Work certainly didn't slow for Jethro in the coming week and Thanksgiving didn't help matters in that regard. He was very busy and the acting NCIS director was beyond happy when that Friday evening came around and he was able to head out for dinner with both his girls and Michael.

The much younger Marine always made sure to hang out with Kelly when on weekend liberty as well as maintained as much contact with her as possible throughout the workweek.

Kelly and Michael had been seeing each other for just over eight months, and, despite the fact that the pair didn't get to see each other as much as they'd probably like, the relationship had gotten rather serious.

Jethro wasn't really sure how he felt about that exactly but was just glad that the boy to all appearances was quite respectful and treated Kelly well. Not that Jethro thought anyone was good enough for his baby girl, but still, that was something.

Saturday, Jethro was largely left to his own devices. An hour-and-a-half after they got out of bed, Shannon left for a bit of a girls' day with Stacy.

"Don't get into too much trouble today," his wife said, clearly wanting to give him a bit of a hard time before she kissed him goodbye.

"You ruin all my fun," he deadpanned.

She chuckled. "Love you too, Trouble."

"Go," he said, giving her another kiss. "Have fun."

After Shannon headed out, Jethro went to the hardware store, got some supplies that he needed, and spent most of the morning down in the basement doing some woodwork. Jethro's attention was pulled away from his latest carpentry project, however, when someone clearly decided to drop in.

He was only slightly surprised when Michael, looking a little nervous, appeared at the top of the stairs. He'd half expected to be pulled aside the prior night at some point if he was being honest with himself.

The younger Marine paused as if to reconsider his choice, before starting to make his way resolutely down the stairs. "Hi, Sir. Uh… Can we talk?"

Jethro gave the younger man a curt nod. "About what?" He may have expected this conversation was coming, but he wasn't about to make it easy for the boy.

"It's uh," Michael said, "It's about Kelly, actually."

He raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"Well," Michael said. "You know we… we've been dating for a while now."

Jethro nodded, heading towards the bottle of bourbon that he had off to the side, fully intending to pour himself a glass. "Just over eight months."

"Yeah well," Michael said, the young Marine running an uncertain hand through his hair before continuing. "So, I just… She's amazing and…"

"Mike," he said bluntly, "spit it out."

The younger man took a deep breath. "I want to ask her to marry me."

Silence filled the room as Jethro finished pouring himself a drink and took a slow sip, leaving Michael standing there for a moment as a million things ran through his head. Walking over to where his daughter's old lunchbox-turned-time-capsule was, Jethro grabbed it and opened it up. "You know," he said, "Kel buried this in the backyard with Maddie when she was eight."

"Sounds like something she'd do," Michael said with a smile. "What's in it, Sir?"

Jethro started rummaging through the objects, deciding to show them to the younger man. "This is a hand drawing from kindergarten that she and Maddie made." He pulled out another item. A toy that Jethro had actually made for her by hand. It had stayed on her sticker-covered dresser for the longest time. "This horse toy was painted by my daughter when she was six."

Michael nodded. "That's really cool."

"This," he said, pulling another item out of the lunchbox, "is a bracelet Kelly made in the second grade. She and Maddie exchanged these beaded bracelets just in case her father or myself got stationed elsewhere and they got separated." Now Jethro could clearly see understanding dawn on the younger man's face of what exactly he was doing. Good. He wanted his message to get through. He pulled out another object. "This is a fortune teller," he said. "Kel and Maddie wrote the names of boys from school they liked in it. They would play the game to find out which one they would marry." Jethro swallowed the lump in his throat as he pulled out another item. "This is the yellow ribbon that was handed out at Kelly's school to support the kids whose parents were being sent overseas to Kuwait." He smiled slightly. "This," he said, "is one of her Polly Pocket Toys. The My Little Pony was her favourite, so she never put it in here." He smirked. "And there's another one."

Michael grinned. "Cute."

He smiled more warmly as he pulled out a photograph. "This is her and Maddie one summer break. Shannon took it while the girls were on the front porch here."

"She looks so happy," Michael commented.

"We were," he agreed. He then took out a picture his daughter had made of the family. Kelly was in the middle, holding the hands of her parents who were on either side. For years, Jethro's workshop walls were covered with drawings like this one. "Kelly painted this when she was five." He pulled out another drawing of Kelly and Maddie with writing on the top. The pair would often spend their afternoons' colouring together. "Maddie drew this Best Buddies drawing for Kelly in '91."

Michael dipped his head slightly, watching Jethro intently.

He pulled out yet another item. The child-sized dog tags that Jethro had gotten his daughter as a gift before she was even in Kindergarten. They were labelled 'Kelly' and 'Daddy.' She'd loved them. "I got these for Kelly when she was four. She wore 'em for years, rarely taking 'em off."

Michael smiled. "She was proud of her father."

He gave a little hum in reply before pulling out a letter Kelly had written to him before his deployment to Kuwait. He passed it over to Michael to read.

Dear Daddy,

I love you so much. I buried this so we could open it together when I get older. I miss you.

Love, Kelly ❤️

"Wow," Michael said, the emotion in his voice audible as he passed the letter back to Jethro a short moment later.

He gently placed his daughter's letter back into the old, red My Little Pony lunchbox. Closing it gently, Jethro turned to face his daughter's boyfriend again.

"She's something special," the younger man continued.

He nodded, a lump in his throat yet again. "That she is."

"She has a heart of gold," Michael said.

Jethro had almost no hesitation in giving the young man his blessing. Almost. She was still his only child, his little girl. It didn't matter to him that she was twenty-eight now, Jethro would never look at her and not see the little girl he'd had tea parties with and tucked into bed all those nights. "It's her choice," he stated after a moment. "If Kelly says yes, then ya have my blessing, Mike." The young man noticeably relaxed at that. "But if you hurt her, Son, I'll shoot ya."

"I'd expect nothing less, Sir!" the younger man said with a cheeky smile before turning and starting to make his way back towards the stairs.

"Oh," he said, "and one last thing." Michael turned to face him. "Good luck."

Michael dipped his head slightly. "Thank you, Sir."

Once the younger man was gone, Jethro pulled out the photo of a seven-year-old Kelly standing with Maddie on the front porch again. Jethro just looked at the photograph for a long moment, his mind running a mile a minute.

Man time flew by. Still, Jethro was beyond glad he'd get to be there for this particular chapter of his daughter's life. When Michael finally popped the question, Jethro had no doubt whatsoever that his daughter was going to say yes.

How had his daughter grown up so damn fast? Jethro could still remember holding her as a newborn for the first time after he'd finally come home from deployment.

Ah, well, looked like his family was about to get bigger.