Clones

Controlled Environment

They both leave the closet and bump into Tony. Tony grins thinking of what they were doing in the closet. Jen looks at Tony and asks Gibbs, "Should I do it or you?"

Jethro replies, "It'd be an honor for you to do it." Jen smacks Tony on the back of the head and walks back to MTAC.

DiNozzo and Gibbs walk down the stairs together. Tony mentions, "What were you two doing in the closet?"

Gibbs answers, "None of your damn business." After the workday finishes he meets Jen in her office on the second floor overlooking the bullpen. He closes the door, "I'm laying out the non-negotiables. 1, They have to know that I'm their father, not an uncle or a friend. Their father. And 2, This is your mess, you can say it."

"That's it?" Jen asks.

Gibbs sits down in the chair in the corner of the room, forcing Jen to move from her swivel chair to a chair closer to Gibbs. This is a power move on Jethro's behalf. Jethro pulls out multiple pieces of paper, "I have questions about each of them." He clears his throat, "What are their names?"

"Ashley Barbara and Jasper Jethro, but he goes by JJ," Jen says, watching Jethro smirk at the boy's name.

Gibbs asks, "When were they born?"

Jen responds, "August 23, 2003. Ashley was born at 3:45 in the morning and JJ was at 3:49 in the morning. They were 33 weeks and 3 days. Stuck in the NICU for 3 weeks."

Switching topics, Jethro asks, "What are their shoe sizes?"

Puzzled, Jenny answers, "Both of them are Children 11." After some more arbitrary and important questions, the interrogation is over. Jen pulls out a paper with a list of her demands, "Here are my demands." She takes a breath, crumples her paper, and tosses it into the wastebasket. Jethro looks perplexed but listens to Jen, "Don't force them to have a relationship with you. If they decide they don't want one, I ask that you respect that."

"Deal," Gibbs holds out his hand for a firm shake.

But is met with a questionable look on Jen's face, "Really?"

Still, with his hand out he asks, "Why do you always question me?" Jen shrugs her shoulders and shakes his hand firmly. He smiles, "I'll be at your place in an hour. You can choose whether you want to prepare them or not. Not up to me. See you then and not a minute later." Jethro walks out of the office with all of his stuff and heads towards the elevator with a huge grin and scowl at the same time. Jen watches as his emotions start to show. She smiles softly and gets her things ready for her to leave.

50 minutes later, Jen is sitting down with her squirmy 5-year-olds. JJ mentions, "Momma I wanna go play with my blocks."

"Yea. I wanna go play with my Barbies!" Ashley throws herself on the chair.

Jenny puts her hands on their legs to keep them from moving. She squats down to be level with them, "Blocks and Barbies have to wait. We have a visitor coming over to meet you."

"Who? Who?" they both ask.

Before Jen can say anything there is a knock at the door, "He's here. Be on your best behavior okay?" The twins nod together.

Jen opens the door to see Jethro with two presents under each arm. She asks, "How did you knock?- Nevermind, come in..." She lets Jethro in and he sets the presents down on the entryway's table.

JJ comments, "I'm so sorry."

Jethro looks confused, "Why are you sorry?"

Ashley answers, "We ran into and you spilled your energy juice? That's why you're here."

"Energy juice?" Gibbs looks at Jen for help.

She mouths, 'Coffee.'

Gibbs nods now understanding the term 'energy juice.' He mentions, "That's not why I'm here."

Jen takes control of the conversation. She squats next to JJ and Ashley sitting at the dining room table, "JJ, Ashley..." She takes a deep breath, "I'd like you to meet your dad." Ashley's face lights up with joy, while JJ's turns into an angry frown. JJ hops off the chair and runs to his room. Jen looks at Jethro, "I'll be right back."

As Jenny is running up the stairs after JJ, she can hear Ashley ask him, "Want to see my art? I wanna be an art teacher when I grow up."

Gibbs responds with a smile, "Absolutely!"

Jen enters JJ's room looking for him everywhere. She hears a small, "Under here."

"Under where?" Jen asks into thin air.

A small hand pokes out from under the bed. He chuckles softly, "You said underwear."

Jen crouches down and then ends up lying on the floor. Trying to fit her adult body under this child's bed was seemingly difficult, "How do you fit under here?" JJ shrugs his shoulders and returns to a frown.

He flat out says, "You said I didn't have a dad."

"I know," Jen tries validating his feelings.

"Why? Why did you say that when I really had one? You lied to me." JJ adds.

Jen sighs and holds out her hand for him to hold, "I thought it was what was best, but I was wrong. I made a mistake."

JJ denies holding her hand and crosses his arms. He says with a scowl, "I don't like you right now." Jen bursts out in laughter.

She calms herself down as she can see, her laughing is making the situation worse. JJ asserts, "It's not funny!"

"You're right. It's not funny. I'm sorry," she apologizes, but still with a huge grin.

JJ announces, "I still love you though."

Jenny responds, "I love you, too, baby."

JJ finally reaches out and holds her hand. Jen asks, "Can you go down and give him a chance? He's a really special person and I think you two will have a lot in common. But if you feel at any point like you want to leave the conversation, just tell me first, then you can go. Okay?"

"Okay," JJ is dragged out from under the bed by Jenny. They head down the stairs to see Ashley showing off her artwork on the fridge. JJ taps on Jethro's shoulder and speaks, "I like boats..."

Gibbs turns around and looks at him. At that moment, he knew these were his children. He chuckles and answers, "I like boats too." The 4 of them spend the rest of the night (until 8:30, half an hour past bedtime) together. Jethro learns so much from his kids and is torn to pieces when the door shuts. That night was the first night in a while where he couldn't sleep because he was too happy. Normally he can't sleep due to anxiety and bad memories crawling back at the end of the night, but not this night.