The following morning the Taylor house was woken by the sounds of five loud kids running through the house. Stella and Jordan were making pancakes in the kitchen while Jethro helped Mac with the twins.
“Alright, time for all you to sit down at the table.” Stella yelled at the kids. They then came running in to the kitchen.
“Aunty Jordan!” Robin squealed. “Catch me!” She ran into her aunt’s arms.
“Now what are you so happy about?” Jordan asked. Robin lifted her arms.
“You know, the we-” Jordan quickly covered Robin’s lips.
“That’s supposed to be a secret, sweetie.” Jordan whispered. Robin covered her lips with both hands.
“She meant the way you shine today.” Abby walked in to the kitchen.
“I bet daddy made her shine.” Ryan dryly remarked. Jethro gave him a tiny head slap.
“Remind me to keep him away from DiNozzo.”
“Awww Gibbs, you don’t give Tony enough credit.” Abby stretched out.
“DiNozzo and credit?” Danny walked also in.
“Since when do we run an open house, Stell?” Mad remarked. Danny ignored Mac.
“New tattoo, Abbs?” He asked instead and lifted up her sleeve.
“Yup.” She grinned. “Tell you all about while I get dressed.” She left the kitchen and Danny followed. Mac grabbed him by the back of his shirt.
“You’re not trespassing dark territory.” He smirked. Danny sat down at the table and grabbed a pancake.
“Can we have a tattoo, dad?” Logan asked.
“I can take you.” Danny grinned and was rewarded with a head slap from Jethro.
“I know a cool place that does it with out any anasthetics.” Danny joked. Logan and Ryan drew faces.
“Does that hurt?” Logan asked. Danny nodded his head.
“Oh yeah… they got this big, big syringe and then they poke-”
“I’m not gonna have an ana… ana… whatever.” Ryan stumbled over the word. “Come on Logan, I got a new game for my Nintendo.” Logan ran after Ryan.
“Thanks for the pancakes, mum.” He yelled at Stella and bumped in to Abby who returned to the kitchen.
“What was that all about?” She smiled as she looked after the boys.
“Danny gave them a little fright about getting a tattoo.” Stella enlightened her. Abby smacked the back of Danny’s head.
“Ouch.” He groaned. “Is this still going on at NCIS?” He moaned.
“Only when you break the rules.” Abby sat down and poured her self a coffee. “Gibbs, I really, really need to find myself a caf-pow dealer.” She whined.
“I’ll find you one when we get back.” He promised.
“Back from where?” Stella asked as she poured everyone a coffee.
“Back from dad’s grave.” Jordan answered. The grown ups all went quiet…
“Jordan…” Mac considered it a bad idea.
“It’s okay, Mac.” Jethro said as Jordan softly smiled and patted his arm. “Thank you.” She kissed him on his cheek. “Dad would have been proud of you.” He pulled her in to a hug and Mac knew that his sister was going to be okay.
That morning Mac drove Jordan en Jethro to his father’s grave to visit their son. Stella kept an eye on the boys, while Danny and Abby took the girls for a visit a the zoo. When Jordan had found closure with the past, she, Jethro and Mac went to the lab and went over the case file that had been waiting for so long.
***