a/n:

Damselfly: Chapter V

Gibbs had called his father, multiple times, in fact, and had gotten the same treatment he had given Jackson in the morning. So, in order for Gibbs to talk with him, he was going to have to go to the hospital to do so.

The ride to St. James' hospital, was the actual full two hours this time. He didn't speed, didn't run any red lights on this go. He could have sent one of his team, but he wanted to keep this one close to the chest, even as much as he wanted to shove it away. But this was his family and he knew that it was something that he had to do.

It was late, and dark, when he finally arrived at the hospital. He didn't stop at the front desk, but went straight to his son's room. The lights were dimmed, and he expected to see Jackson in that same chair by Shelby's bedside, but he didn't, the chair was empty. That made him stop, he didn't think that his father would have left, but would in fact find a way to stay the night.

Gibbs found himself stepping up to his son's side, he was still unconscious, never a good sign. He closed his eyes for a moment, heh, and memories of the past were making their way to the surface of his brain. The appearance of his father saved him, and he released breath.

"You came back." A sound of surprise in the older man's voice as he walked around his son and grandson back to his chair, the Styrofoam cup of coffee in his hand finding it's place on the bed-table. "But not here for your son." His voice was rough, tired.

"I have a job to do, dad." Gibbs said, his eyes still looking down at Shelby.

"Yes. You've told me that already."

Gibbs glared over at him; nothing brang up the anger in him like that condescending-parent tone. "I need to ask some questions... about Shelby's personal life." He said through his teeth.

"If there was something concerning enough, I would have told you when you first arrived." Jackson told him. "If it was something that concerning, I would have called you long before this. You know that, Jethro- Being as you're the boy's father."

"That's not what this is about," He growled.

"I disagree." Jackson said, "This is about your son, the one that you fathered for twelve years before you abandoned him when he needed you the most."

"I didn't abandon him." Gibbs glanced away from Jackson, to the floor from his son. He looked back. "I was fighting a war."

"One within yourself," His father countered. "One that your son thinks that he needs to continue."

"He's nothing like me!"

"No." Jackson agreed with his son, a rare moment. "But he's tried to be. Tried to replace the absent father from within himself by becoming you; trying to be a man that his father would be proud of- the one that he still looks up to." Gibbs lips were tight and his expression hard but cracked; Jackson was getting way to investigated into this and it was starting to piss him off. "Shelby had the paperwork filled out to join the Corps. the day that he turned eighteen so that he would be ready to join the day after his Graduation Ceremony." He looked up at him and said slowly, "He had plans to go to college since he was ten, Jethro- Like Shannon wanted."

"Don't you dare throw her name around!" Gibbs snapped; bringing up his dead wife was uncalled for.

"I don't throw her name around, you know how felt about her." He said, his voice softening for a moment. He knew that things had never been the same between them since Shannon and Kelly, and Gibbs leaving Shelby with him while he went God knows where. But he had to speak up on Shelby's behalf because he knew that the boy never would, even after everything, he loved his father too much. "This is not about Shannon, this is about Shelby."

"No. That's where you're wrong." Gibbs told him, the walls coming up. "This is about a possible terrorist." He did what he did with Abby and Ducky this morning, avoiding, changing the subject- something that he never did.

Jackson usual soft and compassionate expression now matched his son's at the mention of work. If Gibbs wanted to make this about the job, then Jackson would let him. He wanted to know about Shelby's personal life, the one that he had torn out of fifteen years before, then he would all but spoon feed the man. He nodded, but Gibbs didn't look happy either way. "He has no social life, whatsoever. He's never had a girlfriend- or a boyfriend- I don't think he's ever had sex. When he's not at the base, he's working with me at the store. He was the same when he was a kid; since he was sixteen. He did track , joined karate classes, the wrestling team. Now, he runs, boxes at the gym. He makes no trouble and it's not because he doesn't talk to anyone- you know that since he was a kid he was a none-stop chatterbox- but things change, don't they, Jethro?" He asked.

Gibbs was quiet; what was he supposed to say. "What do you want from me, dad?" He finally said, his voice soft instead of sharp.

Jackson stood up from his chair and looked at his son, letting out a sad breath, his ice-blue eyes the same with emotion. "I want you to realize that you had two children, Jethro. That even though you lost your daughter, you didn't lose your son- and you still haven't." His eyes were shiny as they filled with tears.

It was quiet, the only sounds were the soft hiss of the respirator, and the continuous beep of the heart monitor. Gibbs looked back at him, his gut filled with emotion. His lips were pursed as he breathed through his nose in shallow and emotional breaths. His own vision was getting a little blurry as he as he felt tears prick his eyes. He forced them away, though, and it took effort to do so. "I have to go, dad." He said through the lump in his throat. He glanced from his father to his son, before he turned and walked away, but not before he heard his father's rough voice at his back.

"You've changed, Jethro. And so has he..."

chapter V end-