A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews I have been getting. You are all so nice and wonderful! If you have read Chapter 2 before today (3-18), please go back and read it again. I added a small conversation in the middle. Thank you Kelly for telling me what it was lacking!

It was a little earlier than planned, but Gibbs still stopped and picked up the pizza. He opened the backdoor and walked into the empty kitchen. He set the pizza on the table and headed up the stairs. He changed into a pair of khaki shorts and a long sleeved shirt. Checking in on JJ, he saw the room was mostly empty. The bags were still in the room, but the boy was not. He went back downstairs and looked around. He hadn't noticed the laptop on the coffee table at first. There was a picture on the screen of John, Tina, and baby JJ. He wasn't more than a couple months old.

The only other place Gibbs thought JJ would be was the basement. When he saw the door was partially open, he knew he was down there. "Got the pizza," Gibbs said going down the steps.

JJ was sitting on top of the work table. "Your basement's creepy."

"Somebody died down here."

JJ raised his eyebrows. "Seriously?" Gibbs nodded. "You kill'em?"

"Depends who you ask." Gibbs picked up the bottle of bourbon next to JJ. He held it in front of the teenager. "You been drinking this?"

"I don't drink anymore. But if ever there was a time, it's now."

"Anymore?" Gibbs asked.

JJ shrugged. "Drunks kill people." He hoped off the table and brushed the sawdust from his pants. "Can I go eat?" Gibbs nodded. JJ grabbed a plate from the cupboard once he was upstairs. He got a slice and sat at the table. Gibbs followed suit. They ate the first two slices in silence. "I like your boat."

"Well, thank you."

"Kelly's your daughter, right?"

Gibbs was a little surprised JJ knew that. He was only 5 months old when Shannon and Kelly died. "Yup."

"I have a few pictures of her on my laptop."

"How?"

JJ took another bite of his pizza. "A few months ago, Mom wanted a digital copy of all our photos. We spent everyday for nearly a week at the store scanning pictures to CD after CD. I grabbed them all before I left."

Some technology still amazed Gibbs. Damn, I forgot to check on the phone records. Hell, I forgot to tell the team I was leaving!

"Can I ask what you're thinking about?"

Gibbs realized he had been staring off into space. "Yeah," he said setting down his pizza. "I want to ask you about guardianship. You said your Aunt Sherrie was getting the papers together?"

JJ leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, she's trying to get custody."

"She doesn't already have it?" JJ shook his head. "Who's currently your guardian?"

He sighed. "I was left to you. Just like a piece of old furniture. Just bequeathed away."

"JJ-".

"This whole situation blows. How is it someone can be there one minute and gone the next?" His voice was rising with frustration. "To top it off, its my fault they were even out! They were coming to pick me up from school because I was caught making out with somebody in a bathroom. How stupid is that?! They're dead because of me!" JJ was in full angry mode and had started to yell.

"You're not responsible for this."

"Shut up!" JJ pushed his chair back violently while getting up. Gibbs stood as well. "Just shut up! You don't know anything. You haven't seen me in four years. You hadn't even seen my dad in two. Yet he still felt you were the best person to care for me."

"He probably hadn't updated his will in years." Gibbs wasn't sure why he felt he had to defend John for his decision.

"He updated it last month. He did every six months." JJ headed for the living room. Gibbs followed him. JJ closed the laptop. "I'll be in the room working on the video." He disappeared up the stairs again.

Around 1800, Gibbs called McGee to check on the case. Phone records turned up nothing. Ziva had called the two numbers the parents had given Gibbs. Liz was out of town, visiting her boyfriend at college. Annemarie, who used to live across the street but moved just outside of town after graduation, hadn't talked with Conway in two weeks. They had nothing. Gibbs instructed them all to go home for the night.

He had been sitting at the dining table for a while. He was staring at nothing, focusing on the air in front of him. He vividly replayed different memories in his mind's eye. Memories of he and John, John and Tina, and little JJ. The strain on his heart was finally too much for him to take. He headed for the basement.

He had only been down there around 15 minutes when he heard someone on the steps. Turning, he saw JJ come down a couple of the stairs then sit. For a while, neither talked. JJ just watched Gibbs brush gloss over the painted areas of the boat.

"Aunt Sherrie called," said JJ. Gibbs stopped brushing and looked up at him. He did not speak though. "She's got the time for the service set up for Saturday."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." JJ stood and walked down the rest of the steps. "I'm going to have to head back tomorrow night. I was going to look up plane tickets. Wasn't sure if you wanted me to look for you, too." He stopped next to Gibbs.

"Its only about a four hour driver. I could get us there faster than that. By the time we get to the airport, check our luggage in, board, take off, land, and get our luggage back, its about that long anyway."

"I mean, I know you got this case and all."

"Tony can handle it if it's not closed by then."

JJ smirked. "You that good?"

Gibbs chuckled and shook his head. "Me? No. The team? Oh yeah."

"I've seen your name and cases online and…stuff."

"Don't believe everything you hear."

"You mean, like when you were investigating the death of that supermodel and you told the press you didn't care?"

"That was, what? 3 years ago? How do you remember that? Or even know about that?"

JJ shrugged, but Gibbs' eyes continued to bore into him. JJ rolled his eyes. "Alright, Mom saved everything she saw on you. Plus, there's a YouTube video of it."

"YouTube?"

JJ's cell started to ring. He fished it out of his pocket. "Hello?" he said when he answered it. He looked nervously at Gibbs. "Umm, yeah." JJ turned his back to him. "Could I call you back later?" he muttered. "Me too. Alright, bye." He closed the phone and turned back to Gibbs. "Sorry about that." He put the phone back in his pocket.

"That your girlfriend?"

"Tyler."

"Do you want to stay here tomorrow or would you like to head to work with me?"

"Can I hang with Abby still?"

"If she doesn't mind."

"I didn't bug her, did I? Did she say something about me being there?"

"You got a little crush on her?" Gibbs asked with a smirk.

"No! I mean, no. She's not quiet my type. I just get a little self-conscious sometimes."

"Well, I'm leaving at 6:30 so what time do you need to be up?"

JJ shrugged once again. "6:15?"

"You don't want to take a shower?"

"That's with a shower."

"Alright then."

"I'm going back upstairs. Fumes are kind of getting to me." He turned to go.

"JJ? Do you need anything? A trip to the store? Help with something?"

He stopped halfway up the stairs. "I might need some help going through pictures tomorrow."

"You got it."