Since the kidnapping Kennedy just wasn't into horseback riding the way she'd been before it. So she was on an epic quest to find another activity that she liked, something that would allow her to compete because she had a bit of a natural competitive streak. Currently she was having a go at cricket. Going to boarding school in England and having Ducky as an uncle had led her to a fascination with the game. Her parents however didn't share that interest so it wasn't surprising to her when she'd look over towards the sitting area to find whoever was with her doing something other then watching her every movement. This time however, when Kennedy looked over she didn't see her mom working on her tablet or reading over some papers. She saw her talking to a bald man in a suit and dark glasses. The conversation wasn't pleasant, Kennedy could tell by her mom's body language. She wondered what was going on but knew better then to ask. This kind of thing happened more often then she'd like it to. Once they were having lunch in the park when they were suddenly joined by the Security of the Navy and his protection detail. Another time she was having ice cream with her dad and Agent Fornell showed up out of the blue. It was annoying, but she knew it was part of their jobs so she just shrugged it off as best she could.

A couple of days later when she saw the bald man with her dad outside of his favorite coffee shop, Kennedy started to worry. Like her mom, her dad's posture and stance gave off vibes that this man was a threat. It didn't help that as soon as they saw him both Kate and Ziva grabbed her by the shirt to stop Kennedy from walking, turned and all but drug her back to base. Of course no one would tell her anything. She didn't know what was going on but she knew something was happening.

"Kort doesn't like us looking into things." Gibbs said, his voice carrying from inside Jenny's study.

"Yeah, I got the same veiled warning." Jenny said with a frustrated sigh. "We back off for now. Let things settle. You should focus on that Turkish smuggling ring we got that tip on."

"And you?" Gibbs asked.

Jenny smiled sweetly. "It's the start of the political ass kissing season. I'll have plenty of dinners and balls to keep me busy. You're always welcome to dust off the dress blues and join me."

"Do you want to piss off everyone in D.C?" Gibbs said with a chuckle.

"I knew there was a reason I always asked Ducky." Jenny teased.

Her heart stopped as she listened to the voice on the phone. She could feel the unmoving blood in her veins begin to chill, causing her to shiver slightly. The air she'd just take in was trapped in her lungs, burning the soft tissue. The last time she felt like this Jenny had just found out that Kennedy had been kidnapped. This time the voice over the phone was telling her Gibbs had been caught in a bomb blast. She felt a warm hand on her arm, that warmth shocked her system back into action. Everything from that moment until she found herself standing at the nurses' desk was a blur. When the nurse, who in all honesty was just doing her job, started giving Jenny a hard time about going back to see him it was all Jenny could do not to pull the woman over the desk and pummel her.

"Only immediate family is allowed in the trauma room." The nurse repeated.

"That man is the father of my child!" Jenny argued.

"Are you married?" The nurse asked.

"No…"

"Then you can't go back." The Nurse cut in.

As if Jenny were going to allow this woman to stop her. With one quick phone call, and a rather smug look on her face, Jenny was walking towards Jethro's room. With each high heel clacking step she took Jenny said a prayer. He had to be all right, for Kennedy, for her, for their kids, he had to be all right. She'd seen him hurt before, knife wounds, guns wounds, his face black and blue and swollen from beatings, his knuckles torn and bloody from fights, but she wasn't prepared for what she saw walking into his room. It wasn't just that he was burned or that he was hooked up to machines, it was something else, there was something deeply wrong, Jenny just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Jethro." She said his name so softly, so tenderly; it really wasn't a surprise that the doctor mistook her for Mrs. Gibbs. It didn't help that she ignored everyone in the room as she walked over to him, slipping her fingers carefully around his hand. Jenny looked down at him, her heart aching, and then she closed her eyes and steadied herself before turning to speak with the doctor. Any other time she would have found it funny, the look on the doctor's face when she told him she wasn't Jethro's wife.

