A/N: A short chapter to do some time jumping into the future.

Chapter 11, Births and Deaths: 2018 – 2021

As with all families, the cycle of life continued for the NCIS family. Charles Donald Palmer was born on 18 April 2018. Ducky retired from NCIS on 30 April 2018 and Leon offered Jimmy the Chief Medical Examiner position. Jimmy accepted the offer, and then hired an assistant by the end of June. Leon offered Gibbs an assistant director position, acting as coordinator for all of the teams within the DC NCIS office. Gibbs didn't spend as much time in the field, but with his injuries and age catching up to him, his body said it was time to take a desk job. Tim was made head of the MCRT, with Ellie Bishop, Nick Torres, and Clayton Reeves as his team. Nick became Senior Field Agent. Tony continued to train agents at FLETC and Ziva continued with her part time translator job at NCIS.

Tony reached out to Senior and invited the man to meet his grandchildren. Senior hemmed and hawed and finally visited three days after Elizabeth Shannon and Rivka Abigail DiNozzo entered the world on 20 February 2020. Tali refused to call Senior anything other than "Senior," because her grandfathers were Gibbs and Ducky as far back as she could remember. Senior had a massive stroke and passed on 13 August 2020. Tony found out three days after the funeral when he received a bill from the funeral home in New York.

Leroy Jackson (LJ) DiNozzo was born on 11 October 2021. Ducky had been in failing health for much of that year, so Tony and Ziva took the baby to see Ducky in the nursing home a week after he was born. Ducky held LJ and tears rolled down his cheeks. He smiled at Ziva and Tony and thanked them for bringing the baby by. Ducky went peacefully in his sleep on 22 October 2021.

~TIVA~

Thanksgiving 2021 was a subdued gathering of the family. Gibbs offered his house, but Jimmy and Breena insisted that they would host the dinner as their tribute to Ducky. Abby brought DVDs of previous years dinners at Ducky's house and the adults each offered a toast to his memory. Tali and Victoria shared a favorite memory each, as they were the only two children to remember Ducky well. Tim set up the digital video recorder, as in prior years, and shared that he was glad that Ducky had insisted on videoing the dinners each year. Each family had a copy of the DVD from each of the dinners and it would become part of the cherished memories of Ducky and his stories.

Christmas 2021, at Gibbs' house, as had become the tradition, was a flurry of flying paper, children squealing in delight, Abby acting like a child herself, and memories in the making. Gibbs looked out over his family: Tony and Ziva and their five kids, Tim and Delilah and their twins, Jimmy and Breena and their two kids, and Abby, Ellie, Nick and Clayton. He was pretty sure Ellie and Clayton were more than friends when he watched them around each other. While not his blood family, this rag tag group had become more dear to him than he could ever imagine. His family of the heart. He lifted his mug of coffee upward in a silent toast to Ducky, glad that he had been a part of the family too. Tali and Anthony came over to him, interrupting his thoughts by snuggling into each side of him. "We love you, Grandpa Gibbs." He kissed the tops of their heads, "Love you more."