Here is the much awaited sequel to "My Precious Jewel"! If you haven't read that story yet, do not read any further until you do or you will not have a clue what is going on! This is an established Gibbs/OFC relationship!
Disclaimer: Standard stuff, I don't own anything related to NCIS, but dear God I wish I owned Gibbs for at least a night or two. ;-) I do own my OCs. I also don't own any of the trademarked brands, song lyrics, or poems in this story.
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Chapter 1- Pacing Feet & Heartbeats
Gibbs rushed around as it neared time to leave. "Em, have you seen my keys?"
"They should be on the kitchen counter where you left them after bringing in the groceries last night," she answered from the bathroom, still fixing her hair.
Now that she mentioned it, he remembered leaving them there. "Are you about ready? We're going to be late for the appointment," he insisted.
"Jethro, we still have plenty of time. You're just getting anxious. Stop pacing the room."
"I'm not pacing," he said adamantly, walking back and forth across the bedroom floor.
Adding a bit of hairspray to finish off, she called out, "Yes you are."
"I am not. And you can't even see from in there," he replied, stretching his arms out, running his fingers through his hair and placing his hands behind his head, fingers interlaced as he continued his path.
She added a small pair of gold hoop earrings before finally stating matter-of-factly, "Jethro, I can hear your shoes on the hardwood floor. You're pacing."
He sat on the edge of the big knotty pine bed and stared at his watch. "Maybe we should leave early in case of traffic."
Em walked out of the bathroom in a deep forest green sweater, light brown corduroy pants, and chocolate suede boots. She rested one hand on her belly. "My pants are getting too tight. This is the loosest pair I have left and they're getting a bit snug. Eight weeks seems a bit early to be jumping into maternity clothes, don't you think?"
"I think you should wear whatever makes you and our baby happy and comfortable," he replied, wrapping his arms around her as she came over to him.
"Maybe if we tell our teams after this I could get Lily and Abby to go shopping with me. Ziva could come if she wanted, but I don't see her as the maternity clothes shopping type. I'd rather die than have Phoebe go with me. She'd try to dress me like a Barbie doll. For all that Lily and Abby have their unique tastes, they at least respect mine too."
Gibbs thought about this. "Are you sure you're ready to tell your team, Em? I won't say anything if you don't. With all the relationships that developed between them all after working the Halawani case together, it's not like we can tell one team and not the other though."
She knew he was right. They had to be sure they were ready to tell their secret and drop the bomb on both teams completely. She certainly knew she couldn't tell her dear friend Lily and expect this secret to be kept quiet. No one could be trusted to keep this to themselves. It was too big, too exciting, just too big and juicy a secret to keep.
When Em had paired up her TCIU team with his NCIS team to work together in an effort to save DC from a terrorist attack, she hadn't expected them to form lasting relationships.
Despite their differing styles as agents, it turned out both Gibbs' and Em's senior agents Tony and Danny were film buffs and loved to play basketball. They got together regularly to play games of pick up on weekends when the TCIU team wasn't gone investigating a case or NCIS didn't have a call out.
McGee and Brandon made no effort to hide their inner geeks and openly shared their passion for online gaming. They played together online quite often and occasionally even met up for coffee in real life too.
Sharing a love of martial arts, Ziva and Joe decided to make it a habit to work out together and spar against each other. Tony was jealous at first, but soon relaxed about it after Joe suggested they make it a doubles thing, and he'd bring his girlfriend who happens to be a professional body builder. Tony declined, but never said another word about Ziva's friendship with Joe.
There seemed to be no surprise that the cheerful and lovable Goth NCIS forensic scientist Abby would hit it off and become great friends with TCIU's bubbly and sweet pixie-sized Punk data analyst Lily, but what shocked both teams was that McGee and Lily found each other so intriguing and began dating. No one from either side had seen that coming.
It was true. They had to tell both teams and probably on the same day unless they wanted it leaked and someone's feelings to get hurt. Em slowly ran her fingers through Jethro's soft silvery hair as she spoke. "I really do want to tell them all. You know they're like families to us and would never forgive us for keeping this a secret. Let's just get through the appointment and see what the doctor says then go and tell them. I'd really like to be there when you tell your team, although I know you can't come with me. I'm still working on getting you security clearance to my office, but it's not so easy at the Pentagon and particularly for my division."
