A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Enjoy!

Chapter Eight

Ducky had arranged to take the afternoon off to spend it with Maisie and the Hubbards. He'd been in contact with Geordie who'd said they were all going a bit stir crazy and could they come over for a bit. Ducky had had an in-ground pool installed recently, so he invited the Gibbs children over for a swim and barbecue. They arrived within the hour, bringing one of the Agents on their protection detail with them. Damon had his job interview at the Diner this afternoon and thus declined their invitation to join them.

Geordie sat and watched his sister, brother and cousins swim and play in Ducky's pool. He swam when required to for his job, but otherwise it was not a sport he was particularly fond of. Now he was enjoying seeing Rob and Sarah lose their newly adult selves and play with their much younger cousins. Rob currently had Ainsley sitting on his shoulders, having a water battle with Sarah and Callum.

With his dark hair, lanky brown eyed Rob looked quite a contrast to the 5'4' red-headed, blue eyed young girl on his shoulders. He wondered if Tim had had a chance to pursue Rob's DNA search. He and Tim had discussed it during his last leave, nearly two years ago, and had continued the conversation in their letters. Tim was torn between asking Rob if he'd like to pursue it, offering to pay for it or to just present the results to him as a surprise. It was a chunk of money and Geordie knew Mr. Gemcity would be footing most of the bill, although he would also be sharing in the cost. Geordie thought that now might be the time. In the 20 months he'd been away, Rob had not only grown taller and grown out of his teenage awkward phase, but he also had left behind many of the insecurities of his abusive early years thanks to professional help, and was more confident in himself as well as his place in the world. He imagined the DNA search would turn up some French, perhaps Hispanic and possibly African American connections for Rob. He shrugged and made a mental note to mention it to Tim once they were past the current crises. Geordie would be monumentally relieved when this whole Fornell business was in the past, being in protective custody was a royal pain in the behind as far as he was concerned. He was, however, very happy to be home to help out and stay with his siblings.

Looking now at his sister, he grinned at her playfulness. He was glad to see Sarah enjoying herself with their young cousin. The physical differences didn't seem as drastic between Callum and Sarah. He was taller than she, yes, but had reddish brown hair and blue eyes which didn't contrast as vividly as Ainsley's bright red and Rob's dark curls. Momentarily he wondered what his own DNA search might turn up. With his dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, square chin and 5'9" stocky stature, he pretty much thought he was a 'mutt' as far as his DNA went. Still, it would be interesting to know.

He hadn't had a chance before today to really talk with Callum and Ainsley or Claire and Gram Maisie. He had to admit that meeting them was the first time he'd felt a touch out of place since he'd first read Tim's letter revealing he was Gibbs' son. He supposed he just wasn't used to being around a middle class family, where the parents were adults, the family lived in a house or under a roof in any event and the children were taken to school full of breakfast, not ever having to worry about when they'd eat again.

He also thought he wasn't used to being around women, certainly not American middle class women. Women in general, yes, as a Marine he'd had more than his share of hookups but being in Special Forces also kept him very careful and he rarely went for a second 'date', dangerous in his profession.

He'd known Sarah since she was a toddler, had participated in her upbringing, but that life was below poverty level, nowhere near middle class. Ziva was Israeli and while she appeared happy with her life in the States, she was definitely not American middle class. After his mom died, Ms. Lu at the shelter was really the only other woman who'd been in his life; she had been part of their life of poverty and in his opinion had been rather hit and miss about caring for them. He supposed she might have had to be to avoid showing any favoritism. So really, the Hubbard family was his first real introduction to Middle Class America. They seemed very nice people and he knew they'd welcomed Tim, Sarah and Rob back into the family with arms wide open. He figured he just needed to make some adjustments in his thinking.

One of the kids splashed him and he called out, "Hey watch it or you'll face the Monster Marine!" Rob and Sarah laughed, remembering the character he'd created to play with them when they were children, although certainly not in anything as luxurious as a swimming pool. Callum, curious as always, sent more waves of water toward Geordie and he jumped into the pool. Just because it wasn't his favorite thing didn't mean he couldn't play a little.

