A\N: This is the epilogue of Semper fi- Always Faithful! After so much waiting, this JIBBS story is completed! This chapter is set two years after chapter 7, so it's set in season five of NCIS, but in this JIBBS story, Jenny doesn't die because that's just cruel. This chapter will be riddled with flashbacks over the last two years.
Thank you, Angels for sticking with me for this story. I have a few more JIBBS stories to write once I've wrapped some of my current stories that still need publishing.
Now I'm not sure how long this epilogue will be but I promise that you Angels will like it.
It's silent in the house, nothing can be heard. It's pitch black inside the house, except for the streetlights that manage to peep in through the gaps in the closed curtains in the bedroom where two married people sleep in bed.
But unlike two years ago, they're sleeping as close as they can get, both naked with only a thin sheet covering their bodies. They're wrapped up in each other's arms, keeping the other safe even in sleep, keeping them safe against the demons that plague them in their dreams.
Jennifer 'Jenny, Jen' Gibbs lies in bed awake, secured in the warm arms of her newly wedded husband who is sleeping peacefully for the first time in what seems like years. It's been less than a month since their second wedding that took place where their first wedding took place:
Paris.
But unlike their first wedding in Paris, their second Paris wedding was different: they had their friends and family, they had new rings, they had new promises, they had a new everything.
They came home from their honeymoon three days ago, her husband had surprised her with a two week honeymoon trip to London, seeing as they didn't get to go on a honeymoon after their first Paris wedding, as they were still undercover at the time.
She remembers the night he suggested they start their relationship again from scratch. She thought he was insane and that one too many concussions had messed up with his head.
Flashback- 2 years ago:
She hasn't seen her husband since she stormed out of the living room yesterday. He hadn't come to bed, most likely sleeping underneath his boat or on the couch, he hadn't even eaten the dinner she had cooked for him but the plate, which was in the fridge, was empty, washed and put away when she grabbed the milk for her morning coffee. Hell she hasn't seen him all day and it's starting to make her feel miserable. Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned going to see a therapist yesterday, or told him to go to hell.
She's making dinner when the door to the basement opens and appears her husband, dressed in his 'boat clothes' as she calls them.
She turns away from him and focuses on the chicken she's getting out of the oven along with the fries.
"Dinner's ready." She says once she's set the two plates at their two places at the table, complete with a glass of Bourbon for each of them, a rarity with dinner. Jethro just nods and takes his place without a word. Their dinner is quiet, which has become an occurrence in the last five months.
"I've been thinking," Jethro says after they've cleared the table. Jenny is washing the dishes, her wedding and engagement rings beside the draining board when he speaks but she doesn't look at him, concentrating on the plate she's washing instead of whatever her husband has been thinking while down in his basement. "Why don't we begin over? Restart our relationship from scratch?"
Jenny places the plate on the draining board and faces her husband who is drying the dishes she's just washed. "What?" She's trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it: restarting their relationship won't do a damn thing to help them.
"You're insane." She says with a laugh, draining the dish water, wiping her hands on a towel and scowling at her husband.
"Am I?" He challenges. She nods her head. "Yes. Out of all your ideas, this is the craziest one yet and that's saying something, Jethro." She says to him as she grabs her rings and slips them on her finger again.
"Better than your idea to go see a therapist?" He retorts. Jenny just rolls her eyes.
"Restarting our relationship won't help anything, Jethro. It'll just bury it until it rears its ugly head, then what are we going to do? Restart our relationship over again? How many times are we going to restart our relationship over to avoid dealing with the fact that we both fucked up our marriage and aren't doing anything to rectify it?" She shoots at him. Jethro just stares at her, his blue eyes narrowing.
"Jen, please." He pleads. Her husband never pleads with anyone, not even her unless it's during sex. She looks into his eyes for a few minutes in silence before sighing.
"Fine. Let's restart our relationship." She relents, Jethro walks towards her and captures their lips together.
She can't help but smile into the kiss: maybe the restart of their relationship will be a good thing.
Jenny comes out of the flashback when she feels something tickling her bare shoulder. She smiles when she lifts her eyes to meet her husband's blue eyes.
"You're meant to be sleeping." She tells her husband, who just rolls his eyes. "I was, until my wife's laughter woke me up. You were deep in thought. It took me ten minutes to get your attention." Her husband says, she sighs and snuggles into his chest more.
