Turning 12

As I slowly drifted off to sleep the night before I had at one point looked over to the alarm clock that sat on my nightstand. 1:15am, the clock read.
“Saturday at last, Nick and I can finally sleep in.” I thought.
It was Saturdays that I loved the most nowadays. Nick and I got to sleep in as long as we wished while JD got up to take care of her sisters. As I fell asleep I knew that today was going to be just like yesterday and Thursday, completely chaotic. Today; the string of birthdays continued. Much like Thursday when we had three birthdays, we had three more birthdays today. This time Kate and Drew’s eldest son Benjamin was turning twelve years old along with Jayden and Jocelyn. But in a few hours that was about to change for Jenny and me.
At one point later on that morning I heard the house phone ring followed by JD answering the phone and talking to Jenny for a few minutes. The next thing I knew JD was knocking on the door.
“Mom, Aunt Jen is on the phone. She wants to talk to you, something happened.” JD said from the hallway.
“Can’t she call back later? Doesn’t she know that Saturday is my day to sleep late by now?”
“She says it’s important, that it can’t wait.” JD answered me.
“Fine, come in.”
JD came in, I could tell in my half-conscious mind set that JD wasn’t her normal cheerful self that she usually was in the morning.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s about Grandpa Jasper.” JD answered as she handed over the house phone.
As JD left to take care of her sisters again and to make a pot of coffee, I brought the phone to my ear as I sat up in bed.
“What’s going on Jen? What happened to dad?”
“Dad was murdered this morning. You have to come into the office.”
“Okay.” I said knowing there was no point in arguing with Jen in light of what happened.
Before long I was stepping off the elevator and walked over to the squad room. I had been on auto pilot since Jen had called. Jethro, McGee, Tony, Kate and Ziva were already there. As I sat down at my desk, Jethro got up and headed up to Jen’s office. A few seconds later, Agent Shane Parker was literally on Jethro’s six. It was nice to know that Jen and I had the team supporting us, but the thought that Colonel Jasper Shepard was dead really hadn’t sunk in yet.
Meanwhile upstairs Jen was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Jen had every intent of letting Jethro investigate Jasper’s murder; but the minute Shane entered Jen’s office, Jen knew that this wasn’t going to be easy. Shane had been one of the agents that came to the agency under Leon’s administration. Shane and her team of agents were what we had called “Hollywood Agents”.
“So Director Shepard; who gets this case, Gibbs or me?” Shane asked bluntly.
“Agent Gibbs and his team will be taking this case, Agent Parker.”
“With all do respect; Director, you can’t do that due to the conflict involved with them handling this case.”
“Just because my sister is on Agent Gibbs’ team doesn’t mean that they can’t work this case. Agent Shepard will have to sit this case out.” Jen said.
By now Shane was completely pissed.
“You’re only giving Gibbs and his team this case because you’re sleeping with him. Then there seems to be the fact that you think that you owe him after the La Grenouille case.”
“That’s quite enough Agent Parker.”
Before Jethro could reprimand Shane, she had stepped out of Jen’s office with a smile on her face and paused by one of the filling cabinets that encased Cynthia.
Jen then looked to Jethro, who was able to tell that this wasn’t the time for a mutiny at NCIS.
“Do you think it would be inappropriate if, as Director, I went in there and slapped that smile off her face?” Jen asked Jethro just as she had seventeen years ago.
Jethro smirked just as he had then before he answered her.
“That’s why you’ve got me.” Jethro said as he started towards the door.
“Thank-you Jethro, but I do have one condition for you and your team working this case.”
“I know; Jen, I’ll take care of it.”
“Tell the rest of the team, Jethro.” Jenny said.
“I will, Jen.”
“Be discrete.”
“What’s that suppose to me, Jen?” Jethro asked.
“Just that I know you.”
Jethro left Jen and returned to the squad room. I was just about to go on a breakfast run when Jethro had finally comeback. As I got up from my desk, Jethro came over to me and hugged me.
“Everything will be okay. We’ll get the bastard.” Jethro whispered into my ear as he hugged me.
“Thank-you Jethro. Do you want anything?”
“Just coffee.”
“Some things never change.” I said as I left.
Once I was in the elevator Jethro turned to the others.
