---------------
When McGee got back to the office he headed down to see Abby. Her stereo was booming and she was swaying along to it as she worked at the bench. She didn't look up immediately and he took the opportunity to admire the view.
She finished what she was doing and looked up. Seeing McGee she smiled and walked over to turn the stereo down a notch so they could hear themselves talk.
"Abby, is Gibbs seeing anyone?" he asked.
She raised an eyebrow and teased, "I don't know McGee, are you sure he's your type?"
He gave her a flat stare, "Abby. That's not even funny."
"Oh, sure it is. But anyway, I don't think he's seeing anyone, why?"
He explained what he saw at lunch, and Abby promised to find out what she could.
---------------
Claudia and Joshua spent Saturday at the beach. She was watching him play with a couple of other children and was just enjoying the sun and sand. The late morning sun was turning into a gorgeous day. She fiddled with her cell phone, itching to call Jethro, his teasing from the day before ringing in her ears.
Joshua came running over and plunked down next to her.
"Did you make some new friends, munchkin?"
"Yeah, that's Becca and Evan."
"I'm glad you found somebody to play with."
"You need somebody to play with, Mummy." He said very seriously.
She laughed and gave him a squeeze, "Go play."
As he scurried off to find his new friends, Claudia picked her cell phone back up and hit a speed dial.
"So you didn't loose my number." He teased in greeting.
She laughed and teased back, "So my five year old just informed me that I need somebody to play with since he found some new little friends here at the beach."
"Got anyone in mind?"
"Depends."
"On?"
"Whether or not you want to come out and play."
A half an hour later she heard Joshua shout, "Jethro!" as he flew across the beach. He giggled as Jethro scooped him up and turned him upside down and tickled him. Claudia smiled as she watched Joshua drag him over to the elaborate series of canals and castles that he and his new friends had been working on building. Jethro was genuinely interested in what the kids had created as he listened to them explain their master plan, but it was the little smirk he shot over to Claudia that made her laugh.
He finally made his way over to sit down next to her on the blanket. He tucked a stray lock of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear, "You look very relaxed."
She laughed and the sound of it washed over him reminding him of Shannon. No. Not of Shannon, but rather of the warm and relaxed feeling he had with Shannon when they spent time together like this. It was comfortable and familiar and he felt oddly like he had found something that had been missing for a very long time.
"All that I'm missing is a fruity drink with an umbrella and I'd call this a vacation." She said as she stretched her legs and dug her toes into the warm sand.
They started talking, something Jethro wasn't good at normally. But they talked, and teased, and laughed. Joshua dragged them off into the water and they swam, and splashed and played. They built sandcastles and collected sea shells. They bought clam cakes from the take-out shack along the beach for lunch later in the afternoon. After they ate, Joshua went back to playing in the sand with his new friends and Jethro and Claudia stretched out on the blanket to enjoy the sun.
He spied something peeking out of Claudia's beach bag and laughed, "Oh, no. I thought you didn't read Cosmo?"
She rolled over on her side to face him and said, "You keep mentioning it so I decided to see what I was missing."
He read off some of the article titles from the front cover and had her in stitches, laughing. He read the last one and looked back and forth between her and the magazine and with a casual maneuver as he looked in her eyes, tossed the magazine down the beach.
She exclaimed, "Hey!" and tried to catch it with a laugh. He grabbed her hand instead and entwined his fingers with hers and brought it to his lips to kiss her fingers.
She leaned over on her free elbow and teased, "Okay, you're forgiven."
He was playing with her fingers and said quietly, "Don't say that too fast, Claud."
"Uh, oh. That sounds ominous."
"I pulled your service record. I was curious."
"Nosy you mean."
"That too. You were a Petty Officer First Class. That's something to be proud of."
"I am. I worked hard for that. Why would you need to be forgiven for looking it up? My service record should glow."
He didn't say anything for a moment and shook his head back and forth trying to figure out how to put the right words together, he finally just went with the truth, "It does. But Claud, my computer reports are very thorough. And attached to your service record was the information about your restraining order and the MP reports about your ex-husband."
"Oh." She said quietly, not knowing what else to say, "You read them?"
"Yeah."
She suddenly wanted to know how long he knew, and was all his time and attention to her and Joshua out of pity? She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. "When?"
"Tuesday."
"This past Tuesday?"
"Yeah."
She let out an audible sigh of relief, he hadn't known. "Okay, you're forgiven."
He looked up at her suddenly, his blue eyes meeting hers, "You're not mad?"
"No, Jethro. I can't change what happened, and I should have probably just told you but I…"
He cut her off by kissing her.
