I'm Still Here

Leroy Jethro Gibbs beamed with pride when he saw his son for the first time. Sure he was sixteen years late, but Gibbs could still see his baby boy in the young man walking towards him.

He had to admit that his son was extremely handsome; his natural blond hair was gelled to perfection in a Mohican with short back and sides, longer than Gibbs' own. His tight white top he was wearing showed his well defined muscles and enhanced his slight tan from the summer.

Confidence was shown in the way he walked, his back straight and shoulders held back. And also with his actions as the young Welsh man smiled and winked at a couple of girls that were admiring him.

The father of Zacharriah Jethro Daniels noted the mischievous sparkle in the similar icy blue eyes. But there was something else in the eyes, sadness? Pain? Or was emptiness? Gibbs couldn't tell.

But he could tell that the teenager was a ladies man that could give Dinozzo a run for his money, a trouble maker and a joker. He would defiantly keep him on his toes, and his house hopefully wouldn't feel so cold and empty any longer.

"Leroy" The blond teen nodded his head as a form of handshake.

"Zacharriah" Gibbs nodded back, taking one of his bags off him and leading him to the car.

Gibbs looked at the boy's bruised and cracked knuckles when he put his suitcase in the boot. Evidence to suggest he had been fighting or punching objects in anger. He wasn't all that surprised by the fact, considering the reason his son was coming to live with him in the first place.

The whole of Zach's family had been murdered in a drunk-driving accident. His mother, step-father, little brother and sister his only living relatives, save Gibbs, all dead.

The only reason Gibbs knew his son existed was because of the will. Zach's mother led him to believe his father died out at sea in the Marines before he was born. Gibbs didn't need to know anything because it was only a one-night-stand, and the many miles that were between them meant that he'd never be 'just in the neighbour hood'.

Father and son drove in silence for half of the hour long drive to the McGee's home, just thinking about life in general, until Zach broke it.

"This is so weird having the passenger seat on the right side" He chuckled to himself.

"Whatever you do, don't tell that to Ducky" Gibbs knew that Ducky wouldn't be able to resist a chance to break into a story of the history of Great Britain.

"Who's Ducky?" The young boy had a strong Welsh accent, another reason for him to be a ladies man. Nearly all women loved an accent, especially a foreign one.

"He's like your grandfather. You'll meet everyone in a bit Zacharriah. We're going to one of your Uncle's and Aunt's house for lunch" Gibbs informed him. It seemed to be enough information for the time being because he was silent for the rest of the ride.

When they reached Tim's and Abby's house Gibbs locked the car and walked straight to the side gate leading into the back garden, ignoring the small gang of girls sitting on the next door neighbour's garden, staring at his son like he was a piece of meat.

It was a large house due to Tim's best selling novel series. It had two en-suite bedrooms, three normal bedrooms, Tim's study, a play room, two bathrooms, a large living room, kitchen and Dining room. And they had an enormous garden, for the kids to run around in.

His son it seemed, couldn't hold himself back from pretty girls, he strolled over there straight away, introducing himself to the leader of the group.

"Hey I'm Zach.." Jethro couldn't hear the rest of what was said, but the girls seemed to like it as they were all giggling and twirling their hair round their fingers, only the leader seemed to be able to compose herself.

Gibbs sighed to himself and walked through the side gate into to the back garden to his waiting family. They may not be blood related but his team were a family.

"Where is he?" Abby bounced excitedly on a seat, trying to peek round Gibbs as if he was a young boy shyly hiding around him. Everyone else was looking expectedly at him, waiting to meet the new member of the family.

"He's flirting with the girls next door" Gibbs said grabbing a beer that Tim offered him.

"I like him already" Tony laughed, silenced from a glare from Gibbs and a head slap from his fiancé Ziva.

"Ow" Tony rubbed his head.

"Thanks Ziva" Gibbs raised his beer slightly to her.

Zach walked in the back garden rubbing off a lipstick mark from his cheek, smirking slightly to himself, not noticing the glare Gibbs sent his way.

Abby ran over squealing pulling him into a tight hug, quickly followed by her and Tim's youngest child.

Kate was five and was a girly girl with her mother's confidence, but shared more of Tim's looks. She had light brown hair and green eyes, with a cherubic face.

"I'm Aunty Abby and this is your cousin Kate" Abby said excitedly pulling him in for another hug, Kate wrapping her arms around his legs.

"I'm Zach" He informed everyone, flashing his perfect white teeth.

Abby then proceed to introduce him to everyone else, dragging him along by his hand. "That's your uncle Tim, he's my husband and he is a computer genius. Uncle Tony, a child at heart. Aunt Ziva is Tony's fiancé, she's an ex-mossad officer so don't mess with her if you want to live. This is Granddad Ducky, he's British too, well he's Scottish anyway. This is Uncle Jimmy, he's Ducky's assistant at NCIS, he's got a girlfriend too but he hasn't let us meet her yet" She stopped to glare at Jimmy.

