AN - And we are now back to present time after a whirlwind of necessary past events with the previous chapters. Now we are finally back on track with the story, things in this chapter get moving quite quickly. So buckle up those seat belts and get ready for the ride!
Enjoy :)
A loud slam of her office door brought her out of her thoughts.
It almost made her jump, almost.
The door itself had flung back into the wall, resonating in a loud crash.
She half expected it to be Gibbs, but she knew better, only one person would be that angry and wouldn't be afraid to show it, other than Gibbs.
He at least knew the limits.
Dark chocolate strands of hair covered the porcelain skin of her face, complementing her cobalt blue eyes.
She slammed the door as soon as she had walked into the office.
Completely ignoring the pointless protests of Cynthia, Jenny waved her hand in the air to signal that it was fine whilst she mentally braced herself as there would be no calm waters today, only the storm.
"Do you have any idea what day today is!" the woman opposite Jenny was practically screaming, she was beyond pissed off or angry
Jenny sat calmly behind her desk, "I know exactly what day it is, and it's a Monday, for your information."
The woman rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Don't play cute with me, Mother." She said in a low tone
"Oh, no more formalities?" asked Jenny, two could play that game
Bitchy, after all, was their specialty.
"I don't even know who you are anymore." The girl bit back
"The feelings mutual." Jenny muttered
"Do you just not care anymore? Now that he's met someone else, you've just given up!" she taunted
"That's enough." Said Jenny evenly
"No, that's not enough! For God's sake, you two are still married!" her voice grew louder
However, she was met with a second of silence.
A moment of importance...
Yeah, that was it.
Something inside Jenny just seemed to snap, like an icicle, it shattered to the ground.
She stood up from her calm and collected position.
"Kelly Marie Gibbs, I said that was enough!" Jenny shouted
Now that got her attention.
She was stunned; nobody had called her that in years.
Kelly had changed her name to Kylie a long time ago.
She couldn't believe that her mother had just called her that and immediately Kelly felt terrible.
"Mom, I'm sorry." She said as she saw the look of pain flash across her mother's face
Well, at least she hadn't forgotten what day it was today.
It was the anniversary of their supposed deaths.
Kylie was back in the attic, searching through the boxes that held so many memories of her past.
She kind of felt like the Princess Anastasia from the animated film, aside from the fact that she could actually remember her past.
It was still good to reminisce.
She accidentally dropped a large book with a loud thud; it looked to be a diary of some sorts.
Curiosity had gotten the better of her, so she decided to skim read and flick through it.
However, something caught her eye and she couldn't help but smile at this.
Rule one, written in that perfect cursive writing that may as well pass as calligraphy, a skill that Kylie had never been able to pick up as perfectly as her mother.
Never date a lumberjack.
She could remember her mother repeating this over and over again, until it had finally stuck.
You know what they say, old habits die hard.
Although, they can always learn new tricks to hide up the sleeve.
Kylie smiled as she was thrown into a memory of her childhood.
Jenny flicked off the lights in her office as she exited the room with her briefcase and an umbrella; her coat was securely fastened around her, a small attempt to keep warm and dry from the harsh cold weather that had formed that afternoon.
It had been a long day as well as eventful and emotional.
Cynthia, her trusty and organised assistant had already left to go home for the night, four hours ago.
She locked the door with her key before walking outside of Cynthia's office and locking that too, she had grown increasingly paranoid after an unplanned encounter with someone whom she thought was dead.
She didn't know whom to trust anymore and it terrified her.
She walked down the catwalk, a few scattered agents were in the Squad room, and most of them had caught cases and were trying to catch the dirt bags as soon as possible.
She smiled, she had the agency to her liking now or to what could be called, running smoothly, and that of course was only when Gibbs didn't ruin these plans.
She walked down the stairs and noted that Tony was typing furiously on his keyboard and his facial expression was in a deep state of concentration. This puzzled her, they had no active cases, and she knew that as a fact, she was after all, the man in charge so to speak.
And Tony was always eager to get out of the building first.
Ziva, McGee and Gibbs were all not present to witness this however.
She tried to get a closer look at his screen but his head was in the way and she couldn't fully see what he was looking up or doing but she could see the mild blur of red, the exact colour of her hair on the screen and then it was gone, replaced with an empty black screen.
A ding of the elevator alerted the room to the presence of someone, she made her way down the stairs a little quicker, before anyone noticed what she was doing, she rounded the corner and she heard the main printer start up and she made the decision to gather all the documents because she noticed that Tony had just gotten up.
But she beat him to the printer and stood in his path.
