A new family

The hidden daughter

The rest of the day passed normally. McGee and Bishop returned in the late afternoon to continue the investigation with the rest of the team ... now made up of five agents and Sloane. The only highlight of the afternoon was when Gibbs came down to see Kasie and they were joined a few minutes later by Torres and Predash. When he saw the latter enter he had the confirmation of the intuition he had had that morning. Now he had to succeed in bringing all the pieces of history together.

In the evening, he worked a little on his boat while reflecting. He ended up going upstairs to prepare to eat. It was then that Jack came in. "Good evening Gibbs. Am I bothering you ? ". Gibbs shook his head.

"- Do you want to eat something?

- Gladly. I'm ravenously hungry and haven't eaten anything since midday. "

So they prepared their meal. Jack was setting the table while Gibbs cooked. Finally, when they were seated, Jack revealed her reason for coming, although Gibbs already suspected it.

"- We haven't had time to talk about Agent Predash again. But on the other hand I had the time to do some research. As you can imagine, I couldn't access her file but she told me that she was born in Paris ...

- Did you ask her? Gibbs asked surprised.

- Sure ! But don't worry, I did it in such a way that she wouldn't suspect a thing. So, for the rest, I contacted several hospitals and clinics in the Paris region. At first, people were suspicious. Especially with my accent and the many mistakes I had to make when speaking French. But in the end, they were much more cooperative when I said I was a US federal agent. Anyway, I discovered that Rose Predash was born on July 27, 2000 in a private clinic. His mother was American as Vance told us. But that's not the strangest thing. According to the woman I spoke to on the phone, Rose's mother returned about five years later and wanted to meet the clinic director in person. She was escorted by three bodyguards and the rumor quickly spread among the staff that she had succeeded in having the records of the clinic altered. And indeed, according to the woman, the card concerning this birth was reprinted in October 2005 and the previous one simply disappeared. On this new sheet, we can read Rose Predash G daughter of J. Predash and the father apparently didn't recognize her. So there you have it ... Anyway if you want my opinion, Rose's mother became a high-ranking person about five years after Rose was born and came back to convince this head of clinic to change her daughter's birth certificate so that someone does not find out that she had had a child ... Maybe Rose came from an affair between her mother and an unsavory person and having achieved an important status, she did not want let this be known ... But after all, she surely could not change the names at the civil status level so a person really seeking information would have ended up discovering the lie... You think that could it be a politician or a very high ranking officer in the army? ...You're sure you don't know any with this pro ... Gibbs are you okay? "

Gibbs had his eyes wide open for several seconds. There was a woman who fit this profile and who was quite capable of doing something like that ... and it confirmed his intuition. All the pieces had just come together in his head." I'll be right back."

He stood up under Jack's worried gaze and walked into the living room where he began to rummage through drawers. He returned a few moments later with a paper and pencil. He sat down at the table and wrote Rose's last name on the sheet "P-R-E-D-A-S-H". Then he rewrote it below, changing the order. When he was done, Jack read aloud "SHEPARD".

"Why is this name not unknown to me?" 

Gibbs was silent. His brain was spinning at full speed. All the pieces fit together perfectly except one.

"Land to Gibbs? 

- That's the name of the former director of NCIS, Jennifer Shepard.

- Oh yes indeed! BUT WAIT ?! You are not telling me that she is ... her daughter?

- I have the impression ... "

"What have you been hiding from us, Jenny?" whispered Gibbs as if speaking to himself. Yet Jack had heard perfectly.

"Did you know her well?"

Gibbs returned to shut himself up in his silence. But Jack was starting to know him."Please Gibbs ... I've been telling you about the darkest and most secret parts of my life and so are you so we're not going to start hiding things now."

Gibbs thinks for a few moments. He hated to talk about his feelings, his hunches, his emotions or his private life but it was Jack. Everything was different with her. So he ends up getting started.

"When I saw her this morning, I immediately thought that she reminded me of someone. On the aircraft carrier I understood that it was Jenny ... well, Director Shepard. I got confirmation of that when she arrived in the lab this afternoon. Same walk, same smile, same look. Everything was also confirmed by the fact that only McGee also seems to have seen her before. He is the only one on the team to have known Director Shepard. Then I thought maybe she was a niece but she looks too much like the former director. You also told me that she suggested that her mother knew me, but I never met anyone from the director's family so she couldn't be a niece. And the clinic told you that her mother's first name started with J like Jennifer. Which would also explain Leon's attitude.

- So you are telling me that we just found out that Rose Predash is the hidden daughter of the former director of NCIS! "

Gibbs was silent. Suddenly he realized what was the missing piece. Agent Predash was born in July 2000, about nine months after Jenny abruptly left, without an explanation. And the G in Rose's last name ... could it be for ... Gibbs? No it was impossible. There had to be another explanation.

"-Gibbs? There is a problem ?

- No, none

- Do you seriously think that's possible? "

In response, Gibbs just shrugged his shoulders before getting up to go and make two coffees. Deep down, he knew that this theory was the right one and that it was going to change a lot of things. Jack followed him into the kitchen where she brought the dishes back and began to clean them. Then they took their cups to the living room, sat down on the sofa and began to drink in silence. When they were done, Jack left for her house without another word. Gibbs then went down to his cellar and did not sleep all night.

And here is the third chapter. Revelations, revelations! :-).Okay... very clearly I think what Jack did is totally impossible in real life (calling and getting info like that when people have no proof that she really is a federal agent but hey ...).Otherwise, as you must have seen, Gibbs opens up a lot more than in reality but hey he's with Jack ; -) ... But in fact, he's going to be like that throughout the story but at the same time , if he was as in reality and he hardly spoke, the plot would advance much slower. And I also admit that I do not have much inspiration for the titles but hey what matters is the story right?Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. The next one is probably coming in two or three days.