The next few days passed without incident and Jenny settled into her new life, quickly adjusting to the challenges of balancing her career and her family. Not only that but it had made her face up to the fact that her feelings for Jethro were just as strong as they had been in Paris, just because she had pretended they weren't there didn't mean she had moved on. The only fly in the ointment was that no matter what she did this was all just temporary, at some point she was going to have to go back to the life she had left behind, well if she could, she still wasn't sure if she had survived her mugging.


The morning of the 24th dawned bright and early and Jenny was awoken by the sound of giggles and someone bouncing up and down on the bed next to her, shaking at her arm,

'Mummy mummy wake up'

Jenny waited a few seconds and then just as she heard Izzy let out a sigh of impatience she quickly grabbed the girl and rolled her underneath her, tickling her. The little girl squealed in delight and tried to wriggle free, eventually Jenny stopped and looked at her, 'Do you give up?'

'Yes', the little girl beamed up at her and placed her two hands on either one of Jenny's cheeks, 'I'm glad you came back mummy, the alien was nice, but she wasn't you'

'I'm glad I'm back as well', she sat up and pulled Izzy into a hug.

'Happy birthday', Izzy grinned up at her 'I've got a present for you', the little girl bounced off the bed and thundered down the stairs, only to run back up a minute later. Jenny could hear her telling her dad to hurry up before appearing in the doorway holding a plate. Jethro appeared behind her holding Andrew. Izzy presented the plate to her, 'I made you breakfast in bed'

Jenny looked from the very pleased red head to the plate of food, it appeared to be a strange mixture of pancakes and waffles, covered with chocolate sauce, what was possibly maple syrup and marshmallows. She saw Jethro sit down on the bed across from her, he shot her a smirk, trying to brave it out she gingerly lifted the spoon and speared off a bit of the concoction raising it to her mouth and trying not too grimace at the taste,

'Mmmm, it's really good', she smiled at her daughter and looked up to see Jethro laughing quietly, 'Although you know what, I think your dad would really like to try this', she had to stop herself from laughing at the look on his face.

Izzy looked between her parents, 'I suppose that would be ok'

'You know what Izzy I think your mum should get to enjoy her breakfast all by herself', Jenny grinned and waved the spoon at him,

'Oh come on Jethro man up, it's good, you'll like it' leaning forward, Jenny all but jammed the spoon into his mouth, he nodded and swallowed heavily.

His coughed slightly as he forced out, 'It's good, although I think we should move onto the presents now', he placed Andrew on the bed before reaching down the side of the bed and lifting up a gift box, 'This is from the kids'

Jenny carefully lifted the lid and pulled out a mug that said worlds best mum, Izzy took it off her, 'It's for your coffee', she just smiled at her, trying to hold the tears back as she pulled out a wrapped present, unwrapping it she found a purple cashmere jumper. She pulled her two children into a hug.

'I love them, thank you'

Jenny looked up to see Jethro smiling at her, leaning over he ruffled his daughters hair, 'Give me and your mum a minute ok?'

'But Andrew gets to stay!'

'I'm about to put Andrew back in his cot for a few minutes', he stood up and picking up the little boy he ushered the pouting red head out of the room. He reappeared a few minutes later and shut the door over, sitting down on the edge of the bed he handed her a small ring box as he told her, 'It's a birthday and part anniversary present'

Jenny gently opened it, gasping at the sparkling diamond eternity ring, 'Jethro, this is beautiful', she leaned forward and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck, 'It's perfect I love it'

'I'm glad', he ran his fingers through her curls, 'Now as much as I want to ravish you right now we have to get ready for work', he smiled at her, 'Get back to the real world', Jenny couldn't help but wince at his choice of words.


Later that night Jenny jumped in the shower, the team, Abby and Ducky were coming over and she was trying to get ready in time. Quickly getting washed she took less than ten minutes before stepping out, wrapping the towel around herself she ran another towel through her hair, before combing it through and blasting it with the hairdryer. Raiding through her wardrobe she pulled out a pair of black boot cut jeans and yanked them on. Realizing she had left her earrings in the bathroom she ran back through, while rooting around for them she caught sight of herself in the mirror. She had yet to pick a top to wear and so was still in her bra and jeans, taking a moment Jenny examined herself in this life, she definitely looked less tired, which was ironic really considering she had two kids to run around after. Her figure wasn't any different, save from a couple of very faint stretch marks. In fact the only big difference was the scars and even then it was only the largest one that was really noticeable, although it had also faded over time and if it hadn't been slightly raised it wouldn't be as prominent. Her fingers lightly traced over it, wondering what happened, that's when she heard a deep voice from the doorway.

'I thought I'd lost you'

Startled Jenny jumped, swinging around she watched as Jethro walked towards her, his breathing slightly heavier than usual and his eyes shining with emotion as he continued,

'I know we agreed not to talk about it but…..', he exhaled deeply, 'When Morrow called me into his office and told me you'd been stabbed while undercover I just…..I felt like someone was tearing me apart from the inside out. All I could think about was how much we'd been arguing and how the last thing I would have said to you would have been in anger. Then when I got to the hospital and the doctor's kept telling me they didn't expect you to make it out of theatre, but you did and I sat through complication after complication, all the time having them tell me this was it and it had been a miracle you had even made it that far. You kept fighting though, you proved them all wrong', he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close, 'You gave us another chance, I know I should have told you about Shannon and Kelly before then, but I could never find the words. Then as Izzy got older, I was convinced I would lose you two just like I'd lost them, so I shut you out and that was wrong of me, I'm sorry Jen'

Jenny stayed silent, running her hands soothingly up and down Jethro's back, she didn't know what to say, she didn't know who he was talking about although she had a fair idea he meant he had had a wife and daughter he had never mentioned, mind you if they had died then she wasn't surprised that he had kept it quiet, 'Jethro what happened wasn't your fault', as she said it she knew that she meant it, he couldn't have prevented her getting hurt after all it had happened in her other life as well. She gently brushed her lips over his, 'None of it was your fault'

'Maybe….I can't tell you relieved I was though when after that you accepted the job offer at NSA'

The missing pieces began to fall into place in her head, she had left NCIS because it was what was best for her family, after that attack she couldn't have stayed in the field, it was bad enough for her children to have one parent who placed themselves in constant danger. Not only that but she could see it would have destroyed Jethro if she died because of her work, she had obviously seen he couldn't go through losing another wife and had stepped down from her post, forever forgetting that stupid five point plan. Standing on her tip toes she whispered against his mouth, 'I love you Leroy Jethro Gibbs, don't you ever forget that and I know that if you could have stopped it you would have, so please stop torturing yourself', with that she caught his lips with hers and ran her tongue along his lip seeking access that he quickly granted. They were only torn apart by the doorbell ringing, he looked at her for a brief second,

'I love you too Jen,', the doorbell went again, 'I'll go get that, you better finish getting dressed', he gave her quick smirk before exiting the room, leaving Jenny standing trying to figure out what it meant for her real life if she had suffered from the same injuries that she had in this life, just because she had survived here, it didn't necessarily mean she had survived in the other one.


I hope this made sense, if you have any questions just ask. This chapter was originally going to continue onto the party with the team, but instead I decided to break it into two smaller chapters because I realised that I wanted to end tis chapter at this point.

There is probably about two maybe three chapters left before you get to find out what's happening back in the real world

xxxxx