That following morning, Jethro and Ziva both got up bright and early and headed down to the chow hall for some breakfast and much-needed caffeine. After eating, they got ready for their flight back home to the U.S. Not that they had much to do to get ready, but neither one wanted to accidentally leave any of their stuff behind in the temporary living quarters they'd been assigned to either.

At 0830, they both headed down to the airfield, boarded a C-130 and left Guantanamo Bay Naval Base behind them. Hopefully, for a good long while. The U.S naval base was actually quite nice, it wasn't that, but the naval base's detention camp itself was rather less than welcoming for obvious reasons.

With that being said, there was something oddly comforting - maybe that wasn't quite the right word - about the canvas seats slung between cargo pallets.

He shifted in his seat so that he was facing Ziva. "A long couple of days."

Ziva dipped her head slightly. "I'll say. I am just thankful the little game of chess you were playing with El-Sayed back there worked."

"We won this round," he replied. "But you heard him; Jihad never ends."

She nodded gravely. They both knew that for every bad guy that they put away there was another one waiting to step up and take their place. It was just the way of things. El-Sayed was barely even a drop in the water. "But yesterday we made a difference."

"That we did," he said. Because of their task force, they managed to save the lives of a hell of a lot of people. Both the would-be victims from the night before as well as all of the would-be future victims of the cell they'd managed to take down.

She eyed him quizzically. "Can I ask you a question, Gibbs?"

"Just did," he quipped.

She rolled her eyes in amusement before adopting a slightly more serious look. "Why did you choose this career?"

Jethro played with his face some. "After Shannon and Kelly's car crash…. I just needed a change. Desperately. I finished my enlistment after I was released from Bethesda in June of '91 but I already knew by that point that I wasn't gonna re-up. I'd interacted with N.I.S before and Mike Franks had fought hard to try and get justice for the girls." Ziva nodded. "Once my enlistment was up, I asked Mike Franks for a job. I wanted to help other families going through what mine did."

"What did Franks say?" she asked.

Jethro thought back to August of '92 when he walked into the Marine Corps West Field Office at Camp Pendleton, quickly locating the N.I.S Special Agent in Charge who was having a smoke in his office. "Back again, Marine?"

"Not anymore," he said numbly. "It's done."

"Not what I heard," Mike challenged. "No such thing as an ex-Marine. That's forever."

"Right," he said noncommittally.

"Not even gonna ask where you've been," the older man replied. "Guess the question is: Where you going?"

"I don't know," he admitted softly. All Jethro'd ever wanted to be was a good Marine, a good husband, a good father. He'd lost all of that and, frankly, Jethro felt as though he was drowning. He was hoping his visit here would help him regain some of his footing, but also wasn't sure about how the N.I.S agent was going to react.

Mike eyed him. "Look at you... all self-loathing and misery. You make me sick. Come here to mope?"

"Nope," he said. "Came for a job."

Mike feigned incredulity. "My God. You really want to be a cop, you got to let a lot of old stuff go, learn a lot of new stuff to take its place. Think you can do that?"

"I think I'd be a good cop," he replied softly. He had made a hell of a lot of mistakes in the past year especially but he was convinced he could do the job. Do some real good for victims and their families. Jethro wasn't about to make those same mistakes again. Not that he felt guilty about what he did, but he knew that he'd messed up.

Back in the present again, Jethro replied to Ziva's question. "Told me that I had to get my head on straight if I wanted the job."

"I can see it," she said.

"Mike gave me tough love when I needed it the most," he said. "The man refused to let me throw a pity party. Cut through all the b.s without a care and forced me to pull myself together. Gave me direction."

"And that's why you two are so close?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for him."

The flight wasn't too bad and, thankfully, the traffic on the ground was decent. Jethro made good time on the drive from Norfolk to Arlington, even with stopping for a cup of coffee from Elaine's Diner on the way.

Pulling into the driveway just after 1500, Jethro was pleased to note that his wife's car was parked in its usual spot. Shannon was already home from work.

