Disclaimer – NCIS is not mine

Authors note – Sorry for the delay, but I hope that you all enjoy this chapter. I'm going to skip a few weeks ahead with the next one just to get some story into it as I don't want y'all getting a little bored of it

'I don't care about the spotlight or the Hollywood nights, All I wanted was an ordinary life." – Amy McDonald, Ordinary life. It is a beautiful song and I think y'all should go and listen to it!

Hiding Behind a Coffee Cup

Following a night of heaving rain, the type that hammered down on rooftops and filled houses with that pitter-patter-ing sound, the rain had finally slowed down. Puddles still covered most of the pavements, trees still held the small beads of water in their leaves, and windowpanes were tattooed with the perfect round circles dotted spontaneously around. Yet no more rain fell from the sky. The thick black clouds that had blocked the blue of the sky the previous day were now gone, and replaced by slightly whiter versions.

Outside was still not quite light. The moon had passed over to the other half of the world, yet the sun had yet to grace Washington DC with its presence. So the sky was an almost grey colour, leaving the people of the city to draw their own conclusions as to whether the day would brighten up or not. Yet most people still lay in their warm beds, under the thick winter duvets in a warm and blissful dreamland. However, that was only most people. Some were already awake, and some had even yet to go to bed.

Jenny Shepard was awake and at work at 5:30 am because it seemed that agents across the world were holding conference calls at times which only suited the. So that was why Jenny Shepard was stood on the catwalk outside of MTAc looking down on an abandoned bull pen. Most of the teams had no cases and so had gone home the previous night, those who did had worked until midnight when coffee was no longer enough to keep them awake, and so they had gone home for a few hours sleep. The place was silent as she stood there. Arms resting on the cold metal handrail as the director surveyed her kingdom.

It was fifteen minutes until her next conference call, so she walked down the stairs. The heels of her black suede Vivian Westwood heels clicking as she went. Jenny Shepard was not one to spend ridiculous money as and when she pleased, apart from on shoes. The red head worked long hours and was always on her feet, so she felt that in that light she had a fair right to buy expensive shoes.

Her trousers were straight legged with a pleat down the centre of each leg and a turn up at the bottom. They had a high waist that made her long legs look even longer. With it she wore a white peasant blouse which was tucked in. Her long red hair was tied up in a messy bun with strands framing her face, and red lipstick on her lips. Her hand graced the handrail as descended the steps and walked around to the area she had once worked in.

As she walked around the desks she turned off lights and put monitors to sleep, tidying up like a mother does her children. She smiled at the pictured of loved ones which decorated the dividers. Then she entered Gibbs' team's area. Although she was not meant to have favourites, she did. He held a special place in her heart and this team were something special. She walked around Tony desk and smiled softly at the picture of Tony, Kate, Abby, ducky and Gibbs which was pinned to the divider. It was obviously taken when Kate had only just joined the agency, and yet they all looked as though they were good friends. Laughing at something one of them had said.

Jenny thought back to the time when she had had that sort of relationship with the people she worked with. Looking down she turned off Tony's monitor and put the phone back into its cradle properly. Once she had nudged the draw shut she moved around to Kate's desk and smiled at her pictures. Jenny often did this, look at the pictures people hung up. It made her remember that each of her agents was an individual person. That they did this job out of choice knowing they could die. Seeing the pictures of people that obviously meant a lot to them reminded her to take care of each of them as she would her own child.

Kate had pictures of her and her sister, the team and friends from the secret service. Jenny smiled at how neat the desk was in compression to Tony's. IT was the desk that had belonged to the director herself a decade or so ago. Jenny just smiled, remembering how she had sat there, throwing balls of paper across the bullpen at her co-workers. Smiling and wrapping Gibbs around her little finger.

She saw his desk and smiled, remembering how she had sat there on the edge of it during cases, wearing a skirt just to drive him mad. How things had changed. Back then they had been known throughout the agency and the FBI as being the best partnership ever. They'd been the ones who did the missions and worked the cases. Now they were known for their arguments and fiery tempers.

She looked at the desk; his glassed thrown down on it in a fit. For years he had claimed he did not need them, and how he had them. She remembered the times when he'd used hers and the smirk on his face. She remembered the arguments and the good times. The picture of Shannon and Kelly hugging Gibbs as a marine made her heart break. IT was a pain she could never take away, and that was what hurt the most. But next to it was a picture of her, him, Stan and will from many years ago. They were all sat in a bar, and she remembered the night like it was yesterday. The way they had near enough had to drag him there with them.

