Here's chapter 7! Sorry it took so long to get this up, work and school have kept me busy. :) Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, I tried to combine this with the next chapter, it just didn't work out that way, so I made it super short. Sorry again. Hopefully chapter 8 will be longer.
I'd like to thank Celtic Crossings for editing, she's a great beta!
Gibbs woke early Wednesday morning, He'd had Caitie in his home for nearly a week and the results of the DNA test were supposed to come back today. He still hadn't made a decision. He got up and started making breakfast, Caitie usually didn't get up at the same time he did but he didn't like to leave her to make her own breakfast, she was just a kid and it was summer time, she should spend the day having fun.
Which reminded him, Caitie had found out the night before that the local library was within walking distance and had asked again if he had a library card she could borrow. As the eggs cooked, he pulled his wallet out and finally located the old card, tossing it on the counter he wrote a quick note that said he hadn't used it in a while and it might not be usable. Then he pulled the smallest bill he had in his wallet and placing it under the card he finished the note with; "if you need it and they need payment for a guest card."
Then he finished making breakfast and he left for work, beginning work immediately he went down to Autopsy to see what Ducky had on the body they'd gotten the night before.
But instead of talking about the dead Marine in front of them, Ducky seemed more interested in talking about the girl.
"The results come back today don't they?"
"Yeah," Gibbs said shortly, he wanted to get to work.
"Have you decided what to do?"
"Duckā¦."
"Don't ignore this Jethro; you need to make a decision tonight, if only to give that poor girl some sense of stability. Her world has been turned upside down, more then once."
"You think I don't know I need to make a decision?" Gibbs asked, "I've known that I need to make a decision. Every time I go home, she's there, every time I open the door she looks up and I remember Jenny, every time she says something, I remember Kelly. Every time Duck..." There was a long pause. "I hate to say this Duck, but I don't know if I can go through that every day until she goes to college."
"You don't feel you can raise her." It came out flat.
"I can't raise her, but I can't place her for adoption either." Gibbs said.
Ducky looked at Gibbs for a moment before speaking. "Either piss or get off the pot Jethro. You can't have it both ways." And with that, he changed the subject to the victim in front of them.
The day passed slowly, the entire team seemed to fight more than usual, they didn't make any progress on the case they were working on and he kept looking at the clock, hoping that more time had passed.
Finally, just before five in the evening, a delivery man came into the office. "Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" He asked, Tony and Ziva both pointed in his direction. Gibbs could see that the envelope being delivered was from the DNA testing facility and he quickly signed for it and put the envelope on his desk.
Gathering up everything he left the office. Getting home in record time, he went to the basement quickly. Setting the still closed envelope on his workbench he grabbed a glass and filled it with bourbon. Staring at the envelope he thought about the past week. He'd loved Jenny, really loved her. And he thought she'd loved him too. But she hadn't told him about the most important thing in her life. He'd told her about Kelly; even if Caitie wasn't his Jenny had kept quiet about Caitie.
He didn't fault her for that; he knew what it was like to try and protect the daughter you loved more than anything. But since Jenny had kept quiet about Caitie he was still kind of surprised about the news.
He restlessly walked around his boat for a moment, coming around to his workbench again, he brought the glass to his lips and drank the entire thing in one swallow, and then he set the empty glass on his workbench and ripped open the envelope. Reading through it quickly it confirmed what he'd already known. Caitie was his.
Throwing the paperwork onto the workbench again he glanced around the basement, his eyes fell onto the TV in the corner, a VHS container was on it, open. He went to it and picked it up, turning it over; he saw the title, Sense and Sensibility. His heart clenched. Jenny's favorite. He vaguely remembered buying the VHS for her. He opened the flap and saw his handwriting "Happy birthday," was all he'd written on the inside.
Setting it down, he started up the stairs. "Cathlynn." He called her by her full name; he couldn't call her by the nickname Jenny had given her, not yet. "Get ready to go; we're going to the store."
Please Review!
