[fanfiction] Family Celebration
TITLE: Family Celebration
AUTHOR: marciafan
PAIRING/CHARACTER: Jenny Shepard, Jethro Gibbs, Team (hints of Tiva and McAbby)
GENRE: AU, Romance, Family
RATING: G
WORD COUNT: 2,741
SUMMARY: New Year's Eve comes up, and whose party are Jenny and Gibbs attending?
WARNINGS: AU and total fluff. Slightly OOC maybe? Not really, in my opinion, but I'd better be safe, so you've been warned. Also, English isn't my mother language and this is not beta'd, so bear with me and my mistakes, please.
A/N: Written for prompt "Holiday Special09" at madame_director. Third (or maybe fourth?) one-shot set in the Elizabeth Universe. I finally finished this and I can't believe I actually did lol. It was very hard for me to write and I've been dragging it for like 4 days! But I promised cici1018 that I would write it, and this is her belated Christmas present from me ♥ Also, thanks to Katherine for her help! I think I bugged her way too much today *hides* ♥
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters (except for Elizabeth, whom I created), nor am I making money out of this. If I were, I'd be rich by now.
“Thank you for the invitation, Laura. I appreciate that, but I don’t think we can make it. Jethro has only been home for a few days now, and we decided to spend the night at home with Elizabeth. Just a family night to welcome the New Year, you know…” Jennifer Shepard smiled tightly and rolled her eyes while the person on the phone kept on talking. “Yes, I will tell them. Give my bests to Will. Happy New Year, Laura. Bye.” She hung up the phone and sighed in relief.
“What was that?”
Her husband’s voice behind her caused her to jump, startled, “Jethro! You need to stop sneaking up to people.” She glared at him, but he just smirked, waiting for her to answer his question. With a roll of her eyes, Jenny sighed, “That was me telling the SecNav’s wife that we are not going to attend her New Years party tonight.”
Gibbs’ eyes lit with interest, “So we staying here?”
Jen smirked, “Nope. We’re going to Ducky’s for his party. But Laura Turner doesn’t need to know that.”
“Ducky having a party?”
“He’s providing the house. But he told Abby to take care of everything else.” She looked at him through narrowed eyes, a scolding look on her face, “Abby e-mailed everybody, you would’ve known if you bothered to check your inbox every now and then.”
“Everybody?” He asked, more to avoid talking about the way he seemed incapable to get along with any kind of technological device, than out of real interest.
“Well, your team, Mr. Palmer, and me. I think that’s it, it’s not gonna be a crowded party.” Jen smiled.
“Can’t we just call and say hi, and stay here all day?” Gibbs complained, trying to convince her.
Jenny shook head and gave him a stern look, “The kids would be very disappointed if you didn’t show up, Jethro. Abby would never forgive you.”
Gibbs’ look softened at the mention of his favorite, and even as he rolled his eyes, Jen knew she had won.
“We gotta be there at 8.” She informed him with a smile, walking over to him to peck his lips.
And the feral growl he let out while he walked away was all the response she needed to know he had surrendered completely.
---
“Am I pretty, Daddy?”
Gibbs looked down at his daughter and couldn’t hide the smile that spread across his face, “Very pretty, Liz.” And she was, standing in the light of Ducky’s front porch in her white coat and velvet navy blue dress, adorable leather navy blue shoes at her feet and her red curly hair styled in pigtails.
The door opened as Elizabeth snuggled into his side, and Abby appeared in the doorway, grinning.
“Hi! Happy New Year!” She hugged Gibbs and Jenny tightly and then moved to hug Elizabeth, who clung onto her as tightly as she was. “Come on in, everybody’s inside!”
She took Elizabeth’s hand and led them in, over to the rest of his team.
“Hi Boss. Director. Lizzie.” McGee stopped halfway to the kitchen and greeted them quickly, getting back to work at Abby’s silent glare.
“Hey guys.” Jenny smiled and shot a surprised look to Tony as he appeared out of nowhere at her side.
“I’m supposed to be taking the guests’ coat, Jenny. Let me help you.” He offered with a seductive smile, but Gibbs’ killer look had him stepping back. “Or maybe I’ll just get Lizzie’s coat and the Boss can help you, Director.”
