Gibbs was sitting on the couch reading when Molly had pulled up. He got off the couch and met her at the door when she walked in. He took the black garment bag from her and hung it in the closet and then helped her with her coat as she kicked off her shoes. She had not been wearing her preferred high heels for a month now. Her feet could no longer handle the stress. He looked suspiciously as she pulled a small box out of her coat pocket before he hung it up. She kissed him on the cheek and handed it to him with a smile. "Happy Birthday." He took her hand and led her back to the couch
Molly sat with her back leaning against a throw pillow and the arm of the couch. Once Gibbs was in his spot on the other end, he put the red box with a gold bow on the end table and brought her feet up on his lap and began to use his strong hands to massage her left foot. She leaned back and let out a sigh. "Have I told you how much I love you?" She closed her eyes and let the sensation of his magic hands help her release the stress of the day.
"I think once or twice." He chuckled. He actually enjoyed doing these types of things for her. She never asked him to rub her feet or back. Hell, she hardly ever complained about her discomfort at all. But Gibbs could tell sometimes, by the way she moved, that she was having a difficult time getting around. At the White House she was on her feet all the time. Hence the move to the more comfortable but still fashionable shoes rather than the normal heels she wore. He had originally picked on her about it since it now meant instead of coming up to his nose she now stopped at his chin. "What's in the box?"
"It's your birthday present Leroy. If I wanted to just tell you what it was I would not have gone through the effort of wrapping it." She said this without looking up at him. He chuckled. Of course she would remember that today was the Corps' birthday. It really did not surprise him that she brought him home a gift. "Are you going to open it?"
"After I'm finished." Gibbs made his way to her other foot. "What's in the black dress bag? Or is that a secret too?"
"My dress for Saturday night. I bought it a few weeks ago and just picked it up from the tailor. Had to make sure it fit my belly right." Molly absent mindedly rubbed her hand over her stomach.
"Saturday night? We have plans?" Gibbs' eyebrows raised in question. He was really hoping he had not forgotten something important. Pregnancy hormones could be tricky and he did not want Molly to get upset.
"Remember Jethro? I told you last month. I have the Marine Corps Ball Saturday. Daniel will be picking me up at my town house around 5:30." Molly raised her head and opened her eyes when the hands on her right foot stopped rubbing.
"Daniel?" Gibbs did not even attempt to hide the jealousy in his voice. "I thought we agreed that since you are with me it would not be appropriate for you to go with him."
"When we discussed it, you were adamant you were not going. Me not going is out of the question Leroy. I also told you that. We did not agree that I was not attending. It's important to me. It's a tradition." Molly sat up and took her feet off of his lap. She had explained to him a month ago that every year a member of Michael's team escorted her to the ball. It was a way they all chose to remember her dead fiancé and their leader and friend. "For crying out loud Leroy, they're all married at this point and it's not like I am in any shape to be messing around with any of them even if they weren't."
"No Molly. I don't care if he is the Pope. You are not going with him. Period. This is not okay." He jumped off the couch in an effort to prove he was seriously standing his ground.
Molly stood as well. Granted it took more effort to maneuver herself off the couch but she was not taking this sitting down, literally or otherwise. If Leroy Jethro Gibbs thought for one second that she was going to just rollover on this and let him order her around, boy did he have another thing coming. "I am NOT one of your agents. You will NOT tell me what I will and will not do. You will NOT tell me who I can and cannot go with. We BOTH have lost someone we loved. We BOTH chose to deal with it our own way. I have NOT ONCE told you how to remember Shannon and Kelly. I have NOT ONCE looked in the other bedrooms. I don't have to look because I know what's in there. I know that's where you keep them alive Leroy. I have NEVER told you to move on. I have given you space on the days it was clear you needed time with them. Hell Leroy, I will take our son on vacation for the entire last week of February every year so you can have space to remember and grieve your family. Whatever you need I understand and will provide. So when it comes to how I choose to remember Michael, I expect the same damn courtesy." Her hands had been flailing the entire time she spoke.
