Prompt: Love

noun

an intense feeling of deep affection.

or

a person or thing that one loves.

Fandom: NCIS

Characters: Gibbs

Other: Kelly, OC (Shannon)

AN: Shannon, named after Shannon Gibbs, is Kelly daughter from an encounter with Ari before she was told he was a terrorist. This beginning is set in 2010; 5 years after Ari's murder and when Kelly is four and a half years old.

Gibbs went down to his basement to work on his boat, when he found Kelly teaching her daughter, Shannon, to move the sander with the grain.

"How's it looking?" He asked, a soft smile on his face.

"Pop-pop!" Four year old Shannon took her hands off of her mothers as the sander stopped, and then she was set on the floor and she rushed over to the man with something she grabbed off of the table.

Gibbs picked up Shannon. "Hey little lady. What have you got there?" He asked, referring to the item in Shannon's hand.

"It's a boat!" Shannon showed him the boat, it looked like a basic childs drawing of a boat but in three dimension and covered in glue. "I made it for you using wood and glue!" She was so proud of herself.

It was a basic half circle with a line and a triangle for a flag. And it looked perfect to Gibbs.

"Did you say you made it all by yourself?" Gibbs asked, setting Shannon on the table. "Did your mother help you?"

Kelly shook his head. "No, I didn't even know what she was doing until she showed me earlier today. It looks really good, wouldn't you say, dad?"

Gibbs nodded. "It's perfect." He smiled. "And it's for me?"

Shannon nodded. "Yeah. Cause you always build boats, but you always lose them. This one is one that you can keep so you don't lose it. See? I wrote your name on it."

Gibbs looked at the words, written with a marker based on the smell, SS Pop-pop's boat. And it was the best boat Gibbs had ever seen.

The man kissed his granddaughter's head. "I'll keep this at my work desk, so it won't get lost. How's that, sweetie?"

Shannon nodded. "Yeah!"

Kelly handed her father a small boat stand. "I made it so the boat would stand up straight."

"What do you think Gibbs is trying to emote with this?" Tony asked McGee, the small boat in his hands. "It looks so.. bizarre.."

McGee shrugged. "I dunno Tony. But it's on Gibbs' desk so we shouldn't touch it."

"I mean, it's covered in glue and the ink it smudged." Tony said, not hearing McGee.

"Maybe it's because your sweating." Ziva said, looking over Tony's shoulder.

"Sweat? DiNozzo's do not sweat." Tony said.

"Oh really?" Mcgee asked. "Cause here comes Gibbs."

Tony turned to face Gibbs, his hand with the boat behind his back. "Morning boss."

"DiNozzo, put the boat back." Gibbs ordered, looking at the empty stand.

Tony sighed, putting the boat down on it's place. "What is it anyway?"

"It's the SS Pop-pop's Boat, DiNozzo." Gibbs said before taking a swing of his coffee. "And if I see you touch it again, or if it's taken from my desk again, I'll began ripping limbs off. Syatying with yours."

The boat was kept in the same place on Gibbs desk for years. Through agent departure after agent departure.

It was something obviously treasured by Gibbs, said rumors through the office. And among Team Gibbs, they knew why. It was a precious gift, made for him with love from his grandchild. The one who died of pneumonia later in the year 2015 at the age of eleven.

Of course, Gibbs kept making boats, but he kept 'losing them'. But, once again, they never stayed in the basement for long.

Kelly went back to Stillwater, Pennsylvannia, after mourning and after years of telling herself she was going to leave, she needed something more mundane. That was what she needed to move on, but she never forgot her daughter. And she never would.

Gibbs would often think back to the little red haired grandchild who would call out in excitement when Pop-pop came home from work. Love was letting go and moving on, but holding memories and others close. No matter where they were.

Because that was what it mean to lose and love.