a/n: i honestly think this is my third "new baby kelly!" story, but i kind of like writing them and i was inspired. also, i know canon now states (and one of my stories was written before this revelation) that gibbs was deployed when kelly was born, but i ignored that. i just really dislike that they made that Gibbs' reality just because it's like "angstier" to miss the birth .

1984

They sat side by side, knees touching, holding the same slightly tense, careful pose: perched on the edge of the couch, staring with wonder and wariness at one single focal point, the only difference being – he had his hands splayed on his knees, and hers were clasped tightly between hers.

Strictly speaking, the excitement was over: they were home from the hospital, they'd held her for the first time, they'd introduced her to the tiny inner circle of family, she had a name, labor was survived – the nerve-wracking first drive home was finished, the flurry of expert nurses and doctors had disappeared, and the watchful, experienced mother-in-law had left.

Shannon took a deep breath; at the same time he tilted his head and rubbed his knees tensely.

"What do we do with her?" Shannon asked.

She arched her slim eyebrows, bit her lower lip lightly, and turned to look at him. Gibbs lifted his shoulders and tore his eyes away from the two-day-old, newborn baby and gave his wife a blank look.

He shook his head.

"Beats me."

Shannon smiled a little, bemused. He arched his eyebrows. Shannon leaned over and nudged him with her shoulder, looking back at the baby.

She was asleep there, fast asleep – blissfully, soundly asleep. Joanne Fielding had left them alone only ten minutes ago, and they had been sitting here, staring at her, every since. They hadn't even taken her out of the brand new infant car seat.

Gibbs reached over and ran his hand over Shannon's knee, looking back at the baby himself.

Shannon unclasped her hands and touched her face, then her shoulders, hugging herself a little.

"Do we just," she began, hesitantly.

He glanced at her.

"Hmm?" he grunted.

"I mean, do we," she paused again. "Go about our usual lives until she needs something?" she asked.

She turned and looked at him, and then she let out a breathless laugh, shaking her head at herself.

"Two days ago we didn't have a baby, and now we do," she said.

He nodded, and smirked.

She reached over and smacked him.

"Why do you look so smug?" she demanded, scrunching up her nose. "Aren't you completely freaked out right now?"

He shrugged, and tried to put on a stoic face – but he burst into a smile instead and leaned forward, rubbing is jaw.

"Well, yeah, Shannon, hell," he confessed bluntly, turning his head back to look at – to admire – the baby.

She lifted her eyes to the ceiling and reached for his hand, pulling it away from his face and bringing his knuckles to her lips. She felt excited, and petrified, and completely overwhelmed, and content all at once.

He glanced at her and watched her smile at their daughter, and he loved that look; it made him feel a little more confident about the job they had now. He was glad she'd said it first – nine months of preparation was good, sure, but nothing was quite so humbling – and daunting – as this moment, this first moment at home, alone, with the center of rest of their lives.

It was so … normal, and yet so vastly different.

It had been just the two of them for so long.

Gibbs started to reach forward and touch the car seat, and then he leaned back. He touched his jaw with his free hand, and Shannon rested her chin on his knuckles, still holding his hand close.

"She's just," he started gruffly, and then shrugged. "Sleeping."

"We want her to sleep," Shannon said earnestly. Then she tilted her head. "Or…maybe we want to wake her up."

Gibbs gave her a wary look.

"So she'll be tired, and sleep all night tonight."

Gibbs glanced back at the baby.

He smiled a half-smile, and shook his head.

"I don't think she works like that yet," he said grudgingly.

Shannon laughed quietly, and pressed her fingertips into his wrist.

"Let's check the manual," she suggested in a mock whisper. "They gave us one, didn't they?"

"Yeah," he retorted quickly, "but they left out the change of batteries, and the mute button."

"So we definitely let her sleep."

Gibbs smirked again, and Shannon rested her head on his shoulder. She sighed.

"You tired?" he ventured.

She nodded.

"I can run you a bath," he offered quietly. "Pour you some wine."

She thought about it.

"Then you'd get to stare at her all by yourself."

Gibbs grinned.

"I can bring her into the bathroom," he offered, a little eagerly.

Shannon shifted her head, squeezing his hand.

"If we take her out and start moving around," she began softly, her words a little shaky, "it'll be so much more real."

Gibbs nodded, sensing she was nervous – hell, he was too. He cleared his throat.

"Wine first," he said hoarsely.

He got up gingerly, being careful and quiet with his footsteps, and nearly tiptoed into the kitchen. He prided himself on not making a sound as he got out two glasses and poured them with a generous amount of merlot – Shannon's first drink since a military ball nine months ago.

He walked softly back into the room, resumed his place, and paused.

The baby was awake.

