*Disclaimer, I do not own any of the characters of NCIS, if I did Jenny Shepard, Paula Cassidy, and Mike Franks would be alive and well on the series. As of my writings, I am not a writer, just a disgruntled JIBBS fan who felt that they got the shaft by TPTB on this series, what appears before you is from my imagination only.*

August 20th 2011

A month after Mike's passing Gibbs is in his backyard putting in the posts for the foundation to Amira's swing set. Leyla walks out of the kitchen door with a cup of coffee and walks over to him. "You shouldn't go through the trouble." She smiles at him.

"It's no trouble at all; I'm doing this for my goddaughter." Gibbs smiles and gets up from the ground and takes the cup from Leyla.

"To build Amira a swing set for a few months." Leyla frowns.

"You and Amira are welcome to stay here." "I promised Mike I would look after the two of you, if something should happen to him." Gibbs nods over at her.

"Just until we get settled." "Amira will be starting her first day at school next week." "While she's at school, I'll begin my search for a job."

"If you need any help, let me know." Gibbs asks.

"I will!" Leyla smiles and looks down at the posts that are sticking out of the ground in wet cement.

"While the cement hardens overnight, I'll start the framing down in the basement."

"You ever build a swing set for your daughter." Leyla curiously asks.

"No!" Gibbs frowns with regret. "Didn't have the time."

"Mike told me that you had remarried several times after your wife had died." "You never had children with any of them." Leyla sadly asks.

"It didn't feel right with them." Gibbs shrugs.

"So sad, your greatest gift Jethro is your ability with children." Leyla smiles and walks off for the house.

"It only felt right with Jenny." Gibbs frowns and flashes back to a time that he had asked Jenny in Paris about the possibility of her having a child.

Paris, France

April 10th 1999

Gibbs and Jenny are sitting in a bench near the carousel near the Eiffel Tower. Jenny smiles up at the kids as they sit on top of their horses. Gibbs taking in his lover's facial expression. "Ever think of having children?" Gibbs curiously asks.

"Maybe five years ago." Jenny shrugs.

"What changed your mind?" Gibbs smoothly asks.

"My career plans."

"Federal Agent is more important than having a family of your own." Gibbs says with surprise.

"Being a Federal Agent is my top priority at this time." "If I have to sacrifice having children of my own, so be it." Jenny answers and gets up from the bench. "I'm in desperate need of caffeine." Jenny grumbles and walks away.

"Maybe the right guy might change your mind Jen." Gibbs smirks with determination and gets up from the bench and chases after her.

Present Time

"You and your damn five point plan." Gibbs angrily growls.

NCIS Headquarters

Ziva steps out of the elevator and raises a curious eyebrow as she finds Tony busy working at his desk. She walks over to his desk. "Tony it's a Saturday, what are you doing here?"

"I can ask you the same question." Tony curiously asks and quickly minimizing his computer screen so that Ziva can't see what he's working on.

"I left something in my desk." Ziva lies and walks over to her desk.

"That could have waited until Monday morning." Tony quickly answers.

"I could say the same thing to you." Ziva sharply says to him.

"Just killing time before I head on over to the ballpark." "Phillies are in town for the weekend." "Our boys need some morale support with all of the Philly fans that invade our ballpark." Tony grins.

"Aren't you originally from New York?" Ziva asks.

"Yankees first, Mets, second, and Nationals third." Tony smirks.

"So you would root against the Nationals if they were to play the Yankees in the World Series." Ziva asks.

"Damn straight!"

Ziva unlocks her desk drawer and pretends to take something out and puts it inside of her pocket. "I'll see you at 0700 hours on Monday morning." Ziva nods over at him and walks off for the elevator.

Tony making sure that Ziva is at the elevator when he puts his screen back up. A bank account in EJ Barrett's name from the Cayman Island's is shown. "Seems that you received a large amount of money the week you resigned from a bank in Nice, France." Tony notes.

Tel Aviv, Israel

2200 IDT

Trent Kort angrily glares out his apartment bedroom window and looks down at the busy street below. An arms shipment from Riohacha, Colombia is a week overdue. "I would have put a bullet in the bitches head three years ago." He groans in frustration. Flipping open his cell phone. Kort dials his boss' cell phone.

Greek Island of Kalymnos

In a villa overlooking the Aegean Sea the back of a white haired man is shown sitting at the table smoking a Cuban cigar. His personal assistant Iris Stathos approaches him with a satellite phone. "Trent Kort!"

"I told you I didn't want to be disturbed." He angrily growls at her.

