Soundtrack of this chapter is Karla Bonoff, Standing right here next to me


Chapter 48: Joy's vows

Joy was staring fascinated at McGee as he gently kissed their joined hands, before getting the mike from his hands. She nervously wiped her sweaty palms in the skirt of her dress and looked up at him briefly, before looking down to the floor, embarrassed.

"I don't think I can top that." She said with a self mocking grin, making the congregation laugh.

She wiped her tears and took deep breaths with her eyes closed trying calm down.

Finally she opened her eyes and looked into his own.

"I wasn't looking for companionship as I've … never felt I was worthy of it. My seeking you out initially was more a matter of desperation than lust. Yet, the words on the song were perfectly accurate as I've come to realize that the things you had to offer were exactly the things that I've needed at that time at that moment, so I kept coming back for more and more and... one day, like yourself, I've come to realize that I couldn't function without you. I've had become addicted to you, to the sound of your voice, to your silent support or to your loud ramblings about this or that tech stuff, and I couldn't go a day without my daily fix."

She grinned as she played with the wedding band now on her finger.

"I've tried to rationalize it and compartmentalize it, put it into a nice tidy little shoe box and keep it under tight reins but... I was hurt, again, and all I could think was about you, how you were faring and how I could go back to you."

Both gulped as they remembered that dark time in their lives during her kidnapping by Jarod and the difficult times after that.

"I've realized then... that I needed you. That there were no reasons to deny it anymore and that, if I was to survive that hellhole, I would tell you how important you were to me right away."

"Since that day, there were no more half said truths or lies between us, because we realized that life was too short not to say I love you if you do. So I let you in my life in a way none had ever been before, opening my heart, my family and depositing my dreams and my future in your hands. I know I can do that because you will cherish them as if they were yours, and it makes me love you even more for that."

She grinned as she glanced at Hope, who made a sign with her hand to the guy in the video booth in the back. The lights were dimmed a little in the front of the church in preparation of a small video to be played with the data show.

"You are right, my family tends to communicate with music, but I've had a little help of my sister Hope to put together a small music video... that I would like to share with you guys."

She nodded to Johnny, who started playing, alongside the orchestra as a small video of their romance played while Joy sang softly.

The video started with a younger Joy sitting on her bed while separating things to put in two open suitcases lying open on the floor, shoes and clothes everywhere on sight. Here and there Maggie or Grace or even Temp would arrive and throw something to her, and she kept trying to shove as much as possible in the suitcases. She would look up and grin at whoever was recording it, who later on turned the camera to herself and started talking. It was Hope.

Love is like the wind,
Sometimes it blows your way,
And until now
It missed me somehow.

Timothy frowned as the image changed to the granulated scenes of a security camera, showing a younger Joy sitting on a counter of a bar, staring forlornly at a vodka shot. From the angle and the quality of the image, it must have been an old CCTV video. He was surprised, however, to see a younger version of himself entering the same bar, walking in firm steps to the counter and plopping himself beside her, before ordering a cuba livre.

The Joy in the video glanced at his back as soon as she heard his voice and closed her eyes.

But when I turned around
I saw you standing there.
The sound of your voice -
I had no choice.

Then came snapshots of their time at NCIS. Their first meeting at the bullpen, also shot from the surveillance cameras angle. Her sitting by his side talking about the case, he giving her a folder over the divisions in the bullpen or one of the moments when they rushed after Gibbs towards the elevators, their backpacks ready for action. Moments building theory with Ziva and Tony by their sides, as they explored this or that case.

I used to have a wish
One day I'd feel like this.
Now I know love exists
Cause it's standing right next to me.

Anniversaries, meetings, all moments that some video had been shot of both of them Hope put together, slowly telling their story.

Beneath the moon tonight
I see it in your eyes -
No more false starts,
No more broken hearts.

Their fights, their talks, sitting side by side in the bullpen staring at the plasma as they were trying to figure out some clue in a case.

I used to have a wish
One day I'd feel like this.
Now I know love exists
Cause it's standing right next to me.

One night they had stayed working late, so she fell asleep on her chair with her legs on top of her desk, an opened file over her chest.

He walked by to his desk from the bathroom and saw her asleep. After looking around for a moment and seeing no one around, he went to his own desk and took his jacket and covered her with it, taking the time to run a finger over her nose and chin before going back to his own desk and work.

Even in the dark,
Even when you're gone
I feel you in my heart.

The last part shows the team coming out of an elevator towards a big marble hall. McGee immediately recognizes it as the main hall of the Hoover building, and by Joy's clothing he knows that is the video of the day they were able to clear her old team's name. There is some talking before Hope disappears and every one looks confused as she runs somewhere no one can see on the video, but he remembers what comes next.

I used to have a wish
One day I'd feel like this.
Now I know love exists

He grins at the scene of himself being dragged down to a soul deep kiss, standing on top of the huge FBI seal on the floor, as his team mates and friends around them cheered. Gibbs in the video grinned while Tony and Ziva clapped with Ducky.

He sees his own arms going around his girlfriend's waist, deepening the kiss that he is dying for right now. He glances down at her as she ends the song.

Cause it's standing right next to me