Thanks to my beta Kirsten! The second of my Valentine's Day stories. And it still may be possible to tell that I'm not the biggest fan of this day...
This lovely story was written when I had the flu myself. Over Christmas. Given to me by my parents.
Bug's Life
Jennifer Shepard sat in her office, surrounded by files. Normally, she found this frustrating, although she accepted that it was part of her job. But today she felt as though nothing could bother her. Even if a certain agent pissed off the FBI, CIA and every cop in a hundred mile radius, she felt she would be able to keep her fiery temper in check.
She glanced at her calendar again. February 14. Valentine's Day. For the past nine years she had hated this day with a passion, wanted to curl up under her covers and allow the day to pass without feeling pain. She had had no one to share it with, not the man she so desperately wanted back in her life. Her heart had ached for the whole day. Why had she been so stupid as to leave him behind?
But now they had realized the error of their ways and made up. Their love was still as strong as ever, even if they couldn't stop bickering. She loved him from the bottom of her heart, and she knew he felt the same way.
She wondered what he had got her for Valentine's Day. After much discussion with her sister, she had got him a pair of cufflinks with the NCIS logo inscribed on them. They were perfect for him, and they were currently hidden inside her desk drawer. When he came up to see her today, she would hand them over.
He had stayed at his own place last night, muttering something about his boat. She had let him go, aware that both of them were very stubborn and they each needed their space sometimes. Actually, now she thought about it, he had muttered something about his boat for the past three nights. And his mind had clearly been elsewhere when he was at work.
Presumably, he had been focusing on her present. Perhaps he was handmaking it in his basement? It would explain why she had seen very little of him for the past few days, and why he had appeared to be in desperate need of sleep. She recalled one Christmas in Europe when he had spent the whole night searching for her present because he had forgotten the date.
She smiled softly. He would barge into her office at some point this morning, place her present on her desk, and leave without saying a word. She was sure of it.
Her mind wandered briefly to her sister. Lily had disappeared for the last week, but this was normal. She could be sent anywhere in the world at a moment's notice, even though she did have a slight tendency to cause havoc in the States. Someone really needed to get it into her head that she was not supposed to operate on domestic soil. Preferably before she ended up in more trouble than she could talk her way out of.
She glanced back at the calendar one more time. Wherever her sister and Jethro were, she hoped they were as happy as she was today.
58 hours earlier
Leroy Jethro Gibbs was not having a good day. The man he knew had murdered Major Jacob Cooper in cold blood had just got off on a technicality, DiNozzo had been more infuriating than usual, and his cell phone had managed to die. Twice.
He was tempted to chalk most of it up to a certain redhead. Except he hadn't seen her recently. The CIA agent had been staying out of sight, not surprising given her last prank. He was still unsure how she had managed to slip him those drugs, and how she had known he would end up clucking like a chicken in front of the SecNav. He was determined to wring her neck when he next saw her.
His basement loomed ahead of him, darkness filling every nook and cranny. His mind turned to Jenny and what he would get her for Valentine's Day. He had already been warned by Lily that he had better not forget the date, or she would hunt him down and castrate him. Wincing at the thought of her carrying out her threat, he stepped onto the first step.
Immediately, his gut reacted. Someone else was down here. He slowly reached for his gun, careful not to make a noise. Sometimes, he wished he would lock his door. And then he always remembered that he had his gun and no qualms about shooting an intruder.
He reached the bottom of the steps, flicked the light switch… and froze.
He knew this person.
Lily Shepard was lying under his boat, eyes closed and looking like death warmed up. As he moved silently closer, he could see minute shivers running through her body. She was dressed as though she had come from work, even down to her impossibly high heels which were still on her feet.
"Get out," he ordered suddenly.
She didn't even jump; merely opened one eye slightly and tried to figure out who he was. "LJ?" she slurred.
"If you're drunk, leave," he demanded, replacing his gun and moving towards his work bench. He needed some bourbon to get through this. "If you're not drunk, leave."
He watched as she struggled to her feet, before promptly collapsing on the floor. "I'll go back to sleep," she muttered, curling down underneath his boat again and closing her eyes.
