**Author's note: I definitely stole the "coat" thing from the episode "Jeopardy." It's one of my favorites! Not my idea at all, but a clever one nonetheless.
***SIX MONTHS LATER***
"It's beautiful." Cooper whispered in Jacinda's ear as he stood behind her on the balcony.
"I know." Jacinda said quietly as she let out a sigh. She had traveled to London with her parents and siblings when she had been eleven.
"You had the perfect idea for honeymoon." Cooper said happily as he wrapped his arms around Jacinda and embraced her.
"Thank-you." Jacinda replied.
It was just after midnight. London was ablaze with twinkling lights. Big Ben had faithfully tolled out the hours since their time in London began. They had only been there for a few short hours, but what they had seen of the city before dark had been beautiful.
"I have this awful feeling that two weeks is going to go by so fast." Cooper said wistfully as he tightened his grip on his new wife.
"It will." Jacinda said knowingly. Anytime she had traveled time always seemed to pass so quickly.
"The past six months have flown by." Cooper whispered as he rested his chin on the top of Jacinda's head.
"Well when you're planning a wedding and trying to bring down the nastiest family in D.C. time flies." Jacinda said dryly.
"What was our agreement?" Cooper teased.
"No shop talk." Jacinda said succinctly. She was going to put the Moretti's firmly out of her mind for the next fourteen days.
"Shall we?" Cooper asked as he pointed towards the beautiful hotel suite the couple had rented.
"We shall." Jacinda said happily. She was eager to get the usual honeymoon activities underway.
"So I was thinking of how nice it would be to leave London with a special souvenir." Cooper whispered as Jacinda cuddled up next to him. Their love-making had been especially fantastic since arriving in London. Jacinda was jet-lagged, and exhausted from her exertions, but she couldn't resist staying awake to talk and cuddle with her husband.
"What would that be?" Jacinda asked as she looked into Cooper's eyes. Jacinda already knew the answer, but she just liked hearing Cooper say it.
"A baby." Cooper whispered as a grin spread across his face.
"It would be nice." Jacinda said as she snuggled closer to Cooper. She couldn't get enough of him lately.
"I'm not a doctor or anything but I think we are off to a good start." Cooper said as he kissed Jacinda softly.
"Repeat performances may be necessary just to be sure." Jacinda replied hoping Cooper would take the hint.
"Definetly." Cooper said as he leaned down and kissed Jacinda again, this time with more passion than the first.
***ONE YEAR LATER***
"Jenny...it's Tim." Tim McGee was trying to remain calm, but his voice sounded panicked.
Jenny knew something was horribly wrong.
"Yes Tim, I'm listening." Jenny said as she eyed Jethro nervously.
"I just got a text message from Jacinda...it's bad. Really bad." Tim explained as he waited for Jenny to respond.
"What did she say?" Jenny now feared the worst.
"She needs a winter coat...the thickest, heaviest one we can find. For her and Cooper." Tim let out a huge sigh as he added Cooper's name.
Hearing that one of her children needed their coat was not on Jenny's to do list. It was an old code between her and Jethro. They had passed it on to their children. If the kids were ever in danger they were instructed to tell Tim McGee they needed their coat. The heavier the coat, the worse the trouble.
"Shit...did you trace the message?" Jenny asked.
Jethro had been absentmindedly eating his sandwich during the entire conversation, but now his food fell to his lap. Hearing his wife ask if a message had been traced was never a good sign. Jethro picked up his half-eaten sandwich and returned it to the plate in front of him. He'd have to wait for Jenny to get off the phone before he'd know the whole story.
"So they're already on the scene...okay...we'll be right there." Jenny said as she hung up the phone.
"It's Jacinda and Cooper." Jenny said. Her emerald eyes were incredibly dark and she was fighting back tears.
"They've both been taken hostage by the Moretti's." Jenny added.
"Where?" Jethro asked as he stood up.
"An abandoned warehouse by the old dock. The entire alphabet is already there. Communication has been established, and so far they're not negotiating. It's going to be a stand-off." Jenny explained.
"Not if I can help it." Jethro said as he ran upstairs.
In less than a minute Jethro returned with two pistols.
"Let's go." He said as he handed one weapon to Jenny who quickly holstered it on her hip.
"Where are they?" Jenny asked, craning her neck to survey the rooftops of the other buildings by the dock. as Jethro parked the SUV they had driven just outside the police barricades.
"They're called snipers for a reason. They don't stand there and wave hello before they take somebody out." Jethro explained as he exited the vehicle.
"Well then...sometimes it's just nice to know they are there." Jenny added dryly.
