The next several days seemed to fly by. It wasn't just work that was keeping him and his family busy either. Jethro, Shannon, and Kelly had to meet with the prosecution to prep for court, and before they knew it, it was the twenty-seventh.

The three of them were scheduled to testify that Wednesday as was Tobias Fornell and the man's number two who was set to testify on behalf of the team. Mike Franks was also being called to the stand as he'd led the murder investigation. And then there was Ducky, who would be testifying to his initial conversation with Tobias.

It was extremely strange for Jethro, knowing in just a few short hours he was going to be in court, something that he'd done hundreds of times over the years for work, but was going to be there as a victim this time.

Word of the case had also gotten out and the local press, many of the reporters having crossed paths with Jethro professionally over the years, were having a field day with it. Jethro wasn't surprised but was a bit irritated as they'd done so well keeping things fairly quiet; he'd always been private by nature. In any case, people kept weighing in and it quickly became irritating.

At least when this was finally over, the agents that had been guarding the house would be dismissed and things could go back to some sense of normal.

Jethro showered, shaved, threw on the suit he'd just bought for court, and tried to get Shannon and Kelly to eat something despite the nausea that they were all feeling. His daughter had spent the night. In any case. Jethro knew that it would only get worse if they didn't get any water or food in their systems.

"You ready?" Shannon asked, glancing between the father and daughter pair. She was struggling herself but was trying to push that aside for Kelly.

Kelly shrugged. "Don't really have a choice."

He gently squeezed his daughter's shoulders. "It'll be fine. Try not to worry too much."

The twenty-seven-year-old rolled her eyes. "Right."

He sighed and then gently pulled his daughter in for a hug. "Princess, we'll get through this, I promise. Together."

Shannon reiterated the point. "As a family."

The young woman nodded her head, giving both Jethro and Shannon a small smile. It was different for Kelly, in a way. At least they were adults when it had happened. Kelly was just a little girl whose life did a 180 in a manner of seconds. Losing her friends, her father, the rest of the family, the trauma from the crash... Hard enough as an adult, but even harder for a young child. "As a family."

Once they got to the courthouse, Jethro noted that several of the higher had decided to make an appearance after having helped to push through everything, which he did admittedly appreciated and he knew the girls did too. Maddie was there too, the young woman making it clear she wasn't about to miss it. Jethro's team had all called as well to offer his family their support but had been called away on a double homicide.

General Ellison turned to Lieutenant Commander Faith Coleman. She was a damn good lawyer and hadn't hesitated to take on their case when she'd learned about everything that had gone down. "Commander, don't mess this one up."

"I'd like to say the same thing," Mike chimed in. "This one doesn't walk."

The JAG prosecutor dipped her head slightly. "Let's remember why we're all here. Long manipulates. Don't take the bait or give credence to any assertion of a vendetta." All of them nodded, the majority more than a little familiar with how the system worked. "With that being said, I'm not concerned. This'll be Long's last dance."

As Jethro entered the courtroom with his family, he very quickly spotted Benson Long. He tensed instantly, a wave of anger washing over him as he saw the man, only taking a seat when Coleman gave him a gentle nudge, snapping him back to the present.

Coleman gave Jethro a pointed look. "Remember, Gibbs, don't take the bait. Now's not the time for your temper to rear its ugly head."

Jethro gave a curt nod, not trusting himself to speak. He couldn't even argue the point because he did have a temper, he was angry, and he knew that his lashing out would seriously damage their chances of getting Long put away.

As the court proceedings finally started, Jethro squeezed his wife's hand and tried to focus on what was going on and being said a mere few feet away from him.

"Mr. Long is a man who has much," Commander Coleman said. "A beautiful home, a cousin that he himself professes a closeness with, a group of friends, a business, as well as billions of dollars to his name. And agree with his unorthodox methods or not, Mr. Long, the defendant in this case, has much. And yet, it wasn't enough." The lawyer gestured vaguely as she spoke. "You will learn over the course of this trial that Benson Long simply does and takes what he wants. He took what he wanted on February 14, 1991, when he killed Sergeant Nicholas Tanner and again a week and a half later when he ordered one of his drug dealers to kill a mother and her young child simply because he didn't want to face the consequences of his actions while the father was overseas honourably serving for our country." Shannon squeezed Jethro's hand hard. "Over the course of this trial, you will hear from the several individuals and you will see just what this defendant took. You're going to hear how the defendant has continuously put himself above the law and tore a family apart." The commander then glanced at all the members of the jury panel. "It wasn't enough for Mr. Long to have all that he did; instead he had to repeatedly take from someone else. We simply cannot condone this behaviour. Mr. Long must be held accountable for his actions." There was a calculated pause before Commander Coleman finally moved to take her seat. "Thank you."

Jethro kept glancing over towards Long, struggling to push down the intense anger he was feeling, and by the time he was actually able to properly focus, he'd missed most of the defence's opening statement. Not that there was anything said that he remotely wanted to hear; it was just lies on top of even more lies. What Jethro did catch during the defence's opening statement pissed him off enough as it was.

It was going to be a very, very long day.