“The Director doesn’t want Jaylyn working on this case or knowing what we find, got it?” Jethro said.
Tony, Ziva, McGee and Kate nodded yes. Jethro then took the rear elevator down to Abby’s and Autopsy to fill in Abby, Ducky and Palmer. Jenny was looking down on from the overlook and saw everything that just happened. Tony, Kate and McGee returned to their desk to track down Jasper’s murderer. As Ziva returned to her desk the looked up to Jenny, fully understanding why Jenny didn’t want me involved with this case. I was still in the revenge phase just as Jen had been seventeen years ago.
Sadly Benjamin, Jayden and Jocelyn birthday party was put on the back burner in light of what had occurred. They seemed to fine with waiting for their party. I had decided that I would pick up the birthday kids and bring them back to NCIS while I was out. When we got back I saw my father’s service picture up on the plasma along with a picture of Jeanne. Ziva saw us come in and nudged Tony to change what was on the plasma.
“Why did you take that off the plasma?” I asked.
“We’re just following orders.” Kate answered.
I left the kids with the others and headed up to Jen.
“When have I given you any cause to take me off a case?” I asked.
“I had to, Jay.”
“Well if you thought I was going to fly off the handle and seek revenge on Jeanne Benoit, then you were wrong.”
“They already have a suspect?”
“Yeah and it is obvious that she did it. After all she still thinks that you killed her father fifteen years ago. If anything she is the one who is getting revenge here.”
After that Jenny and I went down to the squad room. Abby and Ducky came up with Jethro. As Jen and I got to the squad room everyone started wishing the kids a happy birthday.
“Joyeux Anniversaire.” Jethro and Jen said to the kids.
“Merci.”
“Yom Huledet Same'ach.” Ziva said.
“Toda.”
“Buon Compleanno.” Tony said.
“Grazie.”
“Happy Birthday.” Kate, Abby, McGee and I said.
“Thank-you.”
Next thing we knew the elevator had binged and a redheaded woman with cobalt blue eyes similar to Jethro’s that seemed to be around my age came over to the squad room.
“Dad.” The woman said.
Jethro thought he was hallucinating.
“Who is that, Mom?” the twins asked me.
“That’s Uncle Jethro’s daughter, Kelly.”
“Is that you Kelly?” Jethro asked.
“It is, Dad. I know it’s been a while but it really is me.” Kelly said.
“Yeah Kels, like thirty-one years.” Jethro said.
Today had just been full of surprises from start to finish.

Junior Prom

Just as things had began to calm down the day following the girls’ party; we had a rude awakening. The day following the party happened to be a Friday and the three eldest girls had a short day of school, which none of us knew. When I had gotten a minute to talk to JD, I had found out that junior prom was that night. JD had said that she was going with Hannah and Leah to get prom dresses along with getting their nails and hair done. Once I had gotten off the phone with JD, I had gone down to the squad room to fill Ziva and Tony in as well as to tell Nick what was going on.
My mood had changed as I stepped out of my sister’s office even if it was for a few minutes; it was still my brief chance to get step away from all of Jen’s responsibilities at the agency. The fact that Jen and Jethro were finally returning from their vacation in a matter of minutes also seemed to contribute to my sudden change in mood. I was literally counting the minutes until my sister and Jethro’s return. I was hoping that Jen and Jethro weren’t planning on taking anymore trips down memory lane any time soon once they had returned. Abby had been in the squad room with Ducky and the rest of the team patiently waiting the return of her protector. As I reached the squad room the elevator had binged and the doors opened.
Abby’s face lit up as she saw Jethro step out of the elevator. It only took Abby a matter of seconds before she rushed over to welcome Jethro back with a hug. Unlike Abby’s enthusiastic hello, I had toned my enthusiasm down a bit as I walked over to Jen to welcome her back.
“I take it walking in my heels has presented a challenge.” Jen said to me as I hugged her.
“Nothing I wasn’t able to handle. Besides the stressed look I have isn’t a NCIS related look.” I answered.
“JD again?”
“Of course.”
“You’ll figure it out, I did.”
“Thanks Jen.” I said.
