The First Redhead
Author's Note: Thank you for your support and love of this story! I am so sorry for taking so long, but college is a lot of work especially when I am an Honors student who has two majors and two minors. I will try to update more regularly. Please let me know what you think. Enjoy
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or Major Crimes or any of the ideas and characters associated with either show.
The First Jack
Sharon was running around the house trying to find her shirt. She knew that Jethro had thrown it to the side last night but she can't remember which room they were in when that happened. She turned towards the bathroom and found the garment lying across the vanity along with Jethro's boxers. Picking them up, she walk into the bedroom and cleared her throat to catch the attention of the man in the closet.
"I was wondering where those went," Gibbs laughed as he took the underwear from Sharon and proceeded to pull her close to him.
"Mmmm, they were hiding in the bathroom along with my missing shirt," Sharon hummed as her eyebrow arched.
"I guess we both have impeccable aim," he smirked before placing a light kiss on her lips.
Sharon giggled and returned the kiss while just holding him in her arms. After hearing everything he had to say last night about her father's deal with him, she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Emily and Ricky had Jethro as a father. How would her life been different if she had Jethro there to support her and raise their kids? It would have been so much easier, but they probably would not have the jobs or positions that they have now. Gibbs pulled away and brought his hands to her face, holding her in place as he just looked at her.
"I cannot tell you how many nights I spent dreaming about your eyes," he said seriously, "I never forgot their color or how they seem to exude a sense of love. They are one of the many things I missed about you."
"I missed you too, Jethro," she said gently, "I can't tell you how much I missed watching movies at the drive-in while in the back of your truck, or snuggling close to each other during winter with a fire to keep us warm."
"I can think of a few other things that we did in front of a fire that I missed," he teased and watched as she blushed and ducked her head to avoid his gaze but he stopped her, "You are beautiful no matter what, and you shouldn't have to hide when you blush, Sharon."
Again, she blushed and rolled her eyes, trying to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let her.
"What did he do to you to make you think you cannot accept a compliment?" Gibbs asks softly.
"Jethro," she said softly, "It was nothing-"
"I know that he must have put you through hell," he interrupted, "because the Sharon that I knew would never shy away from a compliment like that. She may blush, but she would smile and say 'thank you' before offering up a compliment of her own."
"I just don't see why compliments are necessary," she tried to brush off.
"But that is why they are compliments," Gibbs offered, "I could tell you how beautiful you are everyday just because and you would know that I was doing it out of sincerity and not necessity."
"I'm just not used to it," she whispers, trying to avoid his eyes.
Gibbs looked at her and tried not to let the furry show in his eyes. He was tempted to go find Jack and teach him what pain feels like.
"Why aren't you used to it?" He asked, needing to hear her say it.
Sharon looked up at his and shook her head, "Because Jack never told me anything like that unless he wanted something, and my previous job did not offer a lot of praise either."
Gibbs leaned down to place a kiss to her forehead, "Well, I think your team loves you too much now, and I am not Jack."
"I know," she whispered and buried her head into his chest and just listened to his breathing and heartbeat.
Gibbs held her for a while, thinking about all of the missed time that could had been avoided if he had found her sooner. He found Shannon and she was a nice distraction for his heart that turned into love, and he thought that Sharon had found someone better than him. He thought everything would be fine and once he and Shannon had Kelly he honestly believed that he could forget his first love, but he never did. It's hard to let go of somebody who you still love, especially when you never wanted to say goodbye. His father never let him forget about his decision to join the Marines, but he also never let him forget the girl that was perfect in every way.
They broke apart to the sound of Rusty's voice calling from downstairs, "Gibbs! Sharon! Somebody is here."
Sharon and Gibbs jumped apart and raced down stairs afraid of who might be in the house with Rusty and what they could possibly want. As they cleared the last step and turned towards the living room and kitchen, Gibbs immediately recognized who this mystery person was and he realized that he forgot to tell Sharon and Rusty about his visit.
"You really should lock the doors if you are going to have visitors over, Leroy," Jackson Gibbs said as he smiled at his son.
Gibbs just smirked and walked towards his dad and gave him a hug, "How are you dad?"
"I am fine. The drive up was a trip, but I made it in one piece," he chuckled before looking at Sharon, "Sharon O'Dwyer? That has to be you. I would recognize those green eyes anywhere."
