Chapter 13
Gibbs was angry at his team as he left the pub and got in his car to leave, but shook it off quickly in favor of a sense of relief that he would soon be seeing Em and holding her in his arms once again after a very long week apart. He could save the fuming for Monday at the office when he saw the rest of them, but refused to waste a moment of his precious time with her.
Hitting very little in the way of traffic on his way home, he made great time getting there, and knew it would not be long before she would be arriving. A DOD car would have been waiting at the airport to pick up her and the guys and return them to the Pentagon where they could pick up their personal vehicles. It wasn’t that far of a drive to Gibbs’ house from there.
Quickly jogging across the yard from his car and hopping up the front steps, he entered the house, seeking out his dad, and finding him in the armchair watching television.
“Hey, Dad. Good news. Em’s on her way here tonight. She’s spending the weekend with us.” He was grinning with excitement and anticipation, his heart racing in his chest. Oh, God, she’s been gone too long, Jethro. How have you made it through this week? You’d better pull yourself together before you drag her upstairs and attack her on the bed the second she walks through the door. His eyes twinkled at the mischievous thought. “She called and said they’d just landed. Once she gets back to the Pentagon to get her car she’ll be heading right over here. I’m just gonna go up and change real quick.”
Jack was quite apparently happy with the news that Em would be around for the whole weekend, but was too busy watching the silent flood of emotions flashing across his son’s face to say anything before that.
“Glad to hear she’s coming home,” he hollered out as Gibbs energetically bound up the staircase taking the steps two at a time.
Once in his bedroom, Jethro stripped out of the clothes he had spent all day in and searched through his dresser for the right thing to wear to welcome Em back. Finally settling on a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a solid blue pocket tee, he redressed and headed into the small master bathroom to freshen up a bit. He ran a comb through his silver hair, brushed his teeth, gargled with some Listerine, and debated on throwing on some aftershave for good measure but managed to restrain himself.
Looking up at himself in the mirror, he realized that he had a dopey grin on his face and could feel his heart hammering in his chest with excitement. You’re acting like a kid at Christmas, Jethro. Pull yourself together. She’s only been gone a week. He pictured her face, her eyes, her lips, the curve of her cheek, the soft line of her jaw, her full warm lips he longed to feel against his again. A week is too long to be away from the woman you love. You should be excited. You’ve missed her, and now she’s coming home.
He left the bathroom, returning to his room to pick up the mess of clothes he had left everywhere before, and felt comfortable with the almost giddy sense of excitement taking over him. Now that his father knew how he really felt about Em, there was no need to hide it in the safety of his own home. So long as no one at work caught him acting like this, he was free to be as in love with Em as he wanted to be.
Soon, the dirty clothes had been dealt with, he had pulled on some socks and comfortable sneakers, and was down the stairs returning to the living room, his father still watching television.
“Did you lay out anything to defrost for dinner, Dad?” he asked.
Jack turned to look at his son as Gibbs came around into view. “Leroy, we haven’t been to the store for two weeks, you’ve been so busy at work. There’s nothing left in there. As much as I hate it, unless you run to the store, it’s take out again tonight.”
Gibbs definitely did not want to go to the store and possibly miss Em’s arrival, but he hated to order take out knowing she had likely lived on fast food and take out the entire past week while investigating the case.
“I doubt Em ate on the trip home, but I’ll see what she wants to do when she gets here. I should probably go make coffee.”
Knowing Em as he did, he was well aware of her predilection for late night coffee. Amazingly, the caffeine seemed to have no ill effects on her, and she could go right to sleep even after drinking half a pot of her favorite strong black coffee. She joked it was because her blood was more than half coffee already. He wasn’t one for sleeping much anyway, so it never bothered him to share in it with her at night.
Shortly after the percolating began and the warm scent of awaiting java hit the air in the kitchen, Gibbs heard a car honk out in front of his house.
Without even thinking, he found himself running for the front door, Jack letting out a snort of laughter as he flew through the living room to the small foyer. He put his hand on the door handle, took in a deep breath in an attempt to settle his racing heart and rapid breathing then opened the door to see Em’s Explorer parked out front. She was at the back with the tailgate popped open, retrieving her suitcase.
He made his way quickly down the front steps and across the lawn to her, taking the luggage from her hands and setting it on the sidewalk with ease before closing the tailgate.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” she said as he did so, and turned to him, a mixed expression of relief, excitement, and exhaustion shown on her face under the streetlights.
“Hm, so all I have to do is get your suitcase for you, and you’ll call me sweetheart? I could get used to that.” He smiled at her, reaching his hands up to her cheeks, holding her face gently as he leaned in and touched his lips to hers tenderly before pulling back merely inches from her and whispering, “Welcome home.”
“I like the sound of that, ‘home’.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him back into a kiss with more passion this time. Her lips slightly parted giving his tongue access to dance with hers, longing desire burning as his hands moved from her cheeks to her hair, entangling his fingers in the soft waves and pulling her deeply into the kiss as he stepped closer, pressing his body to hers.