Just as she had nearly knocked Jethro over seventeen years earlier, Abby had nearly knocked him over again as she hugged him. Like before Tony and Ziva were there to keep Jethro from falling backwards. The last thing we needed was for Jethro to have any of his head trauma acting up again.
Just at that point the elevator had binged and opened again. This time it revealed all of the kids; from Hannah all the way down to Drew Jr. Apparently Hannah, Leah and JD had bumped into their boyfriends while they shopped. Hannah’s boyfriend Jesse had offered the girls a ride to NCIS as Leah’s boyfriend Matt drove Kate and Drew’s kids. That left my babies with JD’s boyfriend, Josh. While Hannah rode with her boyfriend, Leah stayed with Kate and Drew’s kids.
At that point I was beyond pissed and Jen could tell. I couldn’t believe that JD would let her younger sisters in a car with a guy that she barely knew. Before she had met Josh; JD had been a level headed fifteen year old that was very protective of her sisters. But now she had completely changed as she turned sixteen and started seeing Josh. I had no idea who she was or what the hell had gotten into her.
Jen had then decided before she and Jethro gave the kids the gifts that they brought back from their trip that it would be best to get me out of the squad room before another argument had ensued between the two people that she knew had major tempers. Jen had brought me back up to her office.
“We should talk.” Jenny said.
“What is there to talk about?”
“You know damn well what there is to talk about.”
“Okay so what are you waiting for Jenny?” I asked.
“Do you remember what you were like at sixteen?” Jenny asked.
“I was a saint compared to JD, Jen.”
“Actually Jay, I witnessed your teenage age years. I had to put up with you and all of your mood swings. You’d be surprise how similar you and JD are.”
“What? We’re nothing alike.” I said a bit insulted.
“I’m not trying to be a jerk or anything, Jaylyn. I just want you to think of what you were like at sixteen so that you and JD. I just want you to stop and think about all of this because if you don’t then as soon as JD turns eighteen; she is going to leave and never return if don’t stop arguing with her over every little thing. Just think of how you would have wanted mom to react when you had your first boyfriend at 16 and go from there.”
“Okay so you’re right. You know I can’t help it, JD has completely changed. Is it so wrong for me to want her to be the person she was when she was six years ago?”
“No it isn’t, there are time when I wish you were ten years old again.” Jen answered.
By 6pm the girls were at prom with their boyfriends as the rest of us had all gone home. After my talk with Jen that afternoon; we had gone back down to the squad room and the kids had gotten their souvenirs. Apparently it was Jethro’s idea to get all the kids dog tags like he had gotten all of us years ago. The kids’ dog tags were engraved with Jethro’s A-team and their names. Much like Jethro had made all of us promise to wear ours he had made the kids promise to always wear theirs. Jethro had even gotten two dogs tags for McGee and Abby’s kid.
“My gut is told me that you guys are having twins, one of each so I got them dog tags like the other kids when they are older.”
“Thanks boss.” McGee said.
“Thank-you Gibbs.”
At that point it was time for pictures since all of the prom goers were ready.
“Be good girls and don’t go into any hotel rooms tonight.” Tony said to Hannah and Leah after pictures had been taken.
“Relax DiNozzo.”
“I want you all three of you to listen to me.” I said.
The girls nodded.
“Don’t do anything, I wouldn’t do.”
As 8pm rolled around JD had returned home just as Hannah and Leah had returned home. I had found odd that the girls were back such an early hour on prom night, especially after all the preparation they had done for it. Later on I would learn that all the guys had tried to get them to spend the night with them in the hotel room they gotten. Even though it was getting closer to the younger kids bedtime, Hannah, Leah and JD had wanted to go to the family dinner so that they could forget what had just happened at prom. We all had gone out for the girls’ dinner and had left as soon as the younger kids started falling asleep. Thankfully there were enough adults around to help carry out Benjamin, Jaliyah, Noah, Ashleann, Drew Jr., Jayden and Jocelyn out to the cars.
When we had gotten home, Nick put the twins to bed as I went to find out what had caused JD, Hannah and Leah to come home so early from prom.
“So what caused you guys to come home early?” I asked as I sat down on the end of JD’s bed.
“Josh, Matt and Jesse had gotten rooms. They tried to get us to go up with them to sleep with them.” JD answered.
