so here it is! sorry it was not up sooner, but i edited slightly based on the reviews i got (eg. LivyRox, who wanted more McAbby. here is a LITTLE bit for you :P)

disclaimer: NCIS=not mine.

Epilogue

15 years later…

Abby sat on the balcony of their shared apartment that overlooked the crowded city streets. She and Tim had moved over after Abby received a scholarship to John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and they stayed. America seemed to be where they were destined to be, not just her and Timmy, but the others. Now she could visit Kate and Ari, and their ever expanding family. Abby had always known that Kate wanted kids, but Ari being the old fashioned man that he was insisted on marrying her before any "baby-making" was done. So, the year after Abby left school they got married in such a small ceremony that Abby only heard about it the week after (which she was furious about). Now Kate and Ari were happily married, with four children to prove it.

Abby twisted her wedding rings around her finger nervously, waiting McGee (she should have really stopped calling him that, seeing as she was a McGee now to. He had seen to that.). She had news. Big news.

She heard the door opened and bounded down the long hallway of their apartment and straight into Tim's arms.

"Woaahhhhh!" he said, trying to prevent them from toppling over, and both ending up as a heap on the floor.

"TIM!"

"Someone is happy?" Tim said, more as a question, asking her to explain.

"Guess what?" Abby said, bouncing up and down like she was eighteen again.

"What?" he said, humouring her, as he pulled his satchel bag over his head to deposit on the floor, separating them for only a moment before Abby latched onto him once more.

"THE ADOPTION PAPERS CAME THROUGH!" Abby squealed, and Tim's face broke into the biggest grin it could hold.

They had always wanted children, but getting one the conventional way was not the "Abby" thing to do. She wanted to help, wanted to make a difference to the world. She had been volunteering out of her work life to every charitable event that she could make it to; from bowling tournaments to fun runs, to sponsored silences and karaoke nights. So adoption seemed like something that they could do, a life they could change for the better.

"And…" Tim said, hardly containing his excitement. Abby knew what he meant by the sentence, even if he had not been clear to others.

"We meet her on Thursday!"

Tim deposited the hugest kiss on her lips and pulled her into his arms, spinning around and around, laughing and smiling like idiots…

oooOOOooo

Jennifer Sheppard in her house on campus staring out of the window of her office. But instead of the usual scene that lay before her eyes, this one was different. She still worked at the school, and was technically still allowed to live in the headmistress' house. But after she and Gibbs got married, she moved in with him, wanting to start their family home somewhere that she did not have to give up when she retired. However, moving did have its pros, she thought to herself as she watched a much more interesting sight than an empty school field...

Leroy Jethro Gibbs stood in the garden shirtless, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his previously discarded shirt. He leant against the lawnmower, looking out at his masterpiece with great satisfaction. Jenny grinned. He had never really done anything to the garden, until Jenny had pointed out that it looked like a jungle. So, just for her he had decided to tackle the problem that she had addressed.

She opened her window widely, allowing a moment for the cool breeze to caress her skin, the cool salvation from the unusually warm autumn's day. Gibbs turned around hearing the window open, and grinned.

His beautiful wife was leaning out of the window, her hair, now grown long flowing freely down her back as she shook it, releasing it from its ponytail. She was beautiful.

"Is this the part where I recite Shakespeare to you?" he yelled up at her. She rolled her eyes at his sense of humour.

"Do you know any?" she replied.

"""He's here in double trust: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself,"" Gibbs recited, his characteristic half smile playing on his chiselled features. Even in age, Gibbs had not lost his charming good looks, much to Jenny's delight.

"I am impressed, looks and a brain," she teased.

Gibbs laughed, "why thank you Ma'am."

Jenny rolled her eyes and closed the window. That man was going to be the death of her…

oooOOOooo

The autumn air blew the trees as they moved the outstretched arms of the trees, causing them to strike violently against the kitchen windows of the DiNozzo household. The noise that they made however had nothing on the racket that was going on inside the house…

"Dad! Sarah wants to know where her purple T-shirt is," Callum said charging down the stairs of their house. It was a small family house, with three bedrooms and a garden big enough for them and the hypothetical dog that Sarah had been pestering her parents to get.

"How would I know where she put her T-shirt?" Tony asked his son, who rolled his expressive green eyes at him in a very Ziva-like fashion.

"Well maybe if you kids tidied up after yourselves you would be able to find stuff. Your mother is going to have a fit when she gets home…" he said, finishing his bowl of cereal while walking around the kitchen looking for this phantom hairdryer. He dumped his bowl loudly in the sink, and rolled up his sleeves to wash up all the cutlery that had amounted in the sink.

"When she gets home?"

Tony jumped a mile at the voice coming from right behind him. No matter how many years of living with Ziva, he had still never got used to her ninja ways. That added to the fact that he was expecting her until the next day…

Without question he swept her into his arms, and she laughed as he spun her around and around there on the kitchen floor. The kids ran down the stairs to see what all the fuss was about, and when they caught sight of their mum their faces lit up with delight.

"Mummy!"

Tony deposited Ziva on the ground, and she leaned down to the kids' level. Without hesitation they both flung themselves into her arms.

"I thought you weren't coming home until tomorrow?" Callum mumbled, his voice muffled by Ziva's thick hair.

"You want me to come back tomorrow?" she teased.

"NO!" all three DiNozzos said at once, and Ziva grinned at them.

Untangling herself from the mass of small bodies, and picking Sarah up, balancing her on her hip.

"The mission went well. In fact, so well that they are reassigning me," she said smugly.

"Where to?" Tony asked, praying that it would be someplace near their small family home in Washington. After Tony's football career took off, he moved to America for college. Ever since then, he and Ziva had bought a house and called it their own. They were just an hour's drive from Kate and Ari which pleased Ziva immensely, and were far away from any overbearing parents. It was the perfect place to start the family that they were.

"Pretty damn near, actually," Ziva smirked, "ever heard of NCIS?"

END