That following morning, thankfully, started out quite calm. His niece didn't have school that morning, so that wasn't a concern for them, and Emily was more than old enough and independent enough to make sure she was up and ready to go by herself.

Shannon had thrown some bacon, eggs, toast, and sausage together for the four of them, ever the chef in the family. He'd definitely lucked out in that department. God, she was a great cook. At least he'd largely managed to escape his father's Stroganoff since the man moved in.

"So," Emily asked as she swallowed a bite of eggs. "How did you two meet? I know you are both from the same hometown, but…" The teen gave a little shrug of the shoulders as her voice trailed off.

Shannon smiled at him. "We met at the train station."

"Really?" Emily asked.

"They're dead serious," his father said.

"That's cute," Emily said. "Where were you two going?"

Shannon chuckled. "I was going to visit some family over school break and your uncle here… well, I'll let him explain it."

"My ten-day boot leave was wrapping up," he explained. "The Corps gives new Marines a short break after Boot Camp. After that, you have SOI or the School of Infantry which has two different paths. You attend either ITB meaning Infantry Training or MCT which is Marine combat training."

"So you were leaving for ITB or whatever?" Emily surmised.

He shook his head with a small smile. "No, MCT. I was becoming an MP back then." He took a swig of his coffee. "I didn't decide to go for my Secondary MOS 0317 until years later which meant even more training for me. I had to lat-move at the end of that contract, complete IMC, and then attend Scout Sniper School."

"You made made things harder on yourself than necessary," his father said.

"I did," he agreed, "but I don't regret it in the least."

"And you two randomly ended up taking the same train?" Emily asked the two adults in between another bite of her breakfast.

"Yes," Shannon confirmed. "Although it's a small town, that isn't saying much. We quickly became friends, though, we didn't get to talk much while he was stationed at Camp LeJeune. It was a little harder to talk back then."

He shot a small at his wife. "But we managed."

The older redhead nodded happily. "That we did, Tiger."

The start of the morning was nice, but eventually, Jethro did have to leave for work. He needed to work the case with his team.

Shannon had offered to watch her for the first part of the day, but as both Tobias and Diane were going to be at the Navy Yard, it just made more sense for Jethro to take his niece there first thing. He did go in an hour late though, which wasn't uncommon when a case carried into the weekend like this.

"Can I stay one more night at your house, Uncle Gibbs?" Emily pleaded as the elevator climbed up NCIS headquarters. "We can watch African Queen again."

"Your parents want you back," he replied gently.

"They didn't want me back last night," she replied cheekily. "I'm thirteen... they'd let me emigrate to Jupiter if I could get a ride."

He let out a small laugh as they finally stepped out of the elevator.

"Good morning!" Ziva greeted, already seated at her desk and looking something over. "BOLO's out on Eddie Macklin's vehicle."

He nodded, giving Ziva a small smile. "With any luck that will come back soon."

"Yeah," Ziva agreed. "And how are you, Emily?"

"Don't get me started," Emily quipped.

Diane marched up to the young teenager. "Emily! Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you are in, Missy?"

"Me?!" Emily fired off. "You're the one who's ruining your life."

"I beg your pardon?!" Diane shot back.

"Uh, www. YouAndDadSuckTogether .com! " the young teen retorted. "Or are you too desperate at this point to care?"

Tobias leaned into him and spoke in a low voice that was clearly meant just for him. "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh?"

Diane gasped. "How dare you talk to me like that."

"How you and Dad speak to each other?" Emily countered. "All you guys do is fight."

"We do not fight," Diane denied. "We are just very loud!"

"Best let them wear each other out before I get into it," Tobias stated.

Jethro decided it was probably best he not engage.

"And you!" Emily said as she turned towards Tobias. "How could you do this to me?"

"Honey, no one is doing anything to you. Your mother and I are just... Wait a second. How exactly do you know about... your mother and me?"

"I know everything," the rather precocious teenager stated. "I put a keystroke logger on both your Facebook accounts."

That struck a nerve with Diane. "You what?!"

"You need a warrant to do that!" Fornell added.

Before the heated discussion could go much further, Abby walked into the squad room eagerly repeating Jethro's name to get his attention. He turned to her and gestured for her to speak. "I cracked the suspect's cell phone. There are boatloads of juicy texts on there from him to Fornell's ex-wife. I mean, this stuff is-is kinkier than Fifty Shades of Grey. You have got to come see this..." Evidently, Abby finally started to clue into the tension in the room. "Fornell. Ex-wife. Daughter." The forensic scientist gave a weak, anxious laugh. "Oops."

Tobias wordlessly turned and started heading in the direction of the elevator, no doubt intending to go down to Abby's lab to see the aforementioned messages.

"You get back here or I will smash every computer in that lab!" Diane screamed.

"Don't you touch my babies!" Abby yelled after her.

Emily walked straight up to his desk and eyed him. "Can I apply for asylum?"

He hung his head with a small nod. He had no issues with her staying at his place if things got too much at home. As long as her parents were made aware.

"Come on, Kid!" he ordered as he shot his surrogate niece a small smile. "Let's go grab you a drink and then you can relax in the conference room for a bit."

"Fine by me," the teen readily agreed.

God, it was going to be another long day. Jethro could already tell that both Tobias and Diane were going to drive him up the wall.

Oil and water, seriously. What were those two thinking?

At least he had his and Shannon's anniversary dinner to look forward to that evening.