NINE
Jenny had barely put the car in park before both Jake and Emily were unbuckled and opening the doors.
"Slow down!" She ordered.
"I wanna tell Papa about the my game!" Jake exclaimed.
Jenny rolled her eyes but conceded to the excited child with a sigh, Jack had called at 1430 to tell Jenny that Ava had been miserable all day and that she would probably be more comfortable at home. Jenny had offered to go home and stay with the baby but Jack had insisted that she shouldn't miss Jake's first soccer game.
She watched the kids bolt out of the car before climbing out and following them at a much slower pace. She was barely in the house when she heard Jake chattering excitedly to Jack, she kicked off her shoes and listened as Jake introduced Emily. She was about to make her way into the kitchen when there was a knock on the front door. She turned and peeked through the window, she could see her security agents moving out of their secluded parking spot but they didn't make a move on the elderly couple standing at the door.
"Hello?" Jenny greeted when she opened the door, "may I help you?"
"I'm sorry, we must have the wrong address, we're looking for Leroy Jethro Gibbs." The woman stated, "or Jackson Gibbs."
"You have the right address, can I ask what this is about?"
"We're his in-laws." The man stated.
"Ex in-laws." The woman muttered.
"Jack called you." Jenny guessed with a tight smile.
"He did, we were hoping to speak to him." The woman replied, eyeing Jenny suspiciously, "and you would be?"
"Jenny Shepard, and you?" Jenny replied, offering the woman her hand.
"Joann Fielding." The woman replied coldly.
"Mac." The man replied his voice significantly warmer.
"It's nice to meet you, please come in."
She was going to kill Jack. Gibbs was going to kill Jack and then he was going to bring him back to life only to kill him again. She let the couple in the front door and stepped aside so they could take off their shoes and coats.
"Is someone at the door, Mommy?" Jake asked, bounding around the corner.
Jenny watched the surprised look on the older woman's face and tried to keep a blank mask on her own face.
"Where's your grandfather?" She asked, ignoring Jake's question.
"He's in the kitchen with Em and Ava." Jake replied, looking between Jenny and the couple.
"Why don't you grab Emily and go show her the barn." Jenny suggested, "stay out of the loft though."
"Okay, when's everyone else coming home?" Jake asked.
"They're picking up pizza, they'll be home in twenty minutes, go outside now okay? Make sure you're both wearing your jackets."
"Your son?" Mac asked when Jake was out of earshot.
"Yes, he's seven." Jenny replied.
"May I ask who you are to Jethro?" Mac asked.
If the question had come from the woman Jenny probably wouldn't have answered it but there was something about Mac that she had liked instantly.
"He's my partner." Jenny replied, "and yes Jake is ours." She added before either of them could ask.
"I didn't realized Jethro had had more children." Joann commented.
"We have four including Kelly." Jenny replied, "Jake is our only boy, Dani, my daughter is fourteen and Ava is six months old."
She nodded in the direction of the living room where Jack was standing with the baby, the look on his face was innocent until he saw the unhidden rage on Jenny's face. The rage was gone in a second when Mac turned around but she could tell by the sheepish look on Jack's face that he had seen it.
"It's good to see you Jack." Joann said.
"You as well Joann, Mac, good to see you."
"Hello, Jack." Mac replied with a polite smile.
"Would you both like to come in and sit down?" Jenny offered.
The first thing Joann Fielding noticed when she walked into the living room were all of the pictures, her eyes skimmed over the large group photo over the fire place, she paused on the photo of Jethro and the woman in front of her surrounded by three children, her eyes immediately locking on Kelly. She felt like the wind was knocked out of her when she saw how much the teenager looked like her mother at the same age.
"She looks just like her mother." Mac commented, his eyes on a different photo placed on a bookshelf.
"She's a lot like Shannon." Jack stated, "although she's got her fathers spark."
Joann moved to stand beside her ex-husband and grabbed the photo off the shelf, it was of Jenny and Kelly. It looked like it was taken in bed, Jenny had her back against the headboard and Kelly was leaning against her grinning at the camera. She couldn't say that it didn't hurt to see another woman so comfortable with her granddaughter.
"What is she like?" Joann asked.
"She's a sweet girl." Jenny stated before Jack could speak, "she got Jethro's talent for art and she loves music, she's good at school and she's a great big sister."
"She always wanted a sibling growing up." Mac stated, "Shannon was good in school too."
"She must have gotten it from Shannon because Leroy never excelled there." Jack replied.
Jenny tried not to roll her eyes at Jack's blatant disregard for his sons accomplishments and tried to bite her tongue.
"No but he has a silver star, a purple heart and six Meritorious Civilian Service awards." Jenny stated after a minute, "your son is an accomplished man."
Jenny watched Mac pick up another picture frame and study it for a moment.
"Did you serve Ms. Shepard?" He asked, holding out the photo.
