Penny stood in the centre of the living room for a couple of minutes looking at Jenny with tears in her eyes. Jenny looked back at Penny also with tears in her eyes. Finally Jenny chose to break the silence, although not quite knowing what to say.
'Penny I'm so sorry, you were never supposed to find out like this.' She said quietly.
'I…I…I don't understand Jen.' Penny stammered quietly. 'Are you really my mom?' She added.
Jenny looked at Penny for a few seconds, attempting to find the words but none coming to mind. So instead of speaking she chose to simply nod her head in acknowledgement. Penny looked crest fallen as the tears trickled down her face.
'Penny I…' Jenny began to explain before being cut off by Penny.
'Don't!' She shouted, 'I don't want to hear it Jen.' She added as she brushed past her, grabbing her coat on the way past.
'Penny wait where are you going?' Jenny asked as Penny yanked open the front door and ran down the street into the rain.
As she watched Penny running off down the street she could feel her own tears running down her face, and she wasn't too sure what to do. Does she leave her to come back on her own? Or go after her? She closed the door and rested her head against the wood. She had never intended any of this to happen and she hated herself for letting it.
She stayed up past midnight waiting for Penny to come home, but when she didn't appear she began to get worried. She decided to go looking for her, but realised that she couldn't do it on her own. She got into her car and drove to the one person she trusted to help her.
Walking down the wooden stairs into the basement she could hear Gibbs sanding his boat. Normally she enjoyed watching him working, but on this occasion it didn't have the same comforting affect.
Gibbs looked up with a smile when he saw Jenny walking down towards him, but then frowned suddenly when he saw her tear stained face and saddened expression.
'Jen what's happened?' He asked caringly as he stroked her cheek with his thumb.
'I messed up Jethro, big time!' She said with a sob as he pulled her down on to the stairs.
'I'm sure it isn't anything that can't be fixed.' He said, trying to comfort her as she began to sob loudly once more.
'No Jethro you don't understand; it's about Penny. I've really, really hurt her and now I don't know where she is or how to fix this.' She explained.
'Well whatever's happened I'm sure she'll forgive you.' He reasoned.
'I don't think so Jethro, not this time.' Jenny replied.
'Well you gonna tell me about it?' Gibbs asked as he wiped more tears from her face.
'Penny…Penny isn't my sister Jethro, she's my daughter.' She explained.
Gibbs didn't look particularly surprised, which surprised Jenny.
'Why don't you seem surprised?' She asked.
'I knew there was something more about her that you weren't telling me, I just wasn't sure what.' Gibb s replied as he placed his arm around Jenny's shoulders and placed a kiss on her head. 'Do you want to talk about it?' He added.
'No, Penny needs to be the first one to hear this seeing as she's the one I've been lying to; but I've no idea where she is or even where to begin looking.' She replied.
'Well knowing Penny the first place to look I would say would be NCIS.' Gibbs said as he pulled Jenny up and towards the door.
He drove them both to NCIS headquarters in the hope of finding Penny sat at her desk, and Jenny was dismayed when the bullpen was empty. They were about to turn round and head out when Gibbs noticed two letters on his desk; one labelled "Gibbs" and the other labelled "Jenny".
Both took their letters in hand and read the contents. Jenny turned pale when she read hers, and the tears stung at her eyes once again.
Dear Jenny
I need to put a bit of distance between us for a while to try and deal with how much you have hurt me.
I've left my cell phone and credit cards here so that you can't trace me; I know that you would have asked McGee to look for me otherwise. Please don't try to find me.
Penny
There were no kisses or personal touches that Jenny was used to when receiving messages from Penny, and it hurt her to think that Penny might decide not to come back.
'Penny's put in for some emergency leave. She didn't say what it was for, but she has explained that she guessed you'll have come to me.' Gibbs said as he placed his hands on Jenny's shoulders.
'What if she doesn't come back Jethro?' Jenny whispered solemnly.
'She will be back once she's calmed down.' He replied. 'The best thing you can do is go home and get some rest.'
She nodded wearily as Gibbs guided her out of the office and back to his car. The drive back to Jenny's house was quiet; Jenny was too upset to say anything else, and Gibbs didn't know what to say.
Gibbs pulled the car up outside the Georgetown apartment and was already for heading off home when Jenny stopped him.
'You not gonna come in? There's no point going home, and I could do with the company.' She said.
Gibbs turned the engine off and walked with Jenny into the house. Jenny had a quick look around in case Penny had returned, but felt her heart break when there was no sign. She was going to stay up for a while, but Gibbs forced her to bed. He knew Penny wasn't going to be back anytime soon and Jenny was going to need all the rest she could get.
Across town Penny sat at the bus station waiting for her bus to arrive. She'd taken out enough cash from her bank account to last her a couple of weeks and to take her to…well she wasn't exactly sure where she was going to go, all she knew was that she couldn't face Jen right at that moment in time.
The tears stung at her eyes once more as she thought about Jenny; she couldn't believe how she had lied to her, the one person she trusted most in the world had betrayed her more than she could have thought.
Just as the day was beginning to get light the bus pulled into its bay. The driver got off to take peoples bags and put them underneath in the baggage hold. Penny got straight on to the bus and walked to the back, wanting nothing more than to be alone with her thoughts.
As the bus pulled out of the bus station, Penny rested her forehead against the cool glass of the window beside her. She watched for a while as the DC buildings changed in to countryside, with no buildings around for miles.
Finally, after a very long night, Penny closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, the images of Jenny and the video still fresh in her mind.
