Hey guys! I am finally, finally back. Sorry about my essentially abandoning this story. I had to focus on my own mental health, school, and work... BUT I am back, and I plan on updating this story at least once a week. I plan on around 10-12 chapters minimum on this story depending on reviews/interest. I am also so sorry that the last time I posted this chapter there was an error in converting the file which lead to it being typed as almost code. It should be fixed and right now! Please leave reviews on where you hope to see this story moving. I have chapter 8 done, but I am open to suggestions/changing my plans.

Chapter 7:

"Jack?"

"Huh," she replied. She was just sitting in the bed staring at the baby in her lap. The empty look on her face from earlier had returned, which had him worried.

"You know what Jack," he walked over to her bed, reaching out to grab their son from her. He felt that he had barely gotten any time to bond with Jackson through all of the chaos. "We need to talk about the episode."

"I know we do. I just don't know what it was. I don't know what came over me. I—I don't know what is wrong with me babe. I," she had burst into tears at this point. He simply sat Jackson down in the bassinet next to the bed. He could get some bonding time later; right now, he needed to focus on Jack. He quickly sat in the bed next to her and pulled her tightly into his chest.

"Hey, nothing is wrong with you," he grabbed her face and turned her towards him. She was too ashamed to look back at him at the moment, "Look at me. Jack, look at me now," she looked back at him through the flowing tears," There is nothing wrong with you. We are going to get you the help you need. We are going to get you through this; we are going to get through this together. I have already talked with Dr. Millett and Dr. Confalone, she is going to come see us later today to meet Jackson and see how you both are doing. This is not your fault; this is nobody's fault. We are going to get you back to being you whatever it takes; you will be you again babe because we need you, all of us, the team, me, and Jackson. We need you and love you no matter what."

The two of them stayed wrapped up with each other laying in the bed. Jack was silently sobbing into his chest. She gently drifted off. Gibbs even drifted off for a moment before being awoken by the buzz of his phone in his pocket. Careful not to awake Jack, he reached down to grab his phone and read the message, "I know you aren't much of a texter Popeye; just checking in on our girl before I get the chance to swing by this afternoon. If you need anything before then, just let me know," it read.

"not good doc," Gibbs sent back.

This three word response shook Grace to the core. He would not have responded unless the situation was dire. It was only three words, but the fact that he took the time to send anything back told her all that she needed to know. She immediately went to the front of her office, "Please cancel all of the rest of my appointments for the day," she said to her receptionist.

"Is everything okay Dr. Confalone?" the young receptionist responded with worry.

"I'm afraid not, family emergency. I should be back tomorrow, but I will let you know as soon as I know. Thank you, and please apologize deeply to all of my patients for me," Grace responded. She wasn't lying entirely and felt no remorse. Jack and Gibbs were her family, or at least close as she had to family. This was an emergency in her book, and she wouldn't let anything get in the way of rushing to their aid. Jack was the strongest woman she had ever met, and for Gibbs to show any level of worry about her scared Grace more than she could express. She rushed to the hospital as quickly as she could, letting Gibbs know that she was with a simple response, "on my way."

She arrived to the hospital in less than 10 minutes on what should have been an about 20 minute drive. Gibbs hadn't even gotten the chance to wake Jack. The nurses had come by and gotten Jackson shortly after Jack fell asleep to give the new parents a chance to get some rest. Dr. Confalone ran up to the nurses' station, "Hi, I am Dr. Grace Confalone. I am here to meet with one of my patients, Special Agent Jaqueline Sloane."

"Okay, she is in room 607, were her and Special Agent Gibbs aware of your visit? Last time we were in there, they were both resting."

"Yes, I have been talking with Gibbs all morning."

"Okay, go ahead in then."

"Thank you," Grace said as she turned to head towards Jack's room. She got to the room and entered quietly, careful not to startle Gibbs or wake Jack if she was still sleeping. She entered to find Gibbs laying in the bed with Jack laying in between his legs, fast asleep leaning into his embrace. Gibbs noticed Grace enter the room, but he looked at her with a slight tilt to his head and confusion on his face. He was not expecting her for another few hours.

"Clearly you didn't see my last text, Popeye," Grace whispered to him as she approached the side of the bed.

Gibbs gently slipped out of the bed as to not wake up Jack, "She's barely slept. Don't want to disturb her resting quite yet," he said to Grace. He looked at Jack and then back at Grace with a worried look in his face. She hadn't seen him like this in a very long time. She simply wrapped up in a hug and led him over to the couch in the room to sit down and talk while Jack continued to sleep.

"Thanks for coming, doc."

"I told you, Popeye, anytime either of you need anything, I will be here. Now, how are you doing? Lots of huge changes in the last couple days."

"She's really struggling doc. I don't know what is wrong. She needs help, and I don't know how to help her. She just isn't Jack right now."

