Chapter 6

NCIS IN THE DESERT; OLD TIES

Two floors up they opened the door to the CCU and Tim grinned. It had taken him months to get building maintenance aboard the Navy Yard to change his old department around and he'd never been satisfied with what they'd done. Now he had the setup and equipment he wanted. State of the art or what had been state of the art when he ordered it a month ago.

Tony eyed the vending machines but Tim shook his head, "No. Those are for my techs. They work like Ellie does - a flow of food and beverages helps them think. You cannot have anything from here. You know, Leon may have ordered the same thing for the Break Room."

Tony's downcast face lit up while Maggie laughed at them both. They heard the elevator ding and then Leon opened the door to the CCU, pulling the twins' stroller in backwards. "Thought I'd find you up here. We're on our way to the Roof Garden, anyone interested?"

As Lia and Arin were restless, the Roof Garden sounded like a great idea. When he saw it, Tim laughed. It was so much like the Marshals' rooftop that he decided the FBI had copied them. That made sense; the DoD probably handled both buildings. The edge of the roof and building was fenced off with the same no man's land wire fencing. The trees up there were about 12 feet tall but not looking very healthy. Tim thought they needed help, fast.

"Leon, do you know if anyone's cleaned these trees? They probably took a lot of fallout; they might need new soil or maybe even replacement."

"I don't know, we'll ask building maintenance." He looked at them, "And by 'we' I mean Pam."

They grinned at him and he smiled back, he couldn't wait to get back to work. They were having a Welcome reception when everyone got here. Before that, he wanted a photo of the employees who'd sheltered together before they turned back to The Director, Agents, CCU Manager and Medical Examiner. He also wanted to include Gibbs, Mallard and Fornell in that. He had a sudden mental image of some young hot shot looking at the photo many years from now, wondering who they were and what the significance was.

"Maggie, Tony, Tim, what would you think of creating a montage of shelter photos? Not just us but from wherever our folks sheltered. Do you think that might help bring us back together?"

Tim thought about it, "I like the idea. A reminder that we survived and we're here now."

Maggie added, "It would be great if we had a photo of the Navy Yard in the middle. That's where we started from."

Tony sighed, "And a photo underneath, when we can get one, of the Navy Yard post attack."

"And then surround both photos with those of our survival. Excellent."

"And intersperse our shelter photos with those of the overseas and western offices working. And maybe a photo of us working in the shelter library. And whatever setup Great Lakes has in their shelters."

Maggie grinned, "Let's see if we can find an aerial photo of the caravan!"

Tim smiled, "It was all over the internet, I'm sure we can find one to download or ask the photographer for a copy. I'd like to give Dad and Mom one anyway."

Maggie and Tony laughed, "We had the same idea."

"Could be from all of us? And maybe one for Pete, help him remember the good stuff."

They'd been looking into the small shed on the roof while they were chatting but didn't see any of the games and toys Tim said the Marshals' had. They were sure that would change. The wind blew through and they shivered, it was November after all, time to go in.

They had a quick visit to MTAC and the Director's suite. Technicians were in the inner office installing the SCIF and Leon watched Tim not watching the techs. No one at NCIS but Jethro Gibbs and Vance knew Tim had developed the system or that the DoD paid his LLC an annual fee for each agency that used it. No one needed to know.

With that, their tour was concluded. The little ones were clearly tired of the strollers and other than running around in the bullpen hadn't found much to amuse them. They went back to day-care for lunch and naps while their parents had lunch out in one of the cafes close to the office, Vance's treat. While they missed the Rourkes' cooking, always would, they enjoyed their lunch and told their server that they'd be back; they would be working nearby. She smiled; glad to see people returning to work and relaxing enough to dine out. There were takeout menus next to the cashier and each of them took one. One of the men asked if he could take two. "I want one for my office but we'll put the other one up on the board so my staff can see it too."

"Oh, certainly! Take some for home too."

Most of them chuckled at that but Ned and Evan each took one. Tony frowned, "Do you deliver?"

"Downtown, yes. Residential, no."

"Oh, I guess not 30 miles out then."

"Heavens, do you live on one of the ranches?"

"Yes, La Serenidad, next to the Ortizes."

"Is that where the other big shelter is?"

"Yes. Also, we have other evacuees who're living on site, any chance of a meal voucher or discount for them?"

"Yes there will be but we haven't gotten them together yet. How many do you think you'll have?"

