A/N - Rating change for this chapter.

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"Director Shepard, what could possibly bring you to my basement at this hour?" The question echoed around her head, and it was a good one. She realised the seconds were counting by as she just stood, paused and reflective. There was only really one thing she could say when it came down to it. "I owe you an apology, Jethro."

Gibbs turned, curiosity catching his features for just a flash of a second. "Never apologise…" he pointed his finger at her to emphasise his repetitive point.

"…it's a sign of weakness – I know." She cut in, the internal debate in her head was heightened by yet more questions as to how she should try and deal with the situation. For a woman who claimed to be good at politics – good at what she did – the entire situation seemed unreasonably difficult to her.

Outwardly Jethro showed the slightest disappointment, directing it at her in bending his rule, but inwardly he was touched by the motion; Jenny was clearly stronger than him when it came to the Hell-deep pit of issues between them. She was offering him an olive branch. He knew that it would hurt more, and he'd be more of a fool if he didn't take it, but he held back. "I probably don't need to tell you that, though. Do I?"

There was a hesitation in the room, and Gibbs sensed his boss' sudden un-surety; the confidence was waning in her, but it was most visible in the confusion that filled her eyes. The urge to slap himself round the back of his head became greater as he realised that if he didn't say or do something, the situation might be about to get more awkward. He took a step nearer to her, feeling her presence more the closer he got to her. "Jen…"

"I'm sorry Jethro. I'm sorry for how rude I was to you in my office the other night, it was uncalled for. And I'm sorry for…a lot has happened and changed, and if it's my fault…" Jenny's last words didn't make it out of her mouth as she swallowed them back, she was unsure about almost everything; unsure what or how this remoteness had happened to them, unsure what to say even though the isolation she felt begged her to talk to him - it was driving her crazy. Most of all unsure about how Jethro felt, if he wanted the close relationship and the confidence, that they'd once shared, back again or not.

She opened her mouth to speak, not knowing what she was going to say, but Gibbs got there first. Raising his hand to hush her, he took another step closer, feeling the change in her and the relief that, although she hid it, emanated from her body. Standing 4 or 5 feet from her, he could see her face and expressions properly in the dull light. "I'm sorry too, Jen, I've let things slip since the accident." He added one of his light jokes to lift the heavy mood, "don't tell me not to apologise, they're my rules!"

Jen smiled.

"Anyway, it's alright to say sorry between friends." Jethro chuckled at his own comment and was glad to see that it widened the smile on her face.

"We really need to talk, don't we?" Jenny began, finally reassured that she wasn't the only one uncomfortable about the past few weeks, "and properly this time."

Gibbs nodded in agreement with her. "Do you want a drink?" He gestured for her to take the one chair in his basement, but she shook her head, lowering herself to the ground she sat resting her back and head on his boat. He poured two 'glasses' anyway, one into the glass he'd been using, the other into his coffee mug, and came to sit beside her, leaning back on the next beam.

"I think you'll find you've had enough of that already," was the only comment she made. They were sitting close enough, against adjacent beams that she could lean over and take both out of his hands, placing them down to the right of her as she did so. "We, need to talk, not the drink."

As he looked down into the rich emeralds of her eyes that held his gaze, he knew she was right. "Where do you want to start?"

When Jenny had finished what she needed to say about her thoughts and feelings, she glanced down at the floor. He had not interrupted her once, and now she felt guilty for spilling her heart out to a man who'd been blown up only a few months previously. "I've missed you, Jethro." As the notion began to sink in, she realised that she had mimicked what he'd said to her only a year ago, hastily, but whole-heartedly she added: "and I'm prepared to do what it takes to save our friendship, because I need to be able to talk to you and I want you to trust me."

"I do, Jen." They sat in a comfortable, but for the hard floor, and companionable silence for a few minutes. "I've missed you too, Jen. But you have to understand it's different for me; I lost 15 years of my life, and though I remember most of it, there's still things I can't feel or remember feeling and it kills me."

Jenny watched as his eyes began to well up so slightly, and reached towards him, placing a comforting hand upon his own. She'd gotten closer to Gibbs in the past than most people ever had, but she had never known how to comfort him, because she'd never seen him truly feel anything in the way he had after the explosion. The memory was expelled from her mind; it had broken her heart to watch him suffer with the grief he had for his wife and daughter, but right now, wasn't about addressing her feelings - it was about his. He would not let himself cry anymore, she knew that he hated it. "I'm sorry, Jethro, you don't have to talk about this if you don't want to, I don't want to push you…"

Flipping over his hand so that the back of it rested against the floor, he cradled hers within his. "It's not your fault, Jen. The reason things have changed between us is because I've changed, because I'm confused right now." He hushed her again, before she could manage to say anything. "I'm confused about us; I remember our friendship before the explosion…"

Jenny cringed at hearing the word.

"…but I couldn't feel it, and I felt confused about you. I can remember us before that as well, but I can't remember how it really felt, and I want so much to know who we were then, so I wouldn't be cheating you and faking our friendship. It's screwed up, I know, but I'm so mixed up in my feelings for you, that I don't want to ruin what we already had…"

He was stopped mid sentence as he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Jenny shift towards him on the floor, in her eyes he could see the same mixed feelings reflected back at him.

"You really want to know, to understand, what it felt like?" Gibbs nodded his response to her question, unsure what she meant until she leaned in close, taking him by surprise.

A pair of warm and inviting lips caught his own with mastered accuracy and all the thoughts in his mind were obliterated. Slamming his eyes shut, he felt his hands delve into her hair; threading it through and around his fingers; the memories and feelings came flooding back to him as she opened her mouth to him, allowing his tongue to explore currently unclaimed territory. Her weight shifted on top of him as one of her legs came down on his left-hand side – pinning him between her warm body and the boat. As Jenny made no attempt to stop or pull back, he urged her on, slipping one hand under her jumper and onto the soft creamy skin of her back.

