A/N: Sorry for the delay folks! Been too caught up in the Asian Cup Football tournament that's currently going on here in Australia & we're in the final, so YAY! To my fellow Aussie's - Go Socceroos!

To my latest followers & favourites welcome aboard, so glad to have with us on this adventure! To my reviewers, you rock! Love hearing your thoughts/comments, so keep them coming!

To my guest reviewers:

Sue Dooley: Thanks, glad you liked it

CookiesSprinkle: It is a pretty big mess right now & may take some time to clean up! As for Nix, since when do I do things simply? ;P

Now, how is Nix doing? Let's find out..

Shannon arrived home, the day certainly wasn't going the way she thought it would be going, she saw that her son was obviously already home, she wanted to see how he was doing before she told them anything about Tony.

Jack saw Shannon come inside, he had to admit he'd been concerned, she'd called him & said something had come up & she'd had to go into NCIS, but didn't say why, and that was hours ago! She was looking exhausted "My dear, are you ok?"

Shannon put her bag down "A little tired Jack, sorry about this morning"

"No worries, jet-lag is still getting the better of me, so I just went for a walk around the area, stopped at that nice little bakery down the road" Jack replied.

"Where's Nix?" Shannon asked.

"Shower, he was pretty quiet when he got home" Jack answered.

"Think he's probably a little down about being asked to come home & not go into Jethro's work. I think he was actually looking forward to that" Shannon said, she'd heard the disappointment in his voice when she'd called him earlier. She hated herself for doing it, but today was not the day for him to go in.

"Take it that whatever is going on is still going on?" Jack asked.

"Very much so, and I'll explain, but let me first check on him" Shannon replied as she headed upstairs.

Hearing no water running Shannon presumed he was in his room, knocking she only received a quiet "yea" in response, so she headed in. She saw her son perched on his bed, he was reading a comic book, that was a little unusual "How you doing darling?" she asked as she sat down next to him.

"Fine" Nix replied, keeping his head down looking at the comic book.

"You're upset about being asked to come home instead of going into dad's work aren't you?" Shannon guessed.

Nix didn't say anything, just kept his eyes glued on the comic book.

"Darling, I know that's part of it & Dad was looking forward to you being in there with him, but something came up that the team has to deal with, something pretty big and dad & I felt it would be better if you didn't go in today" Shannon said gently.

Shannon waited for him to say something, anything, but nothing came "Come on darling, talk to me, please. You know we don't keep things bottled up" she wouldn't preach the rules until it was necessary, besides they all knew them.

Nix took a breath "Did you think I would have gotten in the way?"

Shannon eyes widened & her heart sunk "Absolutely not Phoenix, you would never be in the way, ever!"

"Then why couldn't I have gone into dad's work? I was just going to sit in dad's office, he said he had no meetings today, that I could just be there to do my college work" Nix said, he'd woken up still feeling pissed off, but when his dad suggested he go into his work it had given him something to look forward to, he'd rarely gone into NCIS like he was supposed to today.

"I know that's what the plan was, but as I said something pretty big has happened, which I want to tell you & gramps about & because of that dad & I decided that you going in wasn't in your best interests. It wasn't because you'd have been in the way, but given what's happened dad will have no spare time today to be with you, so we thought it was best that you came home to be with me & your grandfather. I know it's not the same but it's what we thought was best for you darling" Shannon answered. She knew the day's plans had given him something to look forward to & she had a expected a reaction, so this wasn't totally out of left field for her.

Nix huffed "so what happened that was so big it stopped me going in?"

"I'll tell you, but first I'd like to hear how you went at the club, what's been decided?" Shannon asked, she wondered if part of his foul mood was because things went wrong at the club.

"And I'd like to hear what kept me home! You know I even messaged Kells to call me & she said she'd speak to me later! What's going on!?" Nix replied, he wasn't sure why he was making such a big deal about this, but he was annoyed, first he'd been denied going into his dad's work, then his sister had brushed him with a 'let's talk later' line, why were they not there for him!

