a/n: So this isn't part of any series I've done. It's just something I wrote for the fun of it because I'm bored today. There's really no plot, it's just a little 'subject' that's been bugging me to write about.
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NCIS
'Today was suppose to be a good day,' she thought mournfully as she continued to frantically search through the papers on her desk; accidentally in the process pushing a few dozen or so files out of the perfect stack she'd had them piled in. Frustrated, she resisted the urge to bang her head on her desk and cry as she watched them open and let loose their contents all over her office floor.
"Dammit," she groaned, and against her will she felt the hot prickling of traitorous, angry tears. She did one more pitiful sweep of the wreck she called her office. Looking everywhere for just a shimmer...
And being greeted by nothing.
With a groan she sank to her knees behind her desk; her head slamming down on the leather seat of her chair.
How had the day gone so wrong?
Earlier that day:
It was a Friday, and to most people maybe that would've been enough to put them in an instant good mood. After all, no one liked anything better than the prospect of an uninterrupted weekend. Though being the Director of a Federal Agency didn't really afford much down time for her. So it was only natural that she seemed at least a little overexcited, considering she'd managed to finally wrangle one of those infamous 'weekends off' out of the SecNav.
And by 'weekend off' she meant that even in the course of a national emergency, Vance would be called in. That there would be no briefcase coming home with her full of paperwork, and that there would be no frantic cellphone calls to her.
Her Saturday and Sunday would be completely uninterrupted blissful freedom, of that she had made sure. Considering she'd gone ahead and taken the extra precaution of taking the MCRT off rotation, so unless they caught an important red-tape covered case. Then there was no excuses for Jethro to come and drag her from her home on 'business' related means.
She'd taken advantage of that already; her, Ziva, and Abby had made shopping plans for Saturday. But her Sunday was a little bit up in the air; she didn't need to clean the house, Naomi took great care of that. There was no way she was bringing any paperwork home to do. And she would've done work in the garden, but...she didn't have a garden...
Maybe she'd head over to the basement and weasel a tumbler of bourbon out of Jethro.
Still, as much as she would've liked to get lost in her daydreams of the upcoming weekend, if she wanted that weekend there were things she would need to take care of today. No active operations going on that needed her immediate attention, or cases that needed her hand in the matter, grant it. So the day would be spent entirely at her desk, doing just enough paperwork so that she wouldn't get lost in a backlog come Monday morning.
Part of how she'd managed to get her impromptu vacation from her boss was because of the things she done that week. Since elections were coming up, there was a ball or a function scheduled almost every night for the next month that asked for attendance. And she would've done a few of them out of the goodness of her own heart, a couple more because SecNav would demand her presence. But not nearly one every night for the past week...unless she had an ulterior motive for it.
So for the past five nights, she'd been dressing up in uncomfortable evening gowns. Taking hours to do her hair up in intricate up-do's. Painting, polishing, and waxing almost every part of her body. Only to endure the slobbering of nasty old men as they drooled over every inch of her exposed skin.
But in the end, it had paid off. She'd gotten her weekend off.
After she had gotten home from the banquet the night before, a bout of insomnia had plagued her. Unable to just lie in bed, in her all too quiet house; she had hopped out bed and made her way to the closet. Intent on finding some sort of busy work to sooth her restless mind.
Once she'd organized every little article of clothing in her closet into three different piles; clothes she wanted to keep, clothes she would donate to charity, and clothes she thought Abby or Ziva might like. She'd reluctantly decided to toss a few pairs out of her beloved heels, considering that would just give her more closet space-therefore incentive to buy more.
Then she'd moved on to her jewelry box, which had been surprisingly easy.
The family pieces of jewelry, like her mother's ring, her father's watch, and a brooch of her grandmother's. They were all locked up in a safety deposit box in a bank deep in the city. So really, all she'd had to do was sort through a bunch of pieces of costume jewelry. Setting aside what she wanted to keep, and what she thought the girls might like. She had effortlessly (unlike with her heels) moved deeper into the back of her beautifully carved wooden jewelry box, and pulled out the few pieces of real jewelry she kept in the house:
A pair of diamond earrings that she put in the keep pile.
Two brooches, one opal and one gold that was slid straight into the keep pile.
An antique locket that held a picture of her mother.
