Disclaimer: NCIS and all related characters are property of their respective owners. I make no claim on them and write this merely for my own enjoyment.

Author's Note: I'm placing my episode-related fics here, be they episode tags or missing scenes or what have you. Each one will be labeled according to which episode they come from, and I will change the summary on the fic to reflect the latest episode posted.

Pieces of the Puzzle
Chapter One: Silver War

"I thought we agreed you'd ask if you had any other changes you wanted to make to my team."

Jenny glanced up from the file in her hand and looked to her right as Gibbs took the empty seat next to her. Even in the dim light of MTAC, she could see the exasperation clearly written on his handsome features. "What do you mean?" she asked quietly, careful not to allow her voice to carry to the technicians who were busy with their work across the room. She said teasingly, "As far as I know there aren't any more Mossad officers that are joining NCIS and -"

"My forensic scientist is down in her lab, completely distracted from her work because you set one of your paper-pushers on her."

Jenny raised an eyebrow. "Miss Sciuto -"

"Abby," he corrected, interrupting her yet again.

She glared at him and started again. "Miss Sciuto was given the proper reminder of the NCIS dress code. There is a time and a place for displaying her own personal style and tastes, Jethro, and the work place is not one of them."

Gibbs didn't respond at first, his eyes on the large screen in front of them. He watched the numbers and other kinds of information fly across it for a moment, and then turned toward her. "Did Morrow give you any information at all on us before he took off for his cushy corner office at Homeland Security?"

Jenny sighed and ignored the barb concerning her predecessor, instead saying only, "Yes Jethro, he left a brief account of your success rates, your team's methods, and -"

Gibbs cut her off. "Then you know that Abby is an instrumental part of those successes. She routinely provides us with the most vital information needed in an investigation, oftentimes the information we need to match a suspect with the crime in question."

She blinked at the long speech. Long for Gibbs, anyway. "Your point?"

"My point is that it matters more that she gets the job done, and done well, than the fact that she wears all black and spiked collars and bracelets while she's working." He leaned closer, almost whispering in her ear. "Leave Abby alone, Jen. She gets the job done. That's all you need to worry about."

Jenny stared at him. She had always known that Gibbs would do anything for his team, up to and including taking a bullet for any of them. She recalled the scars on his body well enough to remember that he had done so on more than one occasion in the past. This, though? Leroy Jethro Gibbs intervening on behalf of a forensic scientist concerning her wardrobe choices, and with a straight face? It was ridiculous!

"Why are you making such an issue of this, Jethro?"

His blue eyes were perfectly blank, inscrutable. "She's a part of my team," he said simply. He got up and started toward the door, moving away as swiftly as he had come.

"I didn't know you went to bat for scientists," Jenny called after him. "Normally, you can't stand them."

He didn't respond, but she did see him pull him out his cell phone and click one of his speed-dial numbers. "Abbs," he said into it a moment later, just as he walked out of MTAC, "it's taken care of. Lose the monkey suit."

The door shut behind him, leaving Jenny alone in the room, aside from the still-busy technicians. After a few seconds, she turned around and faced the screen in front of her.

She knew she had changed since they had gone their separate ways in Paris. She had learned to play her strengths, to see beyond the all-consuming fieldwork that Gibbs thrived on. It was only now that Jenny actually considered that maybe Gibbs had changed too in that time.

Becoming the NCIS Director had been an excellent career move for her, but now Jenny was beginning to think that the people that made up the agency were a bit more complicated than she had initially anticipated.

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