The last two weeks had been hectic at Jenny's house. She had been spending a lot of time with her mother, while Jethro was constantly sneaking out. She knew that he was worried about his house, but that didn't mean that he had to be there all the time looking over the workman's backs.
At the moment, she had been able to find some peace in her office while her mother was in helping Noemi make dinner. She just lay on the couch trying to catch her breath. Pregnancy was starting to take a toll on her, and she needed to relax.
Catching up with her mother had been wonderful. Since they hadn't really spoken in several years, she was glad that they were on good terms again. Especially for the baby's sake. She just wished that hers and Jethro's child would have known her father and Jethro's parents. At least he or she would have the teams', Abby's and Ducky's love. She knew that they would spoil he or she just as much as any grandparent would. But there was still that void…
While she was laying down, she was pulled out of her thoughts by a movement at the door. She turned and smiled when she saw it was Jethro.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked.
"Our baby," she said with a smile.
He walked over and slide in behind her on the couch. Jenny leaned into his chest, happy for the comfort. Gibbs then wrapped his arms around her, placing his hands on her expanding belly.
"Do you want a boy or a girl," he asked curiously.
"I don't mind, but I wouldn't mind a little boy that looked like you."
"Well, I want a little girl that looks just like you," he said with a smirk.
"Really. What about when she is a teenager, and she has all the boy's attention?" Jenny said teasingly.
Gibbs just glared at her; his daughter wouldn't be allowed out of the house. Jenny just laughed at his expression.
"Anyway," Gibbs said, "I was thinking that on Saturday you and I could go out together..?"
"Just us two?" Jenny clarified.
"Just us two," he replied.
Jenny smiled at this. As much as she liked having her mother visiting, she really needed some time alone with Jethro.
"Sounds good," she said, "What did you have in mind?"
"Lunch, maybe a walk around DC. Any suggestions?"
"I wouldn't mind having a look at some baby furniture and toys. We need to start planning for his or her arrival."
Gibbs just nodded.
The two continued to lay in each other's arms until Catherine called out that dinner was ready.
They both reluctantly got up, already missing the closeness.
Saturday had come around quickly. Gibbs, the team and Catherine had decided that the best, and least suspicious way to get all of Jenny's furniture to Gibbs' house was if he took her out. Ziva had previously revealed that Jenny was getting suspicious about Gibbs' disappearances. Catherine was more than happy to help in the process, offering to stay at the house and organise what would be leaving, while cooking enough food to take over later so that they could have a moving in party.
Tony and McGee had Gibbs' truck – Jenny hated it, so they would be using her own car. They, along with the help of Palmer, were more than capable of moving the furniture to Gibbs house. Abby and Ziva would be at Gibbs house, telling the boys were to place the furniture, while decorating the house to make it feel more homely. Gibbs had seen the floor plans that Abby had created, and trusted that she would have it all under control.
With the stressful part of the plan being taken care of by the others, Gibbs had taken Jenny to a French café for breakfast. At first she was surprised that he wanted to leave so early, but was happy to oblige. They had a relaxing breakfast, eating chocolate croissants and drinking Gibbs' usual black coffee, and Jenny to her less-favourable green tea.
Afterwards, they headed to a couple of baby furniture stores to determine what styles and colours were in, and what worked best with the rest of the household furniture. Gibbs decided that he liked the larger styled, mahogany crib. Jenny was leaning more towards a cute and dainty white one, but was reminded by Gibbs that they may have a boy, and he certainly wouldn't like that. He also pointed out that by buying a larger crib, it would be able to last the baby a lot longer than a smaller one. In the end, Jenny agreed. Along with the crib, they ordered a matching changing table.
Since they spent the majority of the morning looking at baby furniture, Gibbs decided that he needed another coffee. They headed to a nearby park and got coffee and hot chocolate, before finding a nice sunny park bench where they could observe their surroundings.
"So, how's your house coming along," Jenny asked out of the blue.
"It's looking good," replied Gibbs' gruff voice, "It's taking longer than usual, but I'm sure you're happy to know that they haven't reached the boat yet."
Jenny just smiled. She was sure that if the termites had gotten the boat, Gibbs would have burned down his house in fury.
"I was speaking to my mother earlier, and she has decided that she wants to move back to DC to spend time with us, and help us out with the baby."
"You want her to move in with us?" Gibbs asked, eyebrows raised.
"God no," she replied, "She is moving into a friend's apartment that is quite close by."
Gibbs smiled at that, he liked Catherine, but he certainly didn't want her living with them.
"If you like, I can take you to check out my house on the way back to yours?" Gibbs asked.
"Sure," Jenny smiled. It must be near completion otherwise he wouldn't want her anywhere near the construction site. She was eager to move in already. "Are you ready to start looking at other baby accessories?"
Gibbs nodded, before taking a large sip of his coffee.
They then spent the next four hours browsing between baby stores, admiring their clothes, blankets and toys. They had a rough idea what they wanted, but they still hadn't agreed on a colour. Gibbs said that the baby was going to be a girl, so they should by pink, but Jenny was convinced it was male. Then they had decided on neutral colours, but they couldn't agree between yellow, green or cream. In the end, they decided to call it a day and went and had their long-overdue lunch.
