Title: Remembering to Trust
Author: CruorLuna (Alison)
Rating: K+
Characters: Tony, Gibbs, Jenny
Pairings: Jibbs, Tony/Gibbs father/son(ish), Jenny/Tony friendship
Spoilers: Up to the beginning of season five, subtle hints towards later season five though.
Summary: Set about two weeks after 'Bury Your Dead.' Gibbs decides it's time to have a talk with his Senior Special Agent, but maybe Tony isn't the only one with a lesson or two still to learn.

A/N: Yes, I KNOW Getting To Know You is still overdue … I was having major writer's block and this very short three-parter popped into my head, so I thought I'd just get it on paper to get me writing again. I'm now about halfway through the next chapter of GTKY so it is in the works, and I'll get it to you as soon as I can! Hopefully this random three-shot (??) will help to keep away the pitchforks anyway … It's my version of how I think Gibbs, Jenny and Tony all learned how to trust one another again after the La Grenouille business, and of course there had to be a little Jibbs in there ;) Hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway – please review!

"You wanted to see me, boss?"

"Sit down, Tony." Gibbs waited for his Senior Field Agent to sit in one of the chairs around the conference table before pulling out the one next to it for himself, bracing himself internally for what he was about to do. He wasn't normally one for sharing his secrets, but it had been two weeks since Jeanne had left, and Gibbs could tell that Tony still wasn't ready to bounce back. Maybe, just maybe, he could help with that.

"What's this about, boss?" Tony asked uncertainly.

"We haven't talked about this, have we, DiNozzo?" Gibbs said tiredly, and Tony blanched.

"Look, boss, I'm sorry I lied to you about Jeanne. You know how the Director feels about keeping secrets – besides, it was never meant to become anything serious, and when it did I just felt so …"

"I know, DiNozzo," Gibbs sighed. "Believe me, I know."

"Right," Tony chuckled wryly. "Sure you do, boss. You'd never let yourself get too involved undercover – you'd get the job done without letting yourself or anyone else get hurt in the process. Not like me." Gibbs didn't speak for several moments, and Tony frowned. "Boss?"

"Everybody's human, DiNozzo," he said wearily, watching with trepidation as the younger man tried to interpret the meaning behind his words.

"If you're trying to say that you would have done the same thing in my position, then sorry, but I find that difficult to believe, Gibbs."

"Aw, hell, DiNozzo, I did do exactly the same thing." Gibbs grimaced slightly as Tony's eyes widened in surprise, and he ploughed on, determined not to dwell too much on his own memories. "Now listen to me: you don't have to get it perfect all the time, Tony," he explained. "You did your damndest, and that's all anyone can ever expect from you. Undercover is never easy, and everyone makes mistakes."

"Thanks boss," Tony said with a short nod. "What about your mistake? Did you ever get over her?" Gibbs paused before replying.

"No," he said eventually, "not completely. But after a while it won't hurt so much, and as time goes on you'll learn to remember the good things and not just the bad." Tony bit his lip and watched his boss for a few moments before asking his next question.

"How did you choose, boss? Between the girl and the job?"

"I didn't," Gibbs said with a heavy sigh. "She did."

"Oh … sorry, boss," Tony said quietly. Gibbs took a deep breath before continuing, knowing that, no matter how much he may not want to talk about it, this was something his agent needed from him at the moment.

"One day she was just gone," he said slowly, and Tony stared at him, seeming shocked by this unexpected glimpse into his boss' past. "I woke up to a 'Dear John' letter and she was already on a plane. She hadn't planned on getting involved with anyone, and she decided she could afford to be held back. I didn't fit into her five-point career plan, and so she left. Didn't say goodbye; didn't leave a phone number. It was just … over."

"That's really harsh, boss," Tony said with a note of genuine sympathy in his tone. Of course he was sympathetic – he knew how heartbreak felt. "Was she … would I know her?" Gibbs almost laughed aloud. How to answer that? Did DiNozzo know the one woman he had truly loved since his first wife?

"No," he replied finally. "You wouldn't know her."

"What was her name?"

"Jenny Shepard." DiNozzo gaped at him, his mouth hanging open, as Gibbs corrected his previous statement. "You wouldn't know her any more, DiNozzo," he said with a sigh.

"Boss, I …"

"Don't say it, DiNozzo."

"Right. Well, I know it doesn't help, but for what it's worth … she probably regrets leaving as much as you regret her doing it. If you were in deep enough that you never really got over her, the chances are she never really got over you either."

"Hell, DiNozzo, this was meant to be about you, remember?"

"I know, but she … she messed up with the whole Jeanne thing," Tony admitted. "And I was really angry with her at first. But I think she already feels bad enough without anyone else making it worse – especially not you."

"Then she should have damn well thought of that before!" Gibbs snapped, regretting raising his voice the moment the words left his mouth.

"She should have," agreed Tony, refusing to be quelled by the other man's sudden anger. "But you can't keep punishing her forever. She's already punishing herself."

"That's her choice."

"And she won't stop until someone reminds her that it's okay to be human; that it's okay to make mistakes sometimes, as long as you learn from them. And I would tell her myself, but I don't think it's me she needs to hear it from."

"What do you want me to do, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked testily. "It's not up to me to make it all go away."

"Jeanne hates me, boss, because of my mistake, and you can see what that's doing to me. You're the one doing that to her for a mistake she made eight years ago." Tony stood up to leave, glancing over his shoulder on the way out. "Maybe this time you get to make the choice, boss."

Gibbs sat in silence for several minutes after the door had closed, mulling over his Senior Field Agent's last words. One the one hand, Tony was right – Jenny would never forgive herself for the danger she had put the younger man in, and she most likely didn't need her ex's help in reminding herself of her mistakes. And Tony seemed to think there was still a chance for his bosses – slim, in Gibbs' opinion, but Tony was observant. He trusted his subordinate's judgement. On the other hand, it wasn't easy for Leroy Jethro Gibbs to simply forgive and forget – and not just for the situation with DiNozzo, either. He still wasn't sure if he had ever forgiven Jenny for leaving him in Paris, and if he hadn't, he was afraid that that would end up coming between them too. He wasn't sure either of them were ready for a serious relationship, but as DiNozzo said, even Jenny was human – even Jenny needed someone to remind her of that sometimes. That was something he had always been good at, in one way or another.

Eventually he stood up, his decision made, albeit a tentative one. He entered the elevator and pressed the button for the correct floor, leaning back against the handrail with a sigh. He hated these moments when he questioned his own instincts, but he still just did not know if this was the right thing to do. He watched the numbers increase as the elevator steadily climbed from one floor to the next, before his hand jerked out pretty much of its own accord and hit the adjacent number to the already-lit one. This would be his final decision. This was for the best.