This is the last chapter, thank you to all of you who reviewed the story and followed it. It was great fun writing it. I hope you all enjoyed.

Chapter Four

NCIS

DeNozzo, Ziva and Williams slowly moved around the house, positioning themselves for the time when their boss would give the 'go' signal. They all knew they had to get in as quickly as possible taking out any resistance without hesitation. Tony positioned himself at the rear doorway ready to kick it down and enter, Ziva had selected one of the big windows on the side of the building, it was one solid pane of glass and there was no burglar proofing on it. Williams had taken the same tack as Ziva, just on the opposite side of the house. Carter and Zimmerman positioned themselves to go through the front windows, both of them thanking the Gods that this house had little to no security fittings on it. Gibbs and Fornell were ready to take the main door. Gibbs contacted MaGee again confirming the positions of the people inside the house; he then let all the agents have the same information. Gibbs looked over at Fornell then whispered "Go; go; go..." into his microphone as he and Fornell barged through the front door.

Jessica

Altogether Jessica thought she had not had an unpleasant morning. It had started out with a breakfast meeting with one of the other Senators' aides. Gillian Fischer and she had become good friends over the years of working on the Hill together and they tried at least once a month to catch up with each other during a breakfast or a lunch. As the senate committees were meeting that afternoon it was decided on breakfast.

"So how is Mr Wonderful?" Gillian asked her best friend.

"I do not know of whom you speak..." Jessica laughed. Gillian knew all about Gibbs and she also knew how much Jessica adored him. "He is just...just wonderful." She finished with a giggle.

"Speaking of which, when am I going to meet the man himself?" Gillian asked her friend, it had been months now and still no invite. Gillian had decided if she did not push the issue she would probably never get to meet the great man himself.

"When we get a chance, honestly between our two jobs I sometimes wonder how we even get time to see each other." Jessica said wistfully. She thought of the fact that she had not seen Jethro for almost two days now and it frightened her to think she may never see him again. She knew the type of work he did was dangerous and she had accepted that, but she had a bad feeling about this latest case, a feeling that she had not been able to shake.

"Hey...you OK?" Gillian asked noting the change of expression on her friends face. "You look like somebody just stole your milk."

"No...No, it's nothing." Jessica said softly.

"We've been friends for too long for me to buy that honey. What's wrong?" Gillian asked concern registering in her voice.

"It's just that, well Jethros' job...it's kind of dangerous and sometimes I...I get this feeling that the last time we saw each other really would be the LAST time..." Jessica said voicing her fears to her friend.

"Oh that's just silly." Gillian said trying to soothe Jessica. "It sounds to me like nothing on earth could keep him away from you." Gillian knew that Jethro worked for some government agency as an agent, something like the FBI for the Navy if she recalled correctly. That could be dangerous she thought, probably was, must be like being married to a cop, never knowing if your last goodbye was the final one, never knowing if he was coming home after a days' work. She knew she could not do it, but Jessica was in love, that much was plain so she would have to learn to live with it. Jessica's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"I know that, but what if...what if he gets hurt or...or even..." She could not bring herself to say the words.

"What ifs aren't going to do you or him any good, they are just going to make you go mad. Now I say we order breakfast and think of something more pleasant, like how he is going to make it up to you having you worry so over him." Gillian said trying to lighten the mood again.

"Yes, yes I agree wholeheartedly." Jessica said. Gillian was right, there was nothing she could do about the situation and she was going to have to deal with it more and more. Jethro was not going to change who he was or what he did and she did not want him too. She loved him and did not want to lose him but lose him she would if she tried to change him.

They had finished up breakfast and said their goodbyes. Jessica had returned to her office to complete the preparations for the days' proceedings and she did not even notice the time go by. It was 2pm when the Senator walked into the office and her day really became hectic.

NCIS

At the signal all of the agents burst through their entry points taking the people inside completely by surprise and knocking them slightly off their game. Ziva went through the window expertly rolling and coming to a kneeling position instantly she fired her weapon putting a bullet through the forehead of one of the would-be terrorists. DeNozzo and Williams too came through their entry points almost simultaneously, both of them putting bullets in the Arab who stood guard at the door to the back room.

Carter and Zimmerman put bullets into the remaining terrorist killing him instantly and opening the way for Gibbs and Fornell to enter the back room unhindered. Stepping through the door Gibbs fired his weapon killing Abdul Ul Zak instantly seconds before he could finish the arming sequence that Jenkins had started. Jenkins for his part had fallen to the floor covering his head with his hands and praying that no bullets came his way. Gibbs approached the bomb checking to see that the arming process was not complete; Fornell reached down and pulled a shaken Jenkins to his feet.

