AN: Before you read this chapter, please keep in mind that Abby really didn't like Jenny and Ziva at all at the beginning of season three because she felt they were trying to replace Kate. Also, I feel Tony is very loyal to Gibbs and think that he would definitely be angry at Jenny in this situation because they don't have the kind of closer relationship they developed at the beginning of season four yet.
Chapter 3
"How could she do that?" Abby asked, hugging herself. "He's Gibbs. We need Gibbs, NCIS isn't the same without him."
"She was ice-cold about it," Tony mused. "Like – her eyes seemed really empty, as if she didn't feel anything."
"She's the devil," the Goth agreed, pressing Bert against her torso in an attempt to comfort herself. She had been near tears ever since Tony and McGee had come down to her lab to tell her the news, Ducky behind them.
"Abigail, Anthony, don't be too hard on Jennifer, I am sure she had her reasons," the elderly doctor tried to calm them. "If Gibbs really pressed his suspect up against the wall and his lawyer saw it, there was probably nothing she could've done as director without endangering her position and the agency as a whole."
"Why are you defending her?" Abby wondered incredulously. "She replaced Kate, she made me wear Career-Barbie-clothes, and she suspended Gibbs."
"You have not even known Jennifer for three months at this point, Abigail," Ducky defended his position, "I met her years ago. Believe me when I tell you she cares as much about Gibbs as you do, maybe even more so."
"Still, I don't want her here. I want Morrow to come back, he would've stood up for Gibbs, he would've never let anybody suspend him."
The ME sighed as another, heavily accented voice answered Abby from the doorway of the lab. "I don't think Director Shepard would appreciate you discussing her decisions down here," Ziva stated. "And I don't think she suspended Gibbs to spite you or him."
"Of course you would say that, you're her pet-assassin!" Abby burst out. "I am not sure what you are even doing down here, shouldn't you be up there with her?"
"Abigail," Ducky began to admonish her as the Israeli carefully arranged her features into a blank mask. "I came to get Tony and McGee, dispatch called, we have a new case," she responded emotionless, then she turned and went out of the lab.
After her confrontation with Gibbs and her phone call with her boss, Jenny had buried herself in paperwork until it was more than late enough for her to go home. She'd half expected him to show up on her doorstep, to start another shouting match or even clean the air between, but he'd stayed away and she'd chided herself for quietly hoping.
It had been long past midnight when she'd finally gone to bed but even then she'd found herself unable to sleep, instead she was tossing and turning, the events of her day running through her mind like a movie on repeat. This morning when she'd gotten up again, having slept for a minimal amount of time, she'd felt drained before her day even began, and not even the triple shot espresso on her way to work had been able to help her.
"Director?" she heard Cynthia's voice via the intercom. "Assistant Director Vance is here to speak to you."
"Send him in please, Cynthia," she answered as she got up from her desk, greeting Vance as he came into her office. "Leon, long time no see," she said with a forced smile on her face as she shook his hand.
He nodded, not verbally reciprocating her greeting, and took a seat at the conference table.
"I just need a little background from you before I can start my investigation, Director," he said as he took his notepad out of his briefcase. "What happened yesterday in the interrogation room?"
Jenny recounted the basics of the events, her gaze flitting through the room, only occasionally focusing on Vance.
"So Gibbs attacked Mr. Lee completely unprovoked?" he asked, a small grin on his face.
"I don't know what happened before I entered the observation room with Mr. Matheson," the redhead answered icily. "For all I know, Lee could've threatened him."
"But you did not see or hear Gibbs being provoked by the suspect?" he pressed.
"Leon, what do you want me to say? I don't know if he provoked Gibbs or not, I am definitely not saying anything that you can twist around and use against him!"
"Why are you so adamant about defending Gibbs?" Vance looked at her through narrowed eyes. "I get that you were partners…" he trailed off.
"It would look very bad for this agency if one of its agents were found guilty of any sort of crime," she responded warily.
"Bad enough for you to take measures to prevent agents from being found guilty, even though they might be?" he insisted. "Or only if it were one agent in particular? I have heard the rumors about you and Gibbs, back in the day almost everybody over in Europe knew or at least suspected there was more between you two than just a working relationship."
"Agent Gibbs and I were partners," she said firmly, "and I don't play favorites with him nor anybody else. If you're quite finished with your allegations, I would appreciate you doing your job and letting me do mine, my agency is lacking its lead agent and I have enough other stuff on my plate."
Jenny abruptly stood up from the table and went back to sitting behind her desk.
"A good day, Director Shepard," Vance said almost sarcastically before he closed the door behind himself.
