The next couple of days passed without incident, the family taking it easy, and Jethro's father heading back to Stillwater that Sunday afternoon. Mike stayed in D.C for a few more days before heading back to his place down in Baja.
And the month or so after Long's trial was a bit of an adjustment period in and of itself for Jethro. Maddie's birthday was on the fifth of February, so he and Shannon got her a little gift for her birthday and had dinner with her the day prior. It was nice, but the rest of the time Jethro had this feeling that he couldn't quite shake. On the one hand, Benson Long was behind bars. Yet, on the other hand, Jethro still felt like he was sitting and waiting for the other shoe to drop. A part of Jethro was still a bit concerned about retaliation against them for putting Long away. After almost two weeks, though, without any incident, Jethro started to actually relax and he and Shannon fell back into their usual routine, having fully adjusted to Kelly living in Georgetown.
They'd ended up having Tobias and his daughter Emily over a couple of times, and the nine-year-old girl definitely had Shannon wrapped around her little finger; something that Emily had quickly done to Jethro several years earlier. The young lady was sassy, witty, and definitely kept them both on their toes when she was over.
They'd also went out for dinner with the Vances, more than once, in fact. Shannon and Jackie had immediately clicked with one another, and Jethro wasn't sure whether to be thrilled or horrified that two rather fiery women got along.
Work had been a bit calmer as well, Jethro actually getting home in time for dinner most nights. That second Monday in March, though, things picked right back up.
It had been a rather slow day, the team following on a couple of leads for a cold case, but that afternoon Jethro had to send both DiNozzo and Ziva to Paris in order to escort a key witness of theirs, Nora Williams, back to the U.S to testify against Bolinger - her employer - and a major government contractor. Ray Bolinger, who was the head of the company, was being accused of extorting millions of dollars from the Navy, billing the Navy for unnecessary repairs needed on multiple naval ships.
While his two agents were flying to France, Jethro headed home to Arlington to spend some time with Shannon and work on the bookshelf that he was currently building for his lovely bookworm of a wife.
Tuesday, he got up, headed to work, and got a message from Ziva and DiNozzo saying that their flight had been delayed. Jethro simply shook his head, knowing that the pair were lying and wanted to do some sightseeing. He wasn't born yesterday.
Of course, that morning it turned from a simple escort detail to his team working a full-fleshed protective detail when he got a call from dispatch about a dead body.
A Marine, Sergeant Mark Parsons, a member of Special Ops Command, had turned up dead in D.C. with all of Nora Williams' personal and flight info. To all appearances, a hitman killed by a hitman.
This resulted in simultaneous mysteries on the plane and back in Washington with Ziva and DiNozzo on high alert for suspicious passengers and Jethro and McGee working on the Marine's death locally.
The Marine's phone records eventually led Jethro to a D.C. Madam, Holly Snow, who, rather than merely matching 'buyers and sellers' for sex was also doing the same for other 'services' - contract killings.
Snow tried to finagle a plea deal from him and then stonewalled Jethro's attempts to get her bank records, leaving DiNozzo and Ziva on their own for the time being. He did, however, finally get the financial information on who collected the money for the Marine's hit; a female flight attendant.
"Deal's done," he said, tossing the file gently down on the table in-front of Holly Snow. "United States attorney approved."
She looked at him with a seductive smile. "You like it rough, don't you?"
"Well," he replied with a flirtatious smile of his own, deciding to momentarily play the woman's game, "there's a time and a place for everything, Holly."
"I thought so," Holly said, leaning towards Jethro in her seat. "I'm usually pretty good at reading people. What they respond to."
He gave a half-nod in response.
"Role-play?" she inquired.
"No," he replied.
"Hmm," she said, "too bad."
"Want to help out the next victim?" Jethro said, dropping the pretence. "'Cause if she dies... this deal goes away. And we add another charge. Murder." He then gave her a pointed look. "I can read people, too." He took a pen out of his pocket and passed it to the woman. "Account number."
