Pulling into his driveway shortly after 1800, Jethro was exhausted. The last few days had been hectic, to say the least. All the ongoing Fornell drama aside, the fact that their victim had Diane's ex-boyfriend's phone on him made said man their primary suspect. They went all in on tracking down Eddie. They managed to locate Eddie's car the long-term parking at an airport. There was a clown nose in the trunk of the car along with some blood from what turned out to be an unsolved quintuple homicide. That made Diane even more unbearable. Emily ended up spending the night at casa de Gibbs yet again, uncle and niece having a heart-to-heart about the situation with her parents. Jethro felt out of his depth though, unsure how to help the confused teen.

They eventually tracked Eddie down at a storage unit, where Fornell took a swing at the man who had been sleeping with his ex-wife. Or his wife as his friend was back to calling her. Back at the Navy Yard, Eddie revealed what was really going on: His name wasn't Eddie Macklin. It was Edward Mackenzie. He dropped the accent that he'd been putting on and informed them that he was an undercover special agent for the Secret Service. The guy that they were looking for was named Elijah. And just like that, many pieces fell into place.

It didn't take long for Elijah to learn that 'Eddie' had been pinched, so he kidnapped Fornell's daughter, Emily, for ransom. When Elijah requested Ziva be the one to bring him the money, she agreed. And by all accounts, it went well. She ended up saving the day by rescuing Emily. However, Elijah's escape was short-lived when Emily revealed to the team what she'd done. While the young teen was being held, she had managed to slip her Happy Cat Friend Alert watch she'd gotten as a Christmas gift into Elijah's bag. It had Bluetooth and they were able to track Elijah down using it in fairly short order which helped put everyone's mind at ease. Well played, Em!

Relieved that the mess had been resolved and that everyone was safe, he sighed and made his way into the elevator where he was abruptly joined by Tobias and Diane.

His ex-wife eyed him. "We just wanted to say thank you."

"There's no need," he replied.

Tobias eyed him. "Even so, thank you."

His expression softened slightly. "You're welcome."

"And-" Tobias continued.

"And we have a request," Diane chimed in.

He shot the pair a look. "Oh, I can't wait."

"Oh, will you stop with your whining?" Diane retorted without missing a beat. "Alright, you're a grown man. It - it's unattractive."

Tobias eyed the redhead. "What are you doing? We're here to ask a favor and you're insulting the man."

She eyed the Italian-American. "He has been carrying on like he lost his dolly."

"He hasn't said five words since he's got here," Tobias countered.

The redhead rolled her eyes. "Help."

"Anyway," Tobias said, "we'll be out of your hair in a minute. It's just... It's just that..."

Diane jumped back in. "You've probably noticed that... Tobias and I... clearly gluttons for punishment... are trying to make a second go of things." Diane glanced at Tobias and then back at him. "And, uh, we…"

Apparently, both were going to stutter their way through this. "We, um… we…"

Diane shook her head. "Oh, for Pete's sake. We want your blessing."

He eyed the pair, completely caught off guard. "My what?

"Your blessing," Tobias stated more confidently now. "It's very important to Diane, and me, that we have your blessing."

He glanced between the pair, still baffled by the current situation. "Why?"

"Because it..." Diane suddenly stopped what she was saying and shot Jethro a look of slight exasperation. "What is with the fifty questions? Do we have it or not?"

Jethro sighed. "Just do whatever the hell ya want." He shook his head. "If ya want it, ya have it." With that, the elevator doors opened and Jethro quickly made his way outside before they could continue the conversation.

Finally, he hopped out of his pickup, smiling as he made out his daughter's car parked a short way down the street. They're here.

Walking inside the house, he quickly found himself greeted by his almost-two-year-old granddaughter throwing her arms around his legs in a bear hug. "Pappy."

Jethro smiled warmly down at the little girl. "Hello, Miss Giggles." He leaned down and lifted the toddler into his arms. "How's my girl doin'?"

He wordlessly shot his wife, daughter, and son-in-law a small smile as he listened for his granddaughter's response.

"I good!" Paisley replied, beaming. She proceeded to shove the small piece of paper in her hands at his face. "I draw."

"You were drawing?" he reiterated with a small smile. He quite liked this stage as his granddaughter was getting more and more chatty.

Paisley nodded and Jethro took the drawing from the little girl and glanced down at the myriad of scribble lines covering the page. He had no idea what it was supposed to be.

He discreetly eyed Kelly who mouthed 'dog'. How the sea of scribbles was a dog, Jethro didn't know. Grateful for the tip-off, Jethro turned back to his granddaughter. "This is a very nice looking pup, Kid." He then ruffled the toddler's hair playfully. "Why don't ya go and draw another one while I talk to Mommy and Grammy?"

Paisley nodded her head eagerly. "Okay, Pappy!" And with that, the toddler scurried off to the kitchen table where quite a bit of art supplies was scattered all over.

Shaking his head in amusement at the little girl's enthusiasm, Jethro turned to his wife and pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

"Missed you today," he said once their lips parted.

His wife smiled warmly back up at him. "I missed you too."

He then gave his daughter a quick hug and peck on the cheek. "It's good to see you." He smiled over at his son-in-law who had a happily sleeping Mason passed out in his arms. God, both of his grandkids were growing up so fast. "You too, Mike."

The younger Marine nodded. "Sorry I haven't been able to make it over more lately."

He waved the comment off. "Nature of the beast, Marine."

"I'd ask how you're day has been," Kelly chimed in, "but Mom's filled me in on enough of the Fornell situation that I can imagine. I can't believe Emily ran away twice!"

He shrugged. "Running here isn't exactly running away, Kel."

Shannon took a deep breath. "I'm just glad she's okay."

"You have no idea," he commented. "Things got worse today."

"How so?" Michael inquired, adjusting his hold on Mason slightly.

He explained the kidnapping situation, the group gradually moved their conversation out of the entrance way and over to the living room proper. Eventually, their topic of conversation changed to happier things, Mason asleep in his playpen and Paisley on the couch watching a cartoon. The only person missing was the Gibbs patriarch who had gone out for a visit with L.J Moore.

"Oh, I can do you one better than that!" Shannon quipped, causing them all to eye her inquisitively. I wonder where this is going. "Jethro, remember that picture I took of Kel and Maddie in the Quantico 50m Pool the summer of '89?"

"The one where the girls were using that air mattress in the pool? Sure. I know exactly where that photo is too!" That had been when they took both girls swimming on base during the first week of their summer break before the pair started the second grade at Ashurst Elementary School.

Kelly grinned. "I'd love a copy of that."

He hummed. "I'll grab it after dinner."

His daughter's smile grew even wider. "That'd be great!" She turned to Michael. "I was trying to show off and tipped us right over." Michael started chuckling. "Of course, Dad was ever so supportive and just started laughing hysterically."

He shot his daughter an exceedingly smug look. "I'd warned you both."

Kelly rolled her eyes in fond exasperation. "Yes, Dad, I'm well aware."

Jethro eyed his son-in-law, still smug. "A perfect Kodak moment of Sergeant Reckless here proving she did in fact inherit something from me."

Shannon shook her head chuckling. "Completely ass over teakettle. She may have got my looks but got your penchant for mischief."

Michael started laughing in earnest now. "Please find that photo."

He took a sip of his coffee before eyeing the man. "Don't even need to look."

Relaxing and talking with his family, Jethro thought back to the recent conversation he had with Shannon about retiring. He was feeling more and more ready to take that big step. Especially with the scuttlebutt of a possible transfer for Michael coming up - he'd been tipped off about that by General Ellison.

Maybe it was time for him to see what life was like after so many years on the job.