Eighteen

Jenny closed the door to Dani's room behind her and took a shuddering breath before walking down the hallway. She saw that the door to the guest room was closed and heard water running from the kids bathroom, she paused outside of Kelly's room and peeked in but the teen was nowhere in sight. She kept walking and made her way downstairs, she listened carefully but with the exception of running water there was no sound coming from anywhere in the house.

She found Gibbs sitting on the couch in the living room, she dropped her hand to his shoulder as she rounded the couch.

"Hey." He said quietly, "everything okay?"

She moved to sit beside him but smiled softly in surprise when he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her down sideways onto his lap. Normally she would protest but she simply rested her head against his shoulder and ran her hand up and down his arm.

"She called me mom." Jenny whispered almost in awe.

"Best feeling in the world." Gibbs muttered, tightening his arms around her waist, "isn't it?"

"Yeah… It is." She agreed, "where is everyone?"

"Jake is in his room reading, Kelly is giving Ava a bath and my dad is in his room." Gibbs replied, "I told him about Lily."

"Thank you."

She gave his upper arm a squeeze, she wasn't sure she could handle another emotional conversation that night and she knew Jack wouldn't have let it go until he got answers.

"How's Dani?"

"Angry, confused, hurt." Jenny replied, "and I don't blame her, but I think she understands that I did what I did for a reason."

"And she's okay with that?"

"No and I don't know that she ever will be but we're going to try to find something that works for us."

She was glad that they'd had the conversation, they'd needed to get some things out in the open but she knew it by no means fixed everything, she seriously doubted it had fixed anything but she didn't feel like she was keeping secrets anymore.

"And how're you doing?"

"I'm relieved." She admitted with a sigh, "relieved that she knows now, that it's all out there… But I've been through interrogations that were less nerve wracking."

"You let her lead?"

"Yes." Jenny replied, "I didn't know where to start or what she wanted to know so I let her control the conversation."

"She ask about her dad?"

Jenny stiffened in his lap but nodded, it was a conversation they had barely had, all she had told Gibbs was that Dani's father had been a bad guy and he hadn't pushed for more information.

"She asked about her biological father." She corrected gently, before running her hand through hair, "and I told her the truth, I didn't give her a lot of details but I told her the truth."

"She deserves to know about him." He stated.

"No." Jenny replied firmly, "what she deserves is to have a good father, and the man I told her about was her father in blood only. I don't want her to think that who is he is defines who she becomes, he was her biological father but she deserves a dad, there's a difference, Jethro."

"Yeah… There is." He agreed.

"I want her to know that her dad is right here." She added quietly, "I know that we've talked about what you are to her before but I need to know that my daughter has a dad."

"She has a dad." Gibbs promised, "As long as you let me I'm here for her."

"I need you to be here for her always, no matter what's going on… I need you to be her father first and my partner second, I need to know that no matter what happens our kids, all of them, will come first."

"Always."

She ran her hand up his arm and rested it against the side of his neck. She lifted her head from his shoulder and shifted a bit so she could press her lips to his, the kiss lasted less than four seconds before she pulled back and rested her forehead against his.

"Thank you."

She wanted to say so much more than that to him, she wanted to tell him how much she appreciated what he did for her, she wanted to tell him how much she cared about him but she knew it wasn't the right time.

"Should be saying that to you." He replied, running his hand down her back.

He tilted his head and gave her another kiss. She grinned into the kiss and carded her hand through the short hair at the base of his neck. She shifted again when he pressed his hand against her back a bit more insistently and her grin faltered when he deepened the kiss. She felt the arm around her waist tighten as she shifted again to lean closer to him.

"Um…"

Jenny bolted back and would have fallen off of Gibbs' lap had it not been for the strong arm wrapped around her waist. She felt her cheeks redden and heat flood over her when she looked over Gibbs' shoulder to see Kelly standing in the entrance to the living room with Ava in her arms.

"Hey, Baby." She greeted, her voice cracking, "we were just-"

"Making out with teenagers, yeah I can see that." Kelly replied with a raised eyebrow, "does that mean what I think it means?"

Jenny shifted her gaze to Gibbs who offered her a small supportive smirk and a nod.

