After McGee and Gibbs came up from the autopsy they started working on finding Marco's whereabouts. They didn't worry about the CPS lady as Abby had promised to deal with the matter of ht complaint and until the results from the DNA tests came back, there was really nothing they could do but to try and track down the man behind all of their trouble and make sure that once they were ready to apprehend him, they knew where to find him.

Gibbs had phoned Fornell and told him everything because as much as Gibbs would love to bust Marco and do the interrogation, he didn't want to risk the man walking on a technicality or something so Tobias would handle it, even if Gibbs and his team would be present at the apprehension and offer the FBI agents back up.

The lead agent looked up when he heard the elevator ping and saw a woman in a smart suit heading towards their part of the bullpen. The woman stopped right in front of McGee's desk and addressed the three agents.

"Good morning, I was told I could find Agent Timothy McGee here" Tim looked up slightly wearily but after sizing up the woman, stood up and offered her his hand.

"I'm Timothy McGee, how may I help you Ms-?"

"Hartley, Mia Hartley from the child protective services." The woman shook Tim's hand with a smile, but the smile faded when she noticed how pale he'd gotten.

"Um, Is there somewhere we can talk in private?"

"You can use the conference room 1" Gibbs said from where he had moved to stand next to the younger man's desk to offer an image of an united front to the woman in front of them. "Mind if I tag along?" He asked the woman who narrowed her eyes at the fact that the innocent question was made to sound more like an order to let the older man come with them.

"And you are?" Hartley was a small and slightly stocky woman who had a warm and friendly face, but right that moment her eyes were narrowed and she looked like she was trying to see straight into Gibbs' soul with her piercing eyes.

"Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, Agent McGee's boss" Gibbs puffed his chest out slightly and in and other situation Tim would have laughed at the way Jethro was gearing for battle and the way his eyes grew confused as the woman's face melted into a warm smile was even more hilarious.

"Ah Agent Gibbs, I was hoping that you might join us, so could we move this to the conference room?"

The men just nodded and led the way to one of their conference rooms and took a seat at the end of the big table as the woman took a seat at the side of the table.

"First of all I would like to offer you our greatest apologize on the behalf of Ms Shiers who, I can assure you have been removed from her job pending further investigation. And I would like you to extend our thank yous to miss Scutio for sending us the evidence she had gathered." The agents shared a smile of relief and nodded their thanks to the woman sitting next to them. Both of them relaxed as they realized that this woman was nothing like the earlier hag who had been working for Marco.

"Ms Shiers breeched protocol on many occasions considering your case and I would like to tell you that I have reviewed your case and have talked to Anthony's doctor who confirmed that the injuries the little boy sustained are from the time of the kidnapping and there were no older injuries. So I removed the restriction that didn't allow you to see young Anthony. But there still is the matter of custody."

Both men tensed at that "But I thought-" McGee started only to be cut of when Hartley held up a hand.

"Mr Rossi has asked for the custody of the young boy and have made a claim of being his biological father. We need to do the appropriate tests and determine the truth behind the statement before deciding anything. I won't lie to you, even if the test proves that you are Anthony's father, there is still a chance that the custody will go to Rossi because at the time of Anthony's birth he was married to the mother of the child. If however it is proven that Rossi was the one behind the kidnapping, there is no question about custody and I can say with certainty that you will be granted the guardianship of Anthony."

the woman stood up and gathered the papers she had been scattered in front of her during her speaking.

"I would like to ask you Agent McGee to come to the hospital later today for a paternity testing. Mr Rossi delivered us a document stating that he is Anthony's father complete with the test results, but it is protocol for us to run our own tests, especially in a case where the other party has been known to not be one to follow procedure."

"We will be going to see Tony shortly and I can give the sample then." The woman smiled at them as she heard Tim's statement

"You will both be going?" The men glanced at each other but neither said anything "There was a part in the complaint filed against you about there being something unhealthy going on between you two, I just wanted to tell you that the original complaint was removed and only the part of Mr Rossi seeking custody was filed and I must have forgotten to put in a note about that accusation." She winked as she handed McGee a card for a doctor who would collect the blood sample from him before leaving the conference room.

Tim and Gibbs sat in stunned silence before McGee groaned and buried his head in his hands.

"What's wrong Tim?" Gibbs asked as he noticed the change in his lover.

"Just thinking that I just let Ducky draw blood from me for nothing and I have to let the doctor at the hospital do it again"

Jethro chuckled and squeezed the younger man's shoulder before getting up and heading for the door.

"Lets hope that Tony hasn't inherited your fear of needles"

Tim just glared at the older man before following him out of the room and down to the bullpen muttering that he doesn't fear needles just doesn't want them sticking him unnecessarily.

Neither man could pay attention to work after the meeting so only half an hour had gone by when they were on their way to the hospital to see Tony and for McGee to give the blood sample. When they made their way to Tony's room at the ICU McGee kept complaining how he now had matching holes in both of his arms, but all of that was forgotten s he caught sight of his son lying in his bed.

The men made their way towards the cot and both smiled as they saw that Tony was awake and looking at them with his big green eyes.

"Hey there little man" Tim said as he reached to run a hand over Tony's head before moving his hand to hold Tony's little fist in his. Their visit was cut short as Gibbs' phone began to vibrate in his pocket and he moved to the hall to take the call. He gave a soft kiss to the little boy's forehead and motioned for Tim to follow him and as soon as he excited the room he answered the cell.