Jenny rolled her eyes and shrugged off her coat, handing it to Gibbs, and suddenly it felt like a hush had fallen on the entire room. McGee, entering the dining room with a big plate of food, stopped dead in his tracks, gaping at her. And so did Tony, his eyes going wide as he took in her appearance.
Smiling self-consciously, Jen looked down at the dress that seemed to have captured the attention of every male in the room. It was a simple black dress, with a halter neck and a low-cut front. It was shorter than anything she had ever worn to work, and far tighter, enhancing every curve of her body in ways she hadn’t quite expected.
“Wow, Director…you look terrific!” Abby’s exclamation was enough to snap Tony and McGee back to reality, and they quickly looked away, clearly embarrassed to have been staring at their Director, not to mention their boss’ wife.
“Thanks, Abby.” Jenny smiled to the girl and frowned at the same time, seeing Gibbs still staring at her. “What?” She asked, stepping closer to him. “Don’t you like the dress?”
“Haven’t decided yet.” He mumbled, a smirk gracing his lips.
She rolled her eyes and pressed a fleeting kiss to his cheek, “I’ll go look for Ducky.” She whispered, walking towards the kitchen.
He turned to look after her, and found that once again his male field agents had stopped to stare at the tantalizing retreating form of his wife.
“Wow…” As soon as the whisper escaped his mouth, Tony knew his boss’ hand would have made painful contact with the back of his head immediately. And the other loud smacking noise coming from the spot next to him, told him that McGee hadn’t been any luckier.
“Get back to work.”
“Boss, we’re not at work, you can’t-” One intimidating look from Gibbs was all it took for Tony to swallow hard and nod, “Right…shuttin’ up now, boss.”
“Yeah, you do that, DiNozzo.” He shot another look to Tony and McGee, making sure they were back to work, before walking into the kitchen as well.
“Hey Duck.”
“Jethro. I was just telling Jennifer how gorgeous she looks tonight.” Ducky greeted him with a warm smile when he walked into the kitchen, and his daughter grabbed his hand immediately, an excited look on her face.
“Daddy, look!” Elizabeth pointed at her throat, where a shiny silver Star of David dangled from a purple lace tied behind her neck. “Ziva gave it to me!”
Gibbs smiled and kissed her forehead, turning a questioning look onto Ziva.
“I promised I would get her one in Tel Aviv.” The young woman explained with a small smile.
Gibbs nodded, “Looks good, Liz.” He smiled at Elizabeth and watched her bounce out of the kitchen with Ziva, to join Abby in the dining room, where they helped her set up the decorations.
“Such an adorable little girl you have there.” Ducky smiled after her and glanced at his friends, who, he noticed, moved imperceptibly closer to each other.
“Thanks, Ducky.” Jenny smiled brightly and leaned her back slightly against Gibbs’ chest, enjoying the warmth spreading from his body close to her. “Who are we waiting for now?”
“Mr. Palmer is on his way with a date.”
An amused smile appeared on Jenny’s face, “Palmer with a date? I thought the boy was interested in Abby.”
“Oh dear, no. Young Timothy certainly wouldn’t like it.” Ducky smiled conspiratorially.
“Really? I knew there was something going on with the two of them!” Jen’s face lit up with glee at the bit of information, and she frowned when she heard Gibbs sigh. “What?”
“Rule number 12, Jen.” He reminded her with a stern look.
“Oh screw that, she’s not an agent.”
“And even if she were, shall I remind you, Jethro, that you and Jennifer were involved long before she became our beloved Director?” The smirk gracing Ducky’s features was unusual, but not unexpected to Gibbs. He knew the good doctor would have pulled out that card sooner than later.
“No need to, Duck. Elizabeth is enough of a reminder.” He replied with a smirk of his own.
“Plus, we are married, Jethro. Doesn’t rule number 12 apply to us too?” Jenny gave him a smug look, but he just pressed a kiss to the side of her head.
“Nope, you’re the Director. You’re not an agent anymore.”
“And she’s a forensic specialist, she was never an agent.”
The shrill ringing of the doorbell saved him from further discussion, and both he and Jenny followed Ducky into the living room to see Jimmy Palmer walk in with his date, agent Michelle Lee.