And...a bracelet? At first her fingers had fumbled the piece of jewelry without seeing it. When her finally sleepy eyes had slid into focus on the object, she'd almost dropped it in shock.
It was absolutely beautiful.
White gold and silver twisting around in an intricate pattern, inlaid with decent sized green peridots, and chips of diamonds. Twisting it to the side, the light from her closet caught it and set the stones shining in a rainbow pattern.
So very, very beautiful.
The light illuminated the inscription etched into the inside.
September 23, 1999
Her heart had stuttered painfully in her chest at that reminder, and taking a moment to grasp it tightly. She flipped the light off as she made her way over to the bed. She'd set the bracelet down firmly on her nightstand table, safely away from the getting rid of pile.
Before going to bed she had resolved to wear it the next day.
During her week the usual thrill of wearing a pretty dress had died somewhere around Tuesday. Jenny had decided to go comfortable in her attire for her relaxed day of working at her desk as a small treat to herself. After all, she really didn't have much of a selection left after clearing out her closet.
But she would take care of that on her trip this weekend.
Wearing a breezy blouse, and white silky pants. She felt more...'psychedelic' than she had since her teenage years with the less than sedate colors she was wearing. Instead of her usual solid colored oxfords, and checkered skirts. The blue, black, white, and green mixture she was wearing made her feel less like she was the Director of a Federal Agency going in for another long and tedious day at work, and more like a simple overworked employee-taking joy in whatever comfort they could get in before the weekend.
She had set to work before even Cynthia had arrived, and managed to establish an easy routine by the time most of her employees staggered in. So easy in fact, that she'd managed to finish three-fourths of what she needed to do and it wasn't even noon yet.
Which was a good thing, because when she'd decided to take a little break and stretch her legs out in the outer office. She was met by a her harassed looking assistant.
"Cynthia," her voice was wary.
Cynthia's eyes held the usual saying of, 'I'm sorry ma'am but there's more for you to do today.'
Jenny had to resist the urge to bang her head against a wall and scream.
Luckily-it technically-hadn't been actual paperwork or meetings she had had to attend to. Instead, it had been the simple matter of riding the elevator until she'd managed to hunt down all of the agents she needed to hand back annual reviews for.
It wasn't that bad to be honest. Completing that simple act gave her a legitimate excuse to put off the teeny bit of paperwork she still had left to do. And it gave her a chance to catch up with a few people that she actually liked in the world.
After spending some downtime in autopsy (only leaving when they brought in a body) talking to Ducky and ignoring the bumbling of Mr. Palmer. She'd said a polite goodbye and made her way back to the elevator, this time pressing the button for one floor up.
Time to deliver Abby's file.
She had gone through the usual greeting with Abby that everyone did; loud music, high heels (from both of them), and some shouting. Add a little babbling, and that consisted of the whole first five minutes of their conversation.
Her ears still ringing from the drastic change in volume after her music had been shut off, it took Jenny a moment or two to realize that Abby was bouncing up and down while eyeing her excitedly.
"Abby?" She asked questioningly when things had finally settled down(ish).
Excited eyes met hers and it hit Jenny what had gotten her so excited. Taking-and hiding-a deep breath, Jenny held out her arms and did a patronizing twirl for the girl.
"Do you approve?"
Abby gave a squeal that Jenny took to mean yes, she did in fact approve.
Chuckling softly, she took out the designated file for Ms. Scuito from her stack that was tucked in the crook of her elbow. Handing it out to Abby with a simple but brief explanation as to what it was, she was all together unprepared when the woman unexpectedly grabbed her wrist-hard.
Hissing softly she was about to yank her hand back and reprimand the girl when Abby looked up at her, awe in her eyes.
"Director," she gasped, "it's so pretty! Where did you get it?! Did someone give this to you?! Was it a gift from a lover?! Does Gibbs know-"
"ABBY," she had to yell to cut her off. Taking back control of her limb from a sheepish Abby, she self-consciously tried to shake her sleeve over the bracelet. Only to be reminded that the breezy blouse she had worn, had sleeves that barely reached her elbows.
Looking at the younger woman, she hoped that she could shake off her questions over the bracelet. But seeing the steel determination in her eyes, she had the nasty feeling that if she didn't satisfy Abby's curiosities; then she would find someone who could.
