A/N: Here you go:) Another chapter. I hope you like it:) R&R please.

There are some non-English phrases in this chapter; I put in translations in square brackets after that. Forgive me if my grammar/word form/tenses are shite, I haven't used this language in a while.

Thanks for reading.

x

Scar

Chapter 2

"Mrs Gibbs-" The older, lankier man cleared his throat and corrected himself, "I'm sorry, Director Shepard. We have some... news about your husband."

He ran a weathered hand through his gray hair, toying with the brimmed cap on the table in front of him.

His blonde haired companion pulled uncomfortably at his dress jacket, obviously new to the job.

"Well-" He attempted to begin.

"Sirs, please, just tell me what is going on?"

Her voice was steely, sharp and acrid in the tense silence that sat between them.

The blonde haired chap nervously shook the hair out of his eyes, placing his cap down decisively and began to speak.

"Gunnery Sergeant Gibbs was on base two days ago in Kuwait. There were insurgents that flooded the base in an ambush and they opened fire."

Jenny gripped the edge of the table tight, willing her mind to return to her from the horrible situations and possibilities this could be leading up to.

"Wh- what happened to him?" She refused to sound broken, trying to hold the panic she felt overwhelm her in.

Her voice still broke at she stuttered, though.

"There was open fire and he tried to defend his platoon." The older man began, setting his hands diplomatically on the table, "He tried to be a hero and he saved half his men."

"With all due respect, sirs, you still aren't telling me anything about his condition."

The men looked at each other, trying to gauge the best way to break the news to this woman.

She was unlike any of the military wives they had had to deliver such news to before.

Jenny sighed in exasperation, motioning to the door frantically.

"Gentlemen, there is a four year old girl outside who has seen less of her dad in the past four years than you have each seen the active battlefield."

Rasping in a breath, she continued on her subtle tirade.

"He has seen her for about two months in the entire time combined, yet she loves him with all her heart. When she asks me if her Papa is dead or injured, I would like to be able to tell her the truth."

The younger of the two men had eyes of cornflower blue that misted over slightly.

He remembered his own young child with her chestnut brown hair that refused to stay tidy and her cherry blossom lips that stretched into the most beautiful smile.

The redhead outside had seen only four summers. She had seen her daddy not even four months in that time.

He needed to be able to answer to her.

The child was an innocent in all of this; she had never chosen to have her daddy in the Marine Corps.

After all, if someone ever had to give his wife and daughter such news, he would like them to be straightforward about it.

There was no need to drag out the process of adding to someone else's pain.

So he bit the bullet and gave the news.

"Gunnery Sergeant Gibbs was shot five times trying to protect his men. He killed half the group of sixteen insurgents before he fell."

His companion, thankfully, gave the young fresh-faced official some reprieve and took over from there.

"He is at Bethesda now. The doctors say he might not make it through the night."

The men paled as they witnessed one of the hardiest women, heck, people, in America turn as white as a sheet.

A whimper of sorts escaped the confines of her self control before she reverted to her mask of 'Director'.

For a moment there, all she was was a Marine's wife.

They watched as she rose languidly from her seat, her shoulders overly tense and still as she tried not to slump.

She took tentative steps towards her desk and picked up her phone.

Pressing two keys in a trance, she muttered into the receiver.

"Cynthia, send Lauren in here and get the Major Crimes Response Team up here right now, thank you."

The towering door opened slightly and a pair of moist, questioning cerulean eyes peeked in at a slightly comical height.

Director Jennifer Shepard, NCIS suddenly morphed into Mrs. Jenny Gibbs, Marine wife and mother.

She bent down to her daughter's eye level and opened her arms, picking up the weeping redhead that crashed into her mother's arms and crumpled into a heap of tearful four year old.

"Maman, est Papa OK ? Il est mort ? Dites-moi, Maman ! Ce qui lui est arrivé ? Il a promis qu'il viendrait à la maison."

[Mama, is Papa okay? Is he dead? Tell me, Mama! What happened to him? He promised to come home.]

Lauren shied away from the men in uniform that sat across the room from where she sat, hysterical, in her mother's arms.

When she got frightened, she reverted back to the language that her parents always used so lovingly - French.

The little girl was spouting off flustered questions at a mile a minute, gasping in breaths and hyperventilating as she went along.

As word after word of perfectly pronounced French slipped past her lips in a frenzy, the men sitting at the table nearby simply stared, mouths gaping at the young girl's linguistic skills.

