Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS

Authors note – so in a hope to get my Jibbs muse back and avoid writer's block I have at the moment. I hope that this is okay, I don't know where it came from, but I hope you all enjoy.

Please leave me a review!

Cherish This Moment

NCIS Headquarters

It was early; she didn't have a clue what time it was. It could be 5am, or even 8 am for all she knew, but seaming as NCIS headquarters were completely empty except for the Director who was up in his office. Seaming as team Gibbs was always in by 7am she was guessing it was around 6-ish.

Autumn had fallen on DC. Outside the trees had turned from their luscious summers green to mixture of bright yellows, deep reds, and rich gold's. Crisp and crunchy leaves carpeted the ground; children would jump into massive piles of them that their parents had raked to one pile. The weather was cooling, but it wasn't time for the winter scarves and hats just yet.

At that moment, as she turned to look out of the floor to ceiling windows in the bullpen she could see little except what the dim light of the street lights allowed. The sky was turning a deep blue as the moon slowly made its way towards the horizon. She could see the outline of the trees, with those leaves desperately clinging on for a few more days. The morning was still, no cars moved, it was almost dead.

She spun around in the bullpen she had not been in for over a year. She could not believe that. It had been ten months since she and Jethro left Paris, him flying off back to DC whilst she went to Cairo. Both vowing that they would somehow make it work – and in some mad twist of fate they had. In-between her black opp missions and his weeklong cases they had spoken as much as they could. However he did not know she would be here today – hell she hadn't known she would be.

After Paris she had spent three months in the sweltering heat of Cairo, before flying off to Egypt to do deep cover, then at some point she had been held hostage in Africa. After that she'd lost track of how long she had been in one place. Jen just knew she had spent about a week in England, and then another in the mountains of Spain before she flew to Brazil and then Mexico. Jethro had no idea where she had been. Just that one day he had got a call from Mike saying that his 'pretty lady-probie' was sleeping on Mike's deck. However a few weeks later she had ended up in Texas and now here she was. It turned out that there had been a bit of a disagreement with Mossad as to whose orders she was to follow, so now she was back fully with NCIS and waiting for Tom Marrow to tell her what it was she was doing next.

Jenny sighed and looked at her tired reflection in the window. She had on faded beige skinny leg cargo pants with baggy pockets on the sides and a slight Frey down the side of the hem. On her top half she had on a cream cotton blouse which was half tucked in and half not, the sleeves were rolled up and it was becoming too big on her. That too was worn and tired. She decided whilst she was clean her clothes were a mess as she had had about three outfits to alternate between for the last three months. On her feet were a pair of old, worn, leather military boots. They were laced up on one foot and coming undone of the other. The red head groaned at the sight of her wavy hair which she knew was full of split ends and had long since grown out of its style. Her bangs now brushed just below her cheek bones and it made her cringe. Running her hands through it she swiftly French plaited it with swift and elegant fingers. Then, once it was secured with a bobble, she made her way up the stairs to his office. Her service weapon sitting comfortably on her hip whilst the rest, including a second gun and a couple of knives among other things, were perfectly hidden.

She walked up the stairs, feeling unusually nervous; she was terrified that she would be sent off somewhere immediately, and not even getting a chance to see him before she was deployed to some dirty country again. Over her shoulder her small brown duffle bag bounced as she raised the staircase. It was filled with just her other two changes of clothes, minimal toiletries and a half dozen empty bottles of water.

Jenny walked into the outer office and didn't bother to nock, that was another thing that she had learnt and inherited from Jethro, along with her new found love for Bourbon and even larger caffeine dependency. As she walked in she laid eyes on a very tired looking Director of NCIS. "Jenny." HE said, a small smile spreading across his face. Since Jenny and Gibbs had been part of the not-quite-so-legit opp that was Paris, they had become closer with their director.

"Hello Tom, how are you?" She said with a small smile.

"I'm tired Jenny, how about you?"

"In need of a decent night's sleep, a change of clothes and a hot shower." She said with a small smile on her face.

"Well I will see what we can do about that then." HE stated raising an eyebrow.

She rose on eyebrow. "What's happening now then?" She asked.

"I want you working on anti-terrorism Intel. You may be working with Officer Ziva David from time to time as well."

"And where will I be based."

"It's a bit of a mix again Jenny." HE said and watched her roll her eyes. "Partly in the US, partly in the UK, and then wherever the act is thought to take place." Jenny sighed, that meant stake outs and cramped quarters all over again, and all of those things made her think about Marseille.

"When do I go?" She asked with a sigh.

"Next week. Take a week's leave time, Gibbs can too. That's all." He said it with a smirk as Jenny stood up with a slightly shocked expression on her face. She did not ask how it was that he knew about her and Jethro, she decided that the Director had his sources and would remain loyal to them. So with a happy feeling at the thought of a week with her lover she stood by the door.

"Thank you Sir." And with that she left the room, feeling almost like squealing in the way an excited child would she was so happy. As she left the room she looked down on the bull pen and smirked at the sight that greeted her.

