A/N: See the first chapter for the disclaimer. The Captain is mine too. And this chapter will explain a few things, I hope. I thank you guys for all your support of this story so far. It especially means a lot right now. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well, and please review. :)

Chapter Three

June 27, 1994

Captain De Marco walked over to him, the rookie fresh out of the Academy, and stopped in front of him with a very serious look on his face.

"Sir?" he asked.

"Officer DiNozzo, could you come with me to my office?" De Marco asked quietly.

"Yes, sir." He stood up, following his captain into his office and closing the door behind him.

"Have a seat."

He sat down, and De Marco sat down across from him.

"Units from another precinct were dispatched to a disturbance in your apartment this morning," De Marco explained. "Your wife and daughter are missing."

He sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face.

"I'm sorry, Officer DiNozzo."

Tony nodded, swallowing back any emotions.

"Do either you or your wife have any enemies?"

"No… no, not that I know of," Tony answered, scratching his chin. "I mean, we just moved here… we didn't have any beforehand. She was very well liked. Popular girl, you know?"

"What about you?" De Marco asked. "Or, your families?"

Tony shook his head. "None that I can think of."

De Marco nodded slowly. "I can have someone bring you home, if you'd like."

"I'm okay. Thanks."

"Sure."

Tony stood up, turning to walk out the door.

"DiNozzo?"

Tony turned around.

"If you need anything, let me know."

"Thank you, sir," Tony said, walking out of the office.

Still January 24, 2010

Tony sat down on the floor of the elevator as Gibbs leaned against the wall, staring at the paper in his hand.

"Keri's remains were found in someone's backyard when they were renovating the property in 1996," the younger man said, scrubbing his fingers over his eye. "Heather… there was never anything found of her. I never gave up hope that she was alive, but… I mean, after fifteen and a half years…"

"Yeah," Gibbs said.

"Didn't wanna say anything until I was sure, you know?"

Gibbs nodded.

Tony was quiet for a moment before snorting softly. "Guess we know why she thought I was familiar," he said softly.

"Hmm," Gibbs said.

"As soon as she said it, I felt it too, but… I wasn't sure if that's because I was trying to figure out if I really had seen her before, or what it was. Of course, I wouldn't have been able to recognize her at all, considering the last time I saw her, she was three and a half."

"You wanna tell her?"

Tony sighed softly. "How do you explain to someone that the reason they know you is because they've been lied to their entire life?"

He pulled out the chair for her, and she sat down. "Did you find something?" she asked.

"Uh, in a manner of speaking," he replied, sitting down across from her. "Hannah, are you aware you were adopted?"

"Yeah. My parents told me when I was a kid." She narrowed her eyes slightly. "How did you know?"

"It's standard on every case for us to look into anyone who knows the victim."

She nodded.

"We ran your name for records, and a few things didn't match up," he explained.

"W-what do you mean?" she asked nervously.

"The agency you were adopted from was closed down eight years ago, after the authorities found out the agency had allowed a kidnapped child from New York to be adopted. Since the courthouse burned down in 1996, they weren't able to accurately determine how many of that particular agent's cases were kidnapped children."

"And, they were my agent?"

"Your adoption records are still sealed, so we don't know who worked your case. But, on that information, we ran your fingerprints through our database. We got a match, from a child's bedroom in a missing persons case from Peoria, Illinois. And since fingerprints are set from birth…"

She leaned back in the chair, her eyes betraying her surprise and anger. "So, you're telling me I was kidnapped as a kid."

"I'm afraid so," he said softly.

"How old was I when…" she asked.

"Three and a half."

"Is my name even Hannah?"

"You were born Heather."

She shook her head, snorting softly. "All this time I thought I was Hannah Branford, from Rhode Island or wherever, and it turns out I'm… Heather, from Illinois."

"Actually, Ohio. We found your birth certificate." He slid over a sheet of paper to her.

"So, I'm Heather from Ohio." She rolled her eyes. "Is this supposed to somehow make me feel better about things, or are you just stalling because you have more questions?"

He exhaled slowly. "I'm trying to help you answer questions," he said, keeping his voice calm.

She gave him a confused look before finally looking down at the sheet of paper. "So, I was born Heather DiNozzo?"

He nodded.

She narrowed her eyes again as reality started to sink in. "DiNozzo. Like, you DiNozzo? Like, you're my father, DiNozzo?"

He nodded again before wetting his lip.

"And, what, all this time you've been sitting on your ass?" she spouted angrily as long-forgotten memories slowly washed over her. "More concerned about your damn career than your daughter?"

"That's not true," he said softly.

"The hell it isn't! I was in friggen plain sight!"

The door to the conference room opened, and McGee poked his head in. "Everything alright?" he asked.

Tony glanced at a fuming Hannah before turning back to face McGee. "It's fine," he said softly.

"The hell it is," Hannah growled, causing McGee to remain in the doorway. "Answer my damn questions."

"I never gave up hope," Tony told her. "I never stopped looking."

She glared at him. "Why didn't you ever find me? Why weren't you there?"

"I had to go to work. You were out of daycare sick, and your mom begged me to go to work instead of staying home with you. She said that she was there, and there was no sense in both of us staying in with you."

Hannah's glare didn't ease with his explanation, and if McGee were to testify in court, he would say that Tony was wincing.

"If I could, I'd go back and stay home that day," he told her.

"But you can't," she said evenly, despite the anger burning in her.

"No, I can't. I have to live with the fact that I was at work the day I lost my wife and my daughter."

McGee tilted his head in confusion, but said nothing.

Hannah sighed, her posture and glare softening as his words sank in. "I'm right in front of you," she said quietly, almost child-like, before snorting softly. "Hell, I still kinda remember you."

Tony smiled slightly. "You'll have to forgive me for not immediately recognizing you," he replied.

She shrugged playfully, smirking in a manner so much like her father. "I don't have to do anything."

Tony smirked. "Could you forgive me for not recognizing you?"

"That part, yes. I mean, I was what, three the last time you saw me?"

"And a half. You were very proud of those six, almost seven, months."

She smiled slightly before biting her cheek. "I always said that I'd someday like to meet my birth parents, but my parents didn't know anything about them. They said it was a closed adoption, that I probably wouldn't be able to find out. Do… do you think they knew…?"

Tony shook his head. "No. They were duped like other parents from that agency."

"They… they had to be, right? Because if they knew, they wouldn't have kept me… right?"

He shrugged. "I don't know them, Hannah. I can't tell you."

"Hannah or Heather?"

"That's up to you."

"I… I need to… do I, uh, do I need to stay or something?"

Tony shook his head again. "We know how to find you if we need you."

"Thanks," she said, standing. She quickly walked out of the room, and Tony nodded at McGee to escort her out.

Tony had lost track of how long he'd been sitting in the conference room by the time Gibbs walked in, stopping only to sit across from his agent.

"She took it better than I thought," Tony started. "But worse than I imagined."

Gibbs furrowed his brow, but didn't say anything.

"I mean, it's not easy learning your life's been a sham. I get that. And I can understand why she'd be angry, and why she'd feel like blaming me. Hell, I still blame me. But… I don't know, I guess I always thought if I ever saw her again that… that it'd be good and happy, and this… wasn't."

"You thought she'd be happy, or you would?" Gibbs asked.

"Either… or both. But it's more like neither right now."

"Does your father know?"

"About Hannah? No. About Heather and Keri? Yeah, he knew. It was part of the reason we stopped talking in the first place. Keri and I didn't get married until Heather was already walking, and that didn't sit well with him."

Gibbs nodded.

"You think he knew about Hannah?"

Gibbs wished he had an answer.