Author's note
I did say I could feel a reaction building to the lack of ... erm ... sexings in Panacea. Plus, a certain party was very clear that I was expected to 'make it up' to her. Said person will no doubt be amused to find herself inserted subtly into the story. To be clear ... there is no plot in this. It's merely an AU two-parter - set at the beginning of Season 4, when Gibbs had just come back from Mexico and wasn't (per Tony) quite right. So erm .. yes .. gratuitous smut. Not the worst thing in the world.
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He ignored the begging as long as he could – even if it grated on his nerves. When one man jostled his elbow and caused him to spill his bourbon, he merely grunted and shifted a little to the side. But the moment one particularly drunken speciman ignored her request to be left alone and tried to touch her hair, he slammed his drink down on the bar and was on him before he was even aware himself that he'd moved.
"The lady said take a hike" he whispered threateningly into the man's ear as he twisted his arm behind his back with practised ease and pushed him away from the bar – and her.
As the man stumbled out of the door a blast of air swept through the bar. For a brief moment it pushed her blouse against her body and the sight of her nipples tightening against the cold drew his eyes to the contour of her breasts. Suddenly her nipples weren't the only things tightening, and he found himself staring; distracted by the sight of her crossed legs swinging round towards him.
"If you're expecting some sort of knighthood, I'm sorry to say I've misplaced my sword" she said when he didn't look away. And her sultry voice only fuelled the fire that had been burning for her from the moment he'd walked in and seen her. She looked him up and down for a moment, and he knew she hadn't missed the fact that he was aroused by her.
"For the record" she said as she turned round to the bar again, "I could have taken care of myself. But thank you."
Gibbs acknowledged the thanks and slipped back onto his stool.
"I'll have whatever he's having" she said to the bartender after she'd peered into the drink he'd been nursing and downed what remained of it.
"Long live the queen" he said, raising his glass to her when he had a fresh drink.
The woman tossed back her head and laughed. A deep laugh that rippled across his senses and made him want to reach out and graze the skin of her throat just to see if it was as soft as he was imagining.
"Well .. now that you've elected yourself my knight in shining armour and the jester has been kicked out of the kingdom" she began teasingly, "maybe we shouldn't stand on formality, Sir ..."
"Jethro."
"Jethro" she said with an amused smile as she rolled the name round on her tongue. "I'm ..."
"Hey Jenny .." someone called from further along the bar.
"Jenny" she repeated to Gibbs with a smile before looking past him at the young man who had called her. "What've you got, Joe?"
"Got a tough one for you."
"Let's have it."
"Okay .. what did the mother of actress Ginger Rogers do during World War I?"
"Publicity duty for the Marine Corps" Jenny shot back without a pause. "One of the first ten women to enlist" she added with a smile when Joe's jaw dropped. "Ask me a tough question."
"Take your pick" he said as he slid his PDA along the counter at her.
"Joe's trivia-obsessed" she commented to Gibbs. "What?"
"Interesting place" Gibbs said as he took a sip of his drink and looked around.
"It is. Lots of strange people in here tonight though" she added looking round with a shudder. "Usually it's just the regulars and the odd loner."
"You come here often?"
"Yes."
"How often?"
She looked at him with renewed amusement.
"Often enough" was all she would give him as she signalled the bartender for a refill. "Lets see if we can raise Joe's score here."
Gibbs looked over her shoulder as she scrolled through the options and rattled them off.
"Animals, brain teasers, celebrities, children, general knowledge, literature, military, religion, science and technology, sex, sports. Got a preference?"
"Do you?"
"Well, I'm best at sex" she answered slowly and deliberately – enjoying the way he tried to stop his eyes from widening "but maybe we should try something else first. See how compatible we are."
"We talkin' about trivia?" Gibbs replied as he sucked down the rest of his drink.
Jen's eyes cut to his in a way that made his insides flutter.
"May be" she said with the same kind of sultriness he'd heard in her tone earlier.
"Try Military" Gibbs said after a while.
"Are you a military man, Jethro?"
Gibbs angled his head slightly and smiled into his refill.
"Hard to believe with that shaggy sheepdog look you've got going there" she said as she touched the stylus to the screen. "So I'm going to go with ex-military. Here's the first one. Which twentieth century conflict has been dubbed The Forgotten War?"
She looked over at Gibbs and together they said "Korea. Next question. What does the Blood Stripe represent?"
"Number of casualties of certain ranks. Battle of Chapultapec."
"It doesn't want that much detail" she said. "Only the war. Mexican?" she asked as the pen hovered over that box.
"Yeah."
"Marine Corps birthday. Easy. November tenth. What?"
"Nothin'" Gibbs said with a small smile.
"Okay, next. Hmm .."
"What've you got?"
"What's a SMAW? I would guess the A stands for assault, the W stands for weapon. SM?"
"Shoulder-launched, multi-purpose. There .." he replied, pointing to the right box. Feeling a strange blend of electricity and heat as his arm brushed hers. "What's next?" Gibbs said as he ordered her another drink.
"That's the lot. Are you trying to get me drunk Jethro?" she asked as she slid the PDA back to Joe. "Because I can assure you it won't be necessary."
Gibbs raised his eyebrows at her, and felt his groin tighten again as she bit her lower lip a little and looked him straight in the eye.
"You're a man in crisis" she said matter of factly as her hand snaked out to finger the collar of his shirt.
Gibbs stared at her, unsure how she could possibly tell.
"I like the long hair" she murmured when he didn't respond; caressing the skin beneath his collar in a way that gave him more pleasure than he'd had in a while. "Reminds me of a man I knew a lifetime ago. Spent a week with him in a cottage in Serbia where there was nothing to do but .."
She trailed off as she took in the look on his face.
"Are you undressing me in your head, Jethro?" she asked, as she substituted the gentle stroking of her fingertips with the more pronounced sensation of fingernails rasping over sensitized skin.
Gibbs smirked; watching in silence as she slipped off her stool.
"I'm leaving now" she breathed into his ear. "If you want to follow me and see what I really look like without clothes, you can. But there is one condition."
"And what's that?"
"This" she said as she touched his moustache "has to go."
