Chapter 2
At the moment Gibbs entered the convenience store with his kids, the mysterious redhead vanished from his head and he heard the surprised voice of his father:
"Leroy!" Jackson Gibbs with his white hair and blue eyes stepped out from behind the counter, wiping his hands on his apron and looking surprised to his only son.
But the surprise gave way to a smile when he saw his two grandchildren with him.
"Grandpa Jackson!" Ziva said, dropping her father's hand and smiling, running up to him and hugging his waist, since it was the only part of him she could reach.
"Oh Ziva, you look prettier every day!" He said with his eyes shining as he hugged her and exchanged a glance with Gibbs, without saying that she was as beautiful as her mother.
"Thank you." She said as she walked away and Gibbs approached with Tim and placed him on the floor and the boy approached to his grandfather shyly and extending his hand.
He knew little of his grandfather, because he had gone with his father and sister when he was a year old.
"Grandpa, do you remember me? I'm Timothy Gibbs."
Jackson smiled, his eyes wide and shaking his hand and then telling him in a tone of secrecy:
"Timothy, you've grown up into a big boy now, you'll be as brave as your father!"
"Really? Thank you Grandpa!" The small brunette smiled, looking to his father and sister, who smiled.
Gibbs then turned to his two kids and said:
"Why don't you two go get your stuff and putin grandpa's home?"
When Ziva and Tim picked up their things and headed towards the back door that led to Jackson's house, Gibbs turned to his father, who grabbed a cup of coffee and handed it to him.
"I missed you, Leroy." He said honestly while Gibbs stared at the cup in his hand, struggling with the various feelings running inside him at the same time.
"I missed you too dad." Gibbs said finally, while the elder opened his arms and gave a pat on the back of his son, who hugged him with one arm and the two left the last years of silence speak through that hug.
When Jackson parted, he had bright eyes and Gibbs rubbed his eyes before taking a sip of his coffee. The two sat on the coffee table that was there near one of the shelves and Gibbs stared at the window watching the foggy weather outside and Jackson said:
"She's not here." He said quietly and Gibbs shook his head. Jackson knew that the first thing his son wanted to know was about his ex wife, but he wouldn't ask it aloud. "She didn't come back here not once, not even when she heard you were injured."
Gibbs shrugged, taking another sip of his coffee and his father studied his face, that was hard and defensive.
"Before she left, she asked me to hug you all, tight."
Gibbs looked slightly surprised and raised his eyebrow.
"She ran away without having the courage to speak to her own children."
"Leroy, do you still love her?"
Gibbs took a deep breath, remembering the years he and his ex wife had been together. At first, both had been crazy about each other, time passed and they realized that they weren't what they sought. But the way the redhead decided to end it all was unforgivable.
"Our story ended five years ago when she ran away and I went to Iraq." Gibbs said, ending the conversation and getting up to throw the cup off.
Jackson got up and followed his son, curious:
"Leroy, did you come to stay?"
"I still don't know dad. I'm still on medical leave."
The truth was that he still hadn't decided what he would do when he got to his hometown. He had some job offers in the police area but needed to wait for the medical leave to end. And also he needed to decide what was the best for his children, they needed to settle somewhere and have a normal life. Jackson Gibbs smiled and Gibbs returned it, lightly.
"Come on son, your old room remains the same."
The next day, Gibbs took Ziva and Tony to his old school, to enroll them. When he parked on the school street, he saw a small building saying it was a ballet studio, a few feet away with the same symbol he had seen in Jenny's bag, the woman he had met the day before. Seeing what his father was looking, Ziva smiled brightly.
"Daddy, it's a ballet school!" Gibbs turned to her, raising an eyebrow and ruffling her curls, making her protest. "Can I do ballet?"
"And since when do you like ballet? I thought you liked karate."
Ziva rolled her brown eyes making him laugh. He knew that his daughter, despite having done a year of karate in the background, really liked to dance, though she never admitted aloud and he had seen her pirouetting in her room.
"Karate is cool, but I want to do ballet, I could gain flexibility and improve my self defense!" She said, looking at one of her brown curls and Gibbs smiled softly.
"Okay Ziva, when I pick you up at school we can go to the ballet school, ok?"
