Sunday

Chapter 10

Sometime around late Sunday afternoon, Gibbs drove to the cemetery in order to visit the grave of his wife Shannon. As he walks in the direction of the grave, he hears the sounds of a violin. The grave is just beyond a tree, so he can't actually see, but he knows who it is. Gibbs quietly walks up and stands behind the tree so Jamie can't see he's there. He leans up against the tree, closes his eyes, and just listens to the sweet sound of Jamie's violin playing. Jamie is beside the grave, knelt down sitting on her feet, and playing her antique violin.

After a couple more minutes, Jamie stops her violin playing. She then wipes a tear from her eye. She begins to put the violin back inside its carrying case.

"I hope you liked that song Mom. I picked it out especially for you. It's a beautiful sounding violin, don't you think? It's an antique that Tony bought for me."

Jamie looks at the grave.

"I'm sorry I haven't come to visit you. I've been so afraid of how I'd feel by coming here. I'm not really a cemetery type of person. The day of the accident is such a blur. And I miss you so much Mom. I wish you were here."

Jamie begins getting teary-eyed. Gibbs is still standing behind the tree, listening to every word.

"Dad is being a bastard as usual. The guy I mentioned, the one who bought me the antique violin, he works with Dad. And I'm dating him. I know you're probably thinking it's a bad idea to be going out with one of Dad's coworkers, but… It wasn't planned. It just… Happened. He's a really great guy. We click so well with each other. He makes me feel so special, like I'm the only girl in the entire world. When I lay in his arms, I feel so safe. He makes me happy. And I'm so lucky to have him, even though Dad may not think he's not so great…"

Jamie sighs as she wipes a couple leaves away from the grave.

"Dad has a problem with Tony cuz, one, he works with him. But the main reason is cuz Tony has always been a womanizer. So Dad is just trying to protect me from getting hurt. It's nice that he loves me and wants to not see me get hurt. But with my relationship with Tony, I know I'm not. Cuz I know Tony truly loves me. For one thing, he bought me this antique violin, and believe me it wasn't cheap. Another thing is the fact that we've never had sex. Tony completely respects the fact that I just don't want to. It's not that I believe in that Catholic rule, no sex before marriage. It's just… I don't know exactly. I guess I'm just not ready for it. And it's not like I'm incredibly eager to lose my virginity either. And Tony respects that. He never tries to seduce me or pressure me into having sex with him. Last Sunday night was the first time we slept in the same bed. We slept naked too. But nothing happened. We just cuddled all night. It was nice. I kinda lied to Dad about it. Don't tell Dad though. I told him I was gonna go sleep over at Abby's place. Abby covered for us. She's a really good friend…"

Jamie sighs again after taking a moment of silence. Gibbs is still standing behind the tree.

"I wish you were here Mom. I could really use your help. Me and Dad got into a fight five days ago. The fight was over Tony, but you probably already guessed that…." Jamie begins getting emotional and starts crying. "Me and Dad lost 15 years as it is. For a long time I always thought he abandoned me. But it was all a misunderstanding. We still have so much to catch up on. It's been so great to have my father back. But right now… I feel like I've lost him. I said some harsh things when we argued. But it doesn't quite compare to how he's making me feel the passed couple of days…" Jamie wipes her tears away. "Dad hasn't spoken to me in five days. He won't look at me. He won't eat the food I make. He won't say good night to me. He doesn't give me a kiss on the forehead or on the cheek. If I go to visit him in the office, he'll just leave or come up with some lame excuse of why he has to leave. When I go into the basement to work on the boat with him, he stops and goes upstairs. I try to talk to him and he just ignores me…" She wipes a couple more tears away. "Even though he's not out of sight, it's like I'm living with an empty shell. He's become emotionally unresponsive. I feel so unloved and abandoned. It's like everything he felt for me has just shut down. I've never felt so worthless in my life…" Jamie puts her face into her hands and begins crying even more.

Gibbs is still behind the tree wiping his own tears away as he's never felt so bad that he hurt his own daughter like he has.

Gibbs finally comes out from behind the tree. He walks over to Jamie. He places his hand on Jamie's shoulder. She looks up at him with her teary eyes. Gibbs knelt down sitting on his feet and Jamie wraps her arms him. She places her head on his shoulder and keeps crying. She's never held onto him so tightly before.

"I'm sorry Daddy… I want us to be the way we were. I need it. I need you to love me. Please don't abandon me like this. I'll break up with Tony if you want me to. I'll be unhappy. I'll do anything…" Jamie continues crying. "I need your love more then anything in the world… Just please don't stop loving me."

Gibbs holds Jamie in his arms as she keeps crying. He kisses her on the head.

"I'm so sorry sweetie… I know I overreacted and I apologize. I didn't mean to hurt you…" Gibbs holds her tighter. "I don't want you to be unhappy…" Jamie lifts her head and Gibbs gently places his hands on Jamie's cheeks. He wipes away her tears with his thumbs. "I want you to be happy. And if being with Tony makes you happy… Then stay with him."

Jamie looks into her father's eyes with her teary eyes.

"But you don't approve…"

"Don't care what I think…"

"How can I not? I love you Dad."

Gibbs brings Jamie's head back to his shoulder and they wrap their arms around each other again.

"I love you too sweetie." Gibbs kisses her on the head again. "Just give me some time to get used to the fact of you and Tony being together."

"Ok."

"I'll even give him his job back."

A minutes passes as Gibbs continues to hold Jamie in his arms.

"Can we work on our boat?" Jamie asked.

"I'd love to on our boat with you." Gibbs answered.

Jamie finally smiles while in the comfort of her father's arms. Gibbs held Jamie in his arms until she was calm. After a couple minutes, they left the cemetery, went back home and started working on their boat.

THE END

This concludes the story "Daughters". Coming soon will be the next story in this series. But until then, I hope you enjoyed this story.