When Abby arrived Jenny turned her attention to her, easily and welcomingly turning to her maternal figure status to calm and comfort the younger woman. At one point she even held Abby's face in her hands as she told her so firmly Abby had to believe it, that Gibbs would be all right. After Gibbs was settled into a proper room in ICU Jenny turned to Abby after awhile and said, "You need to go home, Abby."

"I want to stay with Gibbs." Abby replied as she gently clung to his hand.

"I know." Jenny said, putting her hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "But you need to go home and get some sleep. He won't be alone, I promise."

"But…"

"No buts Abigail." Jenny used the same tone she used on Kennedy and it worked. Abby didn't argue. "You need to be at your best tomorrow. We all need to pull together and figure this out. He's ours; Abby, and someone hurt him. We need to find out who."

The dark haired young woman thought that over and then nodded. Someone needed to pay for this. "Ok."

"I'll call Kate." Jenny said before dropping a kiss on top of Abby's head. "She'll come get you."

Kate came to get Abby and drove her home before heading back to NCIS to help with the investigation. Early the next morning when she went back to the hospital she found Jenny sleeping in a chair beside Gibbs' bed. Walking over she gently put a hand on Jenny's arm. "Director." She said softly, giving the arm a gentle shake. "Director."

Jenny moaned. She was getting to old to sleep in chairs like this. "This is a personal sitting, Kate. You can call me Jen or Jenny."

"But never Jennifer." Kate said with a warm smile, trying to get the older woman to smile too. She held out a cup of coffee to Jenny as she said, "Ziva told us though she never said why."

"The only people who ever called me Jennifer were my father and Ducky." Jenny explained as she sipped her coffee before getting up to stretch. She simply left it at that. "Anything new?"

Kate shook her head. "Abby said she'd be in by seven to have a look at the evidence. Tony, Ziva, and I spent the night interviewing people but we haven't gotten much. McGee's looking into financials, manifests, radio chatter, anything he can think of getting to electrically."

Jenny listened and then nodded. "Good. That's a good start."

"Anything new on your end?" Kate asked, as she looked at Gibbs lying there weak and broken in his hospital bed. Her heart ached. Gibbs shouldn't be like that. He was Gibbs.

"No, no change." Jenny said softly. "The doctor will be in later. I should be back by then. I need to go home and talk to Kennedy."

Kate nodded. "I'll stay with him. I promise."

After Jenny left the room Kate walked over and sat in the chair she'd found the redhead sleeping in. She just sat there for a few minutes staring at Gibbs. What was it? Almost five years ago now? He'd come barreling onto Air Force One with Tony and Ducky in tow, and in a few short hours had turned her life completely upside down. She'd never thanked him for that. "You have to wake up, Gibbs. You have to give me a chance to look you in the eyes and tell you thank you."

He'd been in and out consciousness until the dreams started and then he'd completely given himself over to them. He let himself sink deeper and deeper because they weren't just dreams, they were his memories. They were right there. He could see them, hear them, touch them, smell the sweetness of her shampoo and taste the coffee cream on her lips. Shannon and Kelly, his wife and daughter, his family. He'd relived every moment from start to end at least twice if not more. He was staring into Kelly's smile face, she was laughing and thanking him for something he'd gotten her, and then a flash, his memory changed, flash it changed back, flash it faded into something else, someone else.

A young woman in a suit staring up at him in a cramped stairway. A flash, his mind went back to Kelly, a flash, another memory of the young woman with dark hair and hazel eyes. Her voice ringing out, faded by time, "Is that a job offer?" Flash. Kate. Flash. Kate smiled at him from her desk. His memory is flooded with the sound of her laugh, the sound of her voice. He remembers finding her asleep on the floor behind her desk and tucking the blanket around her shoulders. He remembered how it felt to wrap his arms around her in a hug.

"She sleeps with a gun, Boss."

"Do you?"

"No, yes, well, under my pillow."

"Good girl."