“Well I have to say that I am the probably the proudest mom in DC tonight besides Ziva.”
“Thanks mom.”
“Your father will be quite relieved to know that you didn’t sleep with Josh.”
“Yeah.”
“Well it’s late, if you want to talk more tomorrow.” I said.
“Good night mom.”
“Good night JD, I love you.”
“Love you too.” JD said as I turned off the light on her nightstand and she went to sleep.
A few minutes later Nick and I were fast asleep after a long day that thankfully came to an end.

Sweet Sixteens

Over the next few hours things became quite a bit interesting like they always did around the time of Hannah, Leah and JD’s birthdays. The girls had wanted Jen and Jethro to be at their party; so Ziva, Tony, Nick and I had to decide what to do. I didn’t want to tell them to cut their vacation short since it wasn’t fair to them. Jen and Jethro had only just gotten to Positano which meant that they still had Serbia left. Due to all of the factors we decided to have two parties for the girls this time. One with their friends from school and then a dinner out with their NCIS family; just as I had gone out with the gang fourteen years ago.
I felt so beyond disconnected as I sat up in my sister’s office, disconnected from the others. It was a nice change of pace; but unlike my sister who loved being Director more than being a field agent, I absolutely loved being a field agent. Just as I sat back in my sister’s very comfortable office chair to relax, Cynthia had buzzed me from her desk to say there was a Senator on line one wanting to talk to the Director. Since I was acting director, I obviously had to take this pointless phone call and deal with yet another petulant Senator.
“Director Shepard.” I said.
“Hello; Director Shepard, its Senator Ryans. I just called to see if you had looked over the GAO notes from the last meeting.”
I obviously had no clue what the hell Senator Ryans was talking about and he clearly didn’t realize that I wasn’t my sister.
“Ah Senator, who do you think you are talking to?” I asked.
“NCIS Director Jennifer Shepard, of course.” the Senator replied.
“Sorry; but no, my name is Jaylyn Shepard. I am filling in for my sister while she and Agent Gibbs are on vacation. I have no idea what you are talking about as far as notes go.”
“Well then, have your sister call me when she gets back from her vacation.” Senator Ryans said as he abruptly got off the phone.
“And that is why I prefer being an agent.” I said to myself.
I was counting down the days until Jen and Jethro returned; I more than wanted a bit of normalcy in my life again. Especially with my eldest daughter turning sixteen soon. I knew that wasn’t going to happened until Jen and Jethro returned; even then it wasn’t going to be normal or remotely close to normal until the girls had their family dinner with all of us.
But as I adjusted the chain around my neck and pulled the one thing that kept connected me to the rest of the team out from underneath my shirt, things became a little better. About three years ago; on the anniversary of when Leon broke up Jethro’s team, Jethro had gotten all nine of us engraved dog tags. On the dog tags Jethro had each one engraved with Jethro’s A+ Team followed by our name. Just knowing that the others including Jenny, Ducky and Palmer were wearing their dog tags made everything better.
Everyday all nine of us wore our dog tags at Jethro’s request. The guys had decided to just let the chains of their respective dog tags sat on remain visible. Jenny, Ziva, Kate, Abby and I had no shame in letting our respective dog tags be visible when we wore them. Within the twenty-six years Jenny had known Jethro he had been so many things to her. He had been her lover, protector and confidant as well as the one person she knew that she would spend the rest of her life with whether there was a ring on her hand or not.
For me Jethro was like the brother I never had. Jethro was obviously Kate, Abby and Ziva’s protector along with being their father figure. All five of us were quite attached to Jethro, which gave us the add bonus of everyone within NCIS knowing that they would be in a world of trouble if we weren’t happy. No one messed with Jethro’s girls. During my last phone call with Jenny there had been a slight hint from her that they were bringing back gifts for all of the kids.
Throughout the day Jen had been texting me when she and Jethro weren’t entwined in each other. I had told her about the girls’ party later that night, how Ziva and I scrambled at the last minute to invite everyone we thought the girls wanted at their party. Jen had loved the ideas we came up with, but at the same time she hated being away from her nieces when they had an important birthday coming up. Ziva and I decided at the start of the work day that the girls’ party was going to a surprise party for them, so we only told them that all of us would celebrate their sweet sixteen birthdays when Jen and Jethro returned. Nick and Tony were bringing the girls to the banquet hall we had gotten for their surprise party that night.