"Right now we have 23 folks but we're planning on putting in 100 homes. We've got 20 that will be up in a couple of weeks and we'll add more in increments"

"Goodness, you're building 100 homes on your ranch?"

"No, we can house 12 more on the ranch but we bought another parcel of land near us and are converting shipping containers to houses."

"Are you the people who bought Zeb Adams' land?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Bless you; he's so happy he can finally afford to retire. It's wonderful what you're doing. Do you have a business card? I'll certainly let you know when the vouchers and discounts are ready."

Tim handed her one of his new cards. "Thanks, we're putting together a 'Welcome' packet for each household."

Tony peered at the card, "How'd you get those so fast?"

Ned snickered, "He ordered them online from Vista Print."

"And you can use the NCIS logo?"

"Got permission from DoD years ago. It's a lot easier and much cheaper, as many cards as field agents hand out."

"Do you get reimbursed?"

Ned answered, "Yes, you put it on your monthly expenses, just have to print out the receipt for Fred."

As one, the agents turned to look at Vance who chuckled, "Yes, Fred, Delores Bromstead, Natalie and Dr. Bracco will be here in the next couple of weeks."

Full of good food, information and excited about their new facilities, most of them started for home. Tim stopped Maggie and Tony, "Are you taking Arin home?"

"We were but he's probably asleep by now so we'll ask Lara to bring him home." Lara had extra seats for all the current ranch kids.

"I've got some shopping to do, probably take me a couple of hours. I can bring him home with Lia if that's all right with you two."

"Sure, that'd be great. Let's tell Lara and then we'll get his seat out of the car for you."

Lara was fine with the idea; the seat was transferred, secured and Tim set out to do his shopping. Jared and Jimmy were leaving for San Diego the following week and he'd decided to buy them both T-shirts that said either Albuquerque or New Mexico on them. He didn't care if they wore them, he knew both would be homesick and wanted them to have something to remind them of home.

He and Ellie wanted to send something for Abby with Jimmy, to let her know they were thinking of her, that they missed her. They'd selected a particular item and looked online for who might carry it locally. He also wanted to buy some pretty things for Ellie for post-baby. He knew they had to be practical, but that didn't mean they had to be ugly!

And Christmas shopping was next on his task list. Once the baby arrived, he figured he'd be bouncing between the office and home with no time or energy for anything else. Then he realized he'd be on family leave. That was four weeks so he might be off until shortly before Christmas. He sighed, if he could manage it he'd work from home. He thought about the leave he'd had when Ty and Brynie came to live with him, he'd had an entire summer off. He thought of the playroom Dad taught him to build, helped him build and had to pull off the road as a wave of grief, anger and homesickness nearly overwhelmed him. Albuquerque was great, the ranch, the people and the new office, all great. But he missed the Navy Yard, he missed the damn orange walls, he missed their home, the playroom and backyard, his parents' house, so long a bastion of safety for their work family. He missed Abby, Baltimore, Nate, the Smithsonian and all the museums, he missed the Capitol building, Embassy Row and the vibrancy of DC; he missed living and working in the center of America's power. Heck, he even missed sitting in traffic on the Beltway.

The only thing he could honestly say he didn't miss was the weather. As hot as it was here, he preferred the dry desert heat to the humidity of DC.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

While the federal employees went with Leon to see the new office, Jethro, Tobias and Jerry were busy finishing the second bassinet and starting another crib. Ellie said Lia wasn't ready for a toddler bed yet and they already had all the pieces cut for one crib, now Jethro was cutting the pieces for the second one. He shook his head, little Mac would be done with the bassinet by the time Bec and Maggie's babies were born so he'd only have one to make between now and then.

Sarah and Bob would use the antique bassinet they'd brought from Penny's home in Arlington and that helped cut back the number needed. However, that was still two more cribs. Maybe Lia would be ready for a change up by then and they'd just have to make one more. He thought the changing tables/bureaus from the shelter, now in storage, were going to have to do for little Mac and possibly he could get something done for the other three.

Jerry patted him on the shoulder, "It'll be fine, Jethro. If we buy the wood you want here, I'll make a copy of the pattern, take it home and cut the pieces for the other cribs. And Tobias and I will do the cuts for the rocking chairs tomorrow."

Tobias nodded, "You should go into business, Jethro."

"Gonna have to build houses after this."

"No, you don't. With the possible exception of Kelly and Rob, the other four have money enough to have their homes built. You can do some of the finishing and they'll be happy."