"They're there." Jethro said knowingly as he headed towards the barricade.
"And you are?" A uniformed police officer assigned to keeping the barriers up questioned Jethro as he attempted to put one leg over the barricade.
"Jethro Gibbs NCI..." Jethro trailed off. He wasn't an NCIS agent anymore.
"Our daughter is in there!" Jethro said as he continued to hop the barricade.
"Sir...nobody gets past this barricade!" The officer shouted.
"But that's my daughter in there!" Jethro shouted back.
"I don't care!" The uniformed officer shouted as he reached for Jethro and grabbed his collar.
Instinctively Jethro fought back.
"Stop!" A woman's voice demanded.
The two men stopped fighting as a tiny hand with a firm grip reached between them. It was Ziva.
"He is with us." Ziva said as she looked at the police officer.
"And so is she." Tony DiNozzo pointed at Jenny as the officer looked at Tony, then at Ziva.
Jenny hopped the barricade in record time.
"Is she hurt...is he hurt?" Jenny asked frantically as Ziva attempted to calm Jenny's frazzled nerves.
"So far...no shots fired." Ziva said reassuringly as she rested a gentle hand on Jenny's shoulder.
"Shots mean nothing." Jenny replied darkly. She had the courage to vocalize what Ziva had thought was best left unsaid.
"Mom! Dad!" Jackie yelled as she rounded the corner. Jackie was in much the same state as Ziva and Tony, wearing a bullet-proof vest and loaded down with weaponry.
"Honey! What's going on?" Jethro asked as he stood next to Jackie.
"Well...they're ready to negotiate." Jackie said as she looked at her father.
"Who's the negotiator?" Jethro asked.
"Well when the ATF, FBI and the DEA can stop fighting about who we're sending in then I'll let you know." Jackie said with a pained expression.
"Where's the communication center?" Jethro asked.
Jackie pointed to a black motor home with deeply tinted windows.
"I'll be back." Jethro said as he glanced at Jenny and ran towards the motor home. Jenny was still standing next to Ziva. She was frozen in shock. It was almost as if she had shut down mentally and emotionally.
"Hey boss." Tim McGee said uneasily as Jethro stepped into the communications center.
"Not your boss." Gibbs grunted.
"What the hell is going on?" Jethro Gibbs demanded as he looked at a motor home full of shocked agents, all busily monitoring computers, and television screens.
Towards the back of the vehicle Jethro could hear a heated debate about which agency would be sent in to negotiate.
"How about if NCIS sends somebody?" Jethro bellowed through the vehicle.
Stunned agents and computer technicians looked up at him. The argument stopped suddenly.
"That would be the answer to my prayers." A female voice said from the back. A petite figure clad in black made her way through to the front of the motor home.
"Emily Fornell...I didn't recognize you in your riot gear." Jethro joked. Now as she stood in front of him the only thing that gave her away was the blond ponytail.
"Are you sure you're up to it?" Emily asked as she looked up at Jethro and concentrated on his white hair.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Jethro said as he took his weapon out of its holster and handed it to Emily.
"Good." Emily knew from her father that Jethro was one of the best negotiators in the business.
He knew how to read people, and that's what mattered.
"All right...we're sending in a negotiator...let them know." Emily said.
"They're all for it." Tim McGee replied as he communicated with the Moretti's.
"Here you go." A young ATF agent handed Jethro a bullet-proof vest. Jethro strapped the vest on immediately.
"That building over there." Emily pointed to a dilapidated metal building about a hundred feet away from the communications center.
"And..." Jethro said trailing off.
"Two gunmen for sure...Jacinda and Cooper are the only known hostages. It started with one of the family's associates remembering Cooper and Jacinda's faces from last time." Emily explained as she made her way out of the motor home with Gibbs. Emily had been referring to the under-cover work Jacinda had started shortly after working with the ATF.
"Snipers on the rooftops all around us...helicopters circling...and about sixty SWAT personnel all ready at a moment's notice." Emily said as she waved her hand at the scene around her.
"They just celebrated their first wedding anniversary last night." Jethro said wistfully.
"I know...I was a bridesmaid." Emily said as she pointed towards the building that housed Jacinda and Cooper.
"Go." Emily said as she headed back to the communications center.
"What the hell is he doing?" Jenny asked Ziva as she could see Jethro clad in a bullet-proof vest heading towards the old warehouse.
"Negotiating." Tony said simply as he hung up his cell phone. McGee had called him.
"It's in Jethro's hands now." Ziva said as she attempted to comfort Jenny.
"No Ziva, it's in God's hands." Jenny corrected her friend as Jethro disappeared into the building.