Painful Past, Part 1
Ducky knocked softly but since he knew he was expected he opened the door. The director of NCIS, Jenny Shephard, was sitting by her desk and drinking bourbon. Ducky knew she had adopted the habit from Jethro. He could sense something was bothering her straight away after he stepped into her office. She was just playing with her drink, not really drinking it and her eyes looked unfocused. There was few open files on her desk. She turned to look at him and gave him a small smile: “Thank you for coming, Doctor Mallard.”
“Of course”, Ducky said, “you wanted to talk to me.”
“Yes”, Jenny said and stood up. She turned to look out of her window. It was raining. She sighed, not knowing how to start this. She turned to look at Ducky again: “Did you know when Jethro was married that he had a daughter?”
Ducky looked taken aback: “That’s not possible. I know all three of Jethro’s ex-wives. They had no children.”
Jenny tried to hid how surprised she looked. She had been so sure Gibbs had told Ducky. The two men had known each other for a long time. At the same time she was partly happy that he hadn’t relied on anyone else with this either. She picked up the remote control from her desk.
”With his first wife, Shannon, he did. They married in eighty-two, and had a daughter, Kelly, who was born in eighty four.”
Jenny clicked the button of the remote control and two pictures appeared on the screen. The other picture was of a small child, barely ten years old girl. She had blue eyes and brown long hair. He could see Jethro in her. Kelly Gibbs. In the other picture was a very beautiful red haired woman. Shannon Gibbs. Ducky just stared at the director and then the screen. He had known Jethro for years. Not once had the other man mentioned he had had a family. He couldn’t believe why Jethro would keep something like this to himself. Ducky looked up at Jenny, wanting to say something but didn’t know what to say.
“I can’t believe it.” He finally breathed.
Jenny could recognize the hurt and betrayal in the doctor’s eyes but she knew what she was about to tell would change some things. She took a deep breath, still not understanding all of this herself: “There is more. Shannon was murdered when Jethro was fighting in Desert Storm. Shannon witnessed the shooting of a Marine in Oceanside. She identified the killes as Pedro Hernandes, a Mexican drug dealer working Camp Pendleton. An NIS agent was assigned to protect her. A sniper shot him in the head while he was driving their van. He died instantly. Shannon and Kelly were sitting on the back seats. Shannon was killed in the crash.”
“That is so awful.” Ducky said and heavily sat down on the chair.
Jenny gave a sad smile: “Kelly looks like her father. Doesn’t she?”
“She does, a bit. She’s very beautiful child”, “What happened to Kelly? Did she die in hospital?”
“First I thought so as well. Then I found this.” Jenny clicked a button of her remote control.
Another picture appeared on the screen, half way covering the pictures of Shannon and little Kelly. Ducky turned to look at the screen. On the screen was an ID of young woman who had long red hair and blue eyes. She still had some of the same features she had had when she had been a child. She still looked like Jethro Gibbs, even though she had her mother’s red hair now. It looked like Kelly Gibbs had decided to follow her father’s tracks.
“She is an agent. In fact she works for us in Norfolk. I have seen her name in some files but never connected her to Jethro. Why would I? He never said anything.” Jenny said, feeling stupid for not knowing her own agents, “I spoke to her team leader. According to him she is temperamental and stubborn but very great agent. Sounds like someone, doesn’t it?”
Ducky had to grin at this.
“Now when I see her in this picture, I think I have seen him few times with Jethro”, Ducky said, turning to look at the director, “why he never mentioned her.”
“I don’t think we will find out if he won’t tell us.” Jenny said, giving a sigh and looking at the pictures again, “Shannon was very beautiful too.”
“Kelly looks a lot like her. She looks a lot like both of them”, Ducky said, “was Hernandez ever caught?”
Jenny looked at Ducky, feeling abd when she had to admit this to the doctor: “ No. He fled to Mexico. NIS tried to extradite, but the Mexican authorities always claimed they couldn’t find him. It’s in our cold case files.”
Ducky felt a wave of something flush through him before he said, rather coldly: “Oh, you can close it.”
Jenny raised her head and looked at her medical examiner: “What do you know?”
Ducky walked to the door and stopped before opening it: “Jethro would have pursued the man who did this to his family to hell and back. He got his revenge.”
With that he left. Closing the door behind her and leaving the director of NCIS alone with her thoughts.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Director Shephard and Ducky talk about Gibbs' past.