She leaned over to kiss his lips in apology, as he still sat on the edge of the bed. The loose embrace he held around her became a firm hold and soon he had laid back, pulling her on top of him, running his hands through her ruby red hair, only taking a breath to say, "Maybe traffic won't be so bad," before plunging passionately into another kiss.
Unable to keep herself from giggling at his sudden change in moods, she pried out of his hold and rolled off him, looking at her own watch now. "It really is getting time to leave. We shouldn't be late for our first official prenatal appointment," she was the one now insisting, standing up and reaching for his hand as he made it to his own feet to follow her.
When they reached the garage, he headed straight for her Explorer, pulling out the set of keys she had given him and taking the driver's seat, not even taking a glance over to his canary yellow Dodge Challenger parked in the bay next to her sleek black SUV. Begrudgingly, she took the passenger seat. Since she had announced to him she was pregnant, he hadn't let her ride in his car and insisted he drive everywhere they went together. It had only been two weeks and already she was annoyed with this sudden change.
Gibbs backed slowly out of the garage, carefully watching his mirrors, turned around in the large open parking area, and guided them down the long tree-lined driveway to the street. "The doctor's office is in the physician's building next to the hospital, right?" he asked as he merged into the light traffic.
Em was irritated with this question. "Well, if you let me drive you wouldn't have to ask, Jethro. I know where we're going. I've been going to the same group of doctors for fifteen years now at the same location."
A bit taken by surprise at her tone, he tried his best to reply calmly, not wanting to upset her further in her delicate state. "Em, I just don't want you to be stressed by driving in traffic and dealing with the idiot drivers on the roads. I don't mind driving for you whenever I can. I was just double-checking that I heard you right the first time you told me where we were going. I didn't mean to upset you."
"That is just ridiculous. I am not stressed by driving any more than I'm stressed by you acting like I can't drive myself. For your information, I am a perfectly capable driver. In over twenty-one years of driving, I've never had a single accident or speeding ticket so whatever gave you the idea that I needed you to drive for me like some kind of chauffeur is beyond me. I haven't had a chauffeur since I moved out of my parents' house the summer after I graduated high school." She was beyond irritated by now and he was getting anxious that her getting worked up this way wasn't good for the baby, but before he could say anything to try to soothe her, she had started again, her voice raised even more loudly than before. "And another thing, why the hell won't you let me in your car anymore? I happen to really like riding in your car, and I'd never complain about not driving it!"
She glared at him for him for a few moments, that he could see from the corner of his eye as he focused on the road, trying to decide what to say in response. Then she turned and began staring out her window, leaning against her door as if to get as far away from him as possible. He was glad the doors automatically locked, just to be safe.
Perhaps it was best just to tell her the truth, he really didn't care for the idea of lying to her anyway, but he did not want to upset her further, unsure how her stress and tension may directly affect the baby. Then again, if she knew that he was just trying to protect her and their baby, maybe she would understand and back down a little. He took a deep breath. "Em, I'm not doing any of this to try to upset you, be mean, or treat you like you're incapable, and I'm sorry if it seems like I've done that. I only meant to try to protect you, you and our baby. My car doesn't have airbags. That's the only reason I don't want you in it. I just feel it's not as safe as your Explorer." He glanced over at her, but she hadn't budged from her position against the door, eyes focused out the window. They were getting closer and he didn't want them to be like this when they arrived. "You, our baby, us as a family, Em, this is everything I want. I don't want to lose it all taking some unnecessary risk. I love you and the second I knew our baby existed, I loved it too. Now, please don't be mad at me, Em. We should be happy right now. This is exciting. Please, talk to me."
Still saying nothing, she did move to the middle of her seat, turned her gaze to her lap, the fingers of her right hand now playing with the bottom edge of her sweater, and she moved her left arm to rest it on the center console, her hand inches from his. He sensed less tension in her, but knowing she wasn't good at admitting when she was wrong, he took this for possibly the closest thing to an apology he was getting this morning and slid his large hand over hers which felt so small in his, intertwining his fingers with hers. She didn't resist, and by the time they reached the entrance to the physician's building parking lot, she was leaned against him, head resting on his shoulder, still not speaking though. He just smiled to himself, glad to have resolved the issue, knowing she was stubborn, well aware he didn't exactly always make life easy for her either.
Earth-tone walls, wooden armchairs with suede leather seats, green-leafed potted plants, small tables scattered with magazines, and the soft sound of soothing music were the décor of the upscale ob/gyn's office. Filled with women and couples, some in obvious stages of pregnancy, others with infant carriers holding tiny newborns, Jethro eyed the babies with a smile as he held Em's hand in his. She made her way to the receptionist's window, greeting the thin brown-haired woman by name as she signed in on the clipboard.
