Unearthed Secrets
Disclaimer in first chapter
AN: Thankyou all for your reviews! I'm glad you like it!
As always, a gigantic thankyou to Kate, for all her ideas and inspiration.
Tony sat down on Gibbs' couch and gratefully accepted the coffee he offered him. Kate sat down next to him and cradled her coffee in her hands.
"Never knew you had a son, Gibbs" Tony commented, giving him a chance to sit down and take a long drink of his coffee
"Yeah, me either. Why did you hide him from us?" Kate asked
"I didn't" Gibbs replied softly, staring into his cup, "You never asked"
"But…how?" Tony asked
Gibbs met Tony's eyes, frowning, "How, what?"
"Well, how did you keep him secret from us for that long? I've known you for four years, and you're always at work, do you ever see him?" Tony asked
"Like I said, I didn't keep him a secret. And yeah, I see him" Gibbs replied defensively
"When?" Kate challenged him, "Christmas Day? New Years? Do you even know the names of his friends? Or his favorite subject at school?"
Gibbs took another long sip of his coffee and lowered his eyes, "I see him on public holidays and stuff when we're not called into work. The story about me working them on a regular basis is a myth" he paused and took a deep breath, "I admit I haven't been a great father, more of a joke really. I've met two of his friends; they came for a sleepover last weekend…"
"That's when we got called in with the crispy critter" Tony observed
"Yeah, I had to drop them off at one of their parent's houses" Gibbs responded, staring into his coffee
"At three in the morning?" Kate asked
Gibbs nodded, "Like I said, I haven't been much of a father, better than mine though, but that doesn't count" he muttered, "He joined the baseball team at school last term, and…and I have still haven't seen him play" Gibbs took another swig of his coffee and looked up at them with glistening eyes, "Last year the school had some 'bring your dad to school' day or something, but I couldn't make it, missed the whole day and didn't get home till well after he'd gone to bed. I told myself I'd never miss anything of his again, I'd go to as many if his school functions as I could and go to his sports days and…I managed to get to one of his school fairs. He was so happy when I came"
Kate and Tony exchanged glances, "What did you say his name is, Boss?" Tony asked
Gibbs gave them a small smile, "Jake. Matthew Jake Gibbs"
"He goes by his second name" Tony observed, "Is that some kind of family tradition?"
"No," Gibbs' smile disappeared, "Jake likes to be called his second name because of that reason, because I use my second name. But it's not a family tradition"
"So, why do you go by your second name?" Kate asked
Gibbs downed the rest of his coffee and stared into the empty cup, wishing he had more, "Because it reminds me of my father, his name was Leroy"
Tony frowned, "You're doing it again, boss, 'was' is past-tense"
Gibbs scowled into his cup, "That's because I'd prefer to think of him as dead"
"So, who's Jake's mother?" Kate asked, deciding that a change in topic was a very good thing
Gibbs sighed, "Kathy, Kathy Peterson"
"She isn't one of your ex-wives?" Tony asked, trying to remember the names of Gibbs' ex's
"We never got married. We were engaged though, she would have been wife number two" Gibbs explained
"What happened?" Kate asked
"Her mother didn't believe in pre-marital sex. When she found out that Kathy was pregnant, she refused to let us get married. We decided that we were going to run off and get married without her mother, but a few days before we were due to leave, Kathy went into labor. Jake ended up being twelve weeks premature, which is why," Gibbs paused and looked up, willing himself not to cry or show any weakness in-front of his collegues, "She died shortly after giving birth to him. The doctors explained that there were other things that built up to it, but…" he let the sentence hang, spreading his arms in a helpless gesture, "Jake almost died, he was in one of those vat things for a couple of weeks. He was so small…"
They sat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually Gibbs stood up and looked at Kate and Tony, "Coffee?"
"Yeah, thanks" Kate replied, whilst Tony just shook his head
Gibbs made more coffee, then returned with fresh cups for Kate and himself and the remainder of the coffee pot. Falling back into his chair, Gibbs took a long drink of his coffee and sat back in the chair, trying not to let his anxiousness show.