Later that night all of the girls friends, Ziva and myself waited in a darken banquet hall as we saw the headlights of the car that had our respective husbands and the girls in it pull up. Within minutes Hannah, Leah and JD walked in with Nick and Tony; the lights came on as the girls stood completely stunned. Once the shock wore off Hannah, Leah and JD made their way to their respective boyfriends. Both Tony and Nick couldn’t believe what they saw.
It was clear that Tony was worried that his daughters were dating boys that were just like he was before his transformation from womanizer to gentleman. I could tell that Nick was just as worried as Tony. Ziva on the other had a look on her face that told me that she had no idea that her twin sixteen year old daughters had boyfriends.
“I guess you didn’t know.” I said.
“You guessed right, Jay.” Ziva answered.
Tony and Nick promptly came to us after the girls had kissed their respective boyfriends.
“They are dating.” Tony said.
“When did this happen?” Nick asked.
“Most likely a few months ago.” I said.
“This isn’t good; they shouldn’t be that intimate with those boys at this age.” Tony said.
Ziva and I laughed at Tony.
“What’s so funny?” Tony asked.
“It’s nothing.” Ziva said covering for us since we both saw the irony of Tony’s statement knowing what he was like before he married Ziva.
“Don’t worry the girls have a head on their shoulders and they won’t do anything they don’t want to do. Have faith in them, they are intelligent young women.” I said.
Before long the worried looks had dissipated from Tony, Ziva and Nick’s faces. But just like me they were still a bit concerned. Apparently that was normal for parents who had teenage daughters dating.

Driving Lessons

Before long Nick and I were in Key West in our hotel room as Tony and Ziva were in theirs in Key Largo. It was 3am in Key West; Nick and I had been asleep for two hours when my cell rang. Half asleep I looked at the caller id on the front screen of my phone and answered it.
“Why the hell are you calling me when its 3am here, Jen?”
“To tell you that Jethro and I made it to our room after the lay-overs and what not.” Jenny said.
“What part of its 3am here don’t you get?”
“Someone is a bit on the bitchy side.”
“You would be too if you only got two hours of sleep when your sister decided to wake you up with a six hour time difference.” I said.
“So you’ve been in Key West for six hours, what have you two been doing for six hours?” Jenny asked.
“You know perfectly well what Nick and I were doing. The exact same thing you and Jethro were doing at 25, 000 feet when you two rejoined the mile high club.”
“I’ll talk to you later, go back to sleep.” Jen said to me as she got tired of my bitchy side.
“Jen, I’m thirty- nine not ten, with a husband and three kids of my own; you don’t have to tell me when to go to bed anymore.”
I hung up with my sister and went back to bed. In a few hours Nick and I would be getting couples’ massages, going for a romantic walk along the beach and what not.
Meanwhile ninety miles northeast of Nick and me; Tony and Ziva were sound asleep. Ziva had sent me a text message before they fell asleep saying that she never wanted to leave Key Largo. Shortly after Ziva had text me, Tony had gotten a text message from Jethro saying that Tony and I were acting bosses once the four of us got back to DC.
A few hours later, around 10am Nick and I were awake, just as Tony and Ziva were in Key Largo. Nick had offered to turn the shower on for me since he knew that I hated going to bed the night before with the just got off the plane feeling.
“How hot do you want the water, hun?” Nick called from the bathroom.
“After fourteen years of marriage, three daughters later and you can’t remember that I like my shower water to be on the verge of scalding hot.” I answered.
“Sorry I forgot that you like your shower just like your sister likes hers.” Nick said.
I walked over to the bathroom and looked Nick in the eyes.
“How the hell do you how my sister likes her shower? I never told you that.” I said suspiciously.
Nick could obviously tell that I was thrown by what he had said.
“Gibbs told me how the Director likes her shower when we were talking about how much the two of you are alike the other day.”
“You know how weird that is; that you know this.” I said.
“Can we get pass this awkwardness, so I can have your absolutely stunning towel clad body with mine.”
“Vying for baby number four, are we?” I asked.