She had been in Tom Marrow's office for half an hour, and in that time the first few agents had began to come dribbling in. Among the agents were the one and only Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Sat at his desk, Styrofoam coffee cup filled with the streaming hot liquid she swore replaced blood in his body. She stood there for a moment; Hands wrapped around the cold metal bar and just looked at him. With eyes softly creased, and a scowl that was almost permanently engraved into his face, teamed up with his dashingly handsome salt and pepper hair then tope doff with his muscular body – Jenny knew she was lucky. She watched as he tried to focus in on the case file in front of him, moving it back and forth. He needed glasses and yet would not admit it. Smirking she began to walk down the stairs.

In the soft leather boots she was silent – or so she was to anybody who was not a former US Marine sniper. He heard the subtle tapping and looked up to see her walking down the stairs. Jen carried on going, a smile forming across her red lips. His face went from not being able to believe his eyes to confusion before he settled on just plane happiness.

Jethro stood up from his desk and began to walk around to the bottom of the stairs. By the time he got there she was around the corner in the area that was hidden from the line of sight of the bull pen. She watched as he tried to form words, instead however she just decided to let actions speak louder than word. After all they always had with this pair. So instead of trying to formulate a comprehensible sentence she just ran towards him and jumped into his arms. His hands went to her wait to hold her in place whilst her legs wrapped around his waist. Both had big cheesy grins on their faces. She had her arms around his neck and both had their eyes clothes. His hand crept up her back and pulled the long red hair out of the plait – he always had preferred it down.

Smiling she pulled back and placed her legs on the ground before looking up at him and kissing his with such passion he was taken aback. Both had nearly gone mad over the time they had spent apart and both were more than a little pleased to be back in the others' arms. When they parted, both breathing heavily and foreheads touching smiles were still plastered across their faces. "I didn't know you were coming here." He said, slightly surprised that she had not told him.

"Neither did I. there was a fallout with Mossad so the director wanted to see me."

"Mhmm." He said as he kissed her again. "He's not the only one."

Jen swatted him gently with her hand. "So, I have two pieces of good news, are you bothered?" She asked with a wink as he attacked her neck with his lips.

"Mhmm." Was his only reply. Jenny rolled her eyes and decided to carry on anyway.

"I'm being reassigned to Anti-terrorism. No more black Opps." She said with a smile. He stopped his attack and turned to look at her, relief for her safety filling him. She would not be in the dangerous situations any more, no more praying to god that she would not come back dead or comatose.

"That's brilliant Jenny. What is the second piece?"

"We both have a week off!" She said with a wink. "So, you want to get out of here?" She questioned, and before she could say anything else he was walking off towards his desk. She just chuckled and began to walk after him.

As she reached the area in which she had once worked she perched on her old desk until she heard someone shout: "Red?!" And she knew there would only be one person who was brave enough to call her that. So she turned around to see Stan burley.

"Hello Burley." She said with a smile as he hugged her.

"God Probie, you look a mess!" He said as he ruffed her hair.

"Well thanks a lot Stanley! You're not looking too good yourself!"

"What happened to the manicure?" He said looking at her short nails with chipped clear varnish on them.

"Well when you are on black opps they don't exactly let you break cover or a manicure."

"Wow Shep, looks like you've grown up." Said Will, as he came walking in with a smile on his face and hugged her. She could hear Gibbs getting frustrated at the fact he was still here. So, he decided to leave, telling them that Will was in charge before he went. They all watched him go. "Wow, what's up with Gibbs?" Asked the senior agent.

"Director has forced him to take holiday." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"So, what about you Red? You back for good?" Asked burley as he sat down at his desk and put his feet up.

"Not quite Burley. Been moved to anti-terrorism opps."

"Wow! High fligher Shep!" HE said as he mock saluted. Jenny just grabbed a ball of paper off of his desk and chucked it at him.

"Just because you are stuck here!" She's aid with a laugh.

"Yeah, with moping Gibbs!" He said with a smirk.

"He's not that bad. And anyway, I'm off now. You've only just told me I look a mess so I'm off home to have a shower and sleep."

"Just sleep?" He asked with a waggle of eyebrows.

"After sleeping on stone floors for nearly a year – yes." She said with a smile. "See ya!" she said as she walked off, feeling both of their eyes on her ass as she went.

By the time that she got down to the garage Gibbs was still stood there, leaning against the black Sedan car. He was waiting for Jenny to emerge, and when she finally did he couldn't help but think how he was going to kill Stan and Will for keeping her so long when he returned to work next week. She smiled and walked over to him, swaying her hips as she went. "Hey there stranger." She said with a small smile on her face which was her attempting to hide the grin threatening to push through.

"Hey." He said as she linked her hands around her neck, and softly kissed him.

"You ready to go home?" She questioned, desperately wanting to spend some time with him.

"Yeah." He said as he walked her around to her door and opened it, not letting go of her hand until the very last minute. He'd been so scared he was going to lose her, just like he had lost Shannon. But now she was there, even if it was only for the week, he was extremely happy. So with a smile on both of their faces they drove off home, holding hands the whole way.

That week, that week was something perfect, something that they would always remember. And every in every single second that passed; they cherished the moment.