A/N: Here's another chapter folks! Hopefully I didn't make you wait too long, but what can I say... life! To all of latest followers/favourites welcome aboard! To my reviewers, thank you so much! your comments are soul food for my writing!
To my guest reviewers: thank you so much! So glad you're enjoying this story! To answer a few of the questions, yes I will be tackling the ex-wives area, let's not forget Shannon still doesn't know how close Jenny was with Gibbs! And Buster coming to the Gibbs home, yes that will happen too :)
Now, let's get back to the family home..
Shannon couldn't help but smile as she sat at the table with her family & the Bond boys, she felt like she was truly home! This was so familiar that it was surreal, she'd dreamt of such simple things and to now be able to do it was just too special. It wasn't that they were saying all that much, but the silence was comfortable, she was however ready to tackle the next bit "should we go upstairs?"
Gibbs nodded, he was ready for it, he wondered though "Kell, you ready to go upstairs?"
Kelly wasn't sure if she was ready or not, chewing her bottom lip she replied quietly "think so"
"Come on angel, let's go up together, one step at a time" Gibbs said gently, he felt like should take her up, he needed to be the one to take her into her bedroom.
Mike watched as Kelly headed up with Gibbs & Nix walk up with Shannon, he'd motioned for his brother to stay put though, knowing this was again something the family should do alone.
Gibbs came to the top of the stairs and whilst he would have loved to have walked straight ahead into his bedroom to show Shan he knew that going to his girl's room was what they needed to do first, so he turned them & headed for her room.
Gibbs stopped them outside her room he brought his girl as tightly as he could into his side "we'll do it together angel, when you're ready you go to open & we'll go in"
Nix felt like this was something that both his parents should do with his sister alone, so he took a step back and looked at his mum "go with them" he whispered.
Shannon looked at her boy, at first she wanted to put up a fight, but she saw that he truly wanted her to do with his sister, she was such a well meaning brother! She gave him a smile & pointed to the room across from Kelly's "you are a wonderful brother, and that's your room there" she whispered "go have a look darling, I'll be in, in a few minutes"
Shannon moved to stand just behind her girl & rubbed her hand up & down her girl's arm "together darling" she whispered "we're right here"
Kelly was nervous, taking several deep breaths she reached for the handle & as she did she felt & saw both of her parents move their hands to cover hers, slowly they turned the handle together & pushed the door open.
The first thing Shannon noticed was that the air was stale, he'd clearly not opened the window in a long time! Looking around she could see that Kelly's old bed was gone but there were some boxes where the bed used to be.
Kelly had closed her eyes when she'd felt the door open and it took her parents walking her forward to get her to open her eyes again the first thing she saw was her old doll house, it hadn't moved at all, it was still right in the corner where she used to play with it. Her old dresser, mirror, desk & chair were there too. The only big thing that was missing was her bed. It felt so strange to be back in her room, like it was dream only this was real, no it was surreal!
Gibbs had maintained his strong hold of his girl & could feel her heart beating fairly fast "shh angel, everything's ok, you're ok Kell bear" he then saw something that may bring a smile "look who's guarding your doll house still"
Kelly looked to her doll house again, and sitting on the roof was her old stuffed dog.
Shannon looked to it as well & she too smiled, she felt her girl move towards it & was glad when she reached for it. When her girl brought the dog towards them she reached out to pat it too "think Sempi could use a wash though" she said softly with a smile.
Kelly smiled & nodded "yea, he could" she looked at her dad "could you wash Sempi?"
Gibbs could only smile "of course I can angel, I'll have him washed & dried in no time" to get a smile out of her was such a good feeling & that's when he remembered something else "little black box on the dresser" he said pointing towards it.
Shannon again watched as their girl moved slowly towards the dresser, though making sure they were right with her. Shannon could see that her girl's hands were shaking so she reached out and put a steading hand underneath the box and helped to guide it towards them.
Kelly was glad her mum was helping her hold the box and just watched as her dad opened it up, she saw that there was only one thing in it & she grew a lump in her throat because of it.
Gibbs held a gentle hand on the box keeping it open, he had felt his girl take a breath & he pressed a kiss to her head in comfort "I could never bring myself to get rid of this, because you were & always will be my little girl" he whispered.
Shannon watched as their girl tried to nestle as close into her father as she could manage & that he'd wrapped his arm around her even tighter, it brought some tears to her eyes, she hated herself! She hated what she had let happen to her family! She pushed those feelings aside, she had to focus on helping her girl, so she too pressed a kiss to her head "it certainly is a special necklace for you darling" she whispered.
Kelly was nestled into her dad & could feel her mum nestled into them both too, looking at the necklace brought a memory back to her.
Flashback
"Kelly! Hurry up please!" Shannon called as she waited by the front door.
"5 minutes!" Kelly called back from her bedroom "I'm still finishing to get ready!"
