Four
Gibbs knocked lightly on Ellie's bedroom door before letting himself into the room. He shut the door behind him and turned to find Ellie sitting on the double bed with her knees drawn up to her chest. Although most of the other bedrooms in the house had been turned into generic but homey guest rooms Gibbs would be willing to bet that Ellie's was very similar to when she had been a teenager. There was a white double bed under the window, a dresser and a desk pushed against each wall and a white rag rug in the middle of the room, there were still a few posters of bands Gibbs didn't recognize on the walls and medals from various sports or clubs hung over the desk.
"Hey, Kid." He said quietly.
"Hi."
He hated that her eyes were red and her cheeks were still wet with tears, he hated that he was the reason for it.
"I talked to Jack." She said after a minute, "She made me realize a few things."
"I screwed up." Gibbs admitted before she could continue, "I dropped the ball."
"Yeah." She agreed quietly, "and that hurt but Jack reminded me that you're only human."
Gibbs snorted at that but nodded.
"What you said about Ziva though… I can't just forget that."
"I know." Gibbs replied, "don't expect you too… I didn't mean it the way it sounded."
"I know." Ellie said, swallowing around the lump in her throat, "I know but that doesn't make it hurt any less, I hate knowing that I'm never going to be who you want me to be."
Gibbs closed his eyes and swallowed, now was the time he needed to make a decision. He could either brush her off and run away because he was afraid or he could do exactly what Diane had told him to and let someone in. He was scared. He was starting to let people in, really let them in for the first time in over thirty years and he was running scared as his barriers fell down around him. He took a deep breath and made his decision.
"I shouldn't've said that." He replied slowly, "I was upset and I screwed up… You're exactly who you need to be, you're not Ziva and I never expected you to be… You're you and I'm proud of that, Ellie."
He was ready to stop running from his feelings, ready to stop running from the people around him who loved him for some insane reason. He was ready to stop running and start standing still in the moment, he wasn't sure he knew how to but he was going to do his best to figure it out, not just for himself but for his family.
"Proud of you, Kid." He repeated when he saw Ellie's eyes fill up with tears, "know it doesn't fix it, don't know if I can fix it but I wanna try."
Ellie nodded and blinked a few times, "I miss how things used to be." She admitted quietly, "When we talked and went for breakfast, when you knew what was going on in my life."
Thinking back he realized just how badly he had dropped the ball. He couldn't remember the last time he and Ellie had done anything not work related together, there had been a time when he had known what was going on in her life, who she was dating, if she was taking any classes or what she was reading, how her family was doing. He couldn't really answer any of those questions now.
"I'm sorry."
Ellie looked at him in surprise, "what about Rule Six."
"Rule Fifty One." He replied with a shrug, "besides I've been breaking a lot of rules lately, especially Rule Eight."
"Never take anything for granted?" Ellie asked.
"Yeah, took you for granted and I shouldn't've done that." He replied quietly.
"I appreciate the apology but it doesn't magically fix everything." She whispered.
"I know, don't want you to forgive me… Just give me a chance to make it up to you, okay?"
Ellie nodded slowly, "okay."
"Jack and I will head out tomorrow, give you some time with your family-"
"Stay." She interrupted, "we have the time off and Jack said that she enjoyed getting out of the city, stay… I mean if you want to, you don't have to if you had something else planned."
"We'll stay as long as you want us to." Gibbs reassured her quietly, "if you're sure that's what you want."
"Yeah… There's no work here, no cases… I need a break from DC and all of the memories there… I thought you and Jack might feel the same way."
"A break'd be nice." He admitted, "I'll check with Jack but I doubt she's gonna want to leave."
A slow smile spread across Ellie's face, "plus I kinda want to see Jack try and survive on a farm."
Gibbs laughed at the thought and nodded his agreement before wrapping an arm around Ellie's shoulder, he pulled her against his side and dropped a kiss to the top of her head.
"You wanna talk about anything else?" He asked after a minute of silence.
"Not tonight." She replied quietly, "sorry I was acting like a brat."
