Jenny didn't question her husband about what he meant, she was too busy trying to pull her mind out of the protective fog it sucked her into whenever something like this happened. They drove to a park which also had an outdoor ice rink five months of the year. Gibbs opened the trunk and pulled out a large duffle bag.

"When was the last time you went skating Jen?" he asked brightly.

She laughed. "A long time ago Jethro."

"It's like riding a bike," he said, drawing her over to a bench. "You never forget."

Several people were on the ice already, including some kids. Gibbs opened the bag and pulled out two pairs of old skates. Jenny's had been in the back of a closet, figure skates of course. Anyone who was graceful enough to do ballet for fifteen years wouldn't be caught dead in clunky old hockey skates. Gibbs had dug his out of a box in his basement. He'd had them both sharpened and now they were ready to go again. Just like new...almost.

Jenny slipped out of her stylish dress boots and muscled her feet into the skates. She tugged the laces for awhile, then gave up, turning to her husband with an adorable smile.

"Help me?" she asked.

Gladly, Gibbs knelt before her and made the laces tight. Jenny leaned down and whispered into his ear, her earlier episode pushed into the background for now.

"The last time I saw you in this position, you were holding a ring and asking me very nicely to marry you while your eyes begged me to say yes."

Gibbs reached into the bag and pulled out a warm, purple and white knitted scarf, wrapping it around her neck.

"I'd do it again."

Jenny kissed his cheek, reaching for the gloves he was holding. "And I'd still say yes."

Their eyes communicated in such a way that no words were needed. While Gibbs laced up his own skates, Jenny tamed her hair into a half ponytail, then wrapped it all into a regular low ponytail, not wanting it flying in her face while she was moving.

She slid her hands into gloves and followed Gibbs, teetering a little, onto the ice. Jenny started out slowly, having no desire to end up on her butt in the first thirty seconds of this venture. Gibbs of course, took to the ice like he'd never left it and skated circles around her, laughing as she took small, baby strides. Once she found her feet on the ice, Gibbs skated backwards in front of her, holding out his hands.

"Come on Jen, skate with me."

She didn't want to say no. Jenny placed her hands in his and followed his confident movements across the ice. Very carefully, he spun her around, helping her to keep her balance, though her old skills on skates were beginning to come back to her. He watched as she glided gracefully around, wishing she was brave enough to attempt a jump but there were too many people and it had been a lot of years since those days. Gibbs pushed off, chasing her around the edge of the rink, and Jenny laughed, loving the wind in her face and hair, and the man who always, always had her back.

After awhile, Jenny wasn't sure how long, she collapsed onto the bench where they'd left their shoes, breathless and smiling. Gibbs was a little winded too. His sport these days was mostly footraces with criminals that didn't understand running from federal agents with guns was bad for their health and their freedom.

"Well Jen," he said, taking a deep breath, "did you have fun?"

Jenny grinned. "I did. Thank you Jethro. I'm beginning to think being married to you will be a constant string of surprises."

He shrugged one shoulder. "I wouldn't want to be too easy to figure out, might lose my charm that way."

"Oh," Jenny replied, shaking her head and cupping his cheek, "I seriously doubt that."

Leaning forward, she brushed her cold lips against his, lingering a little longer than before. The promise of something more for later, perhaps?

"You know what I think we need now?" she asked.

Gibbs' eyes were only for Jenny. "What's that Jen?"

Her eyes twinkled. "Hot chocolate, with whipped cream of course."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course."

They removed their shoes and slipped back into what they'd been wearing before. Gibbs took Jenny's hand, and the bag, and headed back to the car. He stopped at Jenny's favourite coffee shop on the way home, told her to wait there, and came back minutes later holding two white cups with lids. Gibbs handed Jenny hers, and she could see the steam rising from the little hole in the lid. Cautiously she took a sip, and her eyes flew to Gibbs'.

"White hot chocolate Jethro?"

"Spoiling you a little bit once in awhile isn't going to hurt anything," he told her, trying his own drink.

Jenny took another sip. "Oh, it's so good! I haven't had this in a long time."

"I know."

They sat there, looking at each other, basking in the warm glow of an almost perfect day, for several minutes before Gibbs got any motivation to put the car in drive and head for Jenny's house. It was just after three o'clock when they pulled in the driveway. Jenny decided not to mention that after drinking the whole cup of hot chocolate, her stomach was feeling unsettled again. It had been really good, but she didn't want to get sick before tonight. She was looking forward to hanging out with the group.

Once inside, they hung up their coats and headed for the kitchen to throw away their empty cups. Gibbs opened the fridge looking for nothing in particular and suddenly remembered.

"Oh Jen, Ziva wondered if you could bring a salad to the party tonight."

Jenny nodded slowly. "Sure. It shouldn't take too long. Do you want to help or would you rather go work on your secret project in the workshop?"

He leaned back against the counter and grinned, ignoring her curiosity about what he was working on. "Put me to work lady. I feel a need to defend my previously unappreciated skills in the kitchen.

Jenny was thinking of his skills with something else in the kitchen besides preparing food, but she kept it to herself. "Alright then, you asked for it." She pulled a knife out of the block and handed it to him. "Cucumbers please. Little bite size pieces. My kind of bite size Jethro," she grinned, "not yours."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine," then looked around like he was lost. "Umm...cutting board Jen?"

"Bottom left hand cupboard beside the fridge," Jenny said without even turning around. A bowl appeared from a top cupboard and then she opened the fridge looking for lettuce and vegetables. The radio got switched on at some point, and relaxing music flowed into the kitchen between them.