They were sleeping together by the time they had the case in New York City. They were trying to keep it quiet, except they were both aware that both Stan and will knew about them. They didn't flaunt it, but that night they didn't hide it either. Both were emotionally drained from the case, the way that it had ended was not good. The victim had killed herself in a wave of depression and the killer had shot and agent – not killing them but still causing considerable damage. Knowing that the case would be taken to heart by Gibbs, the younger members of the team had decided that they should take him out... However getting her boss to go to the bar had been Jenny's job. So that was why she was nearly dragging him into the bar whilst Will and Stan drat in a booth smirking.

"Remind me why I am here again?" HE said as he pulled Jenny back into him so that he could look in her eyes. She smirked as she looked up at him, laughing at the way he was so antisocial.

"Because I asked you ever so nicely." She replied, giving him a wink. He huffed and so she kissed him just to sweeten him up and get him to play along nicely. "Now, behave." She said, before walking away, pulling him along as she did.

"Woo! Way to go Shepard!"Stan and Will shouted together, before giving her a round of applause and pushing two shots of bourbon across to them. Jenny picked hers up and downed it in one, just as Gibbs did. Both of them looked in shock at her."Well, that is a talent." Said will, and she just smirked before calling the waiter over and asking for four bears.

She spent that night near enough of Gibbs' knee. Both of them stayed close together, not caring of others saw them. Will and Stan could be trusted, and that was all that mattered.

Jenny looked at the picture and remembered how happy she had been on that night. They had had more than a few drinks by the time that picture had been taken by Ducky, who had come to join them a couple of hours later. She remembered how happy Gibbs had been, the way he had smiled and laughed once he had a few beers inside of him. It was a sight she could honestly, and regrettably, say that she had not seen in a while.

"Director Shepard, Greece is on the line." Said one of the skeleton members of tech staff from MTAC. She just nodded and took one last lingering glance at the picture before making her way up the stairs to her conference. Silently wondering how things would have turned out if she had played her cards in another way. But for no she was stuck where she was, in the early morning talking to people half a world away, and feeling more alone than ever before.

A few hours later, across town in her attic flat, Mia was stood looking out of the sky light and out into the rest of the world. With a cup of tea in her hands she watched as the clouds passed by. A wind blew outside and she could tell rain would be making reappearance before the day was out. She watched as the clouds passed her by, and birds flew above her, free and healthy.

Last night she had fallen asleep to the sound of rain hitting the tiles above her head. Their beat soft and rhythmical. It was a memory of home, a memory of being a child sat on the windowsill in winter, watching the rain fall and waiting for her father to come home. It was comforting and soothing, something she really needed at that moment.

Mia looked over to the table and saw her back, holding the two hundred and fifty dollars she had from her grandparents. The ones she had gone to live with, not the ones her brother had, were not short of cast. So much so that they had paid for the first few months rent of her apartment, and given her another two hundred to put in the bank. The money there was to sort the place out and make it feel like home. In some ways it had made her feel bad, she'd almost become locked within herself after her parents death, shutting herself away from the world and her grandparents. But that money was their way of showing their love for her, even if they were unable to say it.

Sighing the blonde decided it was time to go out into the city and make it feel like home. So she walked into the bedroom and looked around. She'd woken up just over an hour ago to finish unpacking the remainder of her things. Now her room was beginning to look like it was lived in. She walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of black leggings and an autumn coloured top which was like a massive square with a head slot and a belt around the waist. It was a boho piece she had found in a vintage shop one day and fallen in love with. On her feet she pulled out a pair of tan brown ankle cowgirl boots. Smiling at the look she did her makeup, making herself look nice. Once she was done she tied her hair up messily into a ponytail and grabbed her leather jacket and bag before heading out into the world.

The wind was cool and Mia pulled her jacket tighter around herself as she stepped out of the building and onto the street. If she was honest, she really did not have a clue where she was heading. But that was half the fun of it. She knew where her apartment was so she decided to just head in any direction. So she walked, admiring the old and new buildings she passed, and nipping into any shop she fancied. Back in England Mia was a typical student and skint half of the time. So she would go into retro shops and vintage shops, even charity shops. So as she walked around she went anywhere. IF she saw something she liked then she was not too proud to buy it.

At NCIS headquarters life had returned. Agents were coming and going, there was madness everywhere. In their division of the bull pen Gibbs sat looking at him team. They were good people, and he would trust them with his life. He looked over and saw Kate and Tony arguing. "Are you going to tell me why you are acting like the cat that got the cream?" She asked him, bored of playing games with the man who was usually happy enough to tell the whole world why he was smiling.

