Chapter Seven

The sound of pounding footsteps and a door flying open followed by the sound of retching brought him out of a dead sleep. He felt Jack bolt up beside him and both were out of bed in two seconds flat and rushing across the hall to the open bathroom. His heart sank as he saw Ellie hunched over the toilet attempting to hold her hair back as she let out a loud sob. He stepped into the bathroom and gently pulled her hair back, dropping into a crouch beside her he ran his hand up and down her back.

"You're okay." He muttered as Jack wet a wash cloth and brought it over to him.

He took the cloth with a grateful nod and gently pressed the cool cloth to Ellie's forehead, he could feel her shaking against him and when he was sure she wasn't going to be sick he dropped back, the jolt sending enough pain to his knee to make him wince, and pulled Ellie against him. He ran his hand over her hair and felt her continue to shake even as she curled up into a ball, tears streaming down her face.

"Ellie." Jack whispered gently, "What happened, baby?"

Ellie whimpered and turned her face into Gibbs' chest and he wrapped his arms around her tighter.

"Stay with me, Kiddo." Jack whispered, "You're safe, we're both right here, we've got you… Did you have a nightmare?"

Ellie nodded against Gibbs' chest and he ran a hand over her hair, he continued the motion as Jack spoke softly to Ellie. He was so focused on Ellie that he barely heard what Jack was saying, her voice a gentle hum in the background.

It took the close to ten minutes to get Ellie completely calmed down and Gibbs' knees were complaining by the time Jack helped Ellie up.

"Do you want to go back to your room?" She asked quietly.

Ellie nodded and Jack waited until she had stood up, rinsed her mouth and stepped out of the room before holding a hand out to Gibbs who took it gratefully.

"You okay?" She asked quietly, her eyes darting down to his knees.

"I'll be fine." Gibbs replied quickly, "More worried about her."

She glanced out into the hallway and nodded, she was getting more and more worried about Ellie by the minute.

"I'm gonna go check on her." Gibbs announced quietly, "Go back to bed, I'll be in in a minute."

He dropped a kiss to the top of her head before stepping out of the bathroom and down the hall into Ellie's room.

"You okay?" He asked as he slipped into Ellie's bedroom.

"Mmmhmm."

Her response was muffled by the pillow she had her face buried in and Gibbs took a few steps into the room and sat on the edge of the small bed.

"El…" He sighed and rested a hand on her shoulder, "You wanna talk about something?"

She shook her head silently and Gibbs squeezed her shoulder.

"It's nothing." She added when she realized Gibbs wasn't backing off.

"That wasn't nothing." He whispered gently.

"I don't want to talk about it." Ellie snapped, raising her head enough so the words were clear to him, "I don't want to talk about it, I just want it to stop, I want the nightmares to stop I want to be able to sleep again, I want to be able to eat again, but talking about it doesn't make it go away." Her voice cracked and he could see tears welling in her eyes again, "I just want it to stop."

He reached out and ran his hand over her hair, "I know." He dropped his hand back to her shoulder and squeezed it again, "You want me to stay for a bit?"

"I'm an adult, Gibbs."

"Yeah." He replied softly, "But that doesn't mean you can't ask for help when you need it."

She glanced at him wearily but finally nodded and laid back down. He ran his hand up and down her back and waited for her to relax, he continued until her breathing evened out almost fifteen minutes later. He carefully stood up and made sure Ellie was covered before quietly slipping out of the room.

"She okay?"

Jack's soft voice greeted him as he entered their room, the lights were off but he could see her laying in bed, her head propped up on her arm.

"No." Gibbs replied with a sigh, "but she's back asleep."

"You should try to sleep too." She replied gently, "there's nothing you can do for her tonight."

He slid back under the covers and sighed when her arm wrapped around his waist.

"There's nothing you can do right now." She repeated softly, "So just try and relax."

He gave a mirthless chuckle at the idea but sighed when she started running her hand back and forth over his chest. It took a few minutes but he could feel the tension slowly leaving his body as she continued her ministrations. He allowed his eyes to shut and focused on her movements and her quiet breathing beside him.

N*C*I*S

When he woke the next morning it was to the sound of their bedroom door opening and closing quietly. He rolled over and found the bed empty and Jack's pyjama's folded neatly on her pillow. He wasn't sure how he'd managed to sleep through her getting up and getting dressed. He rolled out of bed and quickly changed into jeans and an old USMC t-shirt before making his way downstairs.

Barb looked up from the newspaper she was reading at the kitchen table and offered him a welcoming smile, "Good morning, you're just in time I was just about to start on breakfast."

