A/N: I'm delving into the Tess/Adam/married Jibbs universe for this one-shot. This universe was created in 'Thankful' and continued in 'A Very Merry Christmas', and this takes place the following year on Halloween- Tessa is eight and Adam is six, and the baby that only appeared as a bump in the other two stories is now seven month old Hannah. This is one of my two contributions to Halloween- everyone that celebrates it (or even if you don't!), enjoy!
Disclaimer: I only own my OC children.
Jenny Gibbs had forgotten just how muddy the pumpkin patch got after a rain, and she was congratulating herself on the choice of rain boots for herself and her children.
Her husband, on the other hand, had insisted on his work boots, and he was up to his ankles in brown, sticky mud as he pushed the wheelbarrow that already held three pumpkins.
"Mommy, what about this one?" Tessa asked, her red curls swept up into a ponytail that bounced as she ran, her bright blue rain boots sprinkled with mud. She held up a small pumpkin, just bigger than Jenny's hand. "It can be Hannah's!"
Jenny glanced back at the toddler in the carrier on her husband's back who was looking curiously at her bright surroundings. The weather was cooperating with a shining sun and a rest from the pouring rain, and it wasn't too warm or too cold.
"Why don't you put it in the wheelbarrow, then, Tessa?" she asked, and the little girl grinned, bounding through the mud to put it in. Adam, her little brother, trailed behind with his own, larger pumpkin, setting it down as well.
"Mommy, do you want me to help you pick out a pumpkin?" he asked, and Jenny smiled, nodding as she grasped her son's hand and let him lead her to a patch of orange pumpkins. He tugged her towards the medium-sized ones, and Jenny glanced over her shoulder to check that Jethro was doing alright with Tessa, the wheelbarrow, and Hannah.
Adam helped her select a decent-sized, vibrant orange pumpkin, and Jenny placed it into the wheelbarrow gently, looking at her husband, who was barely looking strained by the weight of the wheelbarrow and Hannah in the carrier on his back.
"I think we're good, don't you think?" she asked, looking at Tessa and Adam. The two pouted slightly, but Jenny touched both of their noses. "How about we put our pumpkins in the car and then we get a funnel cake and some apple cider?"
With excited squeals from the two children Jenny and Jethro led them back to the car and had them help unload the numerous traffic cone-orange pumpkins into the trunk, and Jenny scooped Hannah out of the carrier, cradling the little girl close. She pressed a kiss to her daughter's temple, reveling in the baby's giggles as she was bounced and loved on.
Jethro grasped Tessa and Adam's hands, leading them towards the Snack Shack as Jenny followed closely behind with Hannah in her arms, the baby looking around curiously at the big blue sky and the fields of pumpkins. Other political families were there as well- this was an out-of-the-way patch that not many people knew about. Jenny nodded to a few Senators and the Director of Homeland Security and their families but didn't stop to chat- today was about her family, and she wasn't going to get caught up in politics on a Sunday.
Jethro had just finished ordering when she reached them, and after they received their steaming, powdered sugar-covered funnel cake and cups of cold apple cider for the kids and coffee for the adults, they found a table under a small grove of trees and sat down; Hannah was perched on Jenny's lap with Tessa on Jenny's right side while Jethro and Adam sat across from the girls.
"So what are you doing in school this week Tessa?" Jenny asked, taking a sip of her coffee and relishing the caffeine as it flooded her veins.
"I have a spelling test and a science quiz," Tessa answered, her face covered in sugar and her blue eyes starting to look tired. "And Lindsay comes home from Florida on Wednesday."
"I guess we'll have to have her over for a playdate won't we?" Jenny asked, her eyes soft as she regarded her eldest daughter. "You look sleepy. Is it time to head home and maybe watch a movie?"
"Can we watch Anastasia?" Tessa asked, perking up slightly as she mentioned her current favorite movie. "Please Mommy?"
"It is your turn to pick," Jenny replied, nodding. "Let's get cleaned up, and then we'll head home."
Jethro handled Adam's sugary face while Jenny helped Tessa, a sleepy Hannah in her arms. Each taking a child's hand they made their way back to the car, being stopped a few times by people with questions for Jenny. When a rather important Senator paused her to ask a few questions about the NCIS budget she sent Tessa with Jethro and Adam and cradled Hannah as she spoke with him. He asked a few simple questions before commenting on how adorable her children were, and how lucky she was to have her career and a loving family. She thanked him before making her way back to the car, a smile on her lips.
She strapped Hannah in and then turned to her husband, who was looking at her with amused sapphire eyes.
"What, exactly, are you smiling at?" she asked, looking at him with a raised eyebrow, watching as his smile widened to one of his rare grins. "Oh my- I haven't seen that grin since Hannah was conceived."
"It's just nice to see you so happy, Jen," he replied, shrugging. "I like doin' stuff like this- pickin' pumpkins and apples and just spendin' time together as a family. I missed all this with Kel- but we've done it every year with Tess and Adam and Hannah."
Jenny watched his face, a slow smile spreading over her lips as she listened to him talk. Leaning forward she kissed him quickly, enjoying the surprise that registered in her husband's expression.
"I do it because I love how you are with our children, and seeing them- and you- happy. My dad took me pumpkin picking every year until I was twenty five- he'd pick me up at college and take me. I want my son and daughters to have the kind of memories I do," Jenny explained, looking back at her kids, all engrossed in a DVD that was playing on the player in the car. "And I love seeing you so happy, Jethro."
"I'm with you, Jen," he said, cupping her cheek and running his thumb over her cheekbone. "Always puts a smile on my face."
She rolled her eyes and squeezed his hand, sitting back as he started the car and left the parking lot. The car floor was covered in mud and so were her children and their pumpkins and there was sugar in the car and she had a mess to clean up and she knew that should bother her- but it didn't, because that sugar had mad her children giggle and those pumpkins had made their eyes widen and they'd put smiles on their faces. She just couldn't find anything to be made at because of that.
Making her kids smile was worth a trek through the mud to get a handful of pumpkins.
"Happy Harvest," she whispered, looking back at Tessa and Adam and Hannah. "You're all my little pumpkins."
The reassuring squeeze from her husband's hand reinforced the words.