“The female probie is his date?” Tony’s loud whisper earned him a smack on the shoulder from Abby as the two new guests handed Ziva their coats and gave nervous smiles to the people staring at them.
Jenny smirked and looked up at Gibbs, “How about them? They shouldn’t be together, should th-”
“Jen…” His face was inches apart from hers and his hot breath tickled her lips as he whispered her name.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
The kiss was short but intense; a passionate silent exchange that made Jenny feel glad that all eyes were now fixated on Palmer and Lee, because she just couldn’t help the way her fingers curled into Gibbs’ shirt as they slowly broke apart. And she was sure that a blush was starting to creep up her cheeks as she felt a burning sensation on her face.
“Shall we all get to dinner?” All the guests nodded and walked over to the table at Ducky’s proposal, and Jenny moved away from Gibbs to walk over to Ziva and Elizabeth, her eyes taking in the enigmatic smirk on Ziva’s face as she stepped closer to her.
“You are happy Palmer brought an unlikely date, yes?”
---
The delicious meal Abby and Ziva had cooked was eaten in a room filled with laughter, a lovely chaos everybody was familiar with. Ducky entertained them all with stories from the past, and when everyone was done eating, Jenny, Ziva and Abby took all the plates into the kitchen and cleaned up, while the guys took care of the fireplace and Palmer and his date disappeared mysteriously.
By the time midnight finally rolled around, Elizabeth was sitting on Ducky’s lap in his armchair, snuggled into his side as she listened carefully to some story the old man was telling her.
“And then, right when everything seemed to be lost, a beautiful young agent appeared on a big boat to take us away.”
Elizabeth looked at the man she loved like a grandfather with wide eyes, “Was it my mommy?”
“Yes, your beautiful mother sailed over to our shore and-”
“You mean mommy stole a boat?!” Elizabeth’s small voice echoed in the now quiet room and everybody giggled.
“She didn’t exactly steal it, Elizabeth…” Ducky tried to explain, a small smirk gracing his face as he shot a glance to Jenny across the room. “She borrowed it to come and get your father and myself.”
Listening to the good doctor’s explanation, Jen couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m re-thinking my decision to have Lizzie spend time with Ducky.” She whispered to Gibbs, smiling into his eyes. “God knows how much more he could tell her about our interesting past.”
Gibbs smirked, “She’s fine right there. It won’t hurt her to know her mother wasn’t always the good-behaving director of NCIS.”
She rolled her eyes and playfully smacked his chest, her face relaxing into a smile as he grabbed her hand and brushed his lips over her knuckles.
“Wanna go outside?” He intertwined his fingers with hers and pressed a light kiss to her temple, feeling her head move slightly as she nodded.
Gibbs helped her into her coat and they walked outside in comfortable silence, stopping to stand on the front porch, looking up at the clear midnight sky.
“Fireworks will start soon.” Jenny said quietly after the silence between them stretched, glancing at her watch. Her back pressed against his chest as his arms were loosely wrapped around her waist.
“Mmhmm.” The sound was muffled by her hair as he pressed her lips to the back of her head and stepped back to lean against the wall, tightening his hold on her.
Jen nodded silently and relaxed against his chest, silence falling between them again until a low giggle from across the front porch made them both turn around with curious looks.
“Looks like you either really need to get rid of rule number 12, or you have to punish your field agents.” She whispered to him, a smirk spreading across her face as her eyes set on Tony holding a giggling Ziva in his arms and placing small kisses on her lips.
“I’ll punish them.” Gibbs let out a low growl, and Jenny turned to glare at him. Only then noticing the small smile playing around his lips.
“Nah, you won’t.” She chuckled, glancing back to the young couple for a second before looking back up at the sky.
A flash of red lit up the street before Gibbs could say anything back to her, and a loud noise deafened them for a second as the fireworks went off.
“Guess this is it, finally.” She mumbled into his ear, turning back to look at the beautiful fireworks. Her eyes sparkling in the flashing lights.
“Happy New Year, Jen.”
His whispered words in her ear caused a pleasurable chill to run down her spine, and she turned around in his arms to press a lingering kiss to his lips, before she heard the front door open and a small body squeezed in between them.
“Happy New Year, Mommy and Daddy!” Little Elizabeth screamed over the loud noises of the fireworks, hugging them both tightly.
