Ten days had passed since little Paisley was born and Jethro and Shannon had agreed to take their granddaughter for a night or two so that Kelly and Michael could catch up on some much-needed sleep. The pair had finally begun to really adjust to parenthood which was nice. It just took a couple of gentle reminders of the old adage 'sleep when the baby sleeps' to get there. Jethro's father had also gone back home to Stillwater.

The new parents had finally started to settle into a good rhythm with Paisley and pick up everything from her little signs of hunger to what her different cries meant. It was helpful for the new parents to have some time to themselves so they could reconnect. On the other hand, it gave Jethro and Shannon the opportunity to spend some quality time with the newest addition to their family, which they weren't about to say no to.

So, Jethro was quite happy when he arrived home just before 1730 on Friday and his granddaughter was already there. The day had dragged on, Jethro's team not catching a case that day, which meant that he was particularly happy to leave the monotonous paperwork behind him and spend some time bonding with Paisley.

His granddaughter was a lot more alert now than the previous week and was able to stay awake for longer stretches of time. It was crazy how fast they grew at this age, but it was cool to see at the same time. He couldn't help but grin widely when she put her fingers or fist into her mouth or cooed.

After feeding the newborn girl, Shannon ended up giving Paisley a bath in the plastic tub Kelly had left for them and putting her down to sleep. She then walked back into the kitchen to find out Jethro had gotten their dinner started. "What smells good?"

He smirked. "Dinner and a fresh pot of coffee."

His wife gave a sarcastic little chuckle. "Gee, I'm shocked! Please tell me you haven't downed too much coffee?"

Jethro shot her a playful look. "I have no comment."

"Keeping the five," she quipped, amused. "I'd give you trouble, but I could really use a cup myself right about now."

He smirked. "Help yourself. Dinner should be ready in just a few minutes."

"Perfect," she replied, going to pour herself a cup of joe.

Five minutes later, Jethro filled two plates up with food and took them out to Shannon who was sitting on the couch and picking a show for the two of them to watch, though it ended up being more background noises.

Shannon put a hand on Jethro's thigh, gently getting his attention. "What do you want to do after we retire?" They'd both discussed the fact that neither were ready to retire just yet, but it was still just a couple of short years out.

"That's a tough one," he admitted after a moment. "But I guess for me it would have a lot to do with Kelly and where she and her family were at."

Shannon nodded. "Yeah, I'll second that."

Jethro gave a little shrug. "I mean... if they follow Michael out to like Darwin or Okinawa or something…" The redhead dipped her head a smidge to show that she was listening to him. "That's different from moving away from 'em while they're living stateside."

"Yeah," she agreed. "That's two very different situations." Shannon then shoved a bite of food into her mouth.

"Yep, but we'll figure it out. We still got time." A playful smile formed on his lips. "But I hear that there's this little beach down in Baja that's really nice."

His wife snickered. "Mike giving you a hard time again about us visiting?"

He took a swig of his beer and shot the redhead a wry smile. "Oh, you know it."

The pair continued chatting for a couple more minutes before turning their attention to the show that was playing. They were halfway through the second episode of this new series that Shannon had wanted to check out when they both unwittingly passed out.

Jethro hadn't been asleep all that long when he heard crying on the baby monitor and, rather groggily, woke up so that he could go up to Kelly's old bedroom and check in on his fussing granddaughter.

Shannon moved to get up too, but Jethro gestured for her to just relax. He kissed the redhead on the forehead. "I've got Paisley. Go up to bed."

His wife nodded. "I'll throw those in the dishwasher." She gestured towards the dinner dishes. "Then I'll head on up to bed." The redhead yawned as she moved to get up.

It took about an hour for Jethro to get the baby girl settled back down again and when his head hit the pillow he passed out almost instantly.

Waking up the next morning, he noted that his wife was already out of bed. She had presumably woke up with their granddaughter. Hopping out of bed, he had a quick shower and threw on a pair of blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and his black USMC hoodie before making his way downstairs.

Walking up to Shannon, who was currently in the kitchen making their granddaughter a bottle, Jethro leaned in and gave his wife a chaste kiss. "Good morning." He quickly noted that their granddaughter was currently fussy and squirming a fair amount. "Hey, Little Miss P. You giving Grammy a hard time this morning?"

"Nothing I can't handle," his wife quipped with a soft chuckle. He held both of his arms out for the baby and Shannon gently handed Paisley over to him, smiling warmly. She spoke in a stage whisper. "Go keep an eye on Pappy for me while I finish this."

He rolled his eyes at his wife playfully and then spoke in a stage whisper of his own. "I think your grandmother thinks I'm a troublemaker."

She gave a snort, not stopping what she was doing. "You're a trouble magnet."

He couldn't really argue the point. He did have the notable tendency of finding himself in some rather, well, interesting situations. "Meh."

The baby girl shoved her little fist into her mouth, causing his wife to bark out a laugh. "She'll understand one day."

He rolled his eyes again in fond exasperation and then quirked a brow. "Corrupting our granddaughter already, Shan?"

Shannon smirked. "Start 'em young, Tiger. Start 'em young."

Now it was Jethro's turn to bark out a laugh.

"So," his wife asked, "Ziva and Abby still coming over for lunch?"

"Yeah," he replied contentedly. "As far as I know. They're both going to some party for New Year's, so it's either lunch or not at all." Jethro quickly checked his messages and then glanced back up at his wife. "Neither cancelled."

Shannon nodded happily, having become fond of both young ladies.

A short moment later, Jethro was leaning up against the kitchen counter with Paisley in one arm and a bottle of baby formula in the other, Shannon taking out a few things to make breakfast for the two adults.