"How do you know I am not just in a good mood?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow. IF he was honest he was not entirely sure what was going on with him. He just knew that as he walked into work that morning, not even the women he would usually leer over seamed to make an impact on him. He was happy because he had met Mia Harris; a girl who he thought might just be someone different in his life and give him something that he had been lacking for a considerable length of time.

"Because you are never 'just happy', Tony. It's usually got something to do with some woman." Said Kate as she glared at him. They were like brother and sister, and whilst he may wind her up to no end and do her head in most of the time, she really did care.

"Kate, I am happy!" He said before standing up and spinning around. The brunette just shook her head and got back to work.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs scolded. The younger man stopped in his tracks and had an almost fearful look on his face.

"Sorry boss." HE replied almost instantly and out of habit. "Going to see Abby." He said, trying to run away from the scheme as fast as he possibly could. Gibbs just raised his eyebrows and wondered what it was that was going on with his senior field agent whilst Kate laughed her head off. The silver haired man stood up and looked into the director's office. Part of him wanted to go and see her, talk like they were just friends. But another part of him decided that it was a bad idea. The pair of them was not exactly back to that stage again yet. These days being in the same room and not arguing or killing one another was an achievement. So he decided that he did not want to get in an argument so went to get coffee instead. Kate just watched him go and wondered what was going on with all of the men that she worked with.

Mia groaned as she felt her stomach rumble. So far she had passed the best vintage shop she had ever seen, but was determined not to buy clothes so had left. However she had bought a set of mugs which were now wrapped in bubble wrap and in a bag, along with a dinner set after she had found that the one she had in her flat was not exactly attractive. In addition to that she had passed another shop and bought a dozen oversized cushions, a couple of throws that would make the place look warmer and a rug. Now she was only a hundred dollars down thanks to her knack for finding bargains and absolutely starving.

As she passed a small deli she decided that she deserved something to eat and so walked in. She went up to the counter and ordered her sandwich from the older woman behind. Once she got it, wrapped in the white greaseproof paper and a coffee, she walked over to one of the tables and sat down. She gave her arms a shake and a rest from carrying the heavy bags before taking a bit and smiling. Mia decided that she was going to have to find a diet isle in a shop soon or else she would end up putting a stone one.

Smiling she picked up her phone and saw she had a message from Tony. She felt butterflies in her stomach almost instantaneously. Never before had she felt like this over someone, and now she did. But Mia was also well aware of the fact that she should not be starting a relationship. With her illness being as severe as it was, she had not idea how long she would have on the cards, and knew that it was not fair for her to be putting Tony through this. Yet then she decided that this could only last two weeks, so why should she have to go telling the whole world she was ill? Now was a time to relish life surely? So she smiled

New Message from Tony

We still on for Chinese tonight? Xx

Her finger hovered over the reply button, and in the end she clicked it. Smiling at the thought of seeing the dashing American cop again that evening.

Sure, text me when you are on your way (: xx

With that done she finished her meal before heading out again onto the streets. The rain was getting closer so Mia decided to head back. She began to push through the lunchtime rush of people that were heading her way. In a hope to get some space she went down a side street and walked past another second hand shop. She turned to look in the window and saw an old guitar. The wood was in near perfect condition apart from a few scratched and the case was a little battered, but the strings were intact. Mia thought about buying it. She had a guitar back in England, but hadn't been able to bring it over. Seeing it was only $15 she thought 'sod it!' and walked into the shop.

It turned out to be a shop she fell in love with. Everything was organised, yet everything felt like you had just discovered it. She walked around, admiring the pictures that were for sale and picked a few up that were cheap. She grabbed a water colour of the Eiffel tower that she fell in love with, and another of a ballet dancer along with one of the Thames in London. "Can I help you dear?" Questioned the lady who owned the place she was in her sixties and dressed in a pair of boot cut jeans, a white blouse and a ton of coloured beads around her neck.

"I was wondering if the guitar in the window was for sale." She asked, hoping that it was not just put there as a display.

"Well of course it is darling, everything here is for sale." The woman said, before making her way over to the window and taking the guitar and its case down.

"I love this shop, it's amazing." Said Mia as the woman handed the guitar to her. The blonde took it out of the box and played a note, both visibly tensing at how out of tune it was but laughing all the same. "I can deal with that." Said Mia, before looking it over.