"Yeah, that's a good idea, guys; thanks."

"They could even have shipping container homes."

Jethro pursed his lips. He liked the way they looked now that a few were finished on the outside but wanted permanent structures for his children. Then he laughed at himself.

"What?"

"Thinking I want permanent structures for the kids. Then I realized termites eat wood, it burns, warps and rots. A metal home needs more insulation but if it gets rusty that can be fixed and no bugs!"

Tobias again, "That reminds me, I saw an ad somewhere for an old train car. Think we could convert that too?"

"Yes, that sounds like fun!"

"Where'd you see it, Tobias?"

"Uh, think it was in a real estate magazine. The free ones."

"Uh huh."

"Hey, we were just looking."

"You and Em?"

"No, me and Mel."

Both men stopped what they were doing to look at him and he smiled.

"Yeah so, we like each other. Maybe more than like. We're not in a hurry though and neither of us cares if we ever get legally hitched."

Jethro's lips twitched upward, "You've talked about it."

"The subject has come up, yes. Emily really likes her and Mel likes Emily."

"We like Mel too."

"Oh, so we need your approval too?"

With a laugh, the three men went back to work.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Jimmy's remote autopsy training started on the same day as Jared's UCSD classes, November 12th, the same day everything else seemed to be opening, starting or resuming. The Vances and Jimmy were flying to San Diego on Saturday the 9th, giving Jared and Jimmy a couple of days to settle in before class and work. Jimmy would stay at a residential hotel for the three weeks he'd be there while Jared would live on campus. Leon and Lara wanted to meet Jared's roommate, see his room in the dormitory and check out the campus. Kayla would drive the four of them to the airport and then return to the ranch where she'd take care of her toddler brother and sister with the help of a house full of honorary aunts, uncles and grandparents.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

When Maisie finally unpacked all her belongings, she gave Sarah the book she'd promised her, the short stories written by her aunt, Charlotte Stirling. As Sarah read them, she wondered about this woman, how her life had changed after she was disowned by her parents and moved to a new country. One afternoon Tim came upon his sister in the library, Googling madly away.

"Researching your next book?"

She shook her head, "You have to see this."

Sitting down next to her, he looked at the screen and then at her. "Are you researching my great-grandmother? Charlotte Stirling Baxter is the name of Dad's maternal grandmother."

"Was she disowned by her parents in Scotland for marrying an Englishman?"

"Yeah, Dad told me about that. In the early 20th century, before the First World War."

"Tim, this is Maisie's aunt, my two times great-aunt."

She nodded as his mouth dropped open. "Sarah, are you saying my great-grandmother is your great-aunt, times two? The same woman?"

"I think so. Let me show you how I got here."

He nodded, still stunned as his sister explained. "I started with Google. There was more than I expected, though. I found what must have been the original jacket information saying she was born in Scotland, married and immigrated to America where she had four children and died in 1964. I looked on the copyright page of the book and it lists her as Charlotte Stirling Baxter. I Googled her obituary in 1964 and that listed her children: Robert Jr., Cyrus, Margaret and Anne."

"Oh my God, Sarah! That's my grandmother, Anne Baxter Gibbs. Dad has a photo of him with his grandmother when he was little and another one when Charlotte was a young girl, I've seen them. He said she died when he was around 5. But why didn't we show up on each other's DNA chart?"

"Too distant?"

"Yeah, maybe. It didn't show anyone who was deceased but I thought that was because people died before DNA was registered. Have to check the parameters of the system. See how wide it goes or how far back. I'll ask Abby, she'll know."

"What does this make us, if we're right?"

"Oh geez. Let's write it out, this stuff makes my mind go numb."

She laughed at him and handed him a paper notebook. "Go for it."

"Ok, what's your great-grandmother's name, Maisie's mother?"

"Iona."

"Ok, she and Charlotte are sisters so they're next to each other on the chart. That means Maisie is Charlotte's niece and Charlotte's children are Maisie's first cousins. Grandma Anne was Maisie's first cousin. Are you good with this so far?"

"Yes."

"Gets confusing after that." They worked on it for several minutes before shaking their heads.

Sarah huffed, "So we're third or fourth cousins."

"Yes. Not first, that would be Maisie and Grandma Anne. Second cousins would be Lily, Jim, and Dad. That makes sense, right?" Sarah nodded and he continued, "Ok, it's clear that Jim, Lily, and Dad are second cousins. You're Lily's daughter and Kelly and I are Jethro's biological children, so we're third cousins. And you are maybe second cousins once removed to Dad."

