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Author: Caf Pow
Category: Angst, Romance
Rating: P14
Spoiler: 6x04 "Heartland"
Contents: Gibbs has the shock of his life when he returns home.
Author's Note: I'm not really sure where this came from, the plot bunnies started burrowing in my head and my hands just typed. Any suggestions would be welcomed, I have thre directions I could take it in but im not sure which path it should take.
I hope you enjoy.
As Gibbs wrapped his arms around his father he realised how much he had missed one small gesture of affection, he spoke softly into his father's ear, 'bye dad,' he held on tightly not wanting the moment to end. A shout behind him made him let go and turn around, a young girl was running towards them shouting, 'grandpa, grandpa,' she looked behind her as a boy appeared rounding the corner at top speed.
The girl squealed and shot towards Jack, her long red hair streaming behind her, the boy laughed as he shot a squirt gun in a long jet at her hair, his brown wavy hair bouncing around and his ice blue eyes shining in the light. 'I got ya now, nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.'
'Argh, make him stop grandpa, make him stop,' the girl called from behind Jack's back, she peered around him up into Gibbs' face. He bent down and looked at the small child gazing up at him, his eyes travelled around the slim oval face and large green eyes, to the slim straight nose and full lips, all the way down the thick wavy red hair, from the smooth fringe flicking slightly to the right at the tips.
He turned his attention the boy trying to see past him towards the girl, the blue eyes made his stomach flip, it was like looking into a mirror, the same dark scruffy eyebrows and wavy hair that split down the middle, it was his smile that made him gasp, he'd know that smile anywhere, it lit up his eyes and formed slight dimples at his cheeks, that cheeky smile he'd fallen in love with over ten years previously.
He swallowed nervously and looked up at his father; he was shifting his weight between his feet and not quite meeting Gibbs eyes. 'Grandpa?' he asked not sure if he wanted to hear the response, 'Jenna, Leo, this is Leroy, Leroy, Jenna and Leo,' he stared when he heard the names of the children, Jenna? He smiled at the children and shook Jenna's hand and ruffled Leo's hair, he pulled a face and flattened his hair down in much the same way Gibbs had when he was a boy.
'Nice to met you Leroy,' the girl chirped, smiling from ear to ear, it was her smile again, it sent a pain through his body as if someone had plunged a knife into his gut and thrust it up into his chest. He reached out and stroked the shining red hair; he pulled his hand back quickly and looked up at his father.
'How old are they?' he asked, knowing the answer, 'turned eight in July,' Gibbs swallowed hard, the words reverberating around his head, eight in July, eight in July. He finally found his voice and managed a few words, 'when, how, why are they with you?' Jack swallowed and looked down at his grandchildren, he placed a hand on Leo's shoulder, 'he's just like you son, never does what he is told, spends hours staring at my rifle and dreams of being a marine, but this one,' he pointed at Jenna, 'she's got a determined streak, once she gets her mind set on something that's it, she had a drawing of a girl she argued with at school once on her wall, she sat staring at it in the dark for hours until she got even.'
Gibbs looked at Jenna quizzically, 'what did you do?' she grinned mischievously, 'I put a frog in her lunch box, she screamed all the way out of the mess hall,' Gibbs allowed himself to laugh with her, she sounded like Jenny, her laugh higher pitched but with the same slightly deeper rumble that warmed his heart.
'A girl appeared on my doorstep 16th September 2001,' Gibbs frowned, 'you know the date?' 'It was the week after the 9/11 bombings, stuck in my mind forever,' Gibbs nodded, 'she'd been crying and had two toddlers with her, she said they were my grandchildren, asked if I could take care of them, had to go overseas for her job, wasn't safe to take them with her, didn't know how long she'd be.
She cried the whole time she was here son, I asked her about you, said you split up, said it was dangerous for her to stay with you, she told me she knew she was pregnant but couldn't risk telling you. I wanted to tell you son but she swore me to secrecy, said it could put the three of you in danger. I could see it was killing her to leave her kids behind, she hugged them before she left, told 'em she loved 'em, one day she'd be back for them. She didn't tell me her name that night, wouldn't, said it wasn't safe.'
Gibbs swallowed hard, trying to keep his emotions bottled up, she knew Natalia was alive, she knew it could come back to haunt them. That's why she had left him, she knew she was carrying his child, she knew he'd want to marry her and that would make them easier to track. She had done it to keep them three of them safe, she'd given up everything for their safety; she'd given her life for them. He shakily pulled out his wallet from his jacket, he flipped it open to reveal two pictures, one of him with his arms around Shannon and Kelly, he pulled out the other and turned it towards his father, 'this her?'
As Jack stared at the photo, Tony, McGee, Ziva and Abby climbed out of the car, they stared at the girl and boy watching Gibbs and Jack intently, they looked at each other and Tony craned his neck to see the photo. Ziva mentally flashed back to a conversation she had had with Jenny in winter 2001, Jenny had mentioned she missed something, a smell, a touch, 'soft and warm, and they smell of, I don't know, them, their smell, I love their smell,' she'd meant her children, Ziva clarified in her head, she missed her children.
Jack nodded, 'that's her, she's a stunner, and you always did like redheads,' he passed the picture back, Gibbs took it and stared at it for a second, Jenny's smiling face staring back at him, captured forever on a 2 by 2 inch square of paper. He slipped it back into the wallet and pushed the wallet back into his jacket, 'her name is, her name, was Jenny.'END