a/n - Like real life, there is no black and white, no total right or wrong. I hope you all are still enjoying this and thank you for all the wonderful comments. Only a few more chapters to go.
Gibbs was spending a rare afternoon alone in the bullpen. The drug manufacturing ring had been broken up and the paperwork done. They were on cold cases at the moment and after a morning of paper wads he'd sent Tony and Ziva out to re-interview witnesses. Even Vance and McGee were away from Headquarters, as McGee was at the Pentagon presenting an independent evaluation of the recent upgrade to their firewall. Gibbs would have loved to tagged along with them, but as Vance reminded him, he wasn't Tim's boss at the moment. If nothing else, McGee's self imposed banishment to the sub-basement had reminded the rest of his team how much they depended on him.
The object of his musing might not be there, but his phone was ringing so Gibbs stepped over to the empty desk and answered. "Yeah, Gibbs."
"Agent Gibbs?" The voice was young, female and frightened.
"Sarah? Sarah, what's wrong?"
"Tim's not answering his cell phone and, I'm sorry, I called his old extension, didn't I?"
Gibbs tried to sound as reassuring as possible. "Tim's at the Pentagon, so I'm glad you called this number. Now, tell me what's wrong."
Once they started, the words just tumbled out. "I wanted to drive myself to my appointment, so Tim left me his car and now the tire's flat and the auto club said it's going to take over two hours and there's all these construction workers and they're just standing there watching me and I know it's silly, in my head I know they're not going to hurt me..."
"It's not silly at all, where are you?" He listened as she gave the street name and the nearest cross street. "Just keep your doors locked, I'll be there in about fifteen minutes, all right?" She was just a little younger than Kelly would have been and he found himself responding instinctively. "I have to hang up this phone, Sarah, but I'm going to call you right back from my cell and I'll stay on the line with you until I get there." He quickly wrote down the number from the display before returning to his desk. By the time he had Sarah on his phone, Gibbs had his weapon and extra clip and was half way to the parking garage, taking the stairs two at a time.
Nine and a half minutes later, his agency sedan was pulling in behind the Porsche. Instead of going straight to Sarah, Gibbs rounded the car and headed for the cluster of workmen whistling at her. He went straight for the ringleader and shoved his badge in the man's face. "You've had your fun, now back to work, all of you."
The greasy haired Casanova wasn't ready to back down. "Come on, Pops, we're just having a little fun with your little girl." It was the wrong thing to say.
"I told you to back off."
Before any of his friends could blink, the aggressive man was in an armlock and pressed against the building. "Whoa, Pops, chill. I was just offering to show her a good time."
"If you're smart you'll shut your trap. If not, you're gonna have my foot so far up your ass that you'll be using the tongue of my shoe to talk with. Do we understand each other now, hotshot?" After the nod, Gibbs released him but didn't relax until the group had scurried back inside.
Sarah unlocked the door as Gibbs reached for the handle. She was trembling as he helped her out of the car, so Gibbs slipped his coat off and wrapped it around her before leading her to the passenger side of his car. "I'm sorry, I hate acting like such a baby."
"No, it's okay, they scared you. Under the circumstances, you're doing fine, Sarah." Once he had her sitting in the car, Gibbs squatted down next to the open door. To his surprise, she giggled.
"They thought you were my dad."
"Yep, that they did."
Sarah stared at his wide smile. "You don't mind?"
"Why would I mind?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow as if to challenge her to object before he stood. "Keep the door locked and I'll get that tire changed for you. While you're waiting, call your brother back and leave him a message that you're all right and you're with me."
She nodded and pulled her phone out of her backpack. "I should probably call the auto club back, too."
Gibbs thought about what kind of service provider would leave a young woman stranded for hours on the side of the road. "I'll call them when I'm done." As he circled around to start working on the Porsche, Gibbs made sure his sidearm was visible to the men watching from the lobby of the half constructed office complex.
---NCIS---
Tony and Ziva arrived back to find a nearly deserted squadroom. Ziva sat at her computer to start inputting the few new scraps of information they had gathered, as Agent Balboa passed them on his way to the break room. "Hey, if you're looking for Gibbs, he got a call from McGee's sister and took off like a bat out of hell."