XXX

Gibbs slipped into the courthouse security office just as the doors were opening in the courtroom. The two thugs were brought in wearing orange jumpsuits and shackles; apparently they hadn't been 'playing nicely' with the other prisoners. A lawyer appeared and Gibbs was taken aback, he could swear it was a public defender he'd seen on other cases, he remembered her as her hair reminded him of a color Abby had tried last year, a shade of black too obviously from a bottle. He jotted down the attorney's name and texted it to Rick Carter with his notes; Rick would have the name run to see if she had joined a firm or if she was still a Public Defender. If she was, that would certainly back Tony's theory about the dirtbag having to watch expenses. It was a quick arraignment; both were remanded for trial; due to the nature of the crime and the thugs' history of violence, bail was set at $2M, each. Gibbs rather thought they'd be sitting in their cells until their trial.

Of more interest to him however, was the scrawny guy with the oversized head and noticeable scar on his neck sitting behind the prisoners. It was the underling Tim had pegged as 'the one' running the operation against Fornell and his family: Stud Diopiti. When bail was announced, ol' Stud winced and leaned forward to whisper something to his men. Gibbs asked the security supervisor sitting with him to replay that part and zoom in. As Gibbs could read lips nearly as well as Abby, he almost laughed out loud when the man told his employees they'd be safer in jail anyway, sorry but bail was out of the question. Oh yeah, this was the guy. When he and his guard reached the agency sedan, the agent performed a search which came up clean. Perhaps Stud couldn't afford any more trackers or explosive devices. At least Gibbs hoped that was the case. Leaving the courthouse, they both noticed they had a tail, but Agent Tack lost it easily enough and although they remained alert, they were tail-free throughout the rest of the drive to the Arlington PD. Gibbs had prepared his statement and merely wanted to make sure he handed it to the right person.

He'd also remembered that one of the homicide detectives had previously worked in Bayopolis and hoped he could get some information – at least contacts – for a possible Jane Doe murdered 17 years ago. He thought he would first try the woman's name, Ellen Brill, as Tim and Geordie had made it clear they had not tried to track her after she'd disappeared the night Tim was stabbed. Gibbs didn't really care about the woman, she had been abusive to his youngest, but he also felt strongly that no victim should go unrecognized if at all possible. She could have been identified with her death remaining a cold case. This supported his theory, formed on the day Rob and Sarah had told them the details of the stabbing, that Ellen Brill had been murdered by Svetlana's hit man, the one who'd stabbed Tim and lied to the spy about killing Sarah.

Gibbs had talked to Lu at the shelter on one of his 'work weekends'; she had a vague recollection of Rob's mother having the same color hair and eyes as Rob did, but she couldn't remember her height. She did mention she was very thin and had bad teeth, she supposed from drug use. A few weeks after Gibbs' conversation with her, he'd received a photo in the mail with a note from Lu saying she'd dug through some of the old photos and had found one with Ellen and the kids. He hadn't done anything since then, hadn't had time.

He asked the detective handling his statement about the man who had worked in Bayopolis and was not only told the man's name but was introduced to him. When he told him what and why he was looking for either a cold case or a Jane Doe – or both – from 17 years ago, the other detective looked at him in total surprise, quickly recovering. "NCIS, are you on the team that just solved the 20 year old cold case?"

"Yep, that's my team and this case, if I can find anything, is directly linked."

"Heard you closed out 3 other cold cases with that one."

"Yeah, we did, in Houston, Bayopolis and New York."

"Impressive. Yeah, have a buddy still in Homicide and he's still friends with the ME from that era, retired now. I'll give Stewart a call, have him call you." Gibbs handed him a card with his cell phone number.

"Thanks Detective, this is the only loose thread we have from that case and I'd like to get it taken care of."

"It'd be a real kick in the pants to be part of that, Agent Gibbs, to know we've helped bring some closure. Did she have family, the dead woman?"

"Dead or missing, but my gut tells me dead. And yeah, she had a young son. They weren't close, but I know it's in his head that she abandoned him, might help knowing she didn't, or at least not voluntarily."

"So you know him?"

"Yeah, I adopted him."

"Hey, that's great!"

"Thanks, he's a wonderful young man, very proud of him, studying medicine, going to be a doctor." Gibbs stopped himself from gushing any further, but the detective slapped him on the back, "Got kids myself, I understand."