"Hi, Jackie. I'm here for my appointment with Dr. Fitzgerald this morning. How have you been?" Em asked in a cheerful, friendly voice, clear of any trace of the irritation from the argument on the way there.
"I've been good, Em. Keeping busy working as usual. You know how it is. This is for a first prenatal visit, right?" Em nodded, smiling. "Congratulations!" the other woman exclaimed with a big grin, then glanced back at Gibbs who smiled at her and moved closer to Em, putting an arm around her as he stood there, unsure what to say. "So, do you need to update your information? Marital status, name change, address change, insurance changes, new emergency contact?" She pulled out a form on a clipboard and an ink pen, handing them to Em.
Em stood there for a second, a bit taken by surprise, she hadn't been prepared for people to assume anything else had changed other than she was pregnant. "Um, there really haven't been any changes, Jackie. I mean, the emergency contact part, I guess. The rest is all the same."
Jackie looked a little disappointed and gave a quick glance back in Gibbs' direction that made him immediately feel uncomfortable, before turning her attention to Em and ignoring him after that. "Well, honey, these things happen. I'm sure it will all work out for you. You don't need to fill out that whole form. I can just make that change right here in the computer system. Now what name do you want me to put in there for you as the contact?"
As Em stood there giving out his name and any means to contact him she could think of, he stood there with his arm around her feeling a deep pang of guilt. She's carrying your baby and you're not even married to her, Jethro. How can you do that to her, leave the woman you love and expectant mother of your child to be a single mother in the eyes of everyone? Swearing off marriage to not make a fourth mistake is one thing, but this is different and you know it.
She finished at the desk and made her way across the room to a couple of open chairs with him following her lead. Once they sat down, she turned to him, gently laying a hand on his leg and leaning in to speak quietly to him. "I'm really sorry about that with Jackie. I hope she didn't embarrass you, Jethro, making assumptions and insinuations like that. She's just like that. She means well." Em's face drew close to his, her lips brushing his cheek lightly in a gentle kiss then a whisper. "I'd never ask you to change who you are. This doesn't have to change anything. I'm okay with that."
Gibbs had the urge to grab her up in his arms and tell her that was all wrong. Tell her his team had no business telling the tales of all the times he swore off ever getting married again. Tell her she'd been unintentionally changing him since the first moment she came into his life and he didn't regret it one bit. Tell her that to him, having a baby together meant being a family and being a family meant more than them spending most of their time back and forth at each other's houses or even simply moving in together. But this was a conversation for another time. This wasn't the place to start saying things to her he couldn't begin to guess her reaction to.
They hadn't been sitting more than just a few minutes when a short dark haired nurse in pastel pink scrubs with hearts all over the top opened a heavy looking wooden door, standing with her back against it to keep it open and called out, "Emerald West."
Em rose out of her chair immediately followed by Jethro, him taking her hand and walking along closely to her but letting her take a slight lead. This was all a new experience for him. Things had been different with Kelly. Fathers weren't encouraged to be quite as involved with every step of the pregnancy, especially with him in the Corps and unable to take personal leave for a morning to make it to appointments with Shannon the way he could now with Em. Aside from that, military base doctor's offices were far different, much more clinical and less warm and inviting.
The nurse introduced herself to him as Kendra and led them down a soothingly blue-green hallway turning into a room with a weight scale. "If you'd like to slip out of your boots, Emerald, I need to get your weight. I see on your chart that you were here about six months ago for your annual exam. Had you experienced any weight changes in the time between then and conception I should note on your chart? We need to track your weight accurately, so I just need to ask."
"No, I exercise regularly and weigh myself weekly and have maintained the same weight up until this. I've really been shocked at how much I've gained already." She stopped, suddenly seeming overly concentrated on the task of removing her boots then quietly said, "I didn't gain like this with my first pregnancy."
Kendra didn't say anything, remembering back then, having worked at the office long enough to know what had happened. Em stepped up on the scale and digital numbers popped up on the screen. Jethro couldn't help but look over to catch a glimpse, not that he was sure he knew what Em weighed before, he had only ventured an educated guess, and raised an eyebrow. Kendra noted the number on the chart without a word, then turn to the door. "Let's get you settled in a room and into a gown, hon."