“Doesn’t hurt to try; are you going to come over here or not?” Nick asked.
“I’m going to get into the shower. We had our fun last night.” I answered as I stuck to my position of just having three kids under the age of eighteen while proceeding to the bathroom.
I had left the bathroom door open since it was just Nick and I in the room. Nick laid on the bed and looked over to the bathroom as I let my towel drop to the floor.
“See something you like?” I asked.
“As always, it still blows my mind that perfectly sculpted body of yours once held our girls inside it.”
“Thank-you; hun, but you’re not going to change my mind. I am showering.”
A few minutes later as I got dressed after I got out my shower Nick noticed my third tattoo which was on the back of my neck.
“I still find it sweet that you have the girls initials tattooed on your neck.” Nick said as he traced the heart on my neck that encased JD, JS and JR.
“Well they are my world, just like you are.” I said as Nick and I left our room to go to breakfast and do the other things we planned on doing.
Tony and Ziva were pretty much doing the same things that Nick and I were doing, but instead of walking along the beach they were horse back riding on the beach. As the four of us were enjoying our respective second honeymoons, the girls were waking up for another day of school just as Jen and Jethro were going to bed.
The thought of getting a bit of payback on Jen for waking me up at 3am had crossed my mind at one point. I knew it would be juvenile of me if I went through with calling Jen when it was 3am over there. The last thing I want to do was resort to Tony’s level of juvenile behavior just to get payback on my sister. Nick and I were enjoying our last day in Key West as much as we could since we had to get back to DC due to Jen and Jethro’s vacation, the team needed a leader and the agency needed someone to run it. Both Ziva and I hated the fact that we had to cut tropical escape short, but we had to.
The massages that we all got were absolutely relaxing. All my stress had dissipated by the time Nick and I went on our walk. As we walked on the beach, Tony and Ziva were riding horses much like Jethro did with Shannon and Kelly years ago. At one point Tony had looked over to his wife and saw a smile on her face.
“I love that smile.” Tony said when they had paused to watch the sun paint the sky pink and orange.
“Well you bring it out, Tony.”
“I know; I am just glad that you’re smiling again, I haven’t seen it in a while.”
“Get over here.” Ziva instructed.
“You’re not going to Gibbs’ slap me, are you?”
“No, get over here.”
Tony did as he was told and directed his horse to stand closer to Ziva’s horse. Without saying a word, Ziva leaned over to Tony and pulled his head close to hers to the point where they a few inches apart from each other. Before Tony processed what was going on; Ziva had brought his lips to hers and passionately kissed him in a way that told him that she wasn’t planning on ending the kiss anytime soon.
“Thank-you for all of this, for everything that you have done for me and everything you’ve given me. I love you.” Ziva said.
By 7pm that night all four of us had returned to DC. The kids had returned to their respective homes. JD had begged Nick to take her out driving just has Hannah and Leah begged Tony to take them out driving. So Nick took JD out as I stayed home with Jayden and Jocelyn to help them with their homework. The next day as Jen and Jethro wrapped up their time in Marseilles before heading over to Positano; Tony and I were temporarily taking over for them until they returned at the end of the week.

Couples' Sabbatical

Jethro, Nick and Tony had been acting quite suspiciously that day; which only left Jen, myself and Ziva wondering what the hell was going on with them. Now we all considered Jen and Jethro to be married like us, despite the fact that Jethro never put a ring on her hand to make it official. They had been together for fourteen years now just as Nick and I had been married for fourteen years and just as Tony and Ziva were. What really threw Ziva and me was that Ducky had volunteered himself and Jordan for babysitting JD, Jayden and Jocelyn for Nick and me. Abby and McGee had even volunteered to watch Hannah and Leah for Ziva and Tony.
Of course our curiosity got the better of us. I guess in a way the respective men in our lives could tell that the stress of being federal agents and all the responsibilities that came with it was starting to get to the three of us. Midway through the day Nick had revealed to me that he was going to make me a nice, kids-free dinner at home. Tony had told Ziva to wear a nice dress, one close to the one she wore when they were undercover as the married assassin from years past. Jethro on the other hand had been a bit more subtle with his way of telling Jenny that he was taking her out.