"Living it up and dancing at some party really sounds about as far from mourning as you could possibly get." Gibbs stomped off towards the kitchen. Molly followed. He could not understand how she could compare him keeping all of his girl's things in a couple of rooms for him to remember now and then to getting all dressed up and going to a ball with a bunch of guys. It wasn't the same and for a mother-to-be it was really just inappropriate all together.
"We are not mourning Michael. We are celebrating him. That's the difference between you and me Leroy. I am done mourning. I have been for a long time. I loved Michael. I loved him more than I can ever put into words. Michael's family did not like me because of the age difference between the two of us. When he slipped his grandmother's engagement ring on my finger his mother was livid. But he didn't care. All he wanted was to see me happy. So now, all these years later, I would never disrespect his memory by still crying over him. He wouldn't want that. At his funeral I gave his mother back the ring. It belonged to their family anyways. I got nothing of Michael's because we weren't married. That woman got it all. All I have is one night a year with the men he served with, the men whose lives he saved. I will be damned if you think you are going to take that away from me. I'm not sure how you think you have the right to tell me what to do."
"You are carrying MY son. You are MY girlfriend. That's where I get the right!" Molly had never seen Leroy look so mad. But she knew she had to stand her ground. She had never allowed a man to control her actions and she wasn't about to start now. Molly abruptly turned and made her way to the door. She slipped her shoes on and opened the closet. "Where are you going? We are not done talking about this."
She opened the door and turned to him. "We ARE done FIGHTING about this. I am going. When you are ready to TALK, LISTEN, and UNDERSTAND, call me." With that she walked out the door and shut it quietly. Gibbs swore under his breath and headed for the basement.
Molly did not hear from Leroy again until Saturday night. It was around five in the evening and she was just putting on the last of her makeup before getting into her dress when her cell rang. She didn't look at the caller id. "Hello."
"Hi Molly." Her heart sank when she heard how melancholy Leroy sounded. She hadn't wanted to make him so upset. She had fought off the urge the past two days to call him and make amends. But she knew she was in the right on this one.
"Hey Leroy. I-uh- well I'm just getting ready for tonight so I can't really-"
"I know. I just wanted to ask you something. Can you have Daniel drop you off here tonight after the ball? I would like to show you something and talk."
"I can do that." Her heart now skipped a little. Maybe this wasn't going to be the end of them like she had been dreading all day. "It's going to be late."
"It's okay. Door is unlocked. How are you feeling?" Gibbs knew she had to go but he had missed her the last couple of days. He wanted to call so many times just to make sure she was doing okay.
"I'm- We're doing okay Leroy. I promise. But I really have to get-" It broke her heart to have to hang up the phone.
"I know. See you later?"
"Yes. You will see us later. I love you." She hung up the phone before he could respond.
Gibbs jumped from the couch as soon as he heard the car pull up to his driveway. He quickly made his way over to the door and out onto the porch. A tall man in full Marine Corps dress walked Molly up to the porch and kept a hand on her arm as she made her way up the steps. She smiled at Gibbs. "Staff Sergeant Daniel Monroe this is NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Gunnery Sergeant United States Marine Corps."
The younger man stuck out his hand and Gibbs shook it. "Nice to meet you Gunny. Molly has told all of us a lot about you. Next time you are at Quantico please feel free to stop in and say hello. We are hoping that you will join us next year."
"I've been thinking about doing just that." Gibbs looked at Molly when he said it and noticed a spark of happiness enter her eyes. "Thanks for taking care of my girl tonight."
"Pleasure is ours as always. Molly, you make sure some pictures of that fine young man make it to Quantico when he arrives. Maybe bring him down for a visit."
"Never too young to start grooming a Marine." Molly smiled and hugged Daniel.
