Bless the broken road
Resume - What if we could stop, pause to take stock of each precious moment before it passes? Might we then see the endless forks in the road that have shaped a life? Part of the Joy Buchanan series. Some surprise pairing. GibbsOC SarahOC TonyZiva PalmerOC.
Disclaimer: No money is being made with these stories, I'm just trying to avoid insanity born out of pure boredom. They are simply my therapy.
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
(…)
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost – The road not taken
Gibbs x Dana
"I can't believe I agreed to do this," says Dana Stratton as she looks at her image on the mirror for the umpteenth time that evening.
"I'm not a single lady any more to be picked up at home for blind dates," she keeps whining, as her daughter, Megan, keeps bringing her different scarves to match with her cocktail dress, which hugs her curves just right. Her daughter just ignores her and gives her another scarf, which she tries around her neck, considers for a moment and discards it.
"Mom," she offers another scarf, which Dana rolls around her neck, and studies herself critically in the mirror. At 41, she worked hard to keep a nice figure, as image was a fundamental part of the job as one of the intelligence staff working for the Secret Service in the White House. Basically, she reviewed intelligence reports and ensured that the correct information reached in timely manner the person (or several people) involved. It was mostly paperwork, but still she loved it, as she worked very closely to the President and to his personal staff.
She plays a little with her copper hair, which her daughter had painstakingly curled with a hot iron to create a very glamorous look. The long gorgeous red curls were in an elegant creation, held together with pearl pins, and some curls fell over her long neck.
"It's all that old bat's fault," she turns to her daughter, "I should never had agreed with Dr. Buchanan about going out with …" she looks at her daughter, "how is he related to her?"
"He's her daughter's boss," says Megan, "and it is not only a blind date, it is also a bet, you made a bet with Agent Wilson that you would go out on a date with the first interested party that came up to you just to not go on a date with him."
"Yeah, I did," she slides her hand over her dark blue dress, feeling the smooth lines of the cloth over her body, "how do I look?"
"Gorgeous, you will knock him out dead, now relax, I will be downstairs, as soon as he knocks on the door, I will call you and you make your grand entrance, ok?"
Dana takes a deep breath, "ok, I'll be waiting."
Megan goes downstairs, and Dana looks around her bedroom, and feels her legs starting to tremble as well as the nervous revolt of her stomach at her decision. She sits down on her bed and slides her hand over the handmade quilt on top of it, feeling the panic reaching astronomic proportions.
"Oh, Fred, what the hell am I thinking?"
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
On the other side of town, Gibbs was trying several different ties before the mirror, and finally goes back to the first one he picked. He had dressed himself smartly, in one of his favorite combinations of jacket and white shirt underneath, as he was going to one of the nicest (and more romantic) restaurants in town with a stranger, all courtesy of Maggie Buchanan, a.k.a. the dragon lady, which is what he privately called her in his mind.
He was entrapped in this blind date, and actually had no way to cancel it as it would be very uncomfortable for the lady in question and also a waste of money, as apparently the Buchanans had already picked up the tab.
He looks himself at the mirror closely, and finds more lines on his face than he used to have the last time he really paid attention to his image. After four marriages, three divorces and the painful death of his first wife and kid, his heart wasn't really into the idea of trying again.
But he wasn't against to going out with beautiful women, and as far as he had researched – McGee wasn't the only one who was able to access federal employees' records – she was redheaded just the way he liked, and gorgeous.
So, he donned his overcoat, put a warm scarf around his neck and left the house, driving into the cold night to pick up his date for a night of wining and dining.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
He parks his pickup truck in front of the the small two story house where Mrs. Dana Stratton lives. It is a nice house, not very far from his own neighborhood. He closes his eyes and reviews the little information he has on her, courtesy of a very long email full of instructions and general bossiness from Maggie Buchanan.
She's a mother of two, youngest is Megan, 19, attending Waverly University, oldest is Charles, 22, attending pre-med in Georgetown. She's a widow, her husband died of a fatal heart attack at the young age of 44, that was three years ago. She is responsible in her job, very well loved among her peers. And a redhead. And gorgeous.
