smiled at him and linked his pinky finger around Tim's, like he'd seen his daughter do many times.
"I was your age when my mom died." Gibbs confided in him. "I still remember how much it hurt and how much I cried. My mom had something in her brain. They called it cancer."
"My mom had that too." Tim said, shifting so he was now in Gibbs lap, cuddling into Gibbs' chest and his tears began falling harder. "They never let me go to the hospital and see her."
"My mom didn't go to hospital." Gibbs told the boy, his own pain feeling raw and fresh, as if he had lost his mother today, not the twenty seven years it had been since he lost her. "She didn't want me to remember her like that. That's probably why your mom never wanted you to visit her. Moms don't want their kids to see them in pain, like that."
The sun was rising and Gibbs knew he needed to alert the MP's that Tim was ok. Tim was asleep now, in the time they had been talking, he had crawled up into Gibbs' lap and snuggled himself in. Gibbs hated to move him, but knew he had to. Gently and in slow motion, he managed to keep Tim in his arms and get himself upright, he slowly let himself in the back door and took a seat on his favourite reclining chair. Once they were settled he pulled the blanket off the back of the chair. It was the one he normally used to soothe Kelly with, draping it over him and ensuring that it covered Tim, making him feel safe, secured and loved.
Shannon came downstairs shortly afterwards, hearing her husband home and saw her husband and the young boy in his favourite chair. "You found him!" She whispered in excitement.
"Call the base MP's. He was in Kelly's cubby house." Gibbs asked her. "He's been there nearly all night. But he's physically ok."
The house was now swarming with NIS and base MP's within ten minutes. All wanting to see for themselves that he was ok. When all but one agent had returned to their duties, that agent sat on the sofa beside Gibbs and waited until the boy woke on his own, letting the little boy rest. "He trusts you now." A soft southern drawl came from beside him. Gibbs looked up and found a man he'd probably met but couldn't remember the name of. "Franks, Mike Franks. NIS."
"Staff Sergeant Gibbs, USMC." Gibbs replied, introducing himself. "I'd shake your hand, but it's kind of full." He smiled at the NIS agent.
"You're ok, Gibbs." Mike told him with a laugh. "The boys Grandmother is on her way in from Florida. Going to take a few hours for her to get here. The Commander has returned to his duty station already."
"Sounds about right." Gibbs muttered, disgusted at the father's behaviour. He had hit the nail on the head that his father had been one of those naval officers that cared more about his career than his family. "He can stay with us until then. No doubt Kelly will be happy to keep her friend company."
"That's what I was hoping you'd say." Mike grinned at Gibbs. "The Grandmother will be here later today."
November 2002 - Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia
"Hey boss, this is Special Agent McGee, Norfolk office." Tony said, introducing the rookie agent to his boss.
"Uh-huh." Gibbs muttered, eyeing his son in law up and down. Before stalking off to check in with Ducky. To warn Ducky not to reveal the connection between he and Tim. "What do we got Duck?"
"McGee, that's Gibbs and Todd, I'm DiNozzo." Tony introduced him to the team.
"Gibbs? I've heard the stories." Tim commented, getting down to do what he knew Gibbs would want him to do. Getting the logs organised.
"The trick is figuring out which half is true." Tony quipped and Tim turned away to focus on the gear to cover up his smirk. As much as he didn't want to out himself as Gibbs' son in law, he knew his father in law would never interfere in his career.
"Here's the logs, Sir." Tim said, knowing the lecture that was coming as he for calling him Sir. But it was amusing to rile him up, knowing neither of them would out the other as family. The both of them; they had a mutual love. Kelly McGee. Gibbs' daughter and Tim's wife.
"You don't have to Sir me, McGee." Gibbs retorted, having fun drawing out his name. Pretending he didn't know or care about the rookie agent before him.
This was Gibbs' dream, deep down that he'd get to work a case with his son in law one day. A man who was near and dear to him as his own daughter.
November 1984 - Alameda Joint Base, California
"Happy birthday, Tim!" Kelly screeched excitedly as she raced into the house on the base, three streets from her own house. Gibbs held the gift bag in his hand as he followed his exuberant daughter. Kelly and Gibbs had hit the shops a week ago when the impromptu invite had come to the house.
"Jethro, welcome." Penny warmly greeted him, offering him a coffee mug to help himself to the coffee pot.
"Thanks Ms Langston." He replied, keeping his eye on the kids.
The kids were sitting on the sofa, their heads buried in a book together, reading side by side. Their heads touching. The book was about volcanoes and they two kids had been animatedly discussing their project for the upcoming science fair for weeks now. Both very excited to be collaborating together on this project. Gibbs had been helping them and he had seen Tim begin to open up slowly, but surely to him. Occasionally, he'd even managed to get the young boy to relax.
"Poor Timothy." Penny sighed, slipping into the room. "I don't think any of the other children are coming. He invited twelve children and only your daughter came."
"I'm sorry, Penny." Gibbs sighed, looking at the kids again. Tim didn't even seem to have noticed that the other kids hadn't come. He was just so happy that his best friend had come. He didn't care that the other kids hadn't come. "Tim's a great kid, he didn't deserve this."
"I know that." She sighed, "He was already upset too. He wasn't happy when I told him that he has to accompany me to Boston for the week next week. With John at sea and my presence needed in Boston for a lecture, there's no one to care for him."
"Isn't that the science fair next week?" Gibbs asked, surprised. The Grandmother always encouraged Tim to explore his love of science. "They've been looking forward to this since school went back. They've both worked really hard on that volcano."
"I know," Penny sighed, downtrodden. "But I'm bound by a contract and face litigation if I don't comply."
"What about if he stays with us?" Gibbs offered. "He's more than welcome. Tim is always welcome in our home."
"We couldn't let Timothy impose on you and your family like that." Penny defended.
"It's not an imposition if you're invited." Gibbs explained. "Talk to the Commander and let us know. It's only a week. Everything will be fine."
"I'll phone Shannon tomorrow with an answer." Penny replied, "I am sure it will be ok."