Sharon couldn't help the huge grin that came across her face as she looked at the elderly gentleman, "It's good to see you, Jack."
She walked towards him and hugged him as he placed a kiss to her temple.
"So who is the handsome young man in the corner?" Jack asked a broke away from the embrace.
"Oh!" Sharon blushed, "This is my son, Rusty. Rusty, this is Jethro's father, Jackson Gibbs."
Jack shook Rusty's hand, "It's nice to meet you, Rusty. How old are you?"
"It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Gibbs. I'm 19."
"You can call me Jackson or Jack if you want, son. Mr. Gibbs just makes me feel old," Jack laughed.
Rusty nodded a bit awkwardly and sensing this, Jack turned to Sharon and Gibbs and noticed that his son had his arm around her waist. They were not really paying attention to anything except each other.
"I see you two are getting along like you never said goodbye," he said smugly
"We always were great together," Sharon says happily.
"Which is why I never let Jethro forget it," Jackson chuckled as he watched his son look away.
Gibbs shook his head and placed a kiss to her forehead before heading into the kitchen to make some coffee. He knew that his father would probably want some, but he wasn't sure if he still had tea in the house for Sharon. He was searching through the cabinets when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, but we have to get going and drop Rusty off at the campus since he doesn't have his car," Sharon said softly.
"No problem, I will let my dad know and then give you guys a lift," he said, abandoning the coffee.
As Gibbs walked into the living room, he heard his dad and Rusty talking about him as a kid. Rusty looked shocked and amused to hear that the no nonsense man in front of him was an unruly teenager when it came to the local neighborhood boys.
"Leroy was quite protective of your foster mom," Jackson said, "I swear most of the fights he got into were because he wanted to impress her."
"I was protecting her," Gibbs interjected as he grabbed Sharon's coat and offered it to her.
"I guess your mistake was assuming that I needed protection," Sharon smirked as he just smiled down at her.
"Are you guys leaving?" Jackson asked.
"Yes, I am sorry, Jack," Sharon apologized as she grabbed her purse, "We have to drop Rusty off at school and then run by my place to get my car before I can go to work."
"Why don't you take the Jethro's car and Jethro can take the Challenger?" Jack pointed towards the keys sitting on the entry way table.
"The old yellow one? You got it all fixed up?" Sharon looked at Jackson in shock, "I thought you gave up on that thing after Jethro shipped off."
"I decided a few years later that ii had no reason to hold a grudge or be mad at my own son for becoming a Marine."
"Maybe I wanted to spend a little more time with her, dad," Jethro interjected as he finished putting on his jacket and headed towards the door.
"Well then, give Rusty the keys to a car," Jackson reasoned only to be met with a hurried "no" from his mother.
"I do not mind Rusty driving his car, but he will not be responsible for somebody else's car," she explained only to get a nod from Rusty.
"I understand," Jackson chuckled, "I did have to teach Leroy how to drive and that was not pleasant. You guys should get going then, and I will see you al later."
Both Rusty and Gibbs nodded, but Sharon seemed to hesitate before she spoke up.
"Why don't you come to work with me, Jack? It will be a little bit more entertaining than sitting here alone all day, and I think there are a few of my colleagues that you would get alone with."
"Alright!" he smiled and grabbed his jacket from off the back of the couch and joined then out the door.
Sharon wanted to hold Gibbs' hand only to realize that he was no longer beside her. She was about to ask Rusty if he had seen where he had gone, but the roaring of an engine answered her question. Gibbs pulled up in front of the house in the yellow Challenger that she remembered from their old garage. He got out with the keys in hand and walked up to meet her in the driveway.
"You look kinda sexy driving that thing," Sharon remarked, earning her a kiss from Gibbs as he winked.
"Yeah, but I am sure you are going to look twice as sexy driving it," he handed her the keys.
Sharon couldn't help the goofy grin that spread across her face as he dropped the keys into her open hand, "Really?"
He nodded and gave her a kiss on the forehead before moving out of the way and gesturing towards the car. Sharon did not run to the car, because she would never outright run for something as trivial as a car…although, this was not just any car, so she may have jogged over to it in a hurried manner.
"Dad, I will see you later," Gibbs gave his father a hug and then turned to Rusty, "It's up to you who you go with, but I understand if you want to go with your mom."
"Actually, I think I will go with you, Gibbs," he smiled before saying goodbye to his mother and joining Gibbs in the passenger seat.