Gibbs opens his eyes and smirks, as it has been a while since he had felt such curiosity about another member of the human race.
He laughs out loud as he remembers some outrageous recommendations in Maggie's email, one that even recommended him to "release the inner beast" and "give Dana a good time, as Lord knows that girl needs it." All of that written with the Clan Buchanan trademark wit, of course.
He starts to knocks on the door, but the door opens before he can do it, and prepares himself to meet a… young lady with bright red hair with jeans and a Metallica T-Shirt.
"Hi, you must be Jethro Gibbs."
"Hi, I'm looking for Dana Stratton." The young lady smiles, and opens the door wider. He enters and she closes the door after him.
"Just a second."
"MOM!"
"I GIVE UP!" A voice from upstairs shouts, "this is ridiculous, I'm too old for this craziness, I will call that agent and tell him that I'm not going, and Maggie Buchanan can shove her meddling ways where…"
"MOM!" Megan shouts horrified.
"What?"
She starts coming down the stairs, and she freezes in the middle of it when she sees a gorgeous salt and pepper man standing by the door.
"Your date is here," says Megan.
"Hi," says Gibbs.
"Hi," says Dana.
Megan looks from her mother to the good looking man by the door and grins, "I will be… in the kitchen," she starts walking towards the back of the house, and mutters, "stuffing myself with ice cream and dying of envy of my own mother."
The gorgeous stranger by door smiles at Dana, and she feels a warmth running up her body that she hadn't felt for a long time, since her husband died.
"You look beautiful," he says.
She smiles, "thanks," she starts going down the last steps of the stairs, and he approaches and offers his hand to her. She automatically takes his hand, and finally she's standing before him. Even on her five inch heels, she is still shorter than him, and she feels very self-conscious, as he studies her face and her hair.
He smiles at her.
"So you are Leroy Jethro Gibbs." He nods.
"I'm Dana Stratton." They shake hands, and smile at each other. Dana cringes a little as she remembers the scene before, "listen, I'm sorry, it's just a surprise and I kind of had this last minute decision to accept the date and after that…" she stops, and sees that he's only smiling at her and looking at her hair.
"You are a real redhead."
"Yes," she points to it, "and it is not from a bottle," she laughs and feels mortified of what she said. "I mean, I just…"
"It's ok." He looks around, sees a thick winter coat hanging and gets it and holds it open so she can put it on. She dons it, and turns to him, and he offers his arm for her.
"Ready to go?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
Contrary to all their expectations, they had an amazing night. Dana is surprised that, despite the fact that Gibbs doesn't speak much, whenever he does he has a very sharp wit that had her in stitches.
Stratton was a pleasant surprise to Gibbs, as he expected someone sad and terribly overworked, crumbling under the stress of the job she has, but Dana had a very refreshing outlook on life, following the philosophy that, if life give you lemons, bring me salt and tequila shots and let's drink it.
They laughed at Maggie Buchanan's antics, and Dana told Gibbs she wasn't surprised that this had been completely orchestrated by the old bat. They talked very little about work, and tried to keep the mood light throughout the night.
They were surprised when the night was over, and it was with regret that Gibbs took Stratton back to her own home later that night.
"Is your daughter home?"
"No, she lives in the dormitory in Waverly, she wants to have the whole college experience, the crazy fraternities and such."
Gibbs nods, and thinks bitterly about his own daughter, who will never have the opportunity to experience that. Dana is mortified by her own callousness.
"Oh my God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be…"
"It's ok," he looks at her, "it's not your fault, and I did ask."
"Oh, I'm sorry anyway."
"Don't apologize," she turns beautiful green eyes towards him, and he completes, "you did nothing wrong."
She smiles at him, "would you like to have a drink inside, before you go?"
He looks up at the house, and back at the gorgeous redhead before him.
"I'm driving, and besides, I'm more a bourbon type of guy."
She smiles looking at his eyes, "I think I have a bottle of bourbon, which hasn't been opened for a long time, somewhere in the bar."
He smiles at her, and shakes his head at her audacity. She gives her gloved hand to him, and he takes it and they enter the house holding hands.
He never drove home that night.
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a/n - Go Gibbs, Go!