Epilogue:

Two years later:

The desert wind whips past his face in a flash of hot air, the particles of sand it carried scratching against his skin with every gust. Despite the harsh breeze, the mid day heat and harsh sunlight swelters around him and it makes it harder to breathe.

"Jenny's dead."

He hears Ducky on the other end of the line, but the sentences the man speaks don't register in his brain. The only thing he hears is the sound of his own voice repeating the words over and over in his head as he tries to accept what now is true.

Jenny's dead.

Jenny's dead.

Jenny's dead.

"Her last stand was to protect you." Mike had later told him, which infuriated him all the more. He knew that he shouldn't have let her go to California without him. He knew it.

Every part of the last two years play in his mind. Their relationship was tumultuous at times, but there was always an understanding between them that they were together for the long run. That, despite how difficult things could get, they were going to wade through the tide together.

He had arrived back home in a blur. There are pieces of the journey he remembers, flashes of plane tickets and car rides, badges and blood, but his mind has been to fuzzy since he learned of her death. He knows Ducky picked him up from the airport, that Abby had hugged him and cried, that Ziva had driven him home, that Tony had avoided him at all costs, points of memory that permeated its way in his mind despite his gaps in memory. What he has no recollection of however, was finding his way to her house long after he had been dropped off at his own.

They had agreed early on that they wanted to keep their respective houses; there were to many memories compiled in both of their minds for them to want to let their homes go. Still, they stayed at his house more often than not.

He opens her best bottle of bourbon and fills his glass to the brim before swigging it back, knocking out half of it in a single go. For a moment he thinks that she would be mad that he's raiding her good liquor, but then he decides she would forgive him given the circumstances.

The top of her desk had been recently organized, something she must have done before she left as it certainly hadn't looked as uniform the last time he saw it. There's an array of blue ballpoint pens and freshly sharpened pencils aligned in a tidy row, an unopened pack of paperclips, folders and papers neatly filed away in her drawers. A clear sign she had been there days before she had left.

After all, despite sleeping at his house her best work had always been done in her study.

He flips through her papers; emptying out any type of folder or reading over any document that might help him learn just why she left so suddenly. What had she found that roped her in so deeply into Decker's death that it had cost her life?

Her last stand was to protect you.

Mikes word ring in his head over and over like a heavy mantra. It occurs to him then that she would have only have done what she did was if she was truly scared that his life was in danger.

Another folder is being emptied out onto the desk when a piece of light blue stationary slips out from between its files. It's torn edges and small size caught his attention almost immediately.

There are two simple words written across the top in her soft cursive. In an instant, he feels his heart pounding hard against his chest are he reads it over and over again.

Dear Jethro

There's a rush of anger that flows through him as he realizes it's all she left him with. Two simple words. No explanation, no parting declarations, no goodbye. It infuriates him to think she hadn't thought about him enough to leave him with something.

His head becomes a concoction of grueling emotions; the grieving process hitting him harder with each day that passes. The addition of his frustration with her only serves to make his head hurt more.

"Damn it, Jen."

He knocks back another glass of liquor.

He wakes up a cold sweat. The heavy quilt that had been draped over him when he fell asleep had been kicked off of him despite the cool temperature of the room. It had been a habit he developed after Shannon and Kelly's deaths; tossing and turning during a fitful nights rest. He supposes there's something so smothering about being trapped under a series of blankets that makes him do so.

The room is still shrouded in darkness; a clear sign that the sun hadn't made its morning debut yet.

To his left, he feels the bed shift and hears the rustling of movement against the sheets.

"What time is it?"

Her voice is heavy with sleep and a bit raspy, but sound of it calms his nerves almost instantly.

"Little after three," he says, glancing at the alarm clock on his beside table, "Didn't mean to wake you."

"Mmm," she grumbles into her pillow, "Everything okay?"

As his eyes adjust to the light, he can finally begin to make out her silhouette in the darkness.; how her shoulders slouch against the pillow and her chest rises and falls in even breaths.

"Yeah, fine."

There's a pause before she speaks again, a sign that she wants to press him further, but she decides against it and simply says, "Okay."

She throws his half of the discarded quit back over top of him and relaxes back into the bed again, inching herself over just enough that her back is pressing against his side and he cant help but run a hand up and down the length of her arm.

"Go back to sleep." She mutters, voice thick with exhaustion as she teeters on the edge of slumber again.

Though she won't see it, he grins at her through the darkness, "Night, Jen."

Her voice is faint, muffled by the pillow when she mutters "Love you."

"Love you too."

A/n: Here we are! The end! I actually was going to have her die at the end of this, because I felt in some way that it really would tie everything together with the series. Life doesn't always have happy endings, and I thought maybe the ending could reflect that, but I decided against her being dad for real for two reasons. 1) Because one of the joys of FanFiciton is being able to deviate from canon, and 2) Because I didn't want to upset anyone who has been keeping up with this story by having her die, even though the emotional impact of that would be much more effective than simply giving them a happy ending.

Then again, it is nice to have stories where they ride off into the proverbial sunset together and live out the rest of their days peacefully. Such are the joys of canon divergence.

Thank you so much for keeping up with this story, I read each and every one of your comments and are especially grateful for those who have read and commented faithfully with every chapter I post. I am overwhelmed by the amount of followers and comments I gained from this.

Please let me know your final thoughts, I would love to know what your opinions are, whether they be good or bad.

With Love,

- Ali