The deal had initially been shot down by the Secretary of the Navy, but after shaking a few branches Jethro managed to get the deal pushed through and, thanks to that little chat, Holly Snow finally gave him the information that he needed.
That just left who actually paid the flight attendant.
"Excuse me," Bolinger said as Jethro and McGee walked into the man's office, "I'm in the middle of a conference call. I already talked to the Secretary of the Navy. It seems there's some misunderstanding in this investigation."
"Investigation's over," Jethro said, grabbing the man's office phone and hanging it up. "You're under arrest. Put your hands behind your back."
"For what?!" the man exclaimed.
"Hiring someone to kill Nora Williams," McGee said. "Money was transferred from this company. You're the only one with access to it."
Bolinger eyed them. "I never hired anyone... I thought this was about fraud."
"That's why you needed Nora dead," he said.
"She was the only other person with access to the account," McGee added.
"Well, arrest her then!" Bolinger commented. "Look, you can check the log." The man glanced between Jethro and McGee. "I never transferred any money."
McGee gave him a questioning look. "So, what, Nora put a hit on herself?"
Jethro didn't think that was the case. Far from it. Especially after Ducky informed him that DiNozzo had called needing some medical assistance for Williams. There had been a very real attempt on her life.
Her fiancé though worked for Bolinger and was currently in D.C.
Jethro's suspicions were immediately confirmed when he turned around and glanced over the employees who were all waiting just outside the office door as this all went down. Daniel Sturgis was gone.
Jethro and McGee immediately ran down to the staff parking deck in the hopes of catching him before he left.
They made it just in the nick of time, as Sturgis was walking to his car.
"Hey, Daniel! Stop!" he called out.
Sturgis doesn't have the sense to listen, so Jethro and McGee pulled out their weapons as the man jumped in his car and peeled off.
The man apparently didn't have the good sense to stop and not make things worse, so they opened fire. Things went sideways quickly and Jethro ended up having to push a frozen Timothy McGee out of the way of the car and got thrown up onto and over the hood of Sturgis' car before it crashed into another black car a couple of feet away and finally came to a stop.
"Ow!" he groaned softly, laying on the ground beside the car.
He heard McGee approach the driver's side door. "Boss, I'm gonna call an ambulance. Boss? Boss, are you okay?"
Jethro managed to force himself up and onto his feet, his shoulder, in particular, killing him. He wasn't a stranger to physical pain though and was soon on his feet.
"Did you, uh... Did you hit your shoulder?" his agent asked.
Jethro eyed the younger agent incredulously. "No. The car did, McGee." Pissed off, he kicked the side of the car and managed to grab his handcuffs from his pocket with his good arm and toss them over to McGee. "Cuff him."
They waited for the ambulance to get there and made sure Sturgis was taken care of. The paramedics wanted to check him out, but Jethro refused, preferring to see Ducky once he got back to the Navy Yard.
Once they were done on scene, McGee drove them back to NCIS and a rather irritable Jethro made his way down to autopsy where his friend had already been filled in and was waiting for him.
The medical examiner quickly ascertained that Jethro had not only fractured the clavicle in his right shoulder but had also given himself a labral tear there. He also had several bruised ribs from the impact of the car. Ducky didn't think that any were broken, luckily. Ducky had also been slightly concerned, given Jethro's medical history, about a concussion as well, but it didn't take all that long for the man to check him out and be satisfied that Jethro was alert and okay.
Jethro did get a long lecture about how he should have gone to the hospital, though. Not for the first time and no doubt not for the last.
Still, Jethro put up with the lecture from the other man and accepted the black sling that Jethro was supposed to have his arm in for the next six weeks. He really didn't like it. He wanted his arm free in case he needed to use it.
Ducky eyed him. "Use the sling, Jethro!"
Jethro just sighed and then downed a couple of Tylenol for the pain before making his way back up to the squad room.
