A/N-So I was talking to my friend, and she said to me "What if Gibbs only lost Kelly, and Shannon was still alive." Which of course awoke a little plot bunny in my mind. My response, especially after being reminded of Hiatus, was "Gibbs would commit suicide."
This is his note...
P.S- I might continue it if you want.
Shannon,
Please don't ever doubt that I love you, that I have always loved you, since the moment our eyes met.
I won't try to defend my actions, they are undefendable. But I would like to offer you consolidation in the fact that the man who killed your daughter, our daughter, is dead.
I know you disapproved of my methods. But I couldn't sit in the house day after day, listening to you cry when you thought no one could hear. And I will take the blame, I did little to comfort you, I was so wrapped up in my own pain.
Please forgive me for that, and for leaving you on your own now. But believe me when I say that you are better off without me. You will move on, and you will be happy, and you may even fall in love.
I urge you to do so. Though I am in no position to ask anything of you, I still ask this. Live, Shannon. Live, and don't ever regret it, because you are the strongest, most beautiful women I know.
With all my heart, always and forever,
Jethro.
Shannon found the white slip of paper waiting on her pillow with a single red rose when she got home from work. She couldn't fight the dark feeling in the pit of her stomach, it had been nagging her all day, and she knew now why that was.
Tears dripped silently down Shannon's cheeks, taking a path that must have now been familiar to them. Her tears left glistening streaks on her skin as she closed her eyes and fell to her knees.
Shannon didn't have to read the words to know what they were, and what they said. She didn't have to read them to know that they would be beautiful, and that they would feel like knives in her already shredded heart.
Jethro's voice was clear in her ear as she opened her eyes to slowly read his words. The need to see him, to confirm her worst suspicions rose in Shannon's chest. She reminded herself to place one foot in front of the other as she stumbled across the room to the master bath.
The tears came faster then before. His body was slumped against the wall, eyes half open, glazed over and dead to the world before him.
Later Shannon would recall no hopes that there was still some strain of his life in his body. She knew better than anyone how stubborn Jethro could be.
If he wanted to die, then dead he would be, and dead he was.
