Disclaimer: The following story is a work of fiction. The characters are borrowed from the CBS network show NCIS for personal entertainment purposes only. No profit is or shall be made from this fan tribute to the show which is owned by TPTB. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.

A/N: First of all thanks for reading, it's amazing to have others show an interest in my little flights of fancy!

Identifyer: vglb0004/Wr03, word count: 1113

Set in time: NCIS mid-season 11 (2014) - Gibbs' memories dating back through the seasons.

Mating Behavior

Gibbs was still shaking his head about Tobias and Diane. As he had told Tobias the last time Diane had gotten married, Gibbs had been happy with her too - the day she'd caught her fingers in the car door. That was only partially true of course. He still liked Diane, but he should never have married her, or any of his ex-wives for that matter. Tobias, however, had always cherished good memories of the mother of his daughter, despite their divorce. Who was he to begrudge them a little happiness? Fortunately Emily Fornell had stopped asking him advise about her parents, but he had to admit that the family looked good back together. For Tobias' sake he hoped it would last.

Tobias had recommended for him to get together with an ex too, just asking him to exclude Diane. He'd have grinned at his waffling friend, if the subject had not reminded him of the one love he could never forget, Jenny. She had left him years ago, and they had never gotten back together in the time Jenny had been head of NCIS. That first year she was director, he'd been ready to forget all about his own rules, but Jenny had said no off the job. At times he'd regretted it, and sometimes he'd flirted with her just to see her reaction. He'd not been above torturing her a little, treating her like an ex-wife, but then he'd gotten blown up and his memory loss had thrown him right back to the time when he'd lost his girls.

The first time he'd seen Jenny after his coma, she'd woken him and he'd mistaken her blurred features for Shannon's. For a second he'd been hopeful. But his out-of-date reality had reasserted itself, and he'd seen an attractive redhead, telling him they had been partners. He'd gotten a flash of bodies moving in heat, and checking out her curves he'd thought it was her, but he didn't remember their story until much later. Ziva had jump started his memory at the hospital, but it had not been enough to fill up all the blancs. With the help of Mike Franks he'd put himself back together memory by memory. Never having put them side by side, Gibbs had been amazed by the number of redheads he'd been involved with. Mike had helped him make sense of his jumbled memories, right through dark haired Rose Tamayo, and his marriage to Diane. Mike had known about five year's worth of details, enough to usher in later memories that Mike knew nothing about. That didn't stop his friend from encouraging him to tell about his cases, often the trigger for more private memories through the years he'd only vaguely remembered at first.

By the time friendship and duty had called him back to Washington DC, he'd been in Mexico for four months. Enough time to have a grip on who he'd become, yet with enough buried memories to wish himself back to the beach south of El Rosario every so often. Still, one day out in the field he'd met Lt. Colonel Hollis Mann from CID. Ziva had immediately tagged her as ex-wife number four. Gibbs wondered what his team had seen. Hollis had been good for him, patient even. Over many weeks, Hollis called it months, they had gotten pretty close. And yet he couldn't talk about Shannon or Kelly, or what he'd done in revenge. All he'd said was that he'd put it behind him. But when Hollis had realized how much he was still keeping from her, she'd left him. He'd let her leave without a word, feeling sad, and maybe a little betrayed, too. She could have asked.

There was only one woman he'd trusted with his deepest secret, and he hadn't needed to explain. 'That BOLO on Pedro Hernandez, I closed it', Jenny had said one night, not asking anything, but giving him a long look. In hindsight, putting her house in order, and looking out for him. Several weeks prior he'd turned down her invitation to stay the night. He still didn't know if he'd left out of pride, the wish to make her woo him, or to protect himself. Jenny took it with good grace, they both had thought that they had time to work it out. Yet a few months later Jenny had died, murdered, although Ducky maintained that this had been a mercy considering the slow death her sickness would have given her instead. Either way, he'd lost her for good those years ago, with no further chance to set anything to rights.

That had just reinforced his belief in rule number twelve, going so far as to warn E.J. Barrett to keep her distance from DiNozzo some years later. Tony had shown up in Gibbs' basement the very next evening, telling him it felt good to have someone in his life who knew what burdens his job brought. Abby's insistant calls had interrupted them, and the case took over again, leaving their discussion in limbo. They had never gotten back to it, and eventually Tony moved on. Gibbs never told Tony of the heartbreak Jenny had dealt him with her 'Dear John' letter. He wondered if the younger man suspected the reason for his rule. Kate had very cleverly guessed long ago that personal experience had prompted him to ban romancing colleagues. Of course he had only stared at her until she'd turned away.

As for Kate, she'd realized quickly that having a boyfriend working with her as part of the President's security was unwise, terminating her love affaire at the first opportunity. Unknown to her, the Navy Commander died bare minutes after she'd left, making her a suspect. Gibbs had told her in a way that enabled him to tell that she'd had no hand in the Commander's death. Of course Kate didn't appreciate the manner, and pummeled his chest and called him a bastard. Gibbs hadn't minded. She'd gotten over it, and later asked him where else but work would she meet boyfriend material. Gibbs had told her very seriously to look around at church. For a good catholic girl, that should have been obvious, but somehow he doubted that's where she'd met those boyfriends of hers. And how she liked to glower! His favorite memory of her was probably the time in that submarine he'd held her against his chest during an emergency blow. Kate had stumbled against him, giving him a 'wow' when it was over. It still made him grin after all those years.

Everyone had a learning curve, but rule twelve was there if a guideline was needed.

A/N: There are further subjects to explore for this collection, but it may take a month or more for the next one. I hope that's alright! Looking forwards to your comments on my take on Gibbs' thoughts. TIA.