Ziva was invited back to dinner the following night by Mrs. Mallard. She had accepted the invitation and showed up a little early, nervous and standing on the doorstep. Ducky answered the door with his mother right behind him. She looked curiously at Ziva but smiled when the younger woman smiled at her. Ziva realized she did not recognize her and resigned herself to hearing some of the same questions over again. She answered them with a patience that no one but Ducky would believe her capable. As the night went on, she chatted with Mrs. Mallard and laughed with Ducky. It was very nice to be part of their little world for the evening. Ducky walked her to the door and as he was telling her goodnight she kissed him softly on the lips.

At his look of surprise, she told him, "Thank you for a wonderful evening, Ducky. I had a great time."

He would have said something in response if she had given him the chance. Instead, she turned and fairly flew down the walk to her car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jethro woke alone and looked around the bedroom. He noticed Carly's clothes lying across the chair in the corner and relaxed. She was still here and it was almost a certainty that she was wearing his shirt. He got up and went downstairs looking for her. She wasn't in the kitchen but he noticed the coffee cup sitting on the table. He turned and walked down the hall; sure enough the door to the basement was open enough that he could see a light on downstairs. He pushed the door open all the way and looked down but didn't see her. He quickly went down the steps to find her curled up under his boat. Stopping, he smiled at the sight. She had brought a pillow and blanket from the couch down here and had fallen asleep under his boat.

In the middle of deciding what he should do, her eyes blinked open. Sleep still heavy on her eyes, she looked at him and smiled the little one that she only smiled for him. "Jet." She said and she wriggled under the blanket.

He ducked under the boat. "Room enough for two down here?" he asked her.

She lifted the blanket, "Of course, but you know that. You built her." She nodded at the boat and snuggled into his side as he lay beside her.

"What made you come down here?"

"Hmmmm. You seem to be able to get a lot of thinking done down here. So I decided to try it."

"Did it work?"

She nuzzled her face into his neck, turned and her leg moved to cover his. "Not really. Once I got settled and warm, I feel asleep." She kissed his neck, still more asleep than awake.

Jethro kept silent. He knew if she wanted to explain she would and she did.

"I've been thinking about Shannon and Kelly. I hate that you went through that Jet. I hate that you lost them. And I realized that Shannon helped make you the man you are today just as much as the Marines did. Your love for her and Kelly is still there and that won't ever change. That's so rare and beautiful, Jet, not everyone finds that."

She fell silent and for several minutes, Jethro thought she had fallen back asleep until her hand moved across his chest to rest on his cheek and she kissed him softly. "You're the one I want, Jet." She said and left it at that.

As she slowly relaxed against him, he went over everything she said. He pressed a rough kiss to her head once he understood that she had just told him that she loved him. In her own way and not to replace Shannon in his heart, she was telling him she loved him. And heaven help him, she had just made him aware that his heart had room to love one more.

~The End~ (for now)

~Calalily~