Title: A New Life

A/N: This will have a special guest crossover, but I'll explain that at the end.

***JIBBS***JIBBS***JIBBS***

Could two women have the exact same birthmark in the exact same spot?

He knew it couldn't be a certain redhead he once loved, but the investigator in him had to find out for sure. It took Gibbs a few seconds to find his voice. "Jen?"

He saw the woman's back straighten and heard her breath catch. He wasn't sure how his heart could race even faster and yet it did. But the woman wouldn't budge.

He didn't care if she thought he was crazy or rude, but he wasn't going to let her ignore him. He grabbed her left arm above the elbow and quickly turned her towards him. She was wearing oversized sunglasses. He went to take them off when her sharp reflexes grabbed his hand.

"Don't."

Gibbs didn't recognize her voice but she could have been altering it, trying to avoid detection. Avoid detection? From me? Why? "If you want me to go away, then just take them off," he said.

All of a sudden, Gibbs felt a hand on his chin, turning his face toward the aisle, or rather toward a woman standing in front of him with her other hand on a gun.

"Get off of her, now."

Gibbs looked up at the blonde woman standing in front of him. She was obviously in law enforcement. "Time to move. You're in my seat."

Gibbs glared at the woman. "I'm not going anywhere until I'm ready. Plan to shoot me in a crowded airplane?"

"I just might. Who are you?"

"You first," insisted Gibbs.

"Doesn't work that way. Do I have to get the pilot to remove you? He's a Navy man. I'm sure he could take you."

Gibbs smirked and then drawled, "You can try."

"Watch me," said the woman with the gun.

"Don't bother, Mary." Gibbs nearly got whiplash turning to the origin of that voice. The voice he'd longed to hear for the last year. The woman removed her sunglasses, revealing the emerald eyes a person could lose themself in. That he could lose himself in. And had. "I know that look. He probably used to serve with the pilot."

Gibbs would have grinned but he was still in shock. It was one thing to suspect this woman was Jenny. It was quite another to have all doubt removed.

Mary shot Jen her own version of the death glare. "What are you doing, Catherine?"

Gibbs looked at her, confused. "Catherine?"

"The name you said before - never utter it again." She reached to shake his hand. "Hi, my name is Catherine Jones." She glared at him, willing him to understand.

Mary looked at Catherine, exasperated. "Who is he?"

Catherine sighed. "Mary Shannon, U.S. Marshal - yes, that's her real last name - meet Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

Mary took one look at Gibbs, looked back at Catherine, obviously having heard about him, said simply, "Oh crap."

Gibbs looked up at Mary. "8B."

"What's that?"

"Your new seat."

Catherine shot Mary a pleading look. Mary rolled her eyes and headed towards her new seat.

Catherine went to put her glasses back on but Gibbs silently asked her not to do it. She looked around nervously and motioned for them to trade seats so she'd have her back to the rest of the plane. Once she was settled, Catherine noticed that Gibbs was staring at her. The intensity in his eyes unnerved her.

"Stop it."

"Stop what?" he asked.

"Stop looking at me like that. You're making me feel… naked."

He sighed. "I'm scared to look away, scared this is all a dream and that you'll disappear."

"You say that almost like you care."

His eyes went wide with indignation. "What the heck is that supposed to mean? Of course I care!"

She tried to search his eyes for the truth. She asked him a question she obviously already knew the answer to: "Did you get the letter I wrote?"

His eyes narrowed. "The Dear Jethro and nothing else letter? Yeah, I found that." He watched as her whole body visibly sunk, a realization having washed over her - one that did not make her happy. "What?"

"So Mike never gave you a letter from me."

Anger began to course through Gibbs. "No. You left a letter for me?" He noticed that Catherine took a moment to absorb this - and the sadness that overtook her as well as the conflict within. "Why wouldn't he give it to me?"

"Because I told him to only give it to you if you seemed upset, if you looked like you needed closure. He had further instruction to tell you the truth if it seemed like you were completely overwhelmed by it. It's not like I thought that would happen but I thought you'd have been upset enough to at least warrant the letter." She saw confusion in his eyes. "I guess you weren't," she said sadly. "This was a huge mistake, Jethro. Please go and let Mary have her seat back."

Before Catherine was able to put her dark glasses back on, Gibbs noticed tears forming in her eyes. His heart was ripping apart, seeing her cry. He was completely overwhelmed with questions but one thing he knew for certain - he wasn't going anywhere.

***JIBBS***JIBBS***JIBBS***

A/N: Mary Shannon is from the show "In Plain Sight" - a show about her and her work as a U.S. Marshall involved in the Witness Relocation program.