Disclaimer: I own nothing, I own no one. I don't even own three of the seasons of NCIS hidden in my house because someone (who shall remain nameless) refuses to give them to me before Christmas…
A/N: This is my first attempt at Jenny/Gibbs so please keep that in mind when reading! That said, I'm very open to constructive criticism so if you have any advice, please feel free to tell me.
Also, I came up with this idea today. My plan is; to celebrate Christmas, I'm going to put up a new chapter every week until Christmas that will pick up from the last chapter IF you think it's a good idea. So please let me know if you want me to continue or if you think it's an awful idea.
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Four weeks to Christmas…
Jenny hated Christmas. She wanted the whole holiday over and done with. There was nothing more depressing than compiling a Christmas list and noticing the absence of family from the list of people to buy presents for. Actually, there was something that topped that on the depressing stakes: the thought of having to muddle through the next month alone while every corner turned greeted her with some gaudy Christmas decoration, only to end it all by waking up to an empty house Christmas morning.
Even NCIS hadn't escaped the wrath of tinsel, baubles and an overwhelming amount of red, green, silver and gold. Jenny had walked into the office on Friday only to be greeted by that sight, which was an unwelcome early morning reminder of the lonely holiday ahead of her. The dreaded day was still over four weeks away-why the rush?
The one place she knew would be the most dangerous was the shops. She shuddered at the thought of all of the Christmas trees that would be stuck up everywhere with lights flashing annoyingly, the inordinate amount of decorations that would find their way here, there and everywhere so that no patch of the shops would be spared. And in case anyone dared forget that Christmas was approaching, every shop would have Christmas music bellowing out of it.
Shopping was going to be a nightmare-that was certain. So Jenny decided to get her Christmas shopping over and done with the first chance she got, which explained why she was subjecting herself to the torture of carols and decorations that Saturday morning.
She quickly found what she had in mind for Ziva, Tony, McGee and Abby's presents but one person proved to be more of a challenge. She scoured shop after shop after shop trying to find something she thought Jethro would like, but nothing was good enough. If truth were told, she wanted to find him the perfect present. Something that he would remember long after he had opened it and found a place in his house to put it. Something….well, something that would make him think constantly of her. The way she always found herself thinking about him.
After searching unsuccessfully for close to an hour, Jenny let her imagination wander and take control. If she could get him anything without fear of how he'd react-what would it be?
Her feet instinctively led the way to the underwear department of the store she was in and she couldn't help but go over to the selection of Christmas underwear for men she found before her. She knew she would never buy any of them for Jethro but after all of this Christmas exposure, she figured she was entitled to some light relief.
She found herself looking at green silk boxers with little Santa Clauses scattered all over and as she felt the material in her hand, she couldn't help the giggle that escaped her mouth at the idea of Jethro wearing something this ridiculous.
"Personally, I prefer these," a familiar voice said in her ear, picking up a man's black g-string with a picture of a surprised looking gingerbread man decorating the front of the sparse material.
Jenny whirled around to confirm her worst nightmare. Jethro was standing in front of her, trying unsuccessfully to stop the highly amused smile on his face from growing. An instant blush rose in her cheeks knowing that he had caught her looking at this underwear.
"Planning on giving them to someone special, Jen?" Jethro asked, unable to stop the chuckle mingling with his words.
"Are you planning on giving that to someone special?" Jenny asked, indicating the g-string still in his hands. "Your taste in partners has changed a bit, then, hasn't it?"
Jethro smiled widely as he put the gingerbread man back where it came from and Jenny noticed the collection of bags he was holding in his other hand.
"You've been doing some Christmas shopping too, then?" Jen asked, eyeing the bags.
"I thought I'd get in early-beat the rush," Jethro said. "Looks like you had the same idea."
They walked out of the shop together in comfortable silence and Jenny couldn't help but notice how having Jethro with her suddenly made the twinkling of the Christmas decorations more bearable. The bags in her hand suddenly felt lighter and she happily continued walking until she noticed that Jethro had stopped.
She turned and looked at him, his gaze meeting hers and she found herself holding her breath while she waited for whatever it was he was about to say or do.
"Coffee?" he suggested simply, and it was then she noticed they were standing outside a coffee shop.
She exhaled, unsure as to whether she was happy or disappointed. There was something about the way he was looking at her that made her think he might have been about to… No. Of course not. She mentally scolded herself-she was certain that Jethro would never make a move in the middle of a shopping centre. Certain he had no intention on making any move on her whatsoever. She was imagining things, imagining what she wanted to happen.
So she plastered on a smile, nodded her head and the two of them found a table.
"This used to be my favourite Christmas song when I was a kid," Jenny said listening to the music playing after they'd ordered their coffees.
"O Holy Night?" Jethro asked, slightly surprised.
Jenny shrugged. "It was my dad's favourite and he'd play it repeatedly on Christmas morning while we opened our presents."
Jethro couldn't help but smile as he imagined a young Jenny ecstatically opening her presents on Christmas morning. He'd be willing to bet anything that she'd worn pigtails or plaits. "And now?"
"It doesn't matter, does it?" Jenny said with a sad smile. "The magic of Christmas leaves us all after we reach a certain age."
He didn't know what to say to that. He couldn't exactly defend her statement-he hadn't enjoyed a single Christmas since Shannon and Kelly had died.
"It does," he finally said quietly.
