A team-family story, with a stab at attempting to capture a real family feel, with affection, love, conflict, anger, humor, resolution and forgiveness just as there are in real families and just about everyone makes a mistake or two in here. Mentions of past cases/episodes and references to cases from my other stories. Hey, cases are hard to write, why waste them? Ziva has left the team and Eleanor Bishop is now a junior agent. Also if you're not familiar with my version of Tim's background, it's on my profile under 'Personal Fanon'. And finally, this has not been beta'd.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Prologue

Friday, May 22, 2015

Looking out the window Ty cried in fear. Mum was driving but it was Mama who yelled to them, "Tyler, Brynie, hang on my loves!"

He heard his baby sister screaming as the world turned over and over and over. He called for his Mama and Mum but no one answered.

Chapter 1

Gibbs slammed his phone down, "Grab your gear and your go bags, two dead, including a naval officer, on Route 33. At the questioning looks, he added, "Rockingham County, outside of Harrisonburg."

Bishop notified Ducky as she ran to catch up with her teammates, gear and go bags slung across her shoulders. She noticed her Senior Field Agent had his go bag with him and followed suit. Tim held the elevator doors open as she slid in. She noticed their TAD agent in the corner of the elevator, watching the rest of them.

With DiNozzo out on personal leave, Vance had assigned Agent Chalmers to Gibbs' team. Gibbs had of course growled, there wasn't anything he, McGee and Bishop couldn't handle but Chalmers stayed. Much like Dorneget back in the day, Chalmers was an unassigned agent and was both thrilled and terrified to be assigned to Gibbs' team, thankfully on a temporary basis.

McGee turned to Chalmers, "You're with me in the van; Bishop, you ride with Gibbs. If you need to hit the head, now's the time; lot of traffic and miles to cover, no time to stop on the way."

Gibbs fought to keep the pride, amusement and resignation from his face. McGee was doing a great job as his temporary Senior Field Agent and once DiNozzo returned to the Navy Yard the Team Leader and Tim needed to have a serious talk about his future. Clearly it was time, past time, for the younger man to leave the nest, as Ducky would say, and move up in the agency.

Bishop and Chalmers nodded in acceptance of the assignments and advice. As these were the first deaths they'd handled since Chalmers' attachment to the team, Ellie figured Tim wanted to run through protocols with him, both agency and Gibbs', not always the same thing.

Once in the van, Tim started talking as they drove out through the security gates and in the direction of Route 33 Rockingham County, in the hills of Virginia.

"Ever process a scene with two dead?"

Chalmers shook his head, "Not two bodies at once, no. Two in one case but not at the same time."

"Means the pressure is ramped up, we need to be thorough and quick. Any little thing can be a clue. What have you done at accident and crime scenes? Remember we don't know yet if this is a crime."

The TAD told him and Tim nodded. "Good, that's just about everything. Pay attention if you end up taking witness statements, every tiny little thing, no matter how inconsequential it might seem, needs to be written down and further questioned. For example: once on a review of a cold case, a witness mentioned in passing that he and a person of interest had the same insurance company and the POI was pissed because a claim had been denied. That bit of trivial information led us to the insurance company and to the POI; from that we busted a murderer and closed a case that had been cold nearly a decade."

Chalmers thought about that for a couple of minutes asking, "Will you be assigning tasks?"

"If we get information en route, yes. On site probably not, Gibbs will handle it. He'll walk the scene, getting a read on it. As I said, get your work done quickly and as thoroughly as possible, if you need help, let me know, do not hesitate! Ellie and I will lend a hand when possible."

"Ok, thanks." Chalmers took a sip of the coffee he'd brought with him. Tim gave him a quick sideways look, "Leave that in the van. No liquids at the scene."

"Yep, was planning on it."

"Good. And if Gibbs has coffee, keep any comments to yourself. You do not ever mess with his coffee, Rule 23."

The crash site was a two hour drive from the Navy Yard and with many schools already out for the summer and Memorial Day on Monday, the early Friday afternoon traffic was at best sluggish until they exited the Beltway and then I-66. The Medical Examiner's van, with Jimmy driving, caught up with the sedan and the MCRT van as they rolled onto I-81 south.

