Disclaimer: I do not own anyone you recognize. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario and company.

****NCIS****

A couple days later, Gibbs and Jenny were headed over to Ducky's to welcome him home and to also tell him their good news. He had just pulled in behind the M.E.'s Morgan when he heard Jenny gasp from beside him, making him look at her with worry. "What's wrong?"

"Your hand," she replied, not giving him a choice as she reached over and grabbed it. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"The baby kicking."

"I don't feel anything," he replied, looking down at where she'd placed his hand on her belly. He was a little disappointed that he couldn't feel it. "Is this the first time you've felt her move?"

"Yes," she mumbled, not looking too happy that he couldn't feel their daughter.

"I'm sorry, Jen," he said softly, leaning over and kissing her gently when he saw how upset she was getting. "I'll feel her kicking soon-maybe she can even do kick boxing with Ziver."

"You're right," she said, as they got out of the truck and walked up driveway a bit. "He's got nurses staying with him 24/7 now, right?"

"Yes, Jen. They will be here until he is strong enough to be on his own again."

"Good," she replied, reaching out to ring the doorbell.

"Can I help you folks?" asked the young woman answering the door.

Gibbs held onto Jenny's hand. "We're here to see Ducky," he answered, not being overtly mean to her; but he definitely wasn't pleasant.

"Ducky?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow at them.

"Dr. Mallard," Jenny said, feeling the tension settling in with her boyfriend-she knew she needed to get the young girl to let them inside before he scared her off with his temper.

"Oh please, come on in," she said politely, as she stepped aside. "That may be the name he keeps trying to say whenever I call him Dr. Mallard. He still slurs and is a bit difficult to understand; his speech therapist will be working with him a lot more now that he's out of the hospital and in the comforts of home."

"Is he up to having a couple visitors?" Jenny asked, hoping they weren't catching him at a bad time. "We won't stay long; we just have some news to tell him."

"Right this way," she replied, leading them into the room Ducky had converted into a bedroom for his mother when her dementia had gotten worse. "Dr. Mallard, you have a couple visitors."

"Hey Duck," Gibbs said, walking over to the couch where he was sitting. "How are you feeling?"

"Mmm….bet….ter," he mumbled slowly, reaching out and taking Jenny's hand in his good one.

"We have some news for you Ducky," Jenny said, sitting down beside him, before reaching across where Gibbs was sitting and squeezing his hand. "I'm pregnant."

Watching the Scotsman smile at their news, both Gibbs and Jenny knew he was ecstatic for them, even if he couldn't vocalize it yet. He had watched them both suffer through marriage and other relationships-knowing that they were both still in love with each other but too stubborn to admit it.

"Baby," Ducky said, shocking both Jenny and Gibbs; it was the first thing he'd been able to say clearly.

"Yeah," Jenny said, smiling at him as tears of happiness shone in her eyes.

"We wanted to wait a bit before we told everyone," Gibbs said, looking his friend in the eye. "We're having a little girl."

"Her name is going to be Sophia," Jenny revealed, as that was the one name they had both agreed on. "Oh and when you're up to it, I talked to Jackson-I've got some stories of Jethro when he was a teenager," she teased.

"The team sends their best," Gibbs said, hoping to get Jenny's attention off telling Ducky about his teen years. The team had all wanted to stop and see him, but they would do it sparingly as to not overwhelm him-plus Gibbs and Jenny wanted to tell him their news in private. "You'd be proud of Palmer, Duck. He's really stepped up his game while you've been recuperating."

"G…ood," he managed to say, sending them both a small hint of a smile.

After staying at Ducky's for another twenty minutes, Jenny could see the tiredness creeping onto his face. "We'll let you get some rest now Ducky."

"Yeah Duck. We'll stop back by again in a couple days or so. Give the others a chance to stop by," Gibbs said, as he and Jenny stood up to leave.

Leaning down and kissing Ducky's cheek lightly, Jenny smiled at him gently. "Get better soon, Ducky; we all love you."

****NCIS****

Once Gibbs and Jenny got back home, they were a little surprised to see Abby's hearse sitting in front of the house. "Wonder what Abbs is doing here?" Jenny asked, as they got out of the car.

"Guess we'll find out."

Walking inside the house, Jenny was shocked to see the living room full of baby girl gift baskets and clothes. "Abby, what on earth is all this?"

"Well, I figured you weren't quite up to going shopping yet-even if you say you are. Ziva still has a couple more weeks of rehab on her knee before she can walk comfortably without crutches. I got bored and wanted to go shopping. I got kind of carried away with everything," she replied, looking over at her bosses. "Little girl stuff is too cute to shop for, I couldn't stop."

"Abby, you really didn't have to do all this," Gibbs said, walking over and hugging her gently.

