The three men walked out of the interrogation room, Vance on the phone getting the attorney that Penny had requested and Gibbs and Kort glaring holes into each other.

"Before you two try to kill each other," Vance began, "She is correct we have no reason to not allow her access to her grandchildren. Sara isn't an issue but what do we tell her about Agent McGee?"
Kort looked at the Director with slight contempt in his eyes, "Tell the old bat that he doesn't want to see her.", he growled.

The two men with him in the hallway step back at the intensity and hatred in his voice.

Instead of commenting on what the CIA Agent had just said Gibbs stepped closer to the man, "We need to talk." the tone in his voice left no room for argument.

Vance called after the two men storming down the hallway, "Conference Room Two is open and secure."
The two men walked into the room designated as secure by the Director locking the door behind them and just continued their glaring match for a few minutes before Gibbs broke the silence.

"Are you Tim's uncle?"
"I am a deep cover CIA Agent that was hired to do my job because I have no family. Any family that I might have discovered would be in danger from multiple sources."
"I didn't ask for a job description, ARE YOU TIM'S UNCLE?"

Kort didn't answer at first and the other man was surprised by the accusation that came out when he finally did answer.

"Why didn't you protect him?" the anguish in his voice answering the Marine's question, "I handed picked you for him, because of your reputation of treating your team like family."
"Like hell I didn't protect him, Tim is part of my team, they are my family."
"Right." The sarcasm dripped of the single word the spy spoke. "You took on Senior for DiNozzo. Hell, you even went toe to toe with the Director of the Mossad for David. But when you met the Admiral you just stood back and allowed him and Ms Langston to continue with the life long bullying. She even convinced him to call and apologize. Would you ever allowed DiNozzo or David to apologize to the men who raised them? I don't think so, but you had no problem with Tim being forced to say he was wrong for being himself, for having his own dreams. Thank God, he didn't cave in to the Admiral after that phone call. But would you have cared?"

"The Admiral had cancer, I didn't want Tim to regret not trying to find peace with the man before he passed away. And what do you mean, you hand picked me for Tim? I made the decision to put Tim on my team, no one picked him for me."
"So you think that it was just chance that a rookie case agent was sent to the location of a murdered sailor, or that his call to NCIS headquarters went straight to DiNozzo's phone instead of the call center?

Oh and I guess that background report on Tim that was on your desk the day you finished on the sub appeared by magic?"

Gibbs couldn't hide his confusion at the confession the other man just made, "Why?"

"I had made sure that the right recommendations had been made and got to the right people on Tim's behalf for years. Making sure he got advanced in school and got acknowledged by the right people at several colleges so Tim would have a choice in higher education. The fact that he decided to join NCIS early on made me more comfortable because I would have less chance of influence at the larger agencies than I would here. Not that what I did was easy on any level. I had to use what leverage I could muster to help him without anyone ever connecting the two of us. When Tim finally finished his training and was assigned to Norfolk I began looking at team leaders for him because I knew his true goal was to be a field agent. Then the La Grenouille investigation was assigned to me and I knew I had to get him assigned to a strong team leader quickly to prevent his father from bull dozing everything he had worked so hard to achieve."
"You choose me?" Gibbs asked almost in shock.

"Yes, you were supposed to protect him from the Admiral and be the father that he should of always had, someone to be proud of him."

"I have always be proud of him." Gibbs whispered more to himself than to the other man.

"Not from where I stood." Kort practically growled in his face.

Finally everything Kort had just admitted registered with Gibbs, "Wait you helped get him advance in school, he skipped the fourth grade. How long have you known?"

" I left England just after my seventeenth birthday in September of '78. It took me a couple of months to confirm all the rumors about my father I had gathered over the years. My father was stationed in Greece at the time, but my brother was on leave in California awaiting the birth of his first child. I arrived at the base hospital in Alameda the day Tim was born. Every ounce of revenge I wanted against the McGee family faded the minute a first saw that little boy in the nursery. All I wanted from the moment on was to make sure he never felt as abandoned and alone as I did growing up."

"Why didn't you just make yourself known to the family that day and be part of his life instead of hiding in the shadows?"

Kort seemed to shake himself from the shadow that was sitting over him as the memories of his past overwhelmed him. Gibbs knew at that moment that he had gotten everything the man was going to share at the moment.

"Kort you choose me for a reason. Some gut instinct lead you to me to watch over Tim. Trust that instinct now. I will not let you or him down."

"It's too late, Gibbs. The secret is out now, someone knows and the danger that my job has brought to Tim is only beginning. You need to prepare yourself now. I can never allow him to be unghosted. For his protection he must walk away from the life he built here and from me."

Gibbs walked into the other man's personal space, "I protect my own. Tim will be unghosted and you will help us in keeping him safe."
Kort just laughed unbelieving the words that came out of the other man's mouth, "So the mighty Gibbs has spoken. Just remember he might be like family to you but he IS my family. I won't allow you to take any risks with his safety."
The two men looked hard at each other for several minutes before coming to an uneasy truce. No words were spoken they just nodded to each other.

AN: So part of Kort's story finally comes out, is it believable? Review with your thoughts and comments. Stray:)