And everyone knew that Abby's first choice was always Gibbs.
"It's nothing," she murmured in a low voice; ignoring and cutting off Abby's snort of indignation. "They're peridots and he-I got it at a jewelry store in Paris."
"What about the inscription?"
Leave it to Abby to latch on to the one detail that was barely visible.
"It's the day I got it," she mumbled through heavy lips. It wasn't a lie, but it made her heart stutter painfully anyway.
She didn't stay long after that. Making excuses through her teeth, she hurried back to the safety of people that weren't as observant as Abigail Scuito.
For another hour she continued to ride the elevator, dropping off files where she could. Sometimes she caught one of her employees in the hall, sometimes the elevator, and sometimes she had to simply leave a file on their desk.
All in all, it really wasn't that bad of work. Truth-be-told, she didn't even have to do it, handing back files was her assistant's job. But at the very beginning Jenny had taken time to hand back reviews and such herself. She thought it was good idea, everyone once in a while-for her employees that weren't agent's and didn't see her everyday-to get a glimpse of their Director.
So with a smile on her face (sometimes faked, sometimes not) she played Santa and handed back good news. And for a few of her employees, it was bad news.
Things were going absolutely great until she got to the last files in her pile.
She hadn't organized them in any way. Jenny had just sort of haphazardly placed them by teams; then put the teams in order so that she could work her way from autopsy on up.
Now, she was at the bullpen level, and her last files were for her esteemed major crimes team.
Worrying her bottom lip lightly, she stepped out of the elevator. Her heels were muted on the office carpeting and Jenny was grateful for it. Stopping before the last section of the bullpen, she shifted her few files to her right arm; trying her best to obscure her bracelet. She couldn't take it off, she didn't have any pockets in this outfit to hold it in. And simply carrying it in her hands was more obvious than just wearing it.
Telling herself to cut the crap, she walked forward and into the area purposely.
McGee, Tony, and Ziva were all working diligently at their desks. They didn't have a case either, and since the team was off this weekend; she figured they were particularly eager to finish the paperwork they had too. When she walked in, they paused.
"What can we do for you Director?" Tony chirped, looking down she saw the name at the top of the pile.
"Annual reviews are done," she said, handing McGee back his; she kind of wanted to laugh at the way the Probie's face blanched. Tony got his next, and surprisingly his only expression was one of mild curiosity. Ziva's was the second to last one, and shockingly enough she looked even more worried than McGee had.
And the last one...
Walking over to his desk, she stood behind it, her eyes roaming the foot space. As if he were hiding from her under it, like a preschooler would. No, when Gibbs hid from her, it was in much more trickier and harder to find places.
"Coffee?" She asked, not bothering to elaborate. Ziva was the one to answer, not even taking her nose out of the review she was furiously reading, she nodded once.
"DiNozzo," she barked, and he looked up from his computer.
Subtly, she pointed to the bottom right hand drawer of Gibbs' desk. She had faith, which she hoped wasn't misplaced, that DiNozzo knew where the line was and wouldn't cross it by reading Gibbs' review.
Then again, it wasn't like he would see anything interesting. If there was a problem with Gibbs, Jenny would just tell him the next time they started screaming at each other.
Not through something as offensive as paperwork.
DiNozzo nodded, silently indicating that he knew he was to be the one to tell Gibbs where he could find his review. Satisfied she crouched down, and pulled on the old metal handle.
Considering Gibbs had the same exact desk when she was his Probie. It wasn't that big of a surprise to see that the metal drawer was going to be hard to open. After some jiggling, wiggling, and one instance where her blouse got snagged on a corner; she finally managed to get the file safely in there.
Standing up, she gracefully made her way up the stairs and back into her office.
Frankly, Jenny was disappointed in herself for how long it had taken her to notice it was missing.
The bracelet was so lightweight that after a while she had just forgotten she was wearing it. And somewhere along the way...she hadn't been wearing it.
She'd first noticed it gone about two hours after her rounds along the building. It was still early afternoon then, and she had just finished the rest of her paperwork.
Raising her arms above her head to stretch and work out the kinks having a desk job will give you. It was only when she was putting her arms back down that she noticed its absence.