"So what were you thinking about?" Jethro asks gently, Jen kisses him softly. "I wasn't thinking about anything. I was remembering." She says once she's pulled away from his lips. Jethro smirks.
"What were you remembering?" He asks smugly, and Jenny knows exactly what he thought she was remembering: the first time they slept together after they restarted their relationship. Too bad he was wrong, so wrong.
"The night you said that we should restart our relationship." She giggles when her husband smirk turns into a pout. She's thrown back into another flashback of a time when her husband pouted.
Flashback- 2 years ago:
Jenny runs into the hospital, Ducky on her tail, her head a mess of thoughts and worst case scenarios.
She was with Ducky in her office when she received the call from Bethesda, saying her husband was admitted after a shootout with a prime suspect that he and the 'kids' were tracking down.
"Jennifer, do calm yourself." Ducky says. Jenny ignores the man and walks over to the nurses station.
"I need the status of Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs." She says to the blonde nurse who simply nods and starts typing into the computer.
"Special Agent Gibbs is currently in surgery. Are you his wife, Jennifer Gibbs?" The nurse asks, Jenny just nods. "Your husband will be in surgery for another two hours, his doctor will come out to talk to you as soon as she can." The nurse says. Jenny just nods again as Ducky leads her to the waiting room where they find Tony, McGee and Ziva pacing, sitting and glaring at the doors.
"Director!" Tony calls out, the SFA is pale and shaking, most likely trying to forget about the time he spent here in isolation with Kate, thinking he'd die.
"Guys, are you okay?" She asks once she reaches the three of them. McGee and Ziva nod while Tony stays silent. "I hate hospitals, this one especially, but I can't leave the Boss, he didn't leave me so I'm returning the favour." McGee places a hand on Tony's arm.
"Anthony, Jethro would understand if you're not here when he wakes up. He of all people would understand why you're not here." Ducky says, Tony shakes his head as a watery laugh escapes him. "The last time I was in the hospital, Kate was with me, she stayed the night with me after the bug died and every night until I was released, Boss stayed too. So no, I'm not leaving him. I failed Kate, I'm not failing the Boss a second time" Tony growls.
Jenny's heart aches for the younger man in front of her. Jethro said that Tony had developed a fear of hospitals after his bout with the plague but she's sure her husband/boyfriend doesn't know how deep the fear runs and why it runs that deep. Before any of them can tell Tony that he never failed Kate and he hasn't failed Gibbs, Tony has his phone out.
"I need some air and to call Abby. She doesn't know what's going on." The SFA leaves the hospital before they can stop him.
"I knew he hated hospitals after the plague but I never knew it was this bad." McGee says. "Ducky, did you know he was this bad?" The Scottish man shakes his head. "No, Timothy, I didn't. I know Jethro has tried multiple times to get young Anthony to speak to a therapist after he got out of the hospital, and after Caitlin died, but the lad refused, said he'd speak to the person who went through it with him, who stayed with him when she didn't have to." Ducky tells them. Jenny and Ducky have moved to seats in the chairs.
"Kate." Tim says simply.
Ducky nods. "Yes, Caitlin went over to his apartment after he was released and told me that the two of them spoke about what they both went through. Even though Caitlin didn't have Y. Pestis, she still witnessed her partner go through it. After Caitlin died in front of him, Antony stopped speaking about the experience at all." The M.E says.
"When we first got here, he nearly had a full blown panic attack, he kept saying Kate's name." Ziva reveals. Ducky sighs.
"The lad went through agony, his partner was forced to watch it even though she didn't have to, then two weeks later, he comes back to work, nearly gets blown up after saving Kate and McGee, witnessed his partner getting shot and then killed right in front of him the day after he returns to work, is told he can't kill the bastard who killed Caitlin, he can't stop and grieve for the loss of his partner, is told someone else killed Kate even we all know differently, her funeral was hell for us all, but it was worse for Anthony. He said he didn't get a chance to say 'thank you' to her for staying with him. The lad has a lot of bottled up guilt. I only hope Jethro can get through to him." The M.E says.
As awful as it is, Jenny is glad they're talking about Tony. One, it takes her mind off of her husband and two, it gives her an insight into the man her husband trusts to have his six. The boy is ignoring his own demons for his boss.
Tony comes back with coffee and food. "Abs is on her way." Is all the 2IC says as he passes out the coffee and food, a bagel each, and sits down in between jenny and McGee, his head lolling against the wall.
