Chapter 25

Later the two girls and Gibbs sat at a table in the coffee shop; where Maddie worked and they had they had tried their best to answer each other's questions that came to their minds. Maddie of course still had a hard time digesting this whole story, because it still seemed too good to be true but on the other side she was glad to have her best friend from childhood days back. Gibbs was happy that Kelly was able to open up in front of Maddie, he could totally understand that Maddie probably still had a hard time comprehending this whole story because he was in the same position as his daughter surprisingly returned into his live.

After they had all finished their drinks, Gibbs paid for the three of them and they went to his car that stood just a few meters away from Maddie's workplace. When they finally reached the yellow Dodge Kelly then asked her childhood friend: "You want to accompany us home or do you have anything else planned?" A smile crept upon Maddie's face and without hesitating much she answered: "No I don't have anything else planned for tonight, I could really use some company for the rest of the day since there is waiting an empty house for me." Kelly smiled at her as she accepted and Gibbs eyes became watery for a short amount of time because it touched him so much, seeing his daughter so happy again after all the stress she had been through recently. The gentleman he was, he held open the door for both of the girls to get in the car and the two were laughing and talking a lot during the car ride.

Kelly was getting more and more confident and felt very secure right now, knowing that her dad was there to protect her from anyone that would try to harm her. She was happy to be able to spent time with her best friend from childhood days again, so much good memories from her childhood, that was taken away from her so suddenly now popped up in her mind in her mind. Later the three sat together in Gibbs basement, Gibbs drinking a cup of coffee and the two girls drinking a hot chocolate as the two were looking together through a photo album that he had pulled out of dusty carton. It felt looking through all the old photos from their childhood but it also made her sad, knowing that her childhood had ended in dark hole not knowing if she would ever see her dad again. Kelly wished that her mother was here to witness this all this, but she wasn't thanks to Pedro Hernandez that took her away from her because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kelly finally put that thoughts away for now only trying to focus on the positive things and she didn't want her dad to worry. In the end she could imagine really could Hollis being her stepmother, she and dad seemed to be the perfect couple and she could only imagine how hard it had been to let a woman again in his live.

Kelly hadn't seen any pictures of her mom anywhere in the house and she totally understood why, after her dad had told her through how a rough time he had went after the death of his first wife. He was never as happy again as with his first wife, the three marriages after her where a complete failure and he didn't even know why he had married them in the first place. The three were so much occupied with looking through old memories, that they didn't notice Hollis walking down the wooden steps of the basement. She surveyed this whole scene in front of her for a moment before she finally said: "Hello Jethro there you are, dinner for us is ready, and can you come upstairs before it gets cold?" Gibbs turned around to face Hollis and said: "Of course we can and Hollis this is Maddie Tyler, the best friend of her childhood days." Maddie then also turned around, shook hands with Hollis and then she asked: "Nice to meet you Maddie, you want to eat with us?" Maddie smiled at her and answered: "Of course I would love to." The three then later sat at the table in the kitchen, the two girls talked a lot in between eating, Hollis and Gibbs watched this whole scene play out in front of them and Hollis said to Gibbs: "It's great to see her that happy after all the drama she had to get through."

"Yes it really is, her smile is really contagious and I've never been happier in my life before." He kissed her on her forehead she smiled back at him and he could really imagine her to be his daughter's new mom.

AN: Thanks to- Sarah for reviewing this story, please read and review