Unbreak My Heart

Chapter 3

It was late; Hollis Mann opened the door to Gibbs' house and entered it. There was no sign of Gibbs welcoming her back like she wanted to. She looked for him everywhere, but then decided to go down to the basement to give it a try. And there he was, lying under that damn boat of his. She let out a small tear down her cheek. Then she turned her heels, let him sleep through the night and went back to sleep at her place. She was definitely confronting him about their status on this relationship later. Because she couldn't tolerate this behavior of his anymore.

NCIS Headquarters

It was a brand new day. For Director Jenny Shepard it started out to be great actually. First she had a nice little flirt with a cute guy at the coffee shop. She hadn't flirted with a guy like that since forever. And secondly she felt well, for the first time since the hospital and it was a new day, no Gibbs or anything was gonna screw this day up, she was having way too much fun with this. She arrived at the building before Gibbs' team. She went up to her office, met Cynthia on the way.

"Good Morning Director Shepard" Her assistant said cheerfully.

"It is a good morning isn't?" Jenny said back with a big smile on her face. Cynthia raised her eyebrows at her bosses comment.

"Anything important on my schedule today"

"No ma'am, only a lot of case files that needs to be signed.

"Well, then I probably will go home early today, and you do the same. You work too hard Cynthia" Jenny said directly to her assistant.

Cynthia smiled at her boss for caring about her. "Yes Director, I will do that".

"Good. If there's anything, I'll be on the line". With that she turned her head towards her office door.

Down at the bullpen

Tony was staring at Ziva. Occasionally she would look up and wonder what he was thinking. Then again, The Great Tony DiNozzo doesn't think, he acts.

"Tony, don't you have anything better to do than stare at me?" Ziva said annoying at him.

"Well Ziva…I don't know…I guess I'm observing you to make sure that you and McGenius over there do your jobs" It's uncomfortable isn't it? When someone is watching you when you're working, you can't concentrate on what you were supposed to do" Tony said sarcastically. Both Ziva and McGee rolled their eyes at him.

"Tony that was years ago, and besides I got orders from Gibbs to be observing you, so drip it already!" Ziva said making eye contact with him. She was starting to lose it.

"First of all it's drop it, and second of all no Ziva I'm not gonna drop it. Besides if you guys failed to do your work, then I have to report to the Boss-man. It's protocol you know that" Tony said as he wandered around between McGee's and Ziva's desks. He even made that Sean Connery voice again.

"There isn't any protocol that says that Tony" Tim corrected him, but of course Tony ignored that fact and continued to make fun of them. There were some positive things being the senior field agent.

"And the Boss-man won't be happy when there's no working in the squad-room. Therefore I'm making sure, as your senior field agent, that you guys do your work propertly" Tony said, still in his Connery character. He laughed. Then he realized that Ziva and McGee starred at him with big smiles on their faces. Tony then felt this ice cold atmosphere in the room and realized within seconds that Gibbs was standing behind him. He was sneaking up on him again, man that guy's good.

"Uuuh Hey Boss…" Tony said a little awkwardly.

Gibbs took a sip from his coffee mug. "The only person I see who's not working here is you DiNozzo" Gibbs said, threating him a little. The others chuckled big time. Tony started to relax, glad that his boss maybe forgot to do something about his head. But of course he relaxed way too soon. Suddenly a big slap came from the back of Tony's head, hard by Gibbs. Ziva and Tim laughed even more and that made Tony standing there like a statue.

"Sorry boss, getting back to work now boss" Tony said, a little embarrassed with himself.

"I'm heading down to autopsy. And Tony?" He shouted.

"Yea Boss!" Tony said looking up to his boss right across the room, prepared for whatever Gibbs was gonna do or say.

Gibbs pointed directly at Tony and said: "WORK!" As he walked away he heard Ziva and McGee's laughter, making Gibbs smile a little.

