Note: this was just an idea I thought about after watching last night's episode. I noticed the one scene between Gibbs and Jack where Gibbs says in a very harsh tone "it is not about who is feeling what, Jack." That gave me this idea. Please let me know what you think and ENJOY.

Gibbs went upstairs to see what Phineas wanted. He mostly just wanted the reassurance that Gibbs was there. He missed his mom. He was confused. No, wonder. He had no clue what had happened to his mom or what his mom had done. Gibbs stayed with him for about an hour before Phineas fell asleep.

After Phineas finally fell asleep Gibbs slowly walked downstairs trying not to wake Phineas with too much noise. Downstairs Gibbs was expecting to find Ziva, but she had left. She had always had a habit of sneaking around silently in the shadows. After all, that was what Eli David had trained her to do as an assassin. Gibbs drops down on his couch and takes out his phone. He got a text from Jack. She is asking how Phineas is doing? Gibbs doesn't really know how to answer it, so he texts her and asks her to come over.

Gibbs wakes up by the sound of the front door opening and then closing again. he sits up quickly. He has his weapon drawn until he sees Jack walks around the corner from the hallway into the living room.

"wow, easy. You asked me to come," she says with her hands up in defense. He drops his weapon on the coffee table again.

"right. Thanks for coming, Jack." He says and sits up and puts his feet on the floor.

"how is Phineas?" she asks looking around to see if he is somewhere.

"he is upstairs. Finally, asleep. He is confused and scared. I think he knows something happened." Gibbs says. He sounds so worried. Jack sits down in the armchair. It is unusual for her to keep so much distance between them. Normally she is snuggled up close to him on the couch whenever she comes over.

"Everything okay, Jack?" Gibbs asks concerned.

"Yeah," Jack says a little cold. Gibbs notice she hasn't taken off her jacket, which she normally does before she even enters the living room.

"Phineas is asleep. So, what do you need from me?" she asks and looks at him with a serious look. She has a serious businesslike look in her eyes. not her usual sweet sparkle of joy.

"nothing." He says. Confused about the nature of her question. Normally she doesn't need a reason to come over to his place.

"So why did you ask me to come over if you don't need anything from me?" she asks cold.

"what the hell is going on Jack?" Gibbs asks irritated now. He doesn't understand why she seems to be so upset with him. "when did you start to need a reason to come over?"

"you must have a reason for why you asked me over half past midnight." She says back in the same irritated voice.

Gibbs looks down at his hands for a moment. "I needed you to come over." He admits. "I just wanted to spend some time with you." he looks over at her. so many emotions in his eyes. she feels bad that she was being hard on him. she knows he only shows his vulnerability when he really can't hide it. Jack knows that this case with Ziva most has brought up many new emotions and the fact that it brought in Phineas too, most have hurt Gibbs even more. Jack gets up from the chair. Gibbs follows her with his eyes. she doesn't say a word. She walks to the basement and after a moment he decides to follow her. he walks down the stairs to the basement where she has found his bottle of bourbon. She is holding it up for him.

"tell me what is going on." She says and hands him the bottle. He finds to glass jaws and empties the content out on the table and pours a glass for each. She takes the glass he offers and takes a sip before she leans against the table.

"tell me what is going on." She says.

"you first." He says and takes a sip. She looks confused at him. "you didn't answer my question earlier." He insists. At first, she thinks he is joking but then she realizes there is no sparkle in his eyes which he normally has when he is messing with her.

"what question? She asks.

"since when did you need a reason to come over?" he asks and takes a sip of his bourbon.

"are you serious?" she asks. He nods. he is dead serious.

"since Ziva came back into your life," Jack says. Gibbs doesn't really know what to say. He is just chuckling and shakes his head in disbelieve.

"come on Jack."

"no Gibbs." Jack says persistently. "every time… Ziva comes back into your life, you shot everyone else out. You don't think about the risk you are putting yourself, your career and your team in."

"excuse me for being worried about Ziva and want to help Ziva. She was like a daughter to me. I have a responsibility to her."

"no, you don't." Jack cuts him off. "she is not a member of your team anymore. When she has legal trouble, she should go to the appropriate authorities, not have you and NCIS run a black ops manhunt."

"you didn't seem to have a problem with black ops manhunts when we were hunting for Nigel Hakim," Gibbs shouts back at her. Jack is shocked that he would bring that up. It is like a blow to her stomach hearing from him.

"wow. I didn't expect that from you, Gibbs."

"I expected a bit more from you to Jack," Gibbs says cold. Jack looks down at her hands for a moment to figure out what to say next.

"listen, Gibbs," Jack says and looks up again to meet his blue eyes. they are normally so calm and sweet but tonight they are filled with some much anger when he is looking at her.

"I know Ziva means the world to you and I know that you feel guilty that you didn't go looking for her back when it was announced she was dead."

"I should have known better," Gibbs says more to himself than to Jack.

"but your guilt for not helping Ziva back then should not put you on a suicide mission to make it up to her. I don't know Ziva that well, but I know she wouldn't want you to do that."

"I don't have a death wish, Jack," Gibbs says angrily.

"I don't think you do but I think your guilt towards Ziva and for what has happened to Ziva over the past few years and what Ziva has lost affects you way more then you want to show."

"McGee didn't come looking for either. He is not on a suicide mission, Jack."

