AN: Here's the third chapter - some sneak peaks, secrets get revealed, drama starts to go sky-high and some cute little team moments. I think that about covers it... Let me know what you think :-)
Paperwork was never fun; in fact it was positively shit.
It was long, boring and Jenny wanted to tear it to shreds majority of the time.
One of the disadvantages of being Director of a federal agency was the paperwork.
Jenny had learnt just to have perseverance but at the moment, she had none.
She hit the intercom on her phone to call Cynthia, her assistant.
"Cynthia?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Can you please send for Agent Gibbs, I'd like to speak to his asap."
"Of course."
The intercom shut off as Cynthia made a call no doubt.
By the way things were between them, he would be late by around ten minutes.
The door flung wide open as Jethro walked in.
Or not, she was wrong.
It wouldn't be the first time today; they had both had a bit of an eventful night as well as morning.
"You sent for me Madame Director." He said as he shut the door behind him
"Cut the crap, Jethro. I asked to have a meeting with you about personal matters." She explained as she thought about the best way to approach the situation.
He sat down on the couch and put his feet up.
"Well..." he began
"Did you mean what you said last night?" she asked, she couldn't contain it, she had to know
"Every word, Jen." He confirmed
"Jethro, do you remember the time we got married and when I said I would send the paperwork back for us for the divorce?" she may as well tell him now, she'd been thinking of the ring ever since she'd left his house this morning.
"In Paris, while we were undercover?" he questioned her suspiciously
"Yes. Well, I never told you or anyone for that matter but I burned the papers. I didn't send them."
Here came the wave of anger and hurt that she had expected.
She knew she should have thought this through more, she of course hadn't planned on telling him, but she was done with all the secrets that were between them. She wanted to be honest and come clean about the wrongs she had done. She wasn't necessarily proud of her actions but they had happened for a reason – on some level, it was the right thing to do at the time.
Love wasn't lies and deceit, it was honesty and trust.
"I would apologise but I know how you feel about those, it didn't seem right for me to write another Dear John letter to you, I wanted to stop our games of lies and start being honest with each other. Jethro, last night for me at least was an eye opener, well... What I remember of it, anyway. It made me realise just how much I missed you and the guilt I felt was tremendous. I had to tell you." Jenny tried to explain, knowing that he was going to lose it at any moment now.
But that moment didn't come.
"Jen, I just want to know why." Was all he said, making her blink in surprise
"I don't know... I just loved you so much back then, I still love you." Jenny stated
"I do too, Jen. Do you remember our motto?"
"You and me against the world?"
"Always."
Gibbs was feeling a little overwhelmed, but then a sudden thought came to his head, he was married to Jenny.
"So, you happy to be married to me?" he asked
"Jethro; quite frankly, I'm disappointed that you underestimate me." She countered
"It doesn't answer my question, Jen." He reminded her
"I thought that you were more of a fan of showing your emotions rather than saying them?" She smirked, "I know that this is difficult to believe and I had hoped that you wouldn't have to find out so sudden like this but I thought it was finally the time for you to find out. Especially with everything out in the open now."
"After what, nine years?" he was getting more pissed by the second, why couldn't she tell him what he needed to hear? That was the only thing that his brain wouldn't comprehend – if they were married, why did she leave him with a 'Dear John' letter?
It didn't make sense.
So many questions filtered his mind, all of them, were just a how bunch of why's?
"I should head bac-" he began
"Jethro wa–" she cut him off
"Later Jen." He compromised
"Okay." She agreed as he walked out of her office and onto the catwalk and down the stairs to his bickering team.
He knew regardless that he had to do the loyal and manly thing to support her, but things were kind of a complicated mess that they never really got around to sorting out. They just used to skip the talking part, even though, now, they desperately needed one or perhaps several.
There just didn't seem like a right moment in time.
McGee was busy searching on his computer whilst Ziva was next to him giving her opinion.
She giggled as McGee clicked next and the next window popped up on the screen.
"Not bad." She commented
"Alright, look at this one, you're gonna love this guy." Said McGee as he brought up another window
Tony had just come back from the head and looked at them both weirdly.
"Yeah, he would not be safe with me. I would eat him." Said Ziva
"Really?" asked McGee, "He's so adorable, how could you say no to that say?"
Tony's ears perked up, what on earth were those two looking at?
Ziva laughed good heartedly as they flicked to the next window.
"Please tell that you're looking for a man for Ziva." Said Tony as he sat down at his desk, feeling just a little disturbed
"Not for me." Ziva denied
"Oh, McGoo is there something you want to tell me?" DiNozzo asked as he got up from his chair and made his way over to McGee's desk
"No." Replied Tim, "We're looking at animal rescue sites."
"McGee's thinking of getting a puppy." Shrugged Ziva
"A puppy is a lot of work, you gotta feed it, walk it, train it." Tony reasoned
"Yeah I know Tony, I'm not twelve." McGee replied, "I work hard, I deserve someone that will jump up and get all excited when I get home. You know to lay on the couch and watch tv. Maybe lick my face a little bit."
