At the darkest hour of the snowing Christmas Eve, his tired voice echoed. "That was very brave of you to do." He squeezed her cold pale hand.
"It's the last thing that I could do, Ducky." Her voice was soft and vulnerable. An outsider might see her as a breakable porcelain doll but the man beside her saw her as the bravest woman that he had ever met.
"Do they have any idea at all?" his curiosity voiced out his thoughts.
She just shook her head and tried to stop her tears from flowing.
Another round of silence enveloped hospital's front bench.
He exhaled a long sigh before speaking again. "I can't believe that you did that, Jennifer after all that happened to you."
He recalled the past events. He diagnosed her incurable disease. She almost died in that diner to protect him. Now, she's in witness protection program and he's the only one who knows that she's still alive.
She didn't say anything. There was nothing to be said. She didn't even know why she did that. All she ever wanted was to make him happy. When she found the file of Shannon and Kelly Gibbs during her first few days at the program, she knew she had to give him his family back.
"Are you happy, Jennifer?" he turned to his left and looked at her dull green eyes. By the look in her eyes he knew the answer.
"Soon I'll be gone forever and he's alone again but he doesn't have to be because they're alive. They're alive … and I'm dying" Her voice was starting to betray her and a tear was forming on her eye. For the first time, she looked at him directly in his eyes. "I want him to be happy, Ducky. As long as he's happy, I'm happy."
Too sappy, don't you think? NCIS is not mine...
-ToI