"I was only gone for two minutes!" he complained under his breath.

Shannon held her wine glass lightly, her eyes lighting up.

"I know that I'm biologically wired to think this," she whispered, "but she's very pretty."

Gibbs nodded proudly and leaned forward, watching her. The thing was – she was so little, and so new to the world, that even awake, she just sort of sat contently and watched them, wriggling a little, blinking wide, innocent eyes.

Shannon nudged him.

"We could start with introducing her to Buck," she suggested earnestly.

Gibbs frowned a little, and glanced behind him at the laundry room. His – their – old dog was sleeping peacefully in front of the washer, he'd made sure of it before Shannon and Kelly came inside.

"Did you do the thing we read about?" Shannon asked. "Let him sniff her newborn blanket?"

"Yeah," Gibbs muttered.

For the first time in his life, he wasn't sure he trusted his faithful bloodhound. Buck was old, calm, and well-trained – Gibbs had found him abandoned in his early Marine days and kept him – and they'd made sure he was an okay breed to have near a baby, but he still wasn't sure.

Shannon nudged him.

"Buck won't hurt her," she encouraged softly.

Gibbs studied her for a moment, and then nodded. He got up, and he went to the laundry room. He heard Shannon coo at the baby, and he opened the door and crouched down.

"Hey, bud," he said, as Buck stood up stiffly and wagged his tail, trotting over. "Got someone for you to meet."

He clicked his tongue and led the dog out, letting him pace at his feet calmly. Shannon sat back, holding her hand out warmly and welcoming Buck's affectionate attention to her.

He whined a little and licked her hand, happy to see her home.

"Told you she'd be fine," Gibbs grunted at the dog, sitting down and rubbing his back firmly – Buck had been distressed while all the chaos around getting Shannon to the hospital had happened; he'd spent a lot of time being completely in the way as he planted himself sensitively at Shannon's feet.

"Buck," Shannon whispered softly, bending down to kiss his snout. She cupped his head gently and turned it, pointing. "Look what we brought home," she coaxed.

Gibbs get rubbing the dog's flank, hoping it made him feel like he had plenty of attention.

Buck shuffled around, his tail whipping into the couch, and he leaned forward, sniffing at the baby's feet.

"Her name is Kelly," Shannon went on, in a calm, soothing voice. "She's our puppy!"

Shannon leaned over and kissed Buck's ear.

"Good boy," she murmured, watching him sniff with interest at Kelly's little feet.

He moved his nose up and Gibbs pinched his flank a little. Shannon waved her hand at him.

"He won't hurt her," she murmured. "She's okay."

Kelly scrunched up her nose and stared at the dog, fascinated or just – sleepy.

Shannon leaned back, holding her glass of wine to her lips. Buck wagged his tail, still happily but harmlessly examining the new addition. Gibbs relaxed a little – he should have known he could trust –

Buck let out a happy – loud – sort of bark and licked Kelly right in the mouth.

"Buck!" growled Gibbs, pulling him back by his collar.

Shannon gasped, and covered her mouth.

Kelly made a startled, high-pitched noise of protest.

Gibbs stared at the baby; Shannon stared at the baby, and then she reached over and grabbed his thigh tightly.

"Jethro," she said softly, "promise me you will never, ever tell my mother I let that happen."

Gibbs turned and gave her a solemn look – he nodded.

There was no way he was telling his mother-in-law either Shannon or himself had kicked off their parenting careers by letting the dog lick the baby after being alone with her for barely half an hour.

Kelly started to whimper, and both Gibbs and Shannon leaned forward, each putting a wine glass down.

He paused; she stopped.

"You can – " she started, and he said –

"Go ahead."

She gave him another bemused, anxious look, and unbuckled the little straps, carefully lifting Kelly out of the infant seat. Buck followed her process with his nose, wagging his tail, and Shannon leaned back, settling Kelly into the crook of her arms.

Gibbs turned towards her, his knees hitting hers. He reached over and cupped Kelly's head in his palm, peering down at her.

He cleared his throat.

"It's real," he declared huskily – she was out of the car seat; she was awake – she'd met the dog.

Shannon met his eyes, and nodded, giving him a nervous, happy sort of smile. She took a deep breath.

"At least Buck's not afraid of her," she teased.

Gibbs grinned. He bent down and gave the old hound dog an affectionate rub on the ears, and then he leaned over and kissed Shannon, for the moment content to switch from staring at Kelly in the car seat, to staring at Kelly in her mother's arms.

1984

so, there is an episode where gibbs said he used to have an old hunting dog, and i'm pretty sure there's a picture of him with a dog in the episode 'Murder 2.0' from an old newspaper article. so i just kind of incorporated it here because i'm very much a 'families are not complete without dogs' person.

-alexandra
story #226