A/N: Inspired by a song by Everclear. No real coralation from the song to the story except that a few lines of the lyrics that inspired me. Set during the 'Shannon and Kelly are alive' period. Enjoy! -pj
A/N2: ::shrug:: lots of Marines smoke, Gibbs could have been one of them.
The ony thing that ever made sense to me,
were the words to a song from an American Movie,
The only thing that ever made sense in my life,
was the sound of my little girl laughing,
through the window on a summer night - Songs from an American Movie by Everclear
It was cold, a little too cold to be standing around outside, but Jethro just flipped up his collar and lit a cigarette.
Even as he inhaled he felt a little guilty. He knew Shannon hated it, could see it in the way her mouth had tightened and she wouldn't look him in the eyes after she'd found a half-full pack in his BDUs. But she hadn't said anything and he knew she wasn't going to. The time they had together was too few and far between to fill with insignificant arguments.
Still, he promised himself he would quit while he was back overseas, for her sake, even if that was where he'd picked up the habit in the first place.
A screen door slammed a few houses away and he stiffened involuntarily, his hand moving for the 9mil that would usually be strapped to his hip. Immediately, though, he forced himself to relax, reminded himself that he wasn't in Kuwait so not everyone here wanted to kill him. Still, it took another few minutes for his stomach to unclench and for the hand holding his cigarette to stop trembling.
Finally, he took one last drag, allowing the remaining stiffness in his spine to flow away and dropped it, stamping the smoldering butt out with his boot.
With a sigh he turned to go back inside, where the sound of his little girl laughing reached through the open window and touched his wind-kissed ears.
It was too cold to have the window open too, but Shannon had spent all day cooking for his homecoming and had filled the house with heat mouth-watering auromas.
Kelly was doing the dishes now, laughing at her mother who was no doubt dancing with the broom. Jethro smiled in the dark, and it occurred to him that the sound of Kelly's laughter, the sight of Shannon dancing to the radio, that was really the only thing that made any sense to him anymore. The only thing that made him happy to be alive.
He pushed the back door open and went inside.
"Daddy!"
END