AN: Yep, this one's been a long time coming. While it's been brewing I've gone back and edited up some of the old chapters, started and half written two new fics about Jen and Gibbs, dealt with a whole heap of real life stuff, and yet this one just did not want to be written. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy it :)

That night Jackson had insisted on taking them out for a meal and Jenny felt eyes on them as soon as they entered the building. A glance at the faces of the people around them and it was clear that most were more curious than hostile. Gibbs had returned, they were certainly talking, but with every passing hour in Stillwater it became more obvious just how much he didn't belong here. She then noticed two men in a corner booth with their heads together deep in conversation. One looked at her after noticing her attention with a snide sort of smile and then smirked in Gibbs' direction and she felt him stiffen beside her. "Who are they?" she asked.

Gibbs flicked his eyes over to where the men were seated. "The one in the Sheriff's uniform is Ed Gantry, the other guy's name is Chuck Winslow," he growled without taking his eyes off them.

"Leroy here spent time fighting with 'em when he was younger." Jackson offered, seemingly unconcerned by his son's discomfort. He then nodded to a man working the bar who in turn pointed them in the direction of a vacant table.

Jenny's uneasy feeling and her training had her cataloguing the room. The building was wooden in construction both outside and in, and the only visible exit was behind them. There were tables and chairs dotted around the floor space, stools at the bar and a row of booths against the back wall, with a corridor adorned with a sign indicating it led to the bathrooms in the centre of it, and they themselves would be seated in roughly the centre of the room amongst the other tables.

Gibbs pulled a chair out for her to sit down on.

"Glad to see some of those manners I taught you didn't go to waste," Jackson said.

Gibbs rolled his eyes and muttered something about not being a kid anymore.

"Nope, you're forty-six," his father retorted without missing a beat before grinning and shifting his focus to Jenny. "How about you, Jenny? You're not forty-six," he said with a smile of a man who knew that he would get away with such a question.

She let out a quiet laugh borne partly out of surprise and part incredulity. Jackson Gibbs was friendly, charming, and blunt in a way you could only be as an old man with twinkling eyes. "I'm thirty-two; thirty-three in October."

"Ah, so a bit younger then."

"You're the one lecturing me on manners," Gibbs grumbled and gave a pointed glower in his father's direction.

"Old man's privilege!" Jackson exclaimed with mirth. "Besides, how else am I meant to find out things? It's not like you ever tell me anything."

Gibbs ignored the barb and tilted his head from side to side while wearing the expression of a man who was exasperated. Jackson ignored him and ploughed on unperturbed. "So, Jenny, tell me about yourself."

She pursed her lips into a half-hearted sort of smile as she searched for an answer. "There's not much to tell. I grew up in Georgetown, went to school in Georgetown and I still live there." She said, trying to make it sound as dull as possible. Talking about the past was something she avoided at the best of times and sitting here in the middle of a small-town bar only amplified the feeling of exposure.

Jackson's eyes sparkled and she knew that he wasn't buying her attempts to paper things over. "Oh, I doubt that; the not much to tell part, that is. How'd you end up at NCIS? If you'll forgive my saying so, you don't strike me as someone who's an obvious choice for law enforcement."

A small smile crossed her lips as she wondered whether some of Gibbs's instincts in investigation might be inherited. "I started out working for a senator, but it wasn't right for me."

"Not exciting enough?"

"Too much ass grabbing, and I wasn't a very good secretary," she said in a conspiratorial tone. "I had the right qualifications for NCIS, so I applied and got a job there."

"Straight into working with this one?" Jackson asked and tipped his thumb in Gibbs's direction.

"No, I started in Intelligence, though eventually I wanted to move into the field, so the Director assigned me to Gibbs's team."

"Gibbs, hey?" Jackson asked in jest on hearing her use his last name.

Jenny shrugged. "It's a habit," she said by way of explanation, but it was more than that. She had started calling him Gibbs because she was on his team and it was what they did, but over all the years she had called him Gibbs it had somehow been imbued with a tenderness that she felt even now.

'It's my name, dad," Gibbs said."

"And mine," his father said. "Anyone call you Leroy these days?"

"Nope: Jethro," Gibbs replied.

Jenny cocked her head in thought. In all the time she had known him, the only person she had ever heard call him Leroy was Diane, and it had been jarring in a way that Jethro wasn't. To her Leroy sounded like a name that you would use to scold a child, while Jethro was intimate and somehow earthy in the way that it rolled off her tongue. The name felt like him.

"Ah, like Shannon used to," Jackson said.

At the mention of Shannon, it was like the air had been drained out of their corner of the room and Jenny shot a cautious glance at Gibbs who appeared to have entered a still sort of silence beside her.

"Yeah, like that," he said after a short silence.

