For the rest of the day I had to force myself to focus on the case, Zack really needs his father. Only my mind was stuck on that maybe from Jen. Before I knew it both Zack and I were downstairs in my basement, as I worked on my boat. "Gibbs...can I ask you a question?" Zack asked as he inspected my basement. "Yhea, shoot." I state while dabbing glue into a peg hole. "How are you going to get this out of here when it's finished?" Zack asked looking between my boat and the rest of the basement. "Good question. I don't know. I haven't thought about it much." I answer putting my tools down and walking over to Zack. "I think maybe you could use a crane or something?" Zack stated as he watched me grab a couple of tools from the bench. "Yhea. I could, uh, dig a ramp. Knock that wall out. Hoist it out here." I state pointing to the back wall of my basement. "I went sailing once with my dad and Commander Wilder. Didn't go too well." Zack announced as he followed me around the boat. "You get seasick?" I ask as I take a look at the boat's blueprints. "My dad did. Commander Wilder thought it was funny, you know, my dad being in the Navy and all." Zack answered with a smile as we sat on the edge of the table holding up the boat causing me to chuckle. "You're going to find him, right?" Zack asked after a moment. "Oh yhea, we'll find him." I state trying to reassure the boy. "Promise?" Zack asked sounding younger. "Yhea. I promise." I answer before standing up. "You want to give me a hand?" I ask to take his mind of everything. "Hmm, I don't know how." Zack said with a nod as I helped him stand on the table. "Come on right here." I said pointing a few steps away. "I don't wanna ruin it." Zack exclaimed as he stood in front of me. "You're not gonna ruin anything. See? You always want to go with the grain of the wood. Put your weight behind it." I state as we both hold the sander and start moving it over the wood.
Later that night after Zack had fallen asleep, Jen finally came over. As soon as she was in the basement she walked right over to me, took my cup of bourbon and drank it. "That was mine." I say with a smirk as I take my cup back and refill it. "Long day." Was Jen's only response as she took my cup again and sat on a barstool. "What did you mean by your maybe earlier?" I question before we end up fighting about the case again. "It means that we need to talk." Jen said before downing the rest of the bourbon in the cup. "What about?" I ask as I clean up my tools and sweep up the sawdust. "My father was murdered when I was eighteen. He was in his study with the door shut when I got home from collage that day, so I went upstairs to my room and kept to myself. That night around dinner I heard men arguing, and I started down the stairs to try and see what was going on. I was just stepping of the bottom step when I heard a gunshot; so I ran to my fathers study and opened the door." Jen started to explain as she starred down at the coffee cup in her hands. "What happened Jen?" I ask completely immersed in her story. "There was a man with a gun standing over my father, and I screamed. The man turned to me and smiled, then he attacked. He hit me upside the head with the but of his gun, and when I went to run he grabbed me from behind putting his hand over my nose and mouth; that's when he whispered in my ear that he would see me again and that no matter what I say no one would believe me. Needless to say I passed out, only when I woke up I was tucked into my bed. Thinking it was all a nightmare, I ran downstairs to my fathers study. My dad was slumped over his desk with a gun in his hand and a bullet hole in his head, they ruled it a suicide." Jen announced looking up at me with tears in her eyes. Before I could even think of a response Jen was talking again. "I have to tell you the real reason I left after Paris. My target, she was his new mistress. He found me in Paris, and he threated to kill you as I watched. He knew what had happened between us in that tiny apartment, hell he was having me watched since he killed my father. The only way I could think to keep you safe was to run, but I knew that if I saw you that I wouldn't be able to go through with it; that's the reason behind the Dear John letter." Jen said wiping a couple tears away while I sat on the workbench next to her. "Who is he Jen?" I ask completely stunned as I pour her some more bourbon. "René Benoit, or as he likes to call himself The Frog." Jen said setting the cup down next to me.
Then next day we got moving on the case, ID'ed the men that tried to take Zack, and then finally found the boys father that night. As I sat at my desk completing the paperwork, I kept thinking how Jen had told me about her past and yet she still doesn't know about Shannon or Kelly. So with a sigh I picked up all my files, turned off my desk light and made my way upstairs to Jen's office. Walking into the office I found Jen sitting at her desk trying to keep her eyes open. Sometime during the night she had let her hair out of whatever up do she'd had it in all day. One had was running through the long red strands, she had also taken her suit jacket and heals of while she worked. "Are you going to sit down, or are you just going to stand there starring at me." Jen snarked with a smirk as she put down her work to look at me. "Don't know yet. I do know that I need to tell you something." I said before walking over to the small couch along the back wall of her office. "What?" Jen asked as she followed me with a curious sparkle in her eye's. "You know I was in the corps as a sniper." I start as I lean back into the couch. "Yes Jethro that's why Marrow called you gunny a few times." Jen stated waving me of as she settled next to me on the couch. "Well I was in Desert Storm in 1991, my first wife Shannon became a whiteness against a Mexican drug lord. Shannon and our eight year old daughter Kelly were put in protective custody, only one they were in a car accident. The agent driving Shannon and Kelly was shot in the head, the car swerved into oncoming traffic. Shannon was found in the backseat, she bleed out from shrapnel imbedding in her side; and Kelly...Kelly was found four feet from the car. Shannon had been able to get her out, only Kelly died later in the hospital from shock. I only found out almost a month after the fact since I had been injured and went into a coma." I explain as I stare of immersed in memories of the family I left behind.