A/N: I'm hoping everyone continues to enjoy this. Any inconsistencies are mine. Any OOC behavior is entirely my fault. Please, enjoy! KK
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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended
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Penelope finished packing her go bag. Never knowing where she would be or how long she would be there, she had found the best thing to do was to pack plenty of underwear, bras and stockings. The clothes would always take care of themselves and more toiletries could always be bought. Stepping back she looked at the one carryon and one suitcase lying open on her bed. With a few deft motions, she went about packing extra power chargers, external and USB drives containing her own programs and providing empty space to store information.
She had run only one time in her life. Luck had led her to Jethro's presence and safety. But, she still remembered the helpless feeling that had overwhelmed her. She remembered that feeling of being exposed to the world, like a live nerve, no matter what face or image she put between her and everyone else. No matter what door she shut or what cover she had pulled over her head, she had felt like every secret she had could be seen. Never again would she put herself in that position. Not if she could help it.
Reaching for the phone to call Kevin out of habit, she paused. They had had words recently and decided to have a cooling off period. She had just returned from the Alaska case. Kevin Lynch had heard about how she had run towards a dying man, trying to help him, not wanting him to be alone. No one should face that moment alone. But did her boyfriend hold her and tell her it was going to be okay? He had held her, yeah. But, he had immediately begun arguing about why she needed to leave the BAU. To transfer. That she wasn't supposed to be going into the field or into danger. That she needed to switch to a different part of the agency, or even, with her talents, find a better job in the private sector. That she could go anywhere and she should do it soon, before it went much farther.
All she had heard was him insisting that she leave her family. That the people her team had saved weren't important. That what she did wasn't important. Intellectually, she knew that he didn't mean it that way. That's what she kept telling herself. But, her emotions seemed to be all over the place lately when she was alone with him. So, they had agreed to a time out. No texts, no phone calls and no dating one another. Not till she cooled down. And not until he found some better words, hopefully. Still, it seemed wrong to leave on a job and not tell him she was going to be out of touch. Releasing the phone, she decided to email him from her work email tomorrow. Brisk, informative, but not personal. Ruefully, she acknowledged that she still hadn't let go of her ire over Kevin's and her argument.
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"Garcia, we were asked in by NCIS?" JJ pulled the folder Garcia was handing her closer, opening it to peruse what information Penelope had gathered. "Don't they usually handle their own?"
"Yes, but, this time they are dealing with a ten day time frame starting today." Penelope leaned against one corner of the JJ's desk as she quickly explained. "Their Major Case Response Team just got handed information on a probable terrorist attack. One of their techs has been tracking incident reports and routed the case to their Senior Agent. They have a naval aircraft carrier coming into port for a pre-Memorial Day ceremony for crew and their families. The other aircraft carriers that were closer to port, well, each has had some kind of malfunction that has led to them being taken from the list of eligible ships to be used. Two major injuries to crew and one fatality. Their Senior Agent got in touch with me. Since it's in our backyard almost, I brought it to you."
Raising her eyes, JJ looked curiously at her friend, "Their Senior Agent called you?"
"He's a friend, JJ." Moving from the desk, Penelope paused in the doorway, "If we don't go as a team, I'm going to take some days off and go stay with Jethro."
"Jethro, huh?" Looking back down at the case file in her hand and back up at her friend, "Would that be Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs?"
Penelope smiled briefly before becoming serious, "JJ, if Jethro is asking, something is off about this. He's never been wrong. Not for as long as I've known him."
"Give me an hour or two and I will put it before the team." JJ pulled the case closer and began to read through it in earnest as Penelope once again moved to leave the room.
"As soon as they've been briefed, I'm leaving for Washington, JJ."
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Letting her carry on slide to the floor as she shut Jethro's door behind her, Penelope leaned back against the doorframe. Taking a long look around as she set her suitcase down, she smiled. No matter how things changed, some things were still the same. Out of habit, she locked the door behind her and slid off her heels. Setting them on top of her suitcase, she dropped her keys beside them and slowly walked to the refrigerator. Opening the door, she smiled as once again she found not much of anything except a case of beer with only three remaining bottles. Taking one, she shrugged when she couldn't find a bottle opener in the drawer.
It was only 10pm. Looking back to the living room, she noticed the pillow and folded blanket on the couch hadn't been moved. Holding her beer, she walked to the basement door. She listened to the sounds of someone below. Taking the steps one at a time, she only paused when she came to the last landing. Watching Jethro as he kept up his continuous motions over what appeared to be a small rocking chair, she leaned on the banister.
