See Chapter One for Disclaimer.

A/N Okay not a one shot like the ad says in the beginning. I have trouble writing these two not being nice and making up right away so I'm trying to give them some angst. We'll see how it goes. Most likely just one more segment to this particular Scene

Scenes From A Marriage

IV. Regrets (Part 1)

Director Jennifer Sheppard rolled her shoulders and reached for the Tylenol and a glass of water on her desk. It was only 8:30 in the morning and already the day was a frightful disaster. She had spent the last forty five minutes in MTAC on a conference call with first the Director of the FBI and then her boss, the Secretary of the Navy. As usual those two did not make for a pleasant beginning to her workday. Added to that, the discussion of course, had to do with her Senior Special Agent, Jethro Gibbs and his general inability to play well with others. And that was piled on top of the overall bad attitude her husband had been displaying at work and at home the past several weeks. Sighing, she reached for her phone having decided she might as well get it over with. Jen spoke to her assistant and reached for another Tylenol. This was definitely a three capsule morning.

"Cynthia, please ask Agent Gibbs to come up here."

Minutes later her door was flung open and Agent Gibbs barged into the office with his usual, 'why am I here?' demeanor. "You wanted to see me Jen?" He made himself at home in a chair at the conference table and swiveled around to look at her.

"That's why I had Cynthia call you up here." She decided snippy might be the order of the day, at least to begin with.

Jethro narrowed his eyes and looked at his wife wondering what he was going to get blamed for now. They seemed to be having a lot of these kinds of conversations lately and he was tired of them. His mind skipped back over the past couple of days and he drew a blank as to anything she should be mad about. Had he done something at home this morning he wasn't supposed to do? Didn't think so. Did he forget a birthday or anniversary? No, Jen always reminded Abby to remind him of those things. So…why was Jen glaring at him? He contemplated going over and offering to rub her shoulders or something but decided it might be safer to keep his distance.

"Are you going to tell me why I'm here or just glare at me until I surrender to your charms?"

"Very funny Agent Gibbs."

"Oh, that's how it's going to be huh. Then let me rephrase my question. What can I do for you this morning, Madame Director?"

"You can stop being a smart ass for one thing. Then you can go downstairs and get your case file on David Morgan together for the FBI agent who will be picking it up in an hour." Jen braced herself for the storm she knew was coming. She watched as Jethro's smirk turned into a sneer and his whole body tensed up, ready to explode.

"What the hell are you talking about? The FBI has no damn business with that case. That is our case and you damn well know it." Jethro was loud enough that Jen was sure Cynthia was cringing at her desk in the outer office.

He was standing up by now and leaning across the front of her desk with his palms planted firmly on the top. Jen stood up and leaned in from her side. They were less than a foot apart and the sparks were almost visible between them

"Do not use that tone with me Jethro Gibbs and do not swear at me. Let's not forget that I am your boss and I expect you to respect that especially while we are in this building."

Jethro took a breath and looked at his wife knowing he had come close to crossing a line they worked very hard to maintain. Why was he always pissing her off lately? Why did every other day have to be a battle between them? "That case is ours Jen and you know it. Or you should. We have spent the last two days and nights on this thing and now you're just handing it over to them. Just exactly how does that happen?"

Jen pushed back from the desk and sat down. "I'll tell you exactly how it happens. An FBI agent complains to his supervisor who complains to their Director that we are interfering in a federal case. Then their Director complains to his boss at the Department of Justice. That person just happens to play poker with my boss, the Secretary of the Navy. So…this morning the SecNav calls me and chews on my case for thirty minutes about how my senior agent is meddling in something that doesn't concern him. He goes on to remind me that this is just the latest of several "discussions" he and I have had about this particular agent this year. Then I call that agent into my office and give him an order to comply with what the Secretary of the Navy has told me to do. Is that clear enough for you Jethro or do I need to draw you a picture with stick figures and colored markers?

Jethro resisted the almost overpowering urge to laugh knowing that would not be well received. When Jen was stirred up and on a rant it was all he could do to process what she was saying. He got so caught up watching her that he lost track of why she was yelling at him in the first place. Those two days and nights spent working on the stupid case didn't seem all that important anymore. He'd figured it might happen from the beginning but they hadn't had anything else to work on so he just kept working it until the FBI figured out what was going on. Fornell being out of town was the only reason it took so long for them to catch on. So why not just agree with her and let it go? Why am I letting her get so upset at me? These thoughts swam through Jethro's mind but he didn't give them a voice.

"Stick figures and colored markers? Very funny. What took them so long? Or did they just want to wait until we had all the work done and they could take the credit…again." He shoved the chair back against the table and stalked to the door.

"I don't know and I don't care. Just get the file together." Jen glared back at him.

"Fine." Jethro yelled as he slammed his way out of the office, past Cynthia and out the door.

"Fine!" Jen shouted at the closed door. She rubbed her temples in a vain attempt to push away her headache. 'Gosh, that went well' she thought to herself. She called Cynthia and told her she didn't want to be disturbed for the next half hour unless it was a dire emergency. In the quiet of the office Jen reflected on the confrontation with Jethro and wondered how much longer they could keep up their two lives; working together with her as the boss and being happily married at the same time. They had always had a volatile relationship but now she sometimes worried that the stress of their jobs was going to undermine their marriage. Something was definitely going on with Jethro but she was completely in the dark as to what it could be. They had always needled one another and verbally sparred with each other but in the past few weeks it had taken on a decidedly harder edge that Jen didn't like. Whatever it was she realized it would have to end pretty soon or she was going to either fire her best investigator or kill her husband.

Life with Jethro Gibbs would never be dull and that was part of the attraction. They were both driven, stubborn people but there was no one Jen would rather have as a partner—in life or work--than Jethro. What he lacked in finesse he made up for with passion and a fierce devotion to their marriage and she knew he loved her more than his own life. She felt the same way about him. These little 'exchanges' they sometimes had in the office were usually just minor blips on the screen; at least that is what she kept telling herself. In reality she knew they were becoming more frequent and sometimes much more personal than they should have been. Normally they didn't take these work disagreements home. Then again, she thought, they seemed to argue about other things at home. Jen gazed out the window and wondered what was going on.

While all these thoughts swirled through Jen's aching head Jethro stood just outside Cynthia's door and tried to decide whether or not to go back in there and smooth things over. For some reason he and Jen had been having a lot of these arguments lately and it was starting to worry him. Of course he knew he was to blame for most of them but recently they seemed more personal to him and sometimes he found himself saying things he really regretted later. 'What the hell is going on?' he wondered.

Cynthia sighed and went back to her paperwork. She was used to the back and forth of this particular relationship. The shouting and door slamming had certainly lessened over the past couple of years but now it was becoming a regular feature of the office at least twice a week. In her opinion, the two people involved were both too stubborn for their own good. Cynthia was absolutely loyal to Director Sheppard but she had developed a certain affection for the volatile Agent Gibbs once she realized how much he loved his wife and what good care he took of her. She wondered what sort of difficulty the couple was going through that was causing them so much upset.

Jen gave some thought to calling Jethro back in and working out their differences over this case but she decided not to. He was the one who should be apologizing and trying to smooth things over she thought as she went back to her files. Nevertheless, she decided she would sit him down tonight and they would sort out what was happening between them. There was no way she was going to let whatever it was continue to eat away at their relationship.

Jethro's pride and his need to be right overruled his instinct to go back and talk to Jen. He decided to go down to his desk and get the file ready for the FBI and then go for coffee. As the day unfolded Jethro would come to regret that decision more than almost any other in his lifetime.

TBC