"Yes." Jenny replied, unable to keep the grin off of her face, "we're going to try to make this work."

Kelly's face broke out into a wide smile as she bounced on her heels, unable to jump up and down with the baby in her arms.

"Congratulations." She exclaimed happily.

"Thanks." Jenny replied with a small chuckle, "and thank you for bathing her." She added nodding to the baby.

She slid off of Gibbs' lap and settled against his side, his arm immediately wrapped around her shoulders and she leaned further against him.

"You're welcome." Kelly replied as she walked around the couch.

Jenny held out her arms and took the baby from Kelly, inhaling the scent of her damp hair and the lingering scent of baby shampoo. She loved the smell of baby powder and Ava was more than happy to cuddle against her, one tiny hand rubbing her eye and the other one in her mouth.

"How's Dani?" Kelly asked, dropping down into the armchair across from the couch.

"Better." Jenny replied, "not great but we're working on it."

"That's a start." Kelly stated, "You just have to understand how scary this is, coming into a new home with complete strangers who are all of a sudden your family. It takes the saying going from zero to one hundred to a whole new level. I at least remembered Dad a little bit, and I had Jake and Ava with me. Dani has no one right now and that's not a fun feeling, just give her a bit of time and space."

"We will." Jenny promised, "and thank you for watching out for her, Kel."

"She's my little sister." Kelly replied with a shrug, "you do what you have to for family, right?"

"Yeah." Jenny agreed quietly.

She felt Gibbs' arm tighten around her shoulder and looked up at him, she could tell just by the look on his face how proud of his daughter he was. Something in Kelly's statement rang true and Jenny leaned away from Gibbs, she passed Ava over to him and stood up with a sigh.

"Speaking of family there's one other thing I have to do tonight." She stated tiredly.

"Where're you going?" Gibbs asked.

"I need to go talk to Stan." She replied, "can you give your dad a hand, Kel?"

"Yeah, of course." Kelly responded, "is everything okay with Uncle Stan?"

"Everything's fine." Jenny reassured her, "I just need to talk to him really quick, I should be home before you guys go to bed."

She walked past Kelly and gave her shoulder a squeeze and kissed to top of her head.

"I'm proud of you." She whispered against her hair before standing up and leaving the room.

She was about to go upstairs to check on Jake but she heard the bathroom door shut and his off key singing as the shower turned on. She smirked to herself and shook her head before grabbing her jacket and pulling on her boots.

"You want me to go with you?" Gibbs asked.

"No, I need to talk to him alone." Jenny replied, "he's been off for weeks and I need to know what's gotten into him before we go back to work tomorrow, I won't be long."

"I've got things here." He reassured her, "I'll check on Dani in an hour or so and see if she wants some dinner and I'll make sure Jake is ready for bed when you get home."

"Okay, thank you." She zipped up her jacket and tilted her chin to accept a quick kiss.

She shut the front door behind her and couldn't help but smirk at how domestic the entire encounter had had come a long way from a relationship that had been built purely on heat of the moment passion to just enjoying the small everyday moments.

N*C*I*S

She knocked on the front door one more time before finally deciding to try the doorknob, she rolled her eyes when it turned easily and let herself in. She listened carefully for any sounds but didn't hear any, she called out but there was no response. She was about to turn around and leave when she noticed the light on in the dining room. She wandered through the rooms until she reached the top of the basement stairs where sure enough there was light streaming up the stair case. She stepped down the first few steps until she could see Stan sitting on the edge of the work bench, a beer in his hand as he stared at the boat. She slid her legs under the railing and sat on the stairs, her feet dangling off the side of the stair case.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" She asked, breaking the silence.

She saw Stan glance her way with a raised eyebrow but he didn't verbally acknowledge her.

"I didn't." She stated, "until I stepped foot in this basement for the first time, you can almost feel all of the ghosts that live here."

"What're you doing here, Jenny?" Stan asked, his eyes not straying from the boat.