"Well, Red, you gonna stand there all night?" Jethro's voice came to her, startling her out of her partial trance.
Holding her beer out, she smiled, "You gonna help a lady out, Ace?"
Putting down his tools, Gibbs came to meet her as she took the remaining steps to the basement floor. Taking her beer from her hand, he placed his opposite hand on top of the bottle, tightening his grip just enough to pop the lid when he twisted it and throwing the lid into the garbage can in the corner. When he went to hand it back to her, he found himself engulfed in a tight hug. Wrapping his free arm around her, Gibbs spoke into Penelope's hair, "It's good to see you, too." After years of Abby's attack hugs, he knew better than to try and move. When Penelope finally moved away, he handed her the beer and keeping an arm around her, led her over to the one chair. Pulling a sawhorse up next to her, he took a seat. "You look good, Red. Still enjoying the FBI?"
"I'm home there. And they're family." Shrugging her shoulders, Penelope took a sip of her beer.
"How many dinners from SecNav have you turned down?" Jethro reached up for his bottle of bourbon. Emptying out one of the small jars on the table top, he poured two fingers and tipped it towards his friend.
"Now, I don't turn down ALL of them. How would I ever get a raise from the FBI if I did that?" Penelope smiled. She had forgotten the comfort his basement offered. She realized she might have missed the smell of sawdust, the coolness of it throughout the year no matter what the outside weather was like, the shadows and the privacy. "Just because I'm beautiful, do not assume there isn't a working brain behind these gorgeous brown eyes," she fluttered her eyelashes flirtatiously towards him, smiling in return when his quirky grin came forth.
"Well, Red, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." Gibbs couldn't help but smile at her act. He knew there was a brain behind that pretty persona. One of the brightest in her field from what Tobias had let slip. In some ways, he wished she had stayed here, but he knew she would never have had the freedom to use the full extent of her skills for NCIS the way she was apparently able to for her BAU.
"The sexy but enigmatic Leroy Jethro Gibbs wants to 'talk'?" Penelope widened her eyes. Leaning forward, she propped her elbow on the counter and cupped her chin, "This should be good."
"I need you to be my girlfriend for a week." Gibbs took a sip of bourbon as he leaned back, watching Penelope for her reaction.
"Oh, honey, unless there's a shortage of heterosexual women here in DC, or even intersexual men, I don't think you need me to become your girlfriend." Meeting his wry grin with one of her own, "Now, why don't you tell me what you actually need from me, Ace?"
"Well, Red, what I need is that beautiful brain of yours." With a voice that was rough with tension, Gibbs went over his idea. He had thought of it while calling Penelope and worked out most of the angles while waiting for her to arrive. Something that no one ever seemed to quite realize, there was a quiet peace that came while he worked on his projects. Most of the time, it let his mind find a peace of its own. But, at other times, it freed his mind to mull over things till he came to a solution. Finished putting forth his idea, Gibbs threw back the rest of his bourbon and waited on Penelope's response.
"Jethro, it's a variation of Rule 27. They are going to notice both of us." Penelope set her empty beer bottle down.
"Yeah. But, Red, I can guarantee that the reason they'll be looking at me and you will be because no one can take their eyes off you, especially me." Standing up, Gibbs pulled Penelope to her feet after she struggled to hide a yawn. "Come upstairs and get some rest. We'll talk more in the morning."
Shaking her head, Penelope followed her friend up the stairs but tugged him to a stop when they came to the bottom of the stairs. "No. We have to get this straightened out before bringing it before my team." Turning to the living room, "Come on, my sexy silver Ace, and let's get more comfortable while we talk it through, because after the last case, my team isn't going to be agreeable to me being in the thick of things without one of them as a guard."
"The last case, Red?" Gibbs sat down on the couch and pulled Penelope closer, rapidly falling back into the comfortable closeness they had before she had left for Quantico, Virginia. He let the question fill the silence, not looking at her, just leaning his head back on the couch as he closed his eyes, waiting patiently on her answer.
"We were tracking down an Unsub - what we call the big bad guy, the unknown subject – in Alaska. They needed me there. No one else would have been able to work with the equipment that was available. Or been able to get it to work efficiently. So, I was there." Leaning to the side, she laid her head on Jethro's chest, letting the quiet 'thump' of his heart calm her. Breathing deeply, she continued, "I was there, outside that night, when the Unsub killed someone. I heard a man cry out, in pain. And I ran-" Penelope shuddered to a stop.
"Penelope-" Gibbs began as she raised her head to look at him.
