Disclaimer: If I owned NCIS, don't you think Kate would still be alive?

NOTE: This is Twilight Denial, but not after the fact. Any other information would just spoil all of the fun.

ATTENTION: I NEED SOME INFORMATION FOR AN NCIS FANFIC!!! PLEASE SEE MY BIO FOR DETAILS! PLEASE! I swear, I will do something really great for you if you can help me out here. It's in bold print on my bio.

For the most part, Gibbs kept his car bare. He'd gotten a new one, a black 2003 Nissan when he had finally gotten some sense knocked into him and married Caitlin Todd. That itself is a very long, complicated, and chaotic story that I'm sure you'd love to hear, but it's a story for another time. I wouldn't have brought it up, but it's necessary to know.

But about the car: there were only two things permanently affixed to his car, and both were stickers on the back window. One read "Semper Fi." When Kate gave it to him on their first Valentine's day as a couple, she had told him that it would be the code in their relationship. No matter whether this worked or not, she'd always be there for him, and she trusted him enough to do the same. "Plus," she joked, trying to sound casual when she was really scared that this wasn't going to work. "You throw yourself into everything you do, just like you did as a marine."

The second was also from Kate, and it too showed his past. He'd gotten it right after they'd become engaged. It ridded him of many of the insecurities he felt as they planned the wedding. By saying, "Former marine and still kicking ass" it symbolized that Kate accepted his history and that she really did want to marry an old, grumpy, ex-marine.

He had often joked that they'd look better on the back of a Ford pick-up, but Kate would just roll her eyes, would mumble, "What a guy." Aloud she'd say, "You could've gotten a truck, but you wanted a car to take to work. Plus, one day, a car seat's not going to fit into any pick-up. You do want kids eventually, don't you?"

It was an empty threat, and Gibbs just grinned. No matter what he said, he was never so proud as when he drove that Nissan with the stickers on the back and his Katie riding shotgun. Nice house, almost-finished, sea-worthy boat, wonderful, beautiful wife beside him and a past that, at least part of which, the part he had displayed, would make any man happy. Who wouldn't be confident with a life like that?

It was their second wedding anniversary, but he was already dressed. Kate was at the table with the paper and a coffee mug, one pot brewing as another sat, both behind her. This wasn't the strange part. It was just a little weird that the open bag of coffee beans next to the finished pot said, "Decaf." Kate smiled over the mug and got up, pouring him a cup. As she did, she handed him a short, thin box. It was too small for most things, but too big for a necklace or anything bigger.

"Happy Anniversary, dear," she told him as she handed him the mug she had just poured. He smiled through his confusion. They had agreed that gifts would wait until the fancy dinner at the expensive restaurant he'd reserved, but if she thought it was so important that it couldn't wait, he opened it anyway.

He grinned. It was another sticker, and it was beautiful. He kissed his wife and she laughed as, in his excitement, he immediately pulled her with him outside. He was gentle as he peeled the backing off and, carefully and strategically, he placed the sticker on the window, under the Semper Fi, as they were the same shape, and to the right of the circular Marine sticker.

He continued to smile down at it as he put an arm around Kate and she leaned her head on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead and knew he could never be happier with his accomplishments. He gazed down at Kate, knowing that the meaning of this sticker was as simple as what it said in all capital letters.

DAD