A/N This story is the result of a request from tvfan 1990. It not exactly what she requested but hopefully close enough. I hope you all enjoy. It's all written so postings will be quick. Thanks for reading.

An Unexpected Blessing

Chapter 1

Allison Hart pulled her car into Jethro Gibbs' driveway early Friday evening. She hadn't been here in a while and she sat in her car thinking about that before getting out. She and Jethro had been in a relationship on and off over the last year but her visits had been fairly sporadic over the past few months. She thought about why that was and couldn't put her finger on an exact reason. She and Jethro got along well together but lately they had each seemed to be letting the relationship fade away. Allison wasn't particularly troubled by this development which told her it was the right thing after all. Coming back to the present, she reminded herself she was still Jethro's attorney and that was the primary reason she was here tonight. She had been surprised when Jethro had not called her by the time she left her office today. After all she was certain he had been served the papers she had copies of in the file she had in her hand and they certainly warranted a call to his attorney.

Allison sighed and got out of the car. She knew as well as anyone there was no way to predict what Jethro would do, or not do, in any circumstance. She smiled to herself as she opened the front door and entered the quiet house. She expected Jethro was in the basement but her call to him from the kitchen elicited no reply. Moving to the back door she saw him sitting on the deck with his feet up and an empty beer bottle in his hand. Grabbing two Coronas from the fridge she went out to join him.

Jethro turned toward the door when he heard it open. He wasn't expecting anyone and certainly not Allison but she was a nice surprise on this warm spring evening.

"Hey, what brings you here?"

Allison handed him a beer and leaned down to kiss him on the cheek before sitting down across the table from him.

"Did you get served some paperwork today?"

Jethro thought for a moment and finally said, "Yes, as a matter of fact I guess I did."

"You guess?"

"Some guy came to the office and handed me an envelope and said, 'you've been served.' I was on my way to a crime scene so I tossed it on my desk. It's probably still there. Is that why you're here?"

"Yes. Did you bother to read it?"

"No. We didn't get back to the Navy Yard until after five and I left right after that. Just tell me what's going on, Ali."

Allison looked at him and shook her head. He was probably the only person she knew who would be served papers by a process server and not bother to look at them.

"You're being sued by the brother of Dwight Casden. He's the man who"..

"I know who he was. Sued for what?"

"Wrongful death. Mr. Casden contends you killed his brother unnecessarily. He wants five million dollars."

"What! His brother was a serial killer and was about to kill another person when I shot him."

"I know that. The lawsuit claims you should or could have arrested him instead of killing him."

"He was about to kill a woman. I yelled at him to stop and he didn't. End of story."

"Maybe for you but not for this brother. He's hired an attorney and wants either his five million from you directly or from a court award against you."

Jethro was up and pacing around the deck. He swallowed the last of his beer and dropped the empty bottle in the trash can. Allison watched him pacing and waited for whatever would come next. She expected it would be either a controlled explosion or a simple, nothing-to-worry-about dismissal. Jethro disappeared into the house and came back with another beer. His response was sort of a combination of her options.

"That shooting was reviewed by NCIS and ruled a clean shoot. There was no issue with the Metro Police over how it was handled. This brother whoever he is has no standing to contradict that."

"As a matter of law, he does. He has a right to sue you if he wants to and to seek damages for his brother's death. I know it may not make sense to you but that is the law, Jethro. We need to decide how to proceed."

Jethro looked at her and saw she was obviously concerned about this situation.

"How do you know about this since I didn't call you? What are his chances of winning?"

"I have a friend in the court clerk's office who called me when the filing was made. He recognized your name and knew we were friends. As to Mr. Casden's chances I don't have a clue right now. I only know the bare facts of what happened. I'll need to know all the details and as I said we'll need to figure out how we want to proceed."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, do you have five million dollars to just pay the guy off and be done with it?"

"Of course not! And even if I did, I don't see why I'd do that."

"To avoid a court case of course. To avoid the chance of a jury believing whatever sob story this guy comes up with and giving him more than he's asking for."

"Do we have to do this tonight?," Jethro grumbled.