"He said it was important." Iris sighs.

"It's always important." The man angrily snarls and takes the phone from her.

Iris picks up his empty glass. "I gather you want a refill on your glass of scotch." Iris purrs at him.

"Take it up to the bedroom; I'll meet you up there soon as I'm done my phone call."

Iris sashay's out of the room. "Don't keep me waiting or I'll punish you for it." She seductively calls out to him.

"You and Iris done with your vocal foreplay." Kort impatiently asks.

"You're just jealous that a man of my age can keep a woman like Iris satisfied in bed." The mysterious voice snorts.

Kort quickly gets on to the subject at hand. "The shipment from Riohacha is a week overdue." Kort informs him.

"I thought that it was being handled." The voice snaps.

"So did I." "I sent Ray Cruz out to check up on the situation." Kort informs him.

"And?"

"She's not there." "Her hotel room is empty." "According to the manager, she checked out on August 10th." Kort smoothly says.

"I hope her cover wasn't jeopardized, the CIA was counting on those weapons for the Libyan rebels."

"How hard is it to give her another burn alias?" Kort grumbles.

"And waste another three years."

"Ray is looking into her last known where a bouts and I'm checking into both her cell and satellite records." "Maybe that should shed some light into Code Name Phoenix's where a bouts." Kort suggests.

"Keep me in the loop."

"I will!" Kort answers and hangs up. "I'll keep you in loop on a need to know basis, soon as Phoenix turns up, I'm going to set up a little accident." Kort smirks.

Washington, DC

NCIS Headquarters

Ziva is waiting out in the parking lot near the guard gate with her car out of view. She is talking away on her prepaid cell phone. "Tony was at the office." "I have to wait for him to leave, then I'll have my contact from Interpol look into EJ Barrett's off shore accounts and also check out Julien Benoit's known associates." Ziva informs her mystery caller. As Ziva waits for a response, Tony's car pulls up to the front gate. "Tony is at the front gate now." "I'll meet you on the first level in the parking garage at the Ritz Carlton in Georgetown at midnight."

Gibbs' House

Later that evening Gibbs is down in his basement building the framing for Amira's swing set. Amira curiously sits in a chair next to the worktable watching over her Uncle Jethro. "So when can I play on my swing?" Amira asks.

"Tomorrow afternoon." Gibbs smiles down at her.

"Can I help?" Amira asks with a smile on her face.

"Sure!" Gibbs smiles at her. "Under the workbench there's a box with some old t-shirts in it." "I don't want you ruining your new clothes that your mother got you the other day."

"Ok!" Amira cheerfully answers and gets off the chair and runs over to the workbench. Leyla walks down the stairs and approaches Gibbs. Near the box of t-shirts, Amira finds an open shoe box with photos of Jenny from the farm house in Serbia. She picks up one of the photos and walks back over to the table. Speaking in Iraqi. "Momma, look!"

Leyla takes the photo from Amira and her face goes ashen. Gibbs taking in Leyla's facial expression glances over at the photo. "You look like you've seen a ghost." Gibbs asks with concern.

"No, just taking in her beauty." Leyla softly answers.

Gibbs takes the photo from Leyla. "That's my old partner Jenny Shepard." Gibbs sadly answers.

"Why are you sad?" Amira frowns.

"I lost her three years ago." Gibbs answers with his voice choking up with emotion.

"Lost?" Amira asks with confusion.

"She died!" Gibbs frowns and gets up from the table and walks over to the work bench to retrieve a screw driver.

"Dinner should be ready in ten minutes." Leyla informs him.

"I'll be up in a few minutes." Gibbs shrugs.

Leyla takes Amira by the hand and they walk up the steps. A few minutes later inside the upstairs bathroom, Leyla is speaking to Amira in Iraqi. "Remember what Grandpa had told us."

Amira answers her mother back in Iraqi. "I don't like keeping secrets from Uncle Jethro." Amira frowns.

Ritz Carlton Hotel Georgetown

Midnight

Inside the parking garage, Ziva is talking to a person dressed in black cargo pants, wearing a black hooded sweat shirt pulled over their head to conceal their face. A black GMC Yukon speeds up to them with the front passenger side window open. A gunman open fires at Ziva and her mystery contact. Ziva severely wounded goes down. As the Yukon pulls away, Ziva's mystery contact returns fire. Hearing the voices of the hotel security guards as they rush inside the parking garage the hooded figure runs off for the emergency exit, leaving a trail of blood drops behind on the asphalt.