AU where Shannon and Kelly didn't die. Instead they come back from witness protection after so many years and Gibbs had no idea...

The other woman.

The moment they walked into the bullpen, Ziva knew her life would never be the same. The look on his face made Gibbs seem a lot older than usual. A mixture of surprise, confusion, anger, love and more happiness than ever. Of course he didn't know what was going on, but the simple fact that his family was complete again was enough to make him happier than he had been in years. Ziva knew how much Shannon and Kelly meant to him. Drunken nights in his basement, just him and her, had revealed emotions that no one else ever got to see. He had never gotten over his family's death and as much as he tried to stop it, everything reminded him of the two beautiful redheads who had left his life too early. He had spent hours telling stories about Christmas parties or birthdays and described all the cute things Kelly used to do. Ziva would never forget any part of those stories, no matter how much alcohol had been running through her as he had told them. Just as much as he would never forget her stories, about her father, Ari and Mossad.

Ziva knew everything about Gibbs' life and he knew everything about hers. The secrets stayed between them and they both knew that would never change.

ZibbsZibbsZibbsZibbs

The day they came back would always be known as the day everything changed, yet nobody on Gibbs' team seemed to be sure if the change was for better or worse.

Ducky was glad to see his best friend happy again. Abby was excited to finally meet the love of Gibbs' life and his adorable daughter. McGee was looking forward to a less grumpy Gibbs and Tony was afraid he wouldn't get head slaps anymore.

Besides that, Ziva was the only one who wasn't completely happy for him. Even though she would never have made it known, she was slightly jealous of Shannon. Drunk nights in her boss' basement would never happen again. The only person who understood her completely was now off limits. Her best friend would change.

Gibbs himself looked forward to having his family back, never letting them go again.

ZibbsZibbsZibbsZibbs

Weeks after Shannon and Kelly's return, the changes started taking their toll.

Ducky was, of course, still happy for his best friend, but the fact that Gibbs now allowed him to finish his stories was beginning to annoy him. He wasn't used to taking this long for a simple autopsy and Jethro's lack of patience always helped with that.

Abby was starting to miss her silver haired fox. He kept meeting Shannon for lunch, forgetting Abby's Caf-Pow on the way back. She took that as a sign that he was slowly forgetting her.

McGee realized that a nice Gibbs just wasn't useful to him in terms of actually having to learn and grow.

Tony hadn't been head slapped in weeks.

Ziva had been sent to anger management classes after lashing out on three murderers. Gibbs had sent her to interrogate them and, given the fact that she hadn't talked to anyone about her feelings in weeks, that had not been the best idea.

Vance hadn't anticipated how much Gibbs' team would change with him and how useless their work became after a while. He would have to do something about that.

Even Gibbs slowly started to realize that the return of his family might not have been completely positive. Kelly was not the problem. She was perfect in every way and even without her Dad she had grown up to be a successful young woman, with a little family of her own. She had custody of a cute two year old boy after her Ex had waved all his rights.

Shannon on the other hand was a bigger problem to Jethro than he would ever admit, than he would ever have thought. Of course he still loved her and none of that would ever change, but somehow he still managed to lay awake at night, holding his wife in his arms while thinking about another woman...

TBC

A/N: I'm sorry, if this is a little messy... I haven't really written anything in weeks and this used to be a fantasy I had before I went to sleep at night... every night... for months... probably even years... well... ever since I ship Zibbs...

Anyway... I hope I didn't make as many spelling and grammar mistakes as I think and I really, really hope you like it!