Then the memories change. He remembers the way she looked after that bomb went off in the office building. The way she sounded trapped in autopsy with Ari. He remembered the warmth of her blood after Ari had shot her, and how pale and weak she'd looked lying in the hospital bed after. That's when the memories of Shannon and Kelly came back.

When Jenny got home Kennedy was still asleep so she used that time to get a shower and change out of the red evening gown she'd been in all night. As the hot water beat down on her she tried to think of how she was going to tell their little girl that her dad was hurt. She could barely wrap her own mind around just how bad Jethro was.

When Kenny walked into the dinning room for breakfast she found her mom sitting there staring off into space. "Was the dinner that bad?" She asked, but Jenny didn't respond. "Mom? Earth to Mom!"

"Hmm?" Jenny said as she shook off her thoughts. "Oh, honey, sorry. No, the dinner wasn't to bad." She paused as she watched Kennedy down half of her juice. "Sweetheart, we need to talk."

There was something in her mom's voice that made Kennedy's heart skip. "What happened?"

"There was an accident." Jenny said softly and then began to explain what happened to Jethro. By the time she was finished she had Kennedy trying to pull her out of her seat to take her to the hospital. "He's in ICU Kennedy. I'll have to check with his doctor before I can take you to see him."

"But he's my dad!" Kennedy protested. "I have every right to see him!"

"You're only ten…"

"I'll be eleven in a few weeks!" Kennedy cut in.

Jenny's heart was breaking. "Kennedy."

Huge tears were welling in Kennedy's eyes. She protested for a few more moments and then just collapsed into her mother's arms. "He's going to be ok isn't he? I mean he's Gibbs. He's going to be ok. Right Mom?"

She didn't want lie and she didn't want to tell Kennedy that she wasn't sure, so Jenny didn't reply, she just held her little girl in her arms. It wasn't easy to get Kennedy off to school, but she managed, and then she headed back to the hospital. She sent Kate home to sleep for a few hours, making it an order, and then spoke with Jethro's doctor. When he asked about an old trauma she only knew of one person who might be able to help. "You owe me for this Jethro. I swore I'd never deal with this man again."

Tensions were high at NCIS. Everyone was worried about Gibbs, and even though they tried not to let their emotions get the better of them, it happened. Which is why McGee stood dumbfounded as he watched Abby and Ziva smacking each other.

"Feeling better?" Kate asked as she walked in at the tail end of the slap fight.

"Yes." Both of the other women answered.

"Close your mouth McGee." Kate said with a shake of her head. "Abby, any luck on the components?"

"Was just about to look at those." Abby said as she moved over to her table and away from Ziva.

"I'll give you a hand." Kate said.

McGee nearly ran from the room to tell Tony what happened, while Ziva went to the bathroom. It was hard for her to show emotion around the others, even if she did feel she could. They were her family, she loved them, respected them, but she couldn't let herself appear weak in front of them, at least not yet. Slipping out of the building and off base Ziva headed over to the hospital.

"How is he?" She asked as she stepped into Gibbs room.

"Stable for now." Jenny answered. She looked up at the woman she thought of as a little sister. She could see Ziva was holding it all in and made a note to herself to be there when the younger woman finally broke.

Ziva walked over to Gibbs and wrapped her fingers around his hand. She leaned down and whispered, "You are stronger than this."

Memories of Shannon and Kelly were once again pushed out of the way, replaced by memories of a stubborn, strong, and yet fragile young woman. Another young woman who'd become a daughter to him, just like Kate. The first flash of memory was the way she'd smiled, the sound of her chuckle the first time he smacked in the back of the head. Then he remembered the way she smiled the first time he kissed her temple. He remembered the way she looked coming out of the house with Kennedy when they found her. The way he held her when he told her Ari was dead. All the ways she messed up American idioms

"Are you lonely, Gibbs?"

"You're never alone when you have kids. Goodnight kid."

Then he remembered the handful of times he'd seen her cry, the times he'd seen her hurt, and once again he let himself sink back into old memories.

