Hello out there in fiction land, this is my first attempt at writing an NCIS fic, more specifically, Jibbs. I always thought the two characters were perfect together and a little disappointed when TPTB killed our beloved Director Shepard.
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything related to its characters or producers or CBS. But the do make a damn good television show.
This story takes place in season 5. In my world there is not poisoning happening to Jenny, but there is an attempt on her life. Jenny and Gibbs find themselves on an island and have to wait for rescue. While they are away things begin to uncover.
All Roads Lead to Happiness
Director Shepard stood on the floor in MTAC looking at the live video feed from SecNav. She's listening as he's explaining to her why she needs go to Sydney Australia on the Navy's behalf.
"Yes sir, I understand. Are you assigning a detail for me?" She questions her boss.
"Yes, but I want to keep things very casual and low key. I have a jet standing by at Dulles. You'll fly to Honolulu to refuel and arrive at Sydney." She sighed at the length of the trip. "Now, as far as protection…" Davenport looked down into an open file. "You seem to have a track record of breaking protection, so I've made the decision to have Agent Gibbs accompany you." She opened her mouth to protest but the Secretary continued. "I don't want to hear it Director. I have the upmost confidence in Agent Gibbs to do his job. Doubtful you'll be able to slip his protective bubble." Davenport grinned.
"Is that a dare, sir?" Jenny said very seriously.
"Director Shepard, I'm not messing around with your safety here. I know you'll enjoy Sydney. You're flight leaves at 0630. Good luck."
The screen went blank and she roughly pulled the headset off. "That guy can really be an ass." She turned and stalked back up to her office. Knowing that Gibbs was out of the office, she decided to finish up the work that was currently on her desk and waited for him to come to her after the SecNav contacted him.
Gibbs stormed off of the elevator and straight towards the Director's office. While in the process of arresting his one and only suspect after a five day hunt, he gets a call from SecNav about a new assignment. Ignoring Cynthia's protests about going into the office, he opens the door and slams it in the woman's face. "Why the hell do I have to go to Sydney with you?" He yells.
Jenny calmly sets her pen down on her desk and removes her reading glasses to look up at her former lover. "Because I got the orders to go, and I didn't have a choice in the matter for a protection detail." She closed the file and set it in her outbox. "Trust me Agent Gibbs, if I had the choice in who was to accompany me to Sydney, you wouldn't have made the top 100."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Why, because you wouldn't be able to stay professional with me so close?" He teased.
"No." Jenny stood and leaned over towards him seductively. "It's because unlike you, I can manipulate everyone else to do what I want." She watched his eyes roam her face before taking a quick glance down at her cleavage. "So, we leave Dulles at 0630 tomorrow. Get your case wrapped up, tell your team goodbye and put someone in charge while you're away."
Gibbs half smiled at her. "I know how to do my job Jen."
They shared a brief smile before Gibbs pushed off of her desk and left. Jenny sat back down and sighed. "This trip is going to keep me on my toes."
On the first leg of their flight, Jen went over the documents she was to discuss with the Royal Australian Navy Commander. She also corresponded several times with her assistant and would relay Gibbs' growing frustration. They kept their distance from one another until they were several hours into the second leg of the journey.
Gibbs roughly sat down in the chair across from Jenny and let his eyes linger over her body. He didn't speak instead letting his stare talk for him. While she tried to continue reading her book under his gaze, after a minute she found it impossible. She glanced up at him. "What?"
He shrugged. "Nothing. Just admiring the view."
Jenny openly laughed. "That's a good line." She set her book down and smiled at him. "You know this is not a vacation."
"I know. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy it." He watched her smile. "Look, I know why you left me, and in some way I guess I can't blame you. But I still can't help but the way I feel about you." He confessed.
"Jethro." Jenny whispered as his confession pulled up feelings that she thought she had successfully repressed. "You know that with me being your boss that we can't have a relationship. Even if we thought we could keep it outside of work." He continued to gaze at her and she sighed. "I've never stopped caring about you." Jethro smiled. "There, is that what you wanted to hear?"
He moved over to sit next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders pulling her body into his. "I already knew." Gently he kissed the top of her head. "You can't hide from me Jen." She relaxed in his embrace and closed her eyes. "Just rest."
They both dozed off and several more hours went by before the happy couple was jolted awake. Gibbs glanced towards the cockpit as Jenny woke up and began looking around the cabin. "What's going on?"
Gibbs stood. "Stay here." He walked to the cockpit and opened the door. "What the hell?" Both the pilot and co-pilot were dead in their seats. He checked the coordinates of where the plane was flying. "Jen, check this location."
Jenny opened her laptop and entered the information he yelled to her. "Jethro, we're nearly 4,000 miles off course!"
He approached her. "Where the hell are we?"
"Over the South Pacific." She breathed heavily unknown as to how they got to where they were. "What the hell is going on Jethro?"
"Pilots are dead."
"What?!"
"The plane is set on autopilot and almost out of fuel." He began looking around the cabin. "Get a message to Abby on the area of our coordinates and tell her the situation."
"And what situation is that?" She yelled back at him.
Gibbs sighed and looked back at her frightened face. "That we're going to crash." He said solemnly and began he search.
"Oh my God." Jenny said exasperated and began to type. "How much time do we have?"
"I don't know." Gibbs replied as he continued to search.
Jenny finished her message and sent it just as the plane lurched once again. "Jethro!"
He appeared. "Here, put this on." He tossed her a parachute before pulling her clothes out of her luggage. She observed him as she did what he instructed. "We'll look for some kind of land and bail out."
"Bail out!"