Ziva chuckled in amusement to McGee's words and Tony's obvious discomfort.
"Might be easier getting a girlfriend." Stated Tony
"Which might even be easier with a puppy." Tim countered making the two male agents look at each other, "Even for you."
"I'm might taking tips on this from you Probie."
"The pitbull is the favourite." Said Ziva
"Yeah that makes sense for you actually, not really for McGee here. He's more of a spaniel kind of guy. Cocker maybe."
"How about an Australia Shepherd?" said a gruff voice walking through the Squad Room, "They're working dogs."
The team went to their desks respectively quite quickly.
"Good one, boss." Muttered Tony before pretending to be busy, not wanting to face Gibbs' wrath.
Jenny sat in her office, hiding away from a certain someone, doing paperwork. It wasn't her favourite thing in the world but she'd grown accustomed to doing it when necessary, which just so happened to be all the time.
What had happened to her control?!
She was a mix of acting like a child and also a very horny teenager.
She was the Director of NCIS, the first female Director of a federal agency. She wasn't an agent, no matter how much she really loved and longed to be in the field. She was a woman in a man's world, she couldn't show her true personality, she'd just be Director Shepard, not Jenny or Jen or even Jennifer, and she repulsed her full name unless of course Ducky used it.
Her facade was back, the coolness, the icy personality, the professionalism that not even Leroy Jethro Gibbs could destroy; in fact he hated that side of her. The way that she would switch personalities, it was like two different people, in the same body. And the Director facade dominated Jenny's body the most.
Director Shepard was back, Jennifer Shepard on the other hand was going away for a long time.
Her desk phone beeped, making her jump out of her skin.
"Shepard." She answered
"Director, I have SecNav on the phone, it's urgent." Said Cynthia, "Transferring through to you now."
"Thanks Cynthia." Said the Director before picking up the handset, "Hey Hector, what can I do for you?"
"I'm sorry Jenny," were the first words that she heard on the other line, this made her stomach drop, "William Decker is dead."
Jenny's heart stopped.
The only words echoing in her head were...
Oh, shit.
"How?" she choked out, not wanting to know the answer.
"I'm not sure yet, but I know you guys were close, I had to make the call." Hector explained
"Please as soon as you find out anything, call me." Jenny asked
"Of course." Promised Hector and with that, the phone call ended.
Nothing overly exciting was happening; no break through's in any cases and so far there were no call outs of major cases that needed their attention.
"Take the rest of the night off." Said Gibbs
Tony almost fist-pumped in the air in excitement, his team didn't need to be told twice, it had been a long day.
They left almost immediately, leaving him alone in the Squad Room.
It was still early.
Gibbs rolled his shoulders back into alignment, and tilted his head back against his chair trying to wrap his head around the events of last night and today so far.
He wasn't angry, perhaps that was more so because he had come into acceptance with the situation and he wasn't exactly disappointment.
He was married... To Jennifer Helen Shepard.
God - He loved Jen.
He would do anything for her; he just needed to make her see that too.
Hopefully without any interruptions.
Despite what she had said, he needed to talk to her.
He got up from his desk and went to the head before climbing the stairs to her office.
Only to find that she wasn't there, neither was her assistant Cynthia; feeling confused and a little defeated, he grabbed his things and drove to her townhouse in Georgetown.
She still hadn't heard anything for the past few hours from Hector, the Secretary of the Navy, and it was beginning to grate on her nerves.
She was beyond worried.
She knew that there was always going to be a chance that this would come back to bite them all in the ass but she had prayed and prayed that it wouldn't.
It was her fault.
She should have mustered up the courage somehow and just execu-ted her task.
The orders were simple.
Kill and don't get caught.
Gibbs and Decker did it without fail.
She couldn't even come clean to Gibbs, she went to Decker and he covered for her.
But obviously that clearly wasn't enough, he was dead.
That was the tell-tale sign for her, if the death cause were simple, she would have known about it a lot sooner, Jenny glanced at the time of her computer and exhaled sharply.
She was next and so was Gibbs.
Her phone rang out of the blue, interrupting her thoughts and her heart leapt out of her chest, with the severity of the situation, it was only natural for her to freak out.
"Shepard."
"Jennifer my dear, I need to see you in Autopsy." Said Ducky
"I'll be there in a minute, Ducky." She said before hanging up her phone
She leant back in her chair behind her desk, shutting her eyes for a moment and taking in a deep breath.
She opened her eyes and got up from her desk and left her office, she walked across the catwalk, stealing a glance at Team Gibbs; only to notice that they weren't there. She would have to find out why later, she was needed elsewhere for the time being.
She got in the elevator and pressed the desired button, the doors shut in an instant.
Jenny was just praying that she could keep it all together and not fall apart.
The terror pulsed through her veins; she was a dead woman walking.
AN: Thoughts? :-)