Rekindling the Flame

Burning the Past

Chapter 11 - Burning the Past

The early morning sunlight filtered through the gap in the drapes, falling gently on the back of Jenny's head and highlighting the golden tips dispersed through her hair. As Gibbs watched the dancing light, he was reminded again of how precious she was to him and reinforced his determination to resolve this issue once and for all. He wasn't prepared to watch her repeat another night like the last.

The degree of distress and violence she had displayed had shocked him, leaving him restless and unable to sleep for a couple of hours. So when two little heads had appeared once again at the bedroom door an hour after Jenny had fallen asleep, he had opened his arms, inviting them to join him in the bed.

Now as he lay sandwiched between Jenny on his right and Tony and Ziva on his left, he was struck with the thought that a king sized bed was going to become a priority purchase if anyone was planning on actually sleeping anytime in the near future. Gently lifting his head he looked at the bedside clock on Jenny's side. 6.47am. Putting his head back on the pillow he was contemplating how to extract himself from his current predicament, when a little voice whispered, "Morning Daddy."

Turning his head, he was greeted by the beautiful smile of his daughter. Her chocolate brown eyes danced in the sunlight, twinkling with mischief.

"Good morning pumpkin," he said smiling.

She rolled herself up and climbed onto his chest, sitting straddled on his stomach. Puckering her lips, she leaned forward and, saying "cheek," she planted a sloppy kiss on his left cheek.

Continuing their morning ritual, she followed this with a second "cheek," kissing the other side, "head," kissing his forehead, "nose," a peck on the tip and finally "lips" ending with a loud 'smack' on his lips. She then wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled in for a snuggle.

Having been distracted by Ziva's morning ministrations, Gibbs hadn't seen Jenny turn and watch the morning greeting.

"That has to be videoed as soon as possible," she said grinning. "What a precious start to the morning."

"Hi Jenny," greeted Ziva smiling. "I can do it to you too," she offered.

"That sounds just perfect," answered Jenny.

Ziva crawled across to Jenny and repeated the ritual leaning in for a cuddle when she had finished.

"Hey Ziva," said Gibbs suddenly. "You forgot the last bit."

Seeing Ziva's confused looked, he said, "The tickle," and immediately began to tickle Jenny's side, occasionally adding Ziva into the mix. As both Jenny and Ziva giggled and writhed, it wasn't long before Tony was joining in and suddenly no one knew who was tickling who but everyone was laughing.

As everyone began to tire and the tickling stopped, Gibbs smiled to himself. He really was the luckiest man in the world.

"Hey Mom," said Tony panting slightly from all the giggling. "How about we have some bacon and eggs this morning?"

"Mom?" questioned Ziva.

"Yep," said Tony confidently. "I've decided to call Jenny, Mom. She's like a mom to us and I want to call her that. Plus, when people see us out, they will know that we are a family."

Not really knowing how to react or what to say, Ziva just nodded and chose not to respond immediately. Jenny watched her face and knew that she was processing what Tony had said.

"I don't expect you to call me Mom," she said to Ziva. "I think of you as my daughter regardless of whether you want to call me Mom or Jenny. Names don't matter sweetie, it's the fact that I love you that's important."