He needed her out of here. There was no way he was going to share a basement with a grumpy Lily. Taking three strides to reach her, he pulled her to her feet…
And for the second time that night, he froze.
She was burning up under his hands. He could feel how limp she was; she had no strength left in her. She moaned softly as he jostled her, pain running through her.
Damn. He didn't want to catch whatever she had, so he placed her back down on the concrete floor. Not the best place for such an ill person to be, but she seemed to appreciate it if the way she curled up into a fetal position was any clue.
What was he to do? If he dragged her out of the basement, he would have nowhere else to put her. If he dropped her off at CIA headquarters, she would probably go straight back to work until she collapsed. He couldn't take her to a hospital, not if he wanted to live when she recovered. His other option was to leave her at Jenny's place, but he didn't want his lover to catch whatever her sister had.
He shook his head as he reached the inevitable conclusion. She was going to have to stay here. At least there would be someone around to keep an eye on her, even though he was going to have to work. There was no way he was going to allow himself to stay cooped up in his basement for a few days with the bane of his life.
Judging by the way she was curled up on the floor, he could probably leave her where she was and be done with it. But one look at her immediately reminded him of Jenny, and he sighed. He had a few blankets upstairs that she could borrow, and he knew she had slept in worse places than on a concrete floor. Maybe a mug of fresh coffee would cheer her up slightly. At least it would give him something to do.
"LJ?" she queried, somewhere on the border between consciousness and sleep.
"What?" he replied, keeping all emotion out of his voice, not wanting her to work out his conclusions.
"Seeing as I'm stuck here," – so much for her not figuring out that he couldn't kick her out – "you're going to have to wait on me hand and foot."
He glared at the back of her head. "If you don't like the service, you can leave."
Present time
Tony DiNozzo was surprised that the boss was not yet in. Normally, the boss was the first one in and the last one out. The ex-Marine believed in punctuality and hard work, something Tony himself wasn't completely happy with. He couldn't help it if he ran late most mornings, and he liked to work smart, not hard.
His eyes flicked back to the calendar on his computer screen. He loved Valentine's Day. It was as though someone long ago had decided that Anthony DiNozzo needed a special day of his own once a year. He had already found a pile of gifts on his desk, and a number of cards had found their way into his hands.
He was a God among men.
Upon his arrival in the squad room earlier, he had noticed a box of chocolates on Ziva's desk and a single black rose on the Probie's. It was obvious who had taken pity on the Probie – not many people loved black roses as much as Abby – but he couldn't figure out the box on Ziva's desk. He had placed a little card next to the box on the off chance she would think both gifts were from the same person, before settling down to his own collection.
Unsurprisingly, he had checked the boss' desk as well, but he did not expect to find anything. Jenny would not leave her present in a place where anyone could find it. He knew the boss and the boss' boss were doing the horizontal mambo, and fully expected them to exchange gifts. The only problem was that they did not have to swap presents at work; they could easily do it at whichever house they were at. Which meant he might not get to see their secretive smiles and furtive glances.
Another thought came into his head. He was sure he had seen Jenny earlier. She had been talking with Agent Wofford about the latest Middle East threat assessments. So where was Gibbs? Surely they would have come in together, today of all days?
He liked them being together. Anything that made Gibbs less grumpy was a good thing, and it helped that these two were perfectly matched. Sure, they spent half their time bickering, but it was with an undercurrent of affection. They pushed each other's buttons knowing that they would make up later. Gibbs was protective of her, while Jenny cheered him up.
Throwing Lily into the mix always made for a good laugh. She needled Gibbs while simultaneously looking out for her sister. And Gibbs couldn't intimidate her like he did everyone else. He couldn't intimidate Jenny, but she didn't count. No one could scare Lily, or force her to do something she didn't want to. Yet somewhere, deep down, he knew Lily did everything she could to keep her sister and his boss together.
He wondered what the CIA agent was doing today. Probably blowing something up or in the middle of a mind game, knowing her. He doubted she was even aware of the day of the week, let alone the exact date.
