Here's chapter 17, I'm in the middle of a move and my computer broke so I'm still in the process of getting it fixed. It may be a while before I'm able to post chapter 18. I'm sorry it's taken so long to get this up.

Chapter 17:

Gibbs flipped his phone open during the first ring. "You better be dying." He didn't care who was on the other end of the line.

"Leroy, would you mind telling me what your 13 year old daughter is doing ditching school today?"

Gibbs mouth worked silently for a moment. "Dad, you didn't tell me you were going to be in town." Was all he was finally able to say.

"Yes, and your teenager is skipping school on the 3rd day of school?"

"Yes Dad." Gibbs said. "I'm coming to the house, I'll be there in about 15 minutes, I'll talk to you then." He closed the phone and slipped it into his pocket before grabbing his sweatshirt and starting to put it on.

"Here." Jenny said, getting up she helped with getting the sweatshirt over the sling and then she looked up at Jethro. "When can I come over to the house?"

"Probably not today, I haven't told Caitie about you still being alive; I was going to do it after I got some answers from you."

"I'll wait for your call Jethro; I do need to see Caitie."

"We'll see if Caitie even wants to see you after she hears the news." Jethro said, he pulled away from Jenny and left the apartment.

Jethro opened the door to find Caitie and his Dad on the couch. Jackson was reading a book aloud to the teenager who looked about half asleep.

"Hey."

Caitie opened her eyes sleepily. "Hi." She greeted, Gibbs didn't like how tired Caitie looked; she'd gotten at least 7 hours of sleep the night before, why was she so tired?

"Caitie, if you're so tired, you should go up to bed." Gibbs said quietly.

"Too tired to." Caitie said quietly.

Gibbs knelt down next to her, and started to pick her up. "Arms around my neck Caitie Cate." Sleepily she did as ordered and fell asleep in his arms as he carried her up the stairs to her bedroom.

After setting her down on her bed he used the extra blanket to cover her up before leaving her in her bedroom. As he closed the door behind him he could see his father coming up the stairs.

"When I was chastising you about letting her stay home from school I didn't see how tired she was." Jackson told his son.

"It's okay Dad, let's get some coffee." Gibbs kept his voice quiet so Caitie wouldn't wake.

They quietly made their way downstairs. "Caitie told me why you hadn't called me with the news that she'd come to live with you."

"What did she say?" Gibbs asked, he almost didn't want to know.

"She told me that she came to live here only last week, and with getting her stuff moved in and getting her signed up for school that the two of you have been incredibly busy."

Gibbs realized what Caitie had done, she'd covered for him. The real reason he hadn't gotten around to telling his dad about Caitie because he had been ashamed that he'd missed out on the first 13 years of Caitie's life. He knew his father would have something to say about that, and if he knew that Caitie had lived here all summer he'd have even more to say about it.She probably figured that out and covered for you. His conscience still sounded like Dr. Ryan. Caitie was smart, he'd give her that.

Jethro got the coffee started and both of them sat down at the kitchen table. "Caitie and I have both been busy settling her in Dad; I was planning on calling you soon to tell you about her."

"I understand Leroy." His dad said, "Did you know about her?"

"Not until this summer."

"Who's her mother?"

"Jenny Shepard, she used to be director of NCIS, we worked together in 98, and Caitie was born in 99. She went to live with her grandmother after Jenny's death. When her grandmother died I was contacted."

"Why weren't you contacted when Jenny died?"

"Jenny's will stated that Caitie was supposed to go to her grandmother and since I wasn't on the birth certificate, no one contacted me."

"Have you changed her birth certificate yet?"

"It's a long process, but I've started it." Gibbs said, in reality the new certificate was supposed to come in the mail in the next week or so.

"Too bad Jenny's not alive; I have a few things I'd like to say to her."

"Yeah, about that," Jethro got up and poured them both a cup of coffee. "I found out this morning that Jenny had to fake her death for the job, she's still alive. Caitie doesn't know yet."

"She left a 13 year old for the job?" Jackson asked.

Gibbs didn't correct his father, he knew Jenny had a good answer for leaving Caitie the way she had, if Jenny was half the mom Caitie had made her out to be, then she hadn't left willingly. "If Jenny was half the mom Caitie made her out to be, Jenny didn't have a choice, even the NCIS director has a boss and Jenny would have had to follow orders." Gibbs said, "I'm still trying to get answers for why she left and why she didn't tell me about Caitie."

"Caitie should know Jenny's alive."

"I'll tell her today, the longer I put it off the harder it'll be to tell her."

The conversation turned to other matters and by the time Caitie woke again, it was lunch time and her dad and grandfather were making BLT's.

"Bacon smells good." She said as opened the fridge and pulled out the orange juice. Gibbs noticed she was wearing his old NIS sweatshirt, realizing she'd grabbed it before he'd been able to put it away he smiled, Jenny had had the same habit of stealing his sweatshirts.

Grabbing a glass she poured herself some and sat down. "So am I allowed to watch TV and play on my computer after school hours?"

"Nope, if you're too sick to go to school, you're too sick to play games no matter what time it is."

"I'm not sick; I just didn't want to go today."

"In the past 24 hours, you slept during your math class, and you took 2 naps at the hospital before bed time and you slept nearly 10 hours straight before waking up and taking another nap until now." Gibbs said, "If it were later in the school year, I'd say you were tired from having to stay up late and do homework, but it's only the 3rd day of school. You're sick."

"How did you know about my math class?"

"Your teacher called my cell while you were in the waiting room."

"Oh, are you going to take me to the doctor?"

"Yep, Ducky knows a few pediatricians; he'll give me a recommendation."

Caitie nodded and they all sat down to eat lunch. When Caitie was putting her dirty dishes into the sink, Gibbs spoke. "We need to talk about something important, you feeling up to talking right now?"

Caitie nodded, her eyes worried. "Yeah, what is it?"

Gibbs sucked in a breath, "you know your mom loved you, right?"

"Yeah, she told me that every day."

"She never would have done anything to purposely hurt you Caitie Cate."

"What happened?" Caitie asked, her voice rising in worry.

Gibbs bit the bullet; beating around the bush wouldn't do any good right now. "I just found out this morning that Jenny had to fake her death, for the job." He took a breath in and his daughter's stunned look was burned into memory. "She's still alive Caitie."

"She's still alive?"

"Yeah." Gibbs said, his heart ripping in two at the hurt in Caitie's tone.

"And she didn't tell me?"

"From what I understand, she wasn't allowed to tell anyone Caitie, I didn't even know until this morning."

"Why didn't she tell me? I would have kept it a secret."

"I don't have all the answers Caitie; do you want me to invite her over so we can all talk?"

Caitie nodded, "yeah."

Gibbs nodded and grabbed his keys. "I don't have her number, but I know where she's staying, I'll go get her."

Caitie nodded "Okay." She said. "I'd rather stay here."

"I understand, I'll be back in about 45 minutes. Gibbs told Caitie and his father.

Both of them nodded and Gibbs left.

Jenny looked up as Jethro pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex again.

She went to the door, opening it just as Jethro was about to knock, she opened the door and moved to the side, a silent invitation inside.

"What is it?"

"I told Caitie." Gibbs didn't bother wasting time beating around the bush.

"And?"

"And she's hurt but she wants to see you. Today."

Jenny grabbed her purse. "Take me to my baby Jethro."

"She wants answers Jen."

"I'll give them to her. Take me to my baby."

They both got into the truck and left, the drive to Gibbs' house was short, and when they got there, Jenny suddenly hesitated. It had been nearly 4 and a half years since she'd seen her daughter, really seen her, what if Caitie didn't love her anymore?