She looked at him and they both started laughing. Finally, Sarah said, "We are related on some level anyway."

"That explains the writing, why we both write. It's from the Stirlings." Tim couldn't believe how happy this made him! He kissed his sister, "I'm really glad to share DNA with you, little sister."

She hugged him, "Me too, big bro! Who should we tell first, Dad or Grammie? Or both at once?"

Tim scrunched his face while he thought. "Dad has a cousin named Richard Baxter who was at Jack's funeral. He's Dad's first cousin, son of Uncle Robert or Uncle Cyrus - I don't remember which. Anyway, he's still alive or was 6 years ago. Let's tell Dad first, maybe he'll contact his cousin and verify we've got the right Charlotte before we tell Grammie."

"All right."

The two found their father in the nursery, playing with Lia and Ricky. "Dad, can we borrow you for a few minutes?"

"Sure. What's up?"

Sarah rolled her neck, "Maisie loaned me a book of short stories written by her aunt, who emigrated here from Scotland after her parents disowned her for marrying an Englishman."

Dad's eyebrow went up and he looked at Tim. "That's the same story as my grandmother's."

"Yeah Dad, that's what I told Sarah. She's done more research. The woman who wrote the book, Maisie's aunt, used her maiden name, Stirling. Charlotte Stirling."

Sarah continued, "I found her married name on the copyright page; it's Baxter. I discovered she died in 1964 and found an obituary. It lists her late husband as Robert Baxter and her four children as Robert Jr., Cyrus, Margaret, and Anne."

Dad's eyes were nearly popping out now. "That's my mother! Are we related? Is Maisie a cousin of some sort?"

Tim nodded, "We think she's your first cousin once removed but you're definitely second cousins with Jim Hubbard and with Lily. Which means that you and Sarah are seconds once removed and Sarah, Kelly and I are third cousins. At least we think that's the way it goes, the 'removes' are confusing. We thought maybe you could contact your cousin Richard to see what he knows about it."

"Have you told Maisie?"

"No, came to you first."

"All right, I have Richard's number somewhere." He chuckled, "I think it's in the family bible, Timiny, with all those other numbers and addresses. Your mother updated it when you adopted Lia. She was looking at it the other day; I know it's here somewhere."

Smiling, Tim whipped out his phone, calling his mother. "Hey Mom, you know where the Gibbs' family bible is?"

"It's in the house library, the second bookshelf in from the door on the left, fourth or fifth shelf from the bottom; I just put it back the other day. Why?"

"Sarah and I are working on something and need to confirm the information. We'll fill you in later. Thanks!"

"Ok, have fun!"

The three of them headed for the library and found the bible just where Shannon remembered. Sarah watched as her father took the book to the table, held it carefully in the middle and gently shook it. Tim chuckled, "Now we hope we put everything back when we did that to find Grandpa's number."

"Hush you, it'll be here."

They went through the papers that drifted out of the book; Sarah held up a scrap of paper. "This says Richard B. and has a phone number. Looks like your handwriting, Dad."

He grinned, "Good! Ok, I think this is a cell so it'll still be good, right Tim?"

"Yeah, most people don't get new numbers when they move – or you know, have to evacuate their homes. Won't know until we try."

When their father squinted at the number, Tim took the paper while Sarah grabbed Dad's phone and punched the number in before giving it back to her father, smiling sweetly. He rolled his eyes at her and then smiled when a voice answered, "Hello?"

"Hello Richard, it's your cousin Jethro."

"Jethro, how wonderful to hear from you! How are you, where are you?"

"Living in New Mexico now. Bought a ranch and moved here before the attack. Where are you?"

"That's good news. I'm in Caribou, Maine with my grandson and his family. We took shelter here and now we're staying with a relative of his wife. We can't go home yet, our house is intact but they tell us it'll be another few weeks before it'll be safe enough."

"Thank God you and your family are all right!"

"And you, Jethro. What are you up to these days? Have you retired?"

"Sort of; I retired right before the attack so my family would have my pension to live on but now my boss wants me to come back part-time."

"Your family?"

