Today had not been the easiest day of work, in fact it had been one of the most stressful since she had become director, and they had some pretty stressful cases. She should've known he would come since he was mute when she tried to talk to him in autopsy, but he arrived much earlier than she had expected. She heard his heavy knock on the door and got up.
"You're still up?" Special Agent Gibbs asked as he entered her home brushing past her. She closed the door once he was inside and turned around to face him.
She ran two fingers through her naturally wavy red hair. "Umm.. yeah. What are you doing here?"
"Checking on you." He realized she was wearing the same clothes she had worn earlier and her make up was still on, meaning she hadn't showered, or even bothered to change. Her breath smelled of peppermint, which was strange because it usually smelled of bourbon especially after a sour day at work.
"You should drink some bourbon. Take some pain killers. Maybe a bath. Always seemed to help in Paris." He suggested.
"No." She stated glumly. "I'm fine."
He shot her a glare she would expect to get from her father, not her co-worker, friend, or ex-lover; whichever one he was at the moment. She rolled her eyes and walked casually into her bedroom, him following closely behind her.
"Really Jethro I am." She said but her confidence fell and her voice broke.
"What?" He asked.
"I haven't called Stanly's family yet." She said staring at the phone on the nightstand next to her bed. "I know what you're going to say. I'm the director now I have to make the bad phone calls. That it's my job to let these families know as soon as possible. But... Jethro what do I say? It's my fault he's dead."
"You still have that t-shirt I left?" He asked. Her eyebrows moved to ace a look of confusion. She had expected to hear some comforting words or some advice, not a question about a six-year-old t-shirt.
"Uhh... yeah I think so"
"Take some pills, start a bath. Put on some loose clothes." He demanded.
She rolled her eyes. "Says the man who refused to take a pill when he was shot in the shoulder."
He smiled when she pulled out the shirt he left because she had not only kept it, but she kept it safe and folded. "Don't be flattered, I just never bothered to throw it out."
"Mmhmm" he mumbled.
She went to walk by him and start her bath, but he pulled her against him, his arms around her waist, hands on her hips. "You didn't kill Stanley" he whispered from behind her. "And don't worry about that phone call. I'll handle it."
"Jethro you don't have to-"
He pushed her away from him playfully receiving a glare from the redhead. "Go." He said picking up the phone before she could protest. She sighed, but obeyed.
-20 min later-
He walked in on her. No warning or light knock on the door. He just walked in naturally as if it was six years ago.
"Jethro!" She shouted throwing her arms around to cover her chest and crossing her legs. He closed the door behind him.
"Calm down Jen, not like I haven't seen it before."
"Yeah six years ago!"
He sat down beside the bath tub.
"And if I remember correctly you have nothing to be embarrassed about." He said with a smirk and an arched eyebrow. She blushed and removed her arms. There were enough bubbles to cover her as much as her arms would anyway.
"Did you call?"
"Yeah. They took it hard. But they didn't blame you."
He handed her a glass of bourbon and she accepted it, taking a sip and then handing it back to him.
"My mistake cost him his life." She said leaning down in the tub and closing her eyes.
"My mistake cost Kate her life. But she was an agent. She had to put her life on the line to do her job. Stanley's no different."
"I agree. Doesn't make it any easier though. I fell asleep when I got home. Had a nightmare. I doubt that it's not going to last." She sounded embarrassed.
"Well, you were just kidnapped. Could've been killed. Those bad dreams come with it. Nothing to be embarrassed about."
Silence filled the room.
"I don't expect you to take this well, Jen. You're an agent and-"
"I was. I was an agent."
He sighed. "Yeah and a damn good one. Doesn't mean I expect you to carry on like nothing happened. Doesn't mean you can't shake a few tears off every once and a while. You were an agent. You're still a person."
A single tear made its way down her cheek as she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her. She quickly got dressed, completely ignoring his presence, and left the bathroom sad that she let him see the weak side of her and embarrassed that he was accepting it.
"Hey!" He said realizing she wasn't okay.
"Dammit Jethro! Why do you do this?" She nearly yelled.
"I wanna know how you feel." He stated.
"You really want to know? I'm pissed off that you care so much. And I'm frustrated because I know that the caring is mutual and I'm... sad because I can't give into these... urges to accept you into my life again and I-"
Her voice cut off in surprise as he wrapped his firm arms around her. She broke down as he guarded her from the outside world.
"I was so scared" she admitted. He tightened his grip on her. "I knew something was wrong. And when I saw his brother was dead. Ziva was handcuffed on the ground. I knew he was gonna kill me. I just wanted you there. I tried Jethro. I tried so hard to be strong but... I just wanted you there with me."
"It's okay, I got ya' Jenny. You're safe now." He whispered reassuringly into her ear. He never saw her cry before but he did right then and there.
"His partner was gonna kill me! If I hadn't been able to get out of those stupid ropes then he would have! How do I accept that? That a single change in events could have left me dead in autopsy?!"
"Hey! If it was meant to be that you would be dead in autopsy then you wouldn't have gotten out of those ropes! But you did and you're okay." He said with a certain power in his voice, she believed every word he was saying. "Tell me about the nightmare."
She shook her head against his shoulder. In that dream James Demsky had taken that pocket knife seriously. Began cutting her into bits and pieces. It was a horrible dream and she felt every pinch of the knife slicing through her skin. She wished he could read her mind, for she wanted him to know about the dream but she didn't have the strength to say it outloud.
His lips met her unexpectedly, pulling her into a kiss of pure passion filled with so many emotions it was nearly impossible to read. There was a few innocent emotions such as 'you're safe' and 'I'm here'. There were some stronger emotions such as 'I care' and 'thank you'. Then there was the biggest emotion which was 'I love you'.
"Thank you." She whispered softly when they pulled apart.
He gave her a small nod, not sure what to do now.
"Stay?" She asked. "Not for sex but... to make me feel... safe?"
He gave her a small smile and a nod before placing a gentle kiss on her lips. "I'll keep you safe, Jenny."
A/N: Crappy ending, I know, but I couldn't find any other way to end it. I just saw Jeopardy today and Jenny's face when she saw Brian Demsky was dead was absolutely heartbreaking! One of my favorite moments when he's like "Have a drink." Her face is really funny there! Let me know what you guys think! Only a push of the blue button will make my day! 143!
- Sasha