"No. In fact, I need to get going pretty soon. I'll leave my copy of the filing for you to read and digest. Let's plan to meet on Monday at the office to talk about what you want to do. I suggest you let Leon know what's happening so he's not blindsided by this getting out in the press."

"How would that even happen?"

"They have reporters who pore through court filings to find interesting items. This is one of those kinds of filings some reporter might think is worth looking into."

"Geez. Okay, I'll call you Monday when I see what's on my plate."

"Okay, give this some serious thought this weekend and we'll talk on Monday. I'd love to say don't worry but I think maybe you should be just a little bit worried."

"I understand. Thanks for coming over, Ali. How've you been by the way?"

"Good. Keeping busy for sure. I miss you, Jethro. Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Busy of course. I miss you too but I guess…."

"It's okay, Jethro. I understand. I'll see you Monday."

Jethro walked her to the door and kissed her goodbye. As Allison drove away Jethro wondered what had happened to them. Their beginning had been very rough but after they finally got together they'd had some good times together. He liked Allison a lot but like most of his relationships they had eventually simply drifted apart. At least he had managed to remain friends with Allison and they still saw each other occasionally but those times were few and far between these days. Jethro closed the door and went to the basement to think.

Jethro spent about two hours working on his boat before he went back upstairs and made himself a sandwich. He took his plate and another beer outside to enjoy the still warm late evening quiet on his deck. It was barely still light enough for him to read the paperwork Ali had left for him. He had no idea Dwight Casden had a brother; no one ever turned up in their search for relatives when they were investigating Casden after the shooting. Whoever this brother was, he didn't claim his brother's body or contact NCIS or the police at the time. Jethro wondered where he'd been all this time and if he was even really the brother of the serial killer. Maybe, he thought, this would all go away when they looked at this guy more closely. That was what he planned to do when he got to work on Monday. Or, more accurately, what he planned on McGee doing when they got to work Monday.

Jethro sat on the deck for a couple of hours thinking back over the case that had ended with his killing of Dwight Casden. They had reached a dead end when he came up with the idea of using Holly Snow to lure a suspect out of the shadows and that had led to working for several days with Ms. Snow to figure out who the killer was. Eventually, the killer had lured Ms. Snow to an abandoned building and was about to cut her throat when Gibbs showed up and stopped him.

Thinking through the case, naturally led to Jethro thinking about Holly Snow. Those were much more pleasant thoughts. This case had been his second time dealing with Ms. Snow and he had to admit he had enjoyed spending time with her. But, that was business and even though he found her attractive and fun to be with, they were tracking a killer and he never let his attention waiver from his goal of closing the case. Once the case was over, though Jethro had to admit he had let his attention wander to Ms. Snow at least for a short time. Jethro looked out into the darkness of his backyard and let his mind wander to the day he saved Holly Snow's life.

Walking into that room and seeing Casden with a knife to Holly's throat almost stopped Gibbs' heart. He yelled at Casden, "NCIS, drop it!" and the man had flinched for a moment but then he grabbed Holly's hair and pulled her head back. Jethro saw the knife at her throat and saw the blood and he fired. Casden jolted back and Jethro fired again. And again. Holly had fallen sideways to the floor, still tied to the chair. Jethro knew Casden was dead so he went to Holly, cut her free and helped her up. She was terrified and clung to him with all her might. Jethro held her and told her repeatedly she was safe.

The police and an NCIS team arrived and all the questions and details of the scene investigation took another hour. Finally, Jethro had managed to get permission for Holly to go home and he sent her there with an agent telling her to call if she needed anything. By the time Jethro was able to leave the scene it was almost 10:00. Jethro started home but on the way he thought about how scared Holly had been even when she knew she was safe. He detoured to drive past her condo and when he saw all the lights were on he decided to stop. When Holly answered the door he could tell she'd been crying. She fell into his arms and he held her tightly as he had done at the scene hours ago.

"What are you doing here Gibbs?"

"I wanted to make sure you're okay. I saw all your lights on and thought maybe I should check."

"I just can't seem to get the feel of that knife at my throat out of my head. If you hadn't been there I'd be dead now. That's hard to think about."