"What do you got Abs?" Tony asked as he and McGee walked into her lab, Caf-Pow in hand.

Abby looked up with that look that warned them that things were about to get ugly. "I found a match on the explosives. The bomb signature matched a couple of other bombings in our database. Kate was able to find the link between them all."

Everyone turned their attention to Kate who said, "They all have one thing in common. A connection to Trent Kort."

Tony groaned as she took out his cell phone. Jenny wasn't going to like what he was about to tell her. When she picked up he could hear the medical equipment in the background, letting him know that she was back at the hospital with Gibbs. He read her in, updating her on what they'd learned. When she told him to put her in speaker he did and then put his phone down on Abby's table.

"Tony, I want you and Ziva…"

"She's isn't here Director." Tony cut in.

In Gibbs hospital room Jenny looked over at Ziva and rolled her eyes. "Kate."

"Yes Dirtor?" Kate replied.

"Smack him." Jenny said.

Kate grinned as she smacked Tony in the back of the head while Jenny said, "Yes Tony, I know that. Don't interrupt."

"Yes Director, sorry Director." Tony said sheepishly while rubbing his head and glaring at Kate

"I want you and Ziva to continue looking into the bomb blast." Jenny continued. "Comb over every inch of that ship, question every person on it, near it, who looked at it, look into every nook and cranny." There was a pause. Ziva had given her a nod of understanding, and after one last whispered word to Gibbs she left. Then Jenny continued. "Kate, I want you in MTAC. I'll call you with further instructions. McGee, Abby, help out where ever you're needed."

"Is there any change?" Abby asked.

Jenny's voice softened. "No Abs, nothing yet. I'll call you as soon as there is, I promise."

After disconnecting from Tony Jenny gave Kate enough time to get to MTAC before calling her. "It's another distraction, at least in part. Ari had his own agenda when he took Kennedy, La Grenouille use that to his own advantage. My gut's telling me the same applies here. Whoever set that blast on the ship has their own reasons; Tony and Ziva will deal with that. But this time we're not going to let the frog just hop away unnoticed. So here's what I want you to do."

Kate was a little unsure about this, but knowing that Jenny had confidence in her helped Kate have confidence in herself. Besides, it was kind of cool that while Tony was playing Gibbs she got to play Director. This would totally trump his senior field agent crap.

With her people doing what they do best Jenny was able to focus on Jethro. She was worried about what the doctors were calling unusual brain activity. She was so lost in her thoughts and memories that she didn't hear him come in until he spoke.

"Don't you have an agency to run little miss Lady Director?" Mike Franks said as he stood there looking at his friend and his friend's woman.

"I am running it." Jenny replied without turning to look at Gibbs' mentor and friend.

"From the bedside of just one of hundreds of agents under your command?" Mike teased.

Steely blue eyes shot Mike one hell of a look. "You know why I'm here."

"Yeah, I know." Mike said as he walked to the other side of the bed. He gave Gibbs one quick look over and then he looked up, meeting Jenny's eyes. Then he reached out and smacked her a good one, right in the back of the head.

Jenny's eyes went wide as her hand went up to rub where Mike had popped her. "What the hell was that for?!"

"You know damn well what that was for!" Mike growled back. She was about to argue with him, he could see it, the look in those sharp blue eyes, that redheaded temper flaring, but he wasn't about to let her. "Shut up Shepard and sit down. I'm about to tell you why he should of have done that when you pulled the shit you pulled on him. I'm going to tell you not for you, but for him, because wither he knows it or not, he needs you to know." He pulled an old picture out of the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it to her. It was a picture of Gibbs, Shannon, and Kelly. "That pretty little redhead's Probie's first wife, Shannon; and that beautiful little girl, their daughter, Kelly. They were murdered while the Probie here was getting his ass blown up in the desert."

