Chapter 9

That night Gibbs had to practically bribe Kelly into going to bed as she had been way to excited to sleep, practically bouncing off of the walls, and as soon as she had fallen asleep Gibbs went to his own room and soon fell asleep with exhaustion.

The next morning Gibbs was woken by the sound of his bedroom door opening, his blue eyes fluttered open slowly to find another pair of blue eyes staring back at him, "Morning" he mumbled.

"Is that all you're going to say to me?" Kelly huffed with a grin.

"Yeah, why? Is it a special day or something?" Gibbs teased his now ten year old.

"Daddddy" Kelly whined at him, shoving her little hand into his chest lightly, so much he could barely feel it. "You know it's my birthday" she reminded him with a giggle as Gibbs began to tickle her sides gently.

"As if I could forget" he chuckled at her as she kicked her legs and feet out in laughter before stopping when she cried mercy, He pressed a kiss to her head "Happy Birthday Kel" he mumbled into her hair as he pulled her close.

All of a sudden there came a soft knock on the bedroom door "Come in" Gibbs told the only other person it could be to enter, and he was right when Jack walked in.

"I see the birthday girl is awake" he grinned at his granddaughter who got off of her father's bed and ran to him and hugged him "Happy Birthday Sweet pea" he hugged her close "Come on, I'll make you some breakfast" Jack smiled at her before the two walked out of Gibbs' bedroom giving him a moment to himself.

Gibbs ran a tired hand down his face, where were the years going? He couldn't believe that ten years had passed by so quickly, it felt like only yesterday he brought Kelly home for the first time and had to learn how to be a single father.

Shannon, she'd been gone ten years, he missed her so much, he knew she would have wanted him to have moved on by now, let Kelly have a mother figure of some sort, but none of the women he had dated had ever come close, usually the minute they found out he had a kid they bolted and never returned his calls. Gibbs knew he needed to find someone who liked him for him and Kelly, someone who would care for Kelly like they were her own flesh and blood, someone who he liked, but that was going to take a while as it was a tall order this dream women would have to fill.

He got up and stretched his back as he looked out the window out to the beautiful day, glad to see that the weather wasn't going to ruin their plans for a party outside, he was going to make everything perfect for his little girl.

Hours later everyone would be arriving any minute and Gibbs and Jack were blowing up the last of the balloons while Kelly sat in the kitchen staring at her perfect, triple chocolate birthday cake that Gibbs had specially ordered from their favourite bakery down the road.

As expected there was a knock at the door, "Kelly get that" The redhead heard her father yell from the back garden, so she hopped off of her stool in the kitchen and made her way as fast as she could to the front door before unlocking and opening it.

"Maddie" Kelly squealed pulling her best friend in to the house, the girl having only crossed the road so her mother hadn't had to come with her.

"Happy Birthday" the blond girl said handing Kelly a neatly wrapped package and card.

"Thanks" Kelly smiled at her friend before putting them on the table "Come on Daddy and Grandpa are out back" the little girl pulled Maddie along behind her through the house until they reached the garden outside.

It had been decorated with a birthday banner stuck to a fence, balloons dotted around, tied to whatever was available, there was a large table with food and drinks, a stereo all ready to play music.

"Wow" Kelly grinned as she looked around the garden at all the hard work that her grandfather and father had been to.

"Hey Maddie" Gibbs greeted the girl, she and Kelly had been best friends since the first day of kindergarten and she and Kelly had sleepovers all the time, both practically did everything together.

"Hi Gunny" the blond ten year old greeted her best friends dad.

"Help yourselves to drinks, everyone else should be here soon" Gibbs instructed as he motioned to the cooler that had cans of fizzy drinks in it.

Five minutes later there came another nock at the door, "I'll get it" Jack called from his place in the kitchen before heading to the door.

"Jack!" Abby squealed when he opened the door the whole team, then she pushed passed them all to hug the oldest Gibbs "When did you get back?" she asked him.

