Chapter Two: Leroy Jethro, meet Leroy Jethro

Jimmy hummed to himself as he carried his shopping bags through the back entrance of NCIS and headed towards autopsy. He loved running errands for Ducky. It gave him an opportunity to get some fresh air when things were slow at work. His presence opened the autopsy doors and he found Ducky sitting at his desk.

"Hi, Dr. Mallard," he greeted with a smile.

"Mr. Palmer, welcome back."

"The Tea Peddler didn't have the first tea on your list so I got the second one," Jimmy said as he pulled it out of one of the bags. "Apparently some health guru did a show on the benefits of that particular tea so they're sold out all over the city."

"I'm always amazed at how many people will blindly follow the advice of anyone who calls themselves a guru, gets on TV and shares their opinion," Ducky said. "Did you get the diapers?"

"I did," Jimmy said. "Am I allowed to ask why we need diapers?"

"You are." Ducky looked up at his assistant and waited for him to ask the question.

"Why do we need diapers, Dr. Mallard?"

"A young boy was abandoned at the main gate this morning. The diapers are for him."

"That's awful," Jimmy said.

"At least he was left here where he would be cared for," Ducky said. "I believe Abby is watching over the boy while Jethro and Tony are out. Why don't you go deliver the diapers and see if she needs any help."

"No problem, Doctor."

Jimmy left Ducky to brew himself a pot of tea and headed off to Abby's lab to deliver the diapers and meet their new guest. When he arrived, he found Abby giving the boy a tour of her lab.

"I heard we had a baby in the house," Jimmy cooed. "He's such a cutie."

"He is, isn't he?" Abby said, poking at the child's belly. "Did you get the diapers?"

"Sure did," Jimmy said.

"Good. He needs to be changed."

"I think that's my cue to leave," Jimmy said as he started for the door.

Abby grabbed onto his arm and yanked him back. "Oh no you don't!"

"Fine, I'll help," Jimmy grumbled.

They spread a blanket out on the evidence table and laid the little boy on it. Despite his kicking and squirming around, they managed to get his shoes and jeans off. He giggled whenever they cooed at him and babbled on and on as if he were trying to tell them something.

"This is very advanced sounding baby babble," Jimmy pointed out.

"I don't think this is baby babble," Abby said as she stepped away to retrieve the trash can. "I betcha his mom could tell us exactly what he's saying." The computer dinged causing Abby to put the garbage can next to Jimmy then turn to face her computer.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be changing this diaper all by myself?" Jimmy asked.

"Jimmy, a little boy was abandoned on our doorstep," Abby said dramatically. "It's up to me to figure out who he is and where he belongs so we can help him!"

"Yeah, yeah," Jimmy grumbled as he got the little boy cleaned up. "What'd you find out?"

"The fingerprint on the note belongs to a Lisa Keenan," Abby answered. "She has a minor drug possession charge but nothing too serious. Let's see if she gave birth to a baby boy."

"Is she in the Navy?" Jimmy asked. He powdered the little boy's bottom then slipped a diaper underneath.

"Nope."

"Then how are you gonna find out if she gave birth? Her medical records are confidential."

"But her tax returns aren't," Abby said with a grin. "That kid is definitely old enough that she would've claimed him on her taxes last year if he was hers."

"Good idea," Jimmy said.

He secured the diaper then lifted the boy into the air and silently cheered when the diaper stayed in place. After getting the child's jeans back on him, he stood the boy on the ground then got everything else cleaned up.

Ducky entered just in time to stop the little guy from pushing Major Mass Spec's buttons. He cleared his throat to get Jimmy's and Abby's attention. "You have to watch children this age closely," he said, taking the boy's hand and leading him away from the machine. "They can get into quite a bit of trouble in not a lot of time."

"Sorry, Doctor," Jimmy said. "We were watching him but then I had to clean up and Abby's got a lead on who he might be and I guess he wandered off."

"They do that too," Ducky replied with a smile. "Do we know his name yet?"

"Working on it," Abby answered as she continued scrolling through the tax records on the screen. "She claimed three dependants last year and…"

"Abby?" Ducky asked when she didn't finish her thought.

Jimmy looked over her shoulder and his eyes bugged out of his head. "Does that say Leroy Jethro Gibbs?"

"Uh-huh."

"Oh dear."

Tony sat in the tiny chair at the very low table next to Gibbs at Munchkin Mayhem Daycare Center. They both had more questions than answers but neither knew what to say. How was he supposed to respond to learning that the kid who'd been abandoned on their doorstep shared a name with Gibbs?

"He goes by LJ," Heather said. "Was there a girl with him?"

"A woman dropped him off if that's what you mean," Tony replied.

