Author's Note-Massive thanks to the AMAZING ZC! She has so brilliantly helped me with this chapter when it just wasn't working! Okay, gushing over, read and review please! NYLF xx

Gibbs actually stopped at Cynthia's desk and asked if the Director was free. Pennie couldn't help but chuckle at the look of surprise on the woman's face as she buzzed her intercom.

"Director? Special Agent Gibbs is here to see you." There was a wonderful pause that was clearly shock filled and it put a full blown smile on Gibbs' face.

"Is he feeling alright?" Came the Director's reply and all of them could picture the smile accompanying it. Cynthia chuckled gently.

"I think so." There was another pause.

"Alright, send him through." Gibbs turned to the trio behind him and nodded towards the door. LJ took a breath and was the first to make her way to the door.

Jenny was more than a little surprised as the twelve year old made her way into the office, followed by her mother and little brother before Gibbs came in last and shut the door behind him.

"Agent Gibbs?" She asked, taking off her glasses and getting up to stand against the front of her desk.

"Madame Director." Gibbs smirked. "This is Pennie." Jenny shook her hand as they exchanged smiles. "She's having some, trouble." She and Gibbs had a silent conversation and Jenny nodded subtly. "Need a place for the kids to stay that isn't the bullpen." Jenny nodded before turning to LJ and extending her hand.

"Well then. Shall we get acquainted? My name is Director Jennifer Shepard." LJ took her hand and shook it. "But you may call me Jenny."

"Lauren Jessica Harrod. You could call me LJ, given the informality you are allowing me." She smiled before nodding to her brother. "That's Ethan, my younger brother." Jenny gently took the toddler's hand and shook it while he watched her with fascination. "Agent Gibbs would like us to stay here, if you don't mind?" Jenny smiled broadly at her before turning to the adults in the room.

"It shouldn't be a problem. If it becomes an issue, I'm sure Cynthia will be more than happy to take them to the Break Room until everything is okay again." Gibbs nodded.

"Thanks Jen." She nodded. "Come on Pen."

"Pleasure to meet you Director." Lauren took Ethan from her mother and got him settled on her hip so Jenny could shake her hand.

"Likewise Pennie. We will talk later Jethro." He nodded before steering Pennie out of the door. "So, what shall we do first hmm?"

Gibbs and Pennie walked back into the bullpen to find the team gathered around Tim's computer.

"What d'ya got?" He asked, standing in front of the plasma.

"Shaun Harrod, twenty nine, graduated high school, barely, and never went to college. Never been in the military, and has received several DUI's but that's the only thing in his criminal record. We have checked his bank and phone records, nothing out of place except the inordinate amount of calls he's placed to two numbers." Tim explained as he threw the numbers in question up on the screen. Pennie shook her head. "Can you identify them?"

"This one is mine." She said pointing to the one he'd called the most. "And that's Lauren's emergency cell." She left the group to lean against Gibbs' desk. "She didn't tell me he'd called her." Tim gave her a small sympathetic smile.

"I don't know if it helps, but she didn't answer. He phoned her twelve times in the last week and she hasn't answered a single one." Pennie nodded. "We also tracked his cell. It's currently stationary at your home address." He told her. "With your permission, we'd like to look into where your cell's been for the last week to see if we can confirm that he's been following you." She nodded numbly.

"Do you need my phone?" Tim shook his head.

"No, just your number." He clicked buttons while Tony and Ziva both stood beside their boss in front of the plasma. Gibbs gently, discreetly, ran his finger along the top of Ziva's crossed arms until she not so subtly rolled her shoulders to get him to stop. He sighed. If he didn't know she was mad at him before, he did now. "Okay boss, I got it. You see? His cell number is in the same area as Pennie's multiple times. This could indicate that she was being followed." Tony shot the younger man a sideways look.

"Gonna leave anything for the rest of us to say McChatterbox?" Tim gestured, saying that he had the floor. "She was uhh, being followed boss." He mumbled, quickly realising there was little else to say.

"Thank you for that invaluable addition to the conversation Tony. What would we do without you?" Ziva sniped, her voice dripping in sarcasm. Gibbs looked from her to Tony just in time to watch his senior field agent's face fall, genuine hurt in his eyes. He quickly went back to his smiling bravado but Gibbs could see how her comment had hit him. He wrapped his hand around Ziva's bicep with more force than could be considered gentle and pulled her back slightly so he could talk directly into her ear.

"It's me you're angry at. You wanna snap, you do it at home." He murmured, not able to help the edge to his voice. She ripped her arm from his grasp and stormed away from him, headed to the elevator.

"I need coffee." She half mumbled, half growled by means of an explanation. Gibbs sighed and took after her.

"But, she didn't take her purse?" Tony noted, quite frankly confused by the whole incident.

Gibbs slipped into the elevator just as the doors were about to close. Without a single word to his obviously angry girlfriend, he hit the emergency brake. When she didn't even move to look at him, he sighed.

"Look, Ziver, I know you're angry." Ziva spun around to face him so quickly he momentarily worried she'd take her eye out with her ponytail.

"Whatever gave you that impression Gibbs?" He sighed, his heart sinking as he saw the hurt shining in her eyes.

"For one, you just called me 'Gibbs'." He spoke softly, regret and sadness filling each syllable.

"That is your name is it not?" He sighed, taking a step towards her and laying his hand gently on her cheek, she turned her head away from him abruptly.

"It's my last name Ziver. And nowadays, when it's just us, you only call me it when you're angry. Or I hurt you." She sniffed and his heart sank further. "I know you're hurting, I know. I didn't tell you about Pennie or her mom and I hurt you. I didn't mean to, but I did." He gently stroked his thumb across her cheek bone. She didn't turn to face him, but she didn't push him off either. He took that as a good sign. "You know how much I love you. You know that if I had thought she would ever become part of our lives, I would have told you. It had been so long...but I shoulda told you." She sniffed again, going to wipe her eyes but he beat her to it, catching the one lone tear with his thumb. He took a deep breath, preparing himself to break another of his rules for her. "I'm sorry I hurt you, I'm sorry I made you angry." She closed her eyes against the tears and allowed him to encase her. One of his hands slid around her hips and the other held the back of her neck to him while she locked both of hers under his arms and up onto his shoulders. "I'm sorry." He murmured into her neck before placing a kiss to her skin. Her shoulders shuddered and he held her tighter. "I'm sorry Honey, I'm sorry." She slowly turned her head so she could nuzzle into his neck and breathed him in.

"I know." She mumbled tearfully. She pulled back so as to look him in the eye. "I know." He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead before bringing her back into his arms. She sighed as she practically melted into the strength of his embrace.

"I'll tell her, tonight, I'll tell her about us." Ziva shook her head against his chest.

"No. You don't have to do that. She's your daughter, she is family." He heard the resignation in her voice; did she really still not know she was his number one priority?

"And so are you. Ziva you are as important if not more. I'll tell her. It's about time we started telling people anyway." She looked up at him with big innocent eyes. He couldn't help but smile at the shocked elation shining through the chocolate.

"But, work, and Abby and the team and Jenny and..." He lowered his head and kissed her into silence.

"Not everyone, not yet. But Pennie, and the kids, maybe even the team, if you wanna?" She kissed him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself onto her tiptoes. His arms automatically secured themselves around her waist and held her close, his heart soaring as he felt her smile against his lips.