Unearthed Secrets

AN: Thankyou all for your reviews

Thankyou again to Kate, for her fantastic work

Gibbs woke up suddenly, sitting bolt-upright in the darkness. Trying to gather his surroundings, he squinted around the room and tried to concentrate on what had woken him up. Then he heard it. His cell was ringing. Gibbs' heart skipped a beat as he jumped up and ran towards the sound, trying to remember where he put his cell. Running through the darkness, he fell into the coffee table, giving a small yelp as he banged his knee hard. Biting his lip, he reached onto the coffee bench and retrieved his cell, "Gibbs!"

"Jethro, it's Tobias" Fornell said on the other end of the phone, causing Gibbs' heart to constrict. Then he heard that the other man was speaking again, "You probably know by now I was put in charge of your case"

Gibbs' mouth was suddenly very dry and his brain wasn't co-operating enough to allow him to form words.

"Jethro, you there?" Fornell asked

Gibbs nodded, then realised Fornell couldn't see him, "Yeah" he whispered

He heard Fornell sigh, "We were going to wait till morning to tell you, but I knew that you would want to know now" Fornell paused, as if considering his words, "Two days ago, a van stopped at a petrol station north of where we found the abandoned van. The driver was a man matching your father's description"

Gibbs bit down on his lip harder, drawing blood. Rubbing his eyes, he prepared himself for the worst. He looked up as Ducky came into the kitchen, with a worried expression on his face.

"This afternoon, a local farmer found the van in a ditch just outside his property. Our team went up there and canvassed the area, but turned up nada. The van itself was a mess…" Fornell continued

Gibbs looked at Ducky, his eyes sparkling, "Did you find anything?" he asked in a quivering voice

Fornell sighed heavily, "Yeah. But, I think you should come down here for this"

Gibbs nodded, trying to swallow the big lump in his throat, "I'll be right over"

"Who was it?" Ducky asked as Gibbs hung up

"Fornell, they want me at headquarters" Gibbs replied, looking around for his jacket and keys

"Oh dear" Ducky said quietly

Locating his jacket, Gibbs turned to Ducky, "Where are my keys?"

"I have them" Ducky replied. Gibbs held out his hand expectantly. Ducky looked at the outstretched hand and scoffed, "You're not driving, Jethro"

"Oh, you'd better believe it, Ducky, now give me my keys" Gibbs said, taking a step closer

"I'm not going to have you endanger the lives of the public, and ours, with your insane driving" Ducky told him

"Ducky, I'm not going to argue with you on this one" Gibbs told him

"I know, there is no argument. Now, get in the car" Ducky responded

"No! Ducky, give me my damn keys!" Gibbs said, getting aggravated and anxious

"Jethro, you are in no condition to drive" Ducky said, trying to keep Gibbs calm

"Yes I am!" Gibbs said, indignantly

"We're wasting time arguing when we could be half-way there now" Ducky told him calmly

"Exactly!" Gibbs shouted, "Give me my keys!"

"Jethro, you're acting like a child" Ducky told him, his tone suggesting no argument, "I'm driving and that is final"

Gibbs glared at Ducky, clenching and unclenching his fists, "You have no right telling me what I can and can't do."

"Okay, I won't. But if you want to go to see the FBI, I suggest you get in the car" Ducky said as he walked out the door

Gibbs stared after him, trying to figure out who had won the argument. His hunch was confirmed, however, when he heard his car start. Swearing aloud, Gibbs walked out of the house and got into the passenger seat of the car, glaring at Ducky, who simply smiled.

"Not funny, Duck" Gibbs told him as Ducky backed out of the driveway.

Gibbs and Ducky walked into the bullpen at FBI headquarters to find only one lamp still on. Fornell sat leaning back in his chair, snoring softly in his sleep. Gibbs shook his head, must've been a long day, he thought as he looked at his watch: 0438. Fornell's computer started beeping, causing Fornell to wake up. He glanced at the elevator and saw Gibbs and Ducky.

"Jethro" he said in greeting, standing up "Ducky"

"Tobias," Gibbs replied, whilst Ducky merely nodded

Fornell gestured to the empty desks with a trace of a smile, "Sent the rest of my team home with orders to rest" he said, trying to put off what he had to tell Gibbs

Gibbs nodded, "Long day?" he asked, playing along as he realised he didn't want to hear any bad news and would put it off as long as humanly possible

"You could say that. We've working non-stop since we picked up the trail at the garage" Fornell replied

The three men stood in an uncomfortable silence for a while, neither Gibbs nor Fornell wanting to make the next step.

Ducky looked between the two men and cleared his throat, "Agent Fornell, you said you had something that we would want to see?"

Fornell sighed, wishing he could delay it further, "Yeah. I didn't want to show you this, but …I think the powers that be thought it would help you…personally I disagree…"

"Tobias, what is it?" Gibbs interrupted

Fornell walked back to his desk and grabbed an evidence bag and gave it to Gibbs, "We found this is the van. We would have washed it or something before giving it to you, but it's come directly from the lab"

Gibbs nodded and looked at the bag, it held Jake's sports jumper from school. On the front of the jumper were stains of blood.

That's it for chapter 15!...Hope you liked it! Please review! Please! Tell me what you think!