Down in autopsy

"Aaah Jethro. What brings you down here in the land of the dead" Both Ducky and Palmer giggled at his comment, then Palmer met with Gibbs famous glare and that shut him up immediately and understood what he wanted.

"Eeeh, I'm going up to see Abby…and tell her something I know" Palmer said with a shaking voice, finding an excuse to leave the two friends alone to talk.

As Jimmy Palmer rode the elevator up to the lab, Gibbs and Ducky starred at each other for seconds. They both waited for the other to talk first, But Ducky was the one to break the silence.

"Jethro I am well aware of the fact that I am the one who usually starts a conversation, but frankly, in this case it has to be you my dear boy"

"Did Jenny say anything to you Duck?" Jethro asked with a serious look on his face

"Well it all really depends on what this 'anything' is of course"

"Anything Duck, anything at all after the hospital" Jethro asked with frustration

"Well…Jethro I know that you two have been distance lately and I can understand why you miss her, but you need to have some patience my dear boy" Ducky continued: "Jennifer have been rather quite recently especially about her personal feelings. Whenever she came down here it was work related. Not to mention that this issue you two have, affects your team and the people near the both of you as well". "They have been down here several times to seek my advice because they all claim that I knew the both of you the best".

"I just don't know what to do here Duck. I'm stuck like glue, can't move or think or even say the right words around her"

"It's like she's a different person…" Jethro continued.

"Or that you are a different person in her eyes?" Ducky cut him off. "Admit it Jethro, you haven't really talk to her propertly since you quit…"

"Retired!" Jethro snapped.

"Quit!" Ducky corrected him. And Jethro knew that he was right about this one. He couldn't argue with him about it, or anyone else for that matter. Then their conversation was cut off by Gibbs' cellphone calling. He look at the collar ID, It was DiNozzo.

"Yea Gibbs" he answered. "I'll meet you up in the squad-room".

"Explosion on the U.S.S. Brewer Duck" He said looking at The ME. Ducky watched him as he ran off to the elevator.

"DiNozzo! How many bodies?" Gibbs asked as he walked towards the squad room.

"There were two bodies. One was lieutenant Rogers and the other man was a civilian.

"What was a civilian doing on board the ship?" Gibbs asked.

"Well looks like he was the one who planted the bomb there boss" McGee added. "We also found a list of all the Navy ships stationed worldwide. What do you think boss?"

"It looks like he's planning on destroying them" Gibbs answered. "Does the Director know about this?"

"The Director is being informed by the SecNav as we speak, so is the Marine Corps and the United States Navy. This looks like a terrorist work" Tony said looking around at everyone.

Everyone looked up at the balcony as Director Shepard came out of MTAC and down the stairs towards Gibbs' team. Gibbs kept eye contact with her. They both knew that they needed to talk about their problem. They both knew what the other wanted, but none of them was brave enough to admit it. They kept looking at each other till they stood face to face with to on another, ignoring the others. You could feel the tension between them, but Jenny knew she needed to speak up first, not about their current relationship, but about the terrorist attack.

"Special Agent Gibbs, I've been informed about your current case, the bombing on the U.S.S. Brewer. This case involves every team member on NCIS including all the Marine Corps. We'll get help from both the CIA and FBI and other organizations to find this terrorist that's after our ships around the world. SecNav just informed me that they found similar device on the U.S.S. Benjamin Franklin which is docked in Italy. Special Agent afloat Stan Burley is on that case. I want two members of your team flying over there to take a look at it." Jethro didn't say anything but starred at her.

"Is there going to be a problem Agent Gibbs?" Jenny asked him, looking straight at him and no one else. Everyone else in the room felt really uncomfortable.

Gibbs' eyes never left hers. "Nope. There's no problem at all". He knew that it wasn't the time to bring their problem up. They had bigger problems than that right now.