The only words that followed were simple instructions and basic questions. Gibbs got stuck with cutting most of the vegetables, though Jenny didn't trust him with peppers and took care of those herself. Carrots, celery, three different kinds of lettuce, plus brussels sprouts also ended up in the ever growing salad. At last Jenny pushed a wayward piece of hair out of her face and smiled.

"Perfect. I think we have enough for everyone."

Gibbs eyed the salad dubiously. "Jen, I think we have enough for everyone and all their relatives."

"What?" she shrugged, "Salad is supposed to be good for you."

"That's what you keep telling me. But it just doesn't compare to steak. Speaking of which," he looked up eagerly, "what about tomorrow?"

"For what?" Jenny asked.

"Steak. Supper. You know, since there's no Noemi to spoil us on weekends?"

Regardless of the fact that Jenny didn't think she would be able to eat steak, she knew it had been awhile since her husband had gotten/made his favourite meal.

She shrugged. "Sure. I can do baked potatoes and steam some broccoli or something to go with it."

"The vegetables are mandatory?" Gibbs asked.

Jenny shook her head at him. "Yes Jethro. Remember those food groups? Vegetables are definitely mandatory." She glanced at the clock. "Oh. It's later than I thought. I need to go get dressed." She headed for the stairs, mumbling to herself. "Though I have no idea what I'm going to wear. I wish I'd thought about this sooner."

Gibbs covered the salad bowl and put it on the hall table, where hopefully they would remember to take it with them. By the time he got upstairs, Jenny had what looked like half her closet laid out on the bed, as she looked at things in and mirror and discarded them. Gibbs warily stayed in the doorway, knowing the inevitable question was coming and unsure whether he wanted to be a part of this decision.

It was no good asking husbands what their wives looked good in because husbands are naturally biased and think their wives look good in everything. That is not what women want to hear. He had a fleeting thought about calling Rachel to come and rescue him, but knew that there wasn't enough time for her to get here before they needed to leave. Finally Jenny noticed him there.

"Oh good, Jethro, just who I needed." She looked at the piles of clothes and shoes surrounding her and shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what to wear."

Gingerly perching on the side of the bed and still thinking about running away, Gibbs tried to smile. "Any favourites yet?" He gestured to everything that was no longer in her closet.

Jenny crossed her arms and looked at him, exasperated. "Jethro, if I had any favourites, we wouldn't be having this problem." She started going through her closet again and muttering comments about each thing she pulled out. "Too summery...don't really like that one...too dark...too dressy...I wouldn't even wear that to work." The list went on and on and Gibbs wondered about the logic of keeping clothes she didn't intend on wearing. Of course next week, she might love everything she hated today. It really was a no win situation.

Finally he dared to make a comment. "What about the sweater Ziva gave you for Christmas last year Jen?"

Jenny whirled around to look at him, eyebrows disappearing under her bangs. "You remember that Jethro?"

"Hey," he grinned, "we'd just gotten engaged. I was paying attention to everything."

She smiled. "I remember. Yes," she frowned, "Now where did I put that?"

Moving past him, Jenny started opening drawers, very much liking Jethro's suggestion. Finally she found it, tucked carefully in with a few of her other tops. The sweater was ivory, cashmere, and extremely comfortable. With her fancy jeans, a scarf maybe, some jewellery... Jenny smiled happily. Perfect. She kissed her husband on the cheek.

"You saved the day Jethro. Thank you." Jenny hummed while she collected everything else she needed and disappeared into the bathroom.

Gibbs glanced helplessly around him at all the clothes, wondering when they were going to make it back into the closet. Opening his own drawers, Gibbs became extremely thankful once again that he was a guy. It took him all of thirty seconds to pick a dark pair of jeans, and one of the dress shirts Jenny insisted he needed from his side of the closet. By the time Jenny opened the door, dressed and starting on her make up, Gibbs was ready to go. She looked at him and frowned.

"That is so unfair."

He looked down at his clothes. "What?"

"That it takes you no time at all to choose what you're going to wear and you still end up looking incredibly good in it."

Gibbs took in Jenny's outfit. The sweater hugged her torso and she had the sleeves pushed up to her elbows. A green and gold scarf was draped around her neck and the jeans she wore fit her perfectly, making her legs look longer than normal. She was still in bare feet, and he had a feeling she wouldn't be wearing high heels tonight. They were reserved strictly for work to make her look taller, or for fancy functions because they went well with all of her dresses.

He moved a little closer, not really daring to touch her while she had the mascara brush so close to her eye. "You look amazing Jen."

She smiled at him in the mirror. "And you're biased."

"No way." He shook his head. "Even if I weren't married to you, I would still think you looked great."

She applied some lipstick and checked her appearance. All seemed to be in order. "You're good for the ego Jethro," she said, walking by him to get back into their room, leaving a trail of perfume behind her. Gibbs breathed it in, knowing he would never smell that scent without thinking of his wife. Scanning the tangle of shoes littering the floor beside their bed, Jenny found the black slip ons she was looking for. They went well with jeans and were very comfortable.

"Okay," she smiled. "I'm ready."

Gibbs held out his hand. "Let's do this Mrs. Gibbs."

She laughed. No one else called her that. He just liked the way it sounded. "Lead the way Jethro."

Twenty minutes later they were pulling up at Ziva's apartment building. Already in the lot Gibbs recognized Abby's red car, Tony's Mustang, McGee's car, and of course, Ziva's Mini. She buzzed them in at the entrance and the front door was open when they came up the hall. They were just in time to hear Ducky.

"Now Mother, I told you, Tony is not a threat. Put the knife away Mother. No one wants to see that."

"Donald, who are these people?"

Ducky sighed and Gibbs and Jenny laughed as they walked in the room. Tonight was bound to be entertaining.