Fallen Hero

       Delilah, Arabella, Madison and Emiliana had been told about Franks’ death that night after dinner. Jenny and Jethro told them that they didn’t have to go into the next day due to the circumstances. Jethro appreciated the fact that Jenny was pulling as many strings as she could when it came to all that was going on.  Now Jethro knew why Franks had mailed a handcrafted wooden replica of the Marine Corps insignia with the other wooden accents and the letter a few weeks prior. Franks knew his number was up and that it wasn’t the cancer that would cause it. Franks was a Marine through and through just like Jethro, which made one thing certain; Mike Franks was going to go out like a Marine. Before Jenny and Jethro had gone into work, Jethro re-read the letter Franks had sent.

            Too many years of lighting up finally caught up with me, Probie. For three decades I out ran every bullet aimed at me. Can’t out run this. Not with these lungs. Only got a few months left to go and I plan to live on.

            “Never disappoint, do you Mike.” Jethro said as he folded Franks’ letter up and put it in the inside pocket of his blazer.

            Jenny came halfway down the stairs.

            “Its time Jethro, we have to go in.”

            Before she had gone down to the basement to collect her husband, Jenny called the agency and instructed Cynthia to keep Jethro’s team from leaving and also told Cynthia to have Abby, Ducky and Palmer join the others in the squad room. When they arrived, Jenny and Jethro found the entire team waiting for them.

            Abby instantly sensed that there was something wrong as she along with the others saw their bosses dressed in black and their bosses’ badges having the black strap on them.

            “Who?” Abby asked on the verge of crying before she even heard who died.

            “Franks.” Jethro answered.

            Abby gasped and like Ziva and Jaylyn, she began to shed tears as she turned to McGee and buried her face into him. Ziva followed suit as she nearly soaked Tony’s Armani shirt. Jaylyn turned to Ducky as she began to cry herself. The lost of Franks was a major shock for the team. It was a shock for everyone. One that no one saw coming.

            The rest of the day was one of true sadness.  Jaylyn, Ziva, McGee and Tony had followed their bosses’ lead and outfitted their badges with the mourning band.

            “We’ve put these bands on far too many times over the years.” McGee stated.

            “Uh-ha.” Jethro said.

            “Pacci, Kate, Paula, Langer, Lee, Macy, Levin, Cade and now Franks. This getting to be too much; boss.”

            “I know DiNozzo.”

            Jethro saw how the lost of his mentor effected the people around him. It affected him too. But what got Leroy Jethro Gibbs was how much of a toll this lost took on the women in his life. His girls were distraught, all eight of them. His daughters lost their godfather.  His sister-in-law and his surrogate daughters lost one of the two people they considered to their grandfather. He knew how Jenny felt, he always did.

            The one thing that put the icing on the cake was when he found his wife, sister-in-law and surrogate daughters in the break room/ lounge all at one table with their mascara streaming down their faces in their tears. Jethro went down the hallway far enough so that they couldn’t over hear his phone call.

            “DiNozzo.” Tony answered.

            “DiNozzo; I want you to call Kasey and tell him to come to the agency. When he gets here; I want you, Kasey and McGee to meet me down here by the lounge.”

            “Is everything okay, boss?”

            “What do you think, DiNozzo.” Jethro said hanging up before Tony could answer.

            “What was that about?”

            “Not sure, Gibbs wants me to call Kasey and then when Kasey gets here  all of us are to meet him by the lounge; McProbie.”

            About midday things had been somewhat better than what they had at the start of the work day. Jenny, Ziva, Abby and Jaylyn called it a night around 1700. Tony, McGee and Jethro stayed until 2100. Jethro had known that Jenny had invited her sister and surrogate daughters over to the house for some girl time.  What Jenny didn’t know was that Jethro had invited Tony, McGee and Kasey over as well. When the guys arrived at the house things got a bit interesting to say the least.

            “Ah boss, I think this may have been a bad idea.” McGee said as the four of them stood in the threshold of the living room and saw the sight before them.

            Before them they saw Jenny in a Baltimore Orioles cami that had an oriole on the front and with Gibbs embroidered on the back with the number seventy just below the name. To accompany the cami was a pair Victoria’s Secret Orioles hipsters underwear. Now Emiliana and Arabella had the same attire as their mother; the only exception was they had the number ninety-nine underneath the embroidered Gibbs.  Abby was in a Phillies cami with Sciuto embroidered on the back with the number seventy-five on it. Delilah and Madison were also in Phillies camis with their last name embroidered on them just as their sisters and mom had on theirs.

And like their sister ninety-nine was also stitched on the camis along with the same hipsters underwear that Abby had. Ziva along with Jaylyn was the odd ones out of the collective. Ziva had a Nationals cami and hipsters, David and the number seventy-five embroidered on her cami. Jaylyn had a Yankees cami and hipsters on with Shepard and seventy-five as well on the back.

“Yeah I think this was a bad choice Jethro.” Kasey said.

Tony was entranced by seeing Ziva in her attire but he was also a bit enticed by seeing the girls in their Orioles and Phillies garb. It was to the point where he couldn’t take his eyes off of them; it had finally sunk into Tony’s head that the Gibbs girls were now legally adults. The next thing Tony knew his head was throbbing.

“What was that for, boss?”

“Keep your eyes off of my girls and put them on the mother of your children.”

Everyone hung out for a bit and reminisced about times with Franks. Everyone but Jaylyn and the girls had Coronas in front of them in memory of Franks. Jaylyn and the girls had sodas in front of them.

“So I’m sitting there and I’m, you know, I’m on my third tequila. I’m not in good shape. And Franks is like twelve sheets to the wind, when all of a sudden the door swings open. And standing there are the three of the deadliest drug dealers in all of Mexico and you know what Franks does?”

“He turns to the bartender and he says… Cervantes for my amigos. If I’m dead, put it on my tab Probie. His family’s here now. It’s good to have’em close.” Jethro responds.

Jenny seeing how torn up Jethro was getting, in a nurturing manner; Jenny squeezed Jethro’s shoulder. Although she hadn’t known Franks as well as her husband had, it still struck a chord.

Sometime later as everyone who had came over was Jenny let them know that Franks’ funeral was the following day and they were all meeting Leyla and Amira at Arlington National cemetery.

When Tony and Ziva got home, Ziva arranged things so that Palmer and Breena could look after Madalyn and Asher while she and Tony were paying their respects.

The following morning; Tony, Ziva, McGee, Abby, Jaylyn, Kasey, Jenny and the girls all stood by Leyla and Amira. Franks was given a Marines’ burial, Marines Honor Guard and all. Jethro along with five other Marines from the honor guard carried the coffin with Franks inside up the hill to the place where he would be laid to rest, where his family and extended family stood looking on. Before Franks had been lowered into the ground the Marines that stood waiting took the flag that was draped over the coffin off, folded it and presented it to Jethro.

Jethro then brought the flag over to Leyla and Amira, handed the flag to Amira who had her arms extended to take the folded flag from her godfather. Jethro then whispered into Leyla’s ear before taking his place next to Jenny to watch his mentor be lowered into the ground.