Kate & Kassidy, Age 18

            November 19^th, 2036; the one day that Jenny dreaded had arrived no matter how hard she had tried to stop it.  Today Kate and Kassidy were eighteen years old, albeit they weren’t her first set of kids to turn eighteen; it was still a shock. Kate and Kassidy were her babies, there were no more little Gibbs running through the house. That made Jenny quite sad.  Before she knew the girls would be heading off to college and the Gibbs household would be empty. There wasn’t anything wrong in Jenny’s mind when she thought of her and Jethro having their home to themselves in a few months’ time, she had just been used to having her daughters around; all seven of them.

            By this point; the remainder of the quads had taken the leap of faith and settled down.  Jethro had walked five of his seven daughters down the aisle and he was in no hurry to walk his last two daughters down the aisle. Kelly was still Kelly Gibbs – Grant, but had decided to completely take her husband’s last name just as her mother had once and just like her step-mom did. Delilah was now Delilah Taylor. Arabella was now Arabella Tanner. And Emiliana was now Emiliana Wilson. Of course Madison was still Madison Ryan.

            Amira had retired from the Corps as a General, she was also one of the few Marines to rise to the highest rank of both enlisted and officer within the Corps ever which made Jethro quite proud. What also made Jethro proud was that along the way Amira had inspired his nephews to join up when they could. But little did Jenny and Jethro know at the moment but they were about to be surprised by their twins once again. Kate and Kassidy had decided to follow in their family’s military footsteps once they turned eighteen. Kate had decided to enlist in the Corps while her twin had decided to join the Navy in honor their maternal grandfather. Today the twins were planning on telling their parents what they had decided and hoped to God their parents would be okay with the decision that had been made.

            Things were changing fast for the Gibbs family whether Jenny liked it or not. The night before Jenny and Jethro threw Amira a Welcome Home/Happy Retirement from the Corps party. And of course Abby tried to plan the whole thing but Jenny had stood her ground long enough for Abby to realize that Jenny was fully capable of throwing a party for Amira. After all Jenny had been at the party planning helm a lot longer than Abby had. With the party the night before everyone was up until the wee hours of the morning.  So when Jenny, Jethro and their twin daughters woke up hours after the party end, the quartet were instant best friends with the family Keurig. Noemi was stunned to see how tired her bosses were but she also loved seeing how coffee dependent the youngest two Gibbs senoritas were. Seeing Kate and Kassidy with their coffee cups literally attached to their hands as if the cups had been glued on reminded Noemi of the quads so much.

Everyone that was in the kitchen knew that they had another long day ahead of them. Kate and Kassidy were having their party today. This particular November had been unseasonably warm so it was if the Indian summer just continued after August had ended two months or so ago. So due the extended Indian summer, Kate and Kassidy were able to have a barbeque for their eighteenth which was something that they had always wanted but never got since they were autumn babies.

The usual suspects were in attendance plus a few guests no one expected to be there. Jack and Ann were there celebrating their granddaughters’ birthday. Jaylyn and her family were at the barbeque. Kelly and Charlie were there as well as Shannon. Of course the twins found it a bit odd that their sister’s mother was at their barbeque when she had no direct ties to them.  Rachel came with her husband as well as their son and daughter who were around the same age as the twins.  Delilah and Carson were there. Arabella and Zach were hanging out as were Emiliana and Zane. Madison and Parker were there along with Sam. And of course the girls’ extended NCIS family was also at the barbeque. Of course Kate, Paula and Dana were also there in spirit.

There were a few political figures were there because Jenny had to invite them due to her career. Jenny, Jethro and Sam all periodically talked to the political power players because they had to; but for the most part the NCIS group as the political people called them stuck to themselves throughout the course of the barbeque.

Since everyone was avoiding the political people at the barbeque until they left, Kate and Kassidy figured it was now or never when it came to telling their family about them joining the Marines and the Navy.

“Kassidy and I have something to tell all of you.” Kate said.

“Go ahead.”

“Kate and I are joining the Corps and the Navy.”

No one said anything for what seemed like an eternity.

“I’m joining the Corps and I am actually leaving for basic training at Parris Island in the morning while Kassidy is joining the Navy and is leaving for OSC training at the Naval Station in Newport, Rhode Island when I leave tomorrow.”

There was more silence. Eventually everyone came around and were quite proud of the girls.

Eighteen years, Kate Jayden Gibbs; you’ve carried our name quite well over the years. I am so proud of you.

Kassidy Jacey Gibbs, you’ve made me so proud over the past eighteen years and you just made even more proud of you. Keep wearing my name with pride

My sweet granddaughters, I am so proud of you just as I am of your sisters, your mother, aunt and cousins. Your grandfather is proud of you too and is pleased with your choices to join the Corps and the Navy. Be safe my baby girls.

Hours had passed and all the guests, that were at the barbeque physically as well as spiritually had left for the night leaving the Gibbs family to themselves for the remainder of the night. The five older Gibbs girls along with their respective spouses had decided to stay the night. Kelly and the quads’ respective husbands knew that it was important to their wives that they got to spend some time with their sisters before they left in the morning. The family had decided to settle in the living room for the rest of night just minutes before the new episode of TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles aired.

“Is it me or does Dr. Maura Isles look a lot like Kate?” Kate asked the rest of the family on a commercial break.

“She kind of does.” Jethro answered his daughter before the show came back from commercial break.

For the remainder of the episode the Gibbs family watched the rest of the Rizzoli & Isles episode before calling it a night.