A/N: Yeah! Derek's coming home! WOO! So, enjoy :D Please review!
Disclaimer: I only own my OC's, nothing else! If I did, Jenny and Gibbs would really have Evan, Ethan, Rowan, and Tessa.
Tessa ran down the stairs and out the front door as quickly as possible; Jenny raised an eyebrow at Jethro at the girl's enthusiasm. Then they heard a squeal come from the teenager.
"It's gonna be a white Christmas this year!" she squeaked coming inside. Tessa shivered when she closed the door and smiled at Lauren chasing Evan.
"Go get 'im baby girl!"
"Encouraging violence, Tess?" Jethro inquired with a curious expression on his face. Tessa giggled. She was in way too good of a mood.
"As always father. I wouldn't be where I am today without encouraging my daughter to stick up for herself. Also, I am her mother."
"When you were fourteen months old, you could barely talk, let alone fight."
Tessa rolled her eyes at the remark before scooping up Lauren and twirling her around.
"Tell grandpa who's coming home on Saturday, Monkey." she said using the toddler's nickname. Lauren giggled and scrunched her nose.
"Da Da!" she squealed.
"See, she'll be a genius...Because, well, her mother is just that amazing."
"Uh huh, why are you so, well, bubbly?" Tessa looked at her dad with disappointment. Had he forgotten the one thing she had been waiting twelve months for?
"Dad, who is coming on Saturday?"
"Derek,"
"That, Gunny, is why I am bubbly! And when has it become abnormal for me to run out into the snow! I've been doing that since I was three! Barefoot, no coat, no gloves. Just not a care in the damn world."
He rolled his eyes when she smiled. Her blue eyes were sparkling under neath the chandelier. Lauren's eyes were the same shade of sparkly blue.
"Do you remember the night in the town house, when mom threw the shoe at you?" Tessa asked smirking at the memory. Jenny giggled and looked at his face for his reaction. Jethro's eyes got wide at Tessa's question. She had only been ten when it had happened.
"Tess, let's not bring that story up...That is how he got the other scar."
"Because, he pissed of the FBI. And the fact I was just pissed at him anyways." Tessa laughed; Jethro glared at them both.
"And you just so happened to be wearing the pointiest shoe EVER?" Jenny smiled and nodded. Jethro walked away towards the family room with Evan, Ethan, and Rowan following behind him.
"So, how's school going?" Jenny asked walking towards the kitchen; Tessa followed her and sat herself on the island with Lauren, her legs dangling over the floor. Her long brown hair was settled over each of her shoulders; straightened. The sweatpants she was wearing covered her feet when she stood, dark lacquered nails were chipping slightly from wear.
"Good...When the said Junior year is the hardest, they didn't lie. It is the hardest. Honor's English 5-6 is difficult; Trig is hard, but I'm persevering."
"You've grown up, Tessa. I'm proud of you."
"Well thanks, Mom." she smiled.
"Gama!" Lauren said frustrated that Jenny wasn't paying any attention to her. She smiled at the toddler.
"I'm well aware you are here, Lauren." There was a knock at the door; Tessa handed Lauren to Jenny before going to answer it. When she opened the door she was shocked at the sight she saw; a tall, dark, handsome man, with his hair cut short, and chocolate orbs engaged at the sight in front of him. His ear piercings were gone and he looked more toned then before he left that prior December. He was home.
"Der-" she almost had finished her statement before he pulled her into a long, passionate kiss. His hands settled at her waist, her arms were looped tightly around his neck, pulling him down towards her. Derek picked her tiny frame up and twirled her around.
"I missed you so much, Tessa." he said kissing her again.
"I missed you too," A little girl with bouncing caramel brown locks came out of the kitchen, she saw her daddy and mommy hugging each other; she squealed and Derek set Tessa on the floor and the toddler rushed over to them.
"Ma ma!" Lauren squealed when Tessa picked her up. Derek reached his arms out and took the child from her mother.
"Lauren, who's that?" Tessa cooed at her; she hid her face in Derek's neck in embarrassment.
"It's 'addy!" she said finally looking between both her parents. Derek laughed and gave her a kiss.
"So you're home for Christmas, which is in five days."
"Yeah, I hope your parents don't mind if I crash here, I got leave for two weeks because I haven't gotten to be home long enough."
"Mom and dad won't mind," she smiled and looked into his chocolate orbs; it was going to be okay for now.
"Are you wearing the ring?"
"I'm wearing the ring." Derek leaned down and brushed his lips against hers; Lauren gasped in protest at her parents showing affection for each other.
"Monkey, mommy and daddy haven't seen each other in twelve months, cut us some slack." Tessa laughed taking the toddler from Derek. Jenny came out of the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about.
"The Marine is home," she smiled giving Derek a hug.
"Good to be home," he said when she let him go.
"Well, come in, take off your coat, stay awhile, Jethro is up stairs, and Lauren is happy to see you." Jenny smiled going back into the kitchen. Rowan, Ethan, and Evan came running down the stairs after hearing their mothers voice.
"Derek!" all three chorused and tackled him to the cold stone floor.
"Be careful!" Tessa laughed over the giggles and grunt. Lauren looked up at the ceiling and then at the Christmas tree.
