Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A.N.: Thank you everyone for your patience. I hope you like this chapter! Special thanks to Mrs. Elizabeth Gibbs, xxhiphuggersxx, Zanessaxwillxlivex4ever, alix33, Jennifer Caitlin DiNozzo, MissJayne, jstapny, Shai Hoff, HesMines and redorchid23 for reviewing!

After several long hours of frantic work Jethro tiredly exited the elevator and walked to his desk. Tony had made a breakthrough on one of the cold cases that he had been reviewing earlier that morning and consequently the few hours after had been manic. Tim had spent most of the time with Abby in her lab, helping her to retest the evidence while Tony, Ziva and himself had been rechecking the information they had on the suspects.

There had been a long moment when they had believed the case would once again go cold, as a new roadblock had appeared, in the form of a dead witness. One of the key witnesses too, and she had been killed in a car accident a few weeks ago, but luckily they hadn't needed her to follow the new lead. Abby and McGee had confirmed Tony's suspicions and so Gibbs had led Tony and Ziva halfway across DC looking for the address of their prime suspect.

After finding the house empty they had nearly given up hope, but Ziva had discovered a leaflet advertising mobile homes, with one of the cheaper options ringed in biro, a rather stupid mistake by the suspect, but then the case had been cold, hadn't it? He certainly hadn't expected them to show up looking for him at the caravan camp.

Tony had ended up face down in the dirt after Ziva threw him out of the way of the suspects speeding vehicle, narrowly avoiding being hit herself, which added attempted murder of a federal officer to the charges. Jethro had taken out two of the guys wheels, which had made the caravan on the back of his car swerve and he had then overcompensated and spun out of control, landing straight into the 'idyllic' lake the caravans were parked around.

All in all that part of the investigation had only taken about three hours, the rest of the time came from waiting for the apparatus to drag the car and caravan from the lake, make sure the man was dead, and bring it all back to the Navy yard, which had taken another three hours. It was now late, very late and his team were the only ones left in the building besides the security staff waiting to lock up. Gibbs sighed lightly. He was seriously overdue for a coffee, but it wasn't worth leaving to get one when he was so close to finishing his report.

He strode to his desk, acknowledging the silent greetings from his team as he sat down and finished up the last few lines, running a spellchecker to finalise. He nodded; he had only made two mistakes, both from tiredness. He quickly corrected it, printed it off and signed it, before turning to the stairs to add it to the pile on Jenny's desk.

"Director's already gone, Gibbs. She left a few minutes ago." Tony called to him. Jethro nodded and shrugged, walking back to his desk and throwing his report down on its surface. "In fact she looked a little down, didn't she Ziva?" Tony continued with an innocent look on his face. Ziva glanced up from her own report and briefly glared at Tony, before relenting and joining the ruse.

"Yes, she did Tony, she appeared very saddened." she replied, looking straight back down at her report to avoid Gibbs' gaze.

"Abby said she was upset yesterday too…" Tony said bravely, trailing off when he looked up and saw Gibbs staring at him. He began typing in silence with renewed vigour, knowing Gibbs was at the limit of his patience. After a few minutes and no head slap, Tony looked back up a little worriedly to see Gibbs looking up at the balcony thoughtfully. He glanced at Ziva with a raised eyebrow, and she shrugged, not having anymore idea of what was going on then he did.

"Go home; you can finish your reports tomorrow." Jethro announced, sweeping towards the lift as his team scrambled for their belongings, not needing to be told twice. He didn't hold the lift for them, preferring to be alone in his conference room for the moment. When the doors closed he leaned back against the wall and sighed. Today had been hectic, and though he hadn't intended to talk to Jenny about having a child while she was at work, he had hoped to speak with her before now. He was sure that having a baby with her was the right thing to do; it was all he had thought about whenever he'd had a free moment after his brief conversation with Ducky.

Should he go over to her house now to speak with her, or wait until she had calmed down? The sooner the better, particularly where Jenny is concerned, and with the way she holds grudges he would die of old age before she forgave him. He picked up his phone and speed dialled her number, frowning when it was unable to connect. Had she turned her phone off? She never did that, even as Director she was as much on call 24/7 as he was. He tried again a few more times and each time he was unable to connect to her phone.