"he doesn't know what it feels like to lose a child. You do."

"Tali is not dead. She is safe with Tony."

"but Ziva can't see her. you know that the sooner this is over and the threat to Ziva's life is neutralized the sooner she can be reunited with her daughter. Something that you…"

"STOP Jack." Gibbs yells. "don't say that." He speaks in a tone and looks so angry that it scares her.

"Gibbs… I didn't mean that." She says apologetic and tries to walk closer to him, but he holds his hands up to tell her to stay away from him.

"what do you want Jack?" Gibbs yells after a few moments of silence.

"I want you to not shot everyone who loves you out… you have a lot of people in your life who love you but right now you are drowning yourself in guilt over Ziva and I think you are going to do the same over Phineas."

"Yeah, and I have every reason to. I am the reason for all of this. none of this would have happened if I hadn't asked Ziva to take that shot from up there…" Gibbs points to the top of the stairs where Ziva stood the night she killed her brother Ari. "13 years ago. "I told Ziva to prove her loyalty to me. she did and it started all of this. I have questioned her loyalty several times but she never…. Not even once… questioned my loyalty and trust in her." Gibbs is so filled with emotions. He is angry bot at Jack, at himself and in someway at just everyone and the world and at the same time he is so filled with guilt over not helping Ziva but just believing she was dead 4 years ago. He takes a moment to compose his emotions before he can look at Jack again.

"when McGee and I were held hostage in Paraguay… everyone thought we were dead… Ziva came to sound America… she spent months looking for us. She never gave up. The rescue helicopter beat her to us by an hour." Gibbs looks down at the glass he has in his hands. "she never gave up hope on me and McGee… I gave up on her." he looks up for a moment to meet Jack's soft dark eyes. "Don't believe what you're told. Double check. That is rule nr 6." Gibbs says and looks down at his glass. "my damn rule." He yells out loud before the turns around and throws his glass at the wall in anger. Jack is shocked but quickly walks over and wraps her arms around him from behind to calm him down.

"Gibbs…"she just simply says. she can feel he is calming down by the feeling of her arms around him.

"she is angry with me."

"you are angry with yourself." Jack corrects.

"I should be. Tali hasn't had a mother for 4 years and now Phin… he is growing up without one too."

Jack leans her head against his back. All she can do right now is just being there for him.

"Jethro Gibbs?" they hear Phineas' voice and Gibbs and Jack turn around to see he is standing at the top of the stairs.

"hey, Phin… you need something?" Gibbs asks in a calm fatherly voice.

"I didn't mean to interrupt…"

"It is okay," Gibbs says and walks up the stairs to Phineas. Gibbs places a hand on Phineas' head.

"I would just ask if I could get a glass of water?" Phineas asks almost apologetic.

"sure," Gibbs says and walks into the kitchen with Phineas. While Gibbs is providing Phineas with the requested glass of water Jack walks up the stairs and she is just standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, observing the interaction between Gibbs and Phineas.

"am I going to school tomorrow, Jethro Gibbs?" Phineas asks as he receives the glass from Gibbs. "my mom gets mad if I don't go to school."

Gibbs looks over at Jack hoping to find an answer in her expression. Telling him what to say or do but there is nothing. She has as little idea of what to say to the boy as Gibbs does. Phineas empties his glass and places it on the table next to the sink.

"thank you, Jethro Gibbs." He says and walks over past Jack to go back up to the bed, but he stops in the doorway next to Jack and looks back at Gibbs and then at Jack.

"Are you mad at me, Jethro Gibbs?" Phineas asks.

"why would you think that, Phineas?

"my mom keeps telling me not to ask you for help with things. Like yesterday when I asked you if you could fix my police car."

"I don't mind you asking me for help, Phin. It is never a bad thing or a shame to ask for help." Gibbs says. Phineas nods.

"and I fixed your police car by the way," Gibbs says and it brings out a smile on the boy's face.

"thank you. I just haven't figured out to put it on the top of the tree yet."

how about I help you that tomorrow?" Gibbs asks. The boy nods with a big wide smile.

"thank you, Jethro Gibbs," Phineas says with a smile. Gibbs notices how his smile quickly changes again to sadness.

"miss Agent Jack?" Phineas asks. He is clearly not sure how to address Jack. It amuses Jack and Gibbs.

"Just Jack. Phineas. It will be fine." Jack says with a smile and the young boy nods. "hmmm… can… I ask you a question?"

"sure," Jack says with a smile.

"I always give my mom a hug before bed. Can I give you a good night's hug?" he asks not sure if he is overstepping any lines here. Jack and Gibbs look at each other. Guilt spread all over Gibbs's face.

"sure Phineas," Jack says and takes Phineas in for a motherly hug.

"goodnight," Phineas says when the hug ends and then he walks back upstairs to go to bed. Jack walks over to Gibbs. He is leaning against the kitchen counter.

"I have no idea how to tell him the truth," Gibbs admits honestly.

"I can help you," Jack says. Gibbs looks up at Jack. His eyes are asking her whether she is sure she wants to do it. "ill stay for the night and ill be here in the morning and we can do it together. In that way, he has someone that he trusts to support him." Jack says. Gibbs nods.

"yeah, the man who killed his mother."

"he doesn't need to know that part," Jack says. Gibbs nods. He then takes Jack into a big hug and places a kiss on her head.

"thank you, Jack."