.

Day Twenty-three: on one of their birthdays

Timeline: married

Gibbs was in a considerable silent panic as she sat at the Marine recruitment office staring blankly at the wall in front of him. He violently hoped no one came in for the rest of the day, and wished he knew how to use the internet to buy things.

Not that that would help.

He was completely blindsided by the fact that today was apparently his relatively new wife's birthday, and he was immensely annoyed with his daughter for telling him.

"You didn't know?"

"She never told me, she told me to figure out when it was!"

"Well, jeez, Dad, why didn't you figure it out? God, you could have missed it already ... "

When Kelly had called to ask what his plans were for Jenny tonight and he'd snorted and made a joke about her working too much to remember him, Kelly had told him in a stunned tone that it was her birthday, shocked he wasn't aware.

She hadn't meant to ruin his day, but she had - and he resented Kelly at the moment.

Jenny hadn't told him. She thought it was a damn joke.

Kelly had refused to work with him and tell him what Jenny might want, and he couldn't leave the recruitment office anyway. He leaned forward, gritting his teeth and rubbing his jaw. Maybe she'd like a sweater? No, jesus, what was wrong with him -

A bell rang and the door swung open, and to his horror there stood his wife, a hand on her hip and a growly look on her face.

"Why aren't you at work?" he demanded, his voice pitching. He hastily tried to fix that as she strolled over and sat down in a chair lazily.

"The team is annoying the piss out of me," she growled. She mimicked them in a high, amusing voice: "Shepard, let us buy you drinks - Shepard," she whined. She rolled her eyes.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes.

"'Cause it's your birthday," he blurted narrowly, glaring.

She gave him a wary look.

"Who told you?" she asked - but it was clear she was seriously let down that he knew, rather than mad he hadn't found out.

He shrugged. He decided not to throw Kelly under the bus.

"DiNozzo," he lied.

"Remind me to strangle him."

Gibbs grinned wickedly. He leaned back and watched her a moment.

"Didn't get you a gift," he said pointedly.

"Good," she muttered. She got up and walked over, perching on the desk in front of him. "I hate celebrating my birthday," she told him bluntly. "It's distracting."

He put his hands on her knees, and shrugged. It probably had something to do with her son; if he remembered correctly, they shared a very close birthday, and probably celebrated together when Peter was alive.

He smiled comfortingly.

"Happy birthday, Jen," he sad warmly, his voice low.

She gave him a wary look, and then smiled a little, her shoulders falling. She licked her lips.

"Thanks," she said, and hesitated a moment. "You can take me out for drinks," she awarded loftily.

-alexandra