She had spent the better part of her morning in MTAC overseeing operations in all parts of the world and only leaving very briefly for a few phone calls with other agency directors to sort out jurisdiction so she was naturally surprised when she saw a crowd of reporters gathering in front of their headquarters just outside the Navy Yard.
"Cynthia?" she asked the young woman on her way into her office, "what is going on out there?"
Her assistant visibly blanched at the side of her before she caught herself. "Hasn't anybody come to see you yet about it?" she asked back but Jenny just shook her head. Cynthia began typing on her keyboard and pulled up a news page, turning the screen to her boss. "Someone must have leaked what is going on, they are trying to prove that Special Agent Gibbs has a history of violence against suspects and witnesses – some of them probably have some kind of grudge against him because of prior cases – and are speculating that you are collaborating with him and cover up his missteps," she reported dutifully, not missing the redhead's suddenly rather pale complexion.
"Director, are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm just – yes, I'm alright," Jenny answered hesitantly, the wheels turning in her head. She didn't believe that one of Gibbs' team would've talked to the press, they wanted him to come back. She couldn't think of anybody within NCIS who'd access to all details of the story, so that only left Lee and his lawyer – and she couldn't do something against either of them without indirectly confirming their allegations.
"Thank you, Cynthia," she said finally as she turned on her heel and headed back to MTAC.
Gibbs had half thought about picking up Chinese and going over to her house, helping himself to her high-end bourbon while he waited for her to come home and let their dinner go cold. Then he had decided he wouldn't cave, this was Jenny's fault after all and he wouldn't crawl to her and apologize – in whatever disguised form – for something he wasn't sorry for at all. Then he remembered the other reason why he wouldn't go over: the memories of Shannon and Kelly that Lee's interrogation had dragged up were still too fresh in his mind and while he normally didn't confuse Jenny with Shannon, he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't slip up in the argument they were bound to have and he wouldn't have her prying into his private life.
He went over to his workbench and poured himself another bourbon, knocking it back and effectively shutting up the nagging little voice in the back his head that told him she wouldn't be prying if he'd just told her years ago. Gibbs was just about to put new sandpaper on his sander when he heard the news coming on from the battered old radio in the corner of his basement.
"…the director of the agency, Jennifer Shepard, has allegedly turned a blind eye on her lead agent's interrogation methods, even going so far as encouraging him further. What do you think about that, Bob?" the news anchor asked his co-host.
Gibbs tuned their voices out as he turned back to his boat, chuckling wryly. They'd be pleased to know that those allegations were false, the Jenny Shepard he knew was still far too ambitious to risk anything for him.
"What is it, Director?" SecNav asked with an annoyed undertone as his picture became clearer on the large screen in MTAC.
Jenny swallowed, she didn't want to know where this video call would end if it began like this. "You have surely heard of or seen what the big networks headline about NCIS at the moment," she began carefully.
"I sure have, Shepard!" he gave back angrily, "my office has been trying to contain the damage since the news broke this afternoon!"
"I believe I might have a solution to this PR nightmare," she continued, sounding more confident than she really felt. He grunted and made a vague movement with his hand to show her to go on. "I think it would be best if we showed a united front in the face of this media attack, without seeming closed off, of course."
"And how would you suggest we do that?" he asked sarcastically, his voice taking on a belittling quality.
"We reinstate Special Agent Gibbs to show that the agency stands together but at the same time let Vance continue his investigation and pledge ourselves to allowing the public access to all findings that are not related to classified missions. This way we can demonstrate our commitment to seeing this through and reforming the way our agents treat the civilians involved in their cases," she explained.
"Reinstating Gibbs would be a PR debacle! There is no reason for us to do this, the press would destroy us!" her boss shot her down immediately.
"With all due respect, sir, Agent Gibbs is the best agent this agency has. I know that he has unconventional methods and I am going to reign him in, but he gets the job done. His success rate is higher than that of any other agent," Jenny argued back.
"Why are you so interested in bringing Gibbs back? Is there any truth in the rumors about you and him?"
Jenny bit her lip in frustration. Why did people see everything she did in context to Gibbs? Wasn't she her own person? "No, sir. I have not ever played favorites with any agent or team, and I don't intend to do so either," she replied tightly, keeping her temper in check.
He nodded. "Agent Gibbs will be reinstated on Monday, but Assistant Director Vance will continue his investigation. I will be part of any action taken against Agent Gibbs, I want to know about it as soon as there is only the smallest hint of an accusation against him. Understood, Shepard?" She nodded. "And if there's just a small thing that seems off about this, I'll have your badge, too!"
Thank you so much for the reviews for the last chapter, I appreciate them so much! I really hope you liked the new chapter too, please leave a review with thoughts/wishes/ideas, I'll try to implement what I can!