Shannon didn't know about his text to his sister, she suddenly could see what this all looked liked to him, they'd all said they'd be there for him & now they'd all seem to be deserting him, this was very poor timing to say the least! "Darling, let me assure you that neither your dad nor your sister are brushing you off. They're both upset about what happened & want to do all they can to help you navigate through it, just like me"

"Then why does it feel that way! Why do I feel like I've been passed over for whatever the hell is going on?!" Nix vented finally standing up from his bed.

Shannon felt a pain inside "Darling we would never pass you over & dismiss you, none of us would ever think about doing that. We're here for you no matter what, you should know that"

"Then why do I feel the exact opposite?" Nix asked.

"Because of bad timing darling, that's all it is. Tony got some pretty shocking news today & we were trying to help him through it, but I came home because we didn't want you here alone, I wanted to make sure you are ok. Believe me when I say that if there's something, anything you need your sister, your father or I to do, we will do it" Shannon asked gently.

"I just wanna know what took precedence" Nix sighed.

"Then let's go downstairs darling, we'll speak about everything while we have a bite to eat ok? How about some tuna pie?" Shannon asked as she took hold of him "come on darling"

Nix just nodded.

Nix just stared at his mum, she'd just finished explaining what had taken their attentions & he was stunned "Tony has a sister?"

"Seems so" Shannon nodded.

"wow" Nix whispered.

Jack was suitably stunned as well "I take it things didn't go well between father & son"

"Not in the slightest Jack" Shannon answered "both men were extremely cut up by the end of it"

Jack could understand why Tony's parents had been forced to give Patricia up, in those days having children out of wedlock was a serious matter & it quite often led to adoption. Whether he agreed with them keeping it a secret from Tony, well that was another matter entirely.

Nix was suddenly feeling like a little kid that had had a tantrum over something silly now that he knew the reason for getting detoured home & his sisters 'lets chat later' message "sorry about..."

"Darling, there is nothing, nothing to be sorry about. You didn't know the situation & you reacted it's understandable, so don't you worry about it, ok?" Shannon replied, she'd expected this reaction.

Nix nodded "ok, how's Tony?" he knew what it felt like to be lied to by family, but it was for completely different circumstances. He just couldn't imagine what it would be like to find out his parents had lied to him like Tony's had all his life, he'd be pissed off to say the least.

"He's... adjusting to his new reality as best as he can, they're just focusing on find her right now, everything else will take a back seat for now" Shannon replied "but before we go any further, I'd like to know how you went at the club today? Has anything been decided?"

"Appeal is tomorrow 09:00 at the Italian Federation Headquarters. They're hoping to get the red card rescinded entirely, but at the very least keep it the one-match automatic ban & not the 3 matches that they could impose" Nix responded "I was hoping you'd be able to come"

"And where else would I be?" Shannon asked back "we will be there Phoenix, this is important for you"

"Can't think of anywhere else I should be" Jack added, his grandson would need support & he would give it, no matter what else was going on.

Nix let out a small smile "I kinda offered Kells assistance to Tevez, if he needed it" Tevez was the club's lawyer.

"Well that is something I'm sure your sister would be glad to do, we'll call her shortly & let her know, I'm sure she'll be eager to help" Shannon said, she could see her son was about to interrupt her "it doesn't matter what else is going on darling, she will do whatever she can to help you. You should know that your sister will always prioritise you over other people, no?"

Nix nodded again, he knew that but still this thing with Tony... "I know, but she's helping Tony"

"And as your sister will no doubt tell you, she's a talented person that can do two things at the same time" Shannon replied.

"If I recall she even said that last night, said she could proof read an essay while painting" Jack smiled.

"See" Shannon said "so just relax darling, everything'll be ok, but right now I have a job for you"

"which is?" Nix asked.

"Tony has requested pasta for dinner & some ice cream, that can't be ready until tomorrow, but maybe you & your grandfather can make start on it? Mint choc-chip with toffee" Shannon smiled.

Nix grinned, he & Tony had similar tastes when it came to home made ice cream "that's my kinda ice cream!"

"Had a feeling you'd say that" Shannon smiled "now, let's get to work"

"Well that was useful" Tristan remarked, she sat in her chair really not knowing what had just happened "that was..."

"Smoke screen bullshit" Gibbs offered.