At one point in the early days of Jen and Jethro’s relationship; the first time around, Jethro had found it hard to tell Jen and I apart. Both Jen and I had dark auburn hair back then; which had earned us the nickname, Jethro’s Crimson Beauties. Eventually Jethro figured out a way to tell us apart. One day he had noticed that our eye color was different despite the fact that we were sisters. That day he had noticed that I didn’t have the same alluring green eyes that Jen had, the green eyes that he had fallen in love with. But as time progress and we all got older it became easier to tell us apart.
With time Jen’s hair had progressed to being shoulder length and strawberry-blonde like it had been prior to her supposed death. Mine on the other hand had remained dark auburn in color but tended to vary in length depending on my mood. One thing was certain, both Jethro and Nick knew that my sister and I were emotional beings. Jethro had chalked it up to it coming with the hair color. That afternoon as the men were planning; Ziva and I went out for a run. We had thought of inviting Jenny to go with us; but then we figured she had too much work to do at the agency so we decided not to bother her. But as we got to the entrance of NCIS, Jenny had caught up with us and asked if she could tag along.
Ziva had pulled her hair back as we waited for Jenny to lace up her running shoes. I had my hair pulled back like Ziva’s in a ponytail, but I also had one of those thin headbands that wrapped around your head on.
“Okay I’m ready.” Jenny said as got up from the bench she sat on.
“You might want to put your hair up, Director.”
“We run five miles, Jen.” I said.
“Okay five miles is nothing. Jethro and I use to run fifteen.”
“He was chasing after you. There’s a difference there; sis.”
“Jaylyn.”
“We all know about yours and Gibbs’ relationship from back then. There is no need to hide that.” Ziva said.
“I can handle it, just because I am not as young as the two of you but I can definitely keep up.” Jenny said as she pulled her hair back.
“Well then let’s see what you’ve got, sis.” I said once we got outside.
Once the cold crisp air hit my skin I instantly bolted in desperate need to stay warm. Within a matter of minutes Ziva had caught up with me. Before we had even turned the corner Jenny had caught up with us. It was kind of peaceful and calming running at twilight. The three of us had been chatting about our plans for the night.
By 5pm that day we all had gone home for the night. Jethro had stuck the plane tickets to Marseilles in a part of the boat he was building. Jethro had asked Jen to sand part of the boat where the plane tickets were hidden. Before long Jenny had found the tickets and sauntered over to Jethro.
“Let me guess you want to take a trip down memory lane, Jethro.” Jenny said as she fanned out the tickets.
“That and you need a vacation.”
“I know you, Jethro. That isn’t the only reason for the trip.” Jenny said with a look in her eyes that told him that she was wondering where else they were going on this vacation he had planned.
“We’re going to Marseilles, Positano and Serbia. Before you ask our luggage is already packed and it’s sitting in the car, we leave at nine.” Jethro answered.
Jenny just smiled as she kissed Jethro.
Meanwhile Tony and Nick were both anxiously waiting for us to find the respective plane tickets for the trips they had planned. Tony had taken Ziva to a quaint, yet romantic Italian restaurant. Prior to the host sitting Tony and Ziva down; Tony had asked then host to place the plane tickets he had purchased for their trip to Key Largo.
“What’s this?” Ziva asked.
“Our vacation, a second honeymoon to Key Largo.”
“But why now?”
“Cause you need it. And after fifteen and a half years of being a perfect mom, you deserve a sabbatical.”
“Well thank-you.” Ziva said as she kissed Tony.
“You’re welcome.”
“When do we leave?”
“As soon as we are done here.”
Back at Nick and mine’s house, Nick had made a romantic dinner for us. He had also made his own dessert menus where he hid our plane tickets to Key West in. There was a look of complete shock on my face.
“Plane tickets to Key West.” I said.
“Yes, a second honeymoon and a much needed vacation. A vacation you definitely need.”
“Thank-you.” I said as I kissed my husband.By midnight that night all the kids were in bed. Tony and Ziva, Nick and I along with Jen and Jethro were all on our respective flights. I had fallen asleep on Nick’s shoulder as we took off. Jen had fallen asleep on Jethro’s shoulder as their plane was midway over the Atlantic Ocean. Ziva had followed suit by falling asleep on top of Tony.