Gibbs and his guard headed back to the Navy Yard. It was early evening by this time and Gibbs really wanted to check with Ducky and the lab. He was curious about Agent Cresspin, wanted to see what the interrogation had brought forth. He almost hoped it was drugs, it would certainly explain the woman's very odd behavior. As they entered the building, he thanked his guard who had done an excellent job being on point all afternoon; checking and re-checking for tracking and explosive devices and losing their tail. The man had never worked with Gibbs before but had heard all the stories. He now seemed shocked at the thanks and managed to sputter out that he'd just been doing his job. Gibbs replied, "You did it very well, I'll make sure Vance knows that. A multi-stop field trip as we had today isn't easy to handle. I'll ask for you again next time I'm allowed out."

The man managed a smile and a nod, stepping into the men's room to breathe into the mirror, make sure he was still alive and conscious, not dead or hallucinating.

Tony and Ziva were still at their desks and looked up when Gibbs came in. "Boss, have an update for you on Agent Cresspin. Even though we're not, you know, on the case." Gibbs smirked, Rick had been great about keeping them in the loop and letting them 'help'.

"Go."

"Doc Palmer did the honors as Ducky was off this afternoon, left before lunch."

Gibbs nodded, proud that Jimmy could step right in like that, "He had Ginger run a full tox screen and found all kinds of interesting things."

"Such as?"

"Well apparently she's on some meds and those were fine, her Team Lead is familiar with them, no problem. And those were in her blood. However, she also had a… date rape drug in her that Jimmy, I mean Dr. Palmer says interacted badly with her regular meds. Instead of knocking her out, it made her more or less like a zombie. Threw her cognitive functions, Jimmy said her 'higher functions' out of whack, resulting in the very weird person we met. They took her back to Bethesda where she's undergoing some sort of blood cleansing. Jimmy said she'd be in overnight and released in the morning. Her Team Lead was in talking to Vance for awhile. No one has said anything yet, so I don't so what the consequences are going to be. They're hoping now she'll remember where she got the tea the lab said contained the date rape drug. Rick's team is reviewing the security footage from the 5th floor, the lounge and the cafeteria."

"Ok, well that explains why an apparent nutcase was on protection detail, although if she left her post to get the tea, she's still in big trouble. "

Gibbs pointed to each of them, "No leaving your post and no accepting anything including drinks or food while on protection detail." He got sour looks from Ziva and DiNozzo; those were Protection Detail Rules #1 and #2. Both rules were well known to the team and every agent employed by NCIS.

He laughed, "Never hurts to be reminded. Just glad you and Muller were there with Tim, DiNozzo."

"It was Muller, Boss, can't take any credit."

"Good man."

Gibbs stretched then settled in at his desk. He looked up at Ziva, "Didn't you tell me something about the kids earlier today?"

"Yes, Gibbs, the three of them were invited over to Ducky's home for a swim and barbecue. We three," Ziva pointed to DiNozzo and Gibbs, "and Jimmy are also invited for the barbecue."

"DiNozzo?"

"Uh, if you two are going, then I'd like to head over to see Tim again." Tony was not yet comfortable when the whole family gathered and he had told Gibbs that, not wanting to seem unappreciative.

Walking up behind him, he gave him a shoulder pat, "Tell you what, when Tim's home from the hospital, we'll have a more immediate family dinner at the house."

"That sounds good, Boss."

Ziva spoke up, "I will be over after the barbecue, Tony."

"All right Ziva, you have the overnight shift then."

"Either Geordie or I will relieve you at 0300, Ziva. I'm sure he's itching to get out of the house."

"When will Sarah and Rob be able to visit?"

"I was hoping for today but that didn't work out; we'll aim for tomorrow afternoon."

"Good, I know Tim misses them."

Gibbs and Ziva left soon after that for Ducky's while Tony drove back over to the hospital, still using the agency sedan Vance had approved. The director had not been particularly thrilled about one of his top agents driving around in a convertible, even with the top up, while being under protection detail, so the sedan was his for the duration.

Gibbs and Ziva had a pleasant evening with Ducky and his household, enjoying the growing friendships between the cousins. Sarah and Rob had always been the youngest of the family; they were now thoroughly enjoying being the elders and role models to the two Hubbard kids. Barely into their teens, both Callum and Ainsley were enthralled by their cousins the writer and the doctor. Sure, Tim and Ziva were sort of cool too, but they were old, old enough to be their parents. Gibbs saw a spark in both Sarah and Rob he hadn't seen in a while. He relaxed with Claire, Maisie and Ducky, watching all the kids while Ziva and Geordie caught up with each other.