Gibbs smiled at his daughter and stepped back slightly to pick her up, holding her in his arms and pressing a kiss to her cheek, “Happy New Year, Liz.”
Jenny kissed the girl’s cheek as well and watched the other guests gather all around them, wishing each other a happy new year as Ducky handed everybody a glass of champagne to toast.
After their toasts were done and all had drank at least a sip of their champagne, Jenny snuggled close to Gibbs on his free side, wrapping her arm around his waist.
“See? Wasn’t that bad spending New Year’s Eve here at Ducky’s, was it?” She whispered in his ear, smiling against his cheek.
“Mmhmm… and what if Laura Turner wants to talk about your New Year’s Eve celebration?” He turned to her with a smug smirk, wanting to find a flaw in her plan not to admit that she was just right.
She just smiled and rolled her eyes, “Then I’ll tell her what I already told her on the phone…”
Gibbs gave her a silent, questioning look, glancing away from her face for a second when he felt Elizabeth’s head on his shoulder and took in the sight of his daughter’s beautiful, peaceful face as she closed her eyes, sleep claiming her at last.
Jenny brushed a strand of Elizabeth’s red hair out of her face and caressed her cheek as she looked lovingly at her. She then let her gaze wander over to the few people she had come to love as her own children and friends: Abby and McGee were standing in a corner, Abby’s arms wrapped around his neck in a loose hug as they watched the fireworks in awe; across from them, Ziva and Tony were still holding onto each other tightly, and Tony was whispering something that made Ziva broke out in a true smile Jenny had wanted to see back on her face for a long time.
Ducky was standing back in a dark corner of the porch. The fireworks lights dancing across his face as he glanced to the couples with a knowing smile.
Palmer and his date, Jenny realized, were nowhere to be seen and hadn’t been around for a long time. That could only mean one thing, and she couldn’t help but let out a small, quiet giggle at the thought of the two of them locked up somewhere in Ducky’s house. As disturbing as the idea might be.
“Jen?”
Gibbs’ voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked up at him, a sweet smile gracing her lips.
“I’ll tell her the truth, Jethro. That we just had a family celebration.”
THE END
AUTHOR: marciafan
PAIRING/CHARACTER: Jenny Shepard, Jethro Gibbs, Team (hints of Tiva and McAbby)
GENRE: AU, Romance, Family
RATING: G
WORD COUNT: 2,741
SUMMARY: New Year's Eve comes up, and whose party are Jenny and Gibbs attending?
WARNINGS: AU and total fluff. Slightly OOC maybe? Not really, in my opinion, but I'd better be safe, so you've been warned. Also, English isn't my mother language and this is not beta'd, so bear with me and my mistakes, please.
A/N: Written for prompt "Holiday Special09" at madame_director. Third (or maybe fourth?) one-shot set in the Elizabeth Universe. I finally finished this and I can't believe I actually did lol. It was very hard for me to write and I've been dragging it for like 4 days! But I promised cici1018 that I would write it, and this is her belated Christmas present from me ♥ Also, thanks to Katherine for her help! I think I bugged her way too much today *hides* ♥
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters (except for Elizabeth, whom I created), nor am I making money out of this. If I were, I'd be rich by now.
“Thank you for the invitation, Laura. I appreciate that, but I don’t think we can make it. Jethro has only been home for a few days now, and we decided to spend the night at home with Elizabeth. Just a family night to welcome the New Year, you know…” Jennifer Shepard smiled tightly and rolled her eyes while the person on the phone kept on talking. “Yes, I will tell them. Give my bests to Will. Happy New Year, Laura. Bye.” She hung up the phone and sighed in relief.
“What was that?”
Her husband’s voice behind her caused her to jump, startled, “Jethro! You need to stop sneaking up to people.” She glared at him, but he just smirked, waiting for her to answer his question. With a roll of her eyes, Jenny sighed, “That was me telling the SecNav’s wife that we are not going to attend her New Years party tonight.”
Gibbs’ eyes lit with interest, “So we staying here?”
Jen smirked, “Nope. We’re going to Ducky’s for his party. But Laura Turner doesn’t need to know that.”
“Ducky having a party?”
