Brooke's Pov
Soon after my little boy drifted off to dream land, I had to head into work. It wasn't my choice to leave Stillwater, the town I grew up in, but being a first-time mother with a sick child was hard and we needed a hospital that specializes in Leukemia, not to mention somewhere where I could find a good job to earn money for my small family. Washington, D.C., wasn't the closest state but, according Jackson, Jethro's father, it was where his son had gone to work after leaving the Marines. So I packed up my son and I, got into my junker Station Wagon, and drove in the direction of hope.
Not too long after arriving in Washington, Elliot and I had made the Children's hospital his temporary residence and I landed two jobs: Waitress at some restaurant and Secretary at NCIS.
The first job was what I expected to get stuck with when I decided to come here in the first place. It was a morning shift and I earned a measly wage along with rare tips but every little cent counted.
The second job came as a surprise to me. Jethro had no clue I was out here with a son he didn't know existed and I planned to keep it that way. Luckily for me, it was night shift and the Agency Director, Leon Vance, assured me that Leroy Gibbs would be home by the time I had to go in for work. My pride told me to decline the offer but my heart accepted it. I needed the money, desperately, for my ailing child to get the treatment he needed.
After visiting the tiny apartment, that I rented nearby the hospital, to eat a little something and ready myself for work, I was on my way to the headquarters. Thoughts of the conversation I had earlier that day with Jethro raced around in my mind. It was a shock that he had agreed to donating his sperm for my second child. The baby that would save his/her big brother.
All my life, Leroy Jethro Gibbs had been like a big brother to me. I was born when he was a sophomore in high school and three-years-old when he graduated high school. Even at that young age, I knew what my feelings for my "big brother" were and I clung tightly to the man, trying to keep him from falling in love with someone who wasn't me.
After Leroy graduated, he joined the Marines which wasn't a shock to anyone in Stillwater. He always wanted a job where he could help people and do something that mattered. With his position, he was able to both. I felt my hold on Jethro slipping, especially after he met her.
Before leaving on his first mission, Jethro got down on one knee and proposed to Shannon. I was heart broken, even though I was still Elementary School Student. My first love was snatched away from me and there wasn't a thing I could do about it.
When they were married, a year later, I was a bridesmaid, much to Shannon's dismay. Leroy had begged for me to be in the wedding, since I was his precious "little sister". Months later, they were expecting their first child and I had to give up any hope I had for Jethro to soon notice me, at the time I was holding the fantasy that any six-year-old would get after watching Cinderella for the first time.
Kelly was born on my seventh birthday. I had to admit defeat to the tiny, pink bundle that Jethro held tightly in his arms. She was adorable. Although I was still young, my "big brother" knelt down and looked me in the eye, asking me how I would feel if he named me her Godmother. No words described the happiness I felt. I glanced at the sleeping infant and back at Leroy. Nodding, I placed a kiss on Kelly's cheek. After that, the happy family moved to California, where Jethro was stationed at Camp Pendleton.
Eight years later, the tragedy occurred. Jethro was off overseas. He never got to say goodbye. Shannon had witnessed something she shouldn't have and in return she and Kelly were murdered. When I heard the news, I died inside. The baby that I had come to love through letters and postcards was gone. I didn't even feel the joy that I thought I would at Jethro's newfound single life. I was shattered which was better off than how the man I loved was doing.
He stayed in Stillwater for a few months but the damage was done. I tried to break through to him, like so many others before me. Jackson had confided that he thought that I may be the only one to do so. He was so broken.
One night I sat down beside him on the couch in his father's living room. I let my hand fall to his leg and my head rest on his shoulder. There was nothing I could say but I thought maybe some warmth would do him so good. Jethro breathed deeply and said the last words he would say before leaving for a long time.
"I'm going to make that bastard pay."
That sentence still holds a place in my heart. I glance at the picture of Kelly taped to my windshield, right below the picture of Elliot. She was the spitting image of Jethro. I smiled, knowing that her murderer received the punishment he deserved because that man wouldn't rest until he, himself, delivered it. That little girl would have been so happy to know she has a little brother.
I parked my car in front of the tall building and got out. Smoothing my tan skirt, I walked into the office, unaware of what was waiting for me inside.
No one's Pov
Gibbs sat at his desk, knowing he was free to leave whenever he wanted, with a picture of Shannon and Kelly in front of him. They were his world. His everything. He felt like he had betrayed them, marrying three more times and now the father of a illegitimate child. A sick little boy. Pain squeezed his heart. Jethro had promised himself those years ago that if he ever had kid again, he would be there for them one hundred percent.
How could Brooke keep this from me? he thought to himself, dragging his hands through his buzz cut. she, of all people, knows how much family means to me.
He sat back and looked at the three empty desks before him. His team had left before him, like always. Gibbs stood up and made his way to the one person who rarely left this building, Ducky. If anyone could shed some light on this situation it was Dr. Mallard.