When he finally let her breathe she teased, "Definitely forgiven." And his deep chuckle warmed her more than the sun beating down on them.
They watched the children playing for a while in comfortable silence. But she knew he had questions. "Ask me, Jethro. Get the questions off your chest."
He asked and she answered. She told him about how domineering and emotionally abusive her ex Rick had gotten after she left the Navy and was pregnant with Joshua. She told him about his becoming physically abusive after Joshua was born, and how it kept escalating until he finally almost put her in the hospital.
"Is that when you left him?"
"Yeah. But not why."
"Why then?"
"Joshua was only two months old and Rick's yelling woke him up and he started crying. Rick kept screaming at Joshua to shut up, but it just made him cry harder. I thought he was going to hurt Joshua and I shoved him away from the crib. That's when Rick lost it and I don't remember much after that. He left me on the floor and stormed out of the house. I called the base police and filed a report and he was arrested. And I packed up and left with Joshua the next day. The rest is history."
"Do you ever see him?"
"No. He doesn't know where we live. He's made threats in the past but doesn't know where to find us. I was awarded sole custody of Joshua and Rick's never even asked to see his son. Joshua doesn't even know what he looks like."
He reached over and stroked her cheek, "It's his loss Claudia. All of it." She turned her face and kissed his hand.
With a little smile she asked him, "Wanna go drown the munchkin again?"
They played in the water and the beach was filled with the sounds of the three of them laughing. Joshua was thrilled that Jethro would take him out farther in the water than his mother would. As the afternoon wound down the three of them were walking along the beach. Joshua was enjoying holding both his mother's hand along with Jethro's.
He looked up at Jethro and asked, "Are you gonna eat supper with us too?"
Jethro looked down with a little smile, "I don't know. Your mom and I haven't talked about supper yet."
"I made it." He proclaimed proudly.
Jethro glanced at Claudia who answered, "Lasagna."
"I smushed together all the cheese. And I put the big noodles in the pan. And Mummy put the sauce on. She said we just have to heat it up."
"There's plenty, Jethro."
Joshua piped up, "Pleaaseee."
---------------
Jethro felt comfortable going to their apartment. He knew Tony was in Baltimore this weekend for a wedding and wouldn't be around. Parking his car he popped the trunk and grabbed his knapsack that held a spare set of clothes, getting out of his sandy, damp swimming trunks was a necessity.
Once they were in her apartment Claudia was chuckling to herself and announced to Jethro, "Okay, I'm on KP duty that leaves bath patrol for the munchkin for you."
She dug out towels and pajamas for Joshua and left a grinning Jethro alone in the bathroom with Joshua, deciding that the two of them could fend for themselves. She popped the lasagna in the oven and set the table and chuckled when she heard the sound of laughter coming from the bathroom.
A little while later a clean Joshua zipped down the hallway and headed for the living room to play with his toys. Claudia peeked around the corner in the bathroom to see Jethro mopping up water off the floor. He gave her a sheepish little grin and explained, "Sea battle."
She teased back, "You lost I take it?"
He laughed, "Ah, yeah."
She handed him a dry towel, "You've got time if you want a shower, I know the salt water and sand isn't comfortable."
He took the towel and teased suggestively, "Gonna scrub my back?"
"Only if you want to wait until Joshua goes to bed for that shower." She threw out at him as she left the bathroom.
He took a quick one and so did Claudia. When she made her way back to the kitchen she saw something that made her pause. Jethro was in the kitchen pouring them each a coffee. He was wearing a white t-shirt and soft faded jeans and was barefoot. Now, she had seen him barefoot all day, but there was just something so personal, so private about seeing him this way in her kitchen that it stopped her in her tracks.
They ate dinner and watched half of a cartoon dvd before Joshua crashed on the floor of the living room, the sun and fresh air catching up with him. Claudia was going to pick him up and put him to bed but Jethro beat her to it and scooped up the sleeping child. He followed Claudia to Joshua's bedroom and gently slid him under the covers.
Once Joshua was settled they left the room and closed his door most of the way behind them. He slipped his arm around her as they headed back to the kitchen. They put the leftovers away and scraped the plates. Shutting off the lights in the kitchen Claudia unconsciously started her normal evening routine of locking and dead bolting the door and shutting off lights and the television. Jethro was leaning up against the doorjamb in the living room with a bemused expression. "I think this is the first time I've ever been locked in a woman's apartment."
She teased back, "I'm sorry, did you want to leave?" as she gestured towards the door.
He pulled her into his arms and said softly as his lips brushed hers, "Not until tomorrow."
---------------
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.