‘NCIS’ Fan Crushed After Final Flowers Scene

NCIS fans were left heartbroken Tuesday night after an episode that focused on a previously undiscovered and heart wrenching part of Gibbs’ backstory.

One fan in particular felt so upset about the emotional story line in “Hail & Farewell,” which saw Gibbs re-live the trauma of an ex-fiancée, that they took to Twitter to write a poem about it.

The Twitter user retweeted the official Twitter account for NCIS, which showed Gibbs standing over his ex-fiancée’s casket at her military funeral, and shared a poem about the moment.

“That moment. All the memories, the regrets, the hours… What you would give to have it all back? And all that’s left …is a sacrifice of flowers,” the poem read.

Fans were taken on an emotional rollercoaster during Tuesday night’s episode when they found out that the body of a Marine discovered 18 years after her supposed death during 9/11 turned out to be a secret ex-fiancée of Gibbs’ and the daughter of a prominent general.

Gibbs’ relationship with Ellen, the deceased Marine, puts him in a tight spot, and soon enough he finds himself on the other side of the interrogation room after his blood was found on her uniform. He tells Sloane under her questioning that breaking off his engagement with Ellen was complicated, but insisted that their breakup isn’t relevant to the case or her death.

A flashback shows Ellen wiping Gibbs’ cut hand on her uniform when he injures it working on his boat. He tells Sloane that he last had contact with Ellen two months before her death, but she knows he’s lying. When he stormed out of the interrogation room, she drops a piece of evidence on him: a two-minute phone call Ellen placed to Gibbs the night she died.

Gibbs refuses to talk, so McGee declares Gibbs of the case and sends him home.

Meanwhile, Pentagon records show Ellen scanning in at 2200 hours the night before 9/11 but never signing out, which led investigators to believe she died in the attack. It also leads Torres and Bishop to conclude that her killer worked in the Pentagon with her, which rules Gibbs out as a suspect.

McGee pays Gibbs a visit at home, where Gibbs tells him that he let Ellen’s call go to his answering machine that night. In a flashback, she begs him to pick up, but he just looks pained as she finally hands up. He tells McGee he blames himself for not answering to help her.

Journalist Franklin Morrison provides a break in the case, saying he worked with Ellen on an investigation into Marines killing civilians during a 1998 attack in Kosovo, where her father was in command.

On the list of Pentagon employees who were in the building on 9/11, Torres notices the name of Daniel Kent, who was Ellen’s father’s aid in 2001, served under him Kosovo and signed out of the Pentagon at 2 a.m. on 9/11. He also lived two blocks from where Ellen was buried.

Gibbs works his magic and in five minutes, Daniel confesses everything.

Ellen is finally laid to rest at Arlington in her official military funeral 18 years after her death. Gibbs watches from a distance as her dad accepts the folded flag.

“I was trying to do the right thing for her,” Gibbs says. “But she still ended up here. I regret that choice.” McGee urges him to take a few more steps to Ellen’s grave, and Gibbs makes the walk alone to pay his final respects.

NCIS airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.