"Got a lot to tell you, Richard. Found out I have a grown son, he's married and has three kids, so I'm a grandpa. Turns out my wife and daughter, who I'd been told were killed in a crash in 1991, were actually in protective custody. You met Shannon at the party Dad threw for us after we got married. We are happily re-married and have 6 grown children. Shannon and I adopted our son's siblings. Now something else has popped up and I need your help."

"My goodness, that's all wonderful news, Jethro, congratulations! I know your parents would be over the moon for you."

"Thank you, I think they would be too. I have a few questions about our grandmother."

"Charlotte or as we called her, Shenavar."

"Yes. My recollection is that when she married our grandfather, Robert Baxter, her Scots family disowned her."

"Yes, sadly they did."

"Do you know anything about her family?"

"The Stirlings, yes a little bit. She had siblings, three older brothers and one sister several years younger than she was, more than a decade as I recall. I remember my father telling me his mother used to pine for her baby sister."

"Do you remember baby sister's name?"

"Yes, Iona."

Jethro took a deep breath, "Richard, thank you, that's wonderful news. The great-grandmother of my adopted daughter Sarah was Iona Stirling MacNeill. Sarah's grandmother Maisie, Iona's daughter, is here at the ranch with us."

"Astounding! How on earth did you find all this?"

"Did Charlotte write a book?"

"Yes, a book of short stories. My father left me his copy when he died."

"And Sarah's sitting next to me holding a copy loaned to her by her grandmother Maisie. Written by the aunt Maisie never met. Maisie only found out about her when she left the UK for the US. Her mother mentioned a sister in a letter but said she didn't know her married name. All these years…"

"Your Sarah traced her?"

"Yes, my Sarah. And she told my son Tim and remembering you, they came to me."

"That name sounds familiar, was he one of the young men with you at Jack's funeral?"

"Yes, the younger one with green eyes."

"My word, Jethro!"

"I know. Listen, do you have an e-mail address or maybe your grandson does?"

"He does but I have my own. I'll send you a text with it. Perhaps you could have Maisie contact me. What's her surname?"

Tim had to turn his head so his father wouldn't see him holding back his laughter. His father couldn't be bothered with electronics and yet his older cousin had embraced them, just as Jack had.

After Dad ended the call with his cousin, they decided to tell the Mallards and Hubbards, also including Shannon and Kelly in the meeting. The rest of the siblings were at work and Ellie was asleep; they'd hear later.

Ducky, Maisie, the Hubbards, Shannon and Kelly looked curious as they joined the Gibbses in the library. When Maisie spotted the book in Sarah's hands, she smiled warmly. "They're wonderful stories, aren't they?"

"Yes, and they've led me to an amazing discovery."

She waited for everyone to be seated. "Grammie, these stories were written by your aunt Charlotte, whom you never met."

"That's right."

"Do you know anything about her?"

"Only that she was 13 years older than my mother and Mum was 4 when Charlotte went to London for work and married an Englishman. She never saw or heard from her again."

"Because their parents disowned Charlotte."

"Yes, and she moved here with her husband. I suppose they might have softened their stance in later years but I don't think they knew where she was."

Sarah blinked back tears. "She and Robert Baxter, her husband, lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and had four children, Robert Jr., Cyrus, Margaret and Anne. Robert died in 1957 and Charlotte died in 1964. Her son Robert Jr. had a son named Richard Baxter who also lived in Harrisburg until the evacuation, he's in Maine now with his grandson's family. He's your cousin of some sort, Tim and I tried to figure it out.

"The best part, Grammie, is that Charlotte's daughter Anne, your first cousin, married a man called Jackson Gibbs. They had a son named Leroy Jethro, who has two biological children, Timothy and Kelly.

"You married Andrew Hubbard and had two children, Lily and Jim. Lily had me and Patrick and Jim had Ainsley and Callum. Grammie, Jethro is your cousin, we think first once removed. Ainsley, Callum, and I are Jethro, Kelly, and Tim's cousins. We're related, the Hubbards and Gibbses."

Sarah was crying by the time she finished. Maisie sat quietly for a minute, tears in her eyes, trying to process the news. Jethro almost laughed, Tim was definitely a Stirling, he processed things the same as Maisie and Jim. Of course so did Shannon so maybe Tim had a double dose.

The others were as surprised as Maisie while Ainsley and Callum looked confused.

Maisie finally took a deep breath, "Let's go over that one more time. My mother Iona was Charlotte's much younger sister."

"And she told you about her sister when you came to the U.S. with Grandpa Andrew."

"Yes."

