Four
Jenny watched the chaos unfold as Kelly and Lydia cooked for a traditional Cuban dinner, she had planned on making dinner for Lydia's first night in town, or rather having Kelly help her make dinner, but Lydia had insisted on introducing the kids to traditional Cuban food. Jenny only hoped that Jake would actually eat something, she had a microwave dinner on standby just in case. She hated feeding them to him but for emergencies or a treat it wouldn't hurt him.
"Mami you're going to burn down the kitchen." Jenny said in exasperation as she watched a large flame come out of the pan on the stove.
"I know what I am doing, you just go and relax with your husband." Lydia chastised.
"We're not married." Jenny reminded her with an irritated sigh.
"Do not remind me." Lydia replied, "Four children but not married Dios mío." She muttered, "your Papi would roll over in his grave."
"Daddy would not." Jenny replied rolling her eyes, "He knew just as well as anybody that a baby is not a good reason to get married."
Her parents had gotten married young because Jenny's mother had gotten pregnant with her, it worked for some people but it obviously hadn't worked out well for them.
"Arroz Con Pollo was your favourite food when you were a child." Lydia stated, changing the subject, "and then we will have Ropa Veija for supper tomorrow night, I must thank Gibbs again for taking me to the market."
"You really don't have to do the cooking while you're here." Jenny protested weakly.
"Lo sé, but I like cooking for my family." Lydia replied, "and I do not get to do it all that often, let me do this."
"Alright, gracias Mami."
"De nada, Mija." Lydia replied happily, "Plus I get to teach your hija all about how to properly cook Cuban food."
"It's interesting, Aboulita." Kelly stated, "a lot of ingredients though, I don't know how you remember it all."
"Práctica, práctica, práctica." Lydia responded, waving a wooden spoon at her, "you will learn."
Jenny laughed and rolled her eyes before leaving the kitchen, she found Gibbs in the living room sitting on the floor with his back against the couch flipping the pages on a book for Ava.
"Where's Dani?" Jenny asked as she carefully dropped down beside him.
"Finishing homework and avoiding the chaos." Gibbs replied with a snort, "Where's Jake?"
"Watching the chaos unfold." Jenny laughed, "our kids are all opposites of each other."
"Yup." Gibbs agreed, "supper smells good."
"It really does." Jenny replied as her stomach voiced it's agreement, "she's making Ropa Veija tomorrow night."
"Can we keep her?" Gibbs asked.
Lydia's Ropa Veija was to die for, all of her food was good but there was something special about that particular dish.
"I wish." Jenny replied with a sigh.
Ava made a chirping sound and crawled over to Jenny. She gave her a toothy grin and reached out for Jenny's necklace. She unfastened it and handed it over to the baby, there were no beads on it and it wasn't a choking risk as long as she was right there.
"Is that shiny?" She asked, "Pretty?"
Ava squealed and thrust the necklace out towards Gibbs proudly.
"Good to know she's going to have your taste." Gibbs deadpanned.
"I have good taste." Jenny replied indignantly, "I chose you." She added seriously.
"I wouldn't brag about that." Gibbs replied with a laugh.
"I do." Jenny stated, "you are kind, caring, a great father and not to mention smoking hot."
"You guys are disgusting." Dani stated as she walked past them and towards the kitchen.
"Set the table!" Jenny called after her, "Jake can help you!"
"And what're you doing?" Dani muttered under her breathe.
"Hitting on your father!" Jenny replied.
Normally she would have called Dani on her sass but judging by the disgusted sound Dani made her response had had the desired affect.
"You're cruel." Gibbs whispered.
"But it's so much fun." Jenny replied with a sly grin.
Gibbs shook his head and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her against his side and kissed the top of her head.
"This is better than a quiet weekend." He whispered as loud salsa music and laughter flowed out of the kitchen.
"It's pretty great." Jenny agreed, "although I'm having flashbacks to my childhood with that music."
"Yeah?" Gibbs asked.
He didn't know very much about Jenny's childhood and she didn't know a lot about his, they had never talked about those kinds of things and he wanted to know more. He just didn't want to push her.
"Lydia always started the morning with music, she would turn it on and dance while she made breakfast and packed our lunches… It drove my dad nuts at first but eventually he got used to it, she took a week off at one point and I caught my dad listening to her music in his office." Jenny recounted with a fond smile, "He would've loved this…" She added quietly.
Gibbs gently squeezed her shoulder and ran his hand up and down her arm, he wanted to know more about her father, the grandfather of his children, but he knew better than to ask. He was amazed that she had even shared that small detail, her father was normally out of bounds and off limits no matter what.
He was debating what to say to her but he was saved when Ava tossed Jenny's necklace at him before attempting to crawl into her lap. He loosened his arm from around her shoulders and watched her lean forward to help the baby.
"Are you coming to cuddle?" Jenny cooed.
He smirked as she made faces at the baby, he had been so used to seeing her colder more serious side at work that watching her fun, loving side coming out over the last six weeks was a treat for him.
"Look at your hair, you're just so sweet." Jenny cooed, "say 'look, Daddy, look how cute I am!'"
Ava gurgled and babbled as she reached out to grab Jenny's cheeks.
"She is pretty cute." Gibbs conceded seriously.
"She is isn't she?" Jenny babbled, "I just love her so much."
