Chapter 11: Trouble
Following Decker's call, Jenny grew paranoid. One day she went shopping for the baby. She and Gibbs had decided to catch up in the mall. As she waited there for him to arrive on one of the benches, Jenny spotted a man in dark clothes looking in her direction, with a cell phone next to his ear. The cacophony drowned out, all she heard was her own heart-beat. This was it then. Jenny jumped when someone grabbed her by the shoulders. It was Gibbs. She slumped in relief. When she looked over at the dark clothed man, she saw him greeting a woman. Relief flowed through her body.
"Jen, are you okay?" Gibbs was asking, looking concerned.
She took a deep breath.
"Peachy", she said with a smile.
"Sure? Because you don't look peachy to me", Gibbs said.
"I just got claustrophobic for a minute there, that's all", she tried to push it all away.
"Okay, let's get you home then. We can do this later", Gibbs decided.
"No! Now! I'm fine, let's just get this over with", she exclaimed.
After their shopping trip, they picked RJ and got ice cream and went home. RJ had been a little mad at Gibbs after the debacle with Diane. But he'd let it go when he saw Jenny had forgiven him. But he was wary, nevertheless. Gibbs thought of this as major setback and cursed himself. He could have head-slapped himself into next year.
Sunday came. It was an important date for Gibbs. How could he forget the day when his world had turned upside down all those years ago? He woke up and got dressed, not casually. He went downstairs and found Jenny and RJ on the table. Their eyes popped when they saw him. Gibbs grabbed the percolator and poured himself some coffee, all the while eyeing the two looking at him.
"It's Sunday", RJ informed him.
"Uh huh", Gibbs acknowledged.
Jenny was struck speechless. Jethro didn't even wear suits to work. That was a Tony thing.
Gibbs went into the kitchen pantry and brought out two bouquets.
Jenny was surprised even more.
"Jethro, what's going?" she asked, her voice displaying her surprise. "Where are you going?", when she saw him grab the keys for his truck.
"I'm – uh – going to the grave yard. Shannon and Kelly. It's the anniversary", he informed her somberly.
Jenny rushed to his side, as fast as her pregnant body would allow. She grabbed his arm and stopped before he could rush out.
"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked. Not wanting him to be alone today.
"No, I'll manage", Gibbs let her down gently. He wanted to this alone.
"I can come with you", RJ piped in.
Gibbs just shook his head.
"Stay. Look after your mom for me. Call me if you need me", he said before he left.
The mother-son duo was disappointed. On some levels, Jenny understood his need for solitude. But she didn't have to like it. Every day she prayed that she or anyone else wouldn't have to endure the heart break and pain Gibbs had gone through.
At the graves, Gibbs placed the flowers and stood up. In his mind's eye, things were still fresh. When he'd first laid eyes on Shannon, their wedding, Kelly, sleepless nights, the laughter, her toys and tearful goodbyes on his deployment.
It wasn't a secret that he still felt immense guilt for their deaths. They didn't have to be alone at the time. But he had to admit, the ache in his heart had lessened considerably since he'd gotten back from Mexico and had mended things with Jenny.
Today was different from previous visits. He felt it to be cathartic, somehow. He was finally moving on. And he was here to tell Shannon and Kelly about it. Gibbs stood there in the silence. He hadn't been there long when the shrill ring from his phone broke the silence. It was dispatch. With a heavy sigh, he switched back to boss mode. He'd come back some other time, perhaps bring Jenny and RJ as well.
For the time being he called DiNozzo.
It had been a couple of hours since Gibbs had left. She and RJ were expecting him back soon, especially since he had promised he would drive RJ to his soccer practice later that evening. Her phone rang.
"Jethro", she acknowledged.
"Jen, I'm at the navy yard. Got a missing persons case. Tell RJ I'll be back in time to take him to soccer practice", Gibbs hung up.
When Gibbs finally arrived, he was sporting his sun glasses. It was something he rarely did out in the field, much less in the house.
"Jethro?" Jenny inquired, looking pointedly at his out of place accessory.
When he didn't say anything, she stepped closer and plucked them off his face before he could do anything.
Jenny gasped at the sight of his face. He had a black eye.
"It's nothing. You should see DiNozzo and McGee", he tried to shrug it away.
"Cool! A shiner!" RJ joined in.
"RJ! Your father is injured! It's nothing to be happy about!" she reprimanded him. "Jethro, what happened?" Jenny asked.