At first she hadn't freaked out. The first thing she did was give a cursory glance across her desk. She did have the annoying habit of fiddling with her jewelry, so naturally her first thought was that she must have absentmindedly taken it off at one point.
She didn't see it.
And after she had shifted a few files around; looking for it, and still not seeing it. She calmly stood up and glanced around at her office floor, maybe it might have fallen off during one of the few times she had actually gotten up in the past two hours?
Jenny still didn't see it, and by that point she was starting to freak out.
Standing behind her desk, palms spread flat on the surface. She eyed the people standing in front of her-
Gibbs was still God-knows-where, so that meant his entire team was fair game.
At some point, she didn't remember when, Jenny had decided that she must not have actually had her bracelet on during the time she was trying to hide it from the team. Considering her mindset lately, and the fact that she hadn't actually looked at it, it was highly likely.
That meant that the last place she remembered having it was at Abby's lab. From Abby's lab to her office, there was a whole damn building to search. And the Director couldn't really be seen on her hands and knees frantically crawling all over the building...
Now could she?
Therefore her need for the four people standing in front of her.
"Okay, Abby," she said, looking sternly at the Goth, "I need you to search the first, second, and third floors. Every single little nook and cranny, even make sure to check the women's restrooms-."
"Excuse me, Director," DiNozzo interrupted, a smirk on his face, "What exactly is it that we're looking for?"
She had to physically keep herself from reaching over and smacking that smirk off his face. "A piece of jewelry that I lost," she tried to answer calmly.
From her place beside Ziva, she heard Abby's exclamation. "Oh, Director. It's not that beautiful bracelet you were wearing earlier, is it?"
"What bracelet?" Tony asked, his smirk transforming into a full blown grin, "Clearly it must be a pretty important bracelet if you are sending out a search party after it?"
Jenny glared at him forcefully, her teeth clenched. "Yes Abby, it's the bracelet. I lost it somewhere after I left your lab, and considering I ended up going all over the building today...the area's big."
"And as for you, agent DiNozzo," she said, rounding on the man who had apparently lost whatever maturity he had earlier in the space of two hours. "The bracelet was a gift, a very expensive gift. And I swear if the next words out of your mouth are something that even remotely alludes to my personal life. Then you will be serving a full stint as an agent afloat-"
"I believe you've been getting your rotation pushed off for years now. Am I right?" She finished her threat sweetly, and that seemed to subdue DiNozzo. Chastised he rocked back on his heels with two very simple muttered words, "Understood, Director."
"Good. Now, Abby I want you to search the first three floors, and the women's bathrooms like I said. Don't leave any place untouched, and if you have to ask people if they've seen a bracelet lying around. Just-" she hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to put this, "Don't tell them it belongs to me. If they ask, just tell them that you are the one who lost it."
Abby nodded in acquiesce, thankfully not questioning her order.
"Ziva," she said, turning to the patiently waiting woman, "I want you to search the fourth, fifth, and sixths floors-bathrooms too please. Ask everyone if they've seen it."
Now that the girls had their marching orders, she turned to the boys. "McGee, I need you to search the seventh, eighth, and ninth floors please. And don't worry McGee, you don't have to search the bathrooms." She tacked on that last bit as an after thought.
"DiNozzo," she commanded turning to her last one, "Tenth, eleventh, and the bullpen. Ask people if they've seen it, and I think Ducky even started a lost and found down in autopsy. Check there too-"
"And if I find out that you set foot in the women's restrooms, my threat still stands."
With a bunch of nods and low murmurs, the four of them made their way to her door. With her hand on the handle Ziva, at the helm of the group, paused. "Jenny," she said politely, and Jenny cocked an eyebrow indicating she'd heard her, "What does this bracelet look like?"
It was a good and relevant question. She wondered why it hadn't even occurred to her to give them even a general description of the thing before sending them out to hunt for it.
"Um, it's silver and white gold. Surrounding a sort of...chain, of peridots-" With a little coo Abby interrupted her.
"And it had those chips of diamond in it. Which kind of made it sparkle! Guys, it was soooo pretty," she enthused, turning and looking at her curious colleagues. "It also had an inscrip-"
"That was a great description Abby," Jenny praised, speaking over her trilling voice. Looking at the others she wondered why she hadn't allowed Abby to mention the inscription. Whoever found it would see it anyway. Besides, it wasn't as if it were anything too terribly telling.