Jackson looked as though he wanted to say more but the prospect of more conversation was interrupted by the man in the sheriff's uniform who had since left his place in the corner and was now approaching their table.

Jackson smiled at the man. "Hiya Ed."

"Hey there, Jack," he greeted before he turned to Gibbs. "Well look who it is, the prodigal son has returned."

"What can I do for you, Ed?" Gibbs asked with a barely suppressed roll of his eyes.

"Can't a man come over and greet his old acquaintance?"

"Well sure, but that's not what we are."

"And what would you say we were?"

"Well I was your punching bag."

Ed laughed. "I guess you were. I also heard you was a fed now; guess that technically puts us on the same side."

"So's she." Gibbs said, and though his tone was mild, Jenny could hear the definite hint of warning below the surface.

Ed smirked. "Two feds in our town. I do hope we haven't done anything wrong."

Gibbs glared at him. "Not yet."

The man's sneer only widened. "Ooh, I'd better watch myself," he said and brushed an imaginary speck of dust off his uniform. "Well, seeya round, Leroy." He said before turning on his heel. They watched him head back to his place at a table with the businessman.

Jenny looked to Gibbs. "What was that all about?"

"He's just being friendly," Jackson said. Jenny looked at him and her brow furrowed.

"He came over to make sure I know what a big man he is now. He and his friend over there enjoyed beating me up 'til I was covered in bruises."

"And now he's the sheriff?" she asked, unable to quite believe what she'd just heard.

"Small town," Gibbs said.

"Well you did have a habit of putting yourself in their line of fire," Jackson interjected.

"I didn't have much choice in the matter." Gibbs growled. "I need to use the head," he muttered and excused himself from the table. Jenny watched with concern as his retreating form headed in the direction of the bathrooms.

Jackson followed her gaze. "Ah, he'll cool off. They used to really give it to him, but Leroy was always spoiling for a fight," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand, but his expression changed from blasé to serious. "I never did know what to do with him; I guess nothing much has changed. After his mom died, he got this mean look, and no one could do anything right. I didn't know what to do with him. Was a relief when he met Shannon, he calmed down, the mean look went away, and for the first time in a long time he seemed happy. That look came back when they were taken from him, I saw it at the funeral. Now he's lost that look again, and I'll bet that's because of you," he said, and the way his laser blue eyes held hers reminded her all too much of his son.

"I doubt that," she said and fiddled with a napkin on the table in front of her. Gibbs had been important to her long before he'd had any right to be, and even though she now knew he loved her, she found herself unable to assume that she was that important to Gibbs.

"Look at the way he looks at you; the boy obviously adores you."

"I'm lucky to have him," she said, and the gravity of her words passed between them.

"Well then, sounds like things worked out just the way they were supposed to."

Jenny looked again in the direction that Gibbs had gone. "When he was younger, how badly did they beat him?

"It wasn't pretty. Had to scare 'em off with my shotgun once; fired it right into the air. I never knew what to do with the boy. He was angry and sullen and saw things in ways that I never did. Real sensitive, too. Losing his mother broke his heart, then it was all downhill from there. I know it seems like I just brush off his troubles with Ed, but I learned a long time ago that he only gets more upset when I get involved. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by the distance, but it still hurt, I'm not gonna lie. How about you, do you get on with your folks?"

"They're not around. My father died a while back; I've never met my mother."

Jackson looked surprised. "I'm sorry to hear that." He said and studied her intently. "I know it's not the same, but whatever happens, you're welcome here any time."

"That's very kind of you, thank you." Jenny watched as Gibbs came towards them and sat back down at the table. She could still sense his anger, but he appeared to have calmed down a little. He reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Jackson smiled warmly at them. "Now that that's over, how about we have something to eat?"

Hours later the soft darkness enveloped them as he watched as the dim streetlights cast the shadows of familiar trees through the curtain. So much had changed yet so much remained the same. It had been nine years since he'd lost his family, and a lifetime before that since he'd set foot here, but the wind caressing the outer walls of his father's home made the same sounds it always had. His father was delighted, by their presence and by the impending arrival, but the experience had Gibbs feeling ambivalent at best. The place was as claustrophobic as ever and so was his father's concerted efforts at optimism. Jenny shifted beside him and he moved a hand to rest on her hip. "Comfy?" he asked.

"Mmm." she hummed, and he smiled at the warm, sleepy weight of her back against his and the vibrations that sound made against him.

The next thing he knew he was sitting in a poorly lit room in an old chair that he'd never seen before, and if he tried to focus on anything at all it was like the details weren't there, like they didn't exist in a way that told him it was a dream.

He saw Kelly standing in front of him, and he stared at her dumbfounded. He then looked down at a baby in his arms and he felt compelled to explain. "This is your new baby sister," he said, holding out a tiny squirming baby wrapped in a pink blanket for Kelly to see. He tried to look at the baby's face but somehow it never quite came into focus.

