Gibbs was on the first flight out of D.C. for California. He called Ducky on the way to the airport. The long time family friend was given the job of telling the girls. Jethro owed it to Helen to call her and tell her about Jenny himself. Jenny had been airlifted out and taken to the nearest hospital. Helen arrived at the hospital first. She sat in the waiting room for hours with Jethro. Her daughter's injuries were severe. She'd taken hits to the arm, shoulder, abdomen, and chest. After hours of surgery, the doctor came out and spoke to them. It was touch and go. The doctor did not expect her to make it through the night.
"I need to see her," Jethro said.
"Only for a few minutes. She's still critical."
He nodded and followed the doctor to the room. He touched the door handle and put his head down. He hadn't cried until now. He took in a deep breath and opened the door. He wasn't looking at his Jenny. His Jenny was full of life. She was motionless and hooked up to too many machines. Slowly, he walked over to the bed and pulled a chair close, sitting down. He took her hand and kissed it. "Fight, Jen. I still need you. We all do." He put his forehead against her hand. The doctor allowed him to stay longer than a few minutes. After two hours, he had no choice but to leave. He was thrown out. She was being taken back into surgery.
Jethro kicked the wall and watched her being wheeled away. "Dammit, Jenny…fight." She had to pull through. He wasn't ready to be a widower a second time. His first wife had been killed after witnessing a murder. Until meeting Jenny, he didn't think he could love anyone as much or more. She had shown him it was possible and had healed his wounds. The thought of losing his best friend chilled him to the bone.
Helen came up behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Jethro," she said softly.
He turned around and looked at her. She held her arms out for him. The two cried together in the hallway. In a few hours, the girls would be at the hospital. He would need to be strong for them. He returned to the waiting room with Helen. She watched him pace, thinking how wrong it would be if she survived her daughter. She pushed out the thoughts and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. She needed to be strong for Katharine and Elizabeth too.
A taxi had dropped the girls off at their grandmother's Bel Air home. As soon as they put their bags down, the same taxi took them to the hospital. Katie felt her sister no longer walking beside her. She stopped and looked behind her. "Lizzie."
Elizabeth hadn't moved a muscle. She stood, staring at the building with red rimmed, puffy blue green eyes. She heard her sister repeat her name. Lizzie shook her head. "I can't."
"We'll do it together." She held out her hand for her.
"Katie, I…I can't."
Katie nodded her head, knowing not to push. She walked to her sister and hugged her. Lizzie was the more fragile of the two. "Sit down on that bench over there. Okay? I'll be back in a few minutes."
Lizzie nodded her head and sat down while her sister went into the hospital. She put her arms around herself. She felt as if her world was crumbling around her.
Katie heard her grandmother harassing a nurse for information on Jenny's condition. She walked over and stood next to her grandmother.
"Oh, sweetheart," Helen gasped, putting her arms around her granddaughter in a tight hug. She could see her oldest granddaughter was on the verge of tears. "Your mother had to be taken back into surgery. No one will tell me anything," she said harshly, glaring at the nurse. "Where's your sister?"
"Outside. Lizzie isn't able to come in. I tried to get her to come."
Helen nodded her head. Lizzie hadn't cared for hospitals since her brother's death. Katie wiped at her eyes. Gibbs walked from the cafeteria and saw Katie with Helen. He prepared himself for seeing his girls.
"Daddy," Katie said to him, hugging him.
He hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "She'll pull through, Katie. I promise."
She nodded her head and pulled away, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I know." Her mother was a fighter.
Jethro squeezed her hand. "Stay with your grandmother." He didn't have to ask where his missing daughter was.
Katie watched him walk out of the hospital. Outside, he looked in both directions, spotting Lizzie on a bench near the entrance of the hospital. He walked over and sat down next to her. "Hey kiddo." He opened his arms for her.
She went into them without hesitation, burying her face into his chest and sobbing. She didn't know how it was possible for her to have tears left to cry. He rubbed her back and kissed her head. He held her until the crying slowed.
"Daddy, I should have told you. I should have called you after Tony wanted grandma's number. I should have," she choked out, burying her face deeper.
Gibbs sighed heavily. She didn't need to blame herself. She had no reason to blame herself. He took his little girl by the shoulders. "Hey, look at me."
She lifted her head up, wiping her eyes and looking at him.
"Listen to me, Elizabeth. It's not your fault. Your mom's got a chance. If she's ever had a chance, she's taken it. She'll take this one." He kissed her forehead. "Now, c'mon."