"We followed a lead. Our suspect didn't take to kindly to it" he said as he pointed to his eye. "As it turns out it was totally unnecessary. He isn't our guy, but he's in on it. We recovered the missing lieutenant. She witnessed something she shouldn't have, and they didn't want loose ends. There's a money trail. We found a stash on this guy. So we're holding him. Abby was going to pieces over our – uh – injuries, so we called it a day".
"Tony, Ziva and Tim?" Jenny asked.
"They'll live", he told her, while checking his watch, "We still have time to kill before soccer practice. I'll go get changed".
When he came down, he was freshly showered and was dressed casually in his red sweatshirt and jeans. The black eye made him look very vulnerable. To Jenny, he'd been infallible. This was hard to accept for her.
"I'll take him, you've had a rough day", Jenny offered.
"No. you stay home, catch up on your rest. We don't the baby to come out all exhausted, do we?" Gibbs declined.
"Let's go, kid", he called out to RJ, putting the dark glasses back on his face.
At the soccer field, as RJ played, Gibbs had an unshakable feeling of being watched. He took a look around and saw no one out of place. His gut had never let him down in the past. He scanned the area carefully once more. His gaze fell on a man walking away from the field. There wasn't anything extraordinary about him. Gibbs put those thoughts away from the man and focused on the game.
On their way back he kept checking if they were being tailed. Nothing so far. Even RJ sensed his father's discomfort. But he didn't comment on it. It was a relief when they got home.
The following day at work, team Gibbs followed the leads on the case, without much success. They were all getting antsy. Gibbs even more so. Acting Director Vance was also agitated and was downstairs in the squad room instead of his office. It was after 3 o clock, when Gibbs got the call. "Yeah, Gibbs", Gibbs doled out his customary greeting when he got to the phone.
"You took something of mine", the mysterious caller ground out.
Gibbs motioned for McGee to trace the call.
The caller continued.
"In return I have something of yours. A special delivery should be reaching you any minute. I'll call you again". The caller hung up.
Gibbs looked at McGee. He shook his head.
"He hung up too early", McGee explained.
Gibbs had a very uncomfortable feeling. His gut twisted. Right about then, the elevator dinged and a messenger came out, accompanied by an agent.
He was directed to Gibbs' desk. The messenger then handed an envelope to Gibbs who took it and emptied the contents on his desk. It was a flash drive.
"Stay", he said to the messenger. "McGee put it on the big screen", he said throwing the drive in McGee's direction.
Tim attached it and put it on the screen to see.
What he saw was enough to yank the ground from beneath Gibbs' feet. Yet, he stood rooted to the ground not breathing.
They had RJ.
Tony took swift action and grabbed the messenger. He was sent on his merry way to interrogation.
Gibbs just slumped back in his chair. The phone rang again. This time he put it on speaker.
"I take it you have received the package. I mean your son no harm. Just return my cash and you can have him back. For the exchange, send the cash with the female agent who was with you when you picked up my guy tomorrow at 10 A.M sharp. I'll send you the details", he hung up again.
Again Gibbs looked at McGee, who shook his head.
"Boss?" Tony asked concerned.
"You have point on this, DiNozzo. Keep me in informed", Gibbs told them.
They were all in shock over Gibbs' defeated posture. They'd never seen him this way.
"I'll go home, tell Jenny", he grabbed his things.
"Agent Gibbs", Vance called. "We'll do everything we can", he assured Gibbs.
Gibbs just nodded.
Once he was in the elevator, he pushed the emergency button. He was absolutely crushed. A heavy weight had settled on his heart. He would do anything to get RJ back safe and sound. And Jenny, what would he tell her? He was absolutely terrified of facing her. He just prayed that they would get RJ safely back home. He wouldn't survive if he had to bury another child. It was too much of a blow. He rubbed a hand on his face and pressed the button again.
The drive passed by in a blur. Gibbs was on autopilot. He got off the car and went in. Jenny was in the kitchen. Automatically, he turned in that direction.
"You're home early", Jenny said, without looking up, "RJ should be home any minute now, usually he's here at this time", she glanced at the clock.
"Jen", Gibbs' tone was melancholic.
Only then did Jenny look at him.
His body was rigid with tension and he looked dejected. Even in pain. And somehow she just knew.
"No, Jethro!" she cried "Don't say it. Just tell me he is okay".
Gibbs walked to her side, and put his arms around her and held on tightly.
