One Gone But Never Forgotten

1:
“Shooter!” shouted Special Agent Caitlin Todd, jumping in front of her boss, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, to save him from a bullet. The bullet hit her in the side and she landed on the roof top with a thud. She closed her eyes as pain shot through her body. She heard someone shooting, not sure if it was Gibbs or Special Agent Tony DiNozzo. After the gun fire she heard both agents running towards her and Gibbs shouting her name. She felt them unzip her jacket and see the bullet she took safely stopped in the vest she had been wearing.

“You okay, Kate?” asked Tony, she opened her eyes to see him and Gibbs standing over her.

“Owwww!” she groaned, “I was just shot at piont blank range DiNozzo, what do you think.”

“That your not going to pilates class tomarrow?” he guessed helping Gibbs pull her off the ground.

“Protection detail’s over Kate.” Gibbs stated.

“You did good.” Tony praised her.

“For once, DiNozzo’s right.” Gibbs agreed.

“Wow, I thought... Gibbs, Tony Duck!” Kate’s statement had been cut short when she saw a red traget beam pointed in the middle of Gibbs’ forehead. They had all dropped just as the shot was fired, and it missed them, sailed right over their heads.

“Gee, I hope that’s the last time you are a victem of attempted murder today,

Boss.” Tony said, rolling over to sit up.

“Yeah I hope so...” Kate was cut short again.

“KA-BOOM!!!” a loud explosion filled the air, and that was the last thing any of the three agents heard.

2:
“Oh My God!!” Special Agent Timothy Mcgee exhaled once the dust had cleared. The building where he just saw his friends standing on the roof was reduced to a pile of rubble. “Tony! Kate! Gibbs! Hey guys!” he cried out, hoping, no praying that someone would answer him. But, he knew his efforts were worthless. He pulled out his cell.

“Timothy, thank goodness you called.” He heard Dr. Donald (Ducky) Mallord answer, “I need to speak to Jethro...” Mcgee cut him off before he could say anything else.

“Ducky, the building was blown up, Kate, Tony, and Gibbs were still in it when it did.” He told Ducky trying to keep his cool, but could feel tears swelling in his eyes as he reported to Ducky what happened.

“Oh no! I’ll be there momentarily, with help.” Ducky hung up and Mcgee did the only thing he could think of doing at the moment. He ran into the wreckage and started looking for his friends. “Tony! Kate! Gibbs!” he kept shouting with no answer. Finally he heard somthing and turned around, a hand was sticking up out of the rubble, the finger nails had purple nail polish on them. “Kate!” Mcgee shouted, running twards the hand. he pushed away rocks and other pecies of scrap until he was able to pull Kate out of the wreackage.

“Mcgee.” She said, sounding relieved to see him. “We have to pull out Tony and Gibbs.” She started to dig, and Mcgee did too, right beside her. They found Tony ten minutes later, unconcious, but alive. They continued to dig, until Kate touched something warm and wet, she looked down and saw the horror before her. Blood, and a limp hand.

“Mcgee!” she called to her friend, and they started to uncover the cold, lifless body of Leroy Jethro Gibbs. A slab of rock penatrating his chest, it wasn’t deep enough to kill him, and he was still breathing. Kate and Mcgee pulled Gibbs out of the wreakage and Kate pulled out the rock. She put her hand over the wound and applied pressure, trying to stop the bleeding.
“Come on Gibbs, don’t do this.” She said, tears streaming down her face. With his last ounce of strentgh, Gibbs reached up, and wiped the tears away from her face.
“It’s okay Kate.” He forced out, “I did this to save you, and your safe. Take care.” with that, his hand fell back onto the roof top and his breathing stopped.
Kate wouldn’t accpet he was dead, “Come on Gibbs, open your eyes! Gibbs!”

“Kate.” Mcgee said quitely trying to pull her away.

“No Mcgee, he’s not dead! He can’t be!” she shouted back.