“He’s providing the house. But he told Abby to take care of everything else.” She looked at him through narrowed eyes, a scolding look on her face, “Abby e-mailed everybody, you would’ve known if you bothered to check your inbox every now and then.”
“Everybody?” He asked, more to avoid talking about the way he seemed incapable to get along with any kind of technological device, than out of real interest.
“Well, your team, Mr. Palmer, and me. I think that’s it, it’s not gonna be a crowded party.” Jen smiled.
“Can’t we just call and say hi, and stay here all day?” Gibbs complained, trying to convince her.
Jenny shook head and gave him a stern look, “The kids would be very disappointed if you didn’t show up, Jethro. Abby would never forgive you.”
Gibbs’ look softened at the mention of his favorite, and even as he rolled his eyes, Jen knew she had won.
“We gotta be there at 8.” She informed him with a smile, walking over to him to peck his lips.
And the feral growl he let out while he walked away was all the response she needed to know he had surrendered completely.
---
“Am I pretty, Daddy?”
Gibbs looked down at his daughter and couldn’t hide the smile that spread across his face, “Very pretty, Liz.” And she was, standing in the light of Ducky’s front porch in her white coat and velvet navy blue dress, adorable leather navy blue shoes at her feet and her red curly hair styled in pigtails.
The door opened as Elizabeth snuggled into his side, and Abby appeared in the doorway, grinning.
“Hi! Happy New Year!” She hugged Gibbs and Jenny tightly and then moved to hug Elizabeth, who clung onto her as tightly as she was. “Come on in, everybody’s inside!”
She took Elizabeth’s hand and led them in, over to the rest of his team.
“Hi Boss. Director. Lizzie.” McGee stopped halfway to the kitchen and greeted them quickly, getting back to work at Abby’s silent glare.
“Hey guys.” Jenny smiled and shot a surprised look to Tony as he appeared out of nowhere at her side.
“I’m supposed to be taking the guests’ coat, Jenny. Let me help you.” He offered with a seductive smile, but Gibbs’ killer look had him stepping back. “Or maybe I’ll just get Lizzie’s coat and the Boss can help you, Director.”
Jenny rolled her eyes and shrugged off her coat, handing it to Gibbs, and suddenly it felt like a hush had fallen on the entire room. McGee, entering the dining room with a big plate of food, stopped dead in his tracks, gaping at her. And so did Tony, his eyes going wide as he took in her appearance.
Smiling self-consciously, Jen looked down at the dress that seemed to have captured the attention of every male in the room. It was a simple black dress, with a halter neck and a low-cut front. It was shorter than anything she had ever worn to work, and far tighter, enhancing every curve of her body in ways she hadn’t quite expected.
“Wow, Director…you look terrific!” Abby’s exclamation was enough to snap Tony and McGee back to reality, and they quickly looked away, clearly embarrassed to have been staring at their Director, not to mention their boss’ wife.
“Thanks, Abby.” Jenny smiled to the girl and frowned at the same time, seeing Gibbs still staring at her. “What?” She asked, stepping closer to him. “Don’t you like the dress?”
“Haven’t decided yet.” He mumbled, a smirk gracing his lips.
She rolled her eyes and pressed a fleeting kiss to his cheek, “I’ll go look for Ducky.” She whispered, walking towards the kitchen.
He turned to look after her, and found that once again his male field agents had stopped to stare at the tantalizing retreating form of his wife.
“Wow…” As soon as the whisper escaped his mouth, Tony knew his boss’ hand would have made painful contact with the back of his head immediately. And the other loud smacking noise coming from the spot next to him, told him that McGee hadn’t been any luckier.
“Get back to work.”
“Boss, we’re not at work, you can’t-” One intimidating look from Gibbs was all it took for Tony to swallow hard and nod, “Right…shuttin’ up now, boss.”
“Yeah, you do that, DiNozzo.” He shot another look to Tony and McGee, making sure they were back to work, before walking into the kitchen as well.
“Hey Duck.”
“Jethro. I was just telling Jennifer how gorgeous she looks tonight.” Ducky greeted him with a warm smile when he walked into the kitchen, and his daughter grabbed his hand immediately, an excited look on her face.
“Daddy, look!” Elizabeth pointed at her throat, where a shiny silver Star of David dangled from a purple lace tied behind her neck. “Ziva gave it to me!”