"There's something not right about this, they basically only told us what Kelly had already said, those agents know nothing else about what's going" Tristan replied, she pressed her intercom to their assistant "Alice, get me the Head of INTERPOL for Italy"

"yes ma'am" Alice replied.

Tristan watched as Gibbs just paced, she'd already worked out he was a pacer "I'll speak with INTERPOL, why don't you go see what the team have got?" she knew his diplomacy skills were... yes well, that's why she dealt with inter-agency matters. Gibbs was great at the investigative side of things, but his way of dealing with diplomats, even these days was still very much like a marine...

Gibbs nodded "good idea" and headed out of her office.

Alice had just put the call through to Tristan when she saw her other boss walk out "Excuse me Boss, but Agent McGee has asked you to go see them in your office"

"Thanks Alice" Gibbs replied & headed straight to his office.

Entering the room he saw his girl & Tim both sitting at his meeting desk, they had Patricia's service record up on his flat screen & Tim was using the wireless keyboard to navigate "so, what ya got?"

Kelly looked at her dad "well...what does Tony mean by serious? Serious as in need to know cause of danger, or serious as in major information that would tell him something about her?" she asked, they'd certainly learnt a lot about Tony's sister already.

Gibbs sat down, he'd noted that Tim had blacked the screen out, which he understood. He thought about his daughter's question "do you mean as in martial status? dependants? That kinda stuff?"

Tim flashed a look at Kelly, that was exactly it "yea boss, that stuff" it felt really weird to know all this stuff before Tony, but he understood why he & Kelly were doing it.

Gibbs considered it, it was important stuff "Could any of it have anything to do with her disappearance?"

"Not sure yet boss" Tim replied.

"Did you get anything else out of the INTERPOL Agents? I know there was something they weren't telling us" Kelly asked.

"Nothing, but you're right there's something going on that they're not saying" Gibbs replied "Tristan is speaking the head of the Italian INTERPOL Office to see what she can find out"

Kelly didn't like that answer, she wondered what on earth could be at play "ok... so about this file?"

Gibbs considered it all "keep looking through everything, we'll make that decision once we can speak with her colleagues, they should be able to give us a better understanding as to her state of mind before she went missing"

"Ok" Kelly agreed.

"I'm going to get some lunch ordered, baguettes sound good to you?" Gibbs asked.

"Sure, chicken salad with cheese?" Kelly asked.

"The same thanks boss" Tim added.

Gibbs nodded "Done & I'll presume coffees all round?"

Kelly looked at her dad "is that a rhetorical question?"

Gibbs smirked, he leaned down "the file, missy"

Tim chuckled "coffee sounds good boss, thanks" neither of them had even begun to consider ceasing their continual riling of each other, it was fun to watch.

Gibbs looked at Tim "you are welcome Tim" he turned to his girl "you see, that is what you should have said"

Tim smiled at Kelly.

Kelly smirked "who'd have thought the time would come when the two of you would be on the same page so often... it just warms my heart, mum will be so pleased to hear it" gosh she loved riling her dad, and this was the easiest theme to do it with.

Gibbs just eyed his girl "uh huh"

Tim watched him leave before turning back to Kelly "careful Kells, he had that smirk on his face, think he's up to something"

"Pft, what will he do? We're in the middle 'this' he has no time to 'do' anything" Kelly replied, under normal circumstance she may have been concerned about retaliation for her comment, but they were in the middle of something massive, her dad wouldn't do anything.

"I'll remind you of that later" Tim replied, he was sure Gibbs had something cooking, he had to admit, he was feeling a lot more comfortable in his relationship with Kelly now & as a result he was feeling more comfortable with Gibbs, in that sense.

Gibbs made his way downstairs towards the bullpen area but halted in his tracks, he saw Tristan motion him back up & she didn't look good.

Tristan was fuming & worried "we've got a problem!"

"What?" Gibbs asked, she looked really worried.

Tristan spoke "Those 2 INTERPOL Agents... they don't exist!"

A/N: Oh ow! What's going on? This can't be good right? But could this news tip Gibbs back into his 'old' self?

More up soon! You know I love hearing your thoughts/comments, so review away!