Bruises

Jennifer Shepard stepped out of her bathroom, it was a nice, calm afternoon, waiting to be spent with her lover who had just returned from grabbing some food for the two of them. She heard his steps slightly numbed through the water pouring down on her in the shower. The moment she stepped out of the shower was the moment she knew; she wasn't hungry at all. At least not for food... Drying herself off quickly, she decided to just brush her hair and wear her underwear for now. As much as she loved clothes and shoes, she'd come to hate dressing up for everything all the damn time.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, she was greeted by Jethro, who was leaning against her bed post, looking at her up and down. He was smiling at first, drinking in the sight of her thin underwear; his smile faded after about two seconds when he looked at her usually pale and soft skin more closely.

"What the hell, Jen? "he hissed, staring at her like he'd never seen a woman. She laughed at him, not really in the mood to get into an argument just yet; mainly because she didn't know, what the problem was. He didn't seem to bother taking in her genuine smile. He pushed off of the best post, came up to her and lifted his fingers carefully. He brushed her hair over one shoulder with his hand and looked at her neck. It was nearly purple all over, bruises starting to turn dark, spreading from behind her earlobe over her long neckline and started to fade at her collarbones.

Jenny's brows knit together in confusion as she tried to make out what exactly his problem was. Having been with him for a longer period of time, she was positive, he'd seen hickeys before...

His gaze roamed over her chest to her waist and hip, his hands following it. When he touched her thighs softly, making her skin erupt in goose bumps, she decided to talk to him.

"Not to bother your weird investigation on my body, Jethro, but I'd very much like to put on something more than the underwear I'm in. "

Her complaint went unnoticed by him.

He looked up at her, his eyes laced with anger and concern.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that I hurt you, Jen? ", he asked in a tone that worried her. He looked down at her again, gazing at the bruises that were blooming like flowers.

"What? ", she asked a little dumbly, seriously asking herself if he was ok. Why on earth would he think, he hurt her? He just gave her one of his no-nonsense glares.

Looking at herself, Jenny finally realized what his problem seemed to be.

"Jethro they're just hickey? I know you'd never hurt me in any physical way; never hurt me in a physical way. So help me god, Don't lose your temper over some love bites.

He still didn't loosen up one bit, grabbing her by the waist as carefully as possible, like she was going to break any second. He led her to the mirror, near the closet and signalized her to look at her reflection.

She did, turned a bit to look at her behind and the back of her thighs and had to admit, that it didn't look tender. She still laughed at him though, and turned to him in a calming manner. He was still glaring at her as if it was her fault and seemed to be waiting for some kind of explanation.

"Stop with the goddamn glaring already. You know me well enough to acknowledge that I can't stand soft first- timer sex; It simply isn't satisfying. Not that I don't like slow and deep, but… I can stand it for all of one minute before- "

"Jen I know that we- "

She raised her eyebrow at him and shot him a dirty glare, making him shut up.

"Look at me. Look at my face you idiot. I am not hurt. I am a hundred percent honest when I'm saying I was unconcerned at the time. I need rough sex Jethro; sometimes I need very rough sex. I can only speak for myself when I say that I had the best sex ever last night. But if you're trying to tell me, you won't be doing that again, the two of us have a problem."

A puzzled look settled on his face; he didn't move. She groaned in frustration and tried to find a way to express herself politely; she found herself unable to.

"I can be such a bitch sometimes, Jethro! It sometimes consumes my very existence and makes me tense like a frigid virgin."

Jethro's face lit up with a very small smile at her choice of words.

"I really didn't hurt you?", he asked, still a bit concerned.

She sighed.

"You really don't get what I am trying to tell you, do you?"

He shrugged helplessly.

"I am a grown woman, Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I also happen to be a trained agent. Trained by no other than yourself. I can look after myself! Believe me when I tell you, you'd know if you had hurt me in any way.

He still didn't seem to be happy with her words, somehow they didn't really get to him. He looked at the bruises again. Of course he'd seen some stupid love bites on her but those were different. They weren't the usual 'a little bruise on the neck, some little spots on her chest'; they seemed to be all over her.

She realized it didn't help that she wanted to tell him the polite, vanilla way.

Jenny took a deep breath, choosing her words roughly.

"I need you to fuck that tension out of me to relax! God Jethro, what is up with you today?"

She took a deep breath again, hating that she had to talk about her sexual needs. Of course she didn't bother talking about sex- related things when she tried to get him in bed. Or when she was joking around with Ziva. But this was a different case. As confident as she was, she hated flat out telling him what she needed in detail. It made her uncomfortable.

"I am a sucker for this kind of treatment. The neck biting, the hair pulling; pinning my wrists above my head…"

She licked her lips slowly, aroused by her own memories of their theatrics last night; her voice turning into a throaty whisper when she moved on. "When you assault me with that handsome mouth of yours until it's torture not to have you inside me… Don't get me wrong; I love being on top and in control." -He smirked, "but you", she swallowed, "taking me hard and fast…"

Her lips were only an inch away from his ear now, her butterscotch voice having dropped down to a wanton alto pitch; her eyes dark some shade of dark viridian and smoky with desire. Jethro swallowed hard, his concern moving more and more to the back of his mind as he listened to her words.

"…is… imperative."

She let her lips grace his neck ever so slightly, before she turned to look at his eyes. She nearly flinched when she saw how dark and lust- laced his eyes met hers. She wound one hand around his neck, pulling him closer until their lips almost touched.

Almost.

She parted her lips like she was about to kiss him; but she didn't. She almost closed the gap for a few times, but pulled back every single time, driving him crazy with need.

"Did you understand?" She asked, her voice dripping with lust like honey off a spoon. When he tried to finally kiss her, she pulled back again, drawing a frustrated groan from her.

"Jen!"

She laughed and gave him his release, gracing his jaw with her slim fingers and touching her soft lips to his, luring him into a sensual, slow kiss. One of his hands wandered to her lower back, resting it flat on her skin and pushing her indefinitely closer to him. His other hand wound into her hair, his fingers slipping to her neck occasionally to feel her soft skin.

He moved down with his lips, focusing more on her jaw, careful not to suck too hard on the already purple parts of her skin.

"Stop holding back you bastard." She mumbled, despite of the throaty moans escaping her lips. He went back to her lips then, kissing her harder, biting down on her lower lip. He didn't cut her any slack by sucking on it, drawing a soft gasp from her. She pulled away after a few seconds, closing her eyes and licking her lips.

He laughed against her throat and tugged her to bed with him, intending on doing all those things she needed to be done to, in order to… loosen up her tense muscles. She knew, she had him careless again, when he sucked on her hipbone, not even noticing that he'd probably leave twice as much marks on her this time.

But she loved him for it. Loved him for making her his all over again, loved him for actually caring if he hurt her or not. Loved him for all the selfless things he did.

Loved him.