Disclaimer: I do not own any of the NCIS characters.
WARNING: ** SPOILER ALERT** Do NOT read if you have not scene the season finale in its entirety!
A/N This is how I was able to sleep after the finale. My take on how I hope it plays out.
The beginning is a general recap of the end of Rule #51.
/
Sometimes- You're Wrong…But Trust Your Gut
The tinkling of the bell above the door announced the arrival of a customer. Jackson Gibbs looked up with a welcoming smile forgetting the samples he was setting out.
"Can I help you?" he asks noticing the beautiful stranger. He watches as she turns the 'open' sign to 'closed' and small hint of puzzlement crosses his brow.
"Yes, I'm sure that you can help me," she answers.
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As Gibbs finishes sorting through his memories and once again files away the photos and rules he smiles at his vision of Shannon and the chime of her laughter. He closes the box thinking about his newest rule. Yeah, even he could be wrong…
But then he feels that all-knowing wrench in his gut.
Things had gone smoothly, too smoothly with Hernandez's daughter. Sure she got to play her game with him. Used his team to eliminate her accomplices and discovered the 'truth' she was seeking. Suddenly he knew where he had to be. He just prayed he wasn't too late.
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After a few moments pass without a reply, Jack asks "Well, what can I do for you?"
She smirks, "You can give a message to your son from me."
"Oh, you know Leroy?" he inquires.
"You could say we've made our acquaintance," she lifts a shoulder.
"What is the message?"
"It's actually a response from a message he left years ago with my father."
"Okay," Jack was wondering if she'd ever get to the point.
"You see… Leroy shot and killed my father like a coward from 1000 meters away."
Jack bristles, "My son has killed many people in the line of duty."
"Oh, but this wasn't in the line of duty. This was cold-blooded murder," she watches for a reaction, but Jack stands stoically.
"I see where your son gets his hardness. He said 'It takes a hard man to raise a hard man', though I thought he was just saying it to rile my brother- who obviously didn't have a man to raise him," she recalls the scene in her hacienda when her brother almost shot Gibbs, but he wasn't as ruthless as she.
"It will be a courtesy to you that I will shoot you face to face. After all, I am not a coward," she announces.
"I don't think you'll be shooting me, my dear," Jack speaks confidently.
"Don't underestimate me, because I am a woman," she sneers at him.
Raising his eyebrows Jack replies, "Wouldn't think of it. It's not that at all. Just thought perhaps you should look behind you," he indicates with a nod of his head.
Without altering her aim at Jack's head, she turns to look over her shoulder and sees the barrel of a Winchester rifle directed at her head.
She half smiles, "Surely you're not cowardly enough to shoot me in the back."
"I'm looking at your face," the rifleman states.
As her finger begins to squeeze on her trigger, Jack drops to the floor behind the counter. A cacophony of sounds echoes throughout the store: a gun shot, a rifle blast and breaking glass. The single shot from the pistol lands in the wall behind where Jackson stood. The rifle shot shatters the once beautiful countenance of the drug lord as she her lifeless body falls to the floor.
'She finally got her wish. She's with her father again- in Hell,' the shooter thinks to himself. Putting the rifle down on the counter, he goes to check on Jack.
"You okay, Dad?" Gibbs asks.
"Dammit Leroy, I told you to NEVER file that rifle!"
Shaking his head with a half smile and a chuckle, he reaches down to help the older man stand.
Rising and brushing off the shards of glass that rained down on him he wears an identical half smile. He then looks at his son pointedly, "Did you really kill her father in cold-blood?"
Jethro twists his neck slightly, "Do you really want me to answer that?" He adds, "I will tell you this, her father was responsible for the deaths of Shannon and Kelly."
Jack nods his head with understanding.
"Well, I suppose we ought to give Ed a call and take care of this mess. Guess she's just an anonymous attempted robber, heh?"
"Be the best all around, if he wants to keep the Mexicans out of Stillwater."
"You know Leroy, I'm beginning to believe in your 'gut'," father and son nod together.
"Yeah, it hasn't let me down yet."