Two O'clock came around and Kate returned from the slightly belated lunch run to the deli. She walked in; still trying to figure out what it was that had gotten her partner in such good spirits. She walked into the bull pen and smiled as she saw Abby sat next to Tony, trying to take over control of his computer and no doubt delete some virus he had unknowingly downloaded. It seemed as though men at NCIS were not at all competent when it came to technology. Kate looked to see Gibbs looking up at the director's office, and she felt glad that she had gotten Director Shepard something as well. The woman seamed to barely ever eat, so Kate had decided that considering she had been in work before them all and had not left her office since ten that morning, the chances of her eating were slim. So she decided it would be up to their boss to take her some lunch.

"Here you go." She said, handing one of the three white carrier bags to Abby and Tony, they both smiled in thanks, and (cautiously in Tony' case) unwrapped the sandwich. Both smiled to see it was not one of the healthy concoctions that Kate seamed to prefer. She then went over to Gibbs and passed him the second bag. "There's one in there for the director too."

"Why?" He answered bluntly, not particularly wanting to start an argument with Madame Director, so was hesitant to take it up to her.

"Because she is skinny and never eats Gibbs." Said Kate before heading off down to autopsy to take Ducky his and sit with him. She was one of the few people that could bear his long and sometimes tedious story telling.

Gibbs groaned but decided that Kate was most likely right. He knew that since becoming director Jen had lost way too much weight, so he decided to stop being so selfish and take the food to her. After all, as far as he was aware he had not annoyed any agencies, with the exception of Tobias, but then again when did he not annoy Tobias. After deciding it was Fornell's fault in the first place anyway, he headed up the steps, taking them two at a time.

He just walked straight past Cynthia as he always did, not bothering to ask her if he could go in. But then again the young woman had gotten to the stage where she no longer even cared to argue with him because it was a losing battle. Instead she just muttered "Nice to see you too agent Gibbs" under her breath before returning to work at her computer screen and preparing herself for the argument she anticipated was soon to follow.

Gibbs walked into Jenny's office and walked straight past her, not even saying a work. "You know Jethro, there is generally the custom among civilisation to know before entering a room, otherwise doors are pretty much useless." Said Jenny, she no longer flinched when the heavy door clattered closed behind her most esteemed agents.

"Eat." Was his only reply as he sat down on the black sofa in the corner and began to empty the bag of its contents. Jenny smirked to herself, deciding that now was a chance to actually talk to her former partner. Smiling she stood up and walked over to him. "To what do I owe to pleasure?" She questioned him with a smirk as she sat down elegantly as ever.

"Can't a guy just eat with his partner?" HE asked her. She just laughed, but inside her heart flattered. He'd called her his partner, and considering the dark place their relationship had been in recently, it meant a lot more to her than it would to most.

"When it's you, never." She said the smile still on her lips.

"Kate brought you something back from the deli, said you were too 'skinny' and needed to eat." He said as he pushed her sandwich across the table.

"I eat plenty." She stated, almost defensively. She didn't like comments about her weight and she was extremely self conscious, something not a lot of people knew about the fearless Director.

"Yeah, when you go to those posh events maybe but that's all you eat." He said; worry edging his voice as he spoke.

"Jethro, if we're just going to argue then leave, because I am sick of it." She said the smile that had previously passed over her features now gone. But Jethro's response shocked her.

"Okay." He said, holding up his hands in surrender, before being quiet and beginning to eat his food. She smiled at the silence, something she had missed: just being in the same room as him.

"How's the case?" She questioned after a while, deciding she may as well get a SitRep now, killing two birds with one stone.

"Fine, open and shut, just waiting on a warrant from Lee." He said, and she had to hide her surprise. Usually he came straight to her for warrant; then again she guess both had not wanted to argue lately. "How was the trip?" He asked, not quite sure if he had asked the previous day at the coffee shop or not.

"Full of agency heads trying to get off with me." She stated with a smirk, not needing to look at his face to see the wave of jealousy she knew all too well. Every time he spoke to the females that passed through the agency she felt the same feeling. "And no, I didn't." She replied, looking up at him. She wasn't sure but she thought she might have seen as small smile from him in that moment.

"I seem to remember you having a thing for metro cops." He replied, referring to the time as his probie when she had dated a few cops just to wind her boss up.

"I seem to remember you having a thing for divorces." She replied, both internally grateful for the fact that for once they were back to their care free and joking selves that they had been back in the old days when the days seemed so much easier.

"Yea well, got too expensive." HE said with a smile. "And the thought of getting hit over the head again didn't much appeal to me."