"Ziva, Tony, Pack your backs. You're flying to Italy to assist Stan Burley" He said with his eyes locked on Jenny's. With that said Jenny left the room and headed towards the elevator. And Gibbs' eyes followed her. Ziva and Tony packed their stuff and waited for the elevator to come.

"McGee find me everything about the dead civilian" Gibbs said and headed down to autopsy. But before he could turn his heels and walk, someone was blocking his path.

"Jethro" Hollis Mann said.

"Holly…What are you doing here?" Gibbs asked, not knowing what was going on.

"Well looks like we're gonna have to work together again. Orders from both your boss and SecNav". Holly Mann said pointing at the direction of Jenny's office.

Before Gibbs could speak up, he turned around and saw McGee watching them. "Don't you have a terrorist to track down" Gibbs glared at him BIG TIME. As soon as Tim saw that, he immediately turned his face towards his computers. Now Gibbs was kinda irritated. Now he has to deal with two things, no make that three, the terrorist, Jenny and his soon to be ex-girlfriend Hollis Mann. He couldn't take it anymore. Why would Jen have to bring her into this? Unless…She wanted him to be pissed, trying anything to make him suffer. And she knew about his relationship with Hollis was almost over. 'Well…nice one Jen' He thought. You're playing games with me when we're supposed to catch a freaking terrorist who's trying to blow up US Navy ships worldwide. Well two can play this game.

When Hollis noticed Gibbs wasn't present at the moment she called for him.

"Jethro? Jethro? Are you there?"

"McGee!" "brief her in about the case" Gibbs said and pointing at Mann, then He headed towards the elevators. "Then you can go see if Ducky has something on those bodies"

"Where are you going?" Hollis asked him

"I have something to do" Gibbs said with a low voice. Both Mann and McGee looked at each other confused, it was so typical Gibbs' behavior. Running off like that when there is something important like this.

Georgetown, Jenny's town house

Jethro Gibbs parked his car right outside Jenny's town house. He sat in his car for a while. He used to do this when they were still partners. Whenever he missed her, he used to drive by her house and sit in his car and wait for her to turn off the lights and go to bed. Usually he couldn't sleep without knowing that she's not asleep.

Inside the Jenny's house

Jenny Shepard decided to take a hot long bubble bath. It has been a long and stressful day today. They needed to catch a terrorist, but no one had a clue of where this terrorist is! And that made her even more frustrated. Like her problems with Jethro wasn't enough, now God have to bring a terrorist into the picture? Arrrgh!

As she was lying there trying to relax her stressful body, her phone began to ring. Must be one of her agents, hopefully they find clues about this case. She answered the phone as she laid down in the bath tub.

"Shepard" she answered firmly. She waited seconds before realizing that no one answered her back. "Hello? Hello? Is someone there? Who is this?" "Abby? Mr. Secretary? Hello? Jethro?" she began to get frightened. Jenny sat up the bath tub. Then she heard a voice.

"Jennifer Elizabeth Shepard" It was a man's voice on the phone. She thought it through who it might be. It wasn't Ducky, it wasn't Tony and it definitely wasn't Jethro, he never used her full name. Who could it be?

"Who are you?" She asked with her voice shaken a little.

"Well…Jennifer…Don't say you don't recognize you own fiancés voice. I'm hurt honey" The man said with a baby voice.

Jenny Shepard was really scared now. The only thing that scared her the most came back for her. Her nightmare was catching up on her.

"Patrick" She whispered to herself, tears running down here face without she realizing it.

"Aaaah…now you remembered, it took longer than I expected but I forgive you darling" There he go again, with his baby voice. It scared the shit out of her.

"Are you in a bath tub baby?" Jenny didn't answer his question, he knew everything about her, what she like and dislike. She hated him. He hurted her and she hated him so much for that.

"How the hell did you get this number?" Jenny finally gather herself and asked him with her voice still shaken a little.

