Author: MoiraShipper
Summary: Gibbs goes to California to visit Decker's restaurant and he finds a redhead there. Prentess's universe.
Let her go
But you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Onky know you love her when you let her go
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love hrr when you let her go
Let her go-Passenger
Six years later, and there he was, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, driving through the hot roads of California. The route that the gray-haired man had chosen was desert and to the two sides of the road you looked, there were only dry grass and cactus. Several things had guided him to that road, because the past year had been marked by changes. Ziva's departure, the visit to his father, the arrival of a new agent to his team and the death of a friend. After decades working at NCIS, he should already be accustomed to the changes, but he wasn't.
All this made him remember of 2008, when he'd lost his former lover and director, Jenny Shepard, a few miles from where he was now. Not having seen the changes in her or not being able to say goodbye were the worst things that had happened that year and he would never listen to her melodious laughter again and the only thing from her that was left was the photo he had taken of her in Serbia, twenty years ago and he'd saved from her house when he burned it.
Arriving at the restaurant that had belonged to Decker, Gibbs stopped the car abruptly, his blue eyes shocked. Looking to the restaurant, rather than seeing it abandoned with the door still ajar as it had been left when they pulled the bodies from there, the place was painted, with glass windows and several cars parked there. He saw that there were people inside and for a moment, Gibbs closed his eyes, gripping the wheel and breathing deeply several times.
It wasn't just the shock of seeing the place working, but also because he remembered when he had reached the place and came in, only to find blood on the floor and a paper plate saying 'Jenny Shepard', marking the spot where her body had been found.
Gibbs thought about turning back his car, feeling his eyes burn, but his curiosity to see who had bought the place won so he turned off the car, getting out and protecting his eyes from the clarity, while walking under the sun to the restaurant in the middle of the desert. When he passed through the door, the bell rang announcing the arrival of a customer and he saw that the place looked very different from the last time, with several families having breakfast.
The glasses were clean and transparent, with multicolored lights above the tables and comfortable seats. The place had a dim light, as the sun streamed through the windows and Gibbs stopped in the middle of the place, feeling his heart beat fast while smelling a floral scent and French perfume in the place amid the smell of food, but he didn't find the owner of the perfume through the customers and he took a table while a waitress approached him with a notebook in hand:
"What do you want?"
"A black coffee." Gibbs replied, staring at the couple sitting on the table in front of him and imagining himself there drinking coffee with Jenny, who would be laughing and holding his hand.
When the waitress returned with his coffee, Gibbs took a sip and the couple got up and the first thing Gibbs noted, was that the table behind them was where they had found Jenny's body and there was a woman sitting there, her back to him.
The woman wore a pink polo shirt with a black skirt and black high heels and her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Gibbs didn't have to wait for her to turn around to know she had bangs framing her emerald eyes and that her shirt was the same she had worn the day she was shot, just a different color and she was leaning slightly forward, doing crosswords.
"Hey you!" Gibbs called without thinking, his voice coming out hoarse.
He saw the woman lift her head and slowly turn to him with the crossword in hands, puzzled.
"Jethro?" Jenny called, shocked to see the man of her life, only five feet from her, older than she could remember, his eyes shining and Jenny felt excited with all his beauty.
Her green eyes were wide in shock, but there was a bit of passion and Gibbs walked away from his coffee, going to her in slow and uncertain steps, holding his breath, his eyes shinninhpg while Jenny's eyes started to wet and the tears began to flow too as she tried to wipe them without success, dropping the crossword.
When he stopped in front of her, Gibbs saw that Jenny had aged a bit in the last six years, but she was still beautiful and the sunlight coming through the window along with the colorful lamp threw colored lights on her wet face.
Gibbs hadn't time to say anything or breathe because the redhead grabbed him by the front of his shirt and kissed him hard.
At first Gibbs didn't respond, but then his lips began to move over hers passionately, holding her by the waist and lifting her gently while Jenny continued to grab the front of his shirt with one hand, running the other through his gray hair.