"I told you that you could meet her on Monday" The curly red headed man defended himself.

Abby narrowed her eyes at him "We better do"

Then her manner changed from angry to over-happy again quicker than Zach could blink. "And last but not least, your cousins Sarah and Jayden."

Tim and Abby were Sarah's legal guardians until she turned eighteen next year, and Jayden was their oldest child at twelve. He looked more like Abby but with Tim's light brown hair and green eyes.

"Zach will you play Scooby-doo with me please?" Kate asked with her pleading eyes, reminding him so very much of his baby sister.

"I'll play Kate" Sarah answered saving Zach, sitting down next to Kate on the grass.

"Cheers Sarah" Zach said shaking the thought of his little sister out of his head. It would do no good to think of them now, it only worsened the pain. He grabbed the seat at the table in between Ducky and his father, Tim and Tony were opposite.

"Hello Zacharriah" Ducky smiled at him warmly.

"Hey … Ducky isn't it?" Zach knew he was useless with names, some people thought he was just too arrogant and self-loving to be bothered to learn names. It wasn't true; he just wasn't good at remembering names.

"Doctor Donald Mallard to be precise" Zach grinned at that.

"Is your middle name DarkWing?" the teenager laughed. Tony started laughing at that, remembering the DarkWing Duck cartoons.

"Or is it Daffy?" Tony added.

Zach and Tony high fived each other over the table, everyone laughed except Ducky, he had always hated being called DarkWing, Daffy or any other cartoon Duck. He glared slightly at the pair.

"So where in the UK are you from Zach?" Tim joined in the conversation

"I'm from a little town in south Wales" Zach told them.

"Did you know that Mount Everest was in fact named after a welsh man. Sir George Everest. You see he was a surveyor …" Ducky got into story mode.

"Zach come on we'll go help Abby and Ziva with lunch" Gibbs was smart enough to leave when Ducky started one of his stories. Tony shortly followed making a quick excuse to help with drinks, leaving Tim to listen to Ducky.

For lunch they had roast chicken sandwiches with crisps and salad in the middle to help themselves to. Jayden and Kate made sure they were sitting next to Zach, Jayden thought he was the coolest cousin he could have asked for, while Kate saw a new friend to play tea party with. It was an added bonus for Kate because he was British, and her father had told her that they loved tea.

"Zach will you play football with me after?" Jayden asked him

"Yea we can all play" Tony chimed in

"I don't know how to play but I'll try" Zach smiled at his cousin.

"You don't have football in Wales?" Jayden looked offended, American football was his favourite sport.

"Not the one you play. We play rugby it's a lot better. I played in the under sixteen's for Wales at home." Zach told them proudly.

"Cool, what other sports you play?" Jayden hoped it was something he knew.

"I played for the under sixteen's football team too. And I played sports with my mates in the park, but we don't have that many teams that close to my home."

"Soccer is football in the U.K Jay" Tim told his confused son.

Zach and Jayden quickly ate the rest of their lunch so they could play football, they were halfway out of their seats when Gibbs commanded them to sit down and wait for everyone else.

Zach stood up even further with a cocky look on his face daring his father to stop him. He only sat down when he noticed that everyone was staring at him in shock and he really couldn't be bothered to cause a fuss at the moment.

Abby had ordered everyone into the living room once they had all finished eating and the table been cleared.

She made sure that Zach was sitting on the middle of the sofa where everyone could see him, and gave Tim the digital camera.

"Can I go first mom?" Jayden asked, Abby nodded and he plucked his present from the pile.

"Thanks Jayden" Zach opened the box shaped present to find an American football, it was a nice present even if he didn't know how to play.

Kate was next and had given him a homemade friendship bracelet; he had put it on straight away to show her he liked it. Abby and Tim had brought him a welcome card with $200 inside it, to say he was pleased with that was an understatement.

Ziva and Tony had brought him a DVD player and a bunch of DVD's including James Bond, Magnum P.I, Indiana Jones and Batman. Ducky had given him a bunch of books and some Cadburys chocolate warning him that the American's chocolate was not quite the same.

His father had given him dog tags, on one piece of the metal it had Zacharriah Jethro Gibbs engraved on it with Son engraved on the back and the other piece of metal it had Leroy Jethro Gibbs with Father on the back. Zach put it on, admiring it. He absolutely loved it, he loved the name Gibbs rather than Daniels which was his step-fathers name. He had hated that man, he had no sympathy for him when he died and had refused to let him be buried in the same service as his family.

Gibbs had also gotten him two tickets for a baseball game, his own baseball glove, ball and bat. He also promised to buy him a baseball jersey when he learnt more about the sport and the teams involved.

"Thanks guys" Zach once again showed them that toothy grin that never quite reached his eyes, not that many people noticed other than Gibbs.