A/N: Watch the music video for 'Stay' by Sugarland for this. It's simple, sad, and the inspiration for this, in a way. Not really sure where this drabble/character study came from-I made my own marathon from DVD collections, just watched 'Sharif Returns'. This takes place before the kiss at the end.

Disclaimer: NCIS is not mine.

"You feeling better?"

Hollis Mann was staring at a man she had not expected to see in her bedroom. Granted, she'd wanted to, from the moment she'd met him, but she hadn't thought he'd actually ever make it.

"Yeah," Leroy Jethro Gibbs answered from her doorway, his blue eyes dark as they ran over her robe-clad body. "Sure feelin' a whole lot better than DiNozzo. He was about ready to kill himself when we burned that hundred grand."

Hollis laughed, but it almost felt forced to her. She'd wanted this, didn't she?

He came forward and sat on her bed, his arm going over her legs, resting on the bedspread. His face was close to hers, and she could see every detail in his cobalt irises.

And yet, she couldn't help but wonder if Director Shepard saw more in his eyes than just flecks of blue and black.

"I came by to say thank you," he said, his voice quieter than before. She looked at him, memorizing his face, before answering.

"You're welcome," she replied honestly, her blue eyes soft as they looked at him.

Later on, she'd say the kiss was mutual-they'd both wanted it, and had been skirting it for ages. But when he pressed his lips to hers, she couldn't help but feel guilty, for that moment.

Had Director Shepard kissed these lips before?

She tried to banish the thought, to just enjoy the kiss, but she couldn't help but wonder.

Why hadn't she seen what had been wrong with Jethro? Why had Director Shepard known, why had Director Shepard seen the signs, and not her?

What exactly was Director Shepard's relationship with Jethro?

They broke the kiss slowly, the silence heavy between them. Did she want this? Did she really want him to stay? Did she want to accept what that meant?

And the simple, heartbreaking truth was that she'd give anything for him to stay-she'd give anything to be the one that he wanted.

But she'd never know for certain if she was who he thought about-if in his silence, she was on his mind.

Or would it be a redhead he was thinking of?

But could you ever really know another's thoughts? What made her wonderings any different from any other woman in a relationship with a man?

What made it different was the man. Leroy Jethro Gibbs was a man she'd thought about constantly since she'd met him, since she'd spoken to him.

And she wanted him.

But she'd seen the looks exchanged between him and Director Shepard. He was the only one he'd ever heard call her 'Jenny' at work, and their body language suggested an intimacy over a different level than she'd ever seen before.

Could he ever want her the way she was almost certain he wanted Director Shepard?

Or maybe the real question was much simpler- would having him stay make him forget about wanting the redheaded director?

She wanted him to stay. And she pushed away the thoughts of Director Shepard, and uncertainty, and focused on the man staring at her. Her next words sealed the deal.

"Is that all you came for?"