I feel like I need start by saying something about tonight's episode… WOW!… I started crying (like ugly crying my friends) in the first two minutes and didn't stop until half an hour after it was finished… It was not what I was expecting at all but I have to say that is was one of my all time favourite episodes, it had everything in it, from Kate, to Jenny (if only a mention but oh well), Ziva and Tony (and the I love you too moment between Tony and McGee over the phone, come on!)… It was such a well rounded episode and an amazing tribute and send off to one of my favourite characters and actresses… I especially loved what Jack added to the episode, I think the first scene was my favourite scene out of all fifteen seasons, it had (almost) all of my favourite secondary characters in it and made me smile like nothing this season has… Anyway enough of my fan-girling, here is the beginning of the story I promised following the events of The Numerical Limit…

One

NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs watched as the young girl clung to her father, the nagging feeling in his gut was reflected on the face of Special Agent Jaqueline 'Jack' Sloan, her pursed lips and sad eyes expressing exactly what he was feeling.

"Everything okay, Boss?" Special Agent Timothy McGee asked, looking at his boss and mentor with concern in his eyes.

"No," He replied quietly, "what happens now?" He asked.

"That's a good question." Jack muttered as she moved to stand beside Gibbs, "Leon wants us up in his office." She added, nodding up at the cat walk where NCIS Director Leon Vance stood, overlooking the scene below him, he nodded his head discreetly towards his office and pushed off of the railing.

Gibbs nodded silently and followed Jack up the stairs, his hand hovering over the small of her back. He followed her into Vance's office and waited until she had taken a seat before he closed the door to the office and stepped up behind her, resting his hands on the back of her chair.

"What can we do for you, Leon?" Jack asked after a moment of silence.

"I suspect both of you have questions about what is going on." Vance stated, looking between Gibbs and Jack.

"What happens now?" Gibbs asked.

"You were never one to beat around the bush, Gibbs." Vance replied with a slight smirk, "Elena's immigration hearing is being put on hold until Javier's trial is over, her father needs to testify in front of a judge and jury before anything can be decided about whether or not they can stay."

"He has a target on his back right now, means Elena does too." Gibbs stated, "she's the perfect pressure point."

"Which is the other reason I brought you both here, Elena's father will be put in witness protection, we feel that keeping them together poses an even greater risk to their safety, it makes it easier for any potential threats to hurt both of them." Vance explained.

"So what's the plan then?" Gibbs interrupted.

Vance smirked and shook his head, "if you would give me a minute I would explain that, either we put her in WitSec separate from her father until it is safe or we keep her in NCIS protective custody."

"She knows us, she's used to us." Jack stated.

"Which is what I argued." Vance replied.

"Do we even have jurisdiction?" Gibbs asked after a moment.

"NCIS has a special interest in making sure Javier Martinez and La Vida Mala are taken down for good, given the circumstances and our track record for protecting witnesses WitSec has agreed to let us keep Elena in our custody, at least for a few days while they try and make arrangements." Vance replied, "that is if you would be interested and willing, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs tried his best to ignore the hopeful look on Jack's face as she looked up at him, he knew she was getting attached the little girl, hell he was getting attached but he knew that was dangerous, for all of them, Elena included.

"I'll do it." He replied.

His answer surprised even himself, he hadn't even completely thought it through before agreeing to take the brown haired little girl. It must be hard, having another little girl in here, but you must have some good memories. The words were echoing around in his head, the words that had been nagging him since Jack had spoken them the night before. He did have good memories, memories of a house filled with love and laughter, memories of a house that was a home, before it had become a tomb, a place his ghosts had come to haunt him. It had gotten easier in the last few years, his team had played a large part in making his house more of a home again but having a child in it, a little girl, had added something to it that he wasn't quite ready to give up yet.

"Elena will be able to have supervised visits with her father as soon as we can arrange for it but the next few days are going to be hard on her." Vance reminded him, "Are you sure you're going to be able to handle that?"

"That little girl has been through hell and survived, Leon, she'll be fine." He replied.