"I always wanted a little brother or sister!" Kelly exclaimed, clapping her hands together in excitement. "She's so pink and squishy!"

Gibbs's stomach sank as he watched Kelly's delight turn into a frown. "But daddy, how is she my sister if she wasn't in mommy's tummy?"

He felt his throat go dry and tried not to falter. "You and mommy aren't around anymore, you're in heaven, so her mommy is a different lady named Jenny."

Kelly tilted her head and squinted, and she appraised him quietly for what felt like years before she spoke again. "Do you love her like mommy?" she asked and kept frowning as she waited for his answer.

One corner of his mouth ticked upwards into his half smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

She considered this a moment before her face split into a wide smile. "I'm glad daddy. I don't want you to be all by yourself!"

Gibbs ruffled her hair, savouring the familiar feel of it as he did and felt the threat of tears building in his throat.

"She's beautiful, Jethro," a woman's voice said from somewhere in the shadows.

It was familiar, and his eyes widened as realisation dawned upon him. "Shannon," he whispered and lifted his face in reverence to where she had appeared right next to their beaming daughter, and his eyes drank in the sight of her face.

Shannon smiled at him but stayed a few steps out of his reach "We love you; we want you to be happy."

"I am happy," he said, but he knew she meant something else.

She smiled at him with what looked like pity. "You need to let us go," she said in a tone that was both firm and insistent.

He wanted to apologise to her for everything she'd borne alone, but he couldn't open his mouth, and she smiled at him as she faded backwards into the darkness taking Kelly with her as she did.

As he struggled to consciousness, he became aware of his arm cast loosely over Jenny's sleeping form, and he moved his hand to the round of her round belly, rubbing it gently through the soft cotton of her pyjamas. He felt the tension of her muscles change the moment she awoke.

"Are you okay?" She asked in a voice that was still groggy from sleep.

"Yeah. Just a dream." His reply was apparently unconvincing because Jenny then rolled over to get a better look at him. He felt a trail of warm tears make their way down his cheeks and she ran her thumbs over them to catch some of the moisture.

"A bad one?"

"No." He said, and his throat felt thick when he swallowed. "They were there, Shannon and Kelly, and so was the baby. I tried to apologise to Shannon, but I couldn't talk. Then they left."

"What for?"

"That I wasn't there for her for any of this. I missed a lot of things."

"I'm sure she understood," Jenny said with an earnestness that matched her expression, and he knew she was right.

"Doesn't make it feel any better."

"I'm sorry. What was it like, the baby?"

"She was tiny, and pink."

"Was she okay?"

"Yeah. It was just a dream, Jen," he said, though it was as much to reassure her as it was himself.

"I know, somehow it feels like it mattered." It did matter, it all mattered, but he found himself unable to speak any more on the matter.

"You should go back to sleep," he said instead.

"Will you?" she asked while propping herself up so that her gaze lingered on his eyes. Her eyes were as large and greenish as they always were, and he felt a wave of affection towards her.

"Yeah," he said, though his voice sounded unconvincing even to his own ears. It wasn't a lie, he fully intended on sleeping at some point, but for now, the thoughts in his head were far too loud.

She gave him one last long look before settling down beside him, and eventually he felt her drifted off again. He had been given absolution, though whether by the ghosts of his family or his own subconscious he didn't know, but he felt it deep within his gut.

"I'm sorry," he said in a low voice, voicing what he hadn't been able to in his dream, and before long he fell back to sleep.

The rest of their time in Stillwater passed without event, and come Sunday morning it was time for them to head home, and to Gibbs the promise of being anywhere other than the small town still made his feet itch to get out of there.

Jackson clasped Jenny's hands in both of his. "It's been lovely to meet you, Jenny, you take care now."

"It was lovely to meet you too," she replied with much politeness, though her smile was genuine.

He then moved onto his son. "You keep in touch, Leroy, you hear?"

"I will, pops."

"And when it's born, you let me know the second you guys are home and settled; I can't wait to meet my new grandchild. I never thought I'd see the day, son, but I'm glad I did."

Jackson grasped Gibbs in a brisk but awkward hug and patted him on the back.

"Goodbye, Dad."

They pulled away, and Jackson waved until they could no longer see them, and Gibbs could feel Jenny's eyes on him as he drove. "Did you get what you came for? It wasn't to apologise, was it."

At her question Gibbs lifted a corner of his mouth. "Needed to make sure we have family."

"That's sweet."

"He doted on Kelly, he supported Shannon when I wasn't around. I wanted you to have that in case you need it." There was a long beat of silence and he could tell that she was affected by what he'd just said.

"Jethro?"

"Mm?"

"Thank you."