"Years later you found a book, this book," Sarah held up the book, "in a used bookshop and bought it based on the author's name, Charlotte Stirling."

"Yes, it was a fanciful dream that it might be my long lost aunt. I never looked for her, the book was published in 1947 and I found it in 2003. She would have been over a hundred years old."

"Yes, she was born in 1894."

"I didn't think to look any further, it never occurred to me."

"But Tim taught me not to take things at face value and I had to know if the author was our Charlotte Stirling. I found what I assumed was her married name on the copyright page and then Googled her. I found her obituary and the names of her children. That's when Tim came along, saw the information on the screen and wanted to know if I was researching his great-grandmother. We looked further and then asked Dad, who called his cousin Richard. Huh, our cousin Richard. Anyway, Dad asked him questions and he confirmed the information we know."

Tim smiled at Maisie, "Grammie, the wedding ring you've been wearing was Charlotte's. Dad has a box of heritage jewelry and I picked it for Ellie's wedding ring without knowing whose it had been."

"Oh my heavens, oh children, this is wonderful! We're blood relatives!" She gathered Sarah, Tim, and Kelly to her, kissing them and then kissed Jethro who hugged her, kissing the top of her head. While she gathered Ainsley and Callum to her, Jethro added to the saga.

"Maisie, I have two photos of my Shenavar Charlotte. Tim helped me dig them out a few years ago. I haven't had time to look for them yet."

Tim stirred, "We put them in a photo album and they're online on our family tree." He grinned, "Which just grew more branches!"

Shannon left the room, returning with a photo album. "I found Charlotte's photos."

Maisie beamed; finally, she would see what her long-lost aunt looked like. She blinked in surprise when she looked at the photo of her aunt as a young girl, exclaiming, "Mum! Oh, she looks just like my mother."

The second photo was a much older Charlotte, holding Jethro who looked like he was 3 or 4. Maisie smiled, noticing Charlotte was wearing the ring, Ellie's wedding ring, now on loan to her. Jethro tapped the photo, "She died when I was about 5. I remember my mother saying this was the last photo we had of her."

Sarah nodded, "She was only 70."

Maisie reached out to touch the image, "I can't believe how much she looks like my mother. I'll dig my photos out so we can compare."

Sarah put her hand on Maisie's, "We should scan those online, Gram, so we'll have them for keeps."

"Yes, we'll do that."

Kelly had been quiet during the conversation and when everyone but Tim left, she pulled the chart over. Then she laughed, "I'm a doctor, I need to understand blood relationships!"

Tim huffed, "You know you understand, Kels, it's the 'removed' designations that are confusing. Something about generations."

"If you say so. I understand Charlotte and Maisie are descended from the same people so we're related. It's pretty cool that Sarah is our sister and our cousin."

He laughed at that, "You're right, it is."

Notes:

For those who don't remember all the names of the agents killed in the line of duty (aka The Fallen), they are: Jim Nelson and Rick Hall were Paula Cassidy's team, the first two agents murdered in the episode "Grace Period". Agent Chris Pacci was found murdered in the episode "Dead Man Talking", we saw him alive in "Bete Noir" and in a flashback during the episode "Baltimore". Agent Macy was introduced in Legend, Part I, her body was found in "Patriot Down". Agent Patterson was Abby's friend murdered on the way to bring or mail something to her in "South by Southwest". Tony found five dead bodies, the Marseille NCIS agents (and possibly the office staff) in the Marseille office during the episode "The Admiral's Daughter". The others are Kate Todd, Jenny Shepard and Mike Franks.

For anyone interested in a little more about Richard Baxter, he first appears at the funeral of Jackson Gibbs in "Finding Home", Chapters 76 (the elderly man who enters the church and is acknowledged by Gibbs) and 77, where we find out who he is. I created him (and his cryptic remarks) as part of a side story I planned for an ancestry challenge on the NFA site but decided I already had Tim related to another canon character, that was enough.

However, I remain interested in genealogy and frustrated with tracing my own. When I was outlining this story, I found my notes about Maisie, Charlotte and the Baxters and decided to add it to this universe. Voilà, the cousins were born!

As for "Finding Home", months after the challenge ended, I gave Rob more of a background in a little side story called "Finding Home, Roots before Branches", concluding it in chapter 3 of "Finding Home, Through the Years".

Also for anyone who's forgotten Tim's 'reclaimed' family/original characters, look in Finding Home for a character list. I will not include one in this series.