The five of them, six when Abby arrives, sit in silence, awaiting news on their husband/boss. Jenny places her free hand on Tony's jean clad knee in silence.
Two hours later:
Jenny is restless. It's been two hours since she arrived and she's not heard a thing about her husband She needs answers and she's going to get them one way or another.
"Don't even think about it, Jennifer." Ducky says quietly, as not to wake up the kids who reluctantly fell asleep.
"I need answers, Ducky, and so do his team." Her eyes flicker towards Tony who had stayed awake the longest, determined to stay awake until he could see Gibbs, but his fear and the panic attack that Ziva mentioned had wiped him out twenty minutes ago.
"I know you do my dear but threatening the nurses won't help you get information on Jethro any quicker." Ducky says. Jenny sighs softly.
"We've only been back together for two months, he cannot die, Ducky." She says firmly, burying her head in the hand that isn't on Tony's knee. Ducky is the only one who knows that they've restarted their relationship from the ground up.
"And he won't die, this Leroy Jethro Gibbs we're talking about. He wouldn't leave you and he definitely won't leave those four." The Medical Examiner tells her.
"Family of Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" A doctor says. All at once, four pairs of eyes snap open sleepily and they're on their feet, rushing towards the doctor, talking all at once.
"How is he?" Abby asks.
"We're his surrogate kids." Tim says.
"He better be okay otherwise I'm going to kick everyone's ass from here to Texas." Tony threatens.
"Can you please tell us how our boss is?" Ziva asks.
Jenny and Ducky smile at each other before they stand up and walk over to the blonde haired doctor who is looking a little bit overwhelmed.
Jenny whistles to gain their attention, like Jethro does. Four pairs of eyes turn to look at her and she points to the chairs they just vacated.
"All of you go sit down and wait for me and Ducky to update you all." Jenny orders them. Everyone except Tony obeys. Jenny places a hand on his shoulder. "Go on, Tony." She commands.
After the four 'kids' are out of earshot, Jenny and Ducky turn to the blonde doctor.
"Sorry about them, Doctor, they're worried about Jethro. How is my husband?" She asks the blonde doctor.
"I'm Kathrine Quinn, I've been attending to your husband. Your husband is just fine, he got shot in the leg, luckily the bullet didn't do any major damage. He'll just need a few weeks of physical therapy and a doctors note telling his boss that he's ready for field work." Doctor Quinn says. Jenny breathes a sigh of relief. "Can I see him?" Jenny asks, the other woman nods her head. Jenny turns to Ducky who is already talking before she can open her mouth.
"Go see him, Jennifer. I'll tell everyone what has been said. I'll bring them in an hour or so once I've gotten them to eat something." The older man says, shooing her away, Jenny smiles and starts following the doctor through the doors.
Jenny looks at her husband who is sleeping off the anaesthesia. "Your husband will be able to go home tomorrow, Mrs Gibbs." Doctor Quinn says before leaving her alone. Jenny walks over and sits in the chair beside her husbands bed, intertwining their hands together.
"I'm right here, Jethro. I'm right here." She whispers, running her free hand through his silver hair.
A low groan hits her ears and watches as her husband's blue eyes flutter open and land on her, a drugged up smile on his face at the sight of her.
"There's my wife." He says, she giggles. "Yeah, here I am." She replies.
"Are the kids okay? What happened?" He asks her, she smiles, rolling her eyes. Of course his first question is the kids well being. She thinks to herself.
"The 'kids' are fine, Jethro. You, however, are not. You got shot in the leg. You're going to need physical therapy and note to do active field work. So until then, the rest of the team are on cold cases while you're on medical leave." She tells him. "No arguments, Special Agent Gibbs." She adds.
She just laughs and kisses the childish pout off his lips, happy the damage wasn't as bad as it could've been.
Jenny comes out the second flashback when the sun is just starting to rise, the sunlight bouncing off of her engagement ring, the ring he gave to her not even three months ago.
Flashback- 2 1/2 months ago:
She's asleep, dreaming of running through the streets of a rainy Paris with Jethro behind her, holding her hand, when a soft kiss to her forehead wakes her up. She groans, annoyed at being woken up.
Her eyes open and she's looking into the blur eyes of her husband/boyfriend. "I'm going to kill you." She growls at him. Jethro just laughs and pulls her up into a sitting position. "Go get dressed quickly." He says, not responding to her 'threat'. Jenny looks at the clock on her nightstand, her eyes widening when she sees the time: 04:30.
