I do not own any of the Characters of NCIS they are owned by Donald Bellisario and CBS.

I just like writing stories about them!

**Set two years after JUDGEMENT DAY** and One year after ALYIAH**

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs left the bar that night happy. He wasn't always in such a good mood. Work was stressful for him and sometimes he didn't know what to do with his emotions, but tonight had been a good night. After a long week Friday had finally arrived. At lunchtime it had been Tony's suggestion that everyone go out for a few drinks after work was over. It was perfect timing. The team was in between cases and they had spent much of their day filling out paperwork and helping Abby catch up in the lab. Going out for a few drinks wasn't going to hurt anything. Gibbs had gone to the bar more out of a sense of duty than anything else. He didn't want to disappoint Tony. Especially after he had found out Ducky was tagging along.

After a couple of drinks Gibbs had bid farewell to the group and headed home. He had a gut feeling that four people were going to break rule number twelve, and he didn't want to be around to see it. Abby would get drunk and McGee would offer to drive her home, he'd end up staying the night, but he had quit sleeping in the coffin a long time ago. Tony and Ziva were on the way to repairing their trust issues with one another, and tonight it was a sure bet that Tony would get drunk, Ziva would take him home, and just as she was about to leave he'd kiss her. That's how it always happened when they went out. In a way it was sweet that his team had created its own little family. On the other hand it was disturbing. Gibbs had seen too many families fall apart over the years. That was why he had invented rule number twelve: Never date a co-worker. He tried it once, and Jenny Shepard had left a Dear John letter. She had been re-assigned and had left town immediately after leaving Jethro's house. Six years later she re-appeared on the staircase at NCIS. She had suddenly become his boss. As the first female Director of NCIS Jennifer Shepard became a force to reckon with. She had an iron will that was hard to combat, and Jethro was almost sure it had caused her death.

It was the same problem he had with her in the beginning. As a new Agent she just couldn't grasp the concept of when to back off and let something go. She had to pursue everything on her terms and nobody else's. Gibbs was convinced that if she had just returned to D.C. right after the funeral in L.A. instead of letting curiosity get to her, she'd still be alive. As he drove home Gibbs reminded himself that it wasn't his place to judge and that he had to leave the past in the past. There was something Gibbs could judge on his own. It was well after dark and tonight was a great opportunity to continue working on his boat.

Gibbs parked his car in the garage, walked in the house and headed to the basement. The frame was almost done and it was time to start the detailed work of adding the body. Gibbs loved the pursuit. Taking ordinary pieces of wood and turning them into something beautiful. Immediately he grabbed a piece of wood and began sanding it by hand. Suddenly, he heard a knock on the doorframe to the basement. Nobody knocked at Gibb's house. He had an open door policy. Sharply, Gibbs looked up the dimly lit staircase to see who was there. He had to readjust his eyes in the low light, but he knew that silhouette anywhere. It was Jenny.