1990
Gibbs pulls into the driveway in front of his house. He notices his little 6-year-old daughter Kelly is walking around in the front yard. It seems like she is searching for something. It has been freezing for days in Washington DC and the ground is covered in snow and the weather forecast is promising more snow over the next few days. Gibbs has been on a training exercise for the past few days. He is feezing cold and exhausted when he walks into the house. The smell of hot freshly brewed coffee is meeting him as he enters the house. he hears Christmas carols coming from the kitchen where his wife, Shannon is. He drops his bag and takes off his coat and his shoes and walks into the kitchen. Shannon is currently finishing up after Christmas cookies. He walks over and stands behind her and wraps his arms around her waits and hugs her as he kisses her neck. She leans into him.
"hey. Welcome home," she says and looks back at him over her shoulder and he captures her lips in a loving passionate kiss. The kiss quickly grows heated but Shannon stops it.
"hey, easy marine. Kelly is home and she is awake." Shannons says in a reprimanding tone.
"she is outside. I just saw her in the front yard. It seemed like she was looking for something." Gibbs says and starts kissing his wife down her neck.
"yes. Thanks to you she is working on one of her many outdoor projects."
"thanks to me? I haven't been home for 4 days." Gibbs says in between kisses. Shannons places her hands on his face and forces him to look at her.
"she says she is on her own marine training exercise in the front yard," Shannon says. that makes Gibbs laugh.
"okay ill go oversee her training then," Gibbs says and walks back out to put on his booths on to go out to his daughter.
He comes out to the backyard where Kelly now is. She is squatting down in the snow in a corner of the backyard. It seems like she has dug a big hole in the snow.
"Hey, Kell…" Gibbs greets and walks over to Kelly. She doesn't seem to hear him. he kneels down next to her to see what she is doing.
"Hey, daddy." She says once he places a hand on her head.
"what are you up to?" he asks when he sees the pile of wood sticks she has placed in the hole she has dug in the snow.
"a survival camp to keep animals away while I'm on the overnight watch out."
"you are going to sleep out here tonight?" Gibbs asks.
"maybe…" Kelly says as she keeps focusing on her pile of wood that she is stacking.
"may I help you?" he asks.
"do you know how to build a campfire without a matchbook?" Kelly asks looking up at her dad.
"I do. You need help?" Kelly nods.
Kelly has picked up a stick that she is rubbing in between her very dirty pink gloves. It seems like she is trying to start a fire by rubbing the tip of a stick on a piece of wood. She seems to have understood part of it but hasn't gotten the technic right. Gibbs looks impressed at his little girl.
"Can I get a hug first?" Gibbs asks holding his arms out as an invitation to his daughter. The little girl stands up so she is about the same height has her dad, as he is kneeling down in the snow. She breaks into a big sile and hugs her dad.
"I missed you, daddy." She says into his neck as she is hugging him.
"I missed you too Kelly…" Gibbs says. she looks over at the kitchen window where he sees Shannon is standing and watching them.
"Mommy missed you too," Kelly says as they break the hug.
"yeah? She tells you that?"
Kelly nods. "she let me sleep in her bed last night because she missed you and you weren't here." Kelly explains.
"really? Well, I am back now. So how about you and I build that campfire?" Kelly breaks into a big smile.
"Okay, daddy."
Gibbs and Kelly stand up to get a good look at Kelly's work. Kelly brushes of her knees just like her dad does when they stand up. Then she looks at her gloves.
"my gloves got a little dirty."
"well, my gloves a really dirty too. It is actually a good thing though." Gibbs says. as soon as he has said that and he sees the interest in Kelly's eyes he knows he is going to be in trouble with Shannon for telling Kelly it has a practical advantage being dirty.
"why?" Kelly asks when her dad doesn't elaborate on his point right away.
"because it works like camouflage," Gibbs explains as he looks over at Shannon who is still standing in the kitchen window watching them. Kelly takes her dad's hand and they start working together on Kelly's little project.
Gibbs and Kelly have been outside for about an hour. Shannon walks out to the backyard with a bag of marshmallows and a can of hot chocolate and 3 cups. Gibbs and Kelly have gotten a nice little fire going in the little firepit that Gibbs and Kelly build doing the summer break in the corner of the backyard. Gibbs is sitting and watching the fire on a little stub while Kelly is busy finding more wood for fire under the snow. Shannon walks over to Gibbs. He looks up at her.
"Hey, you two. How would you like some hot chocolate and some roasted marshmallows?" Shannon asks.
"Sounds great," Gibbs says and assist Shannon with putting down the cups and the hot chocolate. Gibbs pulls over a wooden stub for Shannon to sit on, next to him. they look back at Kelly who is very busy.
"so what was she training for this time, Marine?" Shannon asks. It always makes Gibbs smile when his wife addresses him as Marine or by his rank.