"Well metro cops got too young; I could have been their mother." She stated, knowing it was the truth and she was not as young as she had once been.

"You ain't old Jen." He replied, and she couldn't help but smile at the use of her nickname, something he so rarely called her.

"You forget how many years shy of you I am." She replied, thinking about the fact that she had reached the stage where if her hair was not highlighted every four weeks the grey hairs were visible.

"And yet I seem to remember you calling me the old man."

"Well, if the cap fits." He chuckled, and so did she.

"So should I be calling you an old woman these days?"

Jenny playfully slapped his arm. "Don't you dare Leroy!" she replied, knowing he hated his first name.

"Jennifer!" was his reply and they both glared at one another. But soon the glares faded and it became more like gazing into one another's eyes. They stayed like that for a few moments. Both caught up in their dreams of the future and what could be if they let it be.

"Director." Came Cynthia's voice through the intercom. "The SecNav is waiting on MTAc line 1." Said her ever faithful assistant, making them both look away.

"I . . . I should go." Said Jenny, standing up and brushing a stray strand of hair from her eye.

"Yeah, me too." He said, grabbing their rubbish.

"Erm . . . say thanks to Kate for the lunch." Said Jenny before nodding, looking at him and then walking out, making Gibbs wonder why on earth he had not kissed her when he had the chance.

It was getting late, six o'clock came around and Tony was rushing to finish his case report. As soon as he put him pen down, he shoved it in the file put it on Gibbs' desk and grabbed his bag. "See ya's tomorrow!" He said before running to the lift. Kate and Gibbs exchanged a glance, wondering what was going on.

"Bye then Tony." Said Kate to an empty seat.

The Brown haired man drove to the best Chinese he knew, and realised he had no clue what she liked, except that she had eaten meat the night before so guessed she wasn't a vegetarian. Tony looked at the board and decided to get a massive range of stuff, that way he had a chance of getting it right. "Okay, a chicken Chow Mein, Sweat and Sour Pork, Pecking Duck, and Chilli salted chicken with egg fried rice and prawn crackers." There was enough to feed an army, but he wanted to get something he liked, so once he had paid he headed to her flat.

Sat outside in his car he looked up at the building, feeling nervous. He'd never felt nervous before a date before, yet there was something fragile about Mia, something that could break so easily. Taking a deep breath he grabbed the food and ran the beginning of the rain across the road. Then he pressed the buzzer for the top floor which had a hand written sticker saying 'Harris' next to it.

"Hello?" Said a softly distorted voice.

"Hey it's tony, can I come up?" HE said, hoping she wouldn't turn him away.

"Sure, I'll buzz you in, go up to the third floor and I'll open the door." She said before he heard the door unlock and made his way up. The building was nice and he thought that she was lucky to live there. As he reached the top floor he saw her stood in the doorway, leaning against the door frame. "Hey." She said, and he was instantly reminded how pretty she was.

"Hey, I didn't know what food you liked so I kind of bought half the shop." HE said with a smile, holding up the bag.

"I like anything, come on up." She said with a smile, letting him close the door behind him. HE walked up and was in awe of the place. It was mainly plain, but it looked like she was beginning to make it her own. The pale sofa had a pattered throw over the back of it and was covered in oversized cushions. On the table were plates and he noted a fruit bowl in the kitchen. "You want a drink?" She asked, all of a sudden nervous.

"Sure."

"I don't drink, so I've only got soft stuff I'm afraid." She said, skipping the bit about it reacting with the treatments she would be starting next week. "Tea, coffee, Diet Cola, Water or Orange?" She asked, hoping he didn't mind.

"Cola would be great." He said, hiding his shock about her not drinking but deciding it was her choice and he would respect it.

"Oaky, d'you want to set the stuff out?"

"Yeah." He replied as she poured the drinks before returning over and moving the guitar off of the sofa where she had been tuning it.

"You play?" He asked, immediately realising how stupid he sounded.

"A little, but I'm not great. I found it in a charity shop today so I was tuning it before you came." She replied, looking at the instrument.

The evening went smoothly, and unlike Jenny and Gibbs they had no interruptions. They chatted and smiled and enjoyed one another's company. Tony, badly, played her a song on the guitar, and then she played him one. They smiled and laughed and time flew by. And when the time came for him to leave both were sad, yet they made plans to go to the cinema in a few days. So when he left, both wanted the time to pass like seconds, because it was undeniable that there was something perfect between them.

Pretty please leave me a review! Tell me if you want more, and any ideas would be great.

_Fashiongirl97