Mike told her everything. He told her about Shannon being a witness, about being in NIS protective custody, and about their deaths. He told her about Gibbs' being wounded while surviving in Desert Storm, about him coming home to find out what happened to his wife and daughter, and about how Gibbs joined NIS following some personal leave. He let Jenny follow the bread crumbs to what Gibbs had done while on leave, never coming right out and saying that he killed his family's killer. He knew she'd understand. She'd killed Ari after all. When Mike was finished Jenny was overwhelmed. She saw Jethro in a whole new light, a light that made a lot of her mistakes that much sharper.

He gave her time to take it all in and then smirked as he said, "Want me to smack ya again? I kind of enjoyed it the first time."

Jenny shot him a glare that made the most hard-core military personal cringe.

"Offer stands." He told her, still smirking. "I need a smoke." He moved towards the door and then paused, "Only been two women ever got to know the real man, all the others were just company. One's dead and gone. The other, well, she's a goddamn fool."

"Oh Jethro." Jenny said softly as she gently placed her hand on his bandaged head. "I'm so sorry."

Tony and Ziva were out in the field. Kate was locked away in MTAC. McGee didn't know what to do with himself. He couldn't get the smell of burned flesh and explosives out of his nose no matter what he did. He needed a moment to breathe, a moment to refocus, so he headed over to the hospital. He used the excuses of checking on Gibbs for Abby and updating Jenny, afraid that if he showed his own concern it would come across as weak. After he'd filled her in, Jenny stepped out to speak with Gibbs' doctors and Mike Franks. Tim stood beside Gibbs' bed. He looked down at his mentor for a long moment before putting his hand on Gibbs' arm. "Come on Boss. You really can't leave me alone with Tony. That's not fair."

Flashes of the NIS auto yard, the blood stained dashboard, the broken bloody windshield, the bullet holes, filled Gibbs mind. That was his wife's blood, his daughter's blood, their bodies were on cold sliding metal tables in refrigerated cubes, their belongings stashed in green boxes with their names on them. His pain was overshadowed only by his anger. Mike Franks was at his back, then showing him the file, and then putting an NIS jacket on him. And then he had his hands on McGee, showing him how marines snapped a person's neck. He replayed every time he smacked McGee in the back of the head, and all the times McGee had lost him when he started tech babbling.

"Sorry Boss."

"Never say your sorry, McGee. It's a sign of weakness."

Then he flashed to the gym, McGee getting his butt kicked by Kate. He could feel himself smirking the way a father does when he watches his kids at play. Then he saw the look on McGee's face the first time he had to kill in the line of duty. That haunting expression of an innocence lost. Something inside a man chances in that moment, and he couldn't keep McGee from that, couldn't protect him from it. Gibbs' mind flashed back to the Mexican hilltop, the feel of the hot, packed earth beneath him, the choking grit of the dust as he inhaled. He saw the truck, the man inside, he pulled the trigger; it wasn't the first life he'd taken.

As much as she wanted to, Jenny couldn't stay at Jethro's side. She did have an agency run, and she had their child to take care of. Leaving Jethro with Mike she went to NCIS to check in with the team. It was a good thing she did. They'd all been so caught up in what they were doing none of them could answer her when she asked when the last time they ate was, or if they'd gone home to sleep at all. The blanket and pillow behind Kate's desk told her that Kate hadn't gone home after leaving the hospital, and Ziva's bitchiness told her that the younger woman hadn't eaten since who knew when. So she forced them all to take a break, making it a direct order. When exactly had she gone from a mother of one to a mother of six?

Nothing was said but he knew he was there. His boy. Again the memories in Gibbs' subconscious changed.

"DiNozzo!"

"Yeah Boss?"

"On it Boss!"

"On your six, Boss."

He remembered Tony trying to suck up by getting him coffee, only to end up wearing it. Tony sitting at his desk looking through the girly magazines he kept in his backpack. He saw Tony in Cuba, pointing his gun at an iguana. The movie quotes, the bad impersonations, the skirt chasing, and head slapping, all sped pass his mind's eye. He flashed to Tony and Kate throwing food at each other from their desks, and then to Tony opening that kissed envelope. He'd almost died, his boy. The pain pulled him under again. Each time, he would remember, he would see their faces, their smiles, hear their laughter, and then he would remember them in pain, he would remember letting them down, not being there when he should have been there, and he was gone again. Lost in the most painful memories of all. It was almost as if he were punishing himself, over and over again, for all the times he wasn't there.