“Kate.” Mcgee said again, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“Oh Mcgee.” she collapsed into his awaiting arms and cried into his shoulder. She explained waht happened.

“A bomber, one of the terrorists, walked out onto the roof. He was holding a bomb and suddenly, he let it drop. In the few seconds before it went off, Gibbs came over to shield me. But it should have been the other way, I should have been shielding him.” She couldn’t speak anymore, her tears had stopped her. Mcgee held her tightly, whispering to her.

“It’s okay Kate. Shh. Everything’s okay.” he took and deep breath and said solomenly. “time of death, 10:47a.m. May 17th 2006.”

3:
Thirty minutes after they had uncovered Gibbs, Ducky had arrived, with others, including an ambulance and a search party. Mcgee was still in the middle of the wreckage with Kate in his arms. Ducky walked out to them quickly, then, upon seeing Gibbs lifeless body, he understood why he saw Kate and Mcgee sitting in the middle of the wreckage when he arrived. He also saw Tony, unconcious, but alive. He radioed Jimmy Palmer, his assistant, telling him to bring two guerneys. Then he bent down to Mcgee and Kate.

“Caitlin, it’s okay.” He tried to sound reassuring.

“No it’s not Ducky. This is my fault.” Kate once again collapsed into a fit of hysterics.

“Timothy, once Palmer arrives with the guernies, load Anthony onto one of them. Then have Palmer take back him while you take Catlin to the ambulance and ride with them to the hospital.” Ducky ordered. “I’ll take care of Jethro.”

“Ducky.” Mcgee said quietly, “There’s another body.”

“That’s what the search team’s for, now go.” Ducky finished just as Palmer was arriving.

Together, Mcgee and Palmer loaded Tony onto a gurney.Palmer gave Mcgee a look that asked if Tony were dead. Mcgee shook his head, telling Palmer that Tony was alive. After that, Mcgee lifted Kate back into his arms and fulfilled the rest of Ducky’s orders. Mcgee made his way twards the ambulance, and loaded Tony and Kate into it. He sat down in it too, next to Kate, pulled out his cell phone, and called the only team member who didn’t know what happened yet.

“Mcgee!” Forensic scientist Abby Scutio squealed once she picked up the phone. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do I mean you call Ducky then...” Mcgee cut her off.

“Abby, go to Bethesda. Ask for Special Agents Anthony DiNozzo and Catlian Todd’s room. I’ll explain when you get there.” When he finished speaking, he hung up.

4:
Mcgee wouldn’t leave Kate’s side, he couldn’t. Kate was a wreck, she wouldn’t stop crying. She couldn’t get the oicture of Gibbs out of her head. She kept saying how Gibbs death was her fault, that she was supposed to protect him. Abby came to the hospital at around 1400, two hours after Mcgee brought Kate and Tony there. He explained to Abby what happened, the terrorist, the bomb, and about Gibbs. Abby was silent, which wasn’t like her.

“Abby, Abby say somthing.” Mcgee lightly shook her shoulder, trying to get her attention.

That’s when Abby lost it. She began to cry uncontrolably. “Oh. Mcgee.” she sobbed, leaning into to him for support. Mcgee knew why she was so upset, Gibbs was her father figure, losing him was like losing her father again. “Will Tony ever wake up?” Abby asked turning her head to look at the weakened figure of Tony.

Mcgee sighed, “Abby, I don’t know, I just don’t know.”

“And Kate?” She now turned to look at her best friend.

“Kate’s not in a unconcious, Honey. She’s been a wreck all day, ever since we found...” he trailed off. “She’s been crying, a lot, she finally stopped long enough to get some sleep.” But even while sleeping, Mcgee could hear her mumbling about this being her fault.