Just as Gibbs was sliding one hand down to wrap around her waist, Em’s stomach growled loudly. He released her from their kiss and rested his forehead against hers.
“I take it you haven’t eaten yet.”
She smiled sheepishly. “Not really. I had a cheese Danish and coffee on the plane, but aside from that, I haven’t eaten since lunch. We were just so busy, and I was anxious to get back to you. I sort of forgot to eat dinner before flying out or even to grab something to eat on the ride back.”
“That’s all right,” he said as he wrapped one arm around her shoulders and began leading her toward the house, picking up her suitcase with his free hand on the way. “I’ll take care getting you fed. There’s nothing in the house, but we’ll figure out something. First things first though, Dad’s missed you too and I bet he wants to see you. Let’s get you and your stuff inside and go from there.” He planted a kiss on the side of her head. “I’m so glad you’re home, Em. I love you.”
“I love you too, Jethro, and I’m glad to be home.” She leaned into him, an arm reaching around his waist, her thumb hanging in a belt loop of his shorts.
She’d always thought of home as being her house, the address listed on her driver’s license, the location her mail was delivered. The way Jethro said ‘welcome home’ and ‘glad you’re home’ when, in the literal sense, she was at his home, made her realize that home to her was no longer a structure so much as it was Jethro himself. Coming back to him was really coming home.
Inside she heard the television being shut off as they came through the door and saw Jack rising from the armchair to greet her as they entered the living room.
Jethro gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “I’m just gonna run this upstairs while Dad welcomes you back,” and he took off up the stairs with her suitcase.
“Jack, has he been feeding you while I’ve been away?” she asked teasingly as she crossed the distance between them and threw her arms around the elder man. “I missed you. Just don’t tell Jethro, might make him jealous.” She laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
He didn’t hesitate to accept the hug and return it in kind. “I missed you too, Em. Leroy didn’t feed me the way you would have, but we managed on mostly take out. I can’t say I’d be disappointed if I never see another box of Chinese food again.”
Gibbs returned downstairs to see the two of them still in a loose embrace. “Dad, I go upstairs for two minutes and you go making moves on my girl?” he cried out jokingly.
They all three laughed, before Em declared, “Perhaps I decided I wanted the original Gibbs. Whatever would you do, Jethro?”
He grabbed her by the waist, wrapping his arms around her, pressing her body tightly against his own, looking deep into her eyes. “Well…” He kissed one cheek. “I’d pick you up.” He kissed her other cheek. “I’d carry you upstairs.” He kissed one ear. “I’d lay you on my bed.” He kissed her other ear. “I’d take off all your clothes.” He kissed one side of her neck. Then in a low growl, he said, “And I’d make love to you.” He kissed the other side of her neck very slowly. “Until you finally remembered that you love me.”
Jethro slid one hand up to the back of her head, gripping her hair as he ran his tongue over her lips before biting her lower lip, sucking on it for just a few seconds then plunging into an intensely passionate kiss. She returned the kiss, throwing her arms around him and running her fingers through his hair, pulling herself into his hold.
Finally releasing their lips when the need for air became greater than the need for each other, Em smiled at him sweetly. “You know you never have to worry. I’d never want anyone but you, Jethro. I’ll never love anyone else but you.”
He felt his heart leap at her words, words he wanted desperately to believe. Could she really, Jethro? You’ve managed not to ruin things for a whole six weeks. What about in six months? How about in six years? Will you break her heart and make her hate you? “Em, how can you know that? I make mistakes. I don’t say the right things. What if I break your heart and make you hate me because I do something stupid? What if…”
She reached up and kissed him ever so softly on the lips to quiet him. Her eyes met his in that way that always made him stop breathing. “You won’t. I trust you, Jethro. When you say you love me, you say it like you mean it, it’s in your eyes, in the way you touch me, even in your voice. You just have to believe in yourself as much as I do. We aren’t a mistake. We aren’t going to be one either.”
The words she spoke took a moment to sink into him. He took in a deep breath thinking it through. Do you love her enough to do it right this time? Can you hold onto her and never let go, never push her away? You know you love her more than anything. Of course, you can love her enough to do this right and hold onto her. He looked into her shimmering deep apple-green eyes, and knowing his father was overhearing their conversation, confessed, “Em, I love you more than I thought I was capable of ever loving again. Ever since that first day we spent together, I’ve been changed, and I can’t imagine my life without you now.” He bent down to kiss her gently. “I’ll never leave you. I love you, maybe even more than you realize, more than I can put into words.”
Em pulled him into a big hug and he kissed her once again, both of their eyes stinging with tears of joy they were fighting to hold back knowing what the words they had just spoken to each other really meant. They were making a promise to each other, a promise for a future together.
“Not to interrupt this endearing moment, but are we having dinner tonight?” asked Jack.
Jethro and Em both laughed and turned to him. “I’m with him, Jethro. We need to eat. I am so starving,” she proclaimed.
“Okay, okay. What do you want to eat?” Gibbs asked.
