The rest of Sunday was beyond pleasant, Jethro thoroughly enjoying getting to spend time with his wife, daughter, and granddaughter. He'd also taken a few minutes to call his goddaughter in Baja to wish the six-year-old girl a happy birthday and see how she liked the present he'd sent. Unfortunately, the ensuing couple of days afterwards were more than a little hectic.
Monday, Jethro and all of his agents went to Ted LeMere's funeral where the Sergeant was rightfully buried with full honours. He was also able to return Dex to Ruby, giving her the Bronze Star he'd earned himself years ago as well as some good news.
"Unofficial," Jethro said as he handed her the box. "But he earned it."
Ruby brought her hand to her face. "God, is he okay?"
He gave a small, almost imperceptible, nod to DiNozzo who let go of the working dog's leash. He then eyed her. "Ask him yourself."
She grinned as she saw Dex approach her, the relief that Ruby was feeling evident as she took in the large bandage. She started petting the dog, who immediately started wagging his tail. "Are you okay? Look at you."
"He got shot," the veteran agent explained. "He got lucky."
She nodded, eyeing Jethro. "How long is he out for?"
"The rest of his days," he explained. He had pulled a couple of strings in order to make it happen. "He's officially retired." He shot her a pointed look. "And he's yours."
Ruby's smile grew wider if that was possible as she gave him a very appreciative look. "Thank you. Thank you, guys."
The issue came the day after that when McGee's father made a surprise appearance, behaving appallingly towards his son. Jethro bit his tongue in front of General McGee for his agent's sake, but he did go off some in the director's office later, briefly ranting to Leon who held a similar opinion of the man.
The following seven weeks weren't any calmer. Jethro and Shannon had drivem down to Stillwater for a couple of days over his father's birthday and then a couple of weeks later a small dinner was put on for Tobias' birthday. Shannon had also convinced him to bring his medals home finally that had been left in the bottom drawer of DiNozzo's desk at work since the man had started at NCIS. He'd then spent some time the past week setting up two shadow boxes for both his awards from the Corps as well as those from his time at NCIS.
Mid-May was definitely keeping them on their toes. The severed head of a young Navy SEAL - Lieutenant Chad McBride - was left on the poor young widow's doorstep. Jethro got a call from dispatch about an hour and a half after his team had all gone home for the night. Joann had been as pleasant as usual about the interruption, but it was what it was. His mother-in-law was, of course, more than welcome to stay and visit with his wife, but he had a job to do.
As the night crew had already caught a case, handling a break-in at a Marine officer's home in Annandale, the MCRT all headed back to work, meeting at the crime scene in Alexandria rather than driving to and from the Navy Yard.
He turned to McGee. "Call Ducky. Give him a… fill him in." He was about to say to give the medical examiner a heads up but figured that it was somewhat inappropriate given their present circumstances.
The younger agent nodded gravely, going to do as asked.
Jethro then turned to his SFA and JFA. "DiNozzo, Ziva, canvas the neighbourhood. See if anybody saw or heard anything earlier."
"On it!" both agents chirped.
Jethro turned back to the remains and sighed. He then composed himself slightly and walked over to the wife, Emily McBride, who'd just come back from a three-day trip as a flight attendant for American Airlines. He hadn't had a chance to speak with her yet and he really needed to.
"I'd learned over the years," the grieving widow commented, "not to worry when Chad had a mission. Or at least to try not to."
He nodded in understanding. "Where was your husband going?"
"He couldn't say," the woman replied. "I'm not sure even he knew."
"So you two hadn't spoken recently?" he inquired. Jethro wasn't surprised in the least. Service members were frequently in and out of contact with family members while on deployment, particularly when in the middle of a mission. Yes, communication was a far cry easier nowadays than it had been back when he was on active duty, but lags in communication were still very much commonplace.
"Not since he left," the brunette replied. "Almost two weeks ago. Chad was... a terrific husband, a dedicated officer. I can't imagine what he went through." The poor woman was desperately fighting back tears now. "Why would someone do this?"
Not having any answers for the new widow yet, regretfully, he ended the conversation and went to check in with his field agents to see if they had anything for him.
They didn't, so the group wrapped up at the crime scene when Ducky and Palmer got there and he sent his agents home for the night. There wasn't much else they could do until the morning. Hopefully, Ducky's autopsy will turn up something we can use.
He quickly briefed the director on the McBride situation and requested the lieutenant's service file. He then headed home himself, his gut making him feel slightly uneasy. He had a bad feeling that things were going to get messy.
The feeling settled ever so slightly as he walked through their front door and saw his wife seated on the couch, chatting away happily on the phone with one of her friends. Jethro walked up and kissed her on the cheek, taking a seat beside her before taking off his black dress shoes.
"No, Lettie!" Shannon said with a chuckle. Ah, she's talking to one of her gal pals from Philly. "My other half just walked in." She rolled her eyes in amusement. "Let me know if you and Terry do end up coming down for the weekend." She tilted her head slightly. "Sounds good. I'll talk to ya soon. Bye." Ending the call, she put her cell down on their coffee table and pulled him in for a rather less than chaste kiss.
He smiled affectionately at her. "Loretta?"
Shannon nodded. "Yeah, she and Terry are planning a trip down next weekend."
"That's great," he replied. "When did your mom head out?"
"Like fifteen minutes ago." The redhead then tilted her head slightly, eyeing him. "Your home sooner than I expected. Your work thing get resolved?"
He shook his head. "Not yet, but there's not much we can get done tonight." They had to wait for Ducky's autopsy or at least the lieutenant's service record before they could really do anything else at that point.
She clearly caught something in his expression. "It bad?"
He sighed softly. "It might be." Something was definitely going on, but he didn't know just what it was yet. In any case, a severed head sent one hell of a message.
Shannon nodded in understanding. "Ah. Well, let's focus on something a little happier. Why don't you pick out a movie for us to watch and I'll go throw some popcorn on and grab us each a soda?"
Jethro smiled appreciatively. He was also very much aware as to why she'd suggested a soda rather than what his first choice would've been. "That sounds perfect."