"Mornin'." He replied, making a beeline to the coffee maker, "Where's everyone?"

"John just left to do his morning chores and I think the girls went out for a run." Barb replied folding the newspaper as she spoke.

Gibbs glanced at the clock and saw that although it was a bit past his normal wake up time it was still fairly early for everyone to be up and out already.

"I don't think anyone slept great last night." Barb said when she saw him staring at the clock, "John and I were up an hour before our alarm, I thought I heard Ellie up last night."

John and Barbs' bedroom was at the opposite end of the house from the other bedrooms so he wasn't shocked that they hadn't heard everything.

"I heard her get up once." He replied vaguely.

He knew Barb had waiting for an answer but he wasn't about to worry her or throw Ellie under the bus by telling Barb exactly what had happened the night before.

N*C*I*S

Jack followed Ellie back into the house with a grin on her face, the grin spread into a wide smile when she saw Gibbs standing at the island chatting with Barb and buttering a stack of toast, his coffee cup close at hand and a relaxed look on his face.

"I'm going to go change." Ellie informed her quietly.

Jack nodded, "Be up in a minute."

She wandered over to the counter and stole a slice of toast from Gibbs.

"Could've asked." He grumbled.

"Not as fun." She countered with a wink.

She peeked over Gibbs's shoulder to make sure Barb was focusing on the stove and leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek. She turned around to walk away and laughed when wrapped his hand around her upper arm to pull her back.

"I'm all gross from my run." She argued when he leaned down to press his lips against hers, she slapped her hands against his chest halfheartedly and stepped back as soon as he released her,

"I'm going to change, make sure Ellie has some orange juice when she comes down, her blood sugar is low."

"Moody?" Gibbs asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Getting there." Jack replied, "Nothing a bit of juice and some breakfast won't fix, I'll be right back."

He watched her take a bite of her toast before turning on her heel and disappearing from the kitchen.

"Ellie still gets hangry?" Barb asked with an amused smirk.

"Yeah." Gibbs replied with a small chuckle, "The boys fill her one of her desk drawers with snacks so she can eat while she works."

Barb smiled but it quickly disappeared as Ellie came bounding down the stairs.

"Good morning, sweetie."

"Hi, Mom."

Gibbs poured a glass of juice and passed it to Ellie wordlessly, she rolled her eyes but took it and downed half of it before accepting the plate of toast he handed to her.

"You can set the table, Eleanor." Barb called over her shoulder, "the eggs are just about done."

Gibbs finished buttering the last two pieces of toast and handed them to Ellie who added them to the plate waiting on the table. He unplugged the toaster and grabbed a handful of cutlery and proceeded to help Ellie set the table.

N*C*I*S

Jack sat on the top rail of the fence and watched Ellie hit ball after ball far into the field, Gibbs had a wide grin on his face and he looked truly relaxed for the first time since they had arrived in Oklahoma.

Jack glanced over her shoulder at the sound of crunching gravel, neither Ellie or Gibbs seemed to notice the car and Jack turned back to their little game, only turning around again when she heard footsteps approaching. A man she would guess to be around McGee's age held a finger up to his lips and pointed to Ellie. Jack recognized him from one of the many family photos in the farm house and nodded with a grin.

He climbed up onto the fence beside her and waited until Gibbs, who had also noticed his presence, tossed the ball to Ellie.

"Swing, Bishop!"

Jack watched as Ellie startled badly and dropped the bat as she swung around to face the voice.

"George Russel Bishop, you ass!" Ellie cried.

"Now is that anyway to greet your big brother?"

Ellie rolled her eyes and walked forward as George jumped down from the top of the fence to embrace his little sister.

"Hey, Gibbs!" George called, offering the older man a wave.

Gibbs nodded and made his way over to Jack who was still sitting on the top of the fence.

"What's up, Cowboy?"

He nodded to the empty pail in his hands, "Wanna go for a walk?"

"Are you trying to trick me into doing your clean up?"

"Maybe." He replied with a shrug, "Is it working?"

"Maybe." She replied in a singsong voice, she glanced over to Ellie and George who were walking towards them chatting animatedly, "Give them some family time."

"Decided to take a team vacation, Gibbs?" George asked as they approached.

"Needed to get out of the city for a bit." Gibbs replied, "How ya been?" He added offering the younger man his hand.

"Good," George shook his hand with a grin, "JB and the kids are great too, how've you been?"