34 hours earlier
Leroy Jethro Gibbs had never been more tempted to murder someone in his life. It didn't help that there were plenty of tools around him to do the job if he allowed himself to lose control for a few moments.
Lily was proving impossible to deal with. Her flu was getting steadily worse. On top of her fever and exhaustion, she was now coughing every five minutes until she was out of breath. She was shivering with cold one minute and boiling the next. Her appetite had completely vanished, while her throat was sore. He had buried his pride for a minute and asked her if she wanted to go to a hospital, but the hammer she had thrown at his head gave him an indication as to her answer.
And somehow she had not lost the ability to wind him up. Knowing she would be dependent on him for a few days had scared him slightly, but she seemed to be relishing it. He had attempted to feed her chicken soup until she had forcibly pointed out that she was not hungry at all. 'Forcibly' had involved her tipping it over his boat. He had refused to give her coffee, arguing that she needed warm liquids but not caffeine. When he had returned from work a few hours ago, he had found her halfway up the stairs, clearly fatigued, and yet desperate for some coffee.
She had also emptied every jar on his workbench in various places around his basement, and half-completed a nail bomb that she would probably try to place somewhere in his house.
She was still issuing demands, even though he had long since decided it hurt her to speak. She wanted grapes, and gave him incredibly specific instructions on which ones to buy, and she wanted him to stop working on his boat because it was interfering with her headache, and she wanted him to stop treating her like a baby, while she demanded chocolate and bourbon. Apparently, getting drunk while ill was a Shepard family tradition.
The only reason he had refused the alcohol was because he did not want to put up with an ill Lily plus a hangover. Although the thought had crossed his mind that she wouldn't notice a hangover if he kept giving her alcohol until she had beaten the flu bug, he knew Jenny would kill him if he tried.
So he sucked it up and glared at her instead. The effect was spoiled by his running around to do her bidding, but hopefully she got the message.
"LJ," she whined.
He took a sip of his own bourbon. Couldn't she just go to sleep and leave him in peace? "What?" he grumbled.
"My shoulders hurt."
She sounded like a little lost child, which did not fit in with his view of her as a big bad CIA agent. He had enough problems imagining her as a child when she told stories about her youth, stories which just happened to involve Jenny in various embarrassing situations.
"LJ," she whined again.
"What?" he growled back.
"Do something about it."
The little lost child act tugged at his heartstrings. He resisted the urge to shoot her as he put his bourbon down and went to her side. She was curled up on the floor again, tangled in a mass of blankets. He hauled her onto the edge of his boat, unraveled the blankets so that he could reach her shoulders, and started giving her a massage.
It took him a few minutes before he found himself smiling. Lily had fallen silent, and he suspected she was fighting the urge to fall asleep. She was like putty in his hands; compared to her usual tough self, it was a radical difference. If he tried to give her a massage any other time, she would castrate him before continuing with whatever game she was playing.
Her even breathing alerting him to the fact that she had lost another fight for consciousness. He continued to knead her shoulders softly until he felt the knots disappear, before gently lying her down so she could sleep more naturally.
His eyes did not leave her inert form for a while. The only sign that she was alive came from her soft breaths. He felt as though he was trapped in another world; this was not the Lily he knew. She was chaotic and dangerous and never slowed down. Part of him wanted to kick her out of his basement, while another part reminded him that she needed his help.
Present time
Jenny placed another pile of completed files on her assistant's desk before entering her own domain again. Today had seemed to go on forever. She had spent half of it in MTAC, discussing various matters with officials who did not seem to know that today was Valentine's Day and she was allowed to do nothing.
And Jethro had not been to see her.
She had spotted his team hard at work in the squad room. She had watched Tony tease Ziva, Ziva threaten him straight back, and McGee's amusement at the whole situation. She had smiled softly before retreating to her office, unable to stand being reminded of a time when she had no cares in the world. Now, she had paperwork coming out of her ears and a sister who seemed to become more uncontainable as she got older.
