Things had been relatively quiet considering the situation. However, as often happened in a live-fire zone, things went from calm to chaotic within mere seconds.

"Corpsman!" he screamed desperately, quickly kneeling down beside his company XO. They'd only been downrange for two weeks and already the unit had taken a few hits and it looked as though they were about to take yet another one. "Hold on, Lieutenant Cameron! You've got to hold on!"

"I can't, Gunny." The severely injured man's gaze jumped to their commanding officer. "Oh, Colonel, I don't understand…"

Holding onto the man, Jethro could do nothing but watch with guilt as his commanding officer, Captain Ryan, quickly started to visibly crumble and Lieutenant Cameron bled out in his arms after trying to save his life.

Waking up in a cold sweat, his heart was frantically beating in his chest as the combat veteran vividly remembered the aftermath of one of several rather vicious firefights he was in while overseas during Desert Storm.

This wasn't the first time that Jethro had that nightmare and no doubt wouldn't be the last time. Unfortunately. He still thought of his former company XO, despite how long ago that particular incident had occurred. Regardless, it remained unsettling.

Carefully sitting up in bed so as to not wake his wife, Jethro rubbed his head and eyes in an attempt to wake himself up some. The veteran then checked the time before he ran through his options given the early hour.

Deciding that he wasn't going to get much more sleep anyway, Jethro, still half asleep, got out of bed, threw his bathrobe on, and headed downstairs.

Shortly after 0700, Jethro heard the telltale sign of Shannon walking around upstairs, getting ready to start her day. Finishing off his third cup of joe, Jethro stood up and made his way over to the counter, throwing a fresh pot of coffee on.

"You were up early," she said with a note or slight concern.

"Yeah," he said, "just couldn't sleep."

She gave a small nod before leaning in and kissing Jethro. When they parted, his wife eyed him. "Everything okay?

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Yeah, Shan, I'm fine."

She gave him a knowing look having dealt with more than a couple of his nightmares over the time they'd been together. "Alright, well, if you wanna talk."

Jethro took a sip of his coffee and then glanced back up at his wife. "I know." He gave Shannon a much warmer smile. "Less than a month and you're on winter break."

"Oh," she said with a cheeky grin, "I'm looking forward to it."

He raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Gee, I'm shocked."

"Smart-aleck," she replied in jest. "Have you eaten?"

"Not yet," he said. "Anything specific you want?"

"French toast?" she suggested.

He nodded his head. "Yeah. Fine by me."

Their morning was rather calm, the couple taking Bailey for a short walk before going back home and pulling out a deck of cards. It was a bit chillier out so neither he nor his wife particularly wanted to be outside for any real length of time.

The pair took most of the morning pretty easy, although they did have to go run a few errands and get some grocery shopping and such done. Especially considering the fact that Kelly had texted them and asked if they were free for dinner.

His wife shot him a knowing look after showing him the text that she'd got from their daughter. "$10 says you know why they want to have dinner."

He raised an eyebrow. "That's a fool's bet, Shan."

She rolled her eyes. "Are you going to tell me?"

"Nah," he said with a cheeky grin. "What would the fun in that be?"

The shopping hadn't taken long at all, thankfully. Unfortunately, however, Jethro hadn't expected the little shopping excursion to involve a run-in with somebody who was very clearly one of Shannon's exes.

Her ex-husband immediately stopped in his tracks after spotting them. "Shannon," the man questioned not unkindly, "what are you doing in D.C?"

"Uh, Waylon, I actually live here and have done for some time now," she replied with an awkward smile. Jethro pulled Shannon into a one-armed hug and she looked up at him with a warmer smile. Jethro knew exactly who the guy was as soon as she'd said the name; Shannon's first ex-husband, Waylon Barnes. "With my husband, actually."

Waylon turned to face him and extended his hand to him. "And you are?"

"Jethro Gibbs," he said easily, shaking the man's hand firmly, "the husband."

"Ah," Waylon said, "a pleasure."

He just gave a curt nod in response, deciding that his comment was better left unsaid. Wouldn't be the first time his mouth got him in trouble and he wasn't in the mood to deal with a scene. The situation was awkward enough for all concerned and the man hadn't actually done anything wrong.