"Mm-mm," Heather said with a shake of her head. "A little girl. LJ's a triplet. His brother's here but his sister isn't."

"Brother? Sister? Triplet?" Tony asked. He was trying to act natural but it was getting harder and harder. What was going on? He stole a quick peek at Gibbs and realized his boss was just as surprised at the news as he was. "Do they all have the same last name?" He realized after he asked that it was kind of a stupid question. Of course they all had the same last name.

Heather nodded at Tony then looked at Gibbs. "Are you the father?"

"I don't have kids," Gibbs answered, trying to sound confident. He could feel Tony's eyes on him and knew his senior field agent thought the kids were his but surely he wasn't the only one in DC with Gibbs as a surname. Sure, the only other Leroy Jethro he knew was his father's best friend but that didn't mean anything. He might have to make an exception to rule thirty nine; this definitely had to be a coincidence. "What's the mom's name?"

"Lisa Keenan," Heather answered, pointing at the information on the emergency contact card Gibbs was still holding.

Damn it, Gibbs thought. Just when he thought the situation couldn't get any messier. He knew that name. He'd dated Lisa about two and a half years prior. Things had been going great until her mother passed away suddenly. After that Lisa had closed herself off and gone into a deep, dark depression. Gibbs had tried to help her through it but eventually she'd just pushed him away.

"Father's name?" Gibbs asked.

"She never said," Heather answered. "We have a lot of children from single parent homes. Some parents share custody, some kids aren't allowed to see mom or dad and some just never talk about the missing parent. Lisa fell into the last category."

"You know her, Boss?" Tony asked hesitantly.

Gibbs gave a slight nod of his head but despite knowing the children's mother, he was still convinced that the kids weren't his. He and Lisa had shared an intimate relationship but he'd always used protection—always. Besides, she wouldn't have his children and not tell him. That wasn't the type of person she was. One thing was for sure though, rule thirty nine was out. There were coincidences and that's what they were dealing with. It was a coincidence that he happened to know the kids' mother and a coincidence that one of the kids shared his name.

"You said LJ has two siblings?" Tony asked. Gibbs may have been denying being related to the kids but Tony knew the likelihood of them not being his was slim to none.

"Yes," Heather answered. "A sister named Sadie Josephine and a brother named Mason Anthony—"

"Hey, one of 'em's named after me too!" Tony said, attempting to break some of the tension.

Gibbs reached around and smacked the back of his head.

"Sorry," Tony said.

Heather called one of the other teachers into the room. "Terri, did Lisa say anything about LJ or Sadie this morning when she dropped Mason off?"

"No," Terri answered. "She was in a hurry and I was trying to get the Michelson girls to stop crying."

"How is she with the kids?" Tony asked.

"From what we can tell, she's a great mom," Terri answered. "The kids love her and she always seems to have it together. The kids are clean and well fed, dressed appropriately for the weather, happy, well adjusted…"

"How old are they?" Tony asked.

"Twenty two months," Heather answered. "I can't imagine why Lisa would abandon LJ."

"There was a man with Lisa this morning," Tony said. "Any idea who he might be?"

"The kids talk about someone named Greg sometimes," Terri said. "At least I think that's what they're saying. It's hard to understand them sometimes."

"When's the last time you saw them?" Gibbs asked.

"Last Thursday," Heather said. "They had a scheduled day off on Friday and Mason's the only one here today."

"We'll need a copy of all the information you have on the kids," Gibbs said. "We're also gonna take Mason with us. If Lisa shows up, call me immediately." He pulled a business card out of his wallet and handed it to the woman.

"I'll get everything ready," Heather said before she and Terri left.

A few minutes later Terri returned with a little boy that looked a lot like LJ. His hair was a few shades darker and his eyes brown instead of blue but it was obvious they were brothers.

Gibbs stood and took the boy from Terri. "Hi, buddy."

"Hi-yo," the boy said cautiously.

Gibbs studied the child for a moment, searching for any sign of himself in the little boy. He concluded, once again, that the child wasn't his. He couldn't have been. He'd used condoms and Lisa had been on birth control. His only child had died years ago. This boy might share his last name and he may have been intimate with the boy's mother but there was no way it was his son. There was no way he had three babies.

Tony took the paperwork from Heather then the woman helped them get Mason's belongings and they left.

"You're never gonna believe what happened," Tim grumbled as he entered the lab with Ziva following behind.

"What?" Abby asked, knowing no matter what Tim said it was nothing compared to what had happened at NCIS that morning.

"Who is the child?" Ziva asked.

"Your story first," Abby said.