"I ran to him, Jethro. I didn't run away. Five years ago when you knew me, I was scared of a lot of things. I was insecure in some ways. You met me when I was on the run. But I'm not running now. Not anymore." Trying to make him understand, not wanting this conversation to go the same way the conversation with Kevin had gone, she took his hand in hers, smoothing her fingernails in soft circles over his palm as she continued. "It was night. No one else was awake. He was all alone. I couldn't let him die if there was a way I could save him. And I couldn't let him-" grasping his hand in both of hers, she breathed deep. "I couldn't let him die all alone, the last thing he saw the person who killed him."
Not saying a word, Gibbs just held her.
"I've watched horrible acts on my screens, Jethro. Things that I never thought possible for one person to even contemplate doing to another. I watch the god-awful things people do to one another so I can find some little something that will help my team find the god-awful person that is doing them. Most of the time, I find something that can help. Sometimes I don't. But it's all there. On my screens. This man was breathing the same air as me, his hand was warm in mine, and, then, then, he wasn't. There was nothing between him and me. And he was just gone." Even though her eyes teared up, Penelope refused to succumb to crying again. She stared up at the ceiling of Gibbs living room, willing her tears not to spill. "Now, after everything, everyone on my team walks around me like I'm breaking. And it is driving me crazy."
"Ah, Red." Gibbs hugged her close, "Don't want you to ever lose that heart of yours." Tucking her head under his chin, he waited till she had regained her composure before releasing her and settling her back beside him. "Now, let's talk about how you're going to explain my idea to that overprotective team of yours."
Getting up, he walked to the refrigerator and got out the last two beers. Bringing them back to the couch, he opened them both and handed one to Penelope. Leaning back, he waited till she settled back against him. "I will keep you safe, Penelope Garcia. You have my word."
Penelope leaned back against Gibbs, "Never doubted my safety with you, Jethro." Clinking her bottle against his, she took a long swallow. "So, let's go over this idea again. Just how much of a fully functioning 'boyfriend' are you going to be? Because, you know, I've been reassessing this 'whole package' thing you have going on and –" she broke off in giggles as Jethro's chuckle vibrated through his chest…
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Sitting in MTAC, Ziva impatiently tapped her foot. "What are we doing here?"
Tony stood beside her, looking across at the unknown personnel across the room talking to Commander Vance. McGee was sitting at the computers beside the group and there was no one else in the room.
"What are we waiting for?" Moving to take a step towards the Director as the door to MTAC opened, Ziva paused. Everyone looked up to see a red-haired familiar looking woman coming in, followed by Gibbs.
"At a guess, I would say we were waiting on the Boss and – his girlfriend?" Tony's voice rose on a question as he finally recognized the woman Gibbs was escorting down the steps. Tony let his eyes wander over the woman as she came further into the lighted area of MTAC. The plain black rimmed glasses did little to hide the glinting eyes. And the serious grey dress did not hide the woman's curves, and though she had the typical Gibbs red-haired, the edges of black lace that peeked over the low cut top of her dress and the faint dark purple streaks in her hair were not typical. Neither were the black lace half-knuckle gloves she wore nor the black silk stockings. Unthinkingly his eyes were attracted to that single seam that traveled up the back of her legs. Tony couldn't help the way his eyes were drawn to them as she passed.
At least not until the brisk slap to the back of his head and a muttered, "Eyes up, Dinozzo" came to him as his Boss passed.
Uttering an involuntary, "Yes, Boss," he moved to fall behind Gibbs as he approached the Director. Ziva fell in behind as well and they all arrived next to McGee at the same time.
Director Vance began introductions as Gibbs and the unknown woman went to speak with McGee. "SSA Aaron Hotchner, SSA David Rossi, SSA Dr. Spencer Reid, Communications Director and Liaison Jennifer Jareau, Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia from the F.B.I.'s Behavioral Analysis Unit, this is Special Agent in Charge Jethro Gibbs, Senior Field Agent Tony Dinozzo, Agent Ziva David and Agent Timothy McGee of our Major Case Response Team. I am Director Leon Vance. To sum up why we are all here, two days ago my team was handed information about a terrorist threat to the upcoming naval ceremony planned in five days. Due to the publicity of the event and the need to settle this quickly, NCIS has invited-" if there was an added inflection to the word invited from Director Vance, it was overlooked by those present, "the FBI's Behavioral Analyst Unit to help determine the person or persons unknown who are threatening our service men and their families."