Ziva grinned and hugged him, before grabbing her backpack and lunchbox and left the car, followed by her younger brother who put his video game in his pocket. The primary school was small, beside the middle school that was bigger and when the three went to the principal's office, the secretary smiled, telling them that the director was waiting for them.
"Gibbs?"
Gibbs looked at the man sitting in the director's chair and smirked. He was a tall and black man wearing a dress shirt and his office was full of diplomas and family photos, showing him beside his wife and two children.
"Vance." Gibbs replied as the director laughed and shook his hand. "Tired of taking care of soldiers and chose the children?"
"Smart as always Gibbs."
Both had been childhood friends and had enlisted in the Marines together, but Leon Vance had dropped his career to become a teacher. The man then turned to Ziva and Tim and smiled.
"And these are your kids? What's your name?"
"Ziva."
"Timothy."
"Nice to meet you, Ziva and Timothy. I'm Leon Vance, an old friend of your dad."
"I came to do their registration. Here are the documents." Gibbs handed him envelopes and Vance looked surprised, but said nothing.
When all the details were finished, Vance and Gibbs followed Tim to his class and then Ziva to her. Gibbs kissed their foreheads, wishing them a good day and saying he would pick them after school. When Vance and Gibbs walked to the exit, the director asked:
"So you came to stay?"
Gibbs sighed, scratching his head slightly and Leon knew he didn't want to talk about his ex wife or about Iraq right now.
"For now." He replied vaguely as he grabbed his keys and looked at his friend.
"Great, then maybe one day Jackie and I can take you to the bar to drink something, maybe you can find a redhead?" Leon said laughing and Gibbs glared at him before entering the car.
But before he started the car to go, his mind turned for a moment to Jenny, the redhead who had some connection with the ballet school. Gibbs felt like visiting the small building, but refrained, resolving to wait to go to with his daughter. He then drove to his father's store to help him while he was on medical leave.
"... Let's go girls, 7,8 and plie..." Jenny was saying as she stood in front of the bar, showing her 8 years old students the exercise.
She wore a red leotard with a ballet skirt of the same color at the knees and made movements with arms, accompanied by six girls dressed in pink. When she saw that they had decorated the exercise, she smiled leaving the bar and going to her friend Kate.
The ballet school where Jenny had been teaching was small, because the city was small too, but they had a good number of students there, including many boys and they teached fitness ballet too for adults and there was the academy and the place had 3 dance rooms, the gym, along with the small ballet shop and the locker room.
Kate, who taught ballet for the older girls, had hazel eyes and brown hair tied in a bun, wearing a black leotard with leggings of the same color. She'd been living there for two years and as soon as Jenny had arrived, both had become friends.
"You knew that Jackson's son is back?"
"Who?" Jenny asked, frowning at her friend as she brushed her bangs away from her forehead.
"Sorry, I forgot that you've been here just over a month." She said, shaken her hand in the air. "Jackson Gibbs, the owner of the convenience store in dowtown."
"Ah , you are talking about Jethro Gibbs?" Jenny asked, feeling a shiver at the memory of the man who she'd met the day before.
His blue eyes and his soft hands hadn't left her mind until the morning. She saw that Kate frowned at her, surprised.
"Have you already met him? And how he looks like?" She asked curiously and Jenny smirked.
"Well, he's tall and strong, probably marine by his haircut and he has bright blue eyes. And he has two kids." She added, increasing her smile, remembering about Tim and Ziva.
Kate looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
"The man barely arrived in this town and you know all this? It's serious then."
"Kate!" Jenny exclaimed, giving her a light punch and then becoming serious. "You know I lost my confidence in most men."
Kate bit her lip, staring at her friend, who seemed sad.
"I know Jenny."
Both then said goodbye, returning to their classes.
"Hey probies!"
Tim and Ziva, who had left their classes and met in the hallway, turned toward the voice and saw Tony smiling confident at them. Ziva's eyes sparkled as she put herself in front of her younger brother.
"You're so funny Tony." The girl said in a bored voice. "But we have names: Ziva and Tim."
