Existing In A Crisis

by RoxieFlash

Gibbs sits in the bedroom he shared with Shannon, contemplating his family then, and his family now. A short scene cut from an unpublished work-in-progress, but something I liked too much to cut entirely.

For a moment he sees them, there on the floor in front of him, Abby plaiting Kelly's hair in pigtails while her eyes light up, talking about music and boys and ridiculous hair colors that would give Shannon an aneurysm.

"Red?" says Abby.

Kelly frowns, but then her eyes light up. "Blue. I like blue."

"Rock and roll, Gibbslet!" says Abby, giving her a high five.

Impossibly, his mind's eye adds a teenage Ziva lazing on the bed, picking at her fingernails with a knife.

"Your mother is going to have a goat, if you do that," she says.

"A cow, Ziva," and suddenly DiNozzo is leaning against the doorframe,young and stupid and innocent. Gibbs swallows hard. "The phrase is 'have a cow.'"

Rubbing his face, Gibbs slams the break on the fantasy before it can add McGee, or worse, Kate-and gets to his feet.