A waiter brought them their coffee and they sat in silence for a few minutes, allowing the caffeine to blissfully infiltrate their systems. Jenny couldn't help but feel slightly guilty at the change in atmosphere. Bringing up her own bitter feelings about this holiday had obviously reminded Jethro of all he had lost and she couldn't stand to see him in pain. She'd give anything to alleviate just a little bit of that suffering, whatever it took. She settled for changing the mood.
"Any presents for me in those bags?" she asked with a playful grin, her heart lightening considerably as she saw Jethro return her smile.
"You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"
"Do you really expect me to wait that long? I used to be a damn good agent, remember."
"Yeah, well, I definitely remember you were always impatient," Jethro teased.
Jenny smiled sweetly and surreptitiously edged a foot over to where Jethro's bags lay underneath the table, trying to find a handle to latch onto and drag back to her.
"I seem to remember someone who was even more impatient than me," Jenny teased right back, trying to keep him distracted. "And wanted everything done yesterday."
"Nice try, Jen," Jethro smiled, catching her creeping leg in his hand and gently pushing it back to her side of the table.
She tried not to show how much his touch had affected her, tried not to show that at that moment, it felt like she was sixteen again and there was no one in the world but him and her. She took a bit longer to reply than she normally did, and when she spoke she was pleased to find that her voice held no trace of the impact Jethro had just had on her.
"Ha! So you do have a present for me!" she exclaimed gleefully.
"What makes you say that?"
"You wouldn't care about me looking through those bags unless there was something you didn't want me to see," Jenny said before taking another sip of her coffee.
"Doesn't necessarily mean it's for you, does it?" Jethro teased. "For someone who claims not to like Christmas, you sure are interested in presents, Jen."
"It's a female thing, you wouldn't understand," Jenny replied.
A smile appeared on Jethro's face and Jenny had the distinct feeling that it had nothing to do with what she just said.
"What?" she asked suspiciously with a frown.
Jethro's smile deepened and he leaned over the table, stretching out his hand to swiftly wipe away the foam that had rested on the top of Jenny's lip. His touch sent thrills down her spine and although neither broke eye contact the whole time, the playful smile on Jethro's face and the frown on Jenny's had vanished.
"There was some foam above your lip," he explained, sitting back into his chair while trying to forget about the current of electricity that had undoubtedly ran between them. What did they say about old habits? That they died hard? He could say now with conviction that they definitely did.
Jenny nodded, somehow finding herself unable to speak and they finally broke eye contact. The silence between them that had been so comfortable just minutes ago was now charged and unsettling. She took a sip of her coffee, then another and another, each time careful to ensure that nothing had been left above her lip.
A part of her was unable to move past the feelings for Jethro that were currently flooding her. The other part wanted to laugh at herself for behaving like such a lovesick teenager on her first date.
"Christmas hasn't been the same since…" Jethro trailed off but Jenny looked up in surprise, knowing what he was going to say next. He didn't need to finish the sentence, she knew it was about Shannon and Kelly, and she realised with a mix of pleasure and sadness that he had never opened up like this to her about them before.
"It must be awful," she said in a voice filled with compassion.
"Not awful," he replied quietly. "It's just not…Christmas."
She couldn't help it. She reached for his hand that was resting on the table and to her relief, he didn't fight it. He returned her hold and gave her hand a squeeze, running his thumb over her palm. They sat like this for a few minutes, both unwilling to break the contact yet just as unwilling to admit it.
"You're not trying to get my bags right now, are you, Jen?" Jethro asked with a smile.
She released his hand in playful frustration and dragged her leg back from the bag she had so nearly taken over to her.
"You don't expect to fool me that easily, do you?" he said chuckling.
"Just give me a hint, Jethro," Jenny whined, draining the last of her coffee.
Jethro placed his empty coffee mug on the table and surveyed her for several seconds.
"You really think there's a present for you?"
"You really expect me to believe there's not?"
"How 'bout this," he said, "you show me my present and I'll show you yours."
Jenny hesitated.
"Unless, of course, I stopped you from buying my present earlier," he said with a grin, noticing her hesitation and asking a passing waiter for the bill.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't think bright green's your colour," Jenny replied.
"I agree. I think the gingerbread man would suit me much more."
A waitress delivered their bill with a look of confusion, showing she'd obviously heard the last part of their discussion and Jenny couldn't help but laugh. She'd never expected to find anything humorous in today's Christmas shopping expedition and yet she'd already laughed several times, each one thanks to the man in front of her.
"There you go," Jethro said, paying the bill. "There's your Christmas present. A cup of coffee."
Jenny couldn't help but give him a sceptical look as they gathered their stuff and got up.
"You doing any more shopping?" he asked.
She contemplated this for a moment before shaking her head. Maybe she'd be able to brave another Christmas shopping trip to find Jethro the perfect present. This trip certainly hadn't turned out as bad as she thought it would have.
"Me neither," he said. "I'll walk you to the car park, then."
"It's about five steps away from here," she said with a smile.
He shrugged and walked her there anyway, and this time not only were the decorations less offensive but the Christmas music meeting Jenny's ears left her wanting to smile rather than wanting to turn and run.
"Have a good weekend, Jen," he said when they reached the car park.
"You too," she told him, unable to wipe away the smile that lit up her face.
"And don't forget my gingerbread man," he whispered in her ear.
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Should I continue?
(Btw I know it's more like five weeks to Christmas than four at the moment, but if I do continue I won't be able to update until the week after next because I'm going on holidays.)