The next several days were interesting, to say the least. Two more convoy routes were attacked and tensions were rising. Discussions in the chow hall were even more, well, vulgar than usual. And that was saying something. Nobody was happy that somebody was killing their own people. Even those who were of the `keep it loose to keep from cracking' variety were more serious. All the Marines wanted to keep their focus, their head on a swivel, determinedly trying to make it home at the end of this.

Thankfully, early Thursday evening, Jethro and McGee were able to figure out who it was that had been leaking the intel on Marine convoy routes. An American contractor working on an all-girls school just outside of Kabul had bid on the job there, more than happy to come and bank three times as much as they would make stateside because of the hazardous working conditions. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be enough for the guy. The son of a bitch ended up selling the intel to bank even more money.

Given everything that had gone down, Jethro had zero sympathy for the son of a bitch when a seriously pissed-off Marine left Logan Reynolds with a quite the shiner. Frankly, the man was lucky a black eye was the worst he'd got.

Feeling exhausted after a rather long week, General Whitworth arranged for a priority ride back stateside the following morning for both NCIS agents. Packing up everything and cleaning up their quarters, Jethro and McGee grabbed some MREs from the chow hall and hopped into a humvee so they could go catch their flight.

Thankfully, they made it to Kabul airport without losing anyone else. They did end up in a bit of a firefight but all came out of it okay. Once there, knowing that they were all more or less sitting ducks, rushed aboard the Marine C-17 and took off.

"Glad to be getting out of there," McGee admitted.

He eyed the younger agent. "And surprisingly, that was a fairly tame week."

McGee's eyes shot open wide. "Seriously?"

Jethro shot McGee a wry smile. "After that first day, that is."

The younger agent seemed to be deciding if he should voice something or not. After a moment, McGee spoke. "I've never heard you discuss your time in the service."

Jethro sighed softly. "Yeah. I'm proud of my time in the Corps, but saw quite a bit that isn't exactly dinner conversation." Lieutenant Cameron came to mind alongside several other incidents over the years.

The younger agent nodded soberly. "Fair enough."

They were in for a fairly long flight, but they were running on pure exhaustion. You go as hard as you can for as long as you can and sometimes even longer. Drained, it was like having a sleep button. It didn't take long before everyone passed out.

Jethro slept pretty damn well, but it was still a major relief when they finally landed at Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico little before 1630. Jethro couldn't wait to finally get home and wrap his arms around Shannon.

Handing Reynolds over to the MPs at Quantico, Jethro made sure that McGee was good to go and was safely on the road before hopping into his own truck and finally heading home to Arlington. To his wife.

He hadn't told Shannon that he was on his way home that morning but decided to call up Wayne Erickson so that he could do a little something for her. The day happened to be his and Shannon's wedding anniversary, and, given how things had gone with work and everything, he really wanted to surprise her. Thank God, he was in much better shape than he had been right after the ambush back in Kabul.

Shannon being handled, Jethro ran to the store to buy a bouquet of flowers and a card Heading home, he parked a ways down the street from his house and then walked the rest of the way, carefully to not let Shannon spot him.

He sighed in relief as he dropped his pack to the floor beside the door. No offence to Camp Russell, but it was good to be home.

Content, Jethro headed upstairs to shower and throw one of his nicer outfits on.

He quickly checked his messages and noticed he had an unread one from Wayne. 'She agreed to join us for dinner. Hop to it, Gunny.'

Smiling, he typed back a reply. 'I'm leaving now. Stall.'

The response was immediate. 'Stace has got it covered.'

Throwing a pair of dress shoes on, Jethro grabbed Shannon's anniversary present, his truck keys and ran out the door. He needed to get to the restaurant before the others did if he wanted to pull this off.

Arriving at the chosen restaurant, Jethro explained things to the on-shift manager who just smiled at Jethro and handed over four menus to him.

He didn't have to wait long before Wayne, Stacy, and Shannon walked in and sat down at one of the corner booths. Grinning, he walked with purpose over to the table.

Shannon was telling some story to the Ericksons as he approached.

"So, wait…" Stacy said. "Who all was there again?"

"Well," his wife started, "it was me and -"

He interrupted the conversation, walking up from behind Shannon so that she wouldn't see him. "Welcome to Medium Rare. My name's Jethro and -" The look on his wife's face was priceless. His presence was clearly not computing as he placed the menus and the present down on the table. "- I'll be taking your order this evening."

Shannon threw her hands to her mouth. "Oh my God!" She got out of her seat, pulling him in for a hug, beaming. "Oh my God!"

Stacy and Wayne chuckled, Jethro grinning as he held his wife in a bear hug.

His wife pulled back. "Are you serious right now?"

"Yeah." He pulled his wife back in for a hug, laughing heartily and rubbing her back as he held her. "Happy anniversary, Shannon."

Shannon nuzzled into him. "Happy anniversary, Babe. Welcome home."

Jethro shifted them both slightly that so he could give the redhead a kiss and then she hugged him again, clearly needing the contact as much as he did.

When they finally broke apart, she eyed him. "You didn't say you were coming home."

He grinned down at her. "Wanted to surprise ya. I just got in."

Wayne chimed in. "Your ol' man called me while driving back from Quantico."

Shannon swatted Wayne on the arm playfully. "And you didn't say anything."

"Well," Wayne said with a smirk, "it wouldn't exactly be a surprise then, would it?"

Jethro gestured for his wife to sit down, taking the seat beside her. He then handed his wife her card, flower bouquet, and gift.

He'd been worried he was going to miss their wedding anniversary, so was pleased as punch that he'd not only made it home but had been able to pull off a hit of a surprise as well. The completely elated look on his wife's face when she'd realized that he was there was beyond worth it.