"I've been noticing something." Captain Gelfand, the Navy Neuro doctor in charge of Gibbs' case, said. "There are spikes of responsive activity showing up on the EEG monitors. I hadn't been able to link it until now, just after Agent DiNozzo's visit. Each spike in activity has happened during a visit, the first happening with Agent Todd."

Jenny felt a bubble of hope. "He's remembering the people in his life and that's pulling him towards waking up?"

"Could be, yes." The Doctor said, not committing in that way doctor's had that kept them from liable.

Taking her phone out Jenny dialed a number. "He needs you."

Fifteen minutes later Abby was at Gibbs' bedside. If remembering the people he loved brought Jethro back to them, Jenny would make sure those people had access to him. There was just one she was struggling with. Could she, should she, bring Kennedy in to see her father like this. Would it do her more harm then it would do him good?

In Gibbs room Abby was talking a mile a minute. She was telling Gibbs everything, from what she'd had for lunch to how the case was going, from Tony leading the team to Kate manning MTAC, to Ziva making the ship captain wet his pants.

Something in Gibbs flashed to the bomb, to the movement just before it went off. There was something important there but as quickly as it came, it was gone again. Replaced by memories of Abby. Before Kennedy, before Ziva, before Kate, there had been Abby. His little girl, the young woman he hoped Kelly would have grown up to be. Honest, loving, smart, funny, compassionate, independent, and yet always and unashamedly daddy's little girl.

"Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!"

"Right here Abs."

Caf-Pows, kissed cheeks, that smile he had that was just for her.

"Yes Sir!"

"Don't call me sir."

"Yes Ma'am."

They were his kids, each and every one of them. Tony, Kate, Tim, Ziva and Abby, they weren't just people he worked with, people he bossed around. They were his family. Ducky. Ducky was his brother. The young rogue, the brilliant doctor from the RAMC, the handsome, suave Scot he'd clicked with instantly, who'd seen the truth about him and Jenny before they did. The three of them were one hell of team, taking on Europe, watching each other's backs. Jenny. He loved her. He still loved her. She had both hurt him beyond words and healed him more then she could ever know. Loving her had helped him heal from the loss of Shannon. She had given him Kennedy. Kennedy. His daughter. His baby girl. Getting a second change to be a father, that had healed a part of him that had always remained a gapping hole.

In his mind Gibbs saw Shannon standing at the train station, he could hear her voice saying his name. The memory flickered; it wasn't her voice calling out to him. The memory flickered. Shannon was fading away. "Shannon?" Gibbs said, his voice husky and stretchy from lack of use, raw from the tube that had been in his throat the night before.

"Jethro?" Jenny asked softly, getting to her feet and moving close to him.

Shannon smiled at him as she faded away and somehow it let him know it was all right and that it was time to leave his memories in the past. The voice calling out to him now was Jenny's. His mind filled with memories of Paris and London. Of him and Jenny, happy, making love, walking together along the streets, her curled into his side.

"Jethro?" Jenny said softly. "It's Jen, Jetthro, can you hear me?"

Gibbs moaned softly. "Jenny?"

Jenny felt such relief she choked on a sob. "Yes, yes Jethro it's me."

He opened his eyes and smiled at her. Their eyes met, he could see tears welling in hers. He reached up to wipe one off her cheek. "When did you cut your hair? It's cute. I like it."

Jenny raised an eyebrow. Her hair had been short for over a year now.

He tried to move but it hurt and he groaned. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Jenny asked.

Gibbs thought about it and said, "No."