Shivering under his caressing touch, the need for oxygen overwhelmed her and she pulled back, keeping only a few inches between them. As she opened her eyes, Jenny felt her heart thumping erratically against her chest, her heavy breathing a result of the need of oxygen but also laced with the enormity of her actions. She watched Jethro's expressions of complete bewilderment, at a loss herself as to what she'd meant to achieve by kissing him. All she knew then was that she'd been lost in the moment. It felt good. It'd felt good to have his hands on her body and she couldn't shake the fleeting feelings and memories that flooded through her.

However much it was supposedly wrong, it felt overpoweringly right.

As Jethro removed his hand from her back, she immediately the loss of its warmth was cast over her. She found herself staring into a longing pair of grey-blue eyes, a touch of guilt flickering across them.

Jenny's left hand was still buried in his hair, her other tightly holding their bodies together. Feeling her pull away, he reluctantly relinquished his touch, immediately ashamed of the position he'd placed her in. The guilt seeped through him as he acknowledged how inappropriate his request of her had been, still as she remained there, her lips only inches from his, all he wanted was more from her. Jenny hesitated, not making a decision one way or the other.

There were so many reasons why this shouldn't happen between them, but she intoxicated him like no-one else, "Jen?"

There it was, she was convinced, in the way he breathed her name. She had her choice – and she made it.

In Jenny's eyes he saw the same longing mirrored in emerald green, the sight enough to cause a shiver to tickle down his spine. Her fingers brushed softly against his lips, replacing them so determinedly with her lips that it knocked him away.

Nothing was withheld in their second kiss, as a sudden need and hunger devoured the both of them. Shrouded in their moment, their tongues clashed fiercely and their hands tried to force items of clothing off of the other's skin. Feeling the urgency in the air, Jenny tugged ferociously at her jumper, tearing it over her head and discarding on the floor behind her, exposing her creamy white skin to the cool air. She moaned as hot, biting kisses trailed down her neck as the anticipation grew inside of her.

Responding to her, Jethro wrapped her legs tightly around his waist; pulling himself to his feet, he balanced her weight against a beam of the boat as more of his clothing was shed to the floor behind him. His erection tightened against his jeans as he felt Jen's nails scrape sensually down his back. Capturing the necessity of the moment, he shifted their combined weight, lowering Jen's back onto the rough concrete floor beneath his boat – a poignant place, he thought.

Jenny barely noticed the rough scratches that the floor nicked at her back as she moved, shedding both the last of hers and his clothing; she let out as small squeak as sharp cold of the concrete caught her off guard. Her breathing heightened as Jethro removed her bra, and his little sharp kisses were littered across her heaving chest and collarbone, drawing a long moan from her.

Feeling her hands travel down his body, Jethro hooked his finger around her damp panties and pulled them down her legs in a fluid motion, admiring and worshipping her body with his kisses, overwhelmingly glad to find that she was as ready as him. He caught her emerald eyes watching him and recognised her need; skipping over the foreplay, he plunged himself hard into her, allowing every sensation to wash over him - determining a strong fast rhythm that Jenny had no problem keeping to.

There was nothing careful about their love-making, the desperation and hunger grew with every thrust as Jenny wrapped her legs tightly to his body and flipped them over in order to speed up. Pushing and thrusting down on him harder and harder, the feel of the coarse skin of his fingers along her back, caused her to shiver, only intensifying her movements. She dug her nails into Jethro's flesh and ground her pelvic bone down forcefully into his as she came, the sounds she made muffled into his shoulder. Jethro's climax followed seconds later as the release in their orgasms encompassed both bodies, slick with a layer of sweat and chests heaving.

Jenny rolled onto the floor as she felt him finish. Neither spoke a word to break the spell of the moment. "Jen?" she heard him breathe her name, but made no attempt to respond apart from the hand that she clasped lightly over his.

Mesmerised by the woman lying next to him, Jethro had no idea what to say; to thank her seemed completely inappropriate, but so was the thought that he'd just slept with his boss. "What happens now?" Unnerved by her lack of response, he squeezed her hand, needing to know that things were not about to get weirder between them.

"I have no idea." Her response was short, as if she were almost in shock at her own actions and passions. She could not think for anything at the moment, unsure as to what had led her to become so carried away in the moment. "I think I should go now." Jethro's hand shot out to catch hers as she went to stand up.

"Please don't?"

Jenny shook her head as she reached for her underwear and turned her back to him as if almost ashamed as she re-dressed herself. "I need time to think." She heard him stand to his feet behind her and pull on his underwear; she could sense the concern that radiated from him. "I'm sorry about this, but this turned sour last time. I really need time to think."

He flinched at her words; it hadn't been entirely his fault, but the thought of having hurt her made him feel ashamed. As she finished dressing she turned back to him, unable to look him in the eye. As he watched her avoid his gaze, he winced at the guilt he felt over her. He plucked up the guts to say something as she walked towards the stairs: "Thank you, Jen."

She smiled lightly at him as she moved hesitantly up the first few steps, unsure if she could really leave like this, but if it would be more wrong to stay. "It was good." She left her comment as open and enigmatic as she felt about them right now. Her body yearned to stay, but she felt the hurt of their last relationship more vividly than she cared to admit. "Goodnight Jethro."

"'Night, Jen." He felt her presence leave him as watched her disappear from his basement.

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- A/N. Can you tell it's my first attempt at the M rating? Please R&R if you liked.