Chalmers received a text from Ellie saying she was waiting for a call back from the state troopers on site for the victims' ids and Tim nodded, good, they needed all the information they could, might as well use the drive time to get started. While they waited, Chalmers asked Tim a question, "I know this isn't my business, but why is Agent DiNozzo out for so long? It's not medical, right?"

Tim smirked as he nodded, "Definitely not medical! And it is team business and since you're on the team right now, that includes you. All three of us, Gibbs, DiNozzo and I have a lot of personal leave accrued and Human Resources and Director Vance decreed we had to take it; I guess the Accounting Dept. hates carrying our paid leave forward every year. They didn't even give us an option to sell it back and there were dire threats made if we tried to work from home or anything like that. DiNozzo pulled together a trip to visit family overseas; when he gets back, Boss and I will flip a coin to see who goes next."

"Wow, I can't imagine having that much personal time off accrued, to be gone for two months."

Smiling, Tim replied, "You work at the agency long enough, it happens. DiNozzo has fifteen years in, Gibbs has twenty something and I've got twelve years. However, because I did the electronic work by myself the first few years on the team, when I did take leave I'd end up working and Gibbs made sure I was compensated for that. Which meant I'd be out of the office for say 10 days but maybe only 5 or 6 of them, sometimes less, would count as actual days off."

"So how long will you be gone?"

"Uh, I think 7 weeks, nearly the same as Tony."

"And do you have a trip planned too?"

He chuckled, "With the exception of a brother in the Marines, my family is in Maryland. There's only a few of us, so no big trip there. Although if I can wait until after Gibbs' return, my sister will be in London for graduate school. I wouldn't mind taking a look around the UK. Don't know about the whole 7 weeks though, that'd cost a fortune!"

"You could stay in the U.S., do a road trip."

"Yeah, thought about that. Not sure how much fun that would be by myself but it could be a way to kill some time."

Chalmers snorted, "Most people would be thrilled to be off work, with pay and benefits, for nearly two months."

Tim laughed, "You're right. But we put in so much time it's hard to keep up with friends, have a life outside work."

"Oh…huh, heard you were in a relationship."

Tim sighed, how had the conversation gotten this personal? He used to be far more closemouthed; he guessed over the years he'd loosened up, learned to trust that personal information would not be used against him.

"No longer true."

"Oh geez, sorry. Man I wasn't thinking, that was crossing a line."

As Tim felt it was partly his fault he shrugged, saying, "Appreciate you keeping it to yourself."

Chalmers nodded, "No problem."

They rode in awkward silence for several minutes until Ellie called. "Two things: one, the troopers say this is definitely a crime scene and two, I have the ids. How do you want to do this?"

Tim had already decided, "You take professional, Chalmers and I will handle personal."

"Okay. The victims are Navy Lieutenants, both female. Suzanna Christine Nichols and Deanna Marianna Mays. Mays is registered at a resort near the crash scene called Massanutten. Sending Chalmers their info."

Chalmers nodded when he received it. "Got it, thanks."

He got busy with his phone, looking up the personal details of their victims' lives. He sighed, "Oh boy."

"What's that?"

"They're a couple, married to each other since 2011, the end of DADT, and they had had a commitment ceremony years before that. But that's not the 'oh boy' part, this is: they've got two little kids under three, a boy Tyler Dean and girl Suzanna Bryn. I'm going to social media to see what else I can find out."

Tim hoped those kids hadn't been with them and that there was a guardian for them. He dreaded cases with orphaned kids; it hit too close to home for him.

"Let Ellie know about the kids, she needs to let the troopers know. Do a quick look for family members but don't spend too much time, Child Protection Services will be called in. Gotta prioritize, handle what happened today."

Chalmers grunted his agreement as he sent a quick text and kept working. "Damn, their kids are with them, there are photos posted yesterday on Facebook from that resort. Letting Bishop know I've confirmed. Ok, I'm looking for family."