"Gibbs, I asked how you were."

"That doesn't matter right now."

"I call total bull. That isn't your call to make right now. You both need support right now. We will get Jack the care she needs and get her back to normal, but in order to do that, she needs as much support as she can get. That requires everyone around her to be as normal and okay as possible. That includes you, Popeye. She needs you to be strong for her, and I want to make sure you are in the right place to do so."

"I'm doing fine. I was, at least, until I saw her like this. I don't know how to help her and that hurts me. That is all I care about right now, of course that, and our child. I expected that once she had the baby, everything would be perfect. That last part of the pregnancy was rough on her both physically and mentally, and I thought that it would all get better once she gave birth, that it would all be over, but"

"But, it didn't? It's all too common in tough pregnancies. We think that once the baby is out, everything magically fixes itself. What sucks, is the truth. She just went through hell and by doing so, she got the best reward, but chemically, her body doesn't know that. She just had the most dramatic shift of hormones any human can go through in 24 hours. We have no way of knowing who this type of behavior will happen to, but we do know how to help them now. All you need to do for her is be there and be you. That's enough," Grace said as she reached down to grab Gibbs' hand to help reassure him, "Now, let's go ahead and wake Jack. I want to meet that damn baby of yours and I want to talk with Jack personally. I want to see what we will be dealing with."

Gibbs got up and went to Jack's bedside. He knelt down and kissed the top of her head, as he usually did, and she woke up meeting his gaze with a gentle smile.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey you, Grace is here. We've been catching up for a bit so you could rest, but she is getting a little impatient to talk to you and meet the baby."

Jack flipped over onto her other side to see Dr. Confalone sitting on the couch.

"Grace! Thanks for coming! It's so great to see you."

"I wouldn't miss this for the world, Jack! How are you doing?"

"Oh, don't pull that with me. I'm sure Gibbs caught you right up with what all has been going on."

"Nope, Popeye figured it would be best if you told me for yourself. It's not happening to him. I don't need you to tell me everything right now though; we can get to that all later. I just want to know how you are feeling RIGHT NOW."

"Could be better doc, could be worse."

"Makes sense. How about we do this all later though. I'm dying to meet baby Gibbs, and if I don't soon, I just might have to break into that nursery to meet him for myself, and I'm pretty sure the hospital frowns upon that."

"Of course! Babe, why don't you let the nurses know that we are ready."

"On it," Gibbs responded. He went out into the hall to wait for the nurses to bring Jackson up. Once they did, he poked his head into the room to let Jack and Grace know. "Doc, why don't you sit down on the couch and close your eyes," he let her make her way over to the couch and get settled before reentering the room. He made his way over to her with and then gently bent down to put Jackson in Grace's arms, "Alright Doc, open your eyes."

Grace opened her eyes and looked down at the baby in her arms, "Oh my God. I was fully convinced you were going to be a girl!" Grace said to the baby she was holding.

"We were too," Jack chimed in.

"I'm so happy for you guys," Grace said, turning to look at the new parents, "So, Popeye, did you ever think you would have a little legacy baby?"

"What do you mean, Doc?"

"I mean this little man will keep the Gibbs legacy going. You were an only child; this little boy will now keep the Gibbs name going on after you are gone."

"Never thought about that Doc," Gibbs responded.

"The legacy doesn't just live on with him being a Gibbs though, Grace. Wait til' you hear his full name," Jack said as she looked over at Gibbs with smile, "You tell her, babe."

"You sure?"

"Yes, tell her! I know she is dying to find out"

"Doc, this is Jackson Kelly Gibbs, named after…"

"Your father and your daughter," Grace interrupted.

"And his mother," Gibbs added.

"Of course, Jack's son. I couldn't have come up with a more perfect name myself."

They all stayed in the room catching up for a while. Grace was sure to continue to watch and observe Jack's behavior while she was there. She took note of the high emotional reactions and lower reactions. This would all help her in helping Jack heal. She decided it was probably time to go though so the family could get some more rest before their next visitors arrived.

"It was so great catching up and meeting sweet little Jackson. This time together was also very enlightening. Jack, I now you want all of the answers now and want a quick fix, but that just won't happen. What I can promise you though is that it will get better, and I will give you some suggestions now for moving forward. Surround yourself with your normal support. You have plenty of it, and none of us are going to let you down. There is hope for you, and we will all get you through this. If you have any dark moments, call me, night or day. I want to know what triggers those moments; I want to be there for you along with the rest of your family."

"Thank you, Grace."

A few hours later, the team arrived to the hospital so they could finally visit with the new little family. Gibbs had discussed with the nurses to ensure there wouldn't be any sudden interruptions during the visit to try and prevent the previous night's circumstances. Gibbs and Jack had also discussed how they wanted the visit to go. They had decided to follow Dr. Confalone's advice and be completely transparent with the team, to lean into their support.