"Render it harmless." He instructed Jenkins who immediately complied.

"Clear..." Gibbs called out to the other agents.

It was over. Four dead terrorist lay around the house, their blood pooling on the wooden floors. Abdul Ul Zak sagged lifelessly over a chair where his body had collapsed as Gibbs' bullet ripped through his heart. Ziva looked around, shrugged her shoulders and then started to dust herself off, her clothing was coated with a thin layer of dust picked up as she had rolled on the floor and small shards of glass still clung to her here and there. Tony looked around and smiled, Gibbs had done it again. Gibbs contacted MaGee at M-Tac and gave him the all clear, the Director and other agents who had been listening all spontaneously began to clap and shake each others' hands. Vance for his part sighed a sigh of relief then made his way out of M-Tac to make his report to his superior, the Secretary of the Navy. 'That was too close for comfort' he thought as he made his way to his office.

"MaGee get Ducky down here, he has some work to do." Gibbs ordered his agent. "Then go and tell Abbs that everything is fine." He finished. He knew that Abigail would be sitting in her lab clutching her hippo in her arms dreading that either they did not succeed, or they did succeed but one or more of her team, her family would be injured or worse. Abby was like a daughter to him and he wanted to spare her any more anxiety.

Forty minutes later Ducky pulled up in his van. He got out and made his way to the house.

"I see you have left me some work Jethro." He said seeing his friend and clasping his hand.

"You know me Duck; never want to see anybody with idle hands." Jethro said shaking Ducky's hand warmly.

"Just so you know though, I want to meet this Jessica Marie Taylor, and I want to meet her soon." Ducky said as they parted ways, Jethro on his way back to NCIS headquarters to debrief and Ducky to the house to clean up the remains of the days' work.

Jethro laughed and shook his head at his friend then climbed into the waiting sedan along with Zimmerman, Carter and Fornell. They had done well today and he was feeling good, especially at the thought of going home to see the woman he loved so dearly.

Jessica

It had been a long day and now she was headed home. Home she thought, but an empty one. Jethro had not been able to call her all day and they only thing that she was glad about was that fact that neither had Ducky. That meant he was alright, she hoped.

Getting home she flopped down on the couch after pouring herself a glass of wine and putting on some soft music. She needed to relax, the afternoon sessions had been hell and she had been run ragged and to top all of that she had been worrying about Jethro. She had not slept well now for two nights and something had to give she thought to herself. Half lying half sitting on Jethro's comfortable couch she closed her eyes just for a moment.

Jethro entered the house quietly. He saw her relaxed on the couch and just stood watching her; his heart filling with joy at the mere sight of her. Silently he made his way over to her then leaned in and kissed her head softly.

"Welcome home my darling." She managed to get out before he covered her mouth with his.

"It's great to be home." He said pulling himself away from her for a minute to gaze into her turquoise eyes.

"Oh Jethro I was so worried, I was so scared." Jessica said pulling him into a deep embrace.

"So was I my love." Jethro admitted. He had been, not of dying not even of failing, but of never seeing her beautiful face again, of not being able to hold her and tell her how much he loved her.

"What I wonder should we do to celebrate the wayward sailors homecoming?" Jessica whispered, kissing his forehead then his cheek and gently brushing his lips with hers.

"Well the first thing this Marine is going to do is take a shower, and then he is going to claim his bounty for a job well done." Jethro said pulling himself upright and heading for the staircase.

Jessica watched him go, loving the way he moved. She sat for a few minutes until she heard the shower going. Getting up quickly she went to the kitchen picked up a beer and refilled her wine glass then followed him into the bedroom. She was going to let him know just how much she had missed him and just how much she loved him.

Jethro finished showering then donning his jockey shorts he headed into the bedroom. She was lying stretched out on the bed the bottle of beer she had brought for him standing on his night stand. Her even breaths told him that she was sound asleep. Well he thought it had been a long two days. Taking the sheet from the bottom of the bed he pulled it up to cover her, she opened her eyes to see him slip into the bed and move to within inches of her.

"Jethro..." She said sleepily as he placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Shhhh... sleep Jesse, we have our whole lives to love each other, just sleep now." He said curling his body into hers.

The two of them drifted into a deep peaceful sleep; both with the serenest of smiles on their faces.