Title: The First: Epilogue
Author: CJ aka WritinginCT
Fandom: NCIS
Pairing: Gibbs/OFC, Gibbs/DiNozzo (non-explicit), Gibbs/Abby (implied), DiNozzo/Abby (implied)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Dark story, BDSM, Angst, AU (carryover warning from main fic â€" epilogue is a much lighter fic)
Disclaimer: I don’t own the recognizable characters I’m just inspired by them. Hopefully they’ve had fun playing in my sandbox.
Comments: Epilogue to The First â€" what happened when they got home from Hawaii?
Feedback: Love it? Hate it? Want to offer me a book deal to write original fiction? Email me!
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Gibbs was pacing in the hospital waiting room, getting more irritable by the minute. Even the presence of his wife sitting a few feet away from him did nothing to calm him. This was Abby they were talking about and other than Evie no one had ever held his heart more.
He finally exploded, “What is taking so long? Shouldn’t they have told us something by now?”
Evie looked up from the magazine she had been browsing to tease, “Relax, Jethro. She’s having a baby not getting a manicure. It takes time.”
He gave her “the look” and she did the mature thing and stuck her tongue out at him. And in spite of himself he laughed. “Now I know where Jacob got that from.”
And speaking of Jacob, the zealous six-year old appeared from the elevator followed closely by Ducky who had offered to pick him up from school on his way to the hospital. He flew over to Jethro to get scooped up and asked excitedly, “Daddy, is the baby here yet?”
“Nope, not yet. I was just bugging your mom about the same thing.”
Evie rolled her eyes and laughed, “That’s because you guys are two peas in a pod.” And they were. They had adopted Jacob three years ago and although the little boy had Evie’s red hair and freckles, his personality was taking on more and more of Jethro. And what a wonderful change it was from the sad little boy they had first brought home.
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They were sprawled on top of the rumpled sheets. Sweaty and sated. He was lying with his head on her chest and his hand resting on her stomach. The candles on the nightstands gave him plenty of light to see by and he couldn’t help himself as his hand traced the scar on her body that bothered him the most. They had never talked about that. Never talked about having or wanting children. Never talked about the baby they had lost.
She felt his hot tear on the cooling skin of her chest and wrapped her arms around him. They talked until the wee hours of the morning and vented their feelings and together made some decisions. And later on that day, she called a social worker to get the process started, and he put in his retirement papers to be home full time.
Jethro was adamant that he wanted a child that looked like her. And as Evie rolled her eyes at him the social worker just laughed. She could tell that this was a home full of love and laughter and given their jobs and their history, it would be a safe, nurturing place for a child that needed to heal and grow. And she had just the child for them.
When they had read the thick file on the little boy the law enforcement officers in both of them were flabbergasted at how he had slipped through the cracks for so long. And the future parents in them just wanted to hug him tightly and never let go. He was three years old and had lived locked in a dirty little room for most of his life.
Jacob had been found when a power company employee came to shut the electricity off for lack of payment. Looking in the window he caught a glimpse of the dirty, bruised, and half-starved child and immediately called the police. When they arrived his mother wielded a gun at them and the altercation ended quickly with her death. She had no other relatives that anyone could find and there was no father listed on his birth certificate. Social services had taken custody of the traumatized child and worked hard to find him a suitable placement but he was a challenging case.
The minute that they saw the picture of him, with his huge blue eyes and mop of red hair they knew he was theirs. They met him for the first time in the child psychologist’s office that had been evaluating him. Jacob was very timid and refused to speak or look at anyone directly and he was particularly afraid of men.
When they first arrived he was sitting on the floor with some blocks, not exactly sure of what he was supposed to do with them, he had never had toys. Evie decided to approach him first to try and break the ice.