He was confident that Elena would be able to handle whatever the coming days threw at her but he was prepared to deal with it if she couldn't, he would be there for her in a way that he hadn't been able to be for Kelly.

"If you're sure that you'll be able to handle it I'll let WitSec know that we'll be keeping her in our custody for the next few days." Vance responded with a small nod, "now that that is settled I do have a few more calls to make regarding this case."

Gibbs and Jack both nodded, seeing the polite dismissal for what it was, Gibbs waited until they were out of the inner office before grabbing Jack's arm gently, she turned around and looked at him in surprise. Gibbs wasn't a touchy person and she knew that, it was very rare that he laid a hand on anyone, and even more rare that he would touch her in anyway besides resting a hand on the small of her back to lead her somewhere. It was the look in his eyes that worried her the most though, the look of apprehension and the hidden sadness behind it.

"I know that look." Jack stated with a small sigh, "what's wrong?"

"You're getting attached." Gibbs replied with a shrug, "not a good idea, 'specially not with a case like this." He reminded her.

"I am not getting attached." Jack argued, "don't give me that look." She warned when he simply raised an eyebrow at her, "I know what I'm doing Gibbs, this isn't my first rodeo."

"Alright." He responded raising one shoulder, "just be careful."

"I'm always careful." She replied with a small smirk, "it's you who's always running into things without thinking, as much as you like to argue it you follow your heart not your head, especially when it comes to kids."

Gibbs smirked, he knew he couldn't argue with that, hell he had run in heart first when it came to Elena without even thinking about the consequences. Jack chuckled softly at his smirk and shook her head slightly, she hadn't known Gibbs for long and although he was difficult to read sometimes she could tell exactly what he was thinking at that moment.

"How do you want to tell Elena?" Jack asked, her voice more serious now.

"We just tell her exactly how it is, she'll know if we lie or try to sugar coat it." Gibbs replied.

"So this is a we thing?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Has been so far, doesn't need to be if you don't want it to be." Gibbs respond with a shrug, "just figured you'd want to be involved."

"I want to be involved, as long as that's what you want too."

"Can use all the help I can get." Gibbs replied with a smirk, "don't know what the hell I'm doing."

"Neither do I." Jack stated with a small laugh, "we can muddle through together."

Gibbs chuckled and followed her out onto the catwalk, he paused and looked down on the squad-room and felt his heart sink again as he looked down at Elena talking to her father. She was a tough kid, of that he was sure, he just wasn't sure how much more she could handle.

"She'll be fine." Jack said quietly, her gaze following Gibbs' down to the bullpen, "she's one tough cookie."

Gibbs smiled when Elena looked up and noticed them, the young girl smiled widely and waved up at them, Gibbs gave her a small wave while Jack did the same beside him. As they made their way down to the bullpen Gibbs saw the exact moment when Elena realized something was wrong, her eyes darkened and her shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I am not going with Papa am I?" She asked quietly when Jack and Gibbs approached.

Jack sighed and knelt down in front of the child, she rested her hands on Elena's shoulders and gave her head a small shake.

"I'm sorry sweetie, not yet, we have to work out a few things first but then you can be with him," She whispered, "I promise, okay?"

Jack gave her a sad smile when Elena nodded and looked back at her father who was talking quietly with Gibbs.

"May I please say goodbye?" Elena asked quietly .

"Of course." Jack replied, she gave the girl's shoulders a gentle squeeze before standing up and leading her over to her father.

I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter, I make no promises of how quickly I will update but the goal right now is to update this at least once a week but again no promises… I was hesitant to even publish this story because we don't know a lot about Jack yet so keep in mind that this will be AU for a lot of things, and I will do my best to work in what we learn as we go but I'm flying blind right now so forgive me for any mistakes or things that don't make sense with future cannon universe… As much as I love Jenny and all things Jibbs I think Jack and Gibbs are quickly becoming my new ship, they're are just so great together and the chemistry between Mark and Maria is amazing!.. I own nothing (or Jack and Gibbs would already be together) it all belongs to DPB… Sorry for the annoyingly long Authors Note.

~Katie