'Oh my God, this is so exciting!' Abby exclaimed the next day when Jenny pulled her, Kate and Ziva to one side and told them the news.
'I know, isn't it brilliant?' Penny said with an excited giggle as she sat on Jenny's bed.
'Yeah I can't believe any of this is happening, especially since I wasn't supposed to be thinking of my wedding until after the baby is born.' Jenny said with a smile. 'But I've got it all sorted, I think. I'm going to ask Ducky to give me away; Jethro is going to ask Tony to be his best man; and we're going to go shopping for dresses tomorrow, and to order the flowers.' She explained.
'And then they're going to get married just before midnight. What an amazing end to 2005, and an even better start to 2006.' Penny added with excitement.
Downstairs Gibbs had gathered they guys so that he could tell them the news and share his excitement.
'Jenny and I have decided to get married on New Year's Eve.' He said bluntly in his usual Gibbs way.
'Why Jethro that's great news, congratulations.' Ducky said as the first one to congratulate him.
'Yeah boss, that's really great news.' Tony said. 'Ooo are you going to have a bachelor party?'
'Erm…no DiNozzo, for two reasons, one I'm too old, and two I've already been married three times.' Gibbs replied with a smile at the younger man.
At that moment the girls came down the stairs and joined them at the dining table.
'Hey Penny, Gibbs just told us the great news.' McGee said as Penny approached him.
'I know isn't it fantastic? I can't wait until tomorrow now.' She replied happily.
'Why what's happening tomorrow?' He asked her.
'Ah that's for me to know and you to find out Timmy.' She said as she perched herself on his knee and tapped his nose, resulting in a smile.
'So what we going to do today?' Abby asked.
'Well there's a pool table out there that I've been dying to play since we got here.' Penny said to her friends.
So it was agreed that they were all going to have a tournament. They divided themselves into obvious pairs; Jenny and Gibbs, Penny and McGee, Ziva and Tony, Abby and Kate and Ducky and Jimmy. As they entered the barn they were thankful it had its own electricity supply, as Gibbs brought in a couple of small heaters. They had decided that they were going to play in pairs as opposed to playing two at a time; otherwise they'd have been there until next Christmas.
First up were Abby and Kate against Tony and Ziva. The others sat around and watched them, with Gibbs wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulling her into a tight hug. Abby and Kate were good, and between them they almost cleared all of the yellow balls before Tony and Ziva even had a chance. Finally Kate missed her shot and Tony stepped up to take his. Between him and Ziva they almost caught up. It was a tense moment when all that remained was one coloured ball each and the black ball.
'Come on Abs, you can do it.' Penny said encouragingly as Abby lined herself up to take her next shot, her face contorted in concentration.
They all held their breath in anticipation as she potted their last yellow ball, and then Kate lined up to take the last shot and hopefully pot the black one. She hit the white ball which rolled towards the black one, hitting it with force and sending it gliding into the far right pocket.
'Yes Kate we did it. High five!' Abby said as she celebrated their win as the rest of the team cheered.
They continued to play for the whole afternoon, and each team member was impressed by their skills, but the last game came down to Penny, McGee, Jenny and Gibbs. They all watched as all the balls were potted bar the black one.
'Wow I didn't know Jenny could play so good.' Tony said to the others out of the corner of his mouth.
'She knew how to play well long before I met her.' Ziva said in equally hushed tones.
'She learned from Jethro how to play, and he taught her well, but unfortunately she then passed her skills on to Penny.' Ducky explained as he recalled from his time with them in Europe.
'Why is that unfortunate?' Kate asked.
'It means that Penny is just as good as them.' He replied with a smile.
The group of friends laughed as they watched Jenny take the last shot, potting the black.
'Aw well done guys, good game.' Penny congratulated.
'Right well what do you say we all go back inside and I'll start on dinner?' Jenny said as the team all agreed and began to head out. She looked at Gibbs who was smiling and laughing slightly. 'What are you laughing at?' She said.
'You. You sound like such a…' He began to say before she glared at him in anticipation of what he was going to say.
'Mom.' Penny said from behind them as she tidied away the pool table.
Jenny looked at them both with a confused expression before she realised exactly what it was they were meaning.
'Ah…' She replied with a smile as Gibbs led her out by her shoulders, with Penny following closely behind.
That night the guys sat and watched a football match, whilst the girls sat round the dining room table and animatedly discussed dresses.
'Shhh guys, I don't want Jethro to hear.' Jenny said with a quiet yet excited laugh.
'I can't wait to go shopping tomorrow.' Abby said giddily.
'I can't wait until New Year's Eve; it's going to be so romantic.' Penny added.
'Well I hope so.' Jenny replied before standing up. 'And if you don't mind ladies, I'm going to get to bed. All this exciting is exhausting.' She added as she stifled a yawn.
'Night Mom.' Penny said as Jenny kissed her on the forehead before heading to bed.
'Who fancies a game of poker?' Tony said as he joined the girls at the table, holding up a silver case.
They all agreed that they wanted to play, and they played well into the early hours of the morning until they all retired to bed.
The next day Jenny, Abby, Ziva, Kate and Penny drove into town once again, and approached the familiar bridal shop.
'Hello, have you come to pick up the dress?' The lady behind the counter asked Jenny as she entered the shop.
'No actually we've come to choose some bridesmaids dresses.' Jenny replied happily whilst the rest of the girls looked around.
'Oh I love this one!' Kate said as she picked up a light blue dress.
'Oh that's really pretty.' Abby agreed.
Penny walked round the corner with Jenny close by as they looked at the dresses before them.
'Wow Mom look at this one.' Penny said as she lifted a burgundy dress from the rack.
The dress she held wasn't actually a dress, but was a strapless boned corset and a long skirt. Next to the dress was a matching burgundy shrug.
'Hey guys come have a look at this one.' Penny said as she called the others over.
'That dress is stunning.' Ziva said as she joined them.
All four bridesmaids disappeared into the changing room with a dress in hand, appearing several minutes later.
'Oh wow!' Jenny said as she saw the dresses. 'They're perfect.'
They were all in agreement about their dresses and they all loved them. Jenny paid for the dresses whilst the girls all went to get changed. They were all very excited about the latest development, and now they just had to wait four days until the big day arrived.