For several minutes Tim heard nothing but muttering from his passenger. Finally there was a sigh from Chalmers, "Both women grew up in foster care, from what I've read online it's one of the things that drew them together. They met in high school, got scholarships to community colleges, went on to get their degrees and were accepted into Officer Candidate School. Neither seem to have any relatives. They drove across country from Seattle, arrived 5 days ago only to find base housing wasn't ready for them. They checked into the Navy Lodge and two days later checked into the Massanutten resort. And geez, their whole lives are posted online."

Tim resisted the urge to swear loudly about the lack of relatives, managing to say, "With their experiences, they probably made sure their kids would be taken care of, have a home and guardian."

Chalmers made a face, "I've never dealt with this before. How will we find out?"

Time to move things along. "For now focus on the immediate information we need and we'll let Social Services know about the kids. Start working on the investigation. Think about who, how and why? We don't know enough yet to decide what to investigate so we look at everything. Lock down their rooms at the Navy Lodge and at Massanutten; both rooms needed to be searched. What was their status at the resort? Were they just out for a drive or had they checked out? And if so, where were they headed? Was their housing ready at AB or were they headed back to the Navy Lodge? Track their activities at the resort. And share your findings with Bishop."

Chalmers gulped, feeling he should have known to do all that. "Yeah, ok."

Seemingly reading his mind, Tim made a noise, "I'd rather you ask than flounder around. It's all a learning process."

Feeling better, Chalmers called the resort, identified himself and asked a few questions, ending the call by telling the resort manager to hold the room they'd occupied, not to clean it and definitely not to rent it out, no one was to enter it.

Disconnecting he updated Tim, "They checked out of the resort this morning; room hasn't been cleaned yet; won't be until we release it. The address they gave at registration was 12 Bowline Green SW, #106, Washington DC. I'm looking it up now."

Tim nodded; that was the address for the Navy Lodge and the bit about their base housing not being ready would seem to fit but he'd let Chalmers tell him. After the TAD verified, he told Tim that both officers were confirmed PCS; that is making a permanent change of station.

"Ok, time to talk with Gibbs." Chalmers nodded and contacted the Team Lead's cell, putting it on speaker. Ellie answered, "McGee for Gibbs?"

Tim gave a half smile, "Both of you. We know the lieutenants have two small children who were with them and are now unaccounted for. This is gonna take us awhile. Boss, I'm thinking we should chase another team over to the Navy Lodge, room #106 where the family was staying. From their social media postings, their base housing wasn't ready for them. They checked out of Massanutten this morning, we've already put the room on lockdown; we should get a deputy or one of the troopers over there to watch it."

"Good thinking, McGee. Bishop, call Dispatch. Chalmers, chase a deputy over to the resort."

Both agents muttered "Yes Gibbs" as they made the calls. The Rockingham County sheriff and deputies were already at the crash site with the state troopers and quickly dispatched a deputy who would hold the room until the agents could get there.

By the time the three vehicles arrived at the crash site, it and the surrounding countryside were crawling with Search and Rescue teams looking for the missing children. Another team was searching for the missing kids at the resort and an AMBER Alert was already out.

The four agents got busy with the scene, although Gibbs and McGee had to restrain themselves from doing their own search for the kids. Tim kept an eye on the two less experienced agents, directing them to different angles for photos, pointing out skid marks, paint transfer, etc. The vehicle was a midsize SUV that had been rammed from behind, again on the driver's side and a third time close to the headlight on the front left. From the tire marks on the pavement, it looked like the driver of the victims' SUV had tried to correct and evade, twisting and turning on the road.

Paint transfer proved the hit at the front of the vehicle and the troopers speculated it sent the SUV into at least one roll before landing in a ditch on its side, the rear of the vehicle resting on a large boulder, the front nose down in the ditch.

The back passenger side door sagged open; the children's safety seats in place with the restraints unfastened. The front passenger door had been crushed inward, they speculated the vehicle had landed on the large boulder and then slid down to its current position. With the front of the vehicle, including the engine, crushed halfway into the front seat, the victims were trapped, pinned down.

Judging from the angle and height of the impact areas, the vehicles that rammed them were larger. The rear door was crushed and the contents of the cargo area, mostly personal belongings, had been flung as far as 30 feet.

