Gibbs had ended up going to the homes with McGee, since he was the only one available who had a key to both. Jenny's housekeeper had the night off, so everything was still exactly as she had left it. Gibbs didn't even pretend not to know where everything was, but McGee did pretend not to notice that he did or wonder how. She kept all of her confidential stuff at work, under lock and key, so they were free to investigate whatever they felt they needed. As McGee was looking through the papers on her desk, feeling more than a little guilty, a picture caught Gibbs' eye and he went closer to examine it. The photo had been taken years ago, when they were still working in Paris, during the only Christmas he'd celebrated since his daughter's death. They'd had a day, that one day, off from whatever case they were working and Jenny had decorated the hotel room in the French Christmas style, apples, ribbons, bows, and a tiny Christmas tree that he still didn't know where she'd found. There'd been no overabundance of presents, but each had managed to get each other one thing. He could have sworn he'd seen her wearing that necklace recently, but it had to be his mind playing tricks on him because she'd left it behind the day she left him.
"Boss." McGee brought him back to the present. "Are you okay?"
Gibbs nodded. "Let me go get her toothbrush and hairbrush for Abby; then we can go to Shelby's."
Tony awoke with a start, seeing Shelby curled up in herself, obviously frightened. He moved to the bed, trying not to scare her more, and she clung to him in a way that she never had before.
"Bad dream?" He asked gently, his arms going around her, holding her.
"Yeah." They said nothing for a few minutes, Tony rocking her back and forth slowly, rubbing her back until she calmed down.
When he was finally sure she was okay, he moved where he could look at her and still hold her. "You wanna talk about it?"
She closed her blue eyes and then opened them again. "I think…I think I know what happened to Jenny."
He nodded, having been afraid of something like this, one of the reasons why he hadn't moved since he'd arrived, wanting to be there for her. "Okay."
"She bent down to try to help me and the guy grabbed her from behind, pulled her into the Suburban. It was an old one, one of those that really looked like a box, and it used to be black, but it was like it faded from the sun so it was more a dark gray." He nodded. "Windows were tinted…I'm sure it had a license plate, but…"
He nodded, making a mental note to tell Gibbs so he could look on the mall security camera, something he hadn't thought of until that moment and, given the circumstances, wasn't sure his boss had either. "It's okay. Can you tell me what he looked like? Do you remember?"
She closed her eyes, trying to relax, the seemingly small task a little easier with him there, and pictured what she'd seen. "He was tall." She thought about the man's height compared to Jenny's versus her brother's height against Jenny. "He was six feet tall."
Tony studied her. "Are you sure about the height?"
She nodded. "That's how tall Jethro is. It was the same difference in height."
Tony nodded. "Okay. What else do you see?" He asked, getting his pad of paper that he always carried with him, jotting down notes as they went.
"He was Caucasian, but tanned, like he'd laid in a tanning bed or something. He was very muscular, athletic looking. His hair was pitch black, like it was a toupee or very bad dye job. His eyes…" She suddenly opened her own up and Tony could see the fear in them.
"It's okay. We can stop here." He wasn't sure if it was enough to go on, but he knew he couldn't push her any further. "You did good, Shelby. Okay?"
"Yeah, but will it be enough?" She knew she was putting him into an impossible position. The odds that Jenny would be found at all decreased every minute, especially with no leads, and once the probability of death or serious injury was figured in, it seemed overwhelming. "You can lie, Tony."
He looked at her seriously, moving some hair out of her face, cupping his cheek. "Hey. I'm not lying to you. She'll be okay. She has to be, right?" Shelby nodded. "Then she'll be okay." He kissed the top of her head and allowed her to curl up in his arms again, lying so she could be comfortable as she fell back to sleep.
His sister's house was very different than Jenny's. While Jenny's was a brick townhouse in D.C., formal, very appropriate for her position as director, Shelby's was a four bedroom in Silver Spring with a pool and hot tub, very fun, very informal. If judging by the possessions of the two women, one would never guess the two were very alike in personalities.
He watched as McGee's eyes followed the pictures in the living room. There was one of her parents, their father and his last wife, another, different, one of him and Jenny, laughing at something he couldn't even recall, one of him and her when they were children, assorted ones of friends, only some of whom he actually knew, and the one that always brought mixed feelings to him, the one of him and Kelly during Kelly's last Christmas. While he had put all reminders of his daughter away, Shelby's were still out, claiming that to hide them away would be to forget about her, something neither of them ever wanted to do. He still remembered that Christmas; she'd wanted Polly Pocket and Strawberry Shortcake. She'd gotten everything on her list…except for a pony. He would have bought her that too if Shannon hadn't convinced him they couldn't have one on base. Instead, he'd bought her a toy one that she had seemed to love just as much.
"Uh, boss?" McGee asked, not sure if he should leave the room or not. They all knew about Gibbs losing a wife and daughter and, from the way he was looking at the picture of the little girl, he knew it had to be Gibbs' child.
Gibbs cleared his throat, unable to turn around, trying to steady his voice before talking. "Check her computer, McGee."
Christmas was always hard this time of year, but it had been his daughter's favorite holiday, bigger than even her birthday. In seven years, he'd never worked one Christmas, saving up his leave so that he could be with her. He knew Shelby was right. Kelly would have never wanted him to skip Christmas. He also knew that Jenny realized how hard that time of year was on him and that's why she was pushing so hard for a party, so that he wouldn't be alone. Only Christmas was fast approaching and, if he didn't hurry up, Jen would still be gone.
As McGee worked on the computer, Gibbs went to Shelby's bedroom, to get her toothbrush, hairbrush, and some things that he thought she might need at the hospital, not sure when they'd be able to release her. He reached for her nightstand to get her a book he thought she'd like and saw two things he never wanted to see, his sister's stash of birth control, something he didn't ever like to think about, and a picture of a much younger Shelby with an also much younger Tony DiNozzo. He'd known they had knew each other for awhile, met in college, but he'd never seen before how much their expressions towards each other looked like his and Jen's had in Paris.