"We blew a tire on the interstate," Tim said, "and of course it had to be before we dropped Troutman off at DC Metro."

"That sucks," Abby said.

"Yeah, it did," Tim agreed. Suddenly his story was nowhere near as interesting. "Who's the kid?"

"Um, I'm not exactly sure," Abby said hesitantly. "This is either Mason Anthony or, uh, Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

"Come again?" Tim said.

"Did you just say—"

"Uh-huh." Abby muttered.

"Wow. What on earth happened after we left?" Tim asked.

Tony sat in the backseat of the Charger, holding Mason and quietly listening to Gibbs' phone conversation with D'Arcy. They didn't have a car seat so that was the safest way to travel until they could get one. Gibbs arranged for D'Arcy to meet them at NCIS then hung up the phone and looked at Tony and Mason in the rearview mirror.

"If you have a question, ask," Gibbs said.

"Well, it's just that… you don't think… I mean, is there any way the kids could be, you know, um, related… to you?"

"My only child was murdered," Gibbs replied flatly.

"Got it," Tony said.

The rest of the ride was made in silence except for a small amount of babbling by Mason. Gibbs parked in the NCIS parking garage then they headed inside.

"I'll go find Abby and reunite the brothers," Tony said. He really wanted to talk to her and try to sort some things out.

"DiNozzo."

"Boss?"

"Squad room."

"Yes, Boss."

Tony followed Gibbs to the bullpen and found Tim and Ziva back at their desks. Both of them were clearly uncomfortable and uncharacteristically quiet.

"I take it by the looks on your faces, you two know what's going on," Gibbs said.

"Abby briefed us," Ziva said.

"Good," Gibbs said. "Go over the security footage from the main gate. I want that car found. Tim, look into Lisa Keenan's financial records. See if you can track her down that way." He knew finding the woman would be more than a matter of showing up at her front door.

"On it, Boss," Tim said.

"DiNozzo, get me a search warrant for Lisa Keenan's house and call me when D'Arcy gets here."

"You got it, Boss," Tony said.

Gibbs took Mason from Tony even though it was clear Tony was reluctant to give the boy up. With his team busy trying to track down Lisa Keenan, he headed back towards the elevator.

Tim watched until Gibbs was out of sight then spoke. "Gibbs seems…" he let his sentence trail off, unsure how to finish it.

"Yeah," Tony said.

"Anybody would be if they found out they had three children," Ziva pointed out.

"Boss is insisting they're not his," Tony said. "At this point I don't know if he just doesn't wanna believe it or if they really aren't or what."

"Maybe they are not," Ziva suggested. "I know Gibbs does not believe in coincidences but surely he is not the only person in DC whose last name is Gibbs."

"Yeah, but nobody names their kid Leroy Jethro," Tony pointed out. "Besides, Gibbs knows their mom. That's a few too many coincidences for me."

"But knowing their mother does not mean he slept her," Ziva pointed out. "Perhaps the woman just named the child after him."

"Yeah, I mean, Gibbs couldn't have kids without knowing about it," Tim said.

"Considering he didn't actually give birth to them, it could happen, McGee," Tony said. "Maybe you and Ducky aren't the only ones who fall for the crazy chicks."

After a productive morning, Abby was enjoying a little playtime with LJ and Bert. The three of them were sitting on the floor in her lab, rolling a playground ball back and forth while her babies built a DNA profile for whoever had licked the envelope. Her most pressing task was trying to figure out how on earth she was going to share what she'd learned with Gibbs. She'd already tried calling him but he hadn't answered and she wasn't in any hurry to break the news to him so she'd given up fairly easily.

"Abs," Gibbs said as he strolled into her lab. Mason squealed when he saw his brother so Gibbs put him down so they could be reunited.

"Gibbs!" Abby squealed, hurrying to her feet.

"What'd you find out?" Gibbs asked.

"Who's that?" Abby asked, pointing at the little boy who'd come in with Gibbs.

"Mason and LJ," Gibbs answered, pointing at the right kid as he said their name. "Whadda you got?"

"So you know?"

Gibbs let out a sigh of frustration. He was supposed to be the one with the questions and Abby the one with the answers. He was fairly certain his entire team thought these were his kids but they weren't and he shouldn't have to explain that to them. "I know Lisa Keenan had triplets. This is Mason Anthony Gibbs and that's Leroy Jethro Gibbs and there's a Sadie Josephine Gibbs out there somewhere that we need to find. Now, what did you find out?"

Abby cringed at the harsh tone. Gibbs usually wasn't harsh with her but under the circumstances she understood. "Not much more than you. The fingerprint on the note matched Lisa Keenan. I'm building a DNA profile for whoever licked the envelope, which was probably her too."