Jethro had been in many situations where he was sure he was about to die so he understood what Holly was going through. At least a little bit. He knew it was different for her; she wasn't a Marine or an agent and she wasn't used to being in the line of fire so to speak. Having a crazy man threatening to slit your throat was not an easy thing to put out of your mind.

Jethro thought maybe if Holly had something to do it would help so he asked, "You got any coffee?"

Holly laughed and said, "No but I can surely make some. Come in the kitchen with me."

Jethro watched her put coffee on and gladly accepted the offer of a piece of coffee cake she said she'd baked earlier that evening when she got home. "I had to keep busy and sometimes baking helps."

"Well, I'm glad you did. This is delicious."

Sitting at the kitchen table Jethro put his hand on Holly's and told her again that she was safe. Holly held onto that hand for a good long time. They didn't speak but they seemed to be communicating pretty well. After coffee and the cake, they moved to the living room and Jethro thought maybe he should go. Holly asked him to stay so he did.

"I know I should let you go but I don't want to be alone tonight. Can you stay for a while?"

"Sure." Jethro didn't really want to leave anyway so he was happy to stay.

There was a small couch and a chair in the living room so Jethro chose the chair. Holly sat on the couch but she was so antsy she was soon up pacing around the room. Jethro let her have her space. After a few minutes Holly stopped in the middle of the room and hugging herself she began to cry. She was silent, tears streaming down her face and Jethro was unsure what to do. Finally, he couldn't stand it any longer so he went to her hoping to offer some comfort. When he reached out to her Holly fell into his arms and held on tightly. After just a few moments she took a deep breath and looked up at him. Jethro knew what he wanted to do and he knew he shouldn't do it.

Holly hesitated just an instant then she kissed him. It was a quick, soft kiss but it was enough to let Jethro know she wanted him to kiss her back. So, he did. As the saying goes-for good reason-one thing led to another and before long Holly had led Jethro to her bed.

Before they got too far down that path Jethro slowed them down and asked, "Are you sure about this Holly?"

"Yes. I want to feel something besides fear. You're not taking advantage of me Jethro. I want this."

That satisfied Jethro's conscience and the night proceeded. Hours later, Jethro woke up all tangled in the sheets and Holly and carefully extricated himself so he could go to the bathroom. When he came back to the bedroom he saw it was almost 6:00 am so he got dressed. Holly was awake when he sat on the bed to put on his boots. He leaned down and gave her a quick, soft kiss.

"I gotta go."

"I know. Thank you for last night, Jethro. And, of course for saving my life."

"My pleasure on both counts. Take care, Holly."

"You be safe out there Jethro."

"You too. Thanks for helping us with the case. I'm sorry it went sideways on you."

"Not your fault. I'm glad you got him off the street."

Jethro kissed her again, let himself out and headed to work.

Holly rolled over and went back to sleep.

Jethro shook himself and realized how late it was to be sitting outside staring at nothing so he got up and went in the house. He tossed the file Allison had left him on the table and went upstairs to go to bed. Apparently all the thinking he'd done that evening was still in his head because he dreamed all night about Holly Snow and Allison and someone following him around asking for money. When he woke up he felt more tired than he had when he went to bed.

Over the weekend the threat of the lawsuit was never far from Jethro's mind as hard as he tried to ignore it. He was smart enough to know anything can happen when a jury is involved. He certainly didn't have five million dollars and he had absolutely no idea how all of this was going to be resolved. While working on the boat, doing some outside chores, or watching an old movie, Jethro tried to convince himself Allison would figure it all out. He hated the idea of being involved in a court case but he was equally averse opposed to the idea of paying a large sum of money, or any money at all for that matter, to the supposed brother of a serial killer.

Late Sunday afternoon while he was working on the boat Jethro did realize one bright spot in the whole business; he would likely be seeing Holly Snow in the near future. He hadn't seen her since the night of the shooting and he didn't even know where she was these days. He did know he'd really enjoyed working with her back then and he remembered he did like her. Probably a lot. But, he hadn't seen in her in over a year and he and Allison were still off and on so probably there wasn't anything there to be too excited about. Jethro had to admit though, it would be nice to see her again.

TBC