He'd given his kids and their guard a ten minute warning when Ziva's cell buzzed. She seemed puzzled by the caller id but took the call anyway, walking out around the pool. She wasn't gone long but she had her game face on when she came back in, determined not to display whatever emotion the call had evoked. When Gibbs looked a question at her, she shook her head. It was nothing to do with the case or with Tim. He relaxed again and then rounded everyone up. Ziva left for the hospital while Sarah rode with her dad and Geordie, Rob and their guard rode together.

XXX

Ziva tried to focus on driving, watching for tails on her way to the hospital. She didn't want to think about the conversation she had just had with her father. He was growing increasingly demanding and for the first time in her life, she found herself actively resisting him. He had reminded her on this call that she was a Mossad officer, not an NCIS agent. She shook her head. Tim had spoken with her about this many times, his hope that she would leave Mossad, marry him and become an American citizen, the marrying him to come first if possible. She loved him, was in love with him and if she were ever in a position to marry, he would be the one. But it was not currently possible and she did not know when it would be. Frustrated with her thoughts and not wanting to impose them on her lover, she turned the radio on and filled her mind with music.

She reached the hospital without incident and, although Tim knew something was up, he had learned to wait until Ziva was ready to talk. Pushing her did nothing but irritate her. He understood as he was much the same way, except that his response was to become stubborn rather than irritated.

Other than telling him of her day and pleasant outing at Ducky's, she didn't have much to say and just wanted to cuddle. Tim didn't mind the cuddling in the least but alarm bells were going off in his head. Last time she was this tight lipped and cuddly, not clingy, not at all clingy, he would never think that about Ziva, never, but last time she had been…like this there had been an argument with her father. He held her tight and felt her tense body slowly relax. As he remembered, following that last argument with Eli, when she finally relaxed she wanted sex, lots and lots of sex. At the time he had been happy to oblige, but that wasn't possible in any way now with an NCIS agent standing guard in the room 24/7. Still holding her tight, he drifted off to sleep. She felt him relax and then she too let sleep take her.

Geordie found them like that when he arrived close to 0300, Ziva still wrapped around Tim. His guard, Agent Jee gave his fellow agents at the door and in the room a quick salute before he helped himself to coffee – Gibbs had provided more of his favorite coffee so their guards could enjoy it too – and traded off giving each of them a break while waited for Officer David. He would escort her to Gibbs' home. His shift replacement would ride over with Gibbs later in the morning to escort Geordie home.

XXX

After reviewing everyone's schedules, Agent O'Brien, in charge of the protection detail, had found additional agents to escort Sarah and Rob to their respective jobs and classes. Their work sites and campuses had been inspected so the NCIS agents would know the layout. While Sarah and Rob were happy to be able to return to work and school on Tuesday, they along with everyone else involved heartily wished and prayed this would not last much longer. SecNav had assured Vance that the FBI would pay for all the protection detail and any extra costs NCIS incurred as a result of the Bureau's corrupt acting deputy director.

XXX

Ziva woke up when she smelled Geordie's coffee and kissing Tim, untangled her body from his and disappeared into the bathroom, normally off-limits to visitors. When she was through, she gave a quick hug to Geordie and gathering her belongings and Agent Jee she left. Geordie frowned as she left, while he didn't yet know her all that well, her body language had changed significantly since the barbecue last night. He remembered she'd had a call just before she left and wondered if that was the cause. He shook his head, likely none of his business and if it was something he should know, either Tim or their dad would tell him. Speaking of Tim, he looked over and saw his brother watching him, his green eyes cloudy. So it hadn't been his imagination.

"Want to talk about it, Bro?"

Tim signed, "Don't know what it is yet."

"She was fine at Ducky's, but right before she left for here she took a phone call. Maybe that was it?"

Tim nodded, "Thanks, that might be the missing piece of the puzzle. Probably what did it. When she's ready, she'll tell me."

"Think you can go back to sleep? You have a few hours before you can go to work, yeah, Dad told me last night."

"I'll try."

"Tell you what, Timmo, I'll read to you, that should knock you right out." Tim smiled at his brother and nodded, grateful his brother was home and safe… as safe as any of them were.