"Sarah? What happened?" Tony already had his phone out. After the second ring Gibbs picked up.
Yeah, DiNozzo, what's up?
"Is Sarah all right? Balboa said she called and you left in a hurry."
Little trouble with Tim's car, then some testosterone laden jerks got her pretty spooked while she waiting for the tow truck.
"Pretty girl in a sports car... they probably thought she'd be an easy mark. You got there before they could scare her too much, right?"
She's fine. Anything new on the case?
"Nah, nothing we didn't already have in triplicate."
Okay, why don't the two of you knock off early.
"I think I'll stay and work on that other project."
---NCIS---
"Thank you, Agent Gibbs. I really appreciate you coming to help me."
Gibbs was becoming quite fond of the young lady. "Not a problem. Now I'm going to follow you to the tire shop so we can get that tire fixed. I don't want you driving around without a spare." After giving her directions, he got into the sedan and followed her.
It was obvious that being surrounded by strange men in the repair shop made Sarah nervous so as soon as the keys were handed over he escorted her to the coffee shop across the street. Minutes later they were settled at a table with two coffees.
"I'm sorry to take you away from your work today, sir. I'm sure you had much more important things to do than babysit me." Sarah played with the lid of her coffee, not looking him in the eye.
"I work for a living, Sarah, so it's Gibbs, not sir. Took me forever to break your brother of that." He gave her a smile and was glad to see it returned. "Don't worry, the paperwork will be there tomorrow."
He could see that she was working up to something, so he waited. Just like her brother, eventually the words came. "What's going to happen to Tim? His three month assignment in cybercrimes is almost done and he hates it there."
"Tim tell you that?"
"Of course not." She gave him that half smile he often saw on her brother. "He'll put up with anything if he thinks it makes me feel safer, but he loves being an agent and he deserves to have that back."
Gibbs gave a slow nod, glad to see her awareness of her brother's sacrifices. "He'll always have a place on my team, Sarah, no matter how long it takes for him to realize it. There's more to family than sharing a last name." He watched carefully so see her reaction when he brought up family. "Have your parents tried to contact you again?"
"No." She shrugged, looking almost guilty at her confession. "Maybe it sounds really bad, but it's almost a relief. Perfection is exhausting, Agent Gibbs, I couldn't live up to my parents' expectations forever."
"You did nothing wrong, you're the victim."
Sarah tipped her coffee in his direction. "No, I'm a survivor."
Her sessions with Ziva were obviously paying off. Gibbs returned the coffee salute with a proud smile. "Good girl."
---NCIS---
"Hey, Boss, Sarah get taken care of?" Tony looked up over the edge of his monitor. Gibbs nodded and tossed his coat over his desk.
"Tire is fixed and the Director's driver dropped McGee off at the repair shop so he could take Sarah home." He pointed at the computer. "Did you find something?"
"Maybe," Tony waited until Gibbs came around to see what he'd found. Ziva was already behind the desk, perched on the edge of a file cabinet. "It's going to take a few days to confirm this is the right Rebecca McGee, but this is our strongest lead."
"Keep on it. I want us to be absolutely sure before we say anything to them. Especially about this."
"I do not understand." Both men turned to look at Ziva as she stared at the screen. "McGee has more computer knowledge than the rest of the team combined. Why didn't he find her?"
"He couldn't look." Gibbs had his own theory, but he let DiNozzo continue, suspecting they were on the same wavelength. "Dead or alive, if he'd found her, he would have said something. If he was still looking, we'd have seen some evidence of his searches."
"Agreed, but why has he not looked? Sarah told me about the stories he would tell her when she was little. He would teach Sarah about different countries by pretending Becky was living there Oh, of course."
Gibbs gave her a nod, encouraging her to continue.
"At first he was too young to search, and now he is afraid she is dead. He would rather never know than to tell Sarah that Rebecca is gone. What happens if we discover that Rebecca is dead? Do we tell them?"
"No, not unless they ask." Tony looked at Gibbs, who again nodded, this time in agreement. "We only give them news if it's good."
"Keep on it, DiNozzo, and while he's doing that, Ziva, I want you to look deeper into Sarah's adoption. My gut is telling me that's the clue we're missing."