"So," Shannon inquired, "what brings you to D.C?"

"Just came down for a week," the man explained. "Business trip."

Shannon nodded, clearly not sure what else to say to the man or how to get out of the incredibly forced conversation.

Deciding to take pity on her, Jethro turned to face the man and spoke up himself. "We should probably get going if we're going to make it to Dad's on time."

Shannon glanced down at her watch, clearly happy to take the out he'd given her, and pretended to check the time. "Oh, is it that time already? We really do have to go."

"Well," Waylon said with an expression Jethro couldn't quite place, "don't let me keep you then." The man turned to Shannon. "It was good to see you."

"You too," she said unconvincingly, causing Jethro to bite back a laugh.

Once they were finally out of earshot from the ex-husband, Jethro couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter. "I love you, Shan, but I'm so glad that wasn't me for once."

She swatted him playfully on the shoulder. "Jerk."

"Awe!" he said in jest, feigning hurt and rubbing his shoulder.

His wife shot him a fake look of pity. "Oh, muffin."

Jethro rolled his eyes at his wife in amusement before smiling warmly down at her and putting his right arm around her again. "Lunch?"

She nodded. "Wanna grab a couple hoagies before heading home?"

"Good by me," he replied, taking a couple of the shopping bags from Shannon as the pair started to make their way out to and load the trunk of Shannon's car.

After eating lunch, the pair tidied up a little bit around the house before spending the bulk of their afternoon down in the basement while Jethro got the basics going on his latest woodworking project.

Shannon helped with the sanding, as she often did, while the pair chatted, resurfacing upstairs from time to time to grab some fresh coffee or the occasional beer.

By 1630, however, his wife was upstairs in the kitchen, cooking like crazy, and getting ready for when Kelly and Mike finally joined them.

"Come on in," his wife said before giving both Kelly and Michael a hug.

Bailey tried to jump up on the young couple so Jethro calmed down the rather excited dog before pulling his daughter in for a hug. Smiling warmly, he then turned to great Michael. "Good to have you both here."

"Thanks for having us," Michael said happily.

They chatted for a brief moment before making their way over to the couch, the four of them sitting down to chat as they still had a few minutes before dinner was ready.

"How's work been?" Kelly asked her mother.

"Always eventful," Shannon replied with a chuckle. "And for you?"

"Fair enough," the younger redhead replied. "And I'm actually looking at the next steps for how to specialize in horses."

He smiled warmly at his daughter. "That's great, Kel." He turned to face Michael. "We couldn't keep her away from horses for the life of her growing up."

"Horses are beautiful animals," his daughter retorted, crinkling her nose contentedly.

He gave her an amused look. "So I've heard, Sergeant Reckless."

"And more than once," his wife quipped, "I might add."

Kelly chuckled. "Find the lie."

Michael rolled his eyes in fond amusement. "Apparently some things never change."

Jethro just smirked in response to that.

"Amen," his wife agreed happily as she got up to go check on dinner.

With dinner ready, they all sat around chatting and eating for another moment before the reason behind the dinner was addressed. "So," Kelly said, "I'm sure you've been wondering why we wanted to see you guys."

Shannon's gaze flickered between the pair. "Might have crossed my mind."

Michael grinned and Kelly showed them her hand, a rather pretty engagement ring on her finger. "I asked Kelly to marry me and she said yes."

A huge smile broke out and Shannon's face. "That's great. Congratulations you two!"

Now it was Jethro's turn to eye the younger couple, glad that he'd had some time to wrap his mind around the news. "Congratulations. This is certainly worth celebrating. You want a beer?"

"Yeah," Kelly said, clearly elated.

"Sounds good," Michael said, still grinning widely.

His wife caught his attention. "I'll have one too, babe."

Walking to the fridge, he grabbed the drinks and headed back to the kitchen table, listening to Kelly happily chat away about when and how Michael had proposed, the young woman unable to keep the huge smile off her face.

When Kelly and Michael headed out a couple of hours later, he and Shannon cracked one last beer, throwing on one of Shannon's TV shows.

His wife turned to face him. "What a day."

"Yeah," he said, raising his drink in a cheers gesture, "I'll drink to that."