Jenny took the frame and smiled softly at the picture of her and Gibbs in full army fatigues, they had been in Afghanistan investigating a missing agent.
"Not in the military, we were in Afghanistan for work, it was my first trip there."
"Did you go back?" Jack asked in surprise.
"I was one of the first Agents on the ground after 9/11, my specialty is anti-terrorism operations." Jenny replied, she couldn't help the small amount of pride evident in her voice, "And Jethro and I went back once more after that trip."
"What do you do exactly?" Joann asked.
"I work for NCIS" Jenny replied vaguely, "we deal with crimes relating to the Navy and Marine corps and their dependants."
"Our daughter was a dependent, we know what it is." Joann replied, her voice clipped.
"Of course." Jenny replied apologetically.
There was a moment of awkward silence before the front door opened followed by excited voices.
"I'm not saying yes or no, I'm saying ask your mom before you make plans." Gibbs' voice stated.
"I was going to ask Mom, I just wanted to check with you too." Kelly explained, her voice muffled.
Jenny still startled a bit every time Kelly referred to her as mom, she never said it to her face but if she was talking to one of the other kids or occasionally Gibbs she would say mom instead of Jenny. She watched Dani come around the corner and paused as she noticed the two strangers standing in the living room.
"Um, we didn't end up picking up the pizza, they weren't ready so Tony and Ziva are going to pick them up on their way over." She stated.
"I don't think Mom's really going to care if I go spend the day with Grandma Victoria" Kelly's voice carried through, "I thought Dani might like to come too."
"Try not to subject your sister to Victoria too soon." Gibbs warned, following his daughter into the living room.
"Grandma is harmless." Kelly replied, "she's just eccentric, like every other person in this family." She added pointedly, "you're just upset because she tried to hit on you last time we went to visit her."
"She told Abby that she and Ducky needed to get working on having kids." Gibbs pointed out.
"And while that is disturbing she's stopped pestering for grandkids since Ducky you guys brought us to visit." Kelly reminded him, "she's just a sweet, lonely old woman."
She watched Gibbs' face go from relaxed and open to cold and stoney as he noticed Joann and Mac standing in front of the fireplace. She took a step forward and gently placed her hand on his forearm, a small warning not to say whatever he was going to say.
"Kelly-." She started.
"You're so grown up." Joann whispered, stepping towards Kelly.
"Kelly you remember your mother's parents don't you?" Jack asked with a large smile on his face.
Jenny watched Kelly's face cloud in confusion for a split second before it changed to an apologetic smile.
"I don't remember much from before the accident." She stated slowly.
Jenny could feel the anxiety rolling off of Kelly, she was hiding it well if you didn't know her but Jenny could see the way her hands were pulling at the hem of her sweater and the way she was biting her bottom lip every few seconds.
"Dani, can you go check on Emily and Jake please?" Jenny asked quietly.
Dani nodded silently and slipped out of the room, Jenny didn't miss the way she gently squeezed Kelly's hand on her way out.
"Well I would imagine a lot has changed since we last saw you, and that this is pretty overwhelming for you so it's nice to meet you Kelly, I'm your Grandpa Mac."
Jenny felt an overwhelming wave of gratitude for the man in front of her, the way he held out his hand for Kelly to take without asking for anything more from her.
"It's nice to meet you." Kelly replied with a genuine smile, "I'm sorry this was just all very sudden."
"Of course it was." Joann agreed gently, "we're very sorry for springing this on you, we just really wanted to see you."
"It's really nice to meet both of you." Kelly said again.
"Why don't you show them around." Jenny suggested gently, "we still have about twenty minutes before supper."
"We don't have to stay." Mac stated quickly, "we could always meet for coffee or something another day, give you a chance to process everything."
"No, no please stay, I want you guys to stay." Kelly replied, "although fair warning we're having a family dinner tonight and they tend to get a little crazy, there are a lot of us."
"We can handle the crazy." Mac replied with a grin.
Jenny could see more hesitation on Joann's face but she didn't disagree out loud, she simply nodded.
"So this is the living room." Kelly stated, "the kitchen and dining room are through there but I'll show you upstairs first."
Jenny waited until the three of them were out of earshot before turning to Jack, who looked sheepish but Jenny could tell he wasn't quite sure why Jenny and Gibbs looked ready to kill him.
"I warned you not to give me a reason to keep you away from my kids." Gibbs stated darkly, "you're getting close to giving me a reason."
"What Jethro means-"
"What I mean is that if you ever put any of the kids in the position you just put Kelly in again I won't even think before I throw you out on your ass." Gibbs warned.
"I didn't put Kelly in any position."
Jenny had been angry but calm until that point, she felt her entire body stiffen in anger at the way he disregarded Kelly's feelings.
"You put her in a horrible position, you made her feel trapped in her own home and cornered by people she doesn't know." Jenny stated angrily, "I have kept it together until now but my patience is running out."