"Okay. I've got the others working on finding Lisa. I need you to help me find Sadie. Start by calling police stations, fire departments and hospitals." His ringing cell phone cut him off. "Gibbs," he said into the receiver.

"D'Arcy's here," Tony reported. "I put her in the conference room."

"Did you get the search warrant?" Gibbs asked.

"Legal's working on it," Tony replied. "I've been assured they'll hand deliver it when it's ready."

"Good," Gibbs said. "Meet me in the conference room." He hung up his phone and turned back to Abby. "I've got a meeting with D'Arcy. Call me if you find anything."

"What about the boys?" Abby asked.

Gibbs knelt next to the little ones, one of them playing with the ball and the other with Bert. "I'll take them with me." He wrapped his arm around Mason and reached out and rubbed his other hand over LJ's hair.

"He has your eyes," Abby said cautiously.

Gibbs looked up at her and frowned. "He's not mine, Abs," he said.

"Gibbs," Abby whispered.

"No," Gibbs said. After a firm look to silence Abby, he picked up both boys and left.

Despite the coffee pot in the break room being full, Tony emptied it out and started another one. After spending all morning with Gibbs, he knew how stressed out the man was and was hoping a good cup of coffee would help. He and D'Arcy made small talk while the coffee brewed and they waited for Gibbs to arrive.

"Did they finally give in and get you guys laptops?" Tony asked.

"They did," D'Arcy answered with a bright smile. "I think they finally figured out the information is a lot more secure in a laptop than it is in a folder."

"Makes sense," Tony said. "You can password protect a computer."

"Do I get any clues about what's going on?" D'Arcy asked.

"Kid was abandoned at the front gate of the Navy Yard this morning," Tony replied.

"That's an… interesting place to abandon a child," D'Arcy said.

"That's not the interesting part," Tony replied. "Kid's name is Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

D'Arcy wasn't quite sure how to react to that information. "Are they related?" she asked.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "Gibbs says no."

"But you're not convinced."

"I don't know," Tony said, looking over at D'Arcy. "I don't know what to think after everything that's happened. Sharing a last name could be classified as a coincidence but Leroy Jethro isn't exactly at the top of any baby name popularity charts."

The door to the conference room opened and Gibbs stepped in holding hands with both boys and moving at their pace. He nodded at D'Arcy who smiled back.

"Made you some coffee, Boss," Tony said, scooping LJ up as Gibbs passed by.

"Thank you," Gibbs said. He didn't think he'd ever been quite so happy about a cup of coffee. After the morning he'd had, he desperately needed one. He lifted Mason into his arms and headed for the coffee pot. "Did Tony brief you, D'Arcy?" he asked as he poured the steaming beverage into a Styrofoam cup.

"I was in the process when you got here," Tony answered before turning back to D'Arcy. "So, anyways, this little guy is LJ and Gibbs is holding Mason. Mason and I share a middle name so, you know, he could be mine."

"DiNozzo," Gibbs growled.

"Sorry, Boss."

"We need your help finding their sister, D'Arcy," Gibbs said as he sat down next to Tony. "LJ was abandoned, Mason was at daycare, we're not sure where the sister is. I'm hoping if she was abandoned somewhere, someone found her and called you guys."

"Let me check," D'Arcy said. "What's her name?"

"Sadie Josephine Gibbs," Tony answered. "They're twenty two month old triplets."

D'Arcy's didn't know what to think about everything she'd been told. She was trying to keep an open mind and at the same time preparing to help Gibbs adjust to being a dad again. Like Tony, she knew the chances of those children not being his was slim to none. Child Services didn't handle very many cases where the woman didn't tell the man about his children and D'Arcy had never handled one personally but she was determined to do everything in her power to help Gibbs and the kids if it came to that. Her working relationship with Gibbs made the situation feel very personal.

"Sadie J. Gibbs," D'Arcy read off the screen. "She's at Washington General Hospital. Looks like she was brought in by ambulance last Friday. She'd had a febrile seizure."

"Is that the one little kids get with high fevers?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes. Sadie had a fever of over 103 and she was dehydrated from vomiting and diarrhea. The doctor wanted to keep her so they could get her rehydrated and get her fever down. The mom left and never came back. They tried to track her down and when they couldn't, they called us."

"Is Sadie still at the hospital?"

"Yes."

"When the hospital's ready, I want her released into NCIS's custody until we get this mess sorted out," Gibbs said.

"Let me call Tanya and take the case off her hands," D'Arcy said, "then I'll go over to the hospital with you and check on Sadie. Do you want the boys in your custody too?"

"Yeah."

"I'll do the paperwork when we get back from the hospital."