Gibbs smiled and kissed her forehead, turning a questioning look onto Ziva.
“I promised I would get her one in Tel Aviv.” The young woman explained with a small smile.
Gibbs nodded, “Looks good, Liz.” He smiled at Elizabeth and watched her bounce out of the kitchen with Ziva, to join Abby in the dining room, where they helped her set up the decorations.
“Such an adorable little girl you have there.” Ducky smiled after her and glanced at his friends, who, he noticed, moved imperceptibly closer to each other.
“Thanks, Ducky.” Jenny smiled brightly and leaned her back slightly against Gibbs’ chest, enjoying the warmth spreading from his body close to her. “Who are we waiting for now?”
“Mr. Palmer is on his way with a date.”
An amused smile appeared on Jenny’s face, “Palmer with a date? I thought the boy was interested in Abby.”
“Oh dear, no. Young Timothy certainly wouldn’t like it.” Ducky smiled conspiratorially.
“Really? I knew there was something going on with the two of them!” Jen’s face lit up with glee at the bit of information, and she frowned when she heard Gibbs sigh. “What?”
“Rule number 12, Jen.” He reminded her with a stern look.
“Oh screw that, she’s not an agent.”
“And even if she were, shall I remind you, Jethro, that you and Jennifer were involved long before she became our beloved Director?” The smirk gracing Ducky’s features was unusual, but not unexpected to Gibbs. He knew the good doctor would have pulled out that card sooner than later.
“No need to, Duck. Elizabeth is enough of a reminder.” He replied with a smirk of his own.
“Plus, we are married, Jethro. Doesn’t rule number 12 apply to us too?” Jenny gave him a smug look, but he just pressed a kiss to the side of her head.
“Nope, you’re the Director. You’re not an agent anymore.”
“And she’s a forensic specialist, she was never an agent.”
The shrill ringing of the doorbell saved him from further discussion, and both he and Jenny followed Ducky into the living room to see Jimmy Palmer walk in with his date, agent Michelle Lee.
“The female probie is his date?” Tony’s loud whisper earned him a smack on the shoulder from Abby as the two new guests handed Ziva their coats and gave nervous smiles to the people staring at them.
Jenny smirked and looked up at Gibbs, “How about them? They shouldn’t be together, should th-”
“Jen…” His face was inches apart from hers and his hot breath tickled her lips as he whispered her name.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
The kiss was short but intense; a passionate silent exchange that made Jenny feel glad that all eyes were now fixated on Palmer and Lee, because she just couldn’t help the way her fingers curled into Gibbs’ shirt as they slowly broke apart. And she was sure that a blush was starting to creep up her cheeks as she felt a burning sensation on her face.
“Shall we all get to dinner?” All the guests nodded and walked over to the table at Ducky’s proposal, and Jenny moved away from Gibbs to walk over to Ziva and Elizabeth, her eyes taking in the enigmatic smirk on Ziva’s face as she stepped closer to her.
“You are happy Palmer brought an unlikely date, yes?”
---
The delicious meal Abby and Ziva had cooked was eaten in a room filled with laughter, a lovely chaos everybody was familiar with. Ducky entertained them all with stories from the past, and when everyone was done eating, Jenny, Ziva and Abby took all the plates into the kitchen and cleaned up, while the guys took care of the fireplace and Palmer and his date disappeared mysteriously.
By the time midnight finally rolled around, Elizabeth was sitting on Ducky’s lap in his armchair, snuggled into his side as she listened carefully to some story the old man was telling her.
“And then, right when everything seemed to be lost, a beautiful young agent appeared on a big boat to take us away.”
Elizabeth looked at the man she loved like a grandfather with wide eyes, “Was it my mommy?”
“Yes, your beautiful mother sailed over to our shore and-”
“You mean mommy stole a boat?!” Elizabeth’s small voice echoed in the now quiet room and everybody giggled.
“She didn’t exactly steal it, Elizabeth…” Ducky tried to explain, a small smirk gracing his face as he shot a glance to Jenny across the room. “She borrowed it to come and get your father and myself.”
Listening to the good doctor’s explanation, Jen couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m re-thinking my decision to have Lizzie spend time with Ducky.” She whispered to Gibbs, smiling into his eyes. “God knows how much more he could tell her about our interesting past.”
