Title: Morning Surprises
Author: nicis_anatomy
Word Count: 1000
Pairing or Featured Characters: Jenny/Jethro
Rating: PG
Summary: It's late, when both, Jenny and Jethro feel the urge to check something down in the evidence locker. And the broken lock isn't the only one playing tricks on Jenny ... - Sequel to "Trapped" and written for lj's nciswords1000 (Challenge #16: "I believe that one's yours."
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, nor am I making any money from them. If I would Season 5 would have ended different.

~*~*~*~*~

It was a sudden stabbing pain that woke Jenny up. Her neck was aching and she had trouble moving her left arm.
Disoriented Jenny sat up a bit only to learn a second later that she couldn't move because something - or someone was holding her back.
Jethro.
She frowned.
Where was she? What was she doing here? And the most important question was: What was Jethro doing here, with her?

Memories from years ago flashed before her eyes, trying to convince her that they were still in Europe and that this was one of these boring stakeouts, where both of them had occasionally fallen asleep over the job. But then she discovered the racks around her, full of boxes filled with evidence that was collected over the years, and realisation hit her nearly as hard as one of these boxes had hit her head earlier that night.

Suddenly, she remembered why she and Jethro were here.
The defect lock, she hadn't known about; the door she'd closed behind her; the anger in Jethro's voice; she, stumbling backwards until something had hit her head; he sitting beside her, comforting her, until she'd fallen asleep. And as it seemed Jethro had managed to fall asleep, too.

Jenny smiled, watching him closely.
His head was leaning against the wall, his mouth slightly open, while he was mumbling something too quite for her to understand. His arm was still resting protective on her shoulder, his hand gently squeezing her upper arm.
Although this was somehow an unusual situation, (one she'd wished for for years) Jenny wished she would be able to go back to sleep, pretending like this was nothing special, nothing they would be worried about in the morning.
Maybe if she was lucky, Jethro would never know that she'd been awake, watching him sleep, and she could just pretend this had never happened and that everything was fine - just the way she was pretending since day one after she'd come back.

Deep inside her nothing was fine and the smile she forced every time he was near, was only covering the bruises the gab between them was causing. Every cell in her was screaming, begging him silently to hold her, to tell her he still loved her, and at the same time her mind was keeping him at bay, afraid he would push her away. She just couldn't figure out what he was thinking or what she (still) was to him; like earlier when he'd pulled her closer and told her to get some sleep. One second he was angry at her and the next he was the caring man she'd fallen in love with all those years ago ...
Carefully, trying not to wake him, Jenny moved a few inches. Her hip was starting to get numb and there was something pressing hard against her leg.
As she moved aside she discovered the cellphone, pinned between her thigh and Jethro's hip, were it obviously had fallen out of his pocket.

"We could use our cell phones to call for help. But I left mine at my desk." - "Yeah, me too."

She recalled the conversation they'd had earlier, but instead of being angry at him for lying to her, she just shook her head in amusement.
"Bastard!" she whispered, hiding the cellphone in her blazer, before she snuggled back against him. She closed her eyes and was back asleep a second later.
The smile on her face didn't fade until Jethro woke her a few hours later, when the janitor stepped out of the elevator singing along with some weird spanish song he was listening to on his iPod.

~*~*~

A few minutes later everything was back to business, as they both entered the bullpen, which was surprisingly crowded already. They walked around the corner in silence. But it wasn't the awkward silence Jenny had expected. It was more like there was no need to talk, because they already knew what the other was thinking. A feeling that totally made up for the night they'd spend trapped in the evidence locker.

As they reached to stairs, Jenny stopped.
"Thank you for looking after me," she said, turning to him. "And I believe that one's yours." She handed him over his cellphone she had kept in her pocket, smiling knowingly, before she headed for her office.

Jethro watched her walk away, confused about what had just happened.
She'd known all along that he'd lied about his cellphone, and still she hadn't made him a scene as soon as she'd found out.
"Sometimes you can still surprise me, Jen," he mumbled, shaking his head in slight amusement.

He turned to his desk, and frowned. His team was already there - early, which normally would have made him proud, but watching his agent standing there, whispering and obviously curious why he was still wearing the same cloth he'd worn last night, was only annoying. And if that wasn't bad enough, Ziva had just pointed out that Jenny, too, was wearing the dress from yesterday.
On days like that his lip-reading skills were more a curse than anything else...

Sighing deeply, Jethro started walking over to his desk, but then made a sharp turn to his right, heading up the stairs instead. He was already top on the list of today's gossip that one more little detour wouldn't make a difference anymore.
He greeted Cynthia behind her desk and before the Assistant could open her mouse he was already in Jenny's office.
"Any plans for tonight, Jen?" he asked, without giving her time to react.
"Jethro … what …" Jenny, who had just poured herself a glass of water turned around, her expression softening instantly, when she saw his eyes twinkle.
"What do you have in mind?" she asked.
"I was thinking Dinner and a movie? I'll pick you up at eight."
"Don't be late!" Jenny smiled at him, as he turned to leave the office again.

Obviously, she wasn't the only one who could still surprise an old friend.

- The End -