It was now late afternoon, and Jenny decided that she had to go to the bathroom. While she was there, Gibbs called DiNozzo for a sitrep on the housing situation. Once it was confirmed that they had finished, and that Catherine was in the process of bringing the food over, Gibbs decided that it was time to surprise Jenny.
Once Jenny came back to their table, Gibbs asked,
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yes," an exhausted Jenny replied. Tomorrow she would be sleeping in and wasn't getting out of bed until at least 10 o'clock.
They wearily made their way towards their car, and off to Gibbs' house.
While Gibbs and Jenny were out having a relaxing day, the teams had been under the stressful orders of Abby. Since she wanted the house to be perfect for her "mother" and "father", she was being an over-perfectionist.
"Ziva," she called out, "That picture is a slightly bit wonky, can you just move it a tad bit to the left."
An exasperated Ziva did what she was told, and was about to ask for Abby's approval when,
"McGee," she shouted, "The couch doesn't belong here. It's meant to be in the other corner!"
Poor McGee looked annoyed, and grabbed Palmer to help him move it. Abby was watching them carefully, when DiNozzo entered the door.
"Where have you been for the past half an hour," McGee questioned.
"Well probie, I thought that since out mistress of the night was doing such a good job, I would go and get her a Caf-Pow."
McGee was about to angrily retort, when a happy Abby came up to Tony and kissed him on the cheek, before saying,
"Thanks Tony for your thoughtfulness."
"No problem," he beamed in the direction of the rest of his team mates.
"Could you please started moving in the boxes of Jenny's clothes while McGee and Palmer move in the rest of the heavy furniture?"
Tony just nodded in response, while McGee and Palmer frowned. They didn't have time to argue because Abby glared at them, and they certainly didn't want to stay on the angry side of her.
It was by mid-afternoon that the house was finally complete. Abby, finally relaxed, allowed everyone to sit around and wait for Gibbs' call.
Once the call was made to Tony, they all sprung into action. Abby had decided to plan a mini-party out on the back veranda, and earlier that day she had hung up some fairy lights. She quickly went and turned them on, while everyone started to bring out the food, plates and cutlery. Ziva then quickly went inside and turned off all the lights, that way Jenny wouldn't be suspicious.
As soon as they had all gotten into place, they heard the sound of a car pulling up in the driveway.
Jenny, slightly sleepy, stumbled out of the car and followed Gibbs up the driveway. He opened the door, and allowed her to go in first. Once she was inside, she noticed that something was amiss, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She turned and looked at Gibbs, giving him a quizzical look. He just smirked.
She kept walking in, now on her guard. It was when she walked into the living room and noticed her couch in the corner that pieces started to fall into place. The majority of her furniture had somehow managed to find their way into Gibbs' house. She then took in more detail, and realised that the wall colour was different. Gibbs' had renovated his house to match her taste!
She just looked at him, speechless. Gibbs just smiled, glad that she was happy. She pulled him close, and gave him a long, hard and passionate kiss.
"I love you," she said.
"I love you too," he replied.
"So… when can we move in?" she asked, already excited.
Gibbs slowly directed her through the kitchen, and out onto the veranda. He smiled at Abby's afterthought of hanging up fairy lights.
"Tonight," he finally replied.
"Tonight?"
"Yep."
"But how?"
It was then that the team, Palmer, Ducky and Catherine came out of their hiding spot and surprised Jenny.
She just turned to them beaming, and then started to hug them all. Last of all, she hugged Abby, knowing it was her who had organised the majority of the workload. Abby her back (as much as possible), happy that Jenny was happy.
After the breathtaking, literally, hug, Jenny turned back to the group and said,
"Thank you."
She then walked over to Gibbs and kissed him again, much to Abby and DiNozzo's delight.
Catherine then started taking the covers off all the food she had baked, and called everyone to dinner.
After the long day that the team had endured, the food went very quickly. While the boys sat down, discussing all the problems they encountered while moving, Abby and Ziva dragged Jenny around the house to see what else had been done. She especially liked her custom-made walk-in wardrobe and her spa bath. She just smiled when she saw that the baby's room was pink, but she wasn't sure if Gibbs had just painted it, or it was left like that after Kelly's death.
She made her way back downstairs, while Ziva and Abby was checking out her wardrobe, and noted her mother and Ducky sitting in the living room, deep in conversation. If her mother's giggling was anything to go by, they were more likely flirting … She bypassed them, not wanting to interrupt. She headed outside and smiled at Gibbs before asking,
"So, where is the termite damage?"
He just smirked at her, and she knew that he had lied to her about that!
She just mock-glared at him before giving him a headslap.
He then pulled her down onto his lap, and kissed her for the third time that evening. She stayed there for the rest of the evening.
It was later that night, after everyone had gone home, including her mother, that Jenny and Gibbs finally got to relax by themselves, in their own bed, in their newish house.
Jenny fell asleep, snuggled by her lover, and with a smile on her face. They were finally ready to move to the next step in their relationship and start planning for the baby that was coming.
A/N: Sorry about the delay in updating, and the shortness of the chapter. I'm running out of ideas to incorporate before the baby is born - any suggestions would be great. As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter! And thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed and favourited this story :)
