Ex-Files: What if Jenny was waiting in the basement instead of Stephanie?
A/N1: This is my first story. Given my name, I clearly didn't expect to be writing any. It was also written at 2am with no beta. Please be nice.
A/N2: This is a Jenny/Hollis pairing. Odd, I know, but see AN3. There is nothing explicit, one kiss, but if this offends, don't read.
A/N3: It was inspired in part by Pushing the Envelope (which is not a Jenny/Hollis pairing) by a few of the writers of jibbsloversunited. What they write is infinitely superior to anything I will ever write, so go read their stuff.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any of the lines you recognize.
Spoilers: Ex-Files (5x3)
What is it about the women Gibbs is attracted to? He always seemed to find the ones with whom the relationship was doomed to fail. Was it a defense mechanism to avoid the feelings of loss and guilt Shannon had caused him? They were all walking contradictions. Hollis was both fiercely independent and intolerably needy. Jenny was disarmingly charming but conniving, deceptive, and career oriented. Stephanie had the fire red hair but none of the fire. And Diane was just Diane. All, in the end, 100% incompatible with Gibbs. But Gibbs' penchant for women unsuited to him would provide a startling revelation for Hollis and Jenny and a figurative kick to the cajones for Gibbs.
Gibbs thought he knew what he was doing when Jenny came back to Washington DC as NCIS Director. When she said no right off, he took is time working his way back into her life through late night dinners and random cups of coffee. He combined that, of course, with strategically pissing off other agencies, forcing him to be ever present in her mind, even if it wasn't in the best light. He figured they'd work their way back to Paris, now that she had achieved that career she had left him for. If he remembered correctly, him being annoying could lead to arguments which would inevitably end with fantastic make up sex. He thought his plan was going well until he got blown up.
Retiring, he would later think, was not the best idea. Maybe he would have prevented what was to come, could have had Jenny back before he or anyone at NCIS met Hollis. Or maybe have regained his instincts faster and known not to get involved at all, with either of them. Either way would have been better for his psyche than watching the scene unfolding in front of him.
Jenny couldn't pinpoint quite when she realized that Jethro was wrong for her. Certainly, her relationship with him was holding back her career, but there was something more behind her decision to leave him back when they were partners. She didn't place it until she saw him with Hollis. Didn't think about it until several encounters later. Didn't begin to confront it until she asked her to stay behind after dismissing Gibbs, ostensibly to discuss career options for the soon-to-be retired Army Lieutenant-Colonel.
Sure, she had flirted with women in the past. It had been necessary for the job at times. She had always enjoyed being able to play people, bend them to her whims, male or female. But looking back, she realized the women were more interesting and wished she'd had an excuse to experiment with a woman on the job; after all, sex is a viable interrogation technique.
The conversation between Hollis and Jenny in Jenny's office that day started with the innocent discussion of Hollis' impending retirement from Army CID but, with the consumption of bourbon, soon turned to tails of Jethro. Hollis was by no means a stupid woman and she knew quite well what had happened between Jenny and Jethro when they were partners the minute she saw them together. Tails of their exploits with Jethro turned into a thinly veiled conversation about what attracted them to him in the first place. His independence, his arrogance, his annoying ability to be right all the time, his sly charm and wit. And what made him attracted to them. Their independence, their arrogance, their ability to challenge the men in their fields, their superior intellect, their ability to be all of this and quite gorgeous at the same time. Compliments flew both ways. Somewhere along the way, Jenny and Hollis subconsciously realized this conversation was more about them than about Gibbs. Which would in part explain why they were now standing inches from each other in Gibbs' basement.
Having wrapped up the case, Jethro and Hollis had a romantic night out on the town, which inevitably ended up in Jethro's basement sanding his boat. As Hollis started down the stairs, Gibbs went to into the house to grab a few cold beers.
Jenny had been waiting, admiring Gibbs' handiwork on the "Kelly." She knew Jethro was out with Hollis, knew they would be coming back to work on his boat; after all, that's what they did when they were together in the States. Jethro was not a man who changed. What she didn't know is whether she was waiting for Jethro or Hollis. As she watched Hollis walk down the stairs, she figured the gods had made her decision for her. She took a deep breath. "Hollis."
"Jenny, what are you doing here? Is Jethro needed at the office?" Hollis had no idea what to expect from the visitor she found. Despite all her snarking, did Jenny come back trying to steal Gibbs from her? The thought bothered Hollis, but not for the reason she expected. She hadn't been satisfied with her relationship with Gibbs for some time. She found she was not upset at the prospect of losing him. Rather, it was the thought of losing him to Jenny. After their conversation earlier, she didn't consider herself in a competition with Jenny. She reasoned then that Jenny was the bothersome factor. She didn't want Jenny taken by Gibbs; she wanted Jenny.
"I actually came looking for you. I know Jethro well enough to know you'd end up here at some point." Jenny sounded remarkably like her cocky Director self despite her internal discomfort with the situation.
Hollis laughed and made her way towards where Jenny was sitting. "The man never changes, does he? I think we've had this conversation."
"About that conversation…" Jenny's voice faded a bit. "Do you want to finish it?"
"Finish it?"
"Yes. Don't tell me all that talk of our common attributes and attractions didn't begin to raise some questions in you. It certainly did with me."
"What sort of questions?"
"Interrogation tactics are probably not the best approach for this, Hollis. Can I get a straight answer?"
Hollis smirked. "Perhaps 'straight answer' isn't the best phraseology you could have used since you are asking if I'm interested in women. Or are you asking if I'm interested in you?"
"If you have to ask…" Jenny stood up from her seat and stared at Hollis in an awkward silence.
"Well, let's give it a test run and go from there." Hollis closed the gap between them and gave Jenny a quick peck on the lips.
"And Jethro?" Jenny asked as she moved in for deeper kiss.
"He'll recover. He always does. I had him profiled when we first started working together, you know. I left out how he tends towards unattainable and incompatible women, more for my sake at the time than his. But now I realize that it was part of the attraction, that I wasn't right for him. Go figure. At least it got me here." Hollis kissed Jenny for real this time.
And so Gibbs watched in shock from the landing as his past and his present engaged in a passionate kiss in his basement. Maybe Gibbs needed to learn how to read women better. Or just serve as a lesbian match making service. Fornell was going to have a field day.