Bound by Blood, Forged in Fire

First Born

As Tony barreled his way through the hospital hallway. This was a day that he couldn't have ever imagined, Gibbs was in a hospital in a coma. The invincible Leroy Jethro Gibbs should never be in a hospital for any reason. The second-most senior agent saw the Director outside the room that his other boss must've been staying in and made his way there. He noticed that Jenny Sheperd was gawking into the room, starstruck. Dinozzo looked into the room and saw a man wearing a desert camouflage NWU sitting at the foot of Gibbs' bed. His patches were that of a Petty Officer First Class, he was tall (about 5'11"), fair-skinned, and dark-haired. He looked up at them as if he hadn't noticed them before. He had grey-blue eyes, his facial features were what one would consider 'traditionally handsome, and he had a cleft chin and angular jawline. Director Sheperd was awestruck by his appearance, a sense of deja vu washing over her; DiNozzo felt this too, but only briefly, the next two things he noticed were the Naval Special Warfare pin on his chest and his name tag, it read Gibbs.

"Ma'am, sir." PO1 Gibbs stood up and extended his hand to greet them.

Both Sheperd and DiNozzo respectively took his hand. Once they recovered from their doubletake they noticed how tired he looked. He seemed to be fighting his fatigue with some success, but he looked to be more worried than tired.

"The Doctors said that there were no signs of brain trauma so far, but they'll check again. Other than that, he's fine." The Sailor said, knowing that they'd have questions.

"Thank you, Petty Officer." replied the Director, she was mentally going through the questions she had. DiNozzo, however, lacked such subtly.

"What's your relationship to Big Gibbs?" asked the usually comedic investigator, pointing from the sailor to the comatose man.

The SEAL's eyebrows arched at the other man's bluntness. "He's my father, Agent DiNozzo."

This restored both investigators' shellshock.

. . .

"Gibbs has a son?!" asked Abby, totally caught off guard with such news.

"Yep, a full-blooded biological son," replied McGee, still processing how this was possible given the man's age and the respective timeline of Gibbs' three marriages, based on what he knew of them.

"I just pulled up his service record," said Ziva, typing commands into the lab's computer. "Special Warfare Operator First Class Julian Cadell Gibbs, born in November of 1982. Enlisted at the age of seventeen, with parental consent. Initially joined as a Fleet Marine Force Hospital Corpsman, and spent the first few years attached to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Before 9/11 he joined the SEALs as part of BUD/S class 232, and he graduated as Honor Man. At first, he was a member of SEAL Team Three where he was based in Coronado, but he was transferred to Team Four in 2004 where he's now based in Little Creek, Virginia."

"For the past five years, he's been rotating between tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Team 3 he served as the designated Corpsman for his platoon after he graduated from SOCM, but when the Iraq War kicked off he became a certified sniper. Both Commands refer to him as their best and brightest and that 'if he wasn't so hellbent on fieldwork that they'd put him up for recommendations for Officer Candidate School ." said McGee, taking over. "He passed his CPO 365 and is due to be promoted to Chief by the end of this week."

"Looks like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." replied the Goth Forensic Expert.

"It was like meeting the old man in his prime," said Tony entering the lab. "It was terrifying I kept expecting him to head-slap me."

"Guys, check it out Julian was born seven months after Gibbs married a woman named Shannon," said McGee, putting together the pieces of the puzzle.

"But Julian was born over ten years before Gibbs joined NCIS and at the time he had just gotten married to his first ex-wife. How can that be?" asked Ziva.

"Maybe this Shannon lady was the first and the boss never wanted to talk about her." implied Tony.

"No, it says here that Shannon died in a car crash along with their youngest child, their daughter Kelly. Julian was in the car too, he was hospitalized and placed in a medically induced coma. He woke up two weeks afterward," said Tim, finally figuring it all out.

The team stared at the monitor, frozen at their discovery.

. . .

Ducky was feeling very conflicted; his best friend in life was in a coma, and he met Jethro's son for the first time. Julian, Jace as he liked to be called, was polite, and reserved (but a good conversationalist), and it made him feel as if he were first meeting Jethro all over again. He had just shared his story about how his mother left him on a bus with the younger man and now Julian was telling him the story about his engagement.

Jace on the other hand was feeling much more refreshed since his last visit, despite his worries. When he got the news of his father's hospitalization he had just returned from a tour in Bahrain, and he rushed to Portsmouth straight from Little Creek. He had still been in uniform and was caught off-guard when he met Director Sheperd and Agent DiNozzo, it was not how he imagined meeting his father's ex-girlfriend/boss (whom his father had once drunkenly referred to as the one who got away) and his partner who reminded his father of himself. Now he was wearing a dark jacket, a grey button-down shirt, and jeans. He had grown a five o'clock shadow, but that was the least of his concerns. He was surprised that his father hadn't mentioned him or his deceased mother and sister, but he understood since he had yet to mention them to his fiancee until he had popped the question.

"And Jethro didn't try to stop you?" asked Dr. Mallard, remembering the retired Marine's opinion of marriage.

"No, once he had met Kathleen he was completely won over."

The Scotsman laughed, delighted at the idea of Jethro supporting a marriage, given his history.

Captain Gelfand had arrived, and both men stopped and looked at the doctor.

"I'm sorry gentlemen, I don't have any news—"

Just then the older Gibbs had started to jerk out of bed, the three moved to keep him stable. Ducky and the other doctor kept telling him where he was, they had removed the tubes and given him a ventilator. Jethro began to get his bearings, he looked around the room, and he did a doubletake at the sight of Ducky and Jace.

"I remember the explosion, but I don't them."

Jace looked to the doctors, blanching at his father's words.

. . .