"Well, baby girl, I guess daddy gets to be home for Christmas after all." Tess blew a raspberry on the little girls cheek; Lauren giggled in response to her mother's actions. Derek stood up watching two of his favorite people giggle and twirl around the room.
Later that night, her parents had gone to sleep, and so did all the kids, Tessa and Derek were up late down stairs sipping on coffee talking about what the past year had brought them.
"You dad didn't look like he was gonna kill me this time," Tessa chuckled pouring herself another cup of coffee.
"I think he's just happy we've made it like we have. I know you're being deployed. Heard you talking to daddy earlier."
"Baby,"
"Derek, I thought for awhile, you'd be here, in D.C."
"Babe, it's the Marines, I'd try and stay if I could, but it's orders. I promise I'll write letters, and you focus on graduating. And I found these in your purse." He held up a back of cigarettes and her pink lighter.
"Yeah, big deal. I have cigarettes. Nothing new."
"I thought you quit."
"I did, then I stopped breastfeeding and finals came, it was a stress reliever," She grabbed the pack and her lighter from her, shoving them in her bra. He had to admit, she looked sexy with the moonlight filtering in the curtains. A clear, but cold night in D.C.
Tessa took a sip of her coffee and watched him. A year. An entire year since she kissed him or touched him. The things she loved when they were together. She started thinking about the football game in September before Lauren was born.
She was huge, it was a home game, Derek was the star quarterback. She squeezed into his away jersey, while she got painted in purple and white. Her tight denim short paired with with her converse took away from the pregnancy. Dillyn made fun of her for waddling around the stadium.
"Babe, what are you thinking about?" Derek asked; Tessa blinked rapidly snapping out of her thoughts.
"The last football game I ever went to pregnant with Lauren. Right before I was due."
"Dillyn used to quack at you," he chuckled when she smacked him playfully.
"I was thinking, maybe we can take Lauren out, just the three of us, as a family again. Before you leave and what not." He walked around the island, set his cup down and kissed the top of her head.
"I'd like that very much." She finished her coffee looking down at her right hand. The ring wasn't on her left, but her right. It was a ring he had gotten for her seventeenth birthday. It was simple, just a silver band with the engraving "Love you always" on it. Something she treasured.
Slipping on her Crocs she went out the front door with her old American Eagle jacket on; she lit up a cigarette and took a long, smooth drag. Derek came outside behind her and wrapped his arms firmly around her waist, watching the end of the cigarette light up every time Tessa took a puff.
"You know smoking makes you look older," he whispered into her hair. Tessa chuckled finishing her cigarette.
"It's the wrinkles, which is why babe, they invented this thing called botox. And I'm only seventeen."
"You have this all planned out, don't you?" Tessa smiled and nodded in response, going back inside and to her bathroom. She brushed her teeth and put her retainer in before noticing Derek was sleeping on her floor.
"Babe, my bed." she said pulling on pajamas and putting her back to brunette hair.
"No. I'll sleep here. Way more comfortable then my bed in San Diego. Don't worry about me."
"Okay, fine," Underneath her pink and brown comforter she got the most peaceful sleep she had since he left. Mostly the fact that he was safe and okay.
Christmas passed by amazingly well, Lauren was everywhere with Derek, and when they went out as a family, it didn't make Tessa feel awkward that she didn't have a guy with her.
When the new year rolled around, Derek had to go back to the base, and Tessa was getting ready to go back to work and school. Jenny helped her get Lauren ready in the mornings and send them off for daycare and school.
Registration for senior year was coming, and it was down to the last chance to get credits in.
"Mom, do you think I should take Calc next year?" Tessa questioned going over the forms. She was going through the graduation requirements and the forms for scholarships for cosmetology schools in D.C. while other job applications.
"If you want to take four years of math you can, you've been honors math throughout your high school career, so do you what you want," she replied. Gibbs was at work, and the kids were asleep for the night. Tessa sighed and slipped her glasses off, resting her head on the island.
"Why is picking for senior year, so hard?"
"Because, you can get out early."
"Which I really want that, and it'd be practical for me with Lauren. I already am taking AP US History, and Chorus. But I need three other classes."
"Well, take another math class, and finish taking French, and then take a study hall. That'll give you the credits you need to graduate, and they'll be a lot of classes you already know." Tessa grinned at her mother before filling everything out, and signing the request for early release form, and handing them to her mother.
Jenny signed proudly on everything and watched Tessa start filling out job applications.
"I thought you liked working at Buckle?"
"I do, Ma, just, I to find another job. A beauty place is hiring, and I'm filling out an application for that, because while going to cosmetology school, I can get more experience there."
"You've turned out well Tess, just took a little push and time sacrifice to get there." she smiled at the teenager. Tessa got up from her spot and hugged Jenny tightly. Mumbling "I love you" into Jenny's shirt.
"Love you too, Tess." she replied kissing the top of the brunette's hair.
In almost a little over a year, Tessa would be graduating, and moving out. While going to school to be a cosmetologist. Something she had thought long and hard about; she would be on her own, raising a daughter and working to make ends meet.
How she made it this far, was beyond her. But she made it. And she was going to continue to make it for her daughter.
With senior year around the corner and Derek being deployed, could they make it?
A/N: And there's a new chapter. Sorry it took so long! Mega busy...Love you guys and please review!