"Gibbs"

"Gibbs! I got the results from the skin cells and blood you found under the vic's fingernails. The DNA came back to one Marco Rossi, I'm not sure yet why his DNA even is in the system as he doesn't seem to have a criminal record, but it's him. And that's not all, I found two types of blood on the knife, of course there was Maria's, but on the handle there's a small sharp edge that had blood on it, and that too matched Marco!"

"Good work Abbs, send the results to Fornell and tell him to meet us in the bullpen."

In the end apprehending Marco turned out to be very anti climatic. The man had been at home when Fornell and one of his agents and the NCIS agent had went in with a warrant and to Gibbs' disappointment he had offered no resistance but rather gone with them smirking, until he heard the charges against him that consisted of murder and kidnapping among other things, which made him a bit more unwilling to go with the agents, but at that time he was already in cuffs and being led to Fornell's car.

They headed for the FBI headquarters for the interrogation, but Fornell allowed Gibbs to accompany him as long as the NCIS agent promised to not ram his fist into the man's face. Marco cracked more quickly that any of the agents had anticipated and his confessions revealed the damage done to his mental state by the death of his wife.

"You know it wasn't about the money, That little bastard killed my wife and the SOB who fathered him was just as much to blame as the little shit. They both deserve to rot in hell for what they did to my beautiful Antonia."

"What about Maria, the nurse you hired to get you access to the hospital's system"

"She wouldn't help me anymore, I needed to make sure she wouldn't get in the way of things, she didn't like my plans for revenge, but that doesn't matter now does it? She was in the way and I had to show her what happens when you cross me." There was a glint in Marco's eyes and as the two agents excited the interrogation room they shook their heads at the insanity of the man.

"You know he's lawyer will probably plead for insanity" Fornell stated as they walked towards the observation room where the other agent's were waiting.

"Don't care. He's going away for a long time, be it mental institution or prison, as long as McGee and Tony are safe I don't give a damn of what happens to him."

That evening McGee and Gibbs went back to the hospital and this time their teammates came with them. They were all overjoyed to hear that the little boy had been moved from the ICU just an hour earlier to a children's ward as the boy's breathing was now more stable and didn't require as much monitoring even if he was still on the oxygen.

They all piled into the room the little boy was in and Abby gasped and her eyes filled with tears as she caught sight of the bruises on the little boy and the mask still on his face. She turned and gave Tim a tight hug before going to the little boy's bedside and giving him a tender miniature version of the hug she had just given Tim. Ducky and Kate were also affected by the sight of the fragile little figure, but didn't let it show on their faces so much.

They visited for a while before the trio left with wishes of good night, before leaving Gibbs and Tim alone with the little boy.

Tim moved to the bedside and was pleased to notice that the IV that had been connected to Tony was gone, thought the port was still on the boy's arm. Still he waited until a nurse came to check on Tony and asked her if he could pick up his son before actually taking the boy in his arms. It was pretty much a repeat of the scene from the previous night as Tim held his son and Gibbs stood guard over the two.

The little family stayed like that for a long time, only switching so that Gibbs get to hold the precious little boy and they only laid him back down after hours of just sitting there holding him, and making sure that he was safe and letting the baby know that he was surrounded by the people who love him.

The two men didn't leave the room the whole night except for when they needed to use the facilities or Gibbs got them both coffee, but other than those little breaks, they held silent vigil over their little boy.

They had both grown accustomed to the regular visits by the nursing staff to check on Tony, but in the morning they heard the sound of high heels heading towards the room and stop outside before the familiar figure of their new CPS woman appeared in the doorway.

"I was hoping I'd find you two here" She smiled at the two men before clearing her throat and going to business

"We run the paternity tests yesterday and got the results back and there is no doubt that You Agent Gibbs are the boys father" At the shocked looks on the two men's faces she hastened to correct herself "I'm so sorry, I meant Agent McGee is the father of this little boy." She blushed a bit at having messed up like that.

"We have also been informed that Mr Rossi has confirmed the kidnapping to having been his doing and as we are certain that you have been nothing but a good father to Anthony. I'm revoking the removal of Anthony from your custody. So congratulations you are again his dad. I would again like to offer my deepest regrets for the way this thing was handled and I'm so sorry for all the trouble and heartache this whole mess had caused both of you."

Tim had tears of joy in his eyes and he leaned into Gibbs who had wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Thank you for giving Tony back to us" The gratitude in the younger man's statement made the woman smile.

"It really was my pleasure. I really feel that your right to be his father and guardian should never have been questioned in the first place. I need you to sign a few papers and I'll let you get back to taking care of your son."

McGee gratefully accepted the papers and pen the woman held out to him and signed the papers.

Hartley nodded as she took the papers and moved to get out of the room.

"Take good care of him." With those last words she left the men to celebrate the fact that they had finally gotten their son back.

TBC...?

A/N: Okay so I think I've covered everything important. The big question now is that should I end it here or do an epilogue? I'm not sure yet, because I could just leave this story here and continue in the collection of one shots I told would be the third story in the series... I'll leave it up to you my faithful readers, drop in a few words and tell me what you think :)

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, or put this story on alert or on their favorite list, I appreciate every single review and alert, because it tells me that people are actually reading and enjoying my fics (or telling me how to make them better, I appreciate that too)