Chapter Seven: Hellos and Goodbyes

Josie woke not too long after Tim and Abby left for work on Friday morning. She rubbed her eyes then sat up in her bed and yawned. With springtime came earlier mornings and longer days and for a little girl who woke with the sun, it meant even less sleep. She crawled out of bed, grabbed Lulu, her pink dolphin, and made her way downstairs.

Grandpa Mike was sitting on the couch in his pajamas drinking a cup of coffee when the little girl came in. She didn't hesitate to climb in the half-asleep man's lap. Keeping up with the twins all week, even with the help of Tony, Ziva, Tim and Abby had really taken it out of him. He was looking forward to returning to his quiet little beach in Baja.

"Good morning, Darlin'," the older man said. He set his coffee aside and readjusted the three year old in his lap.

"Morning Grandpa," Josie said resting against his chest.

"You know what today is?" Mike asked before kissing the child on the head. Josie shook her head as she hugged Lulu. "Your Mom and Dad will be home pretty soon."

"Really?" Josie asked perking right up.

"Yep," Mike said, "they been on a plane all night so they could get here to see you."

"Yay!" Josie cheered.

While Mike sipped his coffee, Josie sat in his lap and read him one her princess story books. After pretending to read each page she made sure to show both Mike and Lulu the pictures, imitating the way her teachers at daycare made sure to show all the children the pictures. Mike just relaxed, enjoying the last little bit of time he got to spend with his granddaughter before he had to fly home.

Josie was part of the way through her fourth book when Gibbs and Jenny walked through the front door. The little girl flew out of Mike's lap and raced into their open arms. Gibbs lifted her up and kissed both cheeks and her forehead before telling her how much he loved and missed her and handing her off to Jenny. Jenny held the little girl tightly, burying her face in her hair so she could breathe in her scent as she kissed her head. She wouldn't have traded a second of her honeymoon but she had missed the twins. Gibbs and Jenny joined Mike on the couch with Josie sprawled out across both their laps.

"You two have fun?" Mike asked still nursing his coffee.

"We had a great time," Gibbs said brushing his fingers through Josie's hair, "but we're glad to be home."

"You were certainly missed," Mike said. "I wasn't sure if Junior was gonna make it. I'll tell you what, that kid is a chip off the old block. Are you sure he ain't your biological kid?"

Jenny laughed at Mike's assessment. Bailey was so much like Gibbs it was uncanny.

Gibbs smiled as he leaned down and kissed Josie's forehead. "I'm going to go get him up," he said. He really wanted to love on his little boy. He shifted Josie onto Jenny's lap and rubbed his hand over her hair then took off upstairs.

Bailey was curled into a tight ball with his socks and t-shirt tossed sloppily over the side of the bed. It didn't matter how many layers he was put to bed in, he always stripped down to just a pair of pants at some point in the night. He knew that was how his daddy slept so he insisted that was how he was going to sleep too.

Gibbs slipped into bed next to him and pulled the blankets over them. Bailey instinctively curled into Gibbs' side without even waking up. Gibbs wrapped his arm around his child and gently pressed a kiss to his forehead before examining the stitches above his eye.

Bailey started to wake as he felt Gibbs' breath in his hair and his kisses on his face. "Daddy," he said still sleepy but with a happy smile on his face. He crawled on Gibbs' chest and snuggled in with his arms wrapped as far around him as he could reach. "Is Mommy home too?"

"Uh-huh," Gibbs answered, "do you want to go see her?"

"Will you carry me?"

Gibbs kissed his son's head before standing with him in his arms. At that point he wasn't ready to let go anymore than Bailey was. The two headed downstairs and joined Mike, Jenny and Josie on the couch.

"Good morning, Baby," Jenny said brushing the little boy's bangs out of his face so she could kiss his forehead. "We missed you."

"I missed you too," Bailey said. "I don't want you to never leave me again."

"Well, we can't promise we'll never leave you guys again," Jenny said, "but we're not going anywhere for a long time."

"The baby in your tummy is getting bigger," Bailey noticed.

"It sure is," Jenny said happily. "Pretty soon we'll be able to feel him or her moving around in there."

"How you been feeling?" Mike asked.

"Better," Jenny said. "I've been making less frequent trips to the bathroom and I haven't been as tired."

"Morning sickness?" Mike asked.

"None," Jenny said with a grateful smile.

"You're lucky," Mike said, "both of you."

The group sat on the couch, Mike drinking coffee and Gibbs and Jenny cuddling with the kids, until it was time to start getting ready. They'd have to leave to take Mike to the airport soon and nobody was ready to go anywhere. The quiet, peaceful morning turned loud and exciting as Jenny took the twins upstairs to get dressed and Gibbs and Mike headed into the kitchen to make some breakfast.

After they ate, they had a little time before they had to leave so Jenny unpacked the souvenirs they'd brought the kids. Matching beach towels, Bailey's blue with outlines of sea turtles on it and Josie's bright pink with the same pattern. They got both kids several sheets of stickers, Josie a flowered lei, Bailey a beaded lei, Josie a teddy bear dressed in a hula skirt and Bailey a teddy bear dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and both kids a few t-shirts.

"This is like Christmas," Mike commented as the kids admired their gifts.

"We couldn't go and not bring them back anything," Jenny said.

"Well, despite everybody around here spoiling them rotten, you guys have some great kids," Mike said. "I'm gonna miss 'em."

