WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS
I'm sorry about the delay, but this was probably the hardest chapter to write, because it is so anticipated and I have seen most of it in my head for so long. You would think that when you, for the most part, know how a chapter is going to go that it would be easy to write but, at least in this case, it wasn't. I think in great part because, like I said, you all have been anticipating it for so long and I am so afraid of mucking it all up and not just for all of you but for myself as well. Ack! I am way obsessive sometimes! Hopefully this is not a disappointment. Thank you so much to all of you who have stuck with me for so long; who have encouraged me to keep going and have cared so much about the characters in this story. I know I'm sounding like this is the end or something – which it isn't – but I just feel the need to say this… Ok, I am probably sounding like a psycho… Anywho. Ignore me and please just read; I hope you enjoy! NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS Chapter 9: Boats Jenny descended the stairs to the basement. She had been helping Kelly with doing the dishes while the 14 year old chattered on and on, excitedly about the book she was reading, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Afterward the teen had gone up to bed, after giving her dad a good night hug, and was most likely reading her book at the moment, trying to figure out whodunit. Jenny stopped halfway down the steps to watch Jethro while he worked. For some reason she never grew tired of this sight. But she had begun to think that this was all she would be doing, watching; from the outside looking in. "See something you like, Jen?" She smirked at him. "Haven't decided yet," she teased. She descended the rest of the way; pressing a kiss to his cheek as she passed, making her way to the work table and the bottle of bourbon she knew was there. Indeed the bottle was sitting in its customary spot, but there was something else beside it that grabbed and held her attention captive. The silver framed, black and white photo managed to capture the joy and love abiding among the three people within. She recognized a younger, happier Jethro in his fatigues and a very young Kelly with a wide grin and both arms around the two adults. The third person, a beautiful woman with a warm, wide smile, she did not know but she could easily guess whom it was. Jenny cleared her throat uneasily. "Is this Shannon?" Jethro nodded. "You can't really tell in that picture, but Kel's got her eyes." The redhead's eyebrows shot up as her head whipped around to look at the man behind her. This was the most detail he had ever told her about his first wife. "When we met, I had gone home to see my dad on leave after training; I saw her around town, but didn't meet her until I went to the train station to leave. We sat together on the train." Jethro was still working on the boat; Jenny turned toward him entirely and leaned back against the work bench; the photo still in her hands. "Jethro, if you're not ready…" "Shannon said that she supposed it was alright to talk to me, something about me not being a lumberjack." Her hands tightened on the photo but she kept listening to him. "We kept in touch; we got married in 1982; Kelly was born in '83." He visibly swallowed. "I shipped out just after Christmas in '90. About a month later Shannon and Kelly witnessed the murder of a Marine; Shannon came forward and pointed out a drug lord. After that she and Kel, were put under NCIS protection. On February 28, 1991 they were in a car, with an agent driving. The agent was shot and killed instantly; the car wrecked." Jenny's heart stopped. "Shannon was killed in the crash; Kelly was hurt bad." She swallowed hard, before managing to take a deep breath. "That's how she lost her arm, isn't it?" she asked softly. He nodded. "Her seatbelt failed at one point and she ended up getting thrown loose; her arm was pinned and crushed under the frame of the car. A passing motorist came by soon after the crash and found them; he was a college kid who had borrowed his dad's car to go visit some friends. His dad had a car phone installed and he called 911. When he checked everyone and found Kelly alive he performed first aid." He glanced over his shoulder at Jenny, "He was a lifeguard and he had paid close attention in class apparently because he knew that when he couldn't stop the bleeding with pressure on the brachial artery that he needed to use a tourniquet and he used a marker in his car to write the time on her forehead. It ended up costing her her arm but according to the doctors it also saved Kelly's life." That explained all the scars Jenny had seen on Kelly. Jenny also could now fully understand why everyone was, for the most part, so nonchalant about Kelly's prosthetic; that it was not just because they had had time to adjust to it but because, what was a losing an arm to losing her mother and almost losing her life? She watched him silently for several moments. He set aside the planer he had been using and pressed both hands against the hull, leaning against it. "Kelly said the other day that you were thinking of leaving. That you thought I didn't really trust you; I wasn't ready to let you in and be part of my – our – lives completely." Jenny took a step forward. "Jethro –" "I trust you, Jen." He glanced over at her; then looked back down. "Kelly said something when she told me you were thinking of leaving. She said she wanted us to 'keep' you." He looked at her again. The redhead's eyebrows shot toward her hairline. Her lover smirked at her expression and again looked away. "I told her you weren't a puppy to bring home, but she told me that after being divorced twice saying I loved you and wanted to marry you," she sucked in a breath, "didn't quite hold the same weight as it might for others." He straightened up and turned to face her. "And I actually kinda agree with her." Jenny's heart was pounding. "I don't want you to leave, Jenny. I want you to stay; preferably permanently... I want to keep you." Jenny could not take her eyes off of the man across from her. She was gripping the picture so tightly she was surprised it did not break. She finally took a deep breath, set the picture back down on the worktable behind her and then faced him again, pressing her palms together. "My father died a few years ago. He was in the Army," she gave Jethro a wry smile, "I think you two would have liked each other anyway." She took another deep breath. "His death was declared a suicide…but I'm still not entirely convinced. I know he was involved in something that may have gotten him killed but there is no real proof." She pulled her hands apart and looked down at her palms spread before her. "I have been working all these years to get to a position where I can hopefully get that proof. I planned out each and every step along the way." Her hands dropped and she was again looking at him. "You and Kelly were not part of that plan…but I can't regret anything…and –" she swallowed hard, "I don't think I want to let you two go either…" They stood facing each other in silence for several heartbeats, neither knowing how to go from here. Jethro reached a hand toward her. "C'mere, Jen." She hesitantly raised her hand and took his, allowing him to pull him in front of him, facing the boat. He picked up the sander on the bench next to them and wrapped her hand around it. He guided her to rest the sander against the hull and then began to move her hand along the boat, holding the sander. "When you're sanding you go with the grain of the wood." Jenny allowed herself to let go of everything and get lost in the motion of sanding, the feeling of his arms around her and his sent surrounding her. NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS So there it is…Crap I hope I didn't screw that up…Gah! Jeez, that came out shorter than I thought it would be. Anywho when I finally began to type this a few hours ago (it's now 12:37 at night) I realized that I didn't think Jenny had ever worked on the boat with Gibbs before so I went back to check and saw that she hadn't. And that just entered the equation and…yeah. I am way too tired and it is way too late for me to be typing this; I probably shouldn't even be posting this but I need to or I might end up just sitting on it for another month or something… Anyhow. Thank you so much for reading! If you still like it please let me know; if you don't please let me know where I totally screwed up. Damn, I hope I didn't go completely OOC on Jenny and Gibbs! Ok, I'm gonna stop now before I make an even bigger idiot of myself.
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