Geordie began to read and although this was a book Tim had neither written nor read, he only lasted a few minutes before his eyes slid shut again. Geordie, remembering long ago nights when he'd sometimes help Tim get the kids to sleep, also remembered little Robbie would be the first one to fall asleep and then wake up again if the voice doing the reading out loud stopped too soon. So now grown up Geordie continued reading aloud to grown up Tim, hoping the sound of his voice provided some comfort and maybe a path to a deeper sleep. After nearly fifteen minutes he stopped reading it aloud, much to the disappointment of their current in-room guard, Agent Camarillo. The agent just barely stopped herself from commenting but Geordie seemed to know and smiled at the woman before he settled back in the chair next to his brother's bed to get some sleep.

Tim didn't wake again until his father came in before the breakfast carts rolled; for once he slept straight through the change of guard and medical staff from night to day shift. Geordie welcomed his dad, waited until the escorting agent had had a chance to have a quick cup of coffee, and then kissed his drowsy brother as he and the agent left.

Gibbs made sure Tim was awake for breakfast as Ron Sacks was joining them. Tim had requested a visit as he had some questions and needed Ron's information to access the FBI database. Tim had used his laptop at work yesterday to write up his questions and had them printed, so when Ron came into his room, Tim waved to him and then handed him the questions. Ron gave Tim and Gibbs the answers, although at first he was concerned about the additional agent in the room. Gibbs explained the man was Carter's SFA and working the case, so he would be privy to the information anyway. Sacks smiled and nodded, appreciating the extra effort in having this particular agent on protection detail during his visit.

The breakfast trays arrived, with an extra one for Ron. After giving Tim the information he needed and the answers to his questions, Ron sat back with his coffee and breakfast. He had questions himself, but waited until Gibbs was through eating. Once his questions were answered to his satisfaction, he left for work. When Tim finished breakfast, he showered and his dad again helped him dress. When they emerged from the bathroom, they found two agents in the room. Carter's SFA really had been there just for Sacks' visit, so he was now being relieved by an agent from the Norfolk office. Eastman would continue providing protection for Gibbs and McGee on the drive to the office.

The drive to the Navy Yard was uneventful, to everyone's relief and Tim once again felt a thrill as they stopped at the gate prior to boarding the Yard. He hardly noticed the wheelchair today, he was that excited about closing in on his quarry.

He'd asked Ziva to boot up his desktop and laptop for him when she got in, knowing that would save him precious minutes of work time. He had three goals: find proof that Diopiti was the underling responsible for Fornell's troubles, find the connection between Gehob and Diopiti and find everything he could on Gehob's orders regarding Fornell.

It took him less than 15 minutes to find the financial proof that Stud Diopiti was their dirtbag. Once he had that, he handed the information off to Carter, if they needed more information, they had the links to find it.

Mentally reviewing Ron's answers, he logged on to the FBI network and quickly got to work on finding anything and everything about S.A. Gehob. It took him two hours but he finally found what he thought would prove to be the case that introduced Gehob to Diopiti. By this time he had also, with Vance's approval and an NCIS search warrant, delved into Gehob's financials going back several years. And there he found it, the proof he needed.

More than a decade ago, Gehob had worked on an FBI case investigating not the Bomlundering family, but one to which the Bomlunderings were tied. During the case, Gehob had apparently caught Stud Diopiti doing something criminal. Rather than bust him, Gehob must have seen an opportunity to gain some useful leverage with someone in organized crime and accepted a bribe, along with a promise of future services, to look the other way.

The lead agent on the case, the future Deputy Director Calloway, had attached private notes to the case file to keep an eye on Gehob, he thought something had happened during the case but couldn't prove it. McGee found the financial records as well as a note on a cancelled check from Diopiti in Gehob's bank account, promising 'future services'; Tim was able to find other documents, legal documents, with the same garbled signature, but no matter, the financial records were indisputable.

When Carter saw Calloway's notes, he and Gibbs put their heads together and then paid a visit to Vance who, after carefully walking them through the case, agreed to contact Calloway. They had met on a few occasions, so it would not be outside the realm of DC politics for Vance to call upon an ailing colleague. It would be unusual, as a prolonged illness did bad things to one's power base, but not unheard of. While Vance arranged to do that, Carter and Gibbs returned to their respective teams. Tim tracked Diopiti's cell phone and found him right outside the main gate to the Navy Yard, which made them wonder if he had arranged another bomb or tracker placement or perhaps was reduced to doing his own dirty work. They alerted the MPs at the gate.