A/N: Here's another chapter folks! Sorry for delay, but as I said in the last chapter, I'm back at uni. I will try to update once a week for you fine folks! Hopefully study doesn't get in my way too much ;)

Guest Reviewer: Sue Dooely: Thanks! Glad you liked it!

Guest Reviewer: None: The triangle with Kelly, Mike & Tim, yea... that's going to be playing out, some jealousy may rear it's heads, they'll be feelings exchanged, and yea, maybe a girl putting some boys in their places! lol

To my latest followers/favourites, welcome aboard, so glad to have you with us on this continuing adventure!

Let's get straight into it!

Gibbs had been in the midst of getting changed when he heard his daughter's scream, he quickly put his t-shirt back on & bolted down the stairs, he was seriously concerned. Coming barrelling downstairs he saw that she was looking, well, not right "what's wrong?" he asked hastily.

Kelly flashed a look between the pair, both were looking at her with concern "Mike's on Task force Fit for Future"

Gibbs shifted his gaze to Mike, he was on that task force?

"How do you know it's name? And Kaplan? Kells..." Mike was getting more worried & confused by the minute.

"Whats wrong?" Shannon asked rushing down the stairs, shed been in the bathroom.

Gibbs saw that not only had his wife come down, so had his son, his dad had even come out his room "nothings wrong as such" he took a breath "dad, you can go back to bed, you too Phoenix"

"Something's up, I can tell" Nix replied, he could see the looks on his sister's & Mike's faces.

"Yes, but nothing is wrong, on the contrary, we might have gotten the break we've been looking for. Mike here works with Kaplan on the task force, so I need to speak to him, so up to bed please" Gibbs replied.

At this comment Mike felt the entire family's eyes gravitate towards him, how on earth did they know Kaplan?

It took a few minutes, but eventually Nix went back upstairs & Jack headed back into his room. Shannon had to admit it wasn't that far of a stretch for her to think he'd be on the task force, he did after all study Building & Construction Management at college.

"If I can ask what's going on?" Mike enquired.

"You remember me telling you about Tony DiNozzo?" Kelly asked, they'd spoken numerous times & she'd told him all about her dad 's team.

"The movie nut with Italian background, going out with the Israeli chick, Ziva?" Mike replied wanting to make sure he had the right person.

Shannon had to smile "that's him"

"What about him?" Mike asked.

"We think he's Commander Kaplan's brother" Kelly replied

"Really?" Mike replied.

"Did you know she was adopted?" Shannon asked.

"No" Mike replied "She's a pretty private person to be honest, never one to really share details about her personal life"

"Do you know where she is? She wasn't listed on the flight manifest of the flight that the rest of the task force is on coming here" Gibbs asked, then thought of something "why aren't you on that flight?"

"Weren't enough seats on that flight, one of us had to fly in early so I volunteered, I got our billeting taken care of & it gave me this chance." Mike answered his last question "Commander Kaplan took emergency leave 2 days into our stay in Abu Dhabi, scheduled to meet up with us here in 3 days"

"You know why she took it?" Gibbs asked.

"Apparently her son was rushed to hospital back home" Mike answered.

"Son?" Shannon asked, completely taken aback.

Kelly sighed, apart from her, Tim & her dad, no one knew this information, guess that's changing! "She has a 12 year old son named Jacob, the father died 2 years ago in combat" she turned to her dad "that could explain why we couldn't contact them at their place? They could be at local hospital"

Gibbs nodded in agreement with his daughter, it made sense.

"Why you trying to find her? And how do you know she's Tony's sister?" Mike asked.

Gibbs, Shannon & Kelly caught Mike up on what had transpired that day. Mike was at a loss to say the least.

"I..." Mike really was lost for words "I can't imagine what anyone wants with her, I've worked with her on a few things over the last couple of years & she's never hurt a fly"

"You ever meet her family?" Shannon asked.

"Met Jake a handful of times, funny kid. But that's it." Mike replied

"Who does he live with?" Shannon enquired.

"Her, but his grandfather lives with them for when she has to travel. He's her dad, or well, adopted dad I guess. That's all I really know. Never met the guy, as I said, she's pretty private when it comes to her family" Mike replied.

Gibbs knew with this new insight he could get things moving again, they had more to work with, guess it was back to the office! Drats it was almost 02:00! he just sighed "I'm heading back in, we need to get going on this new stuff"

"Jethro, you're run off your feet, surely you can make a simple phone call to set things in motion, you need sleep. Otherwise you'll be useless tomorrow for more than just the hearing." Shannon replied as gently as possible, not to mention impossible to deal with!

"It will be easier if I can go in & make sure things happen, I wont be long" Gibbs replied.

