DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NCIS OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!
DEAD DOESN'T MEAN FOREVER
Ch 8
Throughout dinner Shannon and Kelly learned more about the intricacies of their miraculous transformations. A lot was difficult to understand, but the more they heard the more believable it became. Slowly Kelly began to accept her state and agreed it would've been hard to return as an eight year old. She chose to take the opportunity to make a dig at her dad, "You're much too old to have a daughter that young!"
He laughed good naturedly, pleased to see her finally smile and show a bit of her old spunk. Shannon lightly laughed as well; until Gibbs pointed out that she wasn't that too far behind him in age. He smirked at her pout. It was almost like old times. Gibbs held tight to his hope that it was a good omen.
As night time fell and everyone felt the day's happenings taking their toll, they split off to go to sleep. A cot with a sleeping bag was set up for Kelly and she tried to be grateful that she wasn't being forced to sleep on the floor or worse yet bunk in with her parents.
Even though a part of her still felt like a young girl, she was beginning to realize she was a fully grown woman now. It would take a lot of getting used to. It was strange to suddenly know so much about life having not really lived it. She was somewhat grateful for missing out on puberty and the teenaged years. From what was filtered into her brain it was a difficult time to go through. In her own way she was dealing with everything in fast forward, so she was able to accustom herself to where she was in her life now.
Her mom and dad didn't tuck her into bed, but they did stand nearby to say goodnight. Seeing them together again brought back true memories and she was happy that they had each other again.
Gibbs and Shannon returned to the bed in the chamber welcoming the time to be alone. Despite all the craziness of the resurrections and the million questions that seemed to arise one thing held fast- they were still very much in love. Both were made whole again by being together.
They had desires renewed and found ways to satisfy them. It was a night too long in the making, but yet not long enough to fulfill everything.
In the morning plans were explained for bringing them home. Passports had been procured but were in need of photos; Anya said she'd be able to take care of that for them. They had airline tickets for Shannon and Kelly. Gibbs would be taking the transport back to ensure the safe delivery of Tim's invention.
All the essentials were in place. Gibbs only needed to prepare them for the people they were going to meet and vice versa.
Though some of the information about his team was included in the memory video and audio tapes he knew it would be too awkward for them to have too much knowledge about people they never met.
Through pictures and stories he introduced them to his girls. Shannon could sense the bonds he had with them and was curious if they reciprocated the familial sentiment. Gibbs may have been alone, but he found a surrogate family.
Kelly was looking forward to meeting them. They seemed like a gun group. She could tell her dad felt strongly about them and knew that if he cared that much about them they had to be good people.
They watched as the Lars, Igor and Sven dismantled McGee's machine with care. Though no one believed it would be used again for such a purpose again, it was still useful for the scientific community. Who knew maybe McGee would even win some kind of award for it?
Having an early flight in the morning, they turned in early.
Gibbs saw them off on their flight and made his way to the tarmac where the transport was waiting to take him home. As difficult as it was to be away from his wife and daughter so soon after getting them back he figured he owed McGee so much the least he could do was watch over his machine one last time.
During his flight he wondered what awaited his near future. His gut wasn't really telling him anything, or if it was he was too busy thinking of the possibilities to pay it too much attention.