Palmer entered the room, and Abby ran up to him, giving her friend a giant hug. Palmer was surprised by this, and was too immobilized to hug her back. “Um... Dr. Mallord will be here as soon as he finishes...” He trailed off, but Mcgee and Abby both knew what he was going to say, Gibbs’ autopsy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ducky was back at the NCIS Headquaters in autopsy. He had seven bodies in front of him, six terrorist, one of his dearest friend, Leroy Jethro Gibbs. “Ah, Jethro, what has become of you. Kate having to take one bullet for you, then the dear girl saved you from a bullet penetrating your skull, only for you to be killed by protecting the girl from a bomb blast. Well, that was the sense of protection you had for your agents...” He trailed on throughout the whole autopsy.

5:
Ducky arrived at the hospital at 03:15 the next morning, the autopsies were all finished, and he had started to make arrangements for Gibbs’ funeral. The moment he got there, he talked to Tony’s doctor and received some good news, his first in the past 24 hours. “Anthony will wake up.” he reported to the others. Abby squealed with delight and hugged Mcgee, who hugged her back. THen, not knowing what she was doing, Abby kissed Mcgee, reciving some hinkey looks from the others. Palmer sighed with relief, but Kate said nothing.

“Caitlin, are you all right?” Ducky walked towards the bed she was in. She shook her head and tears silently fell down her face. Abby ran over to her friend, hugging her tightly.

“Kate, this isn’t your fault.” She said, trying to sound reassuring.

“Abby’s right Kate,” agreed Mcgee, “no one could have stopped this.”

“Jethro has a way about him. He felt the need to protect everyone around him, espicially us, which includes you Mr. Palmer. Gibbs, although he never showed it, loved us all dearly, and by shielding you from that blast, he preformed the greatest sacrifice of giving his own life to show just how much he loved you, Caitlin. He once told me, after Ari held us hostage, that he would give his own life before seeing any of us on the autopsy table, which is what he did.” Ducky finished his speech, and they all stared at Kate. She stood up, walked over to Ducky and hugged him, thanking him for what he siad, and now understanding what had happened. She felt a bit better, she was still uset, but she knew she would get over this. Everyone in the room heard a groan and turned around...

“Tony!” they all shouted, seeing the agent waking up. Tony was sore, and bruised, and it hurt even more when Abby wrapped him in a giant hug.

“Um... Abbs,” he groaned out, “can you please get off of me?”

“I’m not on you Tony.” Abby replied, it sounded like she was on the other side of the room.”

“I am, it’s so good to see you awake Tony.” he heard Kate say, now realizing that she was the one hugging him. “Oh, sorry.” she released him from her grip.

Tony pushed himself up so he was sitting, it was painful, but he did it. He looked around the room, seeing everyone, Ducky, Probie, Abbs, Kate, even Palmer, but where was... “Gibbs?” Tony asked, and recived a bunch of sad eyes. He knew that the worst had happened, Gibbs was killed in the blast, he would never see him again. He let one silent tear fall, and the he lost it. He fell into a fit of hystarics, leaning into Kate for support. She wrapped his arms around him and held him as he cried.
“Don’t leave me Kate.” he wispered to her.
“I won’t.” she replied, holding him tighter and resting her head on top of his.

6:
Three days after Tony woke up, he was released from the hospital. Kate wheeled him out, helped him to the car, and drove him home. “Kate, why have you been spending so much time around me?” he asked, which was a weird thing for Kate to do.

Kate sat in thought for a moment, and decided to tell Tony the truth. “I feel that your the only one I can talk to about... Gibbs’ death.”

“Why not Mcgee, or Abbs?”

“They weren’t there, I mean...” she trailed of trying to figure out how to explain, “you were on the rooftop, you saw everything that happened. You feel the same pain I do.”

Tony could see tears filling Kate’s eyes, he squezzed her hand. “And, your the one who didn’t want me to leave you alone after you woke up.” she said. Tony laughed a little, and asked her to make a stop before they reached his place.

