On Saturday morning, Team Gibbs was on the schedule to work and there had been another case, so Abby had been working hard on the evidence from that case when McGee thought of another camera system to go through to help Gibbs' case.
He was in Abby's Lab and yelled out, "found it!". Abby went running over to see and McGee pointed it out, "look, there is a dark green Subaru parallel parked in front of Fiola Mare's. Now watch, there's Gibbs walking Debby to her car and then walking to his. Now, the Subaru looks harmless, but watch, it follows them through every intersection, but didn't turn down Gibbs' road."
Abby was following along fine and was on track, but McGee flipped to a new set of cameras. "Ok, now in this video, you see Gibbs walk Debby into the house and they shut the door. Then a few minutes later, you can barely make out headlights on a vehicle and there goes the same colored Subaru past the house and goes dark. We were assuming it left the street, but it didn't, look through the trees, it was parked on the side street. Now, look hard, you can see a shadow crossing Gibbs' neighbors yard and into Gibbs' backyard."
Abby was excited, but reminded him that they could not make out the person or even the persons clothing. That's when McGee got even more excited, "you're right… but look at the lights turn back on and that car leaves at the same time as the 911 call came in!"
She didn't get it, "ok, still doesn't tell us who the killer was OR that he was the actual killer." McGee smiled and hit the keyboard to show another set of video, "Ah.. but I just got THIS, this morning!" He pressed the button and there was an image of Lance Corporal Simmons face wearing the same clothes, crossing through the yard of the neighbor behind Gibbs. "Simmons jumped the fence and ran back to his car. When I looked up DMV records, guess what kind of vehicle Simmons owns BESIDES the pickup?" Abby smiled a huge smile, "A dark green Subaru?"
McGee grinned as big of a grin as she'd ever seen, "You got it! And with the fingerprint on the back door knob, I think we have our man!" McGee called Tony and was filling him in while Abby tried to call both Gibbs and Jenny, but there was no answer, so she left messages to call her.
He reminded Abby that it was early, but was concerned because Gibbs never, didn't answer her call, even at 2:00am.
Tony had the warrant drawn up and they went to Norfolk to get Simmons for the murder of Captain Deborah Paxton. By the time Gibbs and Jenny got the messages, the team was already on their way back to Washington with their man, so they all met at NCIS.
Gibbs and Jenny watched Tony interrogate Simmons from the observation room, but Simmons refused to talk, so they simply processed him for trial. It took everything Gibbs had not to go bullshit on the guy and Jenny could feel his tension.
"Jethro.. Follow me back up to my office", she nearly dragged him. When they finally got up to the office, he looked worn and drawn, which made her concerned even more. "Jethro, are you ok?" He just looked up to her with a fake smile, "ya, just happy they found the f*cker."
He sat in one of the comfortable chairs on wheels and rocked for a moment before leaning back so he could look up to the ceiling, and taking a deep breath. Her heart broke for him, she could only imagine what he was going through, especially so close to the death of his collegue and at this point, she had not known about his first wife and daughter.
"Jen, I need to go home. I can get around on my own now, you have your suspect in custody, there's no reason I can't go home." She hated to admit it, but he was right. He still hobbled when he walked, but he certainly didn't need anyone's help.
What he didn't know was that she already had a crime scene cleaning company go clean the room. Sure, there were still gonna be a few holes in the walls, but the blood and mess were gone. Also, Abby had stopped over there a few nights ago to be sure everything was buttoned up and put away so he would walk into a clean house.
"Ok, i'll take you home in a few minutes. Just bare with me a moment." She went down to see Abby and she confirmed the house was all set, then she stopped in to see the rest of the team who had finished booking Simmons and ready to go home. She thanked them for their hard work and asked them all, including Abby, Ducky, and Palmer, to meet them for dinner at Gibbs' house. She told them he didn't know anything, but she wanted him to be surrounded by friends as he really seemed down in the dumps. They all agreed that he would most likely be upset at first, being such a private person, but that they were sure he would come around. They agreed on a type of food and that Abby and McGee would pick it up on the way in.
When Jenny took Gibbs home, she followed him into the house. What he really wanted was to be dropped off so he could commiserate in the basement alone, but he let her in. She looked around and saw that things were cleaned up as she was told and she let him hobble his way up to the bedroom as she stood downstairs and watched.
When he disappeared around the corner, she let him have some time to himself before quietly climbing the steps at watched from the hallway. She saw him just sitting on the end of the bed, arms still in his sling, and head down so she went to sit next to him and put her arm around him. She could swear she saw a tear fall from his eye, and eventually, he leaned into her and let her hold him as he wept. It was something she had never seen him do and would never share with anyone. Right now, she was probably the best friend he had and he let that thick barrier he always kept up, crumble. She expected some emotion, but not this, so she cried along as she cradled him.
About fifteen minutes later, she realized he had fallen asleep in her arms. She wasn't in the most comfortable position but didn't want to move, so she stayed like that for about an hour until she had enough. Her back was hurting and she knew his neck was going to stiffen if he stayed like that too much longer. She thought she may be able to lay him back on the bed as she slipped out from under him but it didn't work. He woke up as soon as she moved.
He sad up and took a deep breath, realizing what had just occurred. "Sorry", he rubbed his eyes. She squatted back down to his level. Gibbs had a rule never to apologize, it just wasn't something he said, "Sorry? For what?" He just shrugged and rolled his eyes.
"Jethro. It's perfectly ok to grieve you know. You just had two women you care about murdered in front of you over a short period of time for crying out loud. I was more worried that you weren't grieving!" She put her hand on his knee, "Jethro, it's normal. And I am here for you. You have friends you can trust and I know for one, I am here for you." He grinned a crooked grin and looked up to her, "thank you."
"Lets go downstairs." He agreed and followed her down to the basement where they each grabbed a drink of bourbon. She just watched as he tinkered around with things. There wasn't much talking going on, just small talk about things completely not pertinent to work or their situation.
Eventually, they heard footsteps upstairs which put Gibbs on alert, but Tony & Ziva appeared quick enough, that he settled. Tony was his usually jolly self, though with some caution. Then Ducky and Palmer appeared which made Gibbs wonder what was going on. He began hobbling up the steps but was much stiffer than he had been, so Jenny put her hands on his back to secure him a bit. The others didn't see her, but he knew she was doing it which deflated him a little. He didn't like thinking that the little bit that he did that day was too much. Then he'd never get back to work as he wanted.
When they got upstairs, he was annoyed at all the people in his house, but Jenny stepped up and said it was all her idea, that she wanted the entire team to be together for dinner. He was annoyed, but Jenny's childish grin and look in her eyes always made him melt, so he let it go.
When Abby and McGee arrived, they carried in the food and put it on the counter, then Abby promptly ran to him to give him a hug. He hugged her with his only good arm, as he smiled and kissed her in the side of her head. "We wanted to remind you that we are all here for you. You are never alone."He just stood with his left arm around Abby and finally smiled. "Thank you guys", and he planted another peck on Abby's cheek.