It took some effort but Jethro and Ziva managed to get the vehicle inside through the garage door in the back of the service station and swiftly started trying to figure out just how bad the damage to the car was by flashlight.
Ziva glanced up from the engine slightly. "The injector rail was damaged. Fuel leaked into the manifold and caught fire."
"Yeah," he agreed. "I'm gonna have to try to redo some wiring." Jethro started walking away to look for supplies. "I'll see what they've got."
Ziva gave a little hum of acknowledgment in response.
Lieutenant Reynolds walked up to Jethro as he was looking for any parts that he could use. "The phones are still out. But I'll keep checking. Or if you want any help in there, I know my way around a car."
"No," he said. "Sit down, rest. Drink some fluids."
"No," the lieutenant replied. "I already did. I, uh, left a couple of bucks on the register. It felt weird just to take it."
"Hey," he said, wanting to reassure her. "Don't worry about it. It's gonna be fine."
"This is not exactly the Christmas Eve that I had planned on, Gunny." Her expression shifted as she continued to speak. "Actually, I hadn't planned on any of this. Amir, the baby, people trying to steal him."
"Him?" he questioned. "Thought you said you didn't know."
"I don't," Reynolds admitted, "but I can tell." She grimaced slightly. "Ugh. Judging by the way he's punching and kicking me right now, think he's gonna be a Marine too."
Jethro gently led her over to a chair. "Sit down."
She took a deep breath, clearly still feeling physically uncomfortable. "I just wanted to be a Marine. I guess someone else had other plans."
"Yeah," he said. Jethro couldn't help but think of how his own Marine career had been surprisingly pulled off course. If everything in '91 hadn't happened, he never would've joined NCIS and became a field agent. "Wouldn't be the first time."
"Do you have kids, Agent Gibbs?" she asked.
He gave her a warm smile. "A daughter. Kelly. Just had a kid of her own."
The lieutenant nodded. "Were you there when she was born?"
"Deployed," he stated. Missing her birth had been hard but he'd been so excited when he got home and was able to hold her for the first time.
"Well," she said a tad nervously, "I guess I kind of have to be there for mine. Not that I'm complaining, it's just... I might be..."
"Scared?" he suggested.
"The hell you say?" Reynolds fired back.
"It's all right if you are," Jethro assured her.
"Not according to the Corps," the lieutenant replied. "That's what I like about being a Marine. The procedures, the code. I like having a measurable set of expectations."
Jethro nodded in understanding. That was what he liked about the Corps as well. He was a little rapscallion in his small hometown, straightened out by the military and NCIS. The structure helped him get and keep his life on track. Gave him goals to work towards. A clear purpose.
"I could always tell how good I was doing," Reynolds continued to prattle on. "But with this, how do I know?"
"You don't," Jethro told her. Parents spent most of their time flying by the seat of their pants and learning from mistakes. "But you'll be able to tell."
She hummed. "Right now, I think this guy is telling me that it's time to eat."
"Well, in that case..." Jethro got up and grabbed a juice box and snack for her and he placed them down in front of the lieutenant. "This one's on me." He then threw some money on the gas station's cash register.
The blonde gave a soft chuckle. "Thank you."
He and Ziva both got back to work on the engine, but weren't having any luck. Jethro simply didn't have access to everything he needed.
He tinkered with it again and eyed Ziva. "Okay, try it."
The engine made a clicking noise.
Jethro heard some groaning coming from behind him but tried to focus on the vehicle, tightening something that looked loose. "Try it again."
The engine made the same clicking sound.
"Given the parts available," Ziva said, "this could prove to be a problem."
"Uh," Reynolds said, "that's not our only problem." Both agents turned to face her. "My water just broke. I'm going into labour." Well, that complicates matters. "Oorah?"
Lieutenant Reynolds has taken a seat in the back of the vehicle and was now trying to breathe through several rather painful contractions. "The last two were less than a minute apart. It didn't hurt this much when I took shrapnel in Mosul."
Ziva turned the key again and they were still getting that damn clicking noise. The car still wasn't running. "The whole harness must be sautéd."
"Fried," he gently corrected.
Ziva turned to him. "Oh..."
Reynolds gasped in pain. "Unh! Oh, boy, the baby is coming."
A noise from outside caught Ziva's attention. She immediately went to the window to check what was going on. She turned back to him. "Gibbs, we have company. What do you wanna do?"
He took a deep breath. This was one hell of a situation to be in.'"Defend our position." Jethro walked around and pulled out the first-aid kit from the trunk and handed it to his surrogate daughter. "You stay with the lieutenant, Ziver, I'll draw fire."
Jethro was walking away when he heard the lieutenant pleading with him. "Don't you leave me, Gibbs." He swiftly turned around to face Reynolds while she spoke. "I need someone to tell me how I'm doing."
"You're doing fine," he assured the blonde.
"I'm not so sure," Reynolds said in between sharp breaths. He knew that was as close as the lieutenant was going to get to admitting that she was scared.
"Are you asking for special treatment, Marine?" he asked.
"Sir, yes, Sir!" she said. "Just this once."
Ziva caught his attention. "Hey, Gibbs." She tossed him the first-aid kit and then drew her own weapon. "It's okay. Got this covered."
"Thank you," Reynolds said.
He turned to her. "You might wanna hold off on that."
What followed that exchange felt absolutely surreal. Jethro could hear what he knew to be heavy gunfire coming from the main part of the store and was seriously worried about Ziva going against the two Russians alone.
Lieutenant Reynolds was screaming in pain as well as he tried to help her through the birth and told her to push.
He heard a large crash and more gunfire, causing him to glance over at his weapon. It was there if he needed it, but right then he had his hands full. Still, he wished he was able to have Ziva's six.
As he heard more gunfire and yelling coming from across the store, he tried to focus on the lieutenant. The baby's head was finally crowning. "Push."
Jethro heard some wrestling in the main part of the store and then things went weirdly silent. Quite abruptly. Not sure if that was a good thing or not, Jethro forced himself to focus on Lieutenant Reynolds again.
A couple more pushes and Jethro was holding a very tiny and wet baby. He watched as the baby cried and the wrinkly, slightly blue, skin started to become pinker.
Something caught his attention and he smiled over at the new mother. By this point, he had also ascertained that Ziva was fine. It was over.
"Is he okay?" Reynolds asked nervously.
"Yeah," he replied with a huge grin, "she's beautiful."
"It's a girl?" she asked tiredly.
He nodded. "She's got her mom's eyes." He gently passed the baby girl over. "Well done, Marine."
They both laughed, releasing all the tension they'd been feeling.
It took forty-five minutes but, thankfully, help came. DiNozzo and McGee had been a little concerned when they didn't show up at the Navy Yard and had managed to get information out of the Russian they'd arrested, Veil Tupolev, and intercepted intel on the ambush at the service station.
They all got back to D.C way later than they would've liked, but Lieutenant Reynolds and her baby girl, Addison, were safely at the hospital. Jethro stayed with Reynolds for a bit to make sure that the new mother and baby were alright and then he finally went home to his wife and father.