"an overnight stakeout camp," Gibbs informs Shannon and it makes Shannon laugh. Kelly looks so much up to her dad, that pretty much every time she plays alone it has something to do with being a marine. She has even given herself a rank.
"What is her rank by now?" Shannon asks. "with all the training she has gotten she must be more than just mini marine." Minimarine was a rank that Kelly came up with herself for whenever she is playing marine training in the yard. Gibbs is both proud and terrified about Kelly's interest and fascination with his profession. He is proud of her that she is looking up to him and wants to be like him and learn from him but on the other hand, he is terrified that she one day will join the marine core. He would be both proud and terrified of seeing his little girl as a marine.
"I think she said her rank now is sergeant mini marine," Gibbs informs Shannon and they both start laughing at their little girl's imagination. Kelly comes over to her parents with her arms full over sticks for the fire.
"look, daddy. I found all of this. is that enough?" Kelly asks proudly as she drops the sticks on the ground.
"it is great Kelly. Good job, Marine." Gibbs says. Kelly straightens up her back and her shoulders and looks proud at her parents. Shannon now notices Kelly's gloves that are really dirty and muddy.
"Kelly your gloves," Shannon says tiredly. "I justed washed them so you could wear them for the last day of school.
Kelly looks down at her gloves.
"But Mommy…" Kelly says and looks persistent at her mom.
"they are camouflaged, mommy. So the bad guys can't see me." Kelly explains logically. Shannon looks over at her husband with a very accusing look. Gibbs just looks down and tries to avoid Shannon's accusing stare at him.
"Kell…" Gibbs says. Kelly looks over at her dad.
"When we go in we are going to put your gloves in the washing machine so they are clean for tomorrow and then I am going to get you a pair of gloves you can use for playing outside and then you can use your pink gloves for nice events, okay?" Kelly nods. Gibbs looks over at his wife trying to see if his attempted peace offering to his wife worked. She is still sending him the death-stare but he also detects a small smile on her lips.
"Kell, I got a mission for you, if you are up for it." Gibbs challenges his daughter. Kelly looks very determined. She has the same determined look in her eyes as her father so often has. "you go find a marshmallow stick for each of us. Report back here when you found it." Gibbs asks. Kelly nods eagerly with a big smile and walks away to complete her assigned mission. Shannon and Gibbs look after their little girl who runs over to some trees to find the sticks. Shannon moves closer to Gibbs and leans into him.
"you know I am holding you personally responsible if our daughter joins the marines one day," Shannon says and kisses her husband.
"she is not," Gibbs says. Shannon detects more concern than pride in his voice. Normally whenever they talk about his career or Kelly he has eminent pride in his voice.
"what if she does? How would you react?"
"terrified," Gibbs says honestly looking over towards his daughter how proudly holds up one stick. Gibbs signals a good job to her and then Kelly continues her search.
"terrified?" Shannon asks and sits up to look more directly at Gibbs. "highly trained marine gunnery sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs terrified?" Shannon laughs. "the marines trained you for anything. I have never seen you terrified of anything."
"I am not trained for everything," Gibbs says in a lower voice. Shannon notices something on his face that she hasn't seen in many years. The sign of insecurity. The last time she remembers seeing him insecure was the night he proposed to her and the first time he held Kelly in his arms the day she was born. But he hasn't shown any signs of insecurity ever since.
"you are trained for any mission and any possible scenario, Gibbs," Shannon says.
"Not everything. the two most important missions in my life are not something I am trained for." Gibbs says and takes a sip of his cup of hot chocolate. Shannon look bewildered at him. "I am not trained and never will be for how to be a great dad for Kelly and how to be a great husband for you. it is something I will have to learn over time."
"well…" Shannon says and places her hand on her husband's face.
"you once told Kelly that the greatest form of training comes from years of experience," Shannon says and kisses her husband passionately until Gibbs pulls back from her.
"That was what I told Kelly last week when she was complaining about how hard her math problems were," Gibbs says and they both start laughing.
Kelly comes running over to her parents.
"I report back. I got three sticks for marshmallows." Kelly says and stands right next to her parents.
"daddy…" Kelly says when her parents aren't paying attention to her but are too invested in their kiss. They break the kiss and look up at Kelly.
"I finished daddy," Kelly says and holds out the sticks to her dad.
"good job, Marine," Gibbs says in a formal tone and takes two fo the sticks from Kelly and hands one to Shannon.
"lets roast some marshmallows then," Gibbs says and Kelly takes a seat in the snow in front of Gibbs. While Shannon helps Kelly prepare her marshmallow stick Gibbs walks to the garage to get some blankets for them to stay warm. After a few days of trainingexercise in the cold snow, there is nothing better for Gibbs then to come home and spend some quality time with his two girls.