She led them into an exam room, which in most way looked like any doctor's office exam room, except the walls were a creamy yellow and the table was covered with an actual sheet rather than rolled out paper. Em was given a real gown to wear instead of a paper one most ob/gyn offices used anymore, not that Gibbs was aware of that part. The rest of it he took in, standing around in the center of the room as Em undressed in the privacy of a corner area blocked off by a curtain. This was certainly a high-class place, looking increasingly more expensive the more Jethro saw of it. He couldn't help but wonder if this was covered under her government insurance or if she paid for it out of pocket, knowing she could easily afford it either way and in some ways would always be the rich Boston socialite she was raised as, including insisting on having the best of medical care in these sorts of situations.
Em stepped out from behind the curtain dressed in the pastel blue gown, put her arms around him, smiling, reaching up on her tiptoes for a kiss, which he eagerly complied with, getting anxiously excited to find out what the doctor would say. "You can take a seat in that chair over there if you'd like to sit, Jethro," she said pointing to a very comfortable looking chair across from the exam table she was taking a seat on.
"No, I want to be right here with you. I don't want to miss anything." He found a spot to stand between the table she was now seated on, her lap covered with a light blanket Kendra had given her, and the wall, allowing the doctor room to examine her from the other side and at the end of table, knowing that awkward part would come too. He wanted to miss nothing, but wasn't sure how he felt about watching a doctor perform a vaginal exam on her.
There was a light knock at the door just before it opened and in came a younger looking woman in a long white doctor's coat. She had dark brown hair hitting just below her shoulder blades and a deeply tan face with chocolate brown eyes, her height was that similar to Em's, but she was of a heavier build. Right behind her entered Kendra, carrying Em's chart. The doctor came right up to Em and gave her a big hug wearing a huge friendly smile. "Em, I'm so happy for you. How do you feel?"
"Actually, besides being a bit moody and coming out of all my pants already, I'm feeling fine. No morning sickness or anything. I had no idea I was pregnant until my annual physical for work. I'd been so busy I just didn't notice my period was late. My job's been insane lately."
"Well, I'm glad you're feeling good, but you need to learn to give yourself a break for the baby's sake. You can't keep up a hectic pace all the time." She regarded Gibbs and asked Em, "So who do we have with you today?"
Em smiled and reached up to take Jethro's right hand. "This is Special Agent Jethro Gibbs from NCIS. He's the father and will be involved throughout this so you'll be seeing him a lot."
The young doctor grinned at the two of them, watching him as he rubbed her back with his other hand. "Well, with good looks on both sides, this baby is going to be gorgeous." She held a hand out to Gibbs. "I'm Dr. Jennifer Fitzgerald. I've been seeing Em for about five years now and am very familiar with her history so I hope you will trust me to take good care of her and your baby, Agent Gibbs."
Gibbs reached out and took her hand. "She says nothing but good things about you. I'm sure she'll receive excellent care and so will our baby. You can just call me Jethro." He went back to rubbing Em's back, not that she was nervous, but it made him feel less anxious.
"Okay then, let's get down to it. Kendra showed me in your chart where we got the fax from your physical results and the visit with their doctor for a basic check up after you had a confirmed blood pregnancy test. According to them you're right at eight weeks pregnant now, based on the first day of your last period." She pulled out a small round dial, sliding it around then referenced a 2011 calendar on the wall behind her. "That looks like your due date is going to be Friday, May 13th. I hope you're not superstitious."
Em laughed and turned to Jethro. "Abby will love that." He nodded with a grin. That was a given.
"Now, you were just in for your annual exam six months ago so I'm going to go ahead and skip the standard breast exam on you unless you really want me to poke around at your boobs again." They both laughed and instead she rubbed her hands together. "Let me just try to warm up my hands before I go touching you." She carefully opened up the front of Em's gown, exposing her slightly rounding belly and a small expression crossed her face briefly that Em nor Jethro could decipher. She palpated around seeming satisfied with what she felt and pulled a small measuring tape out of her pocket. "Okay, I'm just going to measure you now to see where we are." She spread the tape out, pressing down at the top and bottom of where Em's uterus was located within as Kendra glanced over her shoulder, making a note in the chart of the measurement. "All right, everything looks good. Now I'm going to do the pelvic exam, Jethro, if you're uncomfortable with this part you can feel free to step behind the curtain, some men prefer that."
He looked at her, hesitated for a second then answered, "No, I'm fine. I want to be right here with her."