They stopped at Gibbs’ home. The door was still unlocked, and they just walked in, the house still smelled like Gibbs, the special sent of black coffee and wood shavings. It felt like he was still in the house. They walked downstairs, into the basement where he kept his boat.

“Tony, what are we doing here?” Kate asked, not really wanting to be here, just wanting to make Tony happy by bringing him here. Tony was over by Gibbs’ tools. He empty two jars holding screws, wiped them put, and poured them some burbon from Gibbs’ bottle. Handing a glass to Kate, he sat down on the boat, and justured for Kate to sit next to him. Tony had been drinking his drink, but Kate just sat there, staring at it. A single tear began to run down her cheek, which Tony wiped away. She looked at him for a minute, then looked back at the drink. She raised her glass,
“Semper Fi!” she toasted Gibbs, Tony did the same, and they both drank the shot quickly. They stayed there the rest of the night, talking until finally Kate layed down, her partner next to her, and they both slept.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mcgee had driven Abby home. Abby was silent, not wanting to talk, just wanting to soak up the comfort of her friend next to her. They reached Abby’s place and Mcgee walked her to her apartment. When he was about to leave, abby gave him a hug that begged him to stay, and he did.

7:
It was the 28th of May. Tony, Kate, Abby, Mcgee, Ducky, and Palmer were all dressed in black, it was the day of Gibbs’ funeral. Kate had a speech in her hand, she was chosen by the others to speak on all of there behaf, and she aceppted the job. The funeral started, and all of them took there seats. When the preacher had finished his testimony, he juestured to Kate, who stood up and walked over to the podium.

“Leroy Jethro Gibbs,” she started, “was my boss, but was so much more than that to me and many others here. As one of his close friends told me, he had a protective nature about him. He felt a need to protect anyone he was close to. This friend also told me that, even though he didn’t show it, he was capable of love, which he showed me when he protected me from the bomb blast with his own body. To me he was a boss, a friend, and a role model. To another, he was a father figure. And to another, he was a rock, someone that person could always lean on when they needed to. Gibbs didn’t deserve to go like this. He should have lived a full and happy life being one of the best damn agents this agency has ever seen. Sadly that will never be. Goodbye Gibbs, we’ll all miss you.”

She finished her speech and walked back to her seat, it was then that she realized that she had recived a standing ovation from everyone in the crowd, and she also realized that she was crying. She looked at Tony, who was sitting next to her and she smiled. Tony wrapped her in a hug, his way of thanking her for her speech, and then she knew, as everyone else did, that Gibbs might be gone, but his memory would live on forever.

Epiloge:
A lot can change in fifteen years. In fifteen years, Kate and Tony had been married, so had Abby and Mcgee. After Gibbs’ death, they knew that life was short, and that they never wanted to lose each other. Two weeks after Gibbs’ funeral, Mcgee proposed to Abby, and they were married on the annyversery of Gibbs’ death. May 17th, 2007. Kate and Tony had just started going out the year that Mcgee and Abby were married, but on that Christmas, Tony proposed, and they were married on the anniversery the next year, May 17th 2008. Ducky had passed away of a heart attack on the day that Abby and Mcgee had her frist children, two twin boy who she named Leroy Jethro and Donald Michael Mcgee, the date was June 17th 2008, Gibbs birthday. Tony and Kate had their frist child on the day before the annaveseries, May 16th 2009. It was a girl who they named LeeElla Abigal DiNozzo. Then, the next year on Agust 22nd 2010, Ducky’s birthday, they had a set of twins, a boy and a girl, who they named Shannon Kelly and Timothy Nicholas DiNozzo.

The year was 2020. LeElla DiNozzo was 11, Shannon and Timmy DiNozzo were 10, and Jethro and Ducky Mcgee were 12. THey were with there parents at a grave yard, it was May 17th.
“Mommy,” sarted LeElla, “What are we doing here?”
“We’re here,” replied Caitlin DiNozzo, “To tell you a story, the story of Leroy Jethro Gibbs...”