Shannon shook her head "you're already dressed! We're just going to the store, what else could need to do?" getting no response she called again "Kelly! Come here now!" she finished sternly
"What?" Kelly replied with a huff as she came down the hallway.
"You're dressed & we need to go to the store, Agent Mitchell wants to go & get back before dark, can we please get going?" Shannon remarked taking her daughter's hand into her own.
"Fine" Kelly huffed as she let her mother pull her out the door, upon getting outside though she realised something "I have to go back! I forgot my necklace!"
Shannon gave her girl a sad smile "sweetheart, we're only going to be gone for an hour at most, can you wait to put it back on for when we get home?"
Kelly hated being without her necklace, she just pouted as she looked downwards.
"Darling, I know you love that necklace, but dad wouldn't want us to be delayed and risk ourselves for it, he'd want us to remember that we always put safety first & that's what Agent Mitchell is here to do, so we have to do as he asks, ok?" Shannon remarked gently.
"Ok" Kelly finally conceded, her mum was right her daddy wouldn't stand for them not putting safety first, no matter what.
Shannon pulled her girl close to her in the car once they were both buckled up "no matter if you have that necklace on or not, you will always be daddy's little girl, as well as mine"
Kelly let out a smile "when's he calling next? Can we make him another tape recording?"
Shannon couldn't answer the first question, because she had no idea but "of course we can make daddy another recording, I think one of that new song you're learning to play would be perfect!"
Kelly shook herself, she didn't want to the memory to keep going, it would get really bad, really quickly! The memory had just served to remind her that she'd taken the necklace off the day of the accident and she'd been heartbroken about it! "can you put it on me daddy?" she whispered.
Gibbs heard the whisper & could only smile, and to hear her use the word 'daddy' again, that touched his heart like nothing else "of course I can my little girl"
Gibbs carefully took the necklace out of the box that Shannon was now holding on her own & gently ran his fingers around the chain to clear off any possible dust before wiping his fingers over the larger piece to remove similar dust. He then took half a step back, and lifting his girl's chin with a finger looked her in the eye, keeping the eye contact he placed the necklace over her head & brought it down until it settled onto her neck, hmm.. "it looks a little tight, you keep that on for now & I'll get you a longer chain angel" he finished as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Kelly nodded as she looked at the piece of metal now resting on her chest, it was shaped just like one of her dad's marine dog tags, but it had different kind of inscription, it simply said 'daddy's little girl'. He'd made it for her when she was 6 & she'd barely taken it off, especially when he'd been away.
Gibbs felt her fall back into his chest and he wrapped his arm around her, his other arm he used to pull his wife closer & brought their heads together "what's say we add another tag to this necklace, one that says 'mummy's little girl'?"
Shannon smiled as she looked into his husband's eyes "sounds perfect" she replied before giving him a quick kiss "how does that sound angel? That ok with you?"
Kelly nodded "yea" she mumbled with a smile, that sounded great as far as she was concerned.
Shannon shared a smile with her husband as they heard the mumbled response and gave them a few moments of just basking in their feelings.
Nix knew it would take some time for his sister & parents to finish in her room, so he'd gone down to get Mike & Myles and he took them into the room across from Kelly's that his mum had said would be his & to have a look at it. He wanted to get a good look at it and work out where everything would go & the boys could help him.
Mike followed his brother & Nix up the stairs and down the hall, whilst he had reservations about being up here without the invitation of either Gibbs or Shannon, Nix had explained what was going on and thought that if he could keep Nix company and occupied it would help so Shannon & Gibbs could be there for Kelly in her room. As he saw the doors, he couldn't help but flash a look into Kelly's room, all he saw though was their backs, nothing more, so he followed Nix & Myles into the other room.
Nix closed the door before speaking "This is going to be my room, it looks the same size as my room in the other place, except no walk-in closet. Where should I put my bed?"
Shannon pulled her girl back from her father's hold so her back was flush against her own chest & wrapped her arms around her waist "so my angel, what do you think of your old room, could you…" she'd started to ask something but was interrupted.
"Don't want to be in here again" Kelly said quietly interrupting her mum.
"You want to leave now? Or you don't want to have this as your room again?" Gibbs asked, trying to work out what she meant.
"Room" Kelly replied in response hoping they'd understand, she just couldn't bring herself to want to move back into it, it felt too strange, too weird!
Shannon let out a sigh, she knew it would take time but she'd have hoped they could work their way home sooner rather than later. She shared a deep look with her husband, what were they going to do now?
Gibbs silently cursed, he wanted his family back in their true home as quickly as possible, but he'd never push his girl into a room she couldn't handle being in, now what did they do? He could see his wife was equally perplexed by the issue, he just thought about it, what to do now?
Shannon continued to share the look with her husband when all of sudden he broke into a smile "Jethro?"