"So, technically, Jake's name is Jake Peterson" Tony commented
Gibbs looked at Tony wearily, "Not really. Before Kathy died, we asked the priest to marry us. It was just never put on the books. So, technically, I've been married four times, but officially, it's only been three"
"So, how did you end up with Jake, wouldn't her mother have wanted to keep him?" Kate asked
"Nope. She figured that he was a bastard and didn't fight me for him" Gibbs replied
"How could she just disown him like that?" Kate asked, uncomprehendingly
"I'm glad she did" Gibbs remarked, "Otherwise, it would have been one hell of a nasty court battle. I wouldn't have given Jake up without a fight, still wouldn't"
"Won't, Gibbs, present tense" Tony absently corrected him
"Actually, Tony, I think Gibbs was right, wouldn't…"
"You're arguing about grammar?" Gibbs stood up and interrupted them, the strain from the past day finally snapping, "How the hell can you two be arguing about grammar at a time like this? My son has been kidnapped! I may never see him again! He could be dead! Or worse! And you two are arguing about grammar?"
"Gibbs, we're just trying to…" Kate tried to calm him down
"What? What are you trying to do?" he asked, "Give me English lessons? I don't need English lessons! I need my son, I need…Jake" he said, running out of steam. Sitting down, he put his head in his hands, covering his face.
Kate got up and put her hand on his shoulder, "He'll be okay, Gibbs"
"How do you know that? You don't know my father" Gibbs talked into his hands
"Do you want to tell us about him?" Kate asked gently, figuring that it was a touchy subject with her boss
Gibbs lowered his hands and wiped his eyes. Looking up at them, they were shocked to see that his eyes were red and by all appearances, he looked as though he'd been crying. He studied them momentarily before answering, "He was…a violent man…drank a lot…if he even does a third of the things to Jake that he did to me," Gibbs paused and shook his head, "I don't think I could be held accountable for my actions" he wiped away the tears that threatened, "When I was fifteen, I, we ran away. My brothers and my sister, I had to get them away from him…Mum refused to come"
"Did they have social services back then? Foster care?" Kate asked, trying to remember
Gibbs shrugged, "Don't know. We managed to get an apartment in a rundown neighborhood. I stopped going to school and worked full-time to support ourselves, worked two long shifts, then slept for about four hours, then did it again. Slightly after I turned seventeen, the navy did a recruitment run. I figured we'd get more money if I joined the marines than if I worked several jobs, so I joined up, told them I was eighteen. Around 80-90 of my pay went straight into another account for my brothers and sister…"
Kate raised her eyebrows; she'd never known this side of her boss. She'd always figured that he'd had a normal childhood like the majority of people.
"Where are they now?" Tony asked
Gibbs took a long drink of his coffee, pausing, "No idea. The last time I saw them was the day before we left, around six months after I joined up"
"Have you looked for them?" Tony asked
"What do you think, DiNozzo? I've tried tracking them down, but there is no record of them anywhere. It seems that they changed their surnames, and not through official channels either. Anybody who would have known them doesn't remember them" Gibbs told him
"What about trying …?" Kate suggested but was interrupted by Gibbs
"I have tried everything I could think of and more, with the same result. I've been looking for them for over twenty years, don't you think I've tried everybody route available?" Gibbs asked
They were saved from answering him when the phone rang. Gibbs put his coffee down and ran to the phone, "Gibbs"
Kate and Tony leaned over and found that they could hear the person on the other end of the phone quite clearly.
"Mr. Gibbs, it's Detective Bailey. We've found the van. A local police patrol found the van abandoned on the side of the road about four hours from the CBD, we have a forensics team on their way there, they're around an hour away. I don't want to get your hopes up, I don't think we will find much, but it's worth a try" the man told him
"Can I come with you? I've had enough experience working crime scenes and I..." Gibbs asked
"No, it would be better if you stayed at your house. If the kidnapper…" Bailey replied
"My father" Gibbs told him
"Right. If he tries to contact you…"
"He's not looking for a ransom, Detective. He wants to put me through hell; he wants to see me in pain. This has nothing to do with money or any other material item, it's all psychological. And you know what? It's working. I need to be out there, doing something. Trying to help get Jake back. If I stay here…." Gibbs interrupted Bailey
"I know this must be hard for you, Mr. Gibbs…" Bailey said
"You have no idea" Gibbs interrupted, bitterly
Bailey audibly sighed, "I'm sorry, there's nothing you can do, just sit tight and wait. If we find anything, I'll contact you"
That's it for chapter 4! Hope you liked it!...Please Review!