Waving everyone to seats, Director Vance motioned to McGee. Continuing his talk, Vance detailed the information they had received and what the NCIS team had discovered to date. Tony looked to where Gibbs had sat down by the female Tech Analyst and McGee. Something wasn't right. Gibbs not protesting the FBI involvement? Maybe it had to do with his 'girlfriend'? Tony listened with half an ear to what he already knew. His insatiable curiosity had been aroused and he had to know. Pulling his attention back to the screen, he listened as Vance turned the meeting over to SSA Hotchner.
The man with the ultra serious demeanor stood up. "We've been reviewing the situations that led to each event on the other aircraft carriers. We've spoken to your Medical Examiner Dr. Mallard about the two injuries and one fatality that led to the Cabot being the ship that the naval celebration will be held on." Everyone's attention was on the summary.
"Your Agent McGee and our Technical Analyst Miss Garcia have both gone over the computer programs that were running the systems involved on each ship. They have isolated the markers of a virus program that was introduced to each system. Reviewing the systems of the Cabot has not revealed any of these markers. This leads us to believe that the Unsub or Unsubs are now present on the Cabot and are prepared to introduce the program at a set time and place." Here, Agent Hotchner looked at Director Vance before continuing.
"We've decided the best option is to introduce two teams onto the Cabot. One will be the visual team with our Agent McGee and Agent David. Agents David and McGee will be there to visually research the members of the crew and go over the systems looking for the markers of the program our terrorists are using and to watch for the insertion of the program. SSA Rossi as a retired Marine will be there as an invitee and will be the liaison between our two teams. We will make sure all eyes are on our first team."
Director Vance picked up, "Our second team will be our covert team who will be there as invitees. One of our own agents and one of yours. While eyes are on our first team, our second team will be able to also watch for inconsistencies in the vessel's crew while also keeping a second check on the ship systems. Secretary of the Navy and our office refuse to let anyone threaten US military personnel and their families, especially on our home territory. This will be a media nightmare if anything about this threat becomes public knowledge."
The quiet blonde SSA agent spoke up, "I might have some ideas on how to handle that, Director Vance. We should talk." Everyone began standing up and moving towards the screen to get a better look at the different areas of information that interested them.
Tony asked the question that was uppermost in his mind. "Who's going to be in the second team?"
Gibbs walked over to lean one hip against the edge of the desk Penelope Garcia was sitting at. "Well, Denozzo, that would be me. I'm going to take my girlfriend to see me get an award."
While NCIS team members understood his reference to the FBI technical analyst, most of the FBI agents seemed confused.
"Who will be the in the second team with Agent Gibbs?" the question came from Agent Rossi as he rose.
The cheery red haired analyst sighed rather loudly, "I can't believe you waited to the last second to invite me, Jethro." Spinning around in her chair at the computer, Penelope crossed one leg over the other as she continued, "We only speak on the phone for the past five years since we last lived together and suddenly you whisk me away for a romantic holiday weekend. I believe you have overwhelmed my sensibilities, Ace." Shaking one brightly painted finger at their agent, she 'tut-tutted' playfully at him. She grinned as Gibbs caught her finger and hand in both of his.
"You'd rather I underwhelmed you, Red?" Gibbs voice was humorously sardonic as he leaned down and turned her back to her screens, asking her a question about the roster for the crew.
SSA Rossi raised a hand towards his co-worker, "Hotch."
"It's been decided, Dave. Director Vance, Agent Gibbs, Garcia and I met this morning. The details have been worked out already." SSA Hotchner nodded at Gibbs. Looking back at the group, he continued, "Dr. Reid, if you'll go speak to their resident forensic scientist, a Miss Abby Sciuto. Dave and I will revisit Dr. Mallard." As everyone left on their assignments, Director Vance and Agent Jareau stood to the side, finishing up a conversation.
On his way out the door, still not easy with Hotch's answer, David Rossi turned back in time to see Gibbs invading Penelope's personal space where she was sitting at the computer. Watching for a minute, he turned back to catch up with his friend. Letting the door shut behind him, his brow furrowed with concentration. Seeing Penelope and Agent Gibbs coziness with each other made him uneasy for an entirely different reason. One he wasn't sure he was quite comfortable with yet.
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A/N: So, how is everyone reacting? If you forgive me for leaving out a lot of the details of the 'mission' parameters, I'm OCD for details and if I try to make a truly workable theory for a case on an aircraft carrier, we'll be here all day and I would be writing for a living instead of working the job I have right now. Still enjoying the story? Anything out and out OOC that you see? It's the very first time I've written anything with the NCIS team involved. Let me know how you're feeling and what you thing so far?
Hope you're continuing to enjoy! KK