"Yesterday" Jack smiled at her "I couldn't miss Kelly's birthday could I" he reminded her "Come on in guys" Jack greeted everyone before closing the door after Ducky and leading him to the kitchen where they could both have a cup of tea.

Ten minutes later Gibbs watched as the team, Kelly and Maddie all danced in the back garden to one of Kelly's favourite song's that was blaring out of the stereo, he couldn't help but notice that there was a person missing.

Another knock at the door got his attention, Gibbs sighed before turning back into the house and going straight to the front door, he opened it to find Jenny.

She looked stunning, so casual, something he hadn't quite been expecting, she wore dark blue skinny jeans, light blue strappy top, black jacket, a signature pair of black heels and her hair was down, framing her face in a natural curl at her shoulders.

"You gunna let me in?" Jenny's voice broke Gibbs' train of thought.

"Huh" he finally lifted his jaw off of the floor "Sorry yeah, come on in, everyone's out back" he moved aside letting her in.

"Thanks" Jenny smiled at Gibbs as she walked passed him then made her way through the house to the back garden.

"Jenny" Kelly ran towards her the minute she saw her.

"Happy Birthday" the older redhead smiled at the little girl.

"You have to meet Maddie" Kelly dragged her towards the other blond ten year old girl "Maddie, this is Jenny, who I told you about" she told her friend excitedly.

"Hi" Maddie smiled at Jenny, she was just like Kelly had described her, she looked friendly, very pretty and perfect for Gunny.

"It's nice to meet you Maddie" Jenny smiled at the blond.

"Director" Abby squealed before pulling Jenny into a tight hug.

"Can't breathe" Jenny chocked out before the Goth let her go "And call me Jenny, were not at work" she reminded her.

"It's so cool you came" Abby smiled at her, thinking of all the ways she could get her and Gibbs together.

"Well, I couldn't really say no to Kelly" the redhead smiled and the scientist.

"Ok, now everyone is here, present time" Jack yelled across the garden as he came out with all of them.

They all then sat down on the blankets in the fresh air in a circle, "Who wants to go first?" Gibbs asked everyone.

"Me" Middies hand shot up before she handed Kelly a package. The redhead slowly ripped the wrapping paper to reveal a best friend necklace and a bar of chocolate.

"Cool" Kelly squealed before taking off the best half of the necklace and handing it to Maddie, so she had the friend part.

Tony then went next, he'd gotten her Brave on DVD, a film that they had seen together in the Cinema, Abby got Kelly a mini chemistry set and a coupon to be her assistant for a day, Ziva got her a CD that Kelly had asked her for, Tim got her a book in a series that the little girl read, Ducky got her a pair of trainers that he knew she'd wanted and Jack got her a hat and gloves that he'd seen in Stillwater and knew that she would have loved.

Jenny was up next, she handed Kelly a small rectangular package and smiled as she watched the little girl open it with care, it was a journal, so that Kelly could write any feelings or thoughts that she didn't want to talk to her father about. "Thank you" Kelly reached over and hugged her and Jenny hugged her lightly back

Once they pulled away it was time for Gibbs' present to her, "Ok, so Kelly, I need you to get up and close your eyes" he told her so Kelly hopped to her feet as well as everyone else, and closed her eyes as much as she could.

Gibbs then gently took Kelly's hand and led her into the house, to the living room and everyone followed behind, "Open your eyes" Kelly did as she was told.

There in front of her stood a piano, her very own piano, she'd been practicing on her keyboard but now she had her very own piano, Kelly slowly made her way over to the piano and then looked at the stool, it looked hand made, and had her name carved into the side. "Daddy" Kelly turned to her a grinned "It's amazing, thank you so much" she hugged him tight, everyone thought it was so touching, so sweet and that Kelly was a very lucky girl.

An hour later after they had all eaten the party food and had the birthday cake, it was game time, and it was one of Kelly's favourites. It was where one person was blind folded and had to go around to see if they could grab someone and if they did then they had to guess who it was and the person who was blind folded was determined by a spun bottle.