"Did you really think you could hide away from me Jennifer? Heard about the frase…You can run but you can't hide. You CAN'T run away far enough from me, because where ever you might be hiding, I'll always find you eventually Jennifer baby. Wait for me" He laughed. And with that he hung up, leaving her all scared and frightened about her past haunting her. She couldn't believe that this was happening. She really thought she got away from him far enough this time. She was all alone on this one, she couldn't tell anyone especially Jethro. Tears were running down her cheeks like a floating river. Then she heard someone outside the door. She got up the tub and put on her robe. She ran straight to her dresser and took out her SIG under the clothes. She slowly made her way down the stairs; carefully she tried to ID the man outside her door.

"Who is it?" She called out, but there was no answer. Oh please don't let it be him. Please please, she begged God. She slowly opened the door, pointing her gun at the man's back. When the man turned his heels, Jenny could ID him. Jethro.

"Whoooaaa…Jen" Jethro said holding both of his hands up high, surprised at the welcome committee he got. "What are you doing with your gun? Expecting someone?" He asked kind of scared for his life. Because he know how Jenny Shepard is around fire arms. Jenny was relieved that it was Jethro and no one else. She was so scared. She was so happy it was him. Suddenly she jumped into his embrace without her realizing what she was doing. She was just happy to see him standing in front of her. She forgot all about their issues for a moment. She buried her face under his chin and cried. She was gonna let the fight between them go for now. Right now all she wanted was his arms around her, to make her feel safe. Make her stop thinking about her past and the phone call for a minute.

Jethro, of course were taken away by the hug and her crying. He wanted to know what was going on with her. But he was gonna ask her that later. Right now all he could do was to comfort her.

"ShhhhShh…Jen…It's alright, everything's gonna be okay" He comforted her. Jethro felt this warmth inside of him. The kind of warmth he thought was long gone, but right now, in this moment he got it back. And it was all thanks to this woman right here, in his arms, Jenny Shepard made him feel this way, she made him feel so warm and loving. Both of them were lost in the moment. Jethro placed a gentle kiss on her hair and she felt him again. He was the only man who could make all of her troubles go away. But what they both didn't know was that there was a black Audi watching them from across the street. The man rolled down his window and his face was all red with anger. Someone was touching his woman. He's gonna pay for whoever dared to be touching his woman like that. With that the Audi drove away.

Italy

Tony and Ziva arrived in Italy late afternoon and Stan Burley was there to welcome them.

"Stan, how you're doing man?" Tony asked.

"DiNozzo. Good to see ya again. Can't believe you're still with Gibbs. Has he began to soften or something?" Burley said amusing.

"Hi, I'm Ziva David" Ziva reached out for his hand. And Burley took them with pleasure.

"Very nice to meet you Ziva" They both looked at each other, flirting a little. And that kinda annoyed Tony, so he decided to break the silence between them and got straight to the point.

"Care to brief us on what you know so far agent Burley" Tony asked him with an annoying voice.

"Yea sorry. We found the same kind of device that triggered the bomb back in the US. It fits the description that you guys told us to look for". Stan said. As he said that they all went on board the ship to look for evidence. Stan was very gentleman like, reaching out his hand for Ziva and everything. This two seemed to get along very well. And that really triggered Tony's mood. Guess he was just looking out for a lady?

Later on the evening, the three agents disguised themselves as Navy commanders to catch the guy that's gonna set up this bomb. They all took their position. A suspicious man walked into the machine room and Ziva and Tony followed. Stan Burley hid behind boxes in the room. Outside they heard gunfire; they went in and saw Stan Burley got shot in the shoulders. Tony checked his pulse line, and he was alive. Tony and Ziva started to look for the villain, but he jumped on them in surprise, but luckily Tony and Ziva were both strong. They caught him. And the only thing to do now was to call Gibbs. They now have a suspect. Now they were one step ahead the mastermind behind all of this. Hopefully this would be over soon.

So there you go, chapter 3 all done! Tell me what you all think of it!

Review Review!

/Julia