Tim once again stood by the railing above the bullpen to address everyone. This time, every agent in the building was there, and Gibbs was standing behind him for support. He believed that everyone deserved to hear what he had to say directly, instead of some reading it in an email. "Several weeks ago, I told all of you that Director Shepard and Special Agent Gibbs were away on assignment. By now, I'm sure most, if not all of you have figured out that that was not true."

Very few agents looked surprised to hear the announcement, as most of them had indeed figured that out. Many of them looked annoyed, but no one spoke.

"The truth is that Director Shepard's home was invaded, and both she and Special Agent Gibbs were taken. Agent Gibbs was left for dead and has spent two weeks of the time in a coma. Director Shepard is still missing," Tim told them.

Concerned, shocked, and angry murmurs could be heard throughout the room as the agents all started taking the information in.

"You've had this information for five weeks and kept it to yourself. We had a right to know that, McGee! Who do you think you are keeping it from us?" Agent Hall asked angrily.

"He's the director, you idiot," Tony said.

"Hey, Martin, didn't I tell you to start slapping him?" Gibbs called out to Hall's team leader.

"No, you didn't, but I've been thinking about it anyway," Martin said as he glared at his man. He felt Hall's frustration at being kept in the dark, but he also knew it was likely McGee had very little say in the matter. Sometimes people forgot that the director answered to people too.

"Agent Hall, I'm going to let that slide under the circumstances, but next time, you'll find yourself in my office with a write-up," Tim warned. He probably would've let it go even without the threat if this hadn't been the second time Hall had questioned him so publicly. He couldn't let it go without some sort of reprimand. "Now, I apologize for the need to keep you all in the dark. SecNav and myself decided it was better, both for the investigation, and to avoid a panic, that as few people as possible knew the truth.

"Do you know who is responsible for this, sir? Was it an attack against NCIS?" an agent asked.

"We do, and, no, it wasn't. This was a personal attack against Director Shepard. The man who attacked her is a man named Sebastian Acosta. For those of you who haven't heard of him, as I assume many of you have, he's suspected in a lot of illegal activity, including the murders of several members of Director Shepard's family… as well as mine," Tim told them.

Again, shocked whispers could be heard throughout the area before everyone turned their attention back to their acting director, waiting for an explanation.

"I will not go into graphic detail, so please don't ask me for specifics. What I will tell you is that when I was twelve-years-old, my home was broken into the same way Jenny Shepard's was, and by the same man. I was the only one that left that house alive, but no one knew that. I was presumed dead. I was actually taken hostage by Sebastian Acosta. I…I was held for a year, and only escaped by chance," Tim told them. His voice started to falter just slightly at the end, and he paused to try to get control of himself again. "After I made it to safety and was able to think my situation through, I came to the conclusion that for my safety and the safety of what little family I had left, it was best to let the world continue to think I was dead.

The agents all remained silent, but most of their faces portrayed both shock and sympathy as they waited to hear the rest. Several of them knew Timothy McGee as more than just a mere face around the building. They had work friendship with him, and none of them guessed something like this had happened to him.

"I am going to tell you my name, but I want you all to understand that very people knew any of this before today, and Director Shepard was not one of them. My name before the age of thirteen was Jasper Shepard III. Jenny Shepard is my paternal aunt, but as I said, she does not know it. She believes I'm dead, and that any resemblance I have to her nephew is merely coincidental," Tim explained. He then waited for their reaction, which he was sure would be explosive. He was sure most would not believe him when he said Jenny didn't know. They would accuse them both of profiting from nepotism.

Once again, there were several murmurs of shock, none of which could be heard properly. Finally, one agent spoke clearly. "What can we do, Director Shepard. What do you need from us?" Many other agents nodded in response to his question.

Tim found himself shocked. He expected them all to be angry, and he could see that on a few of their faces, but most of them looked sympathetic. They wanted to help him and Jenny. "I will be assigning twelve agents to assist the MCRT in whatever capacity they need. The rest of you can help by handling your normal jobs, as well as any additional tasks I might have to assign to compensate for those twelve agents."

"Can we volunteer to help Gibbs' team?" an agent asked.

"Yes. I'd prefer that, in fact. I have no desire to assign anyone to it who isn't comfortable with it, as it is a dangerous assignment. Anyone who wants to volunteer can send me an email or stop by my office. However, if you have a family, please do not waste your time or mine. No one with families will be considered for this assignment. I am proof that Acosta has no problem targeting your families. I won't allow that," Tim said in a firm tone.

Several agents nodded that they understood.

"If any of you have questions regarding this case before you decide if you want to volunteer, get with Special Agent DiNozzo. He'll tell you everything you need to know. Thank you all for your time and your understanding." Tim said before walking away.

"You alright?" Gibbs asked as they began walking back to Tim's office.

"Yeah. I'm kind of surprised it went that way though. I expected a different reaction," Tim said.

"Many of these guys know you. Besides, I think you earned a lot of respect from them. You kept this place going while dealing with a highly stressful, personal situation. I think that had a lot to do with how they reacted."

Soon, Tony ran to catch up with them. "Hey. I think that went pretty well. SecNav knows you did that, right?" Tony hadn't been told long before Tim made the announcement. Gibbs told him maybe ten minutes before it happened, and there wasn't much time to go into specifics.

"Yeah. He wasn't too happy, but I made it clear that I was going to do it whether he wanted me to or not," Tim said as they stopped right outside of the director's main office.

Tony nodded. "Good for you."

"Tim, I wanna pick those agents. I trust your judgement, but I know who I want working this case with me," Gibbs said.

Tim chuckled. "Yeah, I figured you'd say that. I'm fine with that. I'll have a list for you when I get back to your place tonight. You still need to get cleared for duty though."

Gibbs nodded. "I've got an appointment in the morning. I'll get the okay for at least light duty."

"You can't threaten the doctor," Tim said, knowing Gibbs well.

Gibbs only chuckled in response.

"Alright, I need to make some phone calls to get the ball rolling for the next phase. First, I need to call and warn my foster parents though," Tim said. Things were about to get a lot more dangerous for anyone connected to him. He had to warn his foster parents. He'd already done that once when he found out Acosta was responsible for what happened to Jenny. He wanted them to lay low for a while, but John would not ever consider it. However, Tim had to try at least one more time.

"What next phase? There's more?" Tony asked. Again, he hadn't gotten much information before Tim told all of NCIS what happened.

"Yeah. I need to send a message to Acosta. I need him to understand who he's dealing with. It's time to tell the world who I am and what he's done," Tim said before heading for his office.