The rest of Saturday went well, but if they were hoping that the attention surrounding them would go away, they were mistaken. Small towns. Everyone there was so nosy. That had always gotten on Jethro's nerves, him being as private as he was.

Dinner had been nice, though, and all four of them had really enjoyed sitting around and playing board games as a family, his father asking tons of questions and sharing some stories of his own, before all of them slowly begun to disperse, calling it a night.

Not that he and Shannon went to sleep right away by any means. They stayed up, chatting quietly, much later than they'd intended.

Jethro could easily lose time when chatting with Shannon, and couldn't bring himself to regret a second of it. Shannon had been his best friend well before they started dating and that hadn't changed after they started dating - even when he was acting like a complete and utter fool.

In 1980 he'd been scared and, about to ship out to Sniper School, had broken up with Shannon, one of the stupidest choices he had ever made.

Ducky, funnily enough, had convinced him not to push Shannon away after he'd broke it off with her, so Jethro had ended up at a D.C payphone, just hoping that she would be willing to hear him out.

She answered on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me. Don't hang up." For a moment, Jethro was concerned that she had done exactly that. "Shannon? Are you there?"

"What do you want?" she demanded, clearly upset with him. Shannon had a pretty good reason, though. He'd done that to himself.

"I, uh," he stuttered. "I only have a few days before I ship out."

"And your point?"

"Uh, I've been doing some thinking," he told her. "Uh, a lot of thinking. And I'd like to ask you a question before I leave."

"What kind of question?"

"The kind that a gentleman doesn't ask over the phone," he said, echoing Ducky's earlier words in his own way. "I'll see you in five hours." With that, he'd gotten on the bus to Stillwater and proposed to the love of his life.

She'd taken him back. Blessedly and unexpectedly, she'd not only taken him back but agreed to marry him. And then, two amazing yet rather hectic years later, the couple had their daughter Kelly, who completed their little family.

it was great not just having his wife back but his best friend. Still, he had yet to shake the feeling that he'd wake up and find out this was all some dream.

The next day, they woke up, had breakfast, packed some stuff up, and headed out to Stillwater Covered Bridge to show Kelly around the area. It was rather nice out too so it seemed even more of a shame for them to just stay inside.

The area was beautiful and it hadn't been all that long - two years - since the bridge had actually been restored, which meant it was in great condition as well.

They had a picnic there, and after lunch, the family walked around some more, all of them sharing various stories of theirs from over the years with Kelly.

His father had needed to head back to the store to deal with something, which they had known the man would have to beforehand, but the three of them decided to stay downtown, walking around and showing Kelly different places.

The three of them were walking back onto Wesley Street, making their way towards the General Store as they chatted, when the trio ran into the last person that Jethro wanted to at the moment. His old buddy, as his father called him, Chuck Winslow. The man was out with his daughter and six-year-old grandson.

Yes, Jethro'd more or less buried the hatchet with Chuck and the sheriff, Ed Gantry, but they were never going to be friends, which he was perfectly content with.

"Chuck," he said, trying to keep his tone light.

"Leroy," the man replied in kind. "I heard you were in town." The man's gaze flickered between Kelly and Shannon before landing back on Jethro. "You have a knack for raising the dead, it would seem. Bit of a shock when we heard the news. Of course, everyone's thrilled that witness protection worked."

"Thank God for that," Shannon said, gently pulling Jethro closer to her side.

Jethro glanced at his daughter and then back to Chuck. "Kelly, this is Chuck Winslow. He's a former schoolmate of ours." He gestured to the other two individuals. "And this is his daughter Emily and her son, Chris Kingston."

"Nice to meet you both," Kelly and Shannon said, shaking their hands.

"Lovely to meet you as well," Emily replied.

"Good to see you again." Jethro gave both Emily and Chris a warm smile as he spoke, trying hard to play nice. Jethro really wasn't in the mood for a sparring match with the other man. "Hope you're all doing well?"

"We are," Emily said, returning the smile.

"So," Chuck said, "what brings you back to Stillwater?"

"Visiting my father-in-law for a couple of days," Shannon said matter-of-factly.

"Well," Chuck said, "enjoy your visit. We've actually got to go. Promised this big guy -" The man ruffled his grandson's hair. "- some ice cream."

"Have fun," Shannon said as Chuck and his family took their leave.

Jethro just watched as the family headed towards Hall's Ice Cream.

Once the Winslows were safely out of earshot, Shannon turned to face him. "Well, that went better than I thought it would."

"Not his biggest fan?" Kelly inquired without missing a beat.

He eyed his daughter but didn't comment.

"It's a long story," Shannon informed their daughter.

Kelly looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.

"A story for another time," he added, not really wanting to get into it at the moment.

Meeting back up with his father, they grabbed some coffee, gave his father a bit of a hand around the store, and packed up their things.

He and his father were alone for a few minutes, and his father wasted no time in opting for a serious conversation.

"We haven't really had a chance to talk," his father said, taking advantage of the momentary privacy. "How are you dealing with everything?"

"I'm fine," he said.

His father raised an eyebrow. "Leroy."

He sighed. "What do you want me to say, Dad?"

"For starters," his father said, "answer the question."

He took a deep breath. "Honestly, I wake up every morning scared that I'll open my eyes and they won't be there."

The Gibbs patriarch gave a curt nod. "It's not a dream, Son."

"I know," he stated, "but..." Jethro played with his face. "Ever since the girls died, I... You have no idea how many times I'd dream of them and wake up and..." He shook his head, not trusting his voice at the moment. Waking up in the morning, he wouldn't remember that they were gone at first. There'd be a few seconds of blissful ignorance and then all of it would come back to him, hitting him like a ton of bricks.

His father pulled him into a hug, not saying anything but just being there. Jethro resisted for a brief moment before melting into his father's embrace.

It wasn't an exceptionally long drive, but Jethro and Kelly both worked the following morning; his daughter starting her new job. Then there was a chance that Shannon was going to have to as well. They didn't know if she was going to have to yet or not but, regardless, they needed to be home by a decent hour.

They were already discussing his father coming and staying at their place for a few days in August, the week of Kelly's birthday, and would try and get out to Stillwater before then if they could between all of their jobs.

As they finished saying their goodbyes and hopped into the car, Jethro looked at his daughter. "I'm picking the music this time."

Kelly rolled her eyes dramatically. "Fine."

Shannon shook her head as father and daughter got into the car. "Wish me luck."

Jethro's father chuckled. "Luck."