"It's funny how different things and places can mean different things for each person, to me this house was always calming, a place I could go to escape life but for my partner it was a prison haunted by the people he had lost." She added, completely ignoring his question. "I didn't even realize how many memories were made in this house until a few years ago and I didn't realize how many of those memories, that I wasn't even present for, would affect me and my life. My daughter learned to walk on these floors, she learned to use a sander in this basement, her first big girl bed was in the bedroom upstairs. All of these things were going on and I was finishing up college, I had no idea what my life would turn into."

"Not that I'm not enjoying this introspection but are you planning on making a point anytime soon?"

"Yes." She replied, giving him a mild glare.

"Careful you're starting to look like your husband."

"My partner." She corrected, "we've never been legally married."

"Legal or not the diamonds on your finger say otherwise."

Jenny looked down at the rings on her finger and shrugged, she supposed he was right, if anyone were to see the rings on her finger they would assume she was married and as far as she was concerned that was fine. She was in no way naive enough to firmly believe that she and Gibbs would last forever but in her mind the commitment was there, she had every intention to fight through everything life could throw at them to make it work.

"Back to my point." She redirected, "Sometimes it's hard to imagine where we'll end up and some of the questions that come out of the journey are impossible to answer. My fourteen year old asked me why I gave her up for adoption, today. I gave her my reasons but I don't think the answers were what she was expecting. Even if she didn't expect or like them they were the only answers I had and we're trying to find a way to make it work for us…" She looked at Stan to make sure he was still following, "sometimes the why questions are the hardest ones to answer."

"Still not seeing a point."

"I'm about one second from making it if you would just stop talking." She chided, "my point is sometimes we don't know where we'll end up. When I woke up this morning I never imagined that I'd be pulling you off of someone you once respected and admired, and as I said before that sometimes 'why' questions are the hardest to answer… So I have to ask, why? What happened, Stan?"

"He hurt you." Stan stated, "I can't just sit by and watch someone hurt you, Red."

"You hurt me too." She replied quietly, "you hurt me more today than he did, you should have asked what happened before immediately jumping to conclusions."

"Come on, Jenny." He said, rolling his eyes, "you've got a massive bruise in the shape of a hand on your wrist, theres's not a whole lot of explanations for that."

"He was having a nightmare." She stated, "yes the infallible Leroy Jethro Gibbs has nightmares, and I reached out to him. I was half asleep and normally I know better than to do it but I wasn't thinking. He was sound asleep when it happened, he didn't even realize what he had done until this morning when you were trying to beat the crap out of him."

She watched him shrug and take a swig of his beer.

"But today was just the tip of the iceberg." She added, "you've been off for weeks, you go silent every time he's around and we've invited you for dinner countless times and you always have something going on… All of that started before this, so what the hell is going on Stan?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because." She said, "Because my life is completely upside down right now, I need my big brother to help me out."

She was almost ashamed of the way her voice cracked as the sudden overwhelming urge to cry came over her.

"So it matters." She muttered, "it matters because I need my friend and my brother back."

"He took advantage of you." Stan stated, "you were a probie when he met you, he was your mentor for gods sake and he took advantage of that."

"Nothing happened between us until we were in Europe, I wasn't a probie then and I was twenty-eight years old, it's not like I didn't know what I was doing."

"He was still a senior agent and he was still your mentor, he should have never crossed that line, Jenny." Stan argued, "not to mention he's so goddamn high and mighty about his rules, he would kill us if we broke his precious rule twelve but the minute he gets to screw his hot younger agent it's okay?"

"Watch yourself, Stan." She warned gently, "no it's not okay but he didn't make the first move, I did."

"And he should have stopped you."

"He tried too." Jenny replied, "but then he got hurt and I almost lost him and the rules mattered to both of us a hell of a lot less."

"So what? You fell in love and decided you couldn't live without each other?"

"Hardly." Jenny chuckled mirthlessly, "it was all about the sex in the beginning, he was one of my best friends but as far as any sort of 'relationship' went it was just a friends with benefits kind of thing, I was the one who messed it up by telling him I loved him."

"And what he said it back and happily ever after?"

"Definitely not." She replied, actually laughing that time, "I think he did eventually love me but he wasn't in a place where he could let himself fall in love, everything was still too fresh and looking back I wasn't in a great place either."

"So why did it end then?"