"What do you remember?" She asked as she held his hand tightly in her own. Part of her was scared that he'd fall back into a coma if she let go. The smile on his face said it all. "You're remembering Paris."

"With the kind of brain injury Jethro has suffered a lapse in memory isn't uncommon." Ducky reassured while the doctors looked their friend over. Gibbs had gotten upset when he realized his memory was messed up, and the doctors had forced Jenny out while they treated him.

"What do we do Ducky?" Jenny asked.

He took her hand in his and held it tightly. "We keep doing what we've been doing my dear. We have faith in him, we have faith in knowing he'll come back to us."

Her mom kept her up to date with what was going on with her dad. She kind of understood why she wasn't allowed to see him. They were still safely in that place where he was untouchable, strong, the hero. It wouldn't be easy for her to see him hurt, weak, and maybe even scared. But she needed to see him. Her mom said he was awake, that he was still having some problems, but she needed to be with her dad. Walking into the hospital she gave the nurse at the front desk her name. "Kennedy Gibbs-Shepard. I'm here to see my father, Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

Something in the look the nurse gave her upon hearing her last name let the girl know the woman had already had dealings with her mother. Kennedy couldn't help but smirk as she made her way up to her father's floor. When she got to his room she found it empty. Walking up to the nurse's station she asked, "Excuse me. Where's my Dad?"

"I believe he went for a walk with is friend." The nurse told her. "He'll be down in the count yard."

"Thank you." Kennedy replied and then went in search of Gibbs. When she found him he'd just finished throwing up a steak and was standing with another man she didn't know. He had burns on his face, he looked pale, a little unsteady on his feet and she wanted to cry. She didn't though, she was a Shepard, she was a Gibbs, and she could be strong because her dad would need her to be. "Daddy!"

The word rang in Jethro's mind, a harmonized mix of Kelly's voice and Kennedy's. He stepped away from Mike so he could see who'd called out to him. A part of him had expected to see Kelly, but what he got was auburn red instead of light brown, blue eyes instead of hazel. Kelly looked like Shannon. Kennedy looked like Jenny, like him. He remember the first time he'd seen her, that moment they shared after she was rescued before she ran to her mother. He remembered sitting in that Thai restaurant teasing her over bubble tea and the first time she'd called him Dad.

Gibbs sank to his knees and opened his arms. Kennedy smiled at him and ran right to him. He engulfed her as it all snapped back into place. Every memory, everything he'd locked away to keep safe, the good, the bad, and the truth.

"I'm so glad you're ok." Kennedy said as she hugged her dad tightly but carefully.

"Of course I'm ok." Gibbs replied as he held her face in his hands and kissed her forehead while wiped away her tears with his thumbs.

Jenny was more then a little surprised when Jethro stormed into the MTAC. She watched in awe as he explained what was going on, and he tried to get the idiots on screen to listen to him, but they wouldn't. Jenny would never forget their faces as that boat blew up. Gibbs had been right. They should have listened to him. If they had, lives would have been saved.

"How?" Jenny asked once they were alone in her office.

"Kennedy." Gibbs said with a smirk.

"I should have brought her to see you sooner." Jenny said softly.

Jethro shook his head. "You were protecting her."

She could see the hurt in his eyes, and knew it had nothing to do with their daughter. "You tried, Jethro."

"I try a lot." He replied.

"You succeed even more." She told him.

"I don't always." He said.

"Jethro." A sudden fear washed over her.

He looked at her, he let himself feel what he'd been trying not to feel since the first time he saw her in MTAC. It scared him. "I can't."

"Jethro." Jenny said softly.

"I'm sorry, Jen." He said softly. He stepped closer to her. He kissed her gently. Then he walked out of her office, down the stairs, into the mist of his waiting family. He said goodbye to each of them. He shook his boys' hands, he hugged his girls, and he left. He wasn't running, he didn't run, but he needed time and space. He needed to greave for Shannon, for Kelly, and he needed to work out how he felt about other things, other people. But they didn't know that, all they knew was that he was gone.