She sat down gently next to him, leaving plenty of room so he wouldn’t feel crowded. She reached over and purposely picked up a block and placed it on the floor in front of him. Then she took another and stacked it on the first. Jacob wouldn’t look at her face, but was watching her hands with interest. After she had stacked a handful of pieces he grabbed one of his own and added it. They alternated turns and soon the whole pile was a wobbly mass of blocks threatening to topple. When he went to stack the next piece it did topple and he panicked, thinking Evie would be mad. His little face flashed in terror as he looked at her for the first time. He seemed confused that she just smiled and laughed and told him they could build it again. He was also fascinated by her hair. He had never seen anyone with the same color hair as him, his mother had brown hair.
They played for a long time, and Jethro and the psychologist noticed Jacob creeping closer and closer to Evie the longer they played. Jethro was in awe of her, well he was generally in awe of her but this was something new for them. And how she knew exactly what to do, he would just never know.
The two of them had built the biggest tower of blocks yet and this time when it crashed the room was filled with the sound of a child’s laughter right along with Evie’s. The psychologist was completely surprised. It was the first sound Jacob had made since he had been rescued from the hellhole that he had been living in and she watched intently as Jacob stood up to go stand very close to Evie and pick up one of her long fiery curls in his little fingers.
Evie was talking to Jacob in a low voice that the others couldn’t make out, and Jethro was surprised when Jacob turned around, still holding Evie’s hair, to look right at him. Jethro gave him a warm smile in return and waited, Evie was obviously working on something. And sure enough she was. She said something else to Jacob in that low voice and he nodded to her. She looked up at Jethro with a grin and held out her hand to him. He crossed the room and took it letting her pull him down to sit next to her. Somehow through the inane chit chatter Evie managed to place a light hand on Jacob’s back and was gently rubbing in slow circles. He never let go of that curl of hers. And the psychologist just about had a heart attack when Jacob actually crawled in Evie’s lap as they talked, and she was even more surprised when Jacob started whispering responses in Evie’s ear. The child had just not responded to anyone in any fashion. Now here he was with Evie and it was simply amazing.
Jethro’s quiet manner soon put Jacob at ease and the three of them started a new tower, this time with Jacob sitting between them, he had finally released Evie’s hair. The psychologist slipped into the little room behind the one-way mirror where the social worker was watching and the two of them knew without a doubt that Evie and Jethro were the perfect placement for Jacob.
When they went to leave after promising Jacob that his social worker would bring him to visit their house the next day Evie again found her hair held hostage. For some reason it seemed to be soothing to the child. So very carefully they borrowed a pair of scissors and snipped off a three inch lock and carefully wrapped the end in an elastic band then wrapped some masking tape around that to secure it. Jacob was pleased as punch and gripped it tightly in his fist.
Later that night he found her sitting on the bed in the bedroom they had redecorated in anticipation of bringing home a child. Done in soft shades of sage green and tan with photo posters of baby animals hanging the room was welcoming. Evie was hugging one of the dozen stuffed animals on the bed and looked sad. He sat next to her and put a comforting arm around her. She wished they had been able to bring Jacob home that day, to start healing that broken little spirit.
Evie told Jethro that he needed to take the door off Jacob’s bedroom. He didn’t question it, he just did it. And the next day when Jacob visited and went with Evie into the bedroom, he understood. Jacob had been locked in a room and abused and she wanted to make his room here a sanctuary, someplace safe that he could come and go as he pleased and not fear being locked in. And the look on Jacob’s face as he saw the room for the first time was something Jethro would never forget. When the visit was supposed to end Jacob had latched onto Evie and wouldn’t let go and the social worker decided to let him stay.
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tbc...
Story Notes:
I just couldn't leave Evie, Jethro, Tony, and Abby hanging like I did at the end of "The First" hence the epilogue. Enjoy! ~CJ
Author's Chapter Notes:
Epilogue to "The First" - what happened when they got home from Hawaii?
Chapter End Notes:
I just couldn't leave Evie, Jethro, Tony, and Abby hanging like I did at the end of "The First" hence the epilogue. Enjoy! ~CJ