Title: Of Ice Cream and Band-Aids

Author: OrtonsMistress

Rating: K+


It was a rare occasion that Jenny would actually beat Gibbs off work, but that was exactly what happened that hot August night. Deciding to go by the house and get Catie from Noemi, she was planning a trip to the ice cream shop that they both loved and some time at the park. Letting Melvin know of the evening's plans, she requested to have him hang a little further back from them so she could enjoy her time with Catie. He escorted her to her car and helped her inside.


"Mama!" Catie exclaimed, seeing Jenny walk into the house.

Barely having enough time to set her things down on the table, Jenny bent down and scooped her daughter up in her arms. "Hey there baby girl."

"Go park t'day?" She asked hopefully, her green eyes shining. This was the same question the almost three year old had been asking all week when Jenny would get home. Each time the shining eyes and hopeful look would dissipate with her answer.

"Yeah baby girl, we're going to the park today," she replied and she could have sworn her eyes lit up more than they already were. "We'll stop at the little ice cream store on our way as well."

"Yay!" She exclaimed, as Jenny kissed the top of her head and set her down. "Daddy goin' too?"

"No honey, he's still at work," She replied, before heading toward the stairs. "Let mama go change and we can go."

"'kay," Catie replied, as she sat on the bottom step to wait for her.


By the time Jenny and Catie got halfway to Coleman Park, the Strawberries and Cream ice cream Catie loves, was all over her face and shirt.

"How do you end up wearing more of your ice cream than you actually eat, I will never understand," Jenny laughed, grabbing the extra shirt and wipes that she carried with her for instances like this.

"Mama, what that guy doing?" She asked, as Jenny was trying to wipe her hands and face off.

"What guy?"

Pointing out the window she answered. "Him, on the moto'cycle."

Looking up, Jenny could see a man around Gibbs age, riding on an obviously expensive red and black Harley Davidson and using old semaphore hand signals to the few other bikes behind him.

"Well sweetie, he's using hand signals so his friends that are riding behind him know what lane they need to be in," she answered, trying to keep it on an easy level that she could understand.

"Oh," came her simple reply, as all else was forgotten when Melvin turned into the lot for the park. "Let's go Mama!"

"Hold on little miss," she said, as she started undoing the snaps on the car seat. "I need to change your shirt before we get out."

"Okay," she huffed, clearly displeased that her park adventure would be halted for another minute.

While changing Catie's shirt, Jenny kissed her on her cheek before getting out and grabbing her hand, as they headed over to the swing set.


Gibbs was down in the basement, looking over some measurements he had for a play set he was going to start building Catie for the next year. Grabbing the tape measure, he was measuring out what the width of the play set would take up in the basement, when his phone started to ring.

"Yeah, Gibbs," he answered, letting the tape measure roll back up, before tossing it on his work bench.

"Jethro," Jenny said, and it was clear by the sound of her voice that she had been crying.

Hearing the tears caught up in her voice, and the hysterical crying of their daughter, it immediately set his gut churning. "Jen, what's wrong?"

Knowing she needed to calm herself down, before she could calm the cries from Catie; she took a deep breath before she started talking. "I brought Catie to the park, and while I was pushing her on the swing, one side of the chains broke and she fell and busted her chin open. Melvin is driving us to Bethesda now," she rushed out, sounding almost like Abby on a Caf-Pow rush.

"I'll meet you there," he replied, snapping his phone shut and running upstairs.


By the time Gibbs made it to the ER at Bethesda, Catie was just being called back to a room. Going over and taking her gently from Jenny's shaking arms, he led his girls back to the exam room.

Once the nurse had gotten them situated in the room, a bubbly young intern came in and asked. "What seems to be the problem tonight?"

"I felled off a s'ing," Catie mumbled, still holding the handkerchief that Melvin had given her to her chin.

"We were at Coleman Park and the swing she was in, the chain links on the left side snapped at the top and that's when she went down," Jenny explained a little more clearly.

"All right," the doctor nodded, moving around to grab some supplies. "We'll get this cleaned up to prevent any infection. Then we will know more if she needs stitches or not."

"Thank you doctor," she replied, while Gibbs was saddled with the unenviable task of keeping Catie still and calm, while the doctor tried to make quick work of cleaning the wound.

By the time the doctor got the wound cleaned up, Catie had calmed down considerably. "Okay Mr. Gibbs, I will need you to help hold Catie completely still. I have to administer a S..H..O..T to help numb the area so I can do the stitches."

"Okay," he replied, as he held her down gently, placing his hand on her forehead to hold her still.

"Ahh!" Catie screamed, tearing at Jenny's heart again. "Daddy no!"

"It's okay sweet pea, it's almost over," he whispered, leaning down and kissing the top of her head.

Once the doctor finished with the shot, she turned and looked at Jenny. "Now we will give this about ten minutes to kick in, then I will be back to start stitching this up.

"Thank you," Jenny said, as she went to stand beside Catie again. "You are my brave sweet girl."

"She'll be fine Jen," Gibbs said, reaching across and taking her hand in his and giving it a reassuring squeeze.


By the time Gibbs, Jenny and Catie got home, the toddler had finally fallen asleep. She had received eight stitches to close up the gash on her chin.

"Jethro, I can't believe I let this happen," Jenny said, as she climbed into bed beside him, once they'd gotten Catie changed and tucked into her bed.

Pulling her over to him, Gibbs kissed her gently and chuckled at her logic, "Jen, she's a toddler, it's bound to happen. Now the way that it happened probably isn't that typical, but childhood battle scars are something she can walk around and wear proudly."

"I know, but I just feel bad," she said, curling up beside him. "She was with me and I let her get hurt."

"Stop blaming yourself," he said, making her look him in the eye. "It could have just as easily been me that she was with."

"All right," she replied, leaning in and kissing him. "Love you Jethro."

"Love you too Jen."