Walking through the front door of the house, Jethro was quickly greeted by Bailey who had run up, tail wagging enthusiastically, when she'd heard him walk through the door. While Jethro was petting her, he noted that ZNN was on the television. It was showing the public version about the events of the prior night, none of the higher-ups wanting the, thankfully, prevented anthrax attack to be common knowledge. The consensus, by in large, was that the general public was better off not knowing about everything that they were being and had been protected from. It wouldn't do anything but cause mass group panic. He had to agree, to a point. "Police last night foiled an apparent robbery attempt at Tysons Corner Centre, which would presumably have marred an otherwise successful grand opening."

On the other hand, there was no sign of his wife downstairs. "Shannon?"

The news segment came to an end. "Back to you, Jack."

"Hey, in here!" Shannon called. Ah, she's upstairs.

Jethro headed upstairs and made his way into their bedroom where his wife was busy folding a load of laundry. She was wearing a white, low-cut, shirt with black stripes, a dark green cardigan, and a pair of dark blue jeans.

Shannon turned and smiled over at him. "You're home." She put the clothes down and walked over to Jethro, kissing him. "Did you see that there was an attempted robbery at Tysons Corner yesterday?" He fought to keep his expression neutral. "I'm glad that Kelly cancelled Paisley's photos. Mike wasn't feeling well and Kel wanted him there for the photos too. Thought it was better for them to do it as a family."

Jethro gave a curt nod in response, honestly more relieved than he could say just then that his daughter and granddaughter hadn't been there. The attack had been narrowly averted. Too narrowly. The team of agents had arrived at the massive shopping centre after the merry band of terrorists were already inside.

The agents quickly found the transport van after arriving. The body of a dead security guard had been left in it. Tobias then ran to the security office, finding the terrorists on the roof of the shopping centre. There was nothing up there but access to the vents, which meant that they were going to put it in the air conditioning system. The group resisted arrest and three were quickly taken down, the fourth having a more dramatic end as the man got shot and fell through the glass roof.

If the team had got to the shopping centre just a couple of minutes later, things would have ended quite differently. Tragically.

Apparently, his expression showed on his face. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," he said, "everything's perfect."

She put her arm around him, pulling Jethro in for a one-armed hug. "You sure?"

Jethro shifted his wife so that he could give kiss her on the forehead. "Yeah, I'm sure." He smiled down at her. "Leon gave my team the rest of today and tomorrow off, so I'm all yours until Wednesday."

"Perfect," she replied happily. She gave him a chaste kiss. "I'm glad you're home."

"I'm glad to be home," he said as he pulled her back in for a deep kiss.

Once the pair separated, Jethro unpacked, throwing his clothes into the dirty laundry, and helping his wife out with finishing the chores that she'd been doing when he had walked in just a few minutes before.

The new appliances and countertops in the kitchen actually looked good. Jethro made a mental note to give Wayne Erickson a bottle in thanks.

With the chores done, Jethro and Shannon threw their jackets on and took Bailey for a walk around Lubber Run Park, playing some frisbee with the energetic pup while they were there at the park.

They then took their dog home, changed into some nicer clothes, and hopped into his truck as they had decided to go out for a bit of a date night.

Parking near Le Diplomate, the pair got out of the truck. Shannon was rolling her eyes at him in amusement. "Kinda proving my point there, Tiger."

Jethro raised an eyebrow and smirked playfully down at his wife. "I have one word for you, Shannon." He leaned into her slightly. "Jacksonville."

She shook her head, chuckling. "Touché, Jethro." His wife gestured to the keys he was holding in his right hand. "Pass me that jawn."

Jethro gave an amused little snort. "Oh, so that's how it's gonna be?"

His wife shot him an adorably cheeky grin. "Uh-huh," she fired back. "If you give me a hard time then I get to drive your truck later."

He chuckled softly. "That's a deal I can live with."

The couple was, thankfully, able to get a seat at one of the tables that were somewhat off to the side. It meant that they'd get a small measure of privacy while they ate and talked. Something that Jethro was decidedly always in favour of.

A brunette waitress approached their table a short moment later. "Hello, I am Addison, and I'll be your server today. Are you ready to order or did you need more time?"

"I think we could use a few more minutes," Shannon said. "Thank you."

"Of course," the waitress replied. "I'll just get you both started with water."

Jethro smiled affectionately across their table at the gorgeous redhead who was sitting there. God, it was good to be back home.