Eight
Jenny rolled over in bed and groaned into Gibbs' shoulder as the alarm sounded, she waited while Gibbs repeatedly hit the bedside table until the beeping stopped. His free arm was wrapped around her shoulders and the arm that had been hitting the alarm clock fell back down against her hip.
"It's too early." Jenny muttered.
She had never been one to sleep in but after having two weeks of being able to get up at 0630 getting up at 0500 was almost painful. The only positive thing was that the baby had slept through the night again, meaning that she had been able to actually stay in bed all night. She hadn't slept great though, she had dozed for most of the night, the pain in her shoulder a constant reminder not to move too much.
"I smell coffee." Gibbs mumbled, rubbing his hand over his face roughly.
This time Jenny could smell the coffee too, and bacon and what she thought might be pancakes. She wasn't normally a breakfast person but the idea of pancakes and bacon was making her stomach rumble.
"Did your dad make breakfast?" Jenny asked as she sat up in bed, wincing slightly at the throbbing in her shoulder.
She rolled her eyes when Gibbs rolled over and buried his head in his pillow with a groan, she knew he wasn't looking forward to getting out of bed and facing his dad.
"You're being melodramatic." She stated with a sigh, "I'm going to head downstairs and see if it's your dad or one of the girls up."
She gave his good shoulder a gentle squeeze before rolling out of bed, she grabbed the first sweater she could find and pulled it over her head making a mental note to turn up the thermostat as she did so. She left Gibbs in her room and made her way down to the kitchen where she found Jack standing in front of the stove.
"Good morning." She greeted as cheerfully as she could manage.
"Well good morning to you." Jack replied, grinning at her, "I hope you don't mind I did a little snooping and made some breakfast."
"I don't mind at all." Jenny replied, "and it smells amazing but you really didn't have to do that."
She wasn't sure Gibbs would be so understanding about the 'snooping' but as long as Jack contained it to the kitchen she really didn't care.
"Nonsense, you and my son could probably use a break and it's not that often I get to cook for my grandkids."
Jenny smiled and nodded her understanding as she made her way to the coffeepot, she poured herself a mug full and grabbed the paper off of the counter before sitting down at the island.
"I like being able to say that." Jack stated after a few minutes of silence, "my grandkids, never thought I get to say that I was doing something with my granddaughter again and now I have three granddaughters and a grandson... Guess I owe that to you."
"I can only take credit for one of them." Jenny reminded him, "and you haven't even met her yet."
"I'm sure I'll love her when I meet her, but you can take credit for all of them, I doubt any of them would be here without you."
"Jethro would have found a way." Jenny replied with a small shrug.
The words were barley out of her mouth before the man himself entered the room with Ava in his arms.
"There's my pretty lady." Jenny cooed, "she's going to be grumpy this afternoon if she doesn't take a nap at some point this morning." She added with a sigh.
"I'll make sure she gets a good nap in." Jack promised, "good morning, Son."
"Jack." Gibbs replied with a small nod.
She took a sip of her coffee and absentmindedly rubbed her shoulder as she watched Gibbs pour himself a coffee.
"What's wrong with your shoulder?" He asked, watching Jenny carefully.
"Recoil from my gun jarred it a bit." She replied with a wince.
It had been a long time since she had last fired her gun and even then it had been a single shot, not an hour of almost non-stop shooting. Her wrist wasn't feeling great either but she wasn't about to draw Gibbs' attention to that as well.
"You gonna be okay? Do you want an Advil or something?" He asked.
"I'll be fine, it's just a bit stiff." She replied dismissively, "your dad made breakfast."
"I can see that." Gibbs replied with a raised eyebrow, "you didn't have to do that."
Jenny sighed quietly and stood up to grab Ava from Gibbs, she shot him a warning glare as she did so before placing Ava in her highchair.
"I wanted to." Jack replied, "I figured you and Jenny could use a break."
"And we appreciate it, and we also appreciate you watching Ava today." Jenny replied, giving Gibbs a pointed look, "it's really helping us out."
Gibbs made a sound that could pass as an agreement as he swallowed a mouthful of coffee, Jenny sighed and went back to cutting a pancake into pieces so small they were barely mush, she was starting to give the baby more solid foods but was weary of choking.
She placed a few pieces in front of Ava and let baby pick at them, she made herself a small plate and sat at the island. She barely had the first bite of her pancake in her mouth when Dani wandered into the kitchen, she watched the girl pause and eye Jack wearily.
N*C*I*S
Dani paused in the doorway to the kitchen, her eyes immediately falling on the elderly man standing by the stove. She debating turning around and going back upstairs before his voice stopped her.
"You must be Dani." He stated, "I'm Jackson Gibbs."
Dani looked over to Gibbs who simply nodded in response to her unasked question. She didn't really need him to respond, at a closer glance the two men looked similar enough that there was no way they weren't related. She stepped forward and shook Jack's offered hand, secretly grateful he made no move to hug her.
