Rating: T
Summary: Sequel to 'A friend in need…' The hunt for La Grenouille had gone cold after the failed Ares mission, and the mockery he had made of Jenny during the Troy Webster case had been salt in the wound, but Jenny, Jethro, and of course Tony, have persisted. Now, like any cornered animal; The Frog will stop running and attack.
A.N.: Thank you towritingfreak145, MatteaAM, Twilight Trekky, Mrs. Elizabeth Gibbs, MissJayne, jstapny, babyred1995, black widow mistress, xxhiphuggersxx and HesMines for reviewing the final chapter of 'A friend in need.'
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
The sunlight filtered through the curtains, highlighting the two bodies that lay asleep on the bed, their bodies entwined, both for warmth, because the sheet had long since fallen to the floor, and for the comfort of the familiar embrace. Their breathing which was loud in the quiet room had synchronised during the night, making a simple duet like they had been made to breathe together.
Jethro shifted when the sunlight reached his face, reluctantly awakening to shuffle backwards, gently pulling Jenny with him. She slept on, which was hardly surprising. They had both gotten in late last night, after celebrating Jenny's return from Paris. Celebrating and questioning. She had gone missing for 21 hours in Paris, and her innocent act in the airport had been so thin he had seen straight through it. He knew it was about La Grenouille, she had let him in on the investigation two months ago, he knew everything about her operations, but now it seemed she wanted to keep this one to herself. Why?
As soon as she had gotten back he had been waiting for her, and he had taken her out to her favourite restaurant. They had shared a bottle of wine, talked of work until she had relaxed and then he had asked her about her time in Paris. That one bottle would have nearly taken up this week's allowance; Cold turkey was not apparently the way to wean her off of alcohol, particularly when she had such a high profile job. Ducky had given him instructions on how to limit her intake without seeming like he was managing her life. He had been prepared to count how many glasses she would have and mentally cross them off of her alcohol allowance list in his head, but she had coyly told him that she wouldn't drink anymore than one glass, and she hadn't even finished that one by the end of the night.
She had told him where she had gone anyway. She had gone to see a friend of her father's who is dying, and he had told her some disturbing things, the most alarming being that he had seen and spoken to her father just two weeks ago. 'A dying man does not lie', he had apparently said to her, but Jethro reminded her that that particular dying man did have something to protect, a daughter, and keeping her safe would be his first priority if she was threatened. Besides, his daughter had said that sometimes the morphine affected his memory, so he could have just been imagining it.
Jenny had agreed with him, she had seen her father's dead body, she had buried him, she knew he was dead. She hadn't wanted to tell Jethro at first because it had really reflected directly on her mental state. What if she had believed him? It wouldn't have been a difficult thing to do if she hadn't been the one who had found her father's dead body. She had resolved to put it out of her mind when the desserts had finally arrived.
Jethro stroked his hand lazily up and down her back, enjoying the simple contact and the freedom to touch her. He was aware that not many people got second chances like this, so he was unwilling to waste a moment. Jenny stirred under his fingers and snuggled closer to him, sighing happily and then playfully nipping his arm with her teeth to still its movements. He obliged, but only after tickling her side in retaliation.
They dozed peacefully until their alarm went off, and then they dragged themselves out of bed and into the bathroom for their morning rituals, and then a water saving, communal shower. Half an hour later they emerged fully dressed from the bedroom with large smiles on stress free faces. They went straight to the kitchen, where Jenny switched on the coffee maker and Jethro put some bread in the toaster. This had been their typical morning since Jethro had begun staying the night, though he did sometimes sleep at his own house too, but what had once been a haven where he could go to unwind, now felt empty and isolated.
Jenny needed him with her more than he needed the time alone, and if he was honest with himself, he didn't really need that. Working through the day and not seeing her was distance enough, and though he knew eventually he would need some space, he knew they could talk about that when he moved in completely. He was going to move in, he knew it. Jenny had almost asked him twice already but thought better of it at the last moment, but the time would come soon when she would pluck up the courage.
Jenny served the coffee and Jethro put the toast on plates, swapping one with each other and then sitting down at the table to eat and drink. They didn't have any cases to rush off to work for, but Jenny did have an op in MTAC and Gibbs wanted to finish the paperwork he had neglected in order to pick Jenny up from the airport last night. The conversation flowed easily between them, and then Jethro watched as Jenny got up to get some more toast. She usually only had two slices, but if she was feeling more peckish today, he wasn't going to stop her. She didn't usually eat enough anyway.
Jenny smiled at him when she finished her last mouthful of toast and he put both of their plates in the sink and then poured himself another coffee. He offered one to Jenny, but she didn't want one. She stood up and wandered over to him, pressing a kiss onto his cheek and then wandered away, out of the kitchen, presumably to her study to get her briefcase ready for the day.