"I've heard that one before, no." Shannon replied, he wanted to dig his heels against her, good luck! "You aren't going anywhere, you need sleep in order to help with your mood! I don't want an entire agency running & hiding in corners because they're afraid of you!"

Gibbs couldn't help himself, he let out a big smirk.

Mike had been watching this banter like a tennis match, he was truly intrigued by it.

Kelly just watched, she knew her dad wanted to make this new intel work for them & fast, but her mum was right, he needed sleep, not even the Director's chat with him had eased him back to normal, it had helped, but not enough, she realised they shouldn't stick around "we're going upstairs"

"No" Gibbs disagreed "Mike's coming with me, his knowledge of Kaplan can help us" he finished.

"Which he can do here before we all get some sleep, neither of you are going" Shannon finished flashing a stern look between the pair.

Mike looked at Kelly, he needed help! What did he do? He knew what Shannon was like & that he shouldn't go against her, but that would mean going against Gibbs, he wasn't sure he was willing to do that!

Kelly patted his arm "yea, I usually look for a third option" she whispered, she could see he was caught on who to obey.

"Where's your bathroom? Need to use the head" Mike whispered.

"Upstairs, first door on the right" Kelly replied, knowing full well why he 'needed' the bathroom. She watched as he made a beeline for the stairs.

Kelly though saw though both her parents giving her the eye "what? you seriously expect him to pick who's agreeing with? Who he will, as you put it dad 'obey'? He's not crazy!"

Shannon & Gibbs couldn't help but share a smirk, no one ever seemed to be able to choose a side when they both dug their heels in.

Tim headed into the squad room, he wished he could have seen Kelly & Nix before they went into the hearing, but they had to focus on the matter at hand. What he would do though was call before they went in, he'd leave that call a little longer before making it though, it was only 07:00 & he wanted to give them a chance to sleep in perhaps.

"Morning McGee" Silva remarked.

"Morning Shaz" Tim replied, he noticed something though "how long you been in?" he could see she had a coffee cup already in the trash & remnants of breakfast.

"Since 05:30" Silva replied.

That confused Tim "thought we agreed to meet back here at now, 07:00?" he asked.

Silva looked at him "oh we did, but..."

"Silva!" Gibbs barked "anything?"

"No boss, nothing" Silva replied, absolutely hating to give him such news.

Tim flashed a look between the pair, Gibbs was sounding like he was just continuing from yesterday's mood, though he was wearing different clothes, so he'd obviously made it home. He wondered what he was doing here though, the hearing?

Zuse had tried to keep his head down, wanting very much to stay out of Gibbs's war path, but he had to speak up "Ahh, I've got something"

Tim had to stow the surprise at seeing Zuse, he hadn't even noticed him before now, his head had been buried completely, he understood why, Gibbs on the war path, he often did likewise.

"What?" Gibbs asked.

Tim moved closer to Silva & just looked at her.

Silva sighed "he called me at 05 & said that me & Zuse had to be in by 05:30. We've been following leads that he came across last night. He's apparently had only about 3 hours sleep!" she really wasn't able to work out how to deal with Gibbs in his current state.

"New leads?" Tim asked.

"What new leads?" Ziva asked walking in with Tony, she was surprised though to see the entire team already there.

Tony was also surprised to see his entire team in already, but his eyes then fell to marine officer now coming into the area.

Mike walked into squad area that was apparently Tony's, and he saw a trio of people he could only presume were Tony, Ziva & Tim. He was mighty curious about Tim but stowed it for just a moment "your coffee sir" he said passing it to Gibbs.

Gibbs nodded as he took it "Zuse has your duffle" he remarked.

"Right here Captain" Zuse added, he'd been seconded to go to the navy lodge to get his stuff.

"Thank you" Mike replied, after crashing on their couch having a fresh uniform was welcomed.

"Silva catch them up & remember what I said" Gibbs ordered before turning back to Zuse "you, get me more on that!"

"yes boss" Silva & Zuse replied instantly. Silva knew what he meant, she'd been ordered not to mention who the marine officer was in the context of his family.

Gibbs then turned to Tony "DiNozzo, with me" he ordered, he motioned for Mike to follow as well.

Tony wasn't sure what was going on with this marine officer, he couldn't help but notice the flashing looks the guy kept giving Tim, he just followed the pair into Gibbs's office.

Gibbs led the pair into his office & closed the door behind him, he took a breath "Tony, this is Captain Michael Bond, he's with the Fit for Future Task Force. Captain Bond, Supervisory Special Agent Tony DiNozzo"

Mike extended his hand "Pleased to meet you"

Tony extended his hand automatically "You too Captain" he knew there was something that he should have picked up on something, but what was it.. then it hit him "you're on task force..."