She wondered what Lily was doing today. It had crossed her mind at various points in the day, but Lily was always on her mind. Being twins meant they were incredibly close. She knew how much her sister loved Valentine's Day. Her impulsiveness and daring had made her the more popular of the two when they were younger, and it still seemed to attract an endless stream of admirers.
Rubbing her eyes, she eased herself into her chair. Where was Jethro? He hadn't burst into her office at all today. She had not discovered a gift anywhere, and she had checked her office twice. There was no way he could have snuck past her since her last return from MTAC.
A firm knock at her door roused her from her thoughts. She could guess who it was – Jethro. For once, he was being polite, and she found herself smiling at the thought.
"Enter," she called.
The door opened, but it was Tony who walked in, looking extremely nervous. "Can I have a quick word?" he inquired.
She nodded, unable to refuse Jethro's protégé. "What seems to be the problem?" she asked.
"It's… about Gibbs. He hasn't come in today," Tony admitted.
She glanced at the clock on her desk. It was now the evening, meaning Jethro had been AWOL for a whole day. Panic rose in her throat. He would never take time off without warning her first! Something was wrong.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she demanded.
"McGee ran a trace on his cell phone," Tony replied. "It says that he's at home. And he never goes anywhere without the thing."
She mulled the new development over in her mind. Tony was right; Jethro was attached to his damn cell phone. Which meant he was still at home. What could have kept him? Perhaps he'd fallen down his basement steps, or someone could have kidnapped him, leaving the cell phone behind…
Forcing her mind away from macabre thoughts, she faced the Agent in front of her. "I'm going over," she told him.
Tony nodded. "I thought you might want to know," he noted. "And Ziva and McGee have offered to come as well."
Still surprised that she had not heard of this earlier, she grabbed her badge and her weapon before following him out.
Ziva David could have kicked herself for being so careless. Gibbs was like clockwork. If he had not appeared at work, it would be because something serious had happened to prevent him from arriving. In her mind's eye, she could see him arriving at work covered in his own blood and dying, but refusing to give up the hunt for the latest dirtbag.
Why had she been so confident earlier that he was okay? She felt it was mainly because of Tony's comments: the man was indestructible. Nothing could ever happen to him. He had survived being blown up twice, almost drowning, Jenny's wrath on countless occasions, and Tony's antics for the past seven years. On top of that, he survived all the pranks that Lily pulled on him. And she caused havoc for him on a regular basis.
Her gut had not told her that anything was wrong. And Tony had seemed remarkably relaxed about the whole situation, acting as though the teacher had not shown up for a lesson and they had stayed to play around. She had not done any work, mainly because Tony had acted as though he was five years old for a whole day, and she had felt it was her job to prevent him from getting himself fired.
McGee had tried to draw their attention to Gibbs' absence at various moments, but Tony had always pointed out that his cell phone said he was at his house. Even Abby had been momentarily concerned, until she had run her own search and found whichever bug she had placed on him to be broadcasting from the same location. Gibbs was safe. They had not bothered to tell Jenny, assuming that she knew why he was not in.
Her guilty conscience had eventually kicked in, and she had forced Tony to inform Jenny, under pain of death if he failed to do the job. It helped that she had spent most of the day sharpening her knife and coming up with a list of interesting torture techniques she wanted to try. McGee had added to the pressure on Tony by threatening to tell Abby that Gibbs might actually be in danger. She wasn't sure what had finally convinced him to go: her offers of pain or the thought of an angry Goth attacking him.
The house felt empty as they entered, guns drawn. They crept through the first floor, until they reached the kitchen and found Gibbs' cell phone resting on the table. Her heart beat rose slightly. Gibbs had been here at some point, but where was he now? She knew they should have searched for him earlier!
Jenny signaled that Tony and McGee should go up the stairs to the next level, while the two of them would check the basement. Ziva felt if Gibbs was anywhere in his house, it would be downstairs with his boat.
They eased open the door, and concurrently breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of Gibbs' voice. But within seconds, it became clear that he wasn't alone…
Jenny put her gun away and stormed onto the stairs. Ziva followed, anxious to protect her friend.
"Where have you been all day?" the redhead demanded.