"Jethro, it is half four in the morning!" She hisses at her husband, getting out of bed and heading to her closet and getting out a pair of jeans and a lilac sweater before going into the bathroom to change out of her purple and white laced trimmed negligee.
It's been two years since they restarted their relationship and it's been better than ever. Sure they have fights but it's nothing a little time away from each other can't fix.
She exits the bathroom with her clothes on and her hair brushed and in a ponytail. "So tell why the hell you woke me up at four thirty in the morning." She demands as she sees her husband leaning against the door frame of their bedroom door, watching her.
"You'll find out soon, Jen." Jethro says, holding out his hand for her to take. Jenny slips her hand into his and allows him to lead her downstairs and outside to the car which she sees has two coffee thermos' in the cup holders. She gets into the passenger seat and picks up her thermos just as her husband/boyfriend comes and slides into the drivers seat and starts the engine, pulling out of the driveway.
Jenny scowls at Jethro when he pulls into the Navy Yard at 05:10. He's planning something, she can tell but knows he won't tell her. "Why the hell are we at work this early?" She asks. Jethro just shakes his head. "I promise you'll find out soon enough, Jen." He says as he parks the car and gets out, Jenny follows suit.
Once they've bypassed security, Jenny and Jethro are in her office, Jenny frowning at her husband as he closes her door. She's sitting on the edge of her desk, glaring tiredly at her husband.
"Now can you tell me why you woke me up at four thirty in the morning only to bring me to the Navy Yard?" She asks, Jethro only walks up to her, grabbing one of her hands in his and kneeling down on one knee, getting a ring box out of the jacket he's wearing. Jenny gasps and covers her mouth with her free hand as she watches Jethro take a deep breath.
"Jen, this is where we met 12 years ago in 1996. You were a probie, my probie, and at first I thought Morrow had lost his mind, putting a woman on the MCRT until I saw how good you were at your job. Fast forward two years later and we were picked to go undercover all around the world. I fell in love with the second I met you in this office. You were wearing blacking jeans, a red sweater, a leather jacket and white boots, your green eyes sparkled as you introduced yourself to me as Jennifer Shepard.
When I first married you 8 years ago in Paris, I never thought I could fall in love with you, more than I already was but these last two years, have proved me wrong. I fall more and more in love with you every second every hour, every day.
These last two years of rebuilding our relationship back up have been amazing.
I love you, Jennifer Shepard-Gibbs and I want the whole world to know that I love you.
So, will you marry me for a second time? Be my wife for the second and last time?"
Tears are running down Jenny's face, a sob quickly rising in her throat, so she only nods her head, silently telling him that she will marry him.
"Yes, I will marry you again, Jethro." She gets out. Jethro smiles widely as he slips the ring on he finger before getting to his feet, cupping her face, as she cups his face, and kisses her gently.
"I love you, Jen." Her husband/fiancée whispers against her lips. Jenny smiles, her hands moving from his face to his neck as she gets off her desk and kisses him deeply.
"I love you too, Jethro." She replies in a whisper.
The rising sun shines through her office windows, the early morning golden sun rays catch the diamond and sparkle around the room.
Jenny's alarm is what rouses her out of the flashback. She reaches out and slams the dreaded thing off, much to her husband's amusement. She tangles their fingers together, their rings placed on his chest, the sun bouncing off them.
"Promise me that this, us, is forever?" She suddenly asks as the sun continues to rise over Washington. Her husband looks at her and kisses her, his tongue swiping against her lips for entrance into her mouth. She gives it and allows him to explore her mouth before he pulls away, tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear, his eyes locking on hers.
"I promise that this and us is forever, Jen." He promises her, also whispering.
Jenny nods, believing her husband's promise. After all, Leroy Jethro Gibbs never breaks a promise, especially not a promise he made to his wife.
This, them, is forever, for however long their forever lasts.
A\N: I apologise for the long wait for this epilogue. One of my favourite singers, former One Director member, Liam Payne died today last week so I was grieving and had no energy to write this epilogue.
Thank you my Angels for sticking by me while I write this story. Semper fi- Always faithful is finally complete! I have a few stories that I need to update and publish before I start my new JIBBS stories I have. I hope you Angels enjoy this final chapter.