Thanks to my beta Kristen! Sorry for the delay - Internet went down. This Is Not Happening should start to appear soon.

Chapter 12: Epilogue

Gibbs did not look up as his agents left the squad room. He was too engrossed with playing with his children. Camilla and Rose had decided they liked repeating "Dada" as much as possible, leaving him with a big grin on his face.

He didn't care what it made his team think of him. He was just so proud that they were speaking. He had already raced up the stairs and pulled Jenny out of a conference room she was using as her office so that she could hear them speak. The laughter of DiNozzo had rung in his ears the entire way. Fortunately, Lily had decided to be an angel for once and had delivered the requisite headslap.

He was so proud of them, to the extent that he had stopped working on his report and played with them for the last few hours. They were starting to fall asleep now and he would let them rest. In a few days, he was going to be desperate for them to start speaking other words.

Lily reappeared in the squad room, her son fast asleep in her arms. She appeared to be struggling slightly under the nine year old's weight, but she did not ask for help. He knew she would consider it as sign of weakness so he did not offer to assist her, knowing she would immediately refuse.

All in all, he felt it had been a good day. Although Lily had been a thorough nuisance, it had been rectified by the catching of a serial killer and his children speaking for the first time. He could put up with twenty Lily's for that.

Jenny stood in the elevator, holding Rose. Her little daughter had finally dropped off to sleep. The party with her was definitely something she had never thought she would see – Gibbs had Camilla curled up on his shoulder, and Lily was carrying her own son. It made her sad to think she was older than before, now responsible for her own children, but the love she felt for them eclipsed that. For all of them. Even Lily.

She shifted Rose slightly and placed a hand on Lily's free shoulder. It was too late and she was too tired to fight at the moment. Lily leant back ever so slightly, showing she was thankful for the comfort without having to say anything that might wake any of the children up. She also knew that they would all be crowding into Lily's small apartment tonight.

Jenny decided she really needed to go house-hunting. This was getting ridiculous. She might have been spending time at Gibbs' recently, but almost everything was set up at Lily's. And she was not ready to live with Gibbs full time. They both needed their own space to retreat to, even if they did spend most of their time outside the agency together.

"I swear I didn't have anything to do with the bomb in your office," Lily muttered, just loud enough for her to hear. "I swear on Jasper's life. And I promise that I'm going to hunt down whoever really did it and make them pay."

Jenny let her eyes close for a brief second as the elevator arrived at their destination and the doors opened. If Lily really hadn't been responsible for the explosion, then who was?

THE END…