"Evening, Agent DiNozzo."
"Ma'am." He stated mutually, trying to get to the printer.
She cut him off, "In a rush?"
"You could say that." He replied
"Have you made your decision?" she questioned him
"Would I be here if I hadn't?" he retorted
Touché.
"Cold case?" she asked lightly, maybe he'd gotten a useful lead, maybe.
"Yeah, just going through the old files to see if I can generate any leads, and see what the last agent was up to. Gibbs' orders." He explained
She nodded, "Good luck with that, tell him I expect a briefing in the morning. Have a good night, DiNozzo. We'll see you in a week." She said before she departed with the stashed papers safely in her briefcase.
"Night, Director." He said as he walked over to the printer, it was only when he heard the elevator doors close that he realised that his papers that he had printed, and he knew he had printed them, he had heard the printer print them himself.
But more to the point they were missing, just simply gone.
He swore under his breath.
Pulling his phone out from his jeans pocket, he dialed the one number that he was dreading.
"Yeah?" Was the gruff answer on the other end of the line
"We have a problem." Said Tony in a small rush
On the other side of town, Jenny rolled her neck in a circle, one way and then the other way.
Wincing when she heard the amount of cracks that followed suit after releasing some of the tension that was stored there, she needed to get a massage, and soon.
Curiosity was an understatement, now she was just snooping.
She poured herself a glass of bourbon, as per her nightly ritual.
She opened her briefcase with the files that she'd stolen from Tony, making sure that her Study door was closed and that the blinds behind the desk were drawn prior.
Carefully, she sifted through them.
Some were photographs that had been blown up and others were old reports, in a stake out layout form.
She looked at the first photograph that had been printed since it was a colour printer, it was easy to see.
But what she saw on the paper was the last thing she wanted to see.
It was her.
A much younger one at that but nevertheless, it was her just before the surgery and the crash.
She recognised her surroundings all too easily, Kelly would have been at least two, and she remembered that day clearly.
She couldn't believe it.
What the hell was DiNozzo doing with these?
How did he find them was probably the better question.
She thought back to his excuse.
Always be specific when you lie.
This was going on to be horrific.
He couldn't find out the past.
She wouldn't let him, despite the costs.
Today was not a fantastic day, in fact, it was the opposite.
It was only on this day where he really did falter to find some form of solace.
So many years had passed him by and he was beginning to question himself.
Normally, like any other night, he would simply drown his sorrows and more accurately his emotions in his beloved bourbon.
But, this was no ordinary night.
And, to be completely honest, he was never stone cold hearted to begin with.
He sighed; it was times like these when he needed something a little stronger than bourbon.
It was times like these when he just missed his old family and he wished that by some miracle that they had survived, because if they had, then everything would have been okay.
He would have had the chance to be the loving husband and father that was always there for his family, with a dog and perhaps a white picket fence.
Hell, he could have had a second child with Shannon.
God, how he missed them both, so much, it was hard to even begin to describe how much he wanted them just to be safe and alive.
He had sworn that he heard Shannon shout Kelly's name when he was about to go and see Jenny earlier on.
But was it all in his head?
He didn't know, so he just walked back to the elevator as Cynthia had claimed that Jenny was busy.
He hadn't been able to face Jenny after that; they were so similar in some ways and utterly different in others.
Regardless, of how he felt in regards to the whole DiNozzo situation, that could wait till at least tomorrow.
Today was just not the day for him.
He raked his brain over and over until he had successfully gained a headache.
Great, he thought, that was the last thing he needed right now.
His door bell rang, that was odd to say the least.
Grabbing his gun and bringing his foul mood with him, he made his way upstairs and to the front door where no one was waiting but there was a package on the doorstep, some sort of book.
He looked around his surroundings briefly, he'd open the package later, and it wasn't an urgent matter, right?
He didn't see anybody, the night was pretty still.
He eyed the package suspiciously, deciding to open it, only after he'd put on a pair of latex gloves.
It was wrapped in plain brown paper, no card, no note.
He'd have Abby run the prints for it tomorrow, just in case.
He opened it slowly, a framed picture of Kelly, Shannon and himself in the backyard with red lipstick drawn all over it.
The harsh red letters stood out the most.
WHY?
His phone rang, and at that moment he didn't care how gruff his voice sounded at all.
"Yeah?" he answered it
Not caring at all whom was on the other end.
"Daddy?" said an eight year old voice but he'd recognise that voice anytime and anywhere.
His blood ran cold.
The line went dead.
Kelly
AN - And there we have it... Please review! Thank-you :) Xx