Now that she was closer, Ziva could see the state of the basement. Gibbs was in one corner, glaring at Lily, while the CIA agent was huddled in another, wrapped in a series of blankets.
They completely ignored the newcomers.
"You gave these blankets to me," Lily argued. "I don't have to give them back."
Gibbs looked furious. "You gave me your bug, so you'd better learn to share those blankets."
Lily stuck her tongue out in response.
"Shut up, Lil," Jenny ordered, going to see Gibbs first.
"He started it," Lily whined.
Ziva wanted nothing more than to finish the argument, but Jenny spoke first. "Jethro, you're burning up," she cried.
Gibbs rolled his eyes and shied away from her slightly. "Only because your charming sister managed to give me the flu."
Ziva looked around the rest of the basement. Tools were scattered everywhere, both large and small. Something that smelled a lot like chicken soup was covering one of the ribs on Gibbs' boat. Both Lily and Gibbs looked exhausted and feverish. She wondered how long they had been cooped up together, unable to make it up the stairs to a little peace and quiet.
She grinned. No wonder Gibbs was in a foul mood.
Lily glared at Ducky as he tried to examine her. The effect was spoiled by the fact she could barely keep her eyes open.
She had started to feel a little better an hour ago, when her sister had shown up. It was quite clear that Jenny was blaming this entire fiasco on her. She couldn't see what she had done wrong; LJ had had plenty of time to buy Jenny a present when he wasn't waiting on her hand and foot. And it was no one's fault that neither of them had been able to make it to the kitchen to answer the cell phone.
She turned her head sharply and started to cough again. Ducky waited patiently until she had finished, before poking at her again.
"Been coughing a lot?" he asked.
"Already coughed up one lung," she joked. "Working on the other one."
He gave her a small smile, recognizing her need to break the tension in the basement. Tony and McGee had refused point blank to carry LJ out, while Ziva and Jenny couldn't manage it in a million years. And if LJ was staying down here, she was too. Someone else could look after her for a while. She wasn't too fussed as to who it would be.
"How did you miss your annual flu jab?" the Doctor continued.
Shrugging her shoulders, she replied. "Was overseas when they were giving them out."
LJ gave a hollow laugh. She turned her head to see her sister trying to wrap him up in another set of blankets in an attempt to make him feel more comfortable. "You could always have seen your own doctor," he pointed out.
Resisting the urge to stick her tongue out again, mindful of Jenny's threat to cut it out next time, she settled for a good glare. "I've been busy," she countered. "Why didn't you get yours?"
"Because Gibbs thinks he's Superman," Tony interrupted. "Come on, if you were a bug, would you attack Gibbs?"
"Yes," she replied impishly.
Jenny shot her a look which told her to keep her mouth shut. "You would," she agreed.
Ducky straightened up and addressed both her and Jenny. "You will be fine," he proclaimed. "But you need to keep your fluid intake up."
"It was up!" she protested. "But LJ hasn't bought me a drink since last night!"
"Might have something to do with me waking up this morning and being unable to get up the stairs," LJ growled.
"And he'll be fine too," Ducky added. "You both need to rest."
Lily hid a grin. So LJ was stuck here for a little while longer as well.
"What are you doing?" LJ asked. It appeared that he had suddenly noticed the arrival of sleeping bags.
"We're going to keep you company," Jenny answered. "'We' meaning 'the people who got their flu jabs'."
Lily smothered another grin. More company.
"Now," Jenny began, in a tone that Lily knew very well and completely hated. "We're all going to settle down and go to sleep. We've had a long day, and some people need more sleep than others."
Lily snuggled down deeper into her blankets. She wasn't bothered; she was tired anyway. It was a pity that Jenny had decided to stay in LJ's corner, but she could always crawl across the floor in the middle of the night.
Someone turned the lights out and she closed her eyes.
An almighty crash sounded, and everyone but her jumped in fright. Someone turned the lights back on, and Lily couldn't help the grin this time.
"I loosened all the joints in your precious boat before I couldn't get out of here," she admitted aloud. "I've only been waiting three days for it to fall apart."
THE END