Jenny wandered happily through her house, her thoughts turned inwards. She had some very happy news which she wanted to share with Jethro, but she wanted the moment to be perfect. After all, this was a hard subject for both of them; synonymous with pain and loss, and the last thing she wanted was for her news to hurt him. She had initially felt bad when she had found out, and scared, scared that he would leave her, but all of that negativity had disappeared when it had really sunk in. Now she couldn't be happier, everything around her had a silver lining and every problem had a solution, despite her quite heartily believing the opposite just moments before that little life changing stick had changed to positive.
She smiled to herself and gently rubbed her stomach. She would have something else to tell Rosie now. She had first taken Jethro to Rosie's grave the day after Emily had left. Jethro had thought it would be a bad idea, that losing Emily and then going to her dead child's grave would only make her worse, but he hadn't understood how calming talking to Rosie was for her. It had been a while since she had been before that day and so she and Jethro had done a little weeding and cleaned up the grave, placing fresh flowers in the holder. It had been painful of course, it always was, but she liked to believe that her little girl really could hear her.
She had taken her picture albums and shown them to Jethro while they sat on the grass. She had reminisced while Jethro had absorbed every scrap of information he could. He would never meet Rosie, but Jenny knew that she spoke so energetically of her at the graveside that he had made it a weekly thing. Every week they would have a picnic by Rosie's grave and she would tell him about every second of her young life, right up until the end. She usually cried so hard he had to take her home after only a short time, but she was getting better at talking about her, and his patience was gratifying.
She was thinking about asking him to move in with her, but now she was unsure about how to do it. If she told him she was pregnant first, would he say yes only because she was pregnant? What if she told him after and he said no? What would they do then? She wanted him with her always, and though they would have time alone whether they were living together or not, she just wanted the feeling of being properly together, without getting married. She cringed as she thought about becoming Mrs Gibbs number 5, perhaps they could get married and she could keep her last name?
Jenny strolled through the doors to her study, lost in thought, and walked over to her desk. She reached down for her briefcase and then straightened up, about to put it on the desk, when she spotted something already on it, something that shouldn't be there. she froze, staring wide eyed at the half empty bottle of Scotch and the glass next to it, not daring to believe what she was seeing.
"Jethro?" she called, hoping that she wasn't going mad. She dropped her briefcase and slowly began to circle her desk, not taking her eyes off of the bottle for a second in case it disappeared. She heard Jethro enter the room and come towards her, so she raised her hand and pointed at the desk. "Did you do that?" she asked, hoping that he had simply developed a taste for Scotch and forgot to put the bottle away in case she was tempted to drink it.
"Do what? Leave the bottle there?" he asked, following her finger to the bottle that seemed to have her bewitched. She nodded and he shrugged, shaking his head. "No, and as far as I know Noemi doesn't drink." he said, in an attempt to lighten the mood. It didn't seem to work though, so he abandoned the attempt. "Maybe Ducky left it here, he drinks Scotch." he said reasonably, but Jenny shook her head.
"Jethro… that's my father's favourite brand, the arrangement is exactly how he would leave it on a night… it's like he's just left the room…" she trailed off, shivering slightly. She looked around the desk but nothing else had been touched.
"Jenny, it's not possible that it was your father. He's dead, you know he is." Jethro said soothingly, coming up behind her slowly and putting his hands on her shoulders. "This is also not the first attempt that has been made to try and convince you otherwise." he reminded her. Someone was striking while the doubt that her fathers friend had created in her mind was still fresh, and there was only one person who would have the drive to do something like that; La Grenouille.
"I know, but…" she gestured helplessly at the bottle and Jethro's heart ached for her. She straightened up and dropped her hand, searching through one of the drawers for some clear plastic bags. "I want Abby to check it for prints, maybe we can find out who is doing this to me." she said, her voice full of steel. She pulled out two bags and ties and carefully wrapped them inside without touching them.
"Whoever did it, one thing is for sure, La Froggy is getting desperate." he said thoughtfully, thinking back to everything he had read on her operations to catch him. Something hit him then, a stray thought that he had pushed to the back of his mind when he had spoken to Tobias about Emily's fortnightly 'psyche talk' with Ducky. He had told him they were going to have a polygraph test, all of NCIS, but Jenny was the target. "We are being polygraphed on Monday, all of NCIS including you. It's a strange coincidence that someone is playing mind games with you just days beforehand." he said out loud, watching Jenny mull over his words.
"You're right, he is getting desperate. He has never done anything like this before, he must feel under threat more than ever, but why?" she moved around her desk slowly while she voiced her thoughts out loud. "Making me believe my father is alive when he is definitely not would discredit me completely. My boss would believe I was unfit to remain NCIS director and as a result of that, all of my undercover operations would be terminated!" she declared triumphantly. "That's it; Tony is too close, La Grenouille is afraid." she broke out in an ecstatic predatory grin, but Jethro was suddenly very worried.
"So he must know who Tony really is, and the only reason he hasn't done anything more drastic about him already is that Jeanne could be hurt. So what happens when what he wants doesn't happen? What happens to Tony when you pass your polygraph?"