The next month and a half was hectic. On the personal front, Abby and Joann both had birthdays. He'd taken Abby out for their usual one-on-one dinner the night before her birthday and then the team did a little something for her on the day of. On Valentine's day, he'd given Shannon a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers before going for work that morning, taking her to a nice restaurant for dinner that night.

Of course, tensions had been at an all-time high in the D.C area recently with the Red Rose Slasher serial killings starting up again after a three-year absence. Sadly, it took three new victims before they finally got the man behind the recent murders. The man senselessly taking young women's lives.

Not before Jethro helped Kelly, Abby, and Maddie install new deadbolts on their doors, though. And making sure his own security system was still in perfect working order. He knew that Wayne had done the same with his. The extra security helped put all of their minds somewhat at ease.

Then there was the situation with Vance. The man had found out while Jackie was out of town for the weekend. He'd been going through some old files, trying to organize when he'd learned that Jackie had a safety-deposit box and a separate bank account. She'd had a lawyer draw up a 'separation of property' letter and there were charges for things that Vance hadn't known about, large amounts of cash. She'd done all of it right after the attack on NCIS. Jackie felt she had to prepare for the worst.

It had noticeably rubbed his boss the wrong way and led to a conversation with Jethro down in his basement after work one evening while Shannon had gone out for a ladies' night with Stacy and a couple of mutual friends of theirs and he'd decided to throw on some country music and do some woodwork.

"Shannon increased your life insurance policy?" Vance said in surprise. "When?"

"After one of my deployments," he explained. Specifically, his deployment to Lebanon in 1983. "I came back and found that on her desk. She told me about her fear. All the nights she sat up worried I'd never make it home."

Vance swallowed, clearly still slightly bothered. "I just wish she'd told me."

"Maybe she doesn't want to push you to leave the job you love," he suggested.

His boss chuckled weakly. "Yeah, that sounds like Jackie."

Jethro smiled affectionately. "And a certain redhead I know. I'd be transferred and my mother-in-law would get upset with me for us having to move, but despite everything Shannon always supported me. Never made me feel guilty for all of the moving or the time I spent away." Shannon Rule #4: Keep things in perspective.

Thankfully, the admittedly brief conversation seemed to help Vance who started acting much more like his usual self again. Jethro did make a mental note though to update his own will and everything. It was long past due and he wasn't exactly sure why he'd neglected to do it for as long as he had.

Waking up Tuesday morning, he and Shannon went about their usual morning routine, getting dressed and heading downstairs for a light breakfast.

"It was the first day of school and I was really nervous," Shannon said. "Mom told me not to worry, I'm gonna have fun making new friends, and school will end really soon. She said to come home when the school bell rang." He raised an eyebrow, pretty sure he knew where this was headed. "So when the bell rang for recess... I ran out the gate and all the way home."

He chuckled softly. "At least Stillwater's small."

"I know," the redhead readily agreed with a light chuckle of her own. "Thank God Kelly never tried anything like that here or in Philly. I'd have a heart attack."

No," he deadpanned, "she just tried to give us heart attacks other ways. Kel gave me a whole new respect for what I put my father through."

"Yeah," Shannon said knowingly. "And her initials are still carved into that cupboard as a testament to that fact."

"I'm really not sure which was worse," he said. "The amateur graffiti attempt or when she had a temperature of 104."

Eventually, it was time for Jethro to head out if he wanted to make his appointment at Frankie's Crew Cuts. He hadn't been called by dispatch yet, so wasn't about to miss it.

Hair freshly cut, Jethro made his way to the Navy Yard, grabbing a cup of black coffee on the way inside from the coffee cart. It was much better than the stuff that they had up in the rather small staff room, in his admittedly coffee snobbish opinion. More than late enough for work already, he didn't stop to chat with the security guard Henry like he usually did. Opting to head straight up to work.

He went to a quick meeting with the agents currently working the Far East and Middle East desks. Marching into the squad room, he noted that a young, dark-haired, woman was speaking rather seriously with his three field agents. "My husband Ted is a Marine stationed in Kabul... Or I should say he was."

"Where is he now?" Jethro asked.

Ziva gestured towards him. "That is Special Agent Gibbs."

"He's the man in charge," DiNozzo explained.

"He's nowhere, Agent Gibbs." The young woman's expression visibly shifted. "Ted was killed two days ago. The C.O.D. report said it was enemy fire, a Taliban sniper. But..."

Ziva rose from her chair. "But?"

The young woman started trying to pull something up on her cellphone she wanted to show him. "Ted… he e-mailed me this video message the day before. It's not long."

Jethro shot the resident MIT graduate a look. "Put it up, McGee." He turned to face the grieving, young widow. "I'm sorry." He then directed his full attention to the video that was now playing up on the plasma.

"Hey, Rubes, my signal's too weak to call, so I hope you get this." At first glance, the sergeant definitely looked like he was concerned about something. "Listen, Baby, I-I, uh, did something stupid. I got mixed up in something that I shouldn't have." It was starting to look like the wife might be right about her suspicions. "And, well, it's going to piss some people off. But I'm gonna have to blow the whistle to get out of it."

One of the sergeant's superiors spoke up. "We're moving out, LeMere. Let's go."

"On my way, Sir!" LeMere said without missing a single beat. "Anyway, no worries. Try again tomorrow. Dex sends his love. Me too."

"The next day," Ruby said, "he was dead."

"You don't believe the report," he stated. It wasn't really a question. She'd mentioned the report earlier and then showed them the video. She clearly thought something was going on, was looking for some answers.

Ruby shook her head. "No." She then gestured vaguely towards the plasma screen. "To send that message? Trust me, he was scared."

"Would not hurt to look," Ziva said.

"They're flying him into Dover tonight," Ruby informed them. "His body, I mean." The young woman turned to face Jethro. "I know it's not much to go on, Agent Gibbs, but if you can pull some strings... Please."

Knowing how much it meant to be heard, he couldn't bring himself to brush the young woman off. If the director didn't like it, Jethro didn't care. He was taking the case.