She smiled at him. “What are my choices?”
“Well, since there’s nothing here, you can pretty much choose anything because we have to go get it anyway. Tomorrow we’ll go grocery shopping after breakfast. I think there’s enough cereal and milk to do for that,” he replied apologetically, knowing she would never let her cabinets get so bare and her freezer stayed well stocked.
After some discussion of what they had all been eating over the past week, as she wanted to avoid too much repetition, Em finally chose pizza, which Gibbs called to order and the two of them planned to go pick up.
Fifteen minutes later, Gibbs’ canary yellow car with its black bonnet striping was backing out of the driveway, the radio playing quietly in the background, neither of them really listening to it, her hand in his across the center console. He tugged her towards him, encouraging her to lean into his side, letting him wrap his arm around her as they cruised down the street.
It didn’t take long before they were heading back to Gibbs’ house with two pizza boxes in the backseat, the enticing, mouth-watering smell wafting throughout the car.
Em was starving by this point and trying to focus on Jethro rather than her rumbling stomach. She was torn between her desire for the delicious smelling pizza in the backseat and the equally delicious smelling man whose arm was holding her closely as she snuggled into his side, head on his broad shoulder. Common sense told her the need for food would have to win out this internal argument. There was plenty of time tonight for Jethro still.
Dinner conversation was light as they devoured the majority of two large pizzas, one pepperoni and one Em’s favorite, bacon. Usually they would have been discussing the case she had just returned from solving, but due to the national security issue surrounding this one, nothing could be shared. Jethro was still frustrated with this, but Jack just didn’t understand what all the fuss was about.
“I still don’t get why you can’t talk about it now that it’s all over. Even if you couldn’t while you were investigating it, what’s the big deal now? It’s done with,” he was saying once again.
Em tried to be patient with him, knowing the rules of the DOD were often difficult for many people to understand. “It’s not about it being over now. I honestly believe that if the general public were to know the threat that was out there it would cause mass panic. This was just one of those things. You really don’t want to know what I was dealing with this past week. It would make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.”
Gibbs heart dropped to his stomach again as he recalled the thoughts he had just the day before. What if one day she doesn’t make it back home? How could you go on without her? You barely survived losing Shannon and Kelly. There’s no way you could take that kind of loss again. He didn’t feel hungry anymore. All he wanted was to take her upstairs and be alone with her, hold her in his arms, feel her body against his.
He changed the subject. “You two done with this,” he said, gesturing to the slices left in the boxes.
“Definitely, sweetheart,” she replied, to which he grinned at and leaned in to give her a kiss. “I couldn’t possibly stuff myself with another slice of bacon pizza, as much as I love it.” She gulped down the remaining coffee in her mug, getting up to head to the kitchen for a refill. Enough time spent at Jethro’s house had relaxed her into less of a role as a guest and more one of part of their little family.
His dad indicating he’d had his fill as well, Gibbs combined all the remaining slices into one box and carried it in to stick in the fridge. “I suppose cold pizza is an option for breakfast rather than cereal,” he laughed.
“Yum, cold pizza and beer. I could feel like I was in college again, Jethro,” she commented, taking a sip of her refilled coffee.
“Ha, if you were in college, we wouldn’t be standing her in my kitchen like this. I don’t date that young.”
Em laughed. “So I suppose that means I don’t have to worry about some young thing catching your eye and you running off in some late mid-life crisis?” she said jokingly.
Gibbs stepped over to her, taking her mug from her hands, placing it on the countertop, and wrapped her up in a loose embrace, looking down into her eyes. “Em, you already look twenty-eight. Exactly how young do you think I would go for? You’re the woman I love. Age has nothing to do with it. You’re perfect just the way you are.” He leaned down to meet his lips to hers for a moment. “Now, how about you finish that coffee so we can go upstairs for the night?”
Smiling up at him, she reached back for her mug and began drinking it more quickly, taking a break only to say, “I’ll be done as soon as possible. Why don’t you go run a bath for us?”
“Ooh, for us? I like your thinking. Meet you upstairs then?”
She nodded in agreement, still sucking down her hot coffee. He kissed her forehead and left the kitchen, saying something to Jack as he passed through the dining room then quickly made his way up the staircase, spurred on by thoughts of her naked body leaning back against his own, her hair wet and curly, and feel of her smooth soft skin as he lathered up every inch of her.
He knew the night would end with her in nothing but a towel, him slowly removing it, laying her back on the bed and making love to her, tenderly, intimately, the right way to convey everything he felt so deeply for her. The remainder of the night they would sleep, bodies molded against each other, his arms wound around her body, holding onto her as if she might disappear if he let go, his face buried in her hair, breathing in her ever-present scent of lavender shampoo because she now kept a bottle of it at his house.
She’s home. She loves you. You love her. What more could you possibly want? Deep down he knew the answer to that, but he wouldn’t let himself think it. Before it could surface, Em stepped into the bathroom where he was sitting on the edge of the tub, water running, and began slowly unbuttoning her shirt.
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