"You can call me Jack or Grandpa, whatever you're more comfortable with." He offered, "I made some pancakes and bacon if you want."
"Thank you." Dani replied quietly, "it smells good."
She grabbed a plate and filled it with a few pancakes and pieces of bacon before taking a seat at the kitchen table.
"How did you sleep?" Jenny asked.
"Fine, you?" Dani asked.
She was still torn between liking and hating Jenny, the woman seemed nice enough and obviously the other kids loved her but she couldn't get past the fact that Jenny had abandoned her and hadn't bothered to check in until a few weeks ago.
"I slept okay."
Dani looked over at Jenny and raised an eyebrow, she could see how exhausted her mother looked but she didn't comment on it, she was however debating commenting on the insane amount of syrup on Jenny's pancakes.
"What the hell are you doing?" Gibbs asked looking at Jenny's pancakes.
"I need a sugar boost." Jenny replied with a shrug.
"You're going to give yourself diabetes." Dani muttered.
She could see Jenny glaring at her out of the corner of her eye for a split second before she turned the glare on Gibbs.
"Well don't glare at me, I just asked what you were doing." He said, holding up his hands defensively.
"I'm compensating." She replied, the warning clear in her voice, "Dani is your sister up?" She asked, her voice softer.
Dani looked over at Jenny with a raised eyebrow, she had never heard Jenny snap at anyone like she had just snapped at Gibbs.
"I'm assuming you mean Kelly and to my knowledge she's not." Dani replied, "what time is Jake's game at?"
"1530." Jenny replied, "three thirty." She corrected when Dani stared at her blankly, "And then we're going to your uncle's place for supper after."
"Alright."
"I didn't realize you guys had plans after the game." Jack stated.
"We're just having dinner with a friend, his daughter is on the soccer team with Jake." Jenny replied, "I called him last night and he would love it if you would join us."
"I don't want to intrude." Jack argued.
"You won't be." Gibbs replied.
Dani couldn't stop the snort that escaped at the look Gibbs made behind his father's back, she quickly covered it with a cough and looked down at her plate. She barely saw Gibbs hide a grin at her reaction behind his coffee mug.
N*C*I*S
The urge to pull out her own hair was overwhelming. It was only 1230 and Jenny Shepard was already moments away from quitting her job and running for the hills. She had been in a budget meeting all morning, and then she had spent the last hour on the phone with Director David trying to organize a surveillance op. She was just about to slam her phone down in frustration when the door to her office flew open, she glared at Gibbs but was secretly relieved to have a legitimate excuse to hang up on Eli David.
"I'm going to have to call you back Director David." She said, "yes... yes... I will."
She hung up the phone with a frustrated sigh and turned her eyes back to Gibbs who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"If you have something to complain about I suggest you do it elsewhere." She warned, reaching back to rub her shoulder.
"You good?" He asked carefully.
"Yes, Jethro I am fine." She replied tightly.
"You don't sound fine."
She raised her eyebrow but quickly lowered it with a sigh. She wasn't being fair and she knew it, she was tired, sore and frustrated and she knew that there would be no peace anytime soon. She knew Gibbs was trying but things had still been tense while they had gotten ready for work that day and she was sure that it wouldn't be any better that night.
"Did you need something, Special Agent Gibbs?" She asked tiredly, "or were you just hear to disturb the peace?"
"Doesn't seem like there's a whole lotta peace going on in here." Gibbs stated, "Tobias just called, he caught a case and he doesn't think he'll be able to make it in time for the game this afternoon."
"Does that mean Diane will be joining us?" Jenny asked wearily, the perfect way to end the day she thought to herself.
"No, she had to take her mom to a doctors appointment this afternoon, Tobias was wondering if we could take Em after the game."
"That's fine, just call him back and tell him we'll do dinner at our place." Jenny replied, "tell him he can join us if he has a break and that we can keep Em for the night if we have to."
Gibbs nodded and stepped back towards the door, he looked back at Jenny for a minute and paused, his hand still on the doorknob.
"You sure you're okay?"
"I'm just tired." Jenny replied, "nothing out of the ordinary."
"Alright." Gibbs replied, he knew better than to push her.
"Tell your team they can come for supper if they want." Jenny added as Gibbs was walking out the door, "it would make the kids happy to have them around."
Alrighty Guys, this isn't my favourite chapter of all time but I felt bad about not posting so here you go, next chapter will be a dinner with the team and Jack and possibly a surprise guest. I'm hoping to get into more of Dani's relationship with her mother or an argument between Jenny and Gibbs (maybe push them together a bit) let me know what you want to see... I don't own anything except for my spelling and grammatical errors, I love to hear from you guys! A huge shout out to JamJar98 and NerdyJibbsOreo for their awesome new Slibbs stories, go and check those out! And a huge shout out to Isles15 for being my cheerleader!
~Katie