"I think in this case you earned it." Gibbs whispered against her hair, "next time don't run away without tellin' someone where you're going, just talk to me or yell at me, whatever you need to do."
"Okay."
He gave her shoulder one last squeeze before standing up, "I'm gonna go back downstairs."
Ellie nodded and Gibbs let himself out of the room and shut the door softly behind him. He went down the hall to his room and quickly changed out of his suit and into jeans and a t-shirt before going back downstairs.
N*C*I*S
Jack looked out over the yard with a contented sigh, she could see John back in the field finishing up his work while there was still daylight and Barbra was in the rocking chair beside her watching life go by.
"It's peaceful out here." Jack commented.
"When no one else is around." Barbra replied with a grin, "when the whole clan is here it can get a little crazy."
"I'll bet." Jack laughed.
"Do you have a big family?"
"Not really, it's pretty much just me now, well it was before I moved to DC." Jack let out another small laugh, "and then I somehow ended up in the middle of the Team Gibbs clan."
"According to my daughter that's not a bad place to be."
"There's nowhere else I'd rather be." Jack admitted quietly.
She looked behind her when the screen door shut and raised an eyebrow when she saw Gibbs come out onto the front porch alone.
"How'd it go?" Jack asked.
"We're gonna work on it." Gibbs replied honestly, "but things are better than they were."
She felt his hand come to rest on her shoulder and she reached up and gave it a squeeze.
"She asked if we would stay, I told her I would talk to you." He added.
Jack looked over to Barbra, "is that alright with you, Barbra?"
"You're always welcome here, besides, you came all this way, I wouldn't just send you home now." Barbra replied, "and please just call me Barb."
"Thank you." Jack replied before looking up at Gibbs, "well if Barb doesn't mind then I'm game to hang around."
"I figured you would be, wanted to make sure." Gibbs replied before he removed his hand from her shoulder and moved to lean against the railing in front of them.
N*C*I*S
Jack looked up at the stars with a contented sigh. There was no way she could get that view in DC or San Diego, she couldn't remember the last time she had seen something so beautiful. As she looked up at the vast sky above her she couldn't help but wonder about how much her life had changed over the last year. She didn't get very far into her thoughts before she heard a throat clear behind her, she jumped slightly and turned around in the chair.
"After midnight, what're you doing outside?" Gibbs asked quietly.
"I'm enjoying the view." She replied, "you won't see that in the city, what're you doing up?"
"Heard you come out, wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I'm fine." She replied with a small smile.
She shifted in the Adirondack chair so she could get a better look at him and smiled at his mussed hair and tired eyes. She had spent a lot of time with him but she couldn't remember ever seeing him looking quite so… rumpled.
"Do you want to be alone?"
"I wouldn't mind some company."
She slid forward in the chair and nodded to the empty space she had created behind her, Gibbs chuckled and settled himself in the chair before pulling her back against his chest. She felt his arms wrap around her waist and leaned back into him, enjoying the feeling of warmth and safety that his presence brought.
"Thank you for talking to Bishop." He muttered after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
"She told me about what happened." She admitted quietly.
She had wanted to bring it up but hadn't been alone with him all night and she hadn't really wanted to ruin the peaceful moment.
"I messed up." Gibbs replied.
"Yeah." She agreed, "now you have to fix it."
"I know." He tightened his arms around her waist, "We good?"
She shifted in his arms so she could look up at him in the dim moonlight, "we're fine." She assured him gently.
"We gonna talk about this?" He asked after a minute.
She tried to mask her surprise and settled her hands over his on her stomach, she didn't know why he was suddenly Mister Talkative but she was willing to roll with it.
"Are you asking to put a name to it?"
"I don't do casual, Jack." He said quietly, "'specially not with you."
"Good." She replied with a shrug, "because I don't either."
That seemed to put him at ease and she felt him loosed his grip on her slightly and she relaxed back into him with a contented sigh.
Hope you all enjoyed! I love to hear from you guys!
~Katie