"I got pregnant." She stated with a shrug, "it's amazing what an unplanned pregnancy will do to a pseudo-relationship where both people are afraid of commitment and mourning people they've lost. I left and told him it was for the job, he thought I chose a high-powered career over him and he was understandably upset."

"And then you came back."

"Yes," She replied, "I came back and things were pretty brutal for a while, especially in the last year and a half but we're figuring it out."

"I just don't get it Jenny." Stan stated, "I've always respected him, respected his code and I could see how that could be appealing but he's always been a bastard. You saw how his marriage ended, why get into that?"

"Because I saw a different side of him." She replied honestly, "he's a bastard, there's no question about that but he's a good man, he's loyal and honest."

"So is a German Shepard." Stan deadpanned, "but you didn't get one of those… I just don't understand how you can be with someone who can't express feelings or emotions."

"You and I know completely different versions of him." She stated, "I know the side you're talking about, the hardass who can't say sorry, the one who demands the impossible and expects it to be handed to him without complaint and never gives any sort of praise. I know that Gibbs all too well but I know another side of him too, when I came back from Israel to take over for Morrow do you know what he said to me?"

"I'm guessing he bitched about you leaving the field."

"He did." Jenny conceded with a small grin, "but within five minutes of me being back he told me that he missed me… Do you understand how hard that would be for him? Remember that in his mind I left him for a high powered career and now I'm back, as his boss basically rubbing that decision in his face and he looked me dead in the eye and told me that he missed me." She twisted the ring on her finger and shrugged, "and the worst part is that before he told me that, I completely shut him down, I told him there would be no off the job and that we would only keep things professional… I basically told my best friend that I wanted nothing to do with him and he shrugged and told me that he missed me."

"What changed?"

"I did." She replied, "When he had his accident two years ago I almost lost him and I realized how much I still needed him in my life, and then it was his turn to walk away… When he came back he met someone and I had tried dating again and it kind of just got forgotten and then Kelly showed up and here we are."

"I'm still not okay with it, he crossed a line but I get that not everything is black and white." Stan stated slowly, "just tell answer one thing."

"I can try."

"Does he treat you right?"

"Yes." Jenny replied without hesitation, "we still have our moments at work where he forgets who's in charge but at home we're equals… He puts the kids and I first all the time, I took a nap this afternoon and he cleaned the entire first floor of the house, he made dinner so I could relax, he gets up with the baby so I can sleep… He's my partner and yes we fight sometimes but he's my best friend."

"Do you love him?"

"Yes." She admitted.

It almost scared her how easy it was to admit that, she didn't even have to think about it before the words were out of her mouth, she did love him and there was no doubt in her mind about that.

"Then I'll learn to be okay with it." Stan stated, "I guess I should have a chat with Gibbs."

"He'll understand, Stan." Jenny replied, "if anything he'll respect you for looking out for me… But I'm an adult, I appreciate you looking out for me but I can make my own decisions and you have to let me, okay?"

"Yeah." Stan agreed with a small nod, "I'm sorry, Red."

"Rule Six." She replied with a small smile, "but thank you."

Stan slid off of the work bench and walked over to her, he reached up and gave her knee a small squeeze before holding out his beer.

"You want one?"

"No." She replied as she pulled herself up, "I have to head home, I want to tuck my kids in before bed."

"You're all grown up." Stan stated with small but proud smile.

"Yup." Jenny replied with a wink, "your little probie isn't a baby anymore."

"Nah, you'll always by my probie." Stan chuckled, "and my little sister."

"Come by the house and spend sometime with your nieces and nephews, okay?"

She knelt down and gave him a kiss on the cheek before letting herself out of the basement.

Well I have been wanting to write this for awhile because I've really started to hate Stan (I love him in the show, he was just being an ass in this particular story) and now we can get back into 'fun Uncle Stan'… So we're getting close to the 60,000 word mark which is where I cut off the last story, at this point we're mid October, there are still a few things I want to wrap up but I'm thinking about ending this segment at chapter twenty (doing two long chapters to wrap it up) and then doing a time jump to mid November to get into the holiday season… How do we feel about that?… Remember I own nothing but I love to hear from you guys!

~Katie