The setting sun illuminated the four figures dressed entirely in black. The figures were entering a small café on Madison Street. As the light from inside the restaurant shone upon them, they were easily identified as Special Agents Abigail 'Abby' Sciuto, Anthony 'Tony' DiNozzo, Ziva 'ninja chick' David, and Timothy 'Probie' McGee. Funnily enough these special agents were currently playing special agents.

"Agent Chicken, please procure us a table." Tony ordered in a so-bad-it-was-funny English accent.

"Tony, why am I Agent Chicken!" McGee exclaimed exasperated.

"It's Agent Bond to you!" Tony said angrily, dropping the accent for a minute.

"Okay, Agent Bond, I still don't see why I have to be Agent Chicken. I mean why couldn't I be like Agent Scorpion or something?" He continued arguing.

"Because I said so. Besides, Abby's Agent Scorpion and Ziva's Agent Cobra." Tony countered.

McGee sighed and finally did as instructed, gave their name for their reservation. All the while he was muttering darkly.

The hostess eyed them oddly, clearly thinking these people were in need of psychiatric care. After a minute she confirmed their reservation and led them to a table in the corner, hidden from view by a few plants. Only nuts would purposely ask for a table like this, the woman concluded, handing them menus before disappearing back to the podium. She was thankful her next customer seemed normal. It was a red-haired teenager who had arrived early for a reservation of three under the name Gibbs.

A table not too far from where she had seated the 'oddities' (her new name for the team) was where she seated the girl. She handed her a menu and promised to lead the other two members of her party over to the table as soon as they appeared.

Meanwhile the team was keeping a watchful eye on the girl and after confirmation from both Tony and Ziva that this was indeed the girl they'd seen earlier, Abby stood and made her way over to the teenager.

"Hi, I'm Abby. I work with your parents." The Goth introduced herself.

Lauren was pretty sure she recognized her from a picture in her father's wallet of himself leading a long haired Jenny Shepard and Abby away from something she had deduced was a funeral.

"Lauren. Nice to meet you." The redhead offered a polite smile.

Abby lead her over to make introductions to the rest of the team and before Lauren knew it, she was involved in a plot to get her parents back together. It hadn't taken much convincing because Lauren was clinging to the hope of having a real family and this seemed as good a chance as any to make that hope a reality.

By the time Gibbs and Jenny arrived, they had no idea of the major attack that was going to be launched on them.

The hostess seated them with Lauren and the small talk began. All the while Team Jibbs ( the name they'd chosen for this particular matter) was watching.

"Lauren," Jenny began hesitantly. She had to tell the teenager she'd just found to be her daughter that she was terminally ill. Jethro, she suspected, knew she was ill.

"Hmmm?" Lauren asked happily. This was probably the happiest moment of her life, meeting her real parents and all and just having dinner together was great.

"I need to tell you something…I'm—I'm sick. I have muscular dystrophy." Under the table Gibbs took Jenny's hand and squeezed it lightly.

A gasp echoed from the table in the corner where the team sat. "McGee, give me the details on Muscular Dystrophy." Tony ordered and for once McGee complied without complaint, taking out his blackberry and surfing the web.

"Guys this isn't good." McGee said softly. He sounded tired and thoroughly worried.

"Just spit it out McGee!" Tony instructed, afraid of what he was about to hear.

"Muscular Dystrophy is any of a group of progressive muscle disorders caused by a defect in one or more genes that control muscle function and characterized by gradual irreversible wasting of skeletal muscle." McGee got out.

Abby gasped yet again and her eyes began to fill with tears. She turned to McGee and buried her face into his shoulder.

Ziva remained silent, her face ashen. Tony's and McGee's face mirrored hers.

Lauren took the news her mother was terminally ill in stride. Shaking slightly, she attempted optimism, "Well we can spend the rest of our time together." She smiled blandly and Jenny nodded, offering a small smile.

There was an experimental treatment option. It was located in Paris and there was no guarantee it would even help, hence the reason she was choosing not to disclose the clinic's existence to anyone and raise their hopes.

Jenny could feel a terrible headache coming on so she stood and excused herself heading to the bathroom.

"Why haven't you told her?" Lauren asked quietly, watching Jenny's retreating figure.

"Told her what?" Gibbs asked his daughter, confused.

"That you love her, you're in love with her, you want to marry her." Lauren listed with a grin.

"Why would I? She loves her job too much." Gibbs countered. He hadn't counted on their daughter being so insightful but then again, she was half him and half Jen, he should have seen it coming.

Lauren digested this new information for a minute before excusing herself and heading to the bathroom.

Jenny was the only one in there, standing in front of the mirror and rifling through her purse for her medicine, her hands shaking.

Lauren leaned against the sink and looked at her mother.

"Why haven't you told him?"

The question caught Jenny off guard and she whirled to face her daughter.

"Told who what?"

"Don't play dumb you know I'm talking about Gibbs er..Dad. And you know that I'm talking about that you love him and you're in love with him." The teenage sighed, examining her manicured nails.

"Are you sure you haven't talked to Abby Sciuto?" Jenny tried changing the subject.

"Nope, back to the matter at hand. Why didn't you tell him? Why don't you tell him?" Lauren redirected.

"Because—Because he doesn't care about me like that. He couldn't. Not after I left him in Paris after I found out I was pregnant with you." Jenny replied stubbornly.

"You don't have anything to lose. Why not let yourself and him be happy for the time you have left. Spend it together." Lauren said softly, she gave her mother a hug before exiting t he room. She was confident she'd made some form of a difference.

The rest of dinner passed in mindless chatter and soon they all departed.

Lauren met with Team Jibbs first and shared what she'd learned and her good feelings about where this was going.

***********Author's Note********

Sorry, I've been really really really busy. I hope you like this chapter it took me like two days to be able to right it. If there are any suggestions/ comments feel free. As always reviews are appreciated but no flames please. Thank you.

-Court