Gibbs prowled around Ducky, waiting to hear the time of death and with any luck cause of death. The senior medical examiner ignored him until he and Jimmy were through with both bodies. "Time of death about 3 hours ago. Preliminary cause of death is exsanguination; I believe both of them bled out, most likely from internal injuries, in a matter of minutes. But as always…"

"I know Duck, pending the autopsies."

Tim had stopped working on tire tracks to listen to Ducky's findings and noticed how noisy the crash site was. He thought about two little kids, toddlers barely past babyhood, both terrified. Would they realize someone had hurt their mothers deliberately? If the drivers of the ramming vehicles hadn't taken them, where were they? Remembering his brother Rob hiding under the cot at the shelter when he was scared or overwhelmed, Tim wondered if the kids were hiding and if all the noise was scaring them even more.

Catching Gibbs' attention, the older man returned his frown with a questioning eyebrow. Tim looked around, still listening and Gibbs did the same, apparently coming to a similar conclusion. Search and Rescue teams assume the lost person wants to be found but these kids were so little, they might think the S&R folks were bad guys or at least strangers. And with the noise of the investigation and the number of people on site, they'd never be able to hear the kids if they were nearby.

These kids were very young and the terrain here was uneven and hilly; Tim thought the 18 month old wouldn't be able to walk or climb very far. They'd been out there for three hours, they'd be hungry and thirsty. After a quick conference Gibbs agreed with Tim's thoughts and the two of them approached the coordinator of the S&R teams. He wasn't terribly happy with their proposal but agreed it made some sense. He called back the teams and the crime scene workers joined them in taking a quiet break.

With what Tim and Tony called his superhearing, it was only a minute or so before Gibbs heard a baby crying. He held up his hands to the others to stay in place, then motioning to Tim, they grabbed water bottles and walked a few steps up the hill. There the pair stood silent, looking around them until Gibbs pointed to a thick shrub. When they got closer they saw one tiny purple shoe and a slightly larger red one. It was apparent from the smell that both toddlers needed a diaper change. A bag identified as a diaper bag had been lying intact in the middle of the road, now Tim sent a quick text to Ellie that they would need a towel or blanket, diaper, clean underwear for the boy or a second diaper, plenty of wipes, clean clothes if she could find them and a plastic bag for the dirty diaper(s)/underwear and to continue maintaining the quiet.

Peeling off their NCIS jackets, the two men split up, going around the shrub. A tiny girl was curled up underneath the bush, crying, while a little boy sat at her feet, guarding her.

Rather than stand over the kids, Tim sat on the ground next to the boy. "My name is Tim McGee. Are you Tyler Nicols-Mays?" Beside him, Gibbs' eyes widened as he looked at the children but he didn't say anything.

The boy frowned, "Yes. Are you good guys? Bad guys hurt our car, we crashed an' I couldn't wake my mommies."

"We know, Tyler. Yes, we're good guys, we're policemen." Tim held out his badge and the toddler touched it before nodding, "Dat's like on "Sidewalk Cops". Mum lets me watch it."

Now Gibbs looked confused while Tim did a quick search and saw it was a kids' YouTube show. "That's right, like that. See, my boss has a badge too."

The little boy giggled, "He's da boss?"

"Yes, he is. His name is Gibbs. There are other people by your car, we all want to help you."

Tyler told his sister to crawl out and she did, plopping into Tim's lap. The kids drank enough water to satisfy their rescuers and then Tyler made a face. "We're all dirty."

"That's ok, kiddo, we'll get you cleaned up."

"I want Mama and Mum!"

Tim looked at Gibbs, wondering. "Tyler, can you tell us what you saw, what happened?"

The little boy, trying not to cry, nodded, "I sawed a big red truck. He hit us."

"Did you see the bad guy?"

"Uh huh, his hat. Orange wit' black things on it. I don' like orange anymore."

"Do you remember anything else?"

"Mama said, "Tyler, Brynie hang on loves." With that the tears rolled down his little face, "I want Mama, I want Mum."