"OOH-RAH! Goodnight Molly." Daniel turned and headed back to his car as Molly shivered at the cold and Gibbs escorted her inside.
Their movements mirrored those of a few nights before. Gibbs hung up her coat as she slipped her shoes off. He leaned in and kissed her. "You look beautiful." The dress she had chosen complimented the Corps uniform. The black top was velvet and hugged her breasts. Gibbs had to admit that the pregnancy was doing wonderful things for her breasts. Not that they weren't great before she got pregnant. The bottom half was satin and the same blue as the uniform pants. It flared out just below her breasts and ended just above her knees. "Your feet must be killing you." He looked over at the black heels she had been wearing.
"I'm okay. What did you want to show me?" She allowed Leroy to take her up the stairs. He followed behind with one hand on the small of her back. He had told her many times he was fearful of her falling. When they got to the top of the stairs she was surprised when he guided her towards the room at the end of the hallway. "Leroy, it's okay. I don't need to see what's in there. I understand if you don't-"
Gibbs put his finger to her lips. "It's not what you think. I've been thinking a lot about what you said. I don't want our son to miss out on one day with me because I have to hide in the basement and mourn them. I don't want him to resent them. And Shannon and Kelly would be mad if I let them come between me and him. That's not who they were. I want to start celebrating them like you celebrate Michael. For the last few years I have been doing that in sorts. I started making toys at Christmas for these kids in the children's hospital."
"Like the ones you started after you finished the nursery furniture?" She had been impressed at how quickly Leroy had created a nursery's worth of quality handmade furniture. She was even more impressed with all the toy trains, planes, horses, and other small trinkets that began piling up in the basement.
"Yeah. It's my way of doing Christmas without having to actually deal with celebrating Christmas without them. It's therapeutic and I like to think I am doing it in their memory. So here's what I propose. Every year I will take you to the Marine Corps Ball to honor Michael and his men. Then you help me make and deliver the toys to the hospital as our way of honoring Kelly and Shannon. The rest of the year is ours. It's for our family." He wiped away a tear that was making its way down her cheek. She simply nodded since she didn't know what else to say. "That's not the part that's supposed to make you cry. This is."
Gibbs opened the door to reveal the labor of love he had been working on around the clock since late Thursday night. The room that had once contained all he had left of his daughter was no longer the pink that he had picked out for Kelly all those years ago. It was a sage green. The hard wood floors were freshly buffed and shiny again. All the furniture that had been stored in the basement was now arranged beautifully. The crib was all set with mattress and bedding. The rocking chair sat in the middle with a cushion with child friendly animals on it. Pictures of all the people who would love this baby graced the walls. Team Gibbs was the biggest in size over the head of the crib. The changing table had diapers and wipes stacked neatly to the side with a changing pad and pale yellow cover.
"Oh Leroy. It's perfect. It's beautiful." She entered and ran her hands along all his craftsmanship. Seeing all of this in the basement was nothing compared to the finished product in the nursery. She sat in the rocker and began to cry. He bent down in front of her and pulled her head to his shoulder. "I didn't mean for you to get rid of it all. That wasn't my intention."
"It's in the other room." He rubbed her back. "I needed this room for him. It's okay. They would be okay with this and I am even more okay with this. I couldn't get rid of it all. I'm not there yet. You're going to have to be patient with me. But from now on everyday is about us." He put his hand on her stomach and rubbed small circles with a bit of pressure until he felt his son kick.
"So it's easier for you to accomplish all this in two days rather than simply say you are sorry?" Molly asked smiling through tears.
"Rule Six. Don't apologize; it's a sign of weakness. It's better to show you have learned from the mistake than it is to apologize for it."
"Is showing that you learned from a mistake ever shown with jewelry?" She mocked.
He chuckled as his mouth curved into his crooked grin. "If you want jewelry, just say the word. Whatever it takes, whatever you want, it's yours Sweetie." He brought his hand up and cupped her cheek. "I just want us happy."