Dr. Fitzgerald sat on a rolling seat at the end of the exam table, assisting Em to place her feet in the stirrups, sliding down to the bottom edge of the exam table, and turned on a bright light. Kendra stood next to her, handing her a pair of gloves, which she put on. She continued the standard exam with Kendra's assistance, declaring all looked perfectly normal when she was done. "Next we're going to listen to the heartbeat while Kendra goes to get the portable ultrasound machine. There's just a few things that are making me curious to check something."
Looking at each other with worried expressions, Jethro grasped Em's hand slightly tighter, staring into her eyes with a hint of fear in his own. It was only the first visit and already the doctor wanted to "check something".
Their looks weren't lost on the doctor. "Really, it's nothing bad. Not at all. I'm not worried about anything with the pregnancy. Everything points to a perfectly healthy pregnancy for Em. Neither of you should be concerned. I'm just satisfying curiosity, nothing more." She pulled a thing out of her other pocket that looked a bit like a small radio speaker with a stethoscope attached to it, placing it against Em's little belly and flipping a switch. Swooshing sounds could be heard immediately, although Jethro wasn't sure what he was hearing. Dr. Fitzgerald moved the stethoscope around Em's belly till she seemed satisfied with the sounds she was hearing. "There's a heartbeat. Sounds really good and strong." She grinned. "I wish Kendra would get in here with that ultrasound soon. I'm not sure if this thing is just picking up an echo or…"
Just then, Kendra opened the door, pushing in a machine with what looked like a computer monitor and an odd keyboard on it and pulling along a chair that was tall enough to sit at the machine next to the exam table. She set everything up before stepping aside. "It's ready, doctor."
"Thank you, Kendra. Now, Em, since it's still pretty early on, I'm going to have to do a vaginal ultrasound, which may feel a bit odd, but will give us a nice clear picture inside there. Just keep your feet in the stirrups, and stay scooted down to the bottom of the table." She pulled out the ultrasound instrument and Jethro immediately felt his face redden at the sight of what the doctor was about to put inside his girlfriend, but refocused to Em's face instead while the doctor got herself all set up. Em seemed to be trying to see the screen of the ultrasound machine, but the doctor had it turned so only she could see it and Em appeared slightly frustrated by this. "Hm, this is what I suspected alright." She turned to the anxious couple. "Em, given your significant weight gain and size of your uterus for how far along you are and what I suspected I heard when listening for the baby's heartbeat, I wanted to confirm a suspicion I was pretty sure of. I didn't want to freak you two out or get you all excited over nothing until I confirmed it on an ultrasound though." She turned the monitor toward them and pointed up to two relatively small blob looking things on the screen. "You guys are expecting twins. You can see the two distinct babies developing and that fluttering you see is their hearts beating. Congratulations." She gave them a moment to process that information.
Jethro and Em both stared at the screen, mouths hanging open, looks of absolute surprise on their faces for a few minutes. No one said anything in the room. Dr. Fitzgerald sat quietly giving them their time, and letting them take in the view of the screen, the tiny babies with their tiny beating hearts.
Em was the first to speak, still not taking her eyes off the images playing out on the screen in front of her. "Jethro, can you believe this? Twins. Look at our babies, Jethro. Aren't they amazing? Look at those little hearts beating."
He wasn't sure he could speak for the lump in his throat. If he tried to get words out, he was sure tears would come instead. He took a deep breath, trying to pull up self-control from somewhere within that he was having trouble finding at the moment. Leaning over to her, he kissed her forehead softly, then her cheek, the tenderly kissed her on the lips, holding her hand in his against his chest, against his pounding racing heart.
Finally finding his voice, Gibbs replied to her. "No, I can't believe this, Em. Honestly, I'm in shock, but I'm happy. I'm beyond happy, Em. Seeing our babies is the most beautiful and amazing thing ever. They are perfect. This is perfect, Em." He looked back up at the screen. "I can't believe we can see their hearts beating already. That is the most miraculous thing I've ever seen. I love you, Em. I love you more right now than ever before. You couldn't possibly ever give me more than you're giving me through this. Nothing could make me happier."
"Do you really mean that, Jethro?" Em asked with a hint of surprise in her voice.
"Every word of it, Em." He bent down and kissed her again, then rested his forehead against hers and whispered, "I really do love you, Em."
She smiled as he reached a hand down to her belly, resting it there. "I love you too, Jethro. You're going to be the best daddy," she added, placing her hand over his.