Gibbs smirked, “She’s fine right there. It won’t hurt her to know her mother wasn’t always the good-behaving director of NCIS.”
She rolled her eyes and playfully smacked his chest, her face relaxing into a smile as he grabbed her hand and brushed his lips over her knuckles.
“Wanna go outside?” He intertwined his fingers with hers and pressed a light kiss to her temple, feeling her head move slightly as she nodded.
Gibbs helped her into her coat and they walked outside in comfortable silence, stopping to stand on the front porch, looking up at the clear midnight sky.
“Fireworks will start soon.” Jenny said quietly after the silence between them stretched, glancing at her watch. Her back pressed against his chest as his arms were loosely wrapped around her waist.
“Mmhmm.” The sound was muffled by her hair as he pressed her lips to the back of her head and stepped back to lean against the wall, tightening his hold on her.
Jen nodded silently and relaxed against his chest, silence falling between them again until a low giggle from across the front porch made them both turn around with curious looks.
“Looks like you either really need to get rid of rule number 12, or you have to punish your field agents.” She whispered to him, a smirk spreading across her face as her eyes set on Tony holding a giggling Ziva in his arms and placing small kisses on her lips.
“I’ll punish them.” Gibbs let out a low growl, and Jenny turned to glare at him. Only then noticing the small smile playing around his lips.
“Nah, you won’t.” She chuckled, glancing back to the young couple for a second before looking back up at the sky.
A flash of red lit up the street before Gibbs could say anything back to her, and a loud noise deafened them for a second as the fireworks went off.
“Guess this is it, finally.” She mumbled into his ear, turning back to look at the beautiful fireworks. Her eyes sparkling in the flashing lights.
“Happy New Year, Jen.”
His whispered words in her ear caused a pleasurable chill to run down her spine, and she turned around in his arms to press a lingering kiss to his lips, before she heard the front door open and a small body squeezed in between them.
“Happy New Year, Mommy and Daddy!” Little Elizabeth screamed over the loud noises of the fireworks, hugging them both tightly.
Gibbs smiled at his daughter and stepped back slightly to pick her up, holding her in his arms and pressing a kiss to her cheek, “Happy New Year, Liz.”
Jenny kissed the girl’s cheek as well and watched the other guests gather all around them, wishing each other a happy new year as Ducky handed everybody a glass of champagne to toast.
After their toasts were done and all had drank at least a sip of their champagne, Jenny snuggled close to Gibbs on his free side, wrapping her arm around his waist.
“See? Wasn’t that bad spending New Year’s Eve here at Ducky’s, was it?” She whispered in his ear, smiling against his cheek.
“Mmhmm… and what if Laura Turner wants to talk about your New Year’s Eve celebration?” He turned to her with a smug smirk, wanting to find a flaw in her plan not to admit that she was just right.
She just smiled and rolled her eyes, “Then I’ll tell her what I already told her on the phone…”
Gibbs gave her a silent, questioning look, glancing away from her face for a second when he felt Elizabeth’s head on his shoulder and took in the sight of his daughter’s beautiful, peaceful face as she closed her eyes, sleep claiming her at last.
Jenny brushed a strand of Elizabeth’s red hair out of her face and caressed her cheek as she looked lovingly at her. She then let her gaze wander over to the few people she had come to love as her own children and friends: Abby and McGee were standing in a corner, Abby’s arms wrapped around his neck in a loose hug as they watched the fireworks in awe; across from them, Ziva and Tony were still holding onto each other tightly, and Tony was whispering something that made Ziva broke out in a true smile Jenny had wanted to see back on her face for a long time.
Ducky was standing back in a dark corner of the porch. The fireworks lights dancing across his face as he glanced to the couples with a knowing smile.
Palmer and his date, Jenny realized, were nowhere to be seen and hadn’t been around for a long time. That could only mean one thing, and she couldn’t help but let out a small, quiet giggle at the thought of the two of them locked up somewhere in Ducky’s house. As disturbing as the idea might be.
“Jen?”
Gibbs’ voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked up at him, a sweet smile gracing her lips.
“I’ll tell her the truth, Jethro. That we just had a family celebration.”
THE END