DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NCIS OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!

Given the prompt: Ghost Riders in the Sky

GHOSTLY WORDS OF ADVICE

The trip had to be made. Not only were there matters that needed to be settled financially, a few debts that needed to be paid, but the house had to be closed up and Leyla and Amira needed to pack up their things to bring back to America and their new home.

He wasn't looking forward to the memories that would be stirred. He wasn't good at good-byes and the final ones always seemed to haunt him the most. Especially those that he felt he should've prevented by some power that, for whatever reason evaded him at the worst time.

He drove a warn-down pickup truck big enough to transport whatever belongings that were wanted to be shipped back to Virginia. When he pulled up to the house Amira was the first to greet him. Her mother soon joined them and offered a comforting greeting taking comfort from him as well.

There wasn't a lot of time. The job was waiting back in D.C. The girls had come for the funeral and he'd promised her he'd take care of them now that Mike was gone. They were his family too. They'd flown back while he worked on finding his murderer and they had already begun the packing. Only some of the heavier items needed his attention.

After a day of sorting through some of the personal items, Gibbs needed to get away. The house looked a shell of the man who had lived their. Even if it had only been a short time, having been rebuilt after Colonel Bell and his men had burned down the original structure. Mike's spirit seemed to still echo from its walls.

They were going to leave in the morning. Mother and daughter were settling down on comforters for the night, while Gibbs decided he needed to get out and clear his head.

He paid for the use of a horse from town and packed the few necessities he would need for the evening. He rode along the shore looking out across the water and reminiscing of his times spent with Mike and all the things he learned under his tutelage.

As his thoughts drifted the horse veered inland. When fatigue settled in he pulled up the reins and looked around. He discovered the perfect spot for lying down and looking up into the sky. It was a small cavern of sorts. The walls were high enough to give a sense of seclusion, but open enough that he could see the sea of stars above.

He made a fire and fixed a pot of coffee which he drank with a generous splash or two of bourbon. He toasted his friend as the sparks crackled from the fire.

The coffee nearly gone and the bottle of bourbon empty he put his tin cup down and reclined on his bedroll still not ready to fall asleep. His dreams weren't something he could control and he wanted to avoid any possible disconcerting dreams.

Despite his resolve his eyes closed of their own accord and he allowed himself to drift away before he was pulled back into alertness. The sound of horses riding fast and snorts of stubbornness jolted him awake. His gun was in his hand as he jumped to his feet to find where the horses where coming from. The sounds seemed to echo off the walls and disorientated him. He rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes.

A loud neigh and a shuffling of hooves came from above. He looked up to the ridge and had to rub at his eyes again for surely he couldn't be seeing what his eyes envisioned.

Three riders sat upon their mounts, a light encompassing them. The eyes of the horses blazed a red glow. Before he could wipe the vision from his eyes again a familiar voice called down to him.

"Sometimes what you see is what you got there Probie."

Gibbs gave his head a shake. He narrowed his eyes to try and see the faces of the riders better. "Mike?"

"Yep. Not quite in the flesh, but real all the same," Mike smiled though it looked almost like a sneer.

"I don't understand," Gibbs didn't think he had had that much to drink that he'd be hallucinating.

"That's why we're here," another familiar voice echoed down to him.

"Jenny?" Gibbs' voice cracked. Still not over losing her with things unresolved between them.

"Jethro, you have to let go of the past. All those things you couldn't control need to be released. They'll bind you down and you'll never find the happiness you deserve."

"I'm happy," he argued. His statement was answered with a silence filled with doubt. "I am"

"Oh, Jethro," the third rider seemed to chastise. "You never could fool me."

Now his voice did fail him, as his eyes misted slightly. That voice was one that he'd missed for so many years. He swallowed past the lump lodged in his throat, "Mom?"

"Yes. Now you listen to what Mike has to tell you," she smiled at her son who nodded and smiled back.

"Listen up Probie," Mike barked. "This may be your last chance to change your ways."

Gibbs was opening his mouth to debate, but was silenced by three hands that rose palm out to keep him quiet.

"We all care about you and we all know your deep seeded feelings for us. Still there's one that outshines all of us and if you can't move on you'll find yourself on an eternal journey of emptiness. You've made some progress, but this is the time to look at what you have at hand, not what's been lost in the past."

Gibbs was used to Mike's often cryptic style of talking, but it was almost too much in light of the weight of the past week. "What exactly am I supposed to do?" He glared at the three of them.

"You've always been so stubborn," his mother admonished. "It's simple. Get on with your life, before it's too late."

"Don't hold on to the things you had no control over," Jenny told him. "We all know you consider yourself responsible for those around you. Not everything that happens can be attributed to you."

"I know that," he admitted softly.

"Then let it go Jethro," Franks snapped. "Take my girls back home with you. Set them up in their new home and move own with your life."

Gibbs looked down shaking his head trying to take in everything that they had to say. When he looked up he saw only darkness, but in the distance he could hear the hooves of the horses as they ran across the desert ground beyond the ridge.

In the morning he woke pushing up on his elbow to look around. His eyes drifted up to where he saw the riders and he wondered if it had all been a dream. He gathered his gear still unsure what to believe.

Not one to easily persuade to change his ways. He gave deep thought to what he'd been told. He decided it wouldn't hurt to follow their advice. Still it would happen in his own time. As pulled himself up into the saddle he once again heard the echoes of horses riding beyond the ridge. Perhaps his time would start now.