Gibbs started to pack for Stillwater the moment he got home. He called Jackson to tell him that he would be there in about 3 hours, because as his team would say: with him driving it would take half the time. He, though, knew better and accounted for Christmas traffic, especially in and around Washington. That would be a nightmare.

"I'll be in there in a few hours," Gibbs told his father.

"Great! I can't wait to see you, Leroy," Jackson told him.

Gibbs had gone over his luggage, zipped it up, and hauled it out to his mustard yellow mustang that he received from his father the last time he had been in Stillwater for a marine related case. The last time, when he had gone to retrieve his father for his safety and had helped him make repairs to his shop, while recent (On his and Jackson's clocks, months are less than milliseconds.) were not weekends he looked upon with fondness. He went back inside and turned off his lights. Then he suddenly turned to his fireplace. He saw the picture of him and his dad together, taken at Abby's insistence by McGee before he and Jackson returned to Stillwater. Thoughts began to churn in his mind about the months before. Thoughts about Paloma Reynosa and her crazy desire for revenge.

"If I must, I promise to personally visit Pennsylvania, and shoot you father in the head," she had said to Gibbs. The words had rung through his ears. He knew that he'd had to protect his father until Paloma had been taken down. After four crazy months, she was shot by her brother, in, unofficially, an as Ducky had called it "A Trojan horse meets a modern day Huckleberry Finn."

Gibbs snapped out of his thoughts after about two minutes of reminiscing. His father was safe, until another criminal he somehow came across got cocky and threatened his family, blood-related or otherwise. He grabbed his keys and walked outside. Closing the door behind him, he hopped in his Mustang and began the four hour drive to Stillwater, Pennsylvania.

Jackson Gibbs saw his son come through the door of his general store, after looking up from the beef soup he had been marking to be stocked. The bell he had placed above the doorway to alert him of customers, as he wasn't always at the register and counter had ran, alerting him to his presence. "Leroy!" he exclaimed. "It's nice to see you again!"

"You too Dad." Gibbs gave his father a hug, and he looked at the store. He had been to the grand re-opening after they cleaned it up. The store was pretty much exactly the same as before it had been gunned down by Paloma Reynosa's men.

"How have you been, Son?" Jack asked with a smile on his face.

"Pretty good. Abby says hello, and that she loved the chocolate that you sent her. She ate in about an hour and had a Caf-Pow! to wash it down. Talked even faster after that, and said it was even better than the ones you brought up last Christmas, if that is even possible."

"Oh, Abby, tell her thanks. Speaking of which, how is your team? Last time I saw them; we were looking for a psychopath and pulling out guns every minute."

"They're pretty good. Abby asks about you almost every day. Ducky wants to see you again, he enjoyed your conversation. Tony, Ziva, and McGee are happy that you're alright. Everything's pretty much the same," Gibbs replied.

"Do you have any time on your hands? I need a few things from the Laundromat," Jackson requested.

"Yeah, sure. What am I picking up?" Gibbs asked.

"A table runner, some curtains, and my slacks. Nothing too grand," Jack said casually.

Right before his son left the store, Jackson called him. "Son!"

"Yeah Dad?"

"I'm glad you're here."

"Me too, Dad. Me too," Gibbs said with a smile.

Jackson Gibbs smiled back at his son, and went back to his work restocking beef soup.