Chapter 4
Leroy Jethro Gibbs was ripped from his sleep by the sound of a baby crying, screeching at the top of their lungs, piercing his ears, he sat up straight in his bed. His eyes shot open, blood shot and wide.
He looked around the dark, muggy room his was in, he was still in Mexico, he was in Mike's spare room, well his now, it was so hot his old NCIS t-shirt was sticking to his chest, his hair was longer so stuck to the back of his neck in an uncomfortable way.
Throwing the thin sheet covers off he walked over to the small window and tried to open it only to find it stuck, it was just a number of things in this old creaky shack that he needed to fix to earn his keep.
The baby crying, there were no babies here, it was just him and Mike on an abandoned sea front, it was their own land, so the baby must have been a memory.
He shook his head, it couldn't have been Kelly, he'd been shipped off a couple of days after she'd been born and in that time she'd been in hospital and by the time he had returned, the little girl had been put into a sleeping pattern that meant Shannon or he was there as soon as she woke up and she didn't cry.
Gibbs needed to breath, he couldn't comprehend where his brain was going, the things he still had a feeling he didn't know, he needed to breath, walking almost mindlessly to his bedroom door he pulled down the handle and opened it.
The ex-marine crept through the old wooden shack, the floor boards creaking under his foot, through the small living area and kitchen and then outside, by passing Mike who had passed out in the hammock out on the deck and went straight to where the sea met the shore.
He took a deep breath of the cooler salty air, closing his eyes, he heard more screams, this time it wasn't a babies, it was a women's, it was Jenny's and not the good kind, like she was in pain, her heard himself trying to comfort her, telling her she was doing great and it would be over soon.
It must have been when they'd been partners, she must have been shot or something, of that he was sure, it couldn't have been anything else.
Jenny, he was so angry at her, why had she tempted him so, what was it about her, she was married why did she make it known to him that she loved him, why was she tormenting him with something he couldn't have? In the two more weeks since he'd left D.C since the night in the basement, she'd haunted him.
"You okay Probie?" he turned to find Mike beside him.
"I dunno Mike" he admitted "There's something ….I ….I just can't" Gibbs tried to explained but couldn't he was so frustrated.
"You need a drink" Mike turned to walk back to the shack.
"I need to go back to D.C" Gibbs told him.
Mike gave him a weird smile, almost telling Gibbs he knew something he didn't or didn't remember "I know" he told his friend. "You sure though?" he asked.
"Something's telling me, being here is wrong, there are people there that need me, that want me, I have to know what it is" Gibbs explained.
Mike nodded "Guess that means no tiki tub for me then" he said with a slight chuckle before they both then headed back to the shack.
…
Jenny sat at the kitchen table, her fingers tapping the side of the white ceramic mug in front of her, that was now full of cold coffee, she'd been sitting there for an hour staring into space.
"What is wrong with Mum ?" Jess asked her elder brother Japer or Jay as her preferred, as she stood outside the kitchen door looking at her mother who was unaware of them both standing in the shadows.
"I dunno" Jay lied and tried to get Jess to leave "Let's leave her alone, she'll tell us if she wants to" he continued.
"Has she told you anything about Dad?" Jess asked her brother.
"No" Jay told her, but he scratched the back of his head, he was lying.
"What is it?" Jess asked him and followed her brother to the living room "I demand to know" she told him, her hands going straight to her hips, looking just like her mother.
"Fine but you cannot tell Mum I told you or tell LJ" Jay told her.
"Of course I'm going tell a two and half year old" she glared at him just like Gibbs, a trait all the children had picked up from their father.
"Do you want to know or not?" Jay asked her, Jess nodded so he continued "Dad lost his memory, he remembers, everything apart from mum or us" he told her, the twelve year old stood there for a moment completely shocked her mouth open, her daddy didn't remember her, he didn't even know she existed, didn't have the memories she had of their family together, he didn't remember the women that all the kids knew he was so madly in love with.
"Where is he?" Jess asked, like her mother, she put on a mask, not showing how broken she really was inside by the news.
"Mexico with uncle Mike" Jay informed his little sister.
"Well lets go" she told him.
"What?" Jay asked her as if she were crazy.
"We should go to Mexico, we should tell him who we are, who he is and that'll bring his memory back" Jess explained.
"Jess it's not like that" Jay told her "We can't"
"Why not?" she asked him "Isn't it worth a try, or would you rather Dad never remember, that we just let him live the rest of his life not knowing who he really is, Mum spending the rest of her life upset and knowing we didn't do anything to help" she explained.
"Okay" Jay nodded, "you pack, I'll book the tickets, we'll leave tonight, we can get a taxi to uncle mikes from the airport" he told her before they dispersed and headed to their rooms. Jenny still sitting lost in thought in the kitchen.
…
Gibbs took a gulp, he looked out of the plane window and saw the Washington airport below him, he was nervous, he couldn't help but think that something was waiting for him to return. He turned to look at the spare seat next to him and for some reason a memory of Jenny sitting beside him, smiling at him, looking a lot younger, she held his hand and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
He shook his head, he needed to talk to her, he needed to see her, he needed to remember where she lived he thought with chuckle as the plane landed, he soon got off to go get his duffle bag.
What he didn't know was that meanwhile doing this, his two oldest children were walking into the airport.
"Do you think mum's going to be okay?" Jess asked knowing that her mother had a furious temper and that she'd probably go to Mexico herself and drag them back by their ears and then ground them for the rest of their lives.
