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The Meaning of Blood

Chapter 6

"I just can't believe it, you know?" Tony stated, he was trying to wrap his head around everything that had taken place since the early hours of the morning. It was now late evening and team Gibbs were the only ones left in Tim's room.

Ducky and Palmer had left to oversee the arrival of a couple of new guests, the cases of which had been given to other teams, while Vance, after arranging the protection detail, had gone back to the Yard to rattle a few cages before calling it a day. Tobias and Ron were currently at the canteen, they had been the last of the group to go as they would take it in turns, ensuring that someone was in the room with Tim at all times.

"Believe what Tony?" Ziva questioned, she could tell something was bothering him but could not quite put her finger on what it was. For his part, Gibb's was all too aware of DiNozzo's struggle to accept what they had been told, as he too battled with the new knowledge that his youngest agent had not only survived a badly timed robbery which resulted in a massacre, but had never had the family upbringing they had all assumed.

Tony struggled with his emotions as he explained what he meant. "Things were different for him, normal even, compared to the rest of us, that's what he led us to believe."

"No Tony, he didn't." Gibbs responded quietly, as he continued to watch Tim and the monitor readings. "We took his quiet, no fuss making to mean he didn't have any problems."

"We assumed you mean; looks like we all broke that rule boss." Tony stated sadly.

"Yeah, yeah we did." Gibbs sat back, turning to face the other members of his team, letting his pride in his youngest agent show through. "Not only did he survive what turned into a massacre, but he saved a two year old girl in the process."

"McGee has always been stronger than what he appears," Ziva commented "and yet he never allows himself to believe it."

"Yeah, what about that our McGee, a little hero" Tony beamed, he and Ziva had now completely read the filed which was filled with witness reports and the script from a young McGee's witness interview, the reasoning behind his partner's almost irrational need to protect Sarah now completely obvious. "Boss, shouldn't we get in touch with Sarah?"

"Vance offered to make the call back at the office." Gibbs replied as he thought back to the private conversation he and the Director had had before the man left for the evening.

***Flashback***

"If Doctor Mallard is correct, Agent McGee has been using NCIS equipment for personal reasons Gibbs, that is not acceptable!" Vance lectured as the two of them stood outside Tim's room, so they were out of earshot of the rest of the group.

"In his own time Leon! For god's sake give the kid a break." Gibb growled back, he wasn't about to let the Director punish his agent for trying to find out who his father was.

"You're just expecting me to sweep this under the carpet? There are consequences for this type of behaviour." Vance reminded him.

"Hey you're all for it when it comes to your own problems, not to mention it's also against policy to have personal agendas. Just remember that's one of the reasons he's fighting for his life right now, or do I need to remind you about the ongoing battle with Lee Waun Kai that's just ended or have you already forgotten about that!" Gibbs retaliated.

"Fine, you win." Vance caved as he winced from the reminder at how close they had come to losing the young agent because of his and Kai's obsession with one another.

"Besides he's not done anything illegal, he's just been doing research and background checks on the men he has found to have had any sort of contact with his mother! It's not like he can just go up to them in the street and ask them outright, is it?" Gibbs pointed out, as he ran his fingers through his hair, before he explained to Vance the situation regarding Tim's health, just like it had with Gibbs earlier in the day, the news left the Director shocked and Gibbs pressed home his advantage.

"Bottom line, we need to find his father, or a close male blood relative, so it is time for us to step in. You know him well enough to know that he'd never ask this for himself, hell the fact that up until a year ago he had been trying to do this alone tells you that! We need to run his DNA and compare it with every database out there."

"Even if we do that, there's still no guarantee that we will find anyone." Vance reasoned "I'm going to head back to the office to rattle a few cages, then go home and make sure Jackie and the kids are alright."

It was a stark reminder that it had been a family member that had shot Lee Waun Kai dead that got Gibbs to also back off and reminded the man that Tim also had family that needed to know what happened. "One more favour, see if you can get in touch with Tim's sister Sarah and I suppose you better contact the Admiral."

"Yeah, Yeah I'll see what I can do on that too. What are we going to use for a DNA comparison?" Vance enquired

"We all keep spare toiletries at work, I believe McGee keeps his in bottom draw, there's probably a toothbrush or comb which we could uses to get a sample from that Leon."

"Alright, I'll ask the temp that's standing in for Miss Sciuto, what's her name….err…Oh yeah, Delilah Fielding, and have her start processing it, hopefully we will have some news in the morning." Vance informed.

"I appreciate this Leon." Gibbs called out after the man, as the Director walked down the hall, only to get a dismissive wave of the hand back, before he returned to Tim's room.

***End Flashback***

Ron and Tobias's return pulled Gibbs from his musings, looking at the faces of everyone in the room, he decided to call it a day, laying out exactly what he expected from them all, with the help of Balboa's and Taylor's teams they had enough to have an agent outside and one in the room at all times.

The day shifts would be four hours in rotation, Tony taking the first starting at nine in the morning and Ziva the last of the day, meaning that they would also still be able to work in the office together. Gibbs was taking the eight hour night shift personally; that meant that two others were going to be needed for the in room protection detail. Gibbs had chosen Balboa and with a little persuasion from the man himself, his probationary agent Dorneget, but only on the proviso that a stronger agent would be outside the door during his shift, even though Tim was becoming good friends with Dorneget, Gibbs wanted a more experienced agents on his protection detail.

Tobias and Sacks were going to be working with them but Gibbs wanted them concentrating on the case more than anything so he left them out of the protection detail, which they both seemed to understand. Ducky, Palmer and Vance of course would come and go throughout the day, as their schedules allowed, though Gibbs was certain Ducky would make sure that he and his assistant would be there at different times. Doctor Pitt had informed them that he had managed to clear his schedule as much as possible and would be regularly checking in on Tim, along with the nurses.

Now all they could do as far as Tim was concerned was wait, so with the others gone for the night Gibbs picked up Tim's previously sealed file and started reading it again, noting down points of interest and things to look into in closer detail once he got to the office.

NCIS

Vance had been in the office about an hour already and knew that Gibbs was on his way in from the hospital having been relieved by Agent DiNozzo, so he was hoping to get some news for the other man before he started demanding answers.

"Miss Fielding." Vance greeted as he stepped in to the quiet lab; it was so different to the blasting music that normally greeted his ears. Delilah Fielding may have only been filling in for Abby Sciuto but her work and record spoke volumes; he was really hoping that he would be able to talk her into transferring to the Navy Yard.

"Good morning Director." Delilah Fielding replied, looking up from what she was currently working on.

"Have you been here all night Delilah?" Vance questioned, noting how tired Abigail Sciuto's stand-in was looking.

"Yes actually, what with the double murder cases Cooper's team caught yesterday, Sharp's team's on-going stabbing and the evidence from yesterday's events, there's quite a backlog I'm afraid." Delilah sighed, just as the computer beeped. "Ah, that should be the DNA results."

Delilah turned and headed for the computer, Vance watched as the looks of confusion and surprised washed over her features as she looked over the findings from the DNA test results, before she turned to him with a puzzled look on her face.

"Problem?" Vance queried.

"That depends Director." Delilah answered cryptically.

"On what?" Vance questioned, the reply to which left him stunned, "On how you feel about family members working together on the same team."