Movie night had been nice and Jethro was glad he and Shannon had been able to take the time to just focus on themselves. Kelly was obviously going to be still full-on wedding planning and he understood it, but the small break from everything certainly helped Shannon's state of mind. Jethro else had less on his plate now with Vance back, so he was doubly glad about that.
The following morning, Jethro and his team all got to work first thing and proceeded to throw themselves right back into the Navy recruiter case.
By 0900 that morning, he was upstairs in the conference room with PFC Craig's sister, who he was hoping could shed some light on the situation.
"My brother loved the Navy, Agent Gibbs. And he loved helping people even more." He passed Nina the coffee that he'd just poured her as she spoke. "That's what made him such a good recruiter."
He took a seat across from the blonde woman with a coffee of his own. "A man has to enjoy his work to do it well." Jethro took a sip of his coffee. "Personal life?"
Nina shook her head. "Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Women?" he inquired.
She eyed him, clearly torn. "Guess it won't do any harm now."
His curiosity was definitely piqued. "What?"
Nina sighed. "Telling the truth. Agent Gibbs, my brother was gay." Well, that definitely changed some things. "We didn't talk about it much. Couldn't."
Jethro nodded. Although there were those who were working to repeal the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, it remained intact for the moment and the petty officer would've lost his job if any of his superiors or anyone else that he worked with for that matter found out about his sexuality. "Was he involved with anyone?"
The blonde nodded. "High school teacher. English, I think."
"Teacher have a name?" he pressed.
Nina gave another curt nod. "Glenn Block."
Bringing the conversation with the victim's sister to a close, Jethro sent DiNozzo and Ziva to William Tyler High School in Fairfax to meet with the teacher Glenn Block, giving the two agents a heads up about the situation so they knew to be more discreet.
That's when things really began to pick up. Glenn Block admitted that he and the petty officer recently started dating but for several reasons wanted to keep it under wraps. Block also happened to be married and his wife had recently found out about the affair and her husband's sexuality. Not an easy situation for anyone involved.
Block's wife Penny, angry and with motive, also had an alibi. She'd gone out to a bar in order to pick up a 'real man' as she put it. Ouch!
Ziva and DiNozzo ran into Paul Simmons right after arriving at the school. The boy was one of five students that PFC Craig had been recruiting. Paul's father also happened to be there as the man wanted to speak with the school's guidance counsellor. The guy had also been adamantly outspoken against his son enlisting. And it quickly became clear that the man was an alcoholic who was definitely not dealing well with the loss of his wife to cancer. No wonder Paul was acting out.
Jethro also found witnesses to put Paul at the job fair, talking to PFC Craig. Paul told them that he'd been home, but couldn't yet prove it.
Still, he thought there was more going on than he was seeing and given the father's reactions to things, started getting suspicions about the father.
Back in the squad room, Jethro wanted answers. DiNozzo confirmed that Paul had in fact been home and ordered pizza, officially clearing the boy. Ziva also reported that Paul's enlistment contract was normal, although the boy never called PFC Craig on the phone, whereas the other kids did.
Jethro was now certain about the hunch that he'd been having since talking to Lance Simmons. "McGee, access the petty officer's e-mail account."
"Navy or personal, Boss?" the younger agent asked.
"Personal," he stated.
"Already got the warrant," McGee told Jethro as he started typing away. "I'm scanning, but nothing addressed specifically to Paul Simmons."
"Put it up," he ordered, standing up as he spoke. A second later he could view McGee's desktop on the plasma. "Do a word search. Don't ask, don't tell."
McGee did as asked and immediately a series of emails popped up. "Pay dirt, Boss."
"Open them," he ordered.
They all started reading the emails up on the screen.
"They're all coded," DiNozzo stated. "No names listed. Everything on the QT."
Ziva was clearly moved. "The boy spilled his heart out to him."
"All the fights at school were just Paul defending himself," DiNozzo noted.
"Craig was offering the kid advice," McGee said.
He dipped his head slightly. He'd seen more than a bit of himself in Paul when they'd spoken earlier and genuinely felt bad for the young man who clearly felt trapped and was desperate for a way out of what was clearly a rough situation. "Paul didn't want to lie anymore. Petty Officer Craig wanted to help."
Talking to Paul a half an hour later, with a social worker observing, he thought it was a shame that his drunkard of a father couldn't see past the stereotypes and made some very stupid assumptions about what was going on.
Paul admitted to him that he was gay and that PFC Craig was trying to help him start a new life. Paul had no luck with teachers or counsellors when he'd reached out and he had been left to fend for himself. When Jethro asked about Paul's father, the kid asked him what he'd say if his gay son came to him and said he wanted to join the military.
Jethro thought back to the rather public fight he'd had with his father about joining all those years ago. Jethro had stormed off after trying to reason with his father who just screamed that it was dangerous at Jethro. He swallowed at the memory. "I'd wish him luck... try to be there for him."
Paul gave a curt nod, not really meeting Jethro's gaze now. "My dad couldn't wrap his head around it," the boy informed him. "Thought it was crazy. Rather than talk me out of it, he tried to make it all just go away."
Simmons walked in the front door, saw Paul and the social worker. And the man knew. He didn't resist when he was cuffed. And then the sad misunderstanding became clear. Simmons wasn't a bad guy. He wasn't even homophobic in the most pernicious sense. He didn't want to make his son not gay. He was just a drunk moron who hadn't been able to see through the stereotypes and thought that his son was being groomed by an older gay male. had been trying to protect his son in his own way, from what it was he had thought was going on. Shame that it was violent and unnecessary. "Paul, I just tried to be a good dad. That's all I was trying to do."
Jethro's heart broke as he watched Paul throw his arms around his father and the kid's sniffles started to turn into sobs. The boy had already gone through more than anyone should. Had already lost his mother. And was now losing his father too.
Once Lance Simmons was booked, Jethro made sure that Paul had a safe place to stay and then did something else that he felt that he needed to do. Accompany Paul to the recruiting office when he went to talk to CPO Carr later that day about enlisting.
"Well, Paul," the naval recruiter said, "why don't we discuss your options?"
The young man was understandably a little nervous about the huge decision that he was making. "I-I really think the Navy can offer me the opportunities that I'm looking for. I'm ready to serve my country -" Paul glanced back at Jethro who gave the teen a reassuring smile. "- and I want to be a part of something special."
Once the meeting was over and he'd dropped Paul off where he was staying, he pulled out his cellphone. Shannon was going out with a friend for a couple of hours and after the day that he'd had, all Jethro wanted was to hug his child. He dialled his daughter's number and waited a minute. He knew that she'd just got off work.
He heard Kelly pick up on the third ring. "Hey, Kel."
"Hey, Dad!" she said. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," he replied. "Everything's fine. Uh, you free?"
"Yeah," Kelly said. "Why? You need something?"
"No. No, no." Jethro hoped that reassured her somewhat. "I was just, uh, wondering if you wanted to grab some coffee. Thought it'd be nice to see ya."
"I'd love to," his daughter stated. "I can be at the house in fifteen, if that works?"
Jethro smiled at her response, feeling a whole lot better than he had been feeling just a few minutes prior. "Perfect. See you soon."
Kelly got to the house first and was waiting for him in the driveway. He swiftly pulled her in for a bear hug. Jethro had no idea how to explain it to a non-parent, but to him, it was quite simple. A daughter's a precious thing.