"Yeah," Jethro heard McGee say as he got off the elevator, "well, Nora's testimony was going to expose him, too. Beringer stole from the Navy." The younger man shrugged his shoulders. "Daniel stole from Beringer. How did she take it, by the way?"
"Pretty hard," DiNozzo said, "even for her."
"Rule #12," he quipped as he approached the front row of desks.
"Hey, Boss!" McGee said, still feeling a bit guilty about Jethro needing to push him out of the way of the car. "How's the shoulder?"
He gave McGee a look. That's a rather dumb question there, Tim.
"Boy, McGee!" DiNozzo said. "When you blow it, you blow it big."
"DiNozzo, it was an accident!" Jethro stated, making his way over to the stairs. He had to debrief with the director and the U.S ambassador in France. "MTAC, McGee."
"Yes, Boss!" the younger agent chirped, getting up and following him.
Thankfully, the meeting in MTAC didn't take long. He should've known that Vance wasn't going to let him go without a word, though. "Gibbs, a minute."
He turned around, McGee continuing out of the room. "Yes, Leon?"
"Dr. Mallard called me after you saw him," the director stated. "Desk duty for a few days might not be the worst idea."
He shot Vance an irritated look. "Leon, I'm fine."
The director eyed him. "Gibbs, as someone who is also married to a strong, intelligent woman, you may want to reconsider your stubbornness."
Jethro opened his mouth to retort but then quickly closed it. He really couldn't argue the point. Shannon was already going to have a field day about him getting hurt, let alone if she found out he was refusing to take it easy. "Fine," he muttered.
Vance smirked. "Good. Now go home, Agent Gibbs."
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, Director."
Walking back downstairs to the squad room, Jethro sent his entire team home for the night and was surprised when McGee and DiNozzo both offered to give him a hand.
Twenty minutes later, Jethro had been dropped off at home in his old pickup truck by McGee, DiNozzo then giving the younger agent a lift back to his own vehicle.
"So, I'll pick you up at 0630." McGee had offered to drive him to and from work while Jethro had the sling on his arm.
"Thanks," he said. "See you in the morning."
"Night, Boss!" DiNozzo called out to him before gesturing for McGee to get into the car so that they could get going as well.
Heading inside the house, he immediately spotted Shannon lounged out on the couch reading a book. His wife quickly closed it, put the novel down on the coffee table, and then walked over to him.
His wife didn't seem surprised in the slightest that he had come home hurt, and Jethro wasn't sure what to make of that. She gave Jethro a quick peck on the cheek and then gave him a look, gesturing to the sling. "So, how was work today?"
Damn it, someone told her. Jethro had a feeling he had a certain medical examiner to thank for that one. "Nothing, Babe. There was just a bit of a run-in with a guy that we were arresting this afternoon."
She gave a little scoff. "You mean a run-in with a car."
He tried to reassure her. "It's not a big deal, Shan, honestly."
"Uh-huh," she said. "So, you saw a doctor? Got checked out?"
"Yeah," Jethro replied without hesitation. Ducky was a doctor, after all. His wife did not need to know about the situation with the paramedics, though. "And like I said..."
His wife swiftly cut him off. "So, bruised ribs and multiple injuries to your shoulder is nothing, you stubborn Marine?! Not to mention the other internal injuries you COULD have, but you were TOO DAMN STUBBORN to go to the hospital to get checked for!"
Damn, she did know everything. "Shan, I'm -"
"Don't even go there!" his wife retorted. "You. Are. Not. Fine. F2. Your ribs are bruised. Take it easy for a few days. And as for that shoulder of yours... if Dr. Mallard says your arm stays in that sling, it stays in that sling. Until the man says otherwise. I'd like you to have two arms that actually work." Family Rule #2. Dad is not allowed to ignore his health or needlessly get himself hurt as he he is wont to do.
Jethro conceded with a small smile, past experience telling him that he wasn't about to win this particular argument with her. "I'll behave."
"You better," his wife said softly before pulling Jethro in for a kiss.