"Fit for Future, yes" Mike confirmed.

Tony just stared at the guy "You know?"

"Commander Kaplan? Yes, she's second in charge of the task force under Lt Col Morris" Mike said "I'm afraid though I don't know where she is, she took emergency leave a few days into our stay in Abu Dhabi"

"Why?" Tony asked.

Gibbs had to interrupt "Tony, remember what we spoke about yesterday?"

Tony looked at Gibbs, he knew exactly what he was talking about, but could he continue to keep himself in the dark? What if it meant missing something crucial? What if this stuff was the reason for her disappearance? "Don't think I can stay in the dark boss, I need to know anything that could possibly help, besides it will get too complicated trying to go through everything & trying to keep me & Ziva in the dark. Think it's time I know"

Gibbs could see Tony's point, trying to juggle the investigation while keeping some crucial details away from 2 of lead investigators wouldn't be easy, he resigned himself to having to tell him "ok, let's sit down"

Tony sat down "Ok, I'm ready" he said softly, he wasn't sure if he was or not.

"First thing I am going to tell you that she's currently based at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans" Gibbs told him.

"New Orleans?" Tony asked

"Yupp" Gibbs replied.

"It's where the task force HQ is based, we're onto our second lot of tours right now" Mike added.

"Next" Gibbs said, he carefully watched Tony as he shared this bit of news "she's got a son Tony, his names Jacob, he's 12 years old."

Tony's eyes widened "She's... I've..."

"A son, a nephew" Gibbs finished his thoughts, if... if she's confirmed as his sister, which he was betting was only a matter of time & tests.

"A nephew" Tony whispered, he let out a smile at that "what's he look like?"

Mike saw Gibbs look at him "I've only met him a handful of times Tony, Commander Kaplan, Patrica, she's a pretty private person when it comes to her family, very private & very protective."

Tony had dealt with similar people, one was sitting right across from him "know what that's like, but that doesn't tell me what he looks like" he replied to the captain.

"Ok then, he's got... brown hair, green eyes, kinda like yours actually" Mike said, taking a good look at Tony, he knew though who he was referring to - Gibbs!

Gibbs saw Tony smile at that & was glad for it.

"She took emergency leave because..." Mike started, but released this may be better coming from Gibbs

"Tony, she took emergency leave because Jake got rushed to hospital" Gibbs finished gently, glad Mike had allowed him to tell him.

Tony didn't like that "why? what happened?"

"That's what I've got Silva & Zuse looking into" Gibbs said "thanks to the information that Captain Bond has, we've been able to narrow our searches down. So far we've found out that Jake had been in hospital for a few days, he's working on getting more details as to why & where they could possibly have gone from there."

"Ok, anything on..." Tony tried to ask.

"Zuse also found just as you got here that Patricia had actually used her personal passport to re-enter the US, she returned via JFK, straight from Abu Dhabi, so she's been state side for a solid week" Gibbs said interrupting him, he knew what he was going to ask anyway.

"Ok" Tony nodded.

"Let's get back downstairs, you can tell Ziva about it yourself" Gibbs suggested.

Tony liked that, but he wanted to know more "is he tall, short, solid, thin?" he asked the captain.

"Well, he's not short for his age, but he is fairly thin" Mike replied, while he didn't know what the normal height for a 12 year was, he did know what was short, because that's what Nix was.

"Is he tall then?" Tony asked.

"I'll be honest Agent DiNozzo, I don't know what's considered tall for a 12 year old, all I know is what's considered short & Jake isn't short for his age" Mike replied flashing a look to Gibbs.

Gibbs looked at Mike "he grew"

"Yes sir he did" Mike replied "but he was short"

Gibbs raised his eyebrow "so was I"

Tony looked between the pair during their exchange, something dawned on him "wait a sec, Captain Bond, Michael Bond? As in..."

Gibbs & Mike both turned to look at him.

"You are!" Tony exclaimed, oh boy! This guy, this guy was Kelly's ex from Houston, wow! He suddenly realised why he was giving Tim numerous flashing looks, oh this was going to be interesting!

A/N: Hmm, so we've learnt a few things, 1) No one seems to know who to side with in the Shannon V Gibbs debate & honestly? I think I'd go running too! 2) Tony apparently has a nephew! But just why did he get rushed to hospital? But where is he now? 3) Patricia is back in the US & apparently, they live in New Orleans! But where is she? and finally 4) Tony's realised who Mike is! It's now time for Tim to meet Mike, so just how will that go?

You know I love hearing your thoughts/comments, so review away! They inspire me to write, so keep 'em coming! More to come!