"He will be fine, he's a brave boy. I'll get him back, if it's the last thing I do", Gibbs vowed.
Then he went to explain the whole thing to Jenny.
"You shouldn't be here, you should be there, working this out", Jenny told him.
"No, Jenny, I'm personally involved. I'm afraid my judgment will be compromised and I'll do something that I'll regret. It's better if DiNozzo, McGee and David handle this", he explained.
He'd received instructions for the drop. And he'd passed them on to his team. Gibbs was in turmoil. He couldn't sit still. An hour later he couldn't take it anymore. He called Tony.
"Anything?" he asked the senior field agent.
"Boss, we're working out a plan for the drop –", Tony would have said more had Gibbs not cut him off.
"I'm coming in", Gibbs told him before he hung up.
Jenny who was hearing him, insisted that she come along too. Something in her voice made Gibbs agree. They were in this together.
They had a plan ready. No smart moves. They weren't going to take any risk with RJ. They'd have other chances with the scum bag.
Gibbs sent Jenny home with an agent. He stayed back with the team. The following day, the sun rose, everyone went over the plan once more.
Ziva was in the field on this one, while Tony, Tim and Gibbs stayed back in their surveillance van a couple of blocks away.
They heard her make contact with the kidnapper. He told her to wait for a call on a cell phone he handed to Ziva. They heard her mutter something about the cell phone not being right. Alarm bells went off for Gibbs. He shouted her name, but there was no answer. She'd taken off her ear wig and mic.
"I'm gonna go after her", Gibbs said getting out of the back of the van.
He got in the front and drove it to their destination. It took them three minutes. When they arrived, Gibbs had no trouble spotting Ziva. She was walking towards a dark van. Gibbs joined her on the way and she gestured for him to stay silent. They approached the door and Ziva forced it open.
Gibbs spotted RJ hunched in the corner. He got in and straightened him up. To his immense relief he appeared to be okay. Without thinking he hugged his little body to his own. RJ started mumbling through his gag. It was then that Gibbs realized that RJ had been gagged. He freed him and hugged him again as if he couldn't believe he was there. Then he remembered Jenny. He called her and told her the news as well.
They headed back to the Navy Yard. Gibbs asked Ducky to check RJ, which he did and gave him a clean bill of health. He just had a few bruises on his arms, from when he'd been thrown into the van earlier.
"… he just vanished into thin air", Ziva was telling them when RJ entered the squad room.
He saw his father sitting back in his chair, not paying a lot of attention to what the others said. He just gazed off in the distance.
"We just blew our chance of apprehending the scumbag", Tony added.
"No you didn't!" RJ pitched in. "I left my Bluetooth wrist watch in the van. I have the other one", he took it out of his back pack and handed it to Tony. "They work as a pair, you know when friends are around. They make a beeping sound. It's traceable".
They hadn't known RJ was back or listening. He was definitely his father's son, creeping up on them.
Gibbs told them to follow up on it, while he took RJ home. When they arrived, Jenny was waiting for them anxiously. As soon as she saw the duo enter, she grabbed RJ and engulfed him in a massive hug, tears of happiness running down her face. Gibbs made sure they were settled in before he went back to catching the kidnapper.
They'd been able to nab the kidnapper before he skipped town. By the time they finished the paperwork, it was pretty late. He sent the others home, while he finalized the paperwork. Gibbs still felt the shockwaves from what had occurred, from what he'd almost lost again. He went straight to Jenny's study and poured himself bourbon as soon as he got home. And he sat there thinking about the last 36 nightmarish hours. Silently, he walked into RJ's room and sat quietly on the bed. He had to touch him to believe he was actually there. Lightly, he ran his finger in RJ's hair. He brought an arm chair closer to RJ's bed and settled in it. He could have sat there and watched him all night. Sometime during his watch, sleep claimed him.
Jenny woke up and found that she was alone. She went to look for Jethro, thinking he might be in the study. But as she walked past RJ's room, she saw a flash of silver telling her that Jethro was in there. Silently she walked up and saw that he was fast asleep on the chair.
If she had been a painter, she would have painted the scene before her to preserve it forever. For the time being she was glad that they were all safe and that it hadn't been the Russians, she'd been paranoid about it ever since Decker's call. Perhaps it was a sick joke someone was playing on them. But she wasn't going to take any chances.
Thank you all for sticking with the story. If you found the kidnapping part to be slightly familiar, it's because it was (Season 11 episode 10: Devil's Triad).