She wiped at her eyes and nodded her head softly. She went into the hospital with her father. They waited and waited. Jethro mainlined coffee while Helen badgered the hospital staff. The girls' phones were going crazy with texts and calls from the team in D.C. Abby checked in every half hour through texts. Lizzie hadn't heard from Tony. She wanted to text him but locked her phone, resting her head on Katie's shoulder. Katie had drifted into sleep against Helen. She looked at her granddaughters and was thankful they could sleep. She knew they were physically and emotionally exhausted. Helen glanced at the clock with a sigh. The time seemed to drag.
An hour later, the doctor entered the room to explain what he'd done during the second surgery. There had been more internal bleeding, and Gibbs became lost in the medical jargon. From what he understood, the doctor had almost lost Jenny on the table. He was grateful the girls were sleeping and hadn't heard that information. For now, it seemed as if Jenny was in a more stable condition after the second round in the operating room.
In CCU, the visiting hours were over and had been for quite some time. The nurse assigned to Jenny let Gibbs know she would sneak him and the family inside. He woke the twins up, passing on bits and pieces of the information about their mother.
Lizzie stayed with Helen. She couldn't bring herself to see her mother hooked up to a ventilator, chest tube, and God knows what else. Katie went with her father. Inside the room, she gasped and turned into her father's chest, crying softly. She tried to tell herself it looked much worse than it actually was, but it was still painful to see.
"What I tell you? She's going to pull through. Katie, you gotta believe it."
"It's just…"
"I know."
He stood back, watching Katie go to the hospital bed. He blinked back the tears in his eyes. The girls didn't need to see him weak. Katie had never wanted to hear her mother's voice so much in her life. She sat down and listened to the monitors beep. "Mom," she whispered as her eyes filled with tears. "I love you. I know I don't say it enough to you. Please don't." She stopped, unable to finish the sentence.
The nurse knocked on the glass of the room, motioning to her watch. Gibbs nodded and walked over. "Time's up, Katie." He squeezed her shoulder and looked at his wife. He stroked Jenny's bangs away from her eyes. "I'm going to get the girls taken care of, and I'll be back, Jenny."
After a trip to Bel Air, Gibbs returned to the hospital. He became acquainted with the hospital's cafeteria staff on his many coffee trips. He needed air and took the time to return the dozens of phone calls from Ducky, McGee, and Abby.
There were four hours before CCU visiting hours began. He was grateful the nurse from earlier was still on shift. He learned her name was Faith. She allowed him into the room. He sat down by his wife's bedside, hoping she'd wake up soon. She was fighting since she made it through the night. He dozed off and on.
The vibrations of his cell phone woke him up. Jethro popped it open and squinted to read the text message. He looked at the clock on the wall and stood up. Carefully, he kissed her forehead. "I gotta go, Jen. When I get back, I want to see those green eyes. You hear me?" He squeezed her hand and left.
He drove like a bat out of hell to the diner. He called Ziva, telling her to wait there. He was on his way, and they had better damn well listen to his instruction. He flew into the lot of the diner. He barely had the car in park before he got out. Tony walked out, carrying an evidence box. He dreaded seeing Gibbs. The two men stared at each other. Neither of them saying a word. Gibbs walked towards him. "I said to wait," he spoke sternly.
"I said not to," Leon Vance said, coming out of the diner.
The Assistant Director of NCIS was not his favorite person. Jethro saw the bloody gloves on Leon's hands. His wife's blood.
"This is my crime scene," Vance told him.
"Leon," Gibbs said.
"You called SecNav. He called me."
Gibbs turned and looked at DiNozzo. Tony lowered his head. He wouldn't ever forgive himself if Jenny didn't live. Gibbs looked to Ziva. At least, she could make eye contact with him. She didn't have anything to be guilty about. Gibbs brushed by Vance and stepped into the diner.
"I'm sorry, Jethro." Leon meant it. He wanted to become Director of NCIS but not this way. He only wanted to fill Director Shepard's heels when she retired.
Jethro stepped into the diner, surveying the area. There were evidence boxes and bags everywhere. He walked through, seeing the bloodstains and cards marking where the gunmen had been. He felt the Assistant Director's eyes on him. Gibbs paused a few feet away from the largest pool of blood. He wasn't a man to show his emotions often. He rarely showed them in front of people he didn't consider himself close to, and Leon Vance counted as one of those people. His blue eyes became watery at seeing the card labeled Shepard.
