Title: Stripped Gears
Summary: Oneshot. You knew it was coming… Gibbs gets stuck in the elevator. With Jenny. What a shocker! XD
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own LJ Gibbs, Jenny Shepard, any other NCIS characters or plots, and I don't own NCIS. So basically I am a poor, poor student with nothing and no one but the internet who longs to meet Mark Harmon. It's a sad state of affairs.
A/N: Dedicated to all of my amazing reviewers who inspire me every time I read your reviews. X3 Also, you know this had to happen sometime. With all the abuse Gibbs puts the elevators through, you know something had to happen. And as with most of my fanfiction, of course it's Jibbs! Mwahaha! With some funny Gibblet moments thrown in too, for good measure. Lmao.
By the way, the jacket Jenny compliments Gibbs on is my favorite Gibbs jacket, the one he wears a lot in Season Four – the soft grey one you can see in "Sharif Returns". (defensively) Yeah, I have favorite Gibbs jackets, who doesn't? Oh, give me a break, I know other people have weird favorites like that too. Or at least I hope. Please? XD
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She hit the "Down" button, instantly regretting it as the doors slid open. "Special Agent Gibbs," she said standoffishly, moving as far away from him as humanly possible in a cramped metal container.
"Director," he replied, equally as stiff.
The last week had not been a good one. The case Gibbs' team had been working on had strayed dangerously close to WitPro territory, and of course, as court jester to all federal agencies, Fornell had somehow gotten the bat signal from the Attorney General. He'd generally mucked everything up until Gibbs had gotten shot in the process of catching the perp, who had just happened to be the Attorney General's assistant. Very smooth, Mr. I-Want-To-Be-A-Supreme-Court-Justice.
During all of this, the air conditioner had malfunctioned, making them feel like fish in a freezer. Normally nice in the heat of summer (it was June after all), but when you start putting on gloves when you go into the office, you know something's gotta give.
Shivering, Jenny reluctantly turned to Gibbs. "How's your shoulder?"
"Hm?"
"I said, how's your shoulder?" She tilted her head as she examined it from afar. "It's the same one Ari shot, isn't it?"
He nodded shortly and moved his shoulder unconsciously, then winced. "Ducky says there's a lot of scar tissue building up."
Her head tilted a little more as her face scrunched up slightly in concern. "It hurts?"
"Well yeah, Jen, I got shot. Shit happens, you know that."
Her face hardened and she turned back to the door. "I do know that."
Suddenly they heard a loud screech.
"Ahhh, shit," Gibbs shouted, covering his ears.
Then the elevator started falling.
They both dove to the floor as they heard the air whistle past and the screech of metal-on-metal.
"Hit the fucking switch, Jethro!" Jenny screamed over the noise.
His hand slammed into the switch.
The elevator came to an abrupt stop; they both crashed to the ground.
"Holy shit," she said quietly, hesitantly sitting up. "What the hell was that?"
"I have no fucking idea," he muttered, leaning carefully against the wall, "but when we get out of here, Abby is going to be personally responsible for all elevator maintenance." He bit back a groan of pain as his shoulder hit the cold metal.
Jenny caught the eclipsed groan anyway. "Is your shoulder okay?"
"You already asked me that, Jen," he replied through gritted teeth.
"That was before our near-death experience by elevator," she said snippily as she edged closer to him, treating their proximity as carefully as a zookeeper does his with a lion. "Come on, I'm not gonna shoot you or anything. Does your shoulder hurt?"
He couldn't see a way out of answering. "Yeah," he admitted. "I think it's dislocated."
She made a face as she knelt next to him. "I hate that."
"I know."
She looked around for something to create a sling, but came up empty-handed. "God, Jethro, why do I always have to help you by taking off my clothes?" she grumbled as she stripped off her long-sleeved pink blouse.
"I don't know, Madame Director," he chuckled painfully as he saw her green camisole, "but it's a good thing you wear layers."
"It is," she agreed severely as she bound his arm and tied the sleeves of the shirt over his shoulder. "And didn't you get the memo about calling me Madame Director?" She headslapped him. "Don't do it."
"Hey!" His good hand rubbed the back of his head. "I thought you said you weren't going to hurt me."
"Nooo, I said I wouldn't shoot you. I didn't." She smirked as she retreated, shivering, to her corner of the elevator.
He sighed and beckoned to her. "Come here."
"Why?" she asked warily.
"Because you're cold. I'm not going to let you freeze, Jen."
She raised her eyebrows skeptically. "That's awfully gentlemanly of you, Jethro."
He shrugged. "I can be gentlemanly sometimes."
She smiled. "Sometimes."