"I'm sure they're going to miss you too," Gibbs said.

Jenny took stock of the kitchen cupboards and decided a trip to the grocery store was in order. They decided to load the kids up and go as a family to drop Mike off at the airport then get their shopping done so they could stay home and relax for the rest of the weekend. In order to condense their visits from the team so they could get some rest, they'd invited everyone over for dinner on Saturday night.

Tony was the first one over to the house on Saturday evening. He'd come a little early to face Gibbs' wrath but found himself stuck on the front porch, unable to ring the doorbell or enter the house. He'd been terrified when he saw the blood and realized they were going to have to go to the emergency room and not because he was afraid of what Gibbs was going to do to him but because he was afraid Bailey had been seriously hurt. Now that he knew Bailey was okay, he wasn't looking forward to facing Gibbs.

Gibbs sat in the living room, listening and waiting. He'd seen Tony's car pull up almost fifteen minutes prior but there was no sign of Tony yet. The twins were upstairs relaxing with Jenny so Gibbs decided to wait and let Tony come on his own time. He'd calmed down significantly since first receiving the phone call but he wouldn't let his agent off without a slap to the back of the head. He'd warned Tony time and time again about roughhousing in the house and hoped the incident with Bailey had been a wakeup call for him.

Tony opened the front door and moved to the doorway of the living room. He looked in and saw Gibbs sitting alone on the couch. "I came a little early so if you wanted to kill me there would be no witnesses," he said his tone serious.

Gibbs smirked as he looked at his agent. "I'm not going to kill you, DiNozzo," he said, "but we are going to talk. Sit down." Despite two recliners in the room, Tony took the seat right next Gibbs. "I've warned you about wrestling with the kids inside the house, have I not?"

"Yes, Boss," Tony said, "and now I know why."

Gibbs looked over at a very nervous Tony, not quite ready to let him off the hook yet. "Is there a reason it took a trip to the Emergency Room and five stitches in Bailey's head for you to figure it out?"

Tony tried to come up with an answer but couldn't so he just shrugged his shoulders instead. "I promise I'm going to listen to you from now on, Boss," he insisted.

"Mm-hmm," Gibbs replied skeptically. A smack to the back of his head told Tony he was still loved regardless of the fact that he'd messed up. Gibbs stood and started towards the kitchen but stopped and faced Tony again. "Anthony, next time I will kill you. Understood?"

"Understood," Tony said.

It wasn't long before the house was filled with talking and laughter as everybody started arriving. Despite the slight chill in the air Gibbs decided to fire up the grill to cook the chicken and while he did that Jenny passed out the souvenirs they'd picked out for everybody. The twins showed off their gifts while Jenny set the table and put out the potato salad she'd made earlier that day. She opened a can of three bean salad, set out some chips and dip and heated up some baked beans. Once the meal was ready they all gathered around the table and filled their plates.

After they ate, Jenny got her laptop out and they all piled on top of each other on the couch to look at the honeymoon pictures.

"This is the luau we went to," Jenny said. "It was so much fun and the food was amazing. They cooked the pig in an underground oven all day with hot rocks in its belly."

"An imu," Gibbs said, "it was fantastic."

"Like a whole pig?" Abby asked.

Gibbs nodded.

"I gotta go to Hawaii," Tony said.

Jenny laughed as she moved on to the next picture. "This is the waterfall we hiked to. I freaked out a little."

"In retrospect it probably wasn't the best activity with you being pregnant," Gibbs said.

"I wanted to go too," Jenny said. "I just didn't think it'd be so dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Abby asked.

"It was pouring rain which made the trail kind of treacherous," Gibbs said, "but we made it."

"It's a fun memory," Jenny said. "I'm glad we did it."

They went through the pictures from their day on the North Shore, their tour of the island, hike to the top of a volcano, visit to the pineapple plantation, sunset cruise and all the other fun and interesting things they did during their week away. After an evening filled with fun, stories and reuniting, the house emptied out.

Jenny wanted to give the twins their baths, knowing she wouldn't be able to get up and down from the floor for much longer. She knew it wouldn't be long before she had difficulty moving around. She wanted that bonding time with the kids. While she bathed them, Gibbs cleaned up from their party, turned the twin's nightlights on, turned their covers back and laid out their pajamas. He'd noticed them getting tired earlier in the evening and knew they'd fall asleep quickly.

Once bath time was over, Jenny had story time and laid down with Josie while Gibbs relaxed with Bailey. As predicted, both of them were asleep within a matter of minutes. Gibbs met Jenny in the hall, took her hand and led her into the bathroom in their room. He started filling the bathtub then undressed her while she giggled at him and gave him goofy looks.

"What are you doing?" she asked still laughing.

"I'm taking care of my pregnant wife," Gibbs said before placing a soft kiss on her lips. Jenny brushed her hand down the side of his face and watched as he quickly stripped out of his clothes. "Ladies first," he said taking her hand and helping her into the bathtub.

"You know you don't have to do this, Jethro," Jenny said quite amused with Gibbs' behavior. "What's gotten into you?"

"What do you mean?" Gibbs asked, lowering himself into the tub behind Jenny. "I love you. I want to take care of you. Besides, you're carrying our baby. It's the least I can do."

Jenny relaxed into Gibbs and smiled when he kissed her neck. "I love you too. Thank you for taking care of me." It was the perfect way to continue their honeymoon at home. She knew Gibbs would always be there for her and always take care of her and their family.