"Probies." Ziva flexed her fists and Tony laughed. "Look, I don't fight with girls... and… AUCH! "
Ziva held his arms tightly behind his back and knocked him to the ground. Tony blinked in surprise while his sister Abby approached and crouched beside him shaking her head.
"Toniee, mommy won't like to know you're fighting in our first month here."
Then the girl turned to Ziva and hugged her, surprising the brunette.
"Zivaaaa, we are in the same school! Let's be friends!"
Ziva grinned, happy to have made a friend on her first day of school and then Abby hugged Tim.
"Hi Abby." He said, blushing.
"Timmy, don't worry, my brother's a great boy."
Tony rolled his eyes at his sister and rose, approaching Ziva cautiously as he brushed his hair and held out his hand to her.
"Ooow, you're strong, but I let you overthrow me, you know?"
"Yeah." She said rolling her eyes and shaking his hand tightly.
"Friends?"
Ziva narrowed her eyes, deciding and then she smiled.
"Friends."
Tony turned to Tim and punched him lightly on the shoulder.
"Hey Tim, do you like movies?"
Tim, surprised, said yes, although he preferred to play video games and the four headed to the entrance of the school where many parents were, picking up their children. Soon Gibbs saw his kids and was surprised to see them with Jenny's kids and smiled, going towards them.
"How was your first day?" Gibbs asked, crouching and looking at Ziva and Tim and they smiled as Gibbs messed their hairs fondly.
"Fine." Both replied and Gibbs greeted Abby and Tony.
"And where is your mother?" He asked as Tony and he made a hand touch and Abby smiled at him, taking his hand and he realized that both brother and sister had the same bright and intelligent eyes that their mother.
"Mommy works near here." Tony said pointing to the dance academy. "I'm responsible for picking up Abby when she can't get in the time." And he smiled proudly, going to his sister's side.
"And can you take us to your mother Tony? I would like to take Ziva to see the academy."
"Of course!" Tony stepped forward as Gibbs held Abby's hand and Ziva and Tim were talking, as they headed to the building where was the ballet school.
Gibbs felt like a nanny, but he liked children, although many people find him a hard and difficult man. When they entered the building and were greeted by the receptionist, Tony led them to one of the glass doors and spoke in a low voice full of pride.
"There she is Gibbs."
The five looked through the window and saw a group of ten girls of twelve years using black leotard and skirt in the back of the room watching the teacher demonstrate the exercise in the diagonal.
Gibbs was surprised to see that the teacher was Jenny, wearing a red leotard with long skirt and ballet slippers. Her long hair was tied in a bun with loose bangs and she gave a litte jump over one leg, one arm stretching ahead her face and she started doing a ballet waltz around the room and when she passed by the door, her green eyes found Gibbs's blue eyes and she looked surprised but kept with the exercise while Gibbs smiled lightly, struck by her beauty and delicacy.
"It's a sequence of pas de valse..." Ziva whispered, amazed and Abby smiled at her new friend.
"My mommy is amazing, right?" Abby asked and Ziva nodded and Gibbs bent down to Abby, asking:
"Your mother is the teacher?"
"Uh-huh." Abby confirmed. "She's one of them. Also there are Kate, Ducky and Abigail."
Gibbs remembered Ducky, his old childhood friend who was older than him and they families had been friends for years and when Gibbs had gone tontge marine, Ducky had gone to London and smiled when he saw that he was still in town after graduating abroad. The other two he didn't know who were.
"The class is at the end." Tony said and turned to Tim. "Hey Tim, do you want to see the boys doing class?"
"Sure. Can I go daddy?" The boy looked at Gibbs, who nodded and said seriously:
"But don't disrupt the class, okay?"
The two boys ran down the hallway and the door opened, where the girls left to the locker room and Jenny came to them, her face shining and she looked surprised to see Gibbs there. She looked from him to her daughter and Ziva and Gibbs admired her, raising an eyebrow slightly, looking from her long legs to her leotard and her face, finding the green and prying eyes.
"Tony brought us mom." Abby said with her big green eyes glittering as she released Gibbs's hand and hugged her.
"Gibbs?" She asked, crossing her arms and looking uncomfortable under his intense gaze on her clothes. He gave one of his smirks and greeted:
"Jenny."
I know you think I'm like the other before
Who saw your name and number on the wall