"Got an idea" Gibbs commented "come with me" he commented as he took their hand into his own "come on angel, I've got the perfect idea"
Kelly shared a look of confusion with her mum, but it seemed she was in the dark just as much. She just followed her down back down towards their room, but where were they going? Surely her dad wasn't going to give up his bedroom for her?! All of sudden though he'd stopped them, they were in line with the top of the stairs.
Shannon watched as he pulled on the lever to bring down the stairs that led up to the attic, he brought it right down & started walking them up it. That's when she started to figure out what he was planning "careful on the stairs" she said softly as they headed up, these didn't look too good either.
Gibbs knew the attic was a complete mess, heck he hadn't been up here in well… a while! But that didn't matter right now, once his girls had joined him he pulled his girl into his hold & mirroring his wife's earlier hold, brought her back to be flush against his chest "what if we convert this attic to be an area just for you angel, we'll get rid of all this stuff & deck it out with whatever you want, how does that sound?"
Shannon's thinking was right & she thought it was a wonderful idea! This was a pretty big space & she wouldn't feel trapped or anything, she'd let her girl make the decision though.
Kelly's eyes widened "you want to convert the attic into my bedroom?" this area was massive! It was the length of the house!
Gibbs nodded & saw his wife do likewise "we sure do, it could become your bedroom & relaxation room, your personal space, so how does that sound?"
"I think it's a wonderful idea" Shannon added
Kelly smiled "yea, ok"
"What are you doing up here?" Nix asked reaching the top of the stairs, they'd looked at his room & then realised the rest of his family were no longer in Kelly's old room, they then saw the attic stairs down, so decided to venture up.
Shannon smiled at her son "we're going to convert the attic into Kelly's room" she answered as she saw Mike & Myles both follow Nix up the stairs.
Nix's eyes widened "this whole space?!" this attic was massive! He reckoned it was the length of the whole house!
"Yeap" Gibbs nodded simply
Shannon knew though there was an underlying message in her son's question "your sister is 21, and about it enter the workforce & undertake the bar exam, she needs her own private space, and this will be it."
"Can I have Kelly's old room then? Its bigger than the other room" Nix asked carefully, he'd only poked his head into his sister's old room, but he knew it was bigger, if only slightly.
Shannon looked at her daughter "darling, would that be ok with you?"
"Yea, suppose" Kelly replied, while it would be weird, it was better than her having to be in it!
"Thanks Kell" Nix said with a smile.
Gibbs smiled at the sibling interaction as he looked the area over & he had another thought "you know, we could even give you your own small bathroom if you want angel, we could put it in over there, in the area that's above the main bathroom downstairs. Pressure would be good enough to give you a shower, toilet, basin and everything I think, how's that sound?"
"Really?" Kelly asked looking up at her dad "my own bathroom?"
"uh huh" Gibbs smiled "we really only have one, so putting in another one for the four of us makes sense"
"That I agree with, another bathroom would definitely not astray in this place" Shannon remarked "so Mikey, what do you think of this space?"
"Think it's great Mrs G" Mike answered before he turned to Kelly "you could turn it into something similar to Amy's studio back at college." He didn't want to make too many comments thinking Gibbs would want to make it himself, but they could certainly do a lot with this space!
Kelly looked across the area as she pictured Amy's old place "size is pretty similar" looking back up to her dad "could we maybe put a study corner in with a desk and shelves and stuff? And maybe a small couch and bean bags and…"
Gibbs had to stop her "angel, stop" he waited for her to stop before continuing "we can do all of that & more, there's no rush to decide, but rest assured whatever you want I will make sure we can do, ok?" he finished holding her cheek in his palm and looking right into her eyes. He was going to do this attic for her, not Mike or anyone else, but he himself!
Shannon could tell that he was going to get territorial about this and that would need managing, but there one thing she wanted to do first "why don't you four stay up here & come up with some suggestions for layouts so dad can then work out how to get it done, we'll be back in a little while" she finished putting her hand out for her husband to take.
While Gibbs wanted to come up with the plan for the attic himself he realised where his wife wanted to go & could only grin. Taking her hand into his he led them back to the stairs "stay up here!" he remarked as he descended the stairs. Going into their bedroom was a private moment that he wanted to share & share alone with his gorgeous wife.
Shannon couldn't help the chuckle that escaped as they made their way down the stairs. She was feeling like they were well & truly at home, she held no reservations about heading into their bedroom, she was only looking forward to seeing it. Sure, she couldn't help but wonder what he'd done to the room, but based on the rest of the place, she doubted there was a great deal of change.
Gibbs reached their door & looked at his wife "we're finally home"
"Yes, yes we are" Shannon smiled in reply as they turned the handle together.
A/N: so it looks like Kelly's getting a new big-ass room, and before you ask, no we are not entering the bedroom with Gibbs & Shannon, that's way too private for us to see! hehe
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You know I love to hear your thoughts, so review away! There's more coming soon! If there's anything in particular you'd like to see in Kelly's room or anything/anywhere else, just let me know! either here of on my Facebook page, I've got pictures and all sorts of things up.