She knew Jack wasn't a bad person, he was just oblivious to how the things he said and did affected those around him.
"I just wanted her to know her family, what's so wrong with that?" Jack asked, "why do I get to know her but Joann and Mac don't?"
"I don't disagree with you, Jack, but there is a way to do things and ambushing all of us isn't the way to do that, not to mention I have two other kids who are going to be asking questions that I don't have answers to. You willingly accepted my kids but how do I know what kind of people they are? How do I know that they're going to accept our family for what it is? Tell me, Jack, how do I know that my seven year old son isn't going to feel horrible if these two strangers reject him simply because they aren't his biological grandparents?" Jenny asked, her voice sharp, "what about if they ask about how we came to have Jake and Ava, or better yet Dani? What if they decide we're not fit parents and try to take custody of Kelly?"
She knew that their work hours were already a concern with CPS, she also knew if her past came to light in court there was a good chance no only Kelly but all of the kids would be taken away.
"I didn't think about that." Jack stated quietly.
"Obviously you didn't think at all." Jenny stated, "I get what you were trying to do but Jack you need to think these things through."
Jenny shut her mouth abruptly when she heard Kelly's voice coming down the stairs and the backdoor open followed by Jake and Emily chatting excitedly.
"We'll finish this later." She whispered before turning to Gibbs, "go outside and cool off."
She watched Gibbs turn to leave before stopping, he turned back around and carefully took Ava out of Jack's arms and left the room. Kelly gave her a questioning look when Gibbs walked past her silently but Jenny only shook her head.
"Mom are Abby and Timmy coming for supper too?" Jake asked, oblivious to the tension in the room, "Emily and I have a science project that we might need help on."
"I can help you." Kelly offered.
"Yeah..." Jake trailed off slowly, "but Abby makes science really fun."
Jenny snorted at the slightly offended look on Kelly's face and the large grin on Emily's.
"You should know never to compete with Abby when it comes to science, Baby." Jenny reminded her.
"Just to be clear I'm still your favourite older sister, right?" Kelly asked looking pleadingly at Jake.
"Nope." Jake replied, "Ziva is."
"That's harsh." Jenny said with a laugh, "Kelly why don't you finish showing them around, Jake and Emily you guys go and get washed up it's almost time for supper."
"Where's Dad?" Jake asked, looking around the room.
"He's upstairs, leave him be for now please." Jenny replied, "where's Dani, she was supposed to get you."
"She's looking at something in the barn, she said she would be in in a minute." Emily answered.
"Okay, go get cleaned up." Jenny instructed, "and then you can help Kelly set the table."
"We're setting the table for pizza?" Kelly asked skeptically after the kids had left.
"Yes we are." Jenny replied, raising her eyebrow before sighing and rolling her eyes, "it's Tony and McGee's turn to do dishes if that's what you're worried about."
"Let's use different plates for salad and pizza." Kelly stated with a grin, "And everyone use utensils for their pizza."
"What did Tony do this time?" Jenny asked tiredly.
Tony and Kelly were the stereotypical example of a brother and sister, while they loved each other and got along well they were always bickering and trying to one up each other. Jenny and Gibbs both found it entertaining and as long as it never got too serious and they didn't come to either of them to complain they let them argue
"He went into my sock drawer and stole all of my left socks and then hid all of my right boots." Kelly replied, rolling her eyes, "I had to wear flats to school today because I couldn't find my boots and my feet almost froze because I didn't have matching socks."
"That is a very odd thing to do." Jenny commented, "I don't doubt that he did it but it's odd, even for him, he normally won't go in your room."
"He had Jake help him." Kelly replied, "he's mad because I switched all of his DVD's into different cases and Jake is always willing to help out the other boys."
"Well as long as your brother is learning team work." Jenny stated with a shrug.
"That's helpful." Kelly deadpanned.
"You know I don't get involved with this stuff." Jenny replied, holding up her hands defensively, "you want to fight with the boys you handle it yourself."
"And if he tries to use superglue again?" Kelly asked.
"Don't bait me Kelly-Ann." Jenny replied with a laugh, "I'm not taking sides, go finish showing your grandparents around and then set the table."
She watched Kelly toss her a grin and a wink over her shoulder as she lead Mac and Joann into the dining room with Jack tailing behind her. The minute they were out of sight Jenny let her shoulder slump and sighed deeply, she was exhausted and the night was nowhere near over.
So this was originally going to be one really long chapter except it spiralled out of control so now it's two chapters. Jenny and Gibbs are pissed at Jack, Mac and Joann are there and Joann's not entirely thrilled about Jenny being in her granddaughters life... The next half will be up soon (probably not today) and I hope you guys all enjoyed, I love to hear from you... I do realize that I made a mistake in updating Pushing the Limits on Thanksgiving, so in case you guys were busy and missed the notification there's a new chapter up there! Remember I own nothing!
~Katie