"Do you want to wait until the plane hits the water?" Gibbs asked her sarcastically and she shook her head. "Okay." Once he was finished he approached her and framed her face in his hands. "Jen, I won't let anything happen to you. Just trust me."
"I trust you." She replied and instantly Gibbs saw Probationary Agent Shepard once again. "Okay." Quickly he moved and pressed his lips against hers in a brief kiss. "Look out that side and I'll look over here. When we find any kind of land, we jump."
Jenny looked out the window and felt her stomach tying in knots. She trusted Gibbs with her life, but in this current situation she was unsure of their chances of survival. Then she noticed an island they were nearing. "Jethro, there's an island."
Gibbs moved over and looked. "Okay, let's do this." Jenny noticed he was carrying a single luggage bag but didn't question it. They approached the door and he double checked her parachute rigging. "Good, here's your main, and here's your backup." He noticed the flash of fear across her face and kissed her once again. "Trust me." She nodded and Gibbs opened the door to the plane. "Ready?" He yelled and Jenny bravely stepped to the open door and jumped.
Gibbs was right behind her. They free fell for a several hundred feet before Jenny pulled her chute followed by Gibbs. He grunted under the pull on his body from the chute as well as the pull on his leg from the luggage bag he had tied to himself. They rode the air down getting closer and closer to the small landmass.
Minutes later Gibbs entered the water and quickly discarded his harness. He looked to the sky for Jenny and saw her approaching overhead. As he began swimming towards her as she splashed down in the water. Jenny surfaced and began looking for Gibbs. She struggled to keep herself afloat as the chute cords began tangling around her kicking feet.
"Jen!" Gibbs called out as he neared her. He could see that she was having problems and pushed his body to reach her. "Stop kicking and lay back!" She did as he instructed and he untangled her legs and removed the chute harness from her. Gently he pulled her away from the discarded chute and glanced towards the island. "Think you can make the swim?"
"Do I have a choice?" He smiled back at her rebuttal and they began swimming towards the island.
After thirty minutes Gibbs was constantly encouraging Jenny to keep going. "Almost there Jen, just keep kicking." She glanced at him and was about to speak but slipped under the water. "Jen!" Gibbs pulled her up and she started coughing. "Just breathe."
Jenny coughed several times and felt Gibbs pulling her from behind as she looked up towards the blue sky. Once she caught her breath she let her body relax as Gibbs pulled her along as he swam. Eventually they got close enough to land that the water began aiding them and they washed upon shore in a heap of exhaustion.
Gibbs' lungs felt like they were on fire under the extreme stress they had just endured. He was content to lay on the sand and breathe. Jenny felt the same way and it took them half an hour to get to their feet. She watched him untie the luggage bag from his leg. "I wondered how you were going to keep track of that."
"Come on, first thing we need to do is get off the beach and find water." He instructed.
Jenny pulled off her suit jacket and tossed it down next to the bag when they reached the tree line. "There was water on the plane."
"Yeah, I put all of it in the bag. Drink one bottle, for now, but we need to see if there's any here." He looked down as she pulled out a bottle and handed it to him.
They each drank the water as Jenny took in their surroundings. "I hope Abby got my message."
Gibbs sighed. "Me too." He glanced into the trees. "Come on."
As he kept an eye out for water, Jenny was looking at the variety of birds in the trees. She also took note of the fruits that lined the trees and bushes. "Do you think there's anyone on this island?"
"Hard to say." He responded as they continued to walk.
Eventually they found a small spring and after Gibbs tested the water to unsure it was fresh they filled their empty water bottles. They gathered a variety of fruit and returned to the beach.
"So, now what?" Jenny asked and got a sarcastic look from him. "Sorry Jethro, but I've never been stranded on an island before."
He swallowed a bite of the fruit he was chewing. "First, get comfortable. Then arrange two large piles of brush for signal fires, and then settle in for the night."
Jenny looked at him in disbelief. "You're serious."
"What else do you want to do Jen?" He yelled as he stood and removed his shirt. "Sorry, it's not like you can play on your computer here." Gibbs commented before tossing his shirt on the ground and walking off.
Frustrated Jenny opened the luggage bag and began to pull out the garments of clothing and hanging them on nearby bushes to dry. She noticed there were only a few shirts and jeans for him, the remaining clothes were hers. Jenny was thankful when she came across her bathing suit and glanced around for him before changing. She organized the bottles of water he saved and paused as she noticed his SIG and ammunition clips in the bottom of the bag.
Jenny took the gun out and set it on a piece of drift wood to dry along with the spare clips. Thinking the bag was empty and tipped it over and shook it and another surprise fell out. With a shake of her head, Jenny picked up the large knife and looked at the leather sheath that housed it. It was tooled with the insignia for the USMC and under it said Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Her fingers lingered over his name as she thought about how if she'd made a different choice years ago, she would have married him.
Gibbs returned to see Jenny admiring his knife and slowly approached her. "Got one signal fire pile set up." She jumped as he surprised her. "I see you changed."
She glanced down at her suit. "I figured it was more appropriate."
He smirked. "As do I." She passed him the KA-BAR and he unfastened his belt enough to slide on the knife sheath. "Well, I guess I'll get a fire going for us."
"Then what?" Jenny quickly questioned.
Gibbs just shrugged. "We wait."
Darkness had quickly fallen over the island and Gibbs was relaxing with his back against a nearby tree. Jenny added a piece of wood to the fire and kneeled next to him. Feeling defeated she leaned into his body and Gibbs quickly embraced her.
They sat silently together and listened to the fire crackle and waves wash upon the shore.
TDCSI