The sky was gray as the rain poured from the sky, the weather reflecting the misery that surrounded this event. All the seats surrounding the coffin were full, almost everyone who had ever met Jennifer Sheppard had turn up to pay their final respects.

Jethro and his team sat in the front row. McGee sat with his arm around a sobbing Abby, he was trying to hold back his grief to concentrate on helping her, she had barely stopped crying since it happened. McGee knew she would never fully embrace Christmas again, would always associate it with Jenny's untimely demise.

Ziva sat on the other side of Abby, her lips tightly pursed trying to hold back her pain. She had seen so much death, been to so many funerals, but this was different, Jenny had been her confidante, the person she turned to if she needed advice and her door had always been open. Ziva had no idea who she would turn to now, all she wanted was her friend back.

Tony and Ducky sat on either side of Gibbs, both were devastated by the loss of their friend but they too were concentrating on someone who just wasn't coping.

Gibbs had shut himself off, at first he had broken down, raw pain tearing through him, then he had disappeared, the team convinced he was going to do something stupid had began searching desperately for him, even calling in Franks. They checked the basement first, shocked to find the shell of the boat missing, the floor was littered with glass fragments from shattered bourbon bottles. As they surveyed the damage they heard an upstairs door slam. Racing upstairs they found a red eyed Gibbs sitting on the kitchen floor clutching a bottle in one hand and a photo in the other, staring blankly at it. Franks sat down next to him:

'Where's the boat'

'Burnt it'

'Why?'

There was no reply, Gibbs just took another gulp of burning liquid, desperate to numb his pain. Tony was shocked by the disintegration of the man he most looked up to, saw as a father figure, now all that seemed to be left was a broken shell. They had all known that Gibbs and the director had a past, they had all hoped that one day they would see how right they were for each other but now she was gone, and Gibbs was left desolate. Tony had prayed to God that they would be able to pull him back from the brink, but seeing him now he knew it wouldn't happen.

In the days leading up to the funeral nothing changed Gibbs spent most of it drunk, and rarely muttered a word, even to Abby. Even Franks didn't know what to do, he had never seen such anguish, when Shannon and Kelly had died Gibbs found an outlet in NCIS, but this time he was lost. The team was relieved to find he was at least sober today, although he still hadn't said a thing.

Jethro looked up at the coffin, draped in the flag, he could barely focus the pain tearing at him hurt so much, he felt as though a part of him had died with her, as though all the light in the world had gone out, and all that was left was a dark whirling pool of despair. With everyday that passed the pain seemed to magnify and pull him deeper into what he was convinced must be some form of hell.

He blinked as the coffin faded away leaving just an open grave the coffin lying empty and open at the bottom, then he saw her standing at the edge of her own burial site. She looked up at him, green eyes filled with fear

'Please, save me'

And with that she turned her back to the grave crossed her arms over her chest and fell backwards into the awaiting coffin which slammed shut, preventing him from doing anything, taking her away from him for the rest of his days on this earth.

Gibbs jumped awake, and rubbed at his chest, he could still feel that gnawing pain, this had to be the worst night ever, still it was only a dream. He was dreading his next vistior, God only knew what bombshell they would drop. There was a rustling sound coming from the edge of the room, he looked up.

'Hi Dad'