Abby spun the bottle first, everyone held their breath as it passed them, slowly it stopped and landed on Tony, who groaned, the last time they had played the game and he was the one that had been blind folded he'd thought that Tim was Ziva, he still hadn't lived that down.

"Here you go" Kelly through the blind fold at him, once Tony tied it, everyone ran around the garden, trying to get away from him.

He walked around, his hands in front of him, trying to find someone and hopped it would be whoever he thought it was, a couple of minutes later Tony found someone's shoulder and began to carefully touch the person to try and find out who it was, considering the height difference he knew it was either Kelly or Maddie, but he had no idea who.

He then heard the girl giggle and knew exactly who it was "I think it's the birthday girl" he grinned before taking his blind fold off to find that he was right and so high fived her.

They then all sat around again and Tony spun the bottle, it landed on Jenny, "Good luck" he grinned almost evilly, handing her the blind fold.

Once Jenny couldn't see very much, only outlines of things, she began to move around looking or feelings for someone, all of sudden she grabbed someone, she ran her hands from their shoulders, up to their neck, to their face, it was a guy of that she was sure, they were tall, so it couldn't be Ducky, slowly she ran her hands across his face, along his jaw line, up his cheek bone, and then over his eyelids, she knew who it was "Jethro" she almost mumbled before pulling off her blind fold.

She was right, her green eyes met his blue, they stood staring at each other, both of their hearts beating fast, both finding it hard to breath, both wanting to just give in but with the audience they had and the many reasons they shouldn't, so they didn't and couldn't.

Hours later, the sun was going down and everyone was getting ready to leave, Maddie was staying the night so was up with Kelly in Kelly's room helping her get her sleeping bag and choose what films they wanted to watch.

Gibbs had just said goodbye to Abby when he walked back into the kitchen to find Jenny helping by clearing things up, "You don't have to do that" told her, he noticed her jump a little obviously she hadn't heard him walk in, she seemed lost in her own thoughts, "You can go, I'm sure you have places to be" he told her as he leant over and began to dry the dishes she had just washed.

"No" Jenny shook her head "I really don't mind helping" she told him with a smile, so they began to work together to get everything tidied up.

Jenny had just finished putting the leftover food in the fridge when she felt eyes on her, she turned to find Gibbs staring at her from across the kitchen. "What?" she asked him cocking her head to the side.

Gibbs didn't say anything he just moved over to her slowly, not caring that he was invading her personal space and to be honest she didn't care either. "Jethro…" she began as his arms wound around her waist, but her voice was silenced by his lips on hers.

The kiss was slow but passionate, Jenny couldn't remember that last man or if ever a man had ever made her feel like this just by kissing her, that she'd felt such a connection with. But soon, her mind caught up with her a screamed 'No' and 'Jenny what the hell are you doing'. So regrettingly she pushed him away with her hands on his chest.

"Jenny" Gibbs breathed her name as they pull apart, not wanting it to end.

"We can't…." She began as she tried to step away but Gibbs pulled her back to him by grabbing her hand and holding it against his chest, so she could feel his heartbeat, feel what she was doing to him.

"Why?" Gibbs asked her.

"So many reason's" Jenny shook her head before moving away, Gibbs let go of her hand, "I should go" she went over to the kitchen table and grabbed her bag and jacket "I'm so…" she began but Gibbs put his finger to her lips.

"Don't apologise unless you mean it" he didn't regret the kiss and he knew she didn't either, Jenny nodded before walking out of the kitchen.

As soon as Gibbs heard the front door shut, he leant back against the counter "Wow" he mumbled, he didn't realise how much she actually made him feel, until now, until he had actually kissed her, until she had walked out minutes later. He had to change her mind, he couldn't let her get away unless she really didn't feel anything for him, but from the way she kissed him back he didn't think that that was true, he just had to find a way to show her that he, that they were worth it.

TBC…

Hope you like it, please, really need suggestions on how he can change her mind