"No" Jay answered his sister honestly, "But we need to try to help Dad" he told her and she nodded in agreement.
As they walked past arrivals Jess stopped dead in her tracks where something or more like someone caught her eye. Jay grabbed his sisters arm "Come on Jess, we don't have time for you to gawk at guys" he told her.
"Dad" was the only thing she said, still not looking at her brother.
"What?" he asked so confused before following her line of sight and he saw it too, their father was walking out of the arrival area, his fading old green duffle bag slung over his shoulder, his hair was longer and he had a beard and was tanned but it was their father none the less. "What are we going to do?" Jay asked his sister but she wasn't listening to him, instead she walked straight for him, he ran to her and pulled her back.
"We can't just walk up to him" Jay told her as Gibbs came closer.
"Why the hell not, he's my dad, he's our dad?" Jess shrugged off his hand before making her way towards him.
Gibbs looked up when he heard what he could only describe as familiar bickering, it wasn't Tony, Ziva, Tim and Abby it was a lot closer to home, he looked around and that's when he saw two teenagers, a boy abut eighteen nineteen and a girl about twelve or thirteen.
He couldn't help himself, he walked over to them, neither of them realising he was right there "Would you two cut it out, if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all" he almost yelled at them, then it hit him, he had told them millions of times, everything came back to him.
The baby crying, Jenny screaming, it was her giving birth to their three kids, how he had been there every time to hold her hand, because that was all he could do when she was giving him the greatest gift she could, memories of him and a young Jasper working together in the basement , on the boat, on his bedframe, working with Jess on her chest, he and LJ playing imaginary cow boys and Indians, reading the little boy stories before he went to bed, Jenny, she was married, yeah to him, she'd worn that dress when they'd gone out on date night, he loved her so much, he remembered every inch of their amazing eighteen years together, how she'd come back with him in Paris, they were so in love.
"Dad?" Jess asked him, her bright blue eyes shining with tears. She was the spitting image of her mother but had his eyes.
Gibbs then did something that Jay and Jess hadn't been expecting, he pulled them both into a hug and kissed the top of both of their heads "I love you guys" he told him hugging them close "I've missed you so much, I'm so sorry" he told them.
"We missed you too Dad" Jess told him hugging her dad close.
"You remember?" Jay asked his father as they pulled apart.
"Yeah, Jasper I do" he told him, his son really did look like him, it was rather eerie, but he had his mother's warm green eyes. "What are you guys doing here?" Gibbs asked them after a moment.
"Ugh, to come get you" Jess tried to grin innocently at her father but it would never have worked.
"The truth" he told them
"We were going to go to Mexico to see you, mum told me when she got really upset" Jasper explained.
"And she knows that you're going?" Gibbs asked doubting that his wife would let them go to Mexico, she would have thought she'd lost Gibbs she wouldn't want to risk losing more.
"Well, she probably does now" Jess said referring to the letter they'd left stuck to the fridge by her favourite Eiffel tower magnet.
"We'd better get home" Gibbs told them, Jasper took his bag while Jess wrapped an arm around her dad's waist and he put his arm around her shoulder and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Twenty minutes later Jasper pulled his car, that he'd fixed up himself with a little help from his dad of course, into the drive way, where Jenny already stood with LJ resting on her hip and phone in one hand along with her car keys.
"Abby never mind, they've just pulled up in my drive way" she informed Abby down the phone "Yeah I'll call you later" she then put the phone down as her two children got out of his car.
"I know I haven't set a very good example, but never, ever to you ever leave and just leave a letter" she yelled at them both "I mean what the hell do you think you were doing?" she said angry because she was worried at them.
"Were sorry" Jess told her mother before looking down at her feet.
"Sorry isn't even going to cover it" Jenny told them "You two are grounded, Jess if you think you're going to the cinema this weekend you've got another thing coming and Jay, well no, no going out with friends, both of you are grounded" she told them getting frustrated, missed with a feeling of relief and anger but happiness they were home safe and sound.
"Hey Jen, cut them some slack" Jay and Jess moved to show Gibbs who stood behind them.
"Jethro" Jenny spoke his name in a whisper as the kids moved out of the way as Gibbs moved towards his wife.
"Dah" LJ squealed and clapped his hands from his place in his mother's arms.
"Hey Lucas, I've missed you" He took LJ from Jenny's arms and held his baby boy close and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"Bang bang" LJ yelled at his father.
"Yeah I promise I'll play later buddy, first I have to talk to Mummy" he told him before passing him to Jess who then walked into the house leaving their parents to have a moment alone.
"Jethro" Jenny said her nostrils flaring in such a cute way that told him she was angry, "How long…how long has your memory been back?" she asked him.
Gibbs smiled at her, he'd missed her beyond belief, how could he not have remembered them "About half an hour" he told her "I came back to D.C because I needed you, I needed to talk to you, I got to the airport and saw Jasper and Jess arguing and It all came back to me, me you, our family" he told her reaching out to touch her red locks, "I love you Jen" he told her as he buried his nose in her hair.
"I love you Jethro" Jenny wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a hug and then pulled him in for a kiss, a real kiss, not one that she had to imagine was between husband and wife like the last too but this one was real, they knew there was a lot to talk about but right now, them together was what they wanted more than anything.
TBC…
I think one more chapter after this, any suggestion? Review.