"We're doin' alright." He saw George's gaze shift to Jack who had just hopped off the fence, "George this is Jack Sloane, Jack this is George, Ellie's oldest brother."

Jack held out her hand, "Pleasure to meet you, George."

She saw the way he gave her a quick once over before raising an eyebrow at Gibbs.

"I work with Ellie and Gibbs." She added when she saw the unasked question written all over his face.

"Gibbs' girlfriend." Ellie muttered with an small grin.

Jack peeked over at Gibbs and saw him roll his eyes but he didn't argue Ellie's comment and following his lead she didn't either. George raised an eyebrow and Ellie elbowed him lightly in the ribs.

"We can go around and pick up all the baseballs." Ellie offered.

"Nah." Gibbs replied waving her off, "Jack and I got it, go in and see your mom."

They exchanged a few more words before Ellie and George wandered off towards the house and Jack and Gibbs started a slow walk in the other direction.

"She seems happier today." Jack commented as they walked.

"Having George around'll perk her up a bit too."

"Did you tell Barb to call him?"

"Nah." Gibbs replied, tossing a baseball into the bin in his other hand, "He and his family were coming down for the Fourth, Barb said he wanted to come a few days earlier to spend some time with Ellie."

"She seemed happy to see him."

"They're pretty close." Gibbs said, eyeing her ass as she bent over to pick up the baseball at her feet.

"Eyes off my six, Cowboy."

She turned around to face him and rolled her eyes at the impish grin on his face. They hadn't come close to doing anything other than the odd kiss here or there, being surrounded by people and leaving their bedroom door open for Ellie stopped anything else from happening but it was nice to know that Gibbs was interested.

She nodded towards the other baseballs littered throughout the field, "Keep moving, still got half a bucket to go."

He grinned and fell into step beside her, he waited until she was distracted scanning the field for the last few balls and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her against his side. She laughed as she was jerked against him and automatically turned to wrap her arms around his waist.

"What's gotten into you?" She asked, her eyes sparkling up at him.

"Look around." He replied conspiratorially, "We're alone for the first time in two days."

She glanced around and saw that they were in fact alone, the farm house small in the distance and the field around them empty.

"So we are." She agreed, she bit her bottom lip and grinned as he leaned down to kiss her.

She reached down and grabbed the bucket from his hand and placed it on the ground before straightening back up to wrap her arms around her neck. She smiled again as he pulled her closer against him and nudged his nose against hers before claiming her lips in another kiss. They kept it light until Gibbs nipped at her lower lip, she moaned quietly and deepened the kiss. She felt his hands slip a bit lower and she couldn't stop the smirk when she felt his thumbs slide into her belt loops to pull her closer.

Gibbs pulled back to catch his breath after a few minutes and rested his forehead against hers, "Not that I'm not enjoyin' this little vacation but I can't wait until we get home."

She scrapped her nails over the short hair on the back of his neck and nodded. "It'll be nice to have some alone time." She agreed quietly, "But this is where we need to be right now."

"I know." He leaned down and pecked her lightly, "Thanks for bein' here."

"Where else would I be?" She nudged his chin with her nose and stepped away from him, "Let's head back before they start thinking we're doing something we shouldn't be."

"Or we could do something we shouldn't be doing." He replied suggestively.

She turned and grabbed the last two baseballs before starting back to towards the house, "Nice try, Cowboy but judging by those clouds we've got about ten minutes to get back to the house before we get soaked."

She had seen the clouds approaching a few minutes before and judging by Gibbs' resigned sigh he had just noticed them. She heard his footsteps behind her and within a minute he had caught up and grabbed her hand in his. She laced their fingers together and gave his hand a squeeze as they walked.

The downpour started when they were fifty feet from the house and Jack broke into a sprint with a loud laugh. She was drenched by the time they reached the covered porch and she pushed her wait hair back with another laugh.

She grinned at Gibbs as thunder clapped overhead, "I'm having flashbacks."

His smile was soft as he nodded, "Yeah me too."

She tilted her head at the nostalgic look on his face and stepped closer to him. She hooked a finger into his belt loop, bit her bottom lip and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What're you thinking about, Cowboy?"

He leaned down and dropped a chaste kiss on her lips, "Wanted to do that first time I saw you."

"You're surprisingly sweet today." She commented softly.

He shrugged, "Every once in awhile."

She chuckled and grabbed his hand, "As much as I'd love to stand out here with you I need to change into something warm."

Hope you guys enjoyed! I love to hear from you guys, your reviews make my day! Unfortunatly I own nothing.

~Katie