Jenny rubbed her daughter's back, carrying her over to the high backed director's chair at her desk.

"Hush, ma chérie. Ton Papa est blessé et est à l'hôpital. Il n'est pas morte, ma chérie. Il viendra bientôt la maison."

[Hush, sweetheart. Your Papa is injured and is in the hospital. He is not dead, darling. He will come home soon.]

The child's head snapped up at the prospect of her father coming home immediately. Her face brightened and a smile broke out on her face.

"Bon ! Sinon petit frère ne sauront jamais lui, et je veux que mon petit frère comment bon papa est."

[Good! Otherwise little brother would never get to meet him, and I want my little brother to know how great Papa is.]

Jenny cracked a sad smile at her daughter as the door to her office swung open and the MCRT as well as Ducky, Abby and Palmer ran into her office.

Jenny nodded to the two men as Cynthia showed them out.

She could not help but notice the small quirk of a half smile that Ziva gave her.

"Ainsi, Jen. Vous et Gibbs vont avoir un autre bébé ?"

[So, Jen. You and Gibbs are going to have another baby?]

Of course Ziva would pick up on that.

Thankfully, she was the only one other than Lauren and herself in the room that understood French with the fluency required to understand their rapid fire conversation.

Jenny leveled Ziva with a glare she had perfected during her days running ops with her.

Raising two hands in surrender, Ziva motioned that she would not spill her secret.

"Merci, Ziva. Merci beaucoup."

Almost immediately after their exchange ended, the other members of the MCRT as well as Ducky, Abby and Palmer began to shoot questions off like wayward cannons.

They might not have ever worked with Jethro, but they had all formed a sort of dysfunctional family since Jenny had been their leader.

In the team's words, Jethro was the father. Strict and no-nonsense, but he loved you all the same.

Jenny was the mother. Kind, unwavering but always would push you that little bit more because she knew you could do it if you would just try.

Ducky, the unassuming grandfather. Rickety and kindly, he could entrance everyone with riveting tales of a time before theirs.

Palmer, the strange cousin. He was not all that right in the head and seemed weird at times, but he was lovable in his own quirky way.

Tony was the oldest son, the most immature one. He was cocky and overly eager to prove that he was grown.

Ziva was the most levelheaded, the eldest daughter. To make up for her older brother's shortcomings, she had to keep it all together so Jenny could run NCIS properly.

McGee and Abby were the next to youngest children, unique and docile but explosive when they had to be.

Lauren, the baby of the family. The pleasant surprise.

Everyone babied her. Coddled her, pampered her.

How was she going to tell this family that their father figure might not make it through the night?

It was at times like this one that she realized: She did not just have one daughter; all these people were her family.

How was she going to keep this family together when she could barely string a sentence together?

She worried her lip with her teeth before mentally berating herself for resorting to such a childish coping mechanism.

Her hands itched for the cool glass and pristine, precise sculpting of the bourbon bottle and crystal tumbler.

She would never drink in front of her daughter, though.

Besides, she could not drink anyway.

"Jethro was injured in an insurgent ambush two days ago in Kuwait. They flew him in to Bethesda but the doctors aren't sure if he is going to make it through the night."

The entire team was stunned to silence, even Abby..

"How bad is it, Jennifer?" Ducky softly asked.

He knew she had to get it out somehow.

"Shot five times, three in the chest, one in the right thigh and another in the left shoulder."

Her face clouded over with anger momentarily.

"Before he left, I told him to try not to be too much of a hero. He was heroic enough for fighting for his country. And yet, he still went ahead and was a hero. Was it worth it, Jethro? Was it worth almost losing your life?"

She leaned her forehead on the cool surface of her table as she weakly muttered the last part, "Was it worth potentially leaving your wife behind with two children?"

The entire team looked at her stunned once again, with the exception of Ziva.

The palpable silence was hacked through by the machete that was the phone on her desk.

She picked it up and answered stonily.

"Shepard."

"Mrs. Jennifer Gibbs? Sorry, Director Jennifer Shepard? This is Bethesda Hospital. We are calling you with regards to your husband. Can you come in as soon as possible please?"

"I will be there within the hour. Thank you for calling."

A/N: Uh oh. What's going on now? Hehe sorry it's so short. I love you all, but time is tight and I've got texts to read and a literature thesis to write and time is really tight. I hope you liked it.

R&R please? Concrit is always welcome:)

Thanks to all of those who followed, favorited, reviewed and read. I love you all.

x

Scar