The distant groan of a disturbed Kelly troubled once again my nightmares, found its way into Jenny and Gibbs' bedroom.
"It's your turn," Jenny declared smugly.
Gibbs turned over and laughed at her. "I don't think so, Jen. You came home late and I had to make dinner. I think she's suffered enough for one night," he laughed.
Jenny turned on the light and sat up in their king-sized bed. "Jethro, what are you running from?"
Gibbs grunted at Jenny's question, dismissing it casually. "Don't know what you're talking about, Jen," he said as he went back to sleep.
"What I am talking about is the fact that I always have to go in there and calm her down, I think once in a while it should be her father keeping the bad dreams at bay," Jenny said in a hushed voice.
Gibbs sat up to face his wife. "What are you saying, Jen? That I'm a bad father?" he raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"No, that's not what I'm saying," she sighed. "All I'm saying is that, I think she needs you a bit more. I mean, who knows when you're going to get deployed again?"
It had never occurred to him that he should be spending as much time as possible with Kelly because there was that chance that he would not be able to see her for three months at a time.
"Jen, what if I'm bad at all that 'It's okay honey' crap, I mean, that's your forte," he said pointedly.
"Exactly, you don't have to do the 'It's okay honey' crap…wait you just called it crap?" she said, a hurt expression on her face.
"No offense Jen, but you're making a wimp out of our daughter," he joked.
"Jethro, she's six. She still thinks the boogeyman vacations under her bed and that the tooth fairy leaves money under her pillow…and you trying to sidetrack me is not going to get you out of this!" she replied, hitting him with a pillow after realizing that he was trying to change the subject.
"Nightmares are a part of life, Jen. I still have them and they don't bother me," he shrugged his shoulders.
Jenny rolled her eyes. "Is Kelly's blood made out of coffee? Is Kelly 5'11? Is Kelly a US Marine? Hell, Jethro I think your nightmares are afraid of YOU, "she teased.
A second cry came out of Kelly's room, this time more fright filled than the last. Jenny stared at Gibbs until he began to pry the covers off of himself."She's going to wake the baby up," Jenny complained, continuing to stare at him.
He gave in simply because he couldn't deal with having to put a crying Jasper and a distraught Kelly back to bed."You can't use my own stare against me, I gotta make that a rule," he mumbled as he walked out of the room.
He trudged down the hallway to Kelly's bedroom. How he hated going in there! There was wall to wall pink fluffy carpet in there and he felt emasculated just by stepping foot in there.
Gibbs walked into Kelly's bedroom to find her sitting up with the covers pulled over her head. "Daddy?" she called out from under the sheets.
He pulled the sheet from over her head and smiled down at her. "Disappointed?"
She shook her head timidly and scooted over in her bed so he could sit down. "I can't sleep Daddy," she groaned.
"Yeah I noticed," he said, sitting on the edge of the Barbie bed. "What's keeping you up these days?"
"There are monsters in my room. They're under the bed and whenever I fall asleep they come out to get me," she said with a quivering voice.
"I see," he said, getting up.
"Where are you going?" Kelly asked, the concern in her voice dripping off of every word.
"I'm not going anywhere, but these monsters are leaving right now," he said, taking a furry pillow off of Kelly's bed and placing it on the floor.
"How can you be sure?" Kelly asked curiously.
He smiled at his innocent daughter and knelt down beside her bed. Gibbs kissed her on the forehead and smoothed down her messy hair. "You can go back to sleep, Kelly, they won't be coming back," he said and stretched himself out on the floor at the side of Kelly's bed.
Kelly breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes, knowing that if a monster wanted to get to her, it would have to go through Leroy Jethro Gibbs.