Chapter 1

O'Hare International

Patricia had left a first-class ticket for him, United Airlines out of Dulles. Even though he chafed the entire time, he packed a few suits, designer stuff left over from the Diane era. It was too damn easy to fall back into these patterns and Gibbs wasn't interested, though he would conform. Even though he knew he'd moved on, this was his first time in a lot of years—seventeen to be exact—that he'd be in this environment again. And he wasn't interested in revisiting it for any longer than he absolutely had to.

If it had been anyone but Patricia, he would have treated them just like they'd treated him and told them to get rid of his number. There was nothing left for him in Chicago, hadn't been for a lot of years.

Only Patricia. There had always been Patricia. And Anthony...

Funny how that name in particular haunted him. There had been Anthony, and then Ant Green, one of the first men he'd lost in the jungles of Panama. And now Tony.

"Mr. Gibbs, can I get you anything?"

First-class service lived up to its name. The flight attendant had been hovering at his elbow for most of the flight. She was a brunette, mid-twenties, and cute. But he was taken—very taken. And she was far too young, even if he wasn't taken.

"Jack Daniels," he replied. He needed to steady himself

He flipped open a small photo album, one of the few indulgences he'd allowed himself. He'd dressed more formally, in a button down from a designer Tony liked, he'd fixed his hair a little differently, all those long-forgotten little quirks coming back even though they didn't deserve it.

Page one, two little boys, one five and one a toddler, two sets of blue eyes shining with hope and promise. Before everything had gotten screwed up. Page two, three children, the eldest holding a baby. Pages three and four, two pictures, a sweaty quarterback and a grinning pitcher after games. Page five, high-school graduation, minus one child now, adults standing stiff and tall. Nobody touching each other. Page six, a much younger Gibbs and an older gentleman beaming at him with pride, a half finished boat between them.

Page seven through ten, him in his military uniform, a gorgeous redhead smiling up at him, her stomach rounded with new life. His legacy. The legacy that had been wrenched away from him. The next ten pages of the young family, ending with a headstone, reading Gibbs.

He flipped through it methodically, startled when the flight attendant touched his arm, handing him his drink. "What a beautiful family," she remarked, looking at the picture of the four children. "Yours?"

"Not for a lot of years," he replied, closing the photo album and downing his drink.

He was silent for the rest of the flight, posture ramrod straight, hands folded in his lap, photo album safely stored away. He was one of the first off the plane and strode purposefully to baggage claim where he knew she would be waiting.

Jethro was at the baggage carousel for only a couple of minutes when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, bags temporarily forgotten, just drinking her in. They hadn't seen each other since he'd returned from Mexico two years ago. She was busy with her career and this wasn't exactly his favorite place. Scratch that, it was his least favorite place.

The years were still pretty kind to her, she was every bit as slim and beautiful as he remembered. She'd started highlighting her hair, he realized, and her makeup was subtler than ever.

As he'd done when they were children, he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Been too long, Patricia. I've missed you." And with that he grabbed his sister in a tight hug, rubbing her back, trying to soothe her.

"Don't worry, Trish. We'll find him. I'm here now."

"How can I not worry, Lee?" It had been a risk, calling her brother in now, but Patricia Gibbs didn't care anymore. She'd spent her life toeing the family line. She'd done whatever her father and mother had told her to do, but she wasn't going to lose another brother because of their indifference. "No one has heard from him in over two weeks. Even I know that if there was a trail, it's likely gone cold. This isn't how Richard does things; he wouldn't just leave work one night and not come back. Something happened to him and no one seems inclined to want to find out what."

He nodded, pulling back and looking into her worried eyes. "And he's close with ... them?" He meant their father and mother, of course. When she just looked at him slightly confused, he continued. "No problems with ... Father and Mother?" The words felt so foreign to him. He'd always been "Daddy" to Kelly and Shan had been "Mommy". They'd been as informal as his parents had been formal.

The realization that he'd have to see them soon sat like a rock in his gut and he only hoped and prayed that Trish hadn't warned them first. Going in cold was the only way he'd keep his composure.

"Richard still lives at the manor, right? Should start there. Might as well face 'em right off and get it over with." The manor was a fancy name for their childhood home, but with seven bedrooms, eight and a half baths, and nearly ten acres of prime lakefront real estate, it was hardly a shack or even a cottage.

"Most of the time he's at the manor, but he has an apartment in the city. He'll stay there two or three nights a week, sometimes more if he's seeing someone or if he's got a project that keeps him at the office late." Patricia had long since given up on trying to keep track of her brother. He had never appreciated the effort, and she didn't have the time to try any longer.

"Seeing someone?" Jethro still thought of Richard as the young man he'd seen last just after Shan and Kel had died. Richard was in college then. "Still think of him as a drunk frat boy," he admitted. "Not as a corporate lawyer."

Jethro had been the only one n his generation and the only male in a couple to escape the "family business" of law. As a result, he'd never matter or be as important to most of the family. It shouldn't have smarted but it still did.

Thank god he had Trish and Uncle Daniel, who'd always looked at him as just "Lee" not eldest, firstborn, great hope of the Gibbs family.

"Don't get me wrong, he's still the drunk frat boy. He dates women mother will think are inappropriate, just to get a rise out of her, and still goes on his yearly trips with his frat brothers. He's a shark in the court room, but just as screwed up as the rest of us are outside of it."

Most of her life, Trish had been picking up after Richard. When he'd do something wrong, she was there to mother him in ways their own mother couldn't be bothered with. Where Lee protected her, she gave the same protection to the baby of the family. They weren't as close any longer, not since she'd decided to leave the family firm and go out on her own as a District Attorney. But she still loved her brother, flaws and all.

"He better watch out. He might fall in love with someone completely unsuitable. See how well that worked out for me. I don't know if you remember how cruel Mother could be to Shan." She'd been awful, it had been one of the things that drove him away for good, their constant disgust of his "lowborn" wife. She was the best damn thing that had ever happened to him and they'd never seen that.

"I hope that if Richard decides to marry someone she's totally and completely inappropriate. None of us were strong enough to do anything when she was torturing Shannon, but I wouldn't stand by and let her do that to the incredibly stupid woman who chooses to marry into our family, "Trish said.

"I hope if he finds someone, he's strong enough to go with his heart. I never regretted that, never regretted marrying Shannon. Don't regret the relationship I have now either." She gave him a curious look and he nodded. "Yeah, I'm with someone. Real happy. You?"

Hearing that her brother had a relationship, and that he was happy was a weight off of her mind. Ever since Lee had lost Shannon and Kelly, he'd gone through a string of females that had been the appropriate kind, the ones that if she had met them, their mother would have loved. But Trish knew that her brother hadn't ever been happy.

"I have my job, I'm not looking for another arranged marriage that will advance the family business or fortune. If Richard wants to be the next sacrifice, more power to him. I'm happy the way I am." Not quite true, but it was true enough.

"I think, given the chance Rich would leave the family business and move away from Chicago. You were his hero, and he was just a kid it seems when you left. Father, he put a lot of pressure on the kid to keep him under the collective family thumb. Poor Rich became the sacrificial son. And I just sat back and let it happen, because it was easier then standing up to our parents. I'm guilty of being indifferent, and I won't lose him because of it." She paced in a small circle as they waited for his bag to emerge.