The team arrived around 6pm following their long day of anticipation. It was nearly killing Bishop; the entire day all she could do was fidget with excitement, and the entire drive to the hospital she was tapping her fingers on the frame of the door of the car. All of this fidgeting was driving Nick and Tim absolutely nuts; they were of course exited as well, but they just had a better way of keeping it all in. When they got up to the maternity ward they were met by Gibbs standing at the nurses' station waiting for them. Bishop rushed him, nearly knocking over Gibbs as she enveloped him in a hug. Gibbs let out a grunt as she knocked the air out of him.

"Hey Bishop. Saw ya yesterday."

"I know; I just have missed you Gibbs, and I just can't contain how excited and happy I am right now."

"Trust us boss, she's not lying," Tim chimed.

Gibbs gave them his little side grin, "So, you guys ready?"

"Of course we are!" Bishop exclaimed. Nick and Tim just met Gibbs question with smiles at Bishop's giddiness and nods of their heads.

"Talked the nurses into letting you all in at once. So, come on in," Gibbs said as he opened the door into their room. The team shuffled in behind him and stood there in silence taking in the sight before their eyes.

"This has got to be a dream," Bishop said with awe in her voice. She still had one arm wrapped around Gibbs waist.

"Sure feels like it is," McGee added.

"Well, are you all just going to stand there and stare, or are you going to come over here and meet him?" Jack said with a chuckle.

"Ha! Pay up suckers!" Torres exclaimed.

"Nick!" McGee said, smacking Torres on the arm.

"What? It's a boy. I was right; you two losers need to pay up."

"You guys bet on our baby?" Jack asked.

"Um, yes," Tim answered for the whole team with a nervous tone.

Gibbs chuckled, "Huh, sounds about right," he said as he ripped the money out of the two agents hands that were handing over money to Torres.

The team all made their way over to the edge of Jack's bed where she was sitting up with the baby in her arms. They all took turns passing him around and doting over him. As with everyone else who had gotten the chance to meet the baby and find out his name, the team just went on and on about how perfect and fitting the name was for baby Jackson.

Jack took her time soaking in the moment. Things finally felt at least a little closer to normal, but she knew that this did not mean everything was magically better. She decided that it was time to tell the team about everything that was going on and what they were to expect in the coming days, weeks, and even months, "Guys, we do have one more thing that we need to do while you are all here. It is very important and serious. Gibbs and I knew we needed to do this now."

"Wait, you guys aren't leaving NCIS right? You aren't leaving us. I thought that was part of this whole thing; you promised you would both come back to work after your leave," Bishop said with worry in her voice.

"No, no, no. We aren't leaving NCIS, and we would never leave you guys. You are family, and that is in fact what this is all about. We are going to need you guys more than ever right now. Not everything is as perfect and smooth as we wished it would be with all of this. Jackson is fine; despite him being a little early, he is as healthy as can be. Me on the other hand, I'm not doing so perfect. Yesterday, we sent you guys away under false pretenses. I have been having severe bouts of postpartum anxiety and depression. Yesterday, when we were visiting with Ducky and Leon I had my worst episode yet. We don't know exactly what triggered this, but we are trying to face this head-on. Dr. Confalone visited earlier and told us the best way for us to beat this is to try and return to the most normalcy we can and to lean into any support we have. Thankfully, we do have plenty of support around us. You guys mean the world to us, and we can't and won't make it through all of this without each of you."

"We will be here no matter what Jack. Delilah went through a little bout of this after she had the twins, so I know at least a little of what you are facing. It is going to be tough, but like you said, you have all of us for unconditional support," McGee said, grabbing Jack's hand. Jack squeezed it tightly and met him with a small smile.

"Yeah Jack, I don't know much about any of this, but what I do know is that we are all here for you," Torres added.

"I agree. We are a family; we have all been through so much together, every up and down. We have never let each other fall, and we won't start now. Especially when we have little Jackson to think of when it comes to this. We've got you guys," Bishop said. She was sitting next to Gibbs holding Jackson in her arms. Gibbs pulled her into a hug and reached down with his other arm to rub Jackson's head. He couldn't express his gratefulness any other way than simply giving his team his caring look. Not many people could read his expression and emotions, but each person in the room could, and they all knew what he was saying with his look.

The team stuck around for around another hour. They then decided to head out to give Gibbs, Jack, and Jackson a little time to themselves. They all knew private time was hard to come by in the world they lived in, but they knew the importance of it to Gibbs and Jack both. On the way out of the hospital Bishop mentioned to Torres and McGee an idea about meeting up to grab a bite to eat so she could run some ideas by them on how they could help Jack and Gibbs moving forward.