note: this is the last chapter of this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it :) stay tuned for more stories :) and please leave a comment on your thoughts

The team stays for a while. There are small chattering and a light mood. Gibbs is going to be okay and the case is solved. Tess and her daughter are safe and everything is going to be okay for the time. Except Jack still has a really nagging feeling in her stomach. She feels really bad about the fight she had with Gibbs yesterday. They yelled at each other then Gibbs got shot and the last thing she would have said to him if he had died would have been words of anger. Ducky notices that Jack seems a bit off despite the light mood in the room.

"Are you alright, Jaquelin?" Ducky asks. She looks distantly out of the window but is snapped back to reality by the feeling of Ducky's hand on her hand.

"yes, Ducky." She forces a little smile on her lips. "I am fine."

"well it seems like it is time for us to say our goodbyes," Ducky says and they both look over at Gibbs who has his eyes closed. He seems tired. Almost asleep.

McGee left earlier. He needed to go pick up the twins from preschool on his way home and Jimmy had to go home to Victoria and Breena. Torres and Bishop were sitting on the other side of the room. Nick is leaned back in an armchair eating Gibbs green jello that the cute nurse had come with earlier. Torres hadn't missed a chance to hit on her, for which he had received an angry stare from Ellie. Kasie has been sitting near Ellie and has been chatting with Ellie about their time in high school. Nick had been busy asking everyone what type of high school kid they were. He hadn't said much about what type he was and he hadn't gotten anything but a death-stare from Gibbs. Ducky had gladly shared some memories of his time in high school and so had Jimmy. Jack, Ellie, and Kasie weren't much to share too much about their high school time, but Torres was very interested in Jack's life in California especially when she mentioned beach parties. But Gibbs had cut Torres off when he had asked too many to intimate question especially about Jack's fellow female students and everyone had just laughed ad Nick looing disappointed when he didn't get enough details to his satisfaction.

"yeah…" Jack agrees.

Nick, Ellie, and Kasie start to gather their stuff along with Ducky and Jack.

"you got any plans, Jack?" Ellie asks trying to cheer her friend up.

"no. no really."

your phone has been going off like crazy all day." Ellie points out.

"I know. Nothing important." Jack says with a nonchalant shrug.

"Okay." Ellie and Nick say looking at each other. They clearly don't believe Jack, but they are letting it go for now. They all 5 walks towards the door.

"good night Gibbs." Ellie, Nick, and Kasie say.

"Goodnight Jethro. Get some rest. I will be in here to check on you tomorrow morning." Ducky informs.

"Jack," Gibbs says drowsily. He still has his eyes closed.

"you need something?" she asks as she is standing in the door about to leave, the others are waiting right outside the door. "please stay and close the door," he asks. He never opens his eyes as he speaks.

Jack looks back at Ducky, Torres, Ellie, and Kasie. "I'll see ya tomorrow." She says and then closes the door behind her. she walks over to the other side of the bed. She is just standing there waiting for him to open his eyes or to speak.

"you don't have any plans tonight?" he asks and opens his eyes and looks up at her.

"no. they got canceled by a bullet last night." She says.

"what about with the team? Why didn't you accept Ellie's offer?" he asks. He reaches his hand out from under the cover and takes her hand in his. She sits down on the chair next to the bed. He is rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. It always calms her down.

"I didn't feel like going out tonight. Not with you laying here."

"you should be out celebrating. Not being in a hospital."

She signs heavily. "I want to be here with you. if you want me to leave. Just say it." she says and little irritated and is about to stand up and pull her hand away from his.

"I want you here if you want to be here. I don't want to force you," he says honestly. She can see in his eyes that he means every word he says. she signs in relief and sits back down.

"I want to be with you," she admits. "it doesn't matter where."

She feels he pulls her hand in under the cover. She looks suspicious of him. he just has a corky sideways smile on his face. she gets surprised when she feels something is slide into her hand. He looks up at her. "happy birthday, Jack." Is all he says. she takes her hand out that he had let go of now. She opens the box that he slid into her hand under the cover. It is the beautiful necklace that she saw in Kasies lab earlier. It looks just like her grandmother's from when she was a kid.

"I thought you didn't know it was my birthday." She says stunned.

"How could I not?" he simply asks. "I overheard you saying very persistent on the phone last week that you didn't have any plans for tonight. It made me wonder why tonight was to especially important. So I looked it up."

"you investigated med?" Jack asks with a questioning look. It makes Gibbs smile and he nods.

"That was why you asked me out for dinner tonight instead of our usual cowboy steak at your place?" she asks with a smile. She has figured him out now. He nods.

"I thought we should do something more special. Sorry, it got messed up by a bullet." He says referring to his injured shoulder.

"I like steaks at your house though. But thanks, Gibbs." She says and leans down and kisses him passionately.

"you like it?" he asks with a smile once they break the kiss.

"I love it." she simply says and kisses him again. She stands up again and she takes the necklace out of the box and puts it on and then places the box back on the table. She looks down at it and admires it.

"you do… my grandmother gave a necklace like this to my grandmother as a promise of marriage after they both got back from deployment." She says with a joking smile.

"No promises here." He says and throws his hands up in defense and they both start laughing.

"fair enough." She laughs and looks down at it again. "I love it."

"it isn't just a necklace like your grandmothers. I traced it back to your grandmother. The women who own the antic store immigrated from Germany in 1947. She told me she got that necklace from an army nurse who treated her at an American army base in Germany in 1945 when she was rescued by an American soldier, army lieutenant 1. Class Jack Sloane." Gibbs says with anticipation. He loves Jack's reaction of surprise and happiness.

"my grandfather's name was Jack." Gibbs nods. "I know."

"I told my unit, the wingoes about my grandfather, Jack Sloane, that he was an army lieutenant 1. Class, and after that, they started calling me Jack, and that has been my preferred name since." Gibbs he loves hearing Jack talk about the happy times from her time in the army. It doesn't happen often, but when she shares some of her happy memories about her army-time she always has that little sparkle of joy in her eyes. Gibbs has really come to love that sparkle in her eyes. Jack sits down on her chair again. She is reaching over and holding his hand. Her facial expression changes.s he looks at their hands for a moment, while she is trying to choose the right words. Then she looks over at him. at first, she doesn't say anything. The moment she is looking into his soft loving sweet blue eyes she loses her nerves.

"Jack… speak." He orders and that makes her chuckle and it lightens the mood.

"I'm sorry Gibbs."

"never say you are sorry. It is a sign of weakness."

"Yeah, I know. But I feel really bad about what I said to you yesterday. Our fight yesterday."

"Why?" he simply asks. She looks at him confused. "I thought you enjoyed a good fight." He says with a big teasing smile. That was what she said to him when they first started to work together. She starts laughing too.

"yeah I do and so do you, but… I don't like that kind of fight. I was wrong. I accused you of being unprofessional, and you are not. I should have trusted your judgment. She is your friend and what you did for her back then and over the past few days here actually just reminds me why I really love having you in my life." He looks a little bewildered at her so she elaborates. "you are an amazing man and an amazing friend, Gibbs." she leans down and kisses him passionately.