"I know, but I wanted to," she replied, looking up at him. "She's going to be my pseudo sister so I have to spoil her. I even got her an outfit-it's pink and black with the skull crossbones and says 'Spoiled to the Bone.' And it's got a pink ruffle skirt attached to it. I mean, if you think about it, this kid is going to be so spoiled by all of us. We all have different tastes and stuff. I'm sure that McGee will be getting her the latest gaming stuff, Tony and his obsession with movies. Ziva may even-on second thought I don't know what Ziva would do. Probably teach her how to pick a lock and how to kill someone twenty different ways with a paper clip."

"Whoa Abbs, calm down," Jenny chuckled, as she started looking through a few of the bags. "Did you have a Caf-Pow today?"

"Yeah."

"Does this mean you are sleeping better?" Gibbs questioned, knowing she had been closed off on talking about her nightmares when they had gone for a walk the day of the cookout.

"Not a whole lot, but some."

Going over to the still slightly subdued Goth, Jenny hugged her in a motherly way. "Abby, I know you will be okay soon. The baby will be lucky to have all of you as brothers and sisters-no matter what you spoil her with."

"Thanks Jenny," she said softly, returning her hug.

****NCIS****

Later that night, Gibbs was downstairs working on the crib when Jenny walked up behind him. "Crib's coming along nicely," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing a kiss in between his shoulder blades.

"Thanks," he chuckled, turning around and pulling her into his arms. "What's on your mind?"

"What makes you think I have something on my mind?"

"Because I know you."

Pulling away from the hug, she went over and sat in the chair by the workbench. "I have my meeting with Sec-Nav in the morning."

"What are you going to tell him?" he asked, knowing she'd been conflicted on whether or not she wanted to retire.

"Well, the doctor doesn't want me doing anything to cause me stress so I can't go back to work till after the baby's born. Gives me about seven more months to decide."

"Tell him that then," he said, looking her in the eye. "You need to have Leon step up as acting director till you return twelve weeks after the baby's born."

"Eight."

"Eight what?" he asked, having a feeling he knew what she meant.

"I would only be taking an extra eight weeks off after the baby's born," she replied, picking at the wood on the bench.

"Are you sure that's long enough?"

"How long would you have me take off?" she questioned, chuckling lightly.

"If I said twelve, would you hit me?"

Pretending to think over her options, she smirked at him deviously before she reached up and patted his cheek. "There, I hit you."

"Come on, let's go to bed now," he chuckled, helping her stand up from the chair and holding her hand as they walked up the stairs.

Once he had gotten Jenny in bed, he snuck back downstairs and grabbed his cell phone. Walking out onto the back porch, he dialed his dad's number, waiting on an answer.

"Hello," Jackson answered, making Gibbs smile faintly.

"Hey Dad, you got a minute to talk?"

"Leroy! What'd you need?"

Looking back inside to make sure that Jenny hadn't returned downstairs as well, he went and sat on the step-looking out into the backyard. "You think you could send me Mom's engagement ring?"

"Sure, how soon do you want it?" he asked, sounding excited by the impending news.

"Well, if you can send it out tomorrow, that'd be great," he replied, thinking about all that he had to get done before they flew to Paris in a couple weeks. "I need to get it sized, and it'll take time to get it back."

"So you're finally going to propose to the lady."

"Yeah Dad, I'm planning on taking her to Paris in a couple weeks since that's our anniversary-well the one that counts to me anyway," he chuckled. He had never considered himself an anniversary remembering type of guy-not since Shannon or the year that he and Jenny were together in Paris and Serbia. "I'm going to propose over there."

"That's great news, son," he said, genuinely happy for him and Jenny. "You both deserve it."

"Thanks," he replied. "So you'll be able to send the ring out tomorrow then?"

"I'll do it first thing in the morning on my way into the store."

"Great, I really appreciate it, Dad."

"Talk to you soon, Leroy," he said, as they ended the call.

Gibbs was still sitting on the porch an hour later, thinking about everything. He had only hoped that Jenny wouldn't suspect his plan or try and snoop anything out. Sitting, lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear Jenny walk out onto the stoop behind him.

"Hey, what are you sitting out here all alone for?" she asked, her voice laden with sleep.

"Just thinking about the baby," he replied, which wasn't a total lie-he just wasn't going to allow her to read more into his response than what she could. He knew if he said that he was thinking about their future, which did consist of thoughts of the baby, she'd wonder what all that meant. She'd always been able to read him-like he with her.

"Nice thoughts, aren't they?" she asked as she sat down beside him. She let him wrap an arm around her shoulders loosely.

"Thinking about building her a swing set when she gets old enough-maybe even for next summer," he said. Gibbs rested his hand on her stomach, willing their daughter to kick hard enough that he could feel her. "We can get her a baby swing to put on it, till she's old enough to swing in a bigger one."

"She doesn't already have you wrapped around her finger yet, does she?"

"Very funny," he mumbled, dropping a kiss onto her neck lightly-feeling her shiver in his arms.

"Are you going to sit out here all night thinking about it?"

"No, I'm coming to bed now," he chuckled, standing up and holding his hands out to help her up as well.

"Good, cause it's weird not falling asleep on your chest."

Shaking his head at her lightly, he could only hope that the plans he had for their trip and the plans he made for the proposal would go off without a hitch.