DISCLAIMER: I own Nothing! It all belongs to CBS, Don Bellisario, and Paramount!
Author's Note: The following story takes place immediately after "Judgement Day Part II" Definetly set in some alternate place and time as some long deceased characters will re-appear as the story continues. Please enjoy!
"You're really going aren't you?" Abby Scuito said sadly as she cried copiously.
"Abby...I have to. It's my time." Jethro Gibbs whispered as he hugged Abby tightly.
"I know...all good things must come to an end." Abby said softly as she rested her head on Gibbs' shoulder.
"I just can't believe it." Abby said as she broke off the embrace first, knowing Jethro was eager to leave.
"Well, get used to it kid." Jethro teased and his face broke out into a small smile that was more like a smirk.
"You better get going if you want to get anything accomplished." Abby said stoically as she tried to keep her composure in check.
"Abby...I will miss you." Gibbs said as he stared at the forensic scientist, sharing an emotional moment with her.
"And we will miss you." Ziva David said as she quietly entered the now-empty basement.
"Ziva?" Gibbs said with a smile.
"Yes." Ziva smiled as she made her way down the stairs.
"I couldn't let you go without a proper party!" Abby said as she smiled as McGee, DiNozzo, Ducky, Jimmy Palmer and Nikki Jardine made their way down the basement stairs.
"Oh Abby!" Gibbs said as he blushed bright red.
Two hours later after they had all enjoyed pizza and exchanging stories about the good times at NCIS Jethro Gibbs locked the front door of his now empty house. He stared at the front door for a few seconds. The house was no longer his.
"Welcome home." Jethro Gibbs said as he tossed the keys to Ziva, who caught them mid-air.
"Thanks boss." DiNozzo and Ziva chorused in one voice.
"No, thank-you. That was a damn nice check." Jethro said as he headed towards his car.
"I know you own it now, but if anybody puts a single scratch in the hardwood floors I will find them and kill them myself!" Gibbs teased as he hugged his co-workers that seemed more like a family good-bye.
"Call when you settle for the night!" Ducky yelled as Jethro sped off.
Jethro only nodded to in response. He wasn't much for conversation, but he would call Ducky that was for certain. He owed it to them. After what had transpired in the past ten days the team had taken it pretty well. They were resilient and strong. They would bounce back from this. Jethro had known however that his time at NCIS was over when Leon Vance had tried to split up his team. They had just returned from Jenny's memorial service and the new Director had tried to separate the team that had become a family. Jethro knew there was more to the separation than Vance would let on, and his suspicions had been confirmed when Jethro had marched down to Human Resources and applied for retirement. The team was no longer going to be split up. Whatever plans Vance had were useless without Gibbs.
As Jethro drove out of Virginia his mind began to wander. He had been thinking non-stop for the past few weeks, and he had hoped the drive would provide some relaxation. Instead his mind went where it always did. To them. The women, all of the women he had once loved and now they haunted him. Not in a scary frightening sort of way, but all of them, all of the memories provided a supernatural comfort Jethro couldn't describe if he tried. Their images raced through his mind. His mother, Shannon, Kelly, Kate Todd, Paula Cassidy, A few brave women from his unit in Kuwait, but most of all Jenny Shepard. She was at the forefront of his thoughts, mostly because her death had been so recent. They had all died, and he had felt the same way with each of them, that somehow he could have prevented it, could have saved them, but now he knew better than that.
Jethro finally stopped at a motel in South Carolina for the night. As promised he called Ducky. That was how it went for three weeks, and Jethro was shocked that on a random journey to re-discover himself he fell into a comfortable routine of staying at the same chain of hotels, calling Ducky nightly, and ordering the same thing from room service for dinner.
For three weeks Jethro drove across the country. Stopping when he wanted, visiting the sights he wanted to see, living life as he always had, on his own terms. Jethro pulled into the parking lot of the small diner that sat just outside Los Angeles in the desert. It looked cleaner than Jethro had remembered and as he shut off the engine he saw the familiar figure of a man exit the diner.
Jethro got out of his car and approached the older man.
"Damnit...took you long enough...probie." Mike Franks said as he squinted in the bright sunlight.