Gibbs snorted and ran his hand over her hair.
"You're in a cuddly mood." She stated in a normal voice.
He realized that she was right, he normally wasn't a cuddly person, it was a problem he'd had with most of his wives but with Jenny he wanted her close, he wanted to know that she was safe.
He ignored her comment and reached over to fix one of the straps on Ava's dress, the baby grabbed his finger and promptly stuck it in her mouth. He winced as she bit down and carefully extracted his finger.
"No biting, Dad." He chided gently, "I'll go get one of her toys." He offered.
He groaned as he slowly pushed himself off the ground. There were days where he hardly felt his age then there were days when he wondered why the hell Jenny would waste her time with him. Jenny glanced at him in concern but didn't say anything.
N*C*I*S
Jenny sighed in defeat as Ava spit out yet another mouthful of food, her highchair tray was a disaster and she was absolutely covered in a mixture of pureed fruit and pasta.
"Alright I give up." She muttered.
She grabbed the washcloth she had brought to the table and cleaned the baby off and wiped her tray before handing her a few toys. She turned back to her plate to find it missing, she looked around for a second and smiled when Gibbs appeared with it in his hand.
"I heated it up for you." He explained.
He put it down in front of her and kissed the top of her head before sitting down again.
"So," Lydia stated loudly, "I have an announcement to make."
The room went silent as everyone turned to face her and Jenny raised an eyebrow.
"I am moving back to Washington."
"I'm sorry, what?" Jenny asked in shock.
"I am moving back to Washington, is your hearing okay, Mija?"
"My hearing is fine, Mami." Jenny reassured her, "I was just surprised that's all, I mean that's, it's great!"
"When did you decide to move?" Gibbs asked.
"When, Jenny called and told me about los niños." Lydia responded, "I want to be closer to them and be able to help my niña out."
"We really appreciate that but you shouldn't uproot yourself, Mami."
"I am not uprooting myself, I want to be closer to mi familia." Lydia argued, "now enough of this, I will start the dishes."
"Mami, we can do the dishes." Jenny protested.
"No, no, you go and give la princesa a bath, she is filthy."
"Help your Aboulita please." Jenny said looking at all three of the kids.
Dani rolled her eyes but Jake and Kelly both nodded.
"I'll go get the water running, you finish you supper." Gibbs offered.
"Thank you."
N*C*I*S
"I'm not against it." Jenny stated quietly as she finished washing her face.
The rest of the night had been complete chaos between getting kids bathed and ready for bed amidst all of the excitement of having Lydia around. They hadn't had a minute alone to talk about Lydia's announcement until after everyone else had gone to bed.
"But it's not exactly what I had in mind when I said I wished we could keep her." She added after a minute.
She pulled her toothbrush out of the medicine cabinet and started to brush her teeth, she glared when Gibbs stepped into the bathroom and leaned against the door.
"It's not a bad thing." He reasoned.
She spit out her tooth paste and gestured to him with her toothbrush.
"Privacy."
"You're brushing your teeth." He pointed out, "and you're fully dressed."
She was in baggy plaid PJ bottoms and an a black t-shirt, she rolled her eyes but went back to brushing her teeth as he sat down on the edge of the bathtub.
"It might be nice to have her around." He stated, "and she said she wanted to help with the kids."
"Hell migh be nish." Jenny said.
"Finish brushing your teeth and then talk." Gibbs instructed with a smirk.
"Help might be nice." She clarified, "I just… I wanted to…"
"Do it on our own." Gibbs finished for her.
"I get why my dad needed help." Jenny said slowly, "and I don't want to admit it but somedays… Help would be nice."
"There's nothing wrong with that."
"I feel like I'm failing if I ask for help." She admitted quietly, "like I'm a bad mom."
"You're a great mom, Jen." He replied, "asking for help doesn't make you a failure, it just means you're human."
"I know… I guess you're right."
"I usually am." He pointed out smugly.
Jenny looked at him and rolled her eyes.
"Can you check and see if my hairbrush is on my nightstand?" She asked, "Jake had it earlier and I don't know where he put it."
Gibbs stood up and wandered into the bedroom, he didn't see the hairbrush anywhere but knowing Jake it was probably in a weird spot.
"I don't see it, would it be in your nightstand drawer?"
"Yeah it might be." She called back quietly.
He opened the top drawer of the nightstand and shook his head when he saw the hair brush sitting there. He lifted it out and noticed the note he had left for her the other day sitting underneath it, he lifted the note and noticed a familiar card underneath it. It was one he had made her for her thirtieth birthday, he hadn't been able to leave their safe house to get her a card so he had made her one. It was simple, white paper with an orchid sketched on the front and a simple note on the inside and he was surprised that she had bothered to keep it. He placed both papers back in the drawer and closed it, he didn't want her to know that he had seen something that was obviously private.
"Here it is." He said as he walked back into the bathroom.
"I will never be able to explain that boy." Jenny commented as she took the brush.
"Life is more interesting that way." Gibbs replied with a shrug.
"I don't think anyone has ever said that our lives were dull."
Gibbs walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, he kissed her shoulder and smirked at her in the mirror.
"No, our life isn't dull."
Just some fun cuteness… Remember I own nothing but I love to hear from you guys! Have a great week everyone!
~Katie
Dios mío - My god
Hija- Daughter
Mi Familia- My Family