"When you find it, bring it to me please. And I'll let all of you go home early." With that clear dismissal, they all trooped out of her office. Leaving Jenny alone to fret.
Now:
Hours after her talk with the troops, she was still in her office. All of her little scouts had come back with dismal accounts of: 'It's like it disappeared into thin air Jenny.' Which she translated into: 'Give it up. We looked. Let us go home now.'
Needless to say, she had released the hounds from their leashes. And now, she was trying to gather the willpower to release herself from her own.
The bracelet just…wasn't here. It wasn't anywhere it seemed like. One moment it was securely snapped around her wrist, and the next it was gone…..No matter how many times she looked through her office, it still wouldn't appear.
With a sad sigh, she got up from her place on the office floor. It was well past the time she should've left for her free weekend by now, and the only thing left she could thing to do for her bracelet was leave. Tomorrow, on her day off, she would come in early and beg the cleaning staff to tell her that they found it.
As she left her office, she hoped and prayed that come tomorrow morning that bracelet would be back around her wrist.
The catwalk was empty, the teams that had night duty were out in the field. So Jenny wasn't ashamed of her dejected trek to the elevators. Annoyed she jabbed at the button to call the metal cart to her.
Tiredly she watched as the numbers above her ticked closer to where she was. She would really have to get the elevators maintanced soon, they were taking longer and longer to reach their destinations as the years went on.
Soon though, the elevator bell was dinging, and the doors were sliding open-
Immediately she wished they would slide back shut.
In the metal cart that was his very own domain, stood one Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Leave it to her luck to manage not to see him all day, until the very one moment where she wished he was anyone else. Anyone, she would even take a surprise visit from the SecNav, over him at the moment.
"Jen," he greeted cordially, not getting out of the box. Straightening up and putting on that familiar façade of: 'I don't give a fuck what you have to say', that she had perfected in her years of working with Jethro; she stepped into the elevator cart. All the while ignoring the sick feeling in her gut.
With her back to him, she went to jam the button for the parking garage level, and noticed something….The button hadn't already been pushed; Jethro had been on his way up to her level.
"I thought you went home hours ago." She said calmly, her back to him.
"Nope," he said in that annoying way of his, popping his 'p'. "But my team did, once you sent them home."
Her cheeks flushed at that, and she was glad he couldn't see her. By the sound of his voice alone, she couldn't tell what he was thinking. Taking a deep breath to get read of the flush, she turned around to face him.
His eyes roamed her outfit greedily, she liked that. As much as she may like to say different, she had never minded Jethro's blatant elevator eyes. She arched an eyebrow, putting her hands on her hips, and waited for him to meet her eyes.
"You done?" She asked casually. And in a vain attempt to piss her off, he made the gesture of one more good long look before meeting his eyes.
He smirked, "Now I am."
"Okay, now you feel like telling me what you're still doing here? Your team doesn't have a case, and you all have the weekend off." She hoped that would be enough to deflect his questions.
"How about you, tell me, what you're still doing here," he retorted, taking a step forward to try his usual intimidation tactics; she sidestepped easily, "You have the weekend off too. Considering you plan on going shopping with Ziva and Abby."
She laughed throatily at that. Jenny wasn't even an ounce surprised that he knew her plans for the weekend. This man made it his priority to know every little thing that happened to his team.
"So what, is shopping a crime now? You come to arrest me?"
"You wish," he shot back lowly, this time successfully trapping her in a corner of the elevator. She was sure, his mind, like her own, was flashing back to a particularly steamy weekend a few years ago.
Jenny gulped, and she knew he saw her reaction; she hadn't even bothered trying to hide it. If she had, he would've called her out on it. And she didn't think the guilty little gnawing in her gut, and her thoughts that were circling repeatedly around a bracelet; could handle it.
"What were you coming to see me for, Jethro." She said seriously, her alto voice taking on a hoarse quality.
The lighthearted look on his face looked forced when he shoved his hand into his trouser pocket. In all seriousness he extracted something and held it out to her in a closed, loose fist.
"Here," he said nodding at his fist. There was a glint in his eye, and the feeling in her own gut intensified tenfold because she just knew what he was about to hand her.
She held out an open palm, and in it-Jethro dropped her bracelet.