When the two parted, panting and stained, more tears fell on their faces and Gibbs kissed her lips sweetly this time, making Jenny melt and she hugged him, both ignoring some clients who turned to see the scene, while the couple murmured sweet nothings and words like 'I missed you' or 'don't leave'.
"How can you be alive, Jen?" He asked, hoarsely, as he felt her firm arms around him, glad to see that despite having aged, she remained the same and tasted the same.
"I never died Jethro... Now I am Jeanne Prentess." She murmured, feeling his lips kiss her neck gently and Gibbs sighed as he remembered that it was the same name she used in Europe. "I went to the protection program and after going through a treatment for my illness, I didn't want to go back to DC so I bought this restaurant."
After two years there, she had used the money her father had left for her to renovate the restaurant that had belonged to Decker to have something to occupy her mind and she'd tried to make the place as comfortable as possible.
"Why didn't you want come back?" He asked not understanding her.
"Because I didn't have reasons to continue in DC if you didn't want me." She replied sadly, stroking the side of his head and nibbling his ear. "And now I'm engaged."
"What?" Gibbs felt the tightness in his chest, as he stopped kissing her and stared at her, shocked, his sapphire eyes shining. "Who?"
Jenny just shook her head, releasing him and looking at her left hand, where a gold ring sparkled and she sat back down and Gibbs sat down beside her and the waitress served them two more coffee. Gibbs looked at her face illuminated by the lamp, devastated by the news.
"Josh Addison, you don't know him, he's a doctor here in California." She replied with a firm voice as Gibbs sipped his coffee to calm down. "It was him who operated and indicated me a new treatment for my disease."
"Are you okay now?" He asked, his voice low and worried, still devastated by her engagement, but holding Jenny's right hand, kissing it and leading up to his cheek, feeling the warmth of her hand.
Jenny nodded, reassuring him.
"I am... I like to live here in California. Jeanne Prentess is a woman who lives a simple life, running a restaurant and living in a house with a white picket fence." She said, stroking his face and feeling his beard, while staring at his blue eyes, sadly.
"You chose him because he saved you?" Gibbs asked in a sad voice to see that someone else was in her life now, hugging her and kissing her, but glad she at least had someone to be at her side.
Jenny released her hand, sipping her coffee and nodded, thinking about Josh Addison, the man she loved and was engaged to.
"Yes, Jethro."
That year she had entered into the protection program hadn't been easy because all she could think was Gibbs and how things would have been different if he had arrived on time in California and rescued her and slowly she began to open up to the doctor and go out with him. Gibbs would always be a huge part of her life, but Josh had done much for her in those five years.
"Forgive me if I didn't say 'yes' in your house that night Jenny, I love you."
Was all Gibbs said, resigned, knowing that he couldn't stand living without her, but at least the woman he loved was alive, facing her green eyes illuminated by colored lights and he tilted his face toward her and Jenny kept her eyes open as he kissed her lips, bitter.
"Stay safe Jen, please."
"Jethro..."
But he stood up, seeing Jenny with her green and teary eyes, before slamming the door behind him wiping his face where a tear had fallen from his eye and leaving Jenny behind.
Jenny just stared at the ring on her finger, asking herself if marring Josh was the right thing to do when she decided she should say 'yes' to Gibbs and she took off the ring, kissing it and whispering 'Forgive me Josh', and left it on the table, walking in decisive steps toward the door from where Gibbs had left, feeling the tears trickle down her face, but this time were tears of happiness.
"I love you Jethro, don't let 'us' die." She pleaded.
She ignored the sun on her eyes and stood facing him, preventing him from making the same mistake she'd made in that plane in Paris and kissed him, feeling him smile and kiss her back, passionately, lifting her off the ground a little and Jenny wrapped her legs around his ankles, before Gibbs lead them back to the restaurant.
"Never again, Jen."