She slid towards him, tucking her legs under herself as he wrapped his arm around her. She chuckled as he lightly headslapped her, and made herself comfortable in the crook of his arm. "I like this jacket," she commented, pulling on his lapel.
"Is it as soft as you thought it would be?" he asked.
"Yeah… ugh," she muttered disgustedly as he laughed, "I never would've fallen into that trap if I was well-rested."
x
McGee looked around worriedly. "Any sign of the boss yet?"
"None," Ziva said, drumming her fingers on her desk. "Where could he have been when everything was shut down?"
"Hey!" Tony shouted from the stairwell. "While you and Probielicious were sitting around and thinking about the mysteries of life, Abby and I might've found something hinky... or kinky, we don't really know."
Ziva and McGee ran for the stairs.
When they reached Abby's lab, Tony ushered them inside, an excited gleam in his eyes. "Show them, Abbs."
"Wellll," she said, hopping in excitement, "you know how after the FBI started popping in unexpectedly on us, Gibbs made me fit the elevators with those thermal-sensor cameras?"
"Yeah…" McGee said.
Abby pulled the image up on screen. The image seemed normal – blue elevator walls, red mass of heat to indicate a person – but the heat mass seemed too stretched and oblong to be Gibbs. So…
"Either Gibbs has gained a hundred pounds in the last half-hour, or someone's in there with him," Tony completed everyone's thoughts.
There was a pause.
"Someone call Cynthia and ask her where the Director is," Ziva proposed, grinning wickedly.
x
By Gibbs' watch, it had been nearly two hours since he and Jenny had gotten trapped in the freezing little metal box. It had been an hour and a half since his arm had fallen asleep, and only an hour since Jenny had fallen asleep on it.
She jolted awake when the elevator started moving. "Wuzzgoinon?"
"Time to wake up," he said, shaking the pins and needles out of his arm. "The elevator's working again."
She yawned and stretched like a cat. "Your 'Gibblets' must be worried," she said, chuckling as she used Abby's name for their little unit.
"Cynthia too."
She tilted her head back and groaned. "Oh, crap. I missed my lunch date."
He raised an eyebrow as he attempted to stand up. "Lunch date?"
"It's a figure of speech, Jethro," she sighed, and caught his elbow as he began tilting to the side. "Here, let me…"
He wrenched his arm out of her grasp. "I'm fine."
"Of course you are," she responded dryly. "This is just the icing on the cake for you, isn't it?"
"What?"
"After this hideous week, getting stuck in an elevator for nearly three hours with me must have been unbearable."
His head turned quickly; his expression was softer than she'd seen it for a while. "Not at all."
She smiled, and he smiled back. "Now let's go terrorize our staff."
She bit back her laughter as the doors slid open.
x
"Abby?" Cynthia asked as she, Tony, Ziva, McGee and Abby all peered at the computer screen.
"Yeah?"
"Why are your computers and the thermo-cameras still running if the rest of the building doesn't have electricity?"
"After that stunt the FBI pulled last time, I made sure I had a couple of full-power generators in here in case of an emergency," Abby explained. "And the cameras are wi-fi and battery-powered; I replace them every week or so."
"Glad to see our tax dollars are being put to good use, aren't you, Special Agent Gibbs?" a soft voice said behind them.
"Makes me wonder why I work for the government," another voice growled.
They all whirled around. "Director! Gibbs! But – um – you – the elevator," Abby babbled incoherently, pointing from them to the computer screen and back.
"Yes, it's a funny thing how when someone takes the batteries out of a wi-fi camera, the image freezes," Jenny said dangerously as Gibbs casually tossed the batteries in the air. "Cynthia, I honestly expected a lot better of you."
Cynthia hung her head. "I apologize, Director. It will never happen again."
"You're exactly right – it won't ever happen again. Abby, you are officially in charge of elevator maintenance from this point forward. The next time I get stuck in an elevator, I'd prefer it just stop instead of careening down several stories." She glared at them all before turning on her heel. "Cynthia, come." She strode out the door, Cynthia jogging to catch up with her.
Gibbs smirked at them, then turned back to his team. "Computer. Off."
Abby quickly turned off the monitor.
"DiNozzo. Stop staring at my sling."
Tony ripped his eyes from the pink fabric. "It's nice, Boss."
"McGee. Abby. You will remove all of the cameras."
"Yes Boss," McGee answered quickly.
"I'm going to go see Ducky. When I get back…" He glared menacingly at everyone and left the room.
Wide-eyed, they looked at each other.
"NOW!" Gibbs bellowed from the elevator.
They leapt three feet into the air and started running.
-Fin-
A/N: A similar ending to "Hottest Couple of the Year", I know, but still kind of hilarious. XD Review away!