It looked exactly the same, shiny and pretty. So elegant and refined, so very, very beautiful. She wonders how she could ever in a million years forget this piece of jewelry for years in a dusty jewelry box. But was it her imagination, or did it look…..newer?
Her fingers twitch around it involuntarily, and her throat feels tight when she looks back up at him.
"How did you get it?" She asked hoarsely.
He shrugged carelessly, but there was still that light in his eyes that said differently. "Found it snagged on one of my desk drawers when I got back from my coffee run…."
She was an idiot. She was an absolute fucking idiot. The thing had fallen off when she'd snagged her blouse on his desk, delivering his files.
When she didn't respond he continued lowly, his fingers trailing lightly over the spots he indicated, "The clasp was rusted. It fell off. Went and got it fixed for you," he mumbled.
Now that she was looking closely, there was noticeable differences from the bracelet she'd had hours ago. To the one she was holding now. The clasp had gotten to the point where it was unusable, Gibbs had found it….and he'd gotten it fixed for her. With nimble fingers, she flipped the bracelet over and ran a thumb over the date inscribed there.
September 23, 1999
Suddenly, she felt horribly, inexplicably, guilty. That was the day Jethro had given her this gift. There was no meaning behind, it wasn't an anniversary or anything at all, just one random day. And her eyes prickled hotly when she remembered his excuse for giving it to her:
"We saw it in the window the other day, and you liked it."
"But Jethro," she remembered protesting weakly as she looked reverently at the piece of jewelry in hand.
"Nothing Jen….I like to make you happy."
'He liked to make her happy,' she remembered how simply he had said those words. As if there was no way they could possibly mean the world to her right then and there. And she had left this bracelet behind, like a horrible reminder of how she'd gone away.
She'd left this behind as a result of her neglect.
Jenny didn't deserve this, she didn't deserve to keep this gift. She hadn't kept that beautiful coat, just like she hadn't kept Jethro. What made her think she could keep this?
"Here," she said trusting it back towards him before she could change her mind. Her throat was closed tightly, and she couldn't force the rest of her words out.
"What are you doing?!" He exclaimed his voice going high with shock. Gibbs leaned back away from her, refusing to take it back.
"Dammit Jethro. Just take it," she ordered thickly.
"No, Jen! Why you don't want it anymore or something?"
She laughed, almost hysterically. "Of course I still want it! But I don't deserve it!"
"Wait just a minute-," Gibbs interrupted her, leaning forward he cupped her palm in his fist. Not taking the bracelet from her, but keeping her from giving it back. "What the hell do you mean, you don't deserve it?!"
"I don't," she hissed meanly, "I forgot about it. I didn't take care of it and it broke…..," she trailed off there. But when Gibbs simply glared at her, she said weakly, "I don't deserve it. It's yours. You bought it. Give it to someone else."
Dear God, that took more willpower and energy then she would ever care to admit.
This time it was his turn to laugh in her face. She felt a little offended at that, especially considering she was trying to be serious here. And the bastard had the audacity to look as if he were seriously amused-
"Hey, I'm not giving this," he shook their clasped hands, "To someone else. So what if the clasp broke on it? It's a piece of jewelry, it got old and rusted. I got it fixed. Now everything is fine Jenny-"
"And as for giving it someone else," he took a step closer to her, her back hitting the elevator wall, "This was a gift to you. I bought it for you. It's yours…..I don't wanna give it to anyone else."
With those final words, he took a step back. Holding out her loosely curled fist, he unfurled her fingers and took the bracelet from her grasp. Gently grabbing her wrist, he fastened the new-and-improved bracelet around her limp wrist.
And then, without looking at her…..he raised her palm to his lips…and kissed it. Just one, small, warm kiss. But it sent tingles running through her veins.
Leaning back he winked devilishly over her frozen form. Spinning around, he exited the elevator she hadn't noticed had stopped. They were at the garage now, and he left her standing there to walk to away into the darkness towards his car.
"On Sunday" he called back over his shoulder at the frozen woman, "I'll have a drink waiting for you…."
a/n: there is so many grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes on this because my computer absolutely REFUSED to let me finish this document. Later, once my internet is better, I'll come back and fix some more mistakes and re-update the document. Guys, this was literally like a first draft.