"How much time do we have until your first class?" Gibbs asked as he watched in his rearview mirror as Sharon pulled away.
"I have about 45 minutes, but it's okay if I don't make it. I have an A in the class anyways," Rusty answered, doubtful that he would make it in time.
"We will make it," Gibbs said as he backed up onto the road, "but only if you promise not to tell your mother how fast we were going."
"Deal," Rusty laughed.
At the station…
Sharon pulled into the parking garage and quickly parked into her spot. As she got out with Jackson at her side, she heard somebody calling her from behind.
"Ma'am," Julio called out, "That is one hell of a car!"
Sharon chuckled, "Thanks, Julio. It is Agent Gibbs' car and he is letting me borrow it for today so that I could be on time and he could drop off Rusty."
"I bet it is a really smooth ride," he said as he stared at the classic 1970's Dodge Challenger R/T.
"It better after all the work I had to put into the damn thing," Jack said as he approached the young detective.
"You refurbished her, sir?" Julio looked at Jackson with a look of envy.
"Yep," Jack said as he patted the trunk, "She was quite the rust bucket before I started working on her."
"She looks pristine," he said before turning to offer his hand to the older man, "I'm Det. Julio Sanchez by the way."
"Jackson Gibbs," he introduced himself.
After the three of them made it up to the squad room to finish up any last minute paperwork, Jackson found himself to be quite at home talking to Provenza and Flynn. Since Flynn grew up on the East coast, he enjoyed talking to Jack about everything that he was missing in sunny California. Provenza enjoyed talking about everything else and surprisingly got his paperwork done before anyone else.
Sharon was in her office signing off on the reports that had been left for her when her phone rang.
"Captain Raydor," she answered while reading Provenza's chicken scratch.
"Shar-on," Jack's voice called over the phone, "A little birdy told me that Leroy Gibbs paid you a visit and you two hit it off."
Sharon rolled her eyes at her ex-husbands statement. She could tell that he was a bit drunk, which was troubling considering the early hour, but he was no longer her problem.
"Yes, he did stop by and help with a case and we did 'hit it off,' but that is none of business," she responded.
"What's wrong? Afraid he is going to realize that you turn out to be a cold bitch?"
"I really don't have time for you anymore," Sharon was about to hang up when she thought about something, "but I am sure that your petite copine would love to hear about it."
With that she hung up and thanked the forces that be for the French classes she had taken in high school and college. Her phone rang again and she answered it thinking it was Jack again.
"Jack, I do not care if you are stuck at some dive with a shark chasing after their money," she said caustically, "You can call somebody else or no one at all. I am no longer one of your options."
"I take it this is a bad time to be calling you to offer some lunch?" Gibbs voice cut through the silence on the other side of the line.
"Oh my gosh, Jethro!" Sharon blushed as she realized she should have read the caller ID, "I'm sorry. I would love lunch."
"Did Jack call you earlier?"
"Just before you actually," she sighed.
"Well, I bring some comfort food," he said just as her office door opened and he walked through carrying a bag of food.
Sharon beamed up at him as he placed it on her desk and began emptying the contents onto the desk. She got up from her chair and walked around behind him in order to wrap her arms around his waist.
"So," she peered around him, "what kind of comfort food are we talking about?"
He chuckled as he handed her her food, "I remember you used to love hot pastrami sandwiches with a little bit of mayo and mustard."
Sharon's mouth started watering instantly. She sat in one of her chairs and opened the sandwich wrapping only to hum as the smell enveloped her.
"I also remembered that you had a thing for real chocolate ice cream shakes," he handed her the frozen treat and watched as her eyes got wide.
"You really know how to cheer a girl up."
"I know," he smirk.
They ate together laughing and joking about old times and new, and Sharon told him all of the dirty details about Jack and his earlier phone call. She had finished before him, and was enjoying the sight of him eating his Sonoran dog.
"Is that good?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said through a mouth full, "do you want a bite?"
She nodded but instead of taking the sandwich from his hand, she stood up and sat on his lap. She took a bite of the hot dog and just grinned as he looked at her, surprised that she still did this.
This is how she would always steel food from him when they were alone and it would usually end with them making out like crazy. When the hot dog was gone, he found out that things really hadn't changed much when it came to Sharon O'Dwyer Raydor…and he loved that.
TBC…