Something was wrong. He could feel it in his gut. He quickly exited the elevator and almost ran to his car, neglecting his seat belt in his haste to leave the NCIS garage. That bad feeling in his gut was getting stronger, and he had a sinking feeling that he would be too late. Was she even at her home? Had her detail gotten her there safely? He ignored the basic road safety laws and brought his cell phone to his ear, calling Melvin.

"Yeah?" Melvin answered his voice thick from sleep. Gibbs glanced at the clock on his dash board and realised it was reeeally late, or early depending on your point of view. He spared a thought to hope he hadn't woken up Melvin's entire family.

"It's Gibbs. Did you get Jen home tonight?" he asked, cutting to the chase. He heard Melvin sigh angrily.

"Yes Agent Gibbs. I am actually capable of doing my job." he replied hotly, annoyed with the implication that he would have forsaken Jenny's safety and left his post to go home early. "Why?"

"I got a bad feeling… I tried calling her cell but it won't connect." Gibbs confided, his eyes alert for other vehicles on the road, despite most of his attention being on the call.

"I'll get dressed and go round." Melvin said his voice alert now. Everyone knew about Gibbs' gut feelings, and especially how they turn out to be right. He wasn't going to chance Jenny's health by ignoring a potential threat, any potential threat.

"Right." Gibbs said, ending the call and feeling a little better that he would have backup if something was terribly wrong. He spent the rest of the drive keeping himself calm with thoughts like, maybe her battery ran flat and she didn't put it on to charge, or maybe she had company and didn't want to be disturbed. Okay, that one did nothing to keep him calm, though he would feel very idiotic if he got there and she opened the door, completely fine and a little pissed at the intrusion. At least she would be alright though, that was the main thing.

He pulled up outside her house and looked around. Her bedroom light was the only one on, but that still made him worried. Then a little vindictive voice spoke up. If she is with company and his next actions disturbed them then she had no one to blame but herself. After all, she was never supposed to be out of contact. He smirked to himself and then exited his vehicle, throwing a glance around him for Melvin but not seeing him. He'd just have to start without him.

Gibbs stalked up to Jenny's front door and tried the handle. Locked, though whether that was a good sign or a bad one remained to be seen. He quickly picked the lock and slipped inside, closing the door gently behind him and looked around. Her briefcase was lying in the entrance hall by his feet which struck him as unusual. She usually took it straight through to the study. He crept down the corridor and stuck his head around the door frame of her study, realising why she hadn't been in here. Movies, books and empty mugs of hot chocolate were randomly dotted around the room, and he knew that it was exactly how Carson had left it. The kid didn't even realise how much of an impact he'd had on Jenny's life, on both their lives.

Gibbs smiled sadly and walked back to the front door, turning to look up the stairs. He drew his weapon and ascended the stairs as quickly as he dared; already knowing which stairs creaked so he could avoid them easily. As he reached the top of the stairs his eyes widened and he knelt down to examine the article of clothing at his feet. It was her jacket. Now he did seriously think he may be intruding but something kept him from turning around and walking away. He stood up and crept closer to her bedroom, noting with a certain amount of dread that her shirt, coat and purse were scattered on the floor in a clothes trail. His one happy thought was that he couldn't see any male clothes anywhere, and Jenny was not the submissive type that would allow someone to disrobe her completely and still be fully clothed.

Jethro peered into the bright bedroom and looked straight at the bed, relief flooding him when he noticed it was made and there was no sign of any kind of scuffle, sexual or otherwise, but then his bad feeling came back with a vengeance. If she wasn't with someone, where was she? Why were her clothes littering the landing? Why was she unreachable? Jethro stepped into her bedroom and looked around, realising that her suit trousers were just in front of her bathroom door. He didn't creep this time, he just ran the last few metres to the bathroom door and threw it open, his heart almost stopping at the sight that met his eyes.

The bath was full of bubbly, lavender scented water and Jenny was reclining in it, her head just under the water line. Gibbs threw himself into action and dropped his gun, which thankfully still had the safety on, dashed to the side of the tub and threw his arms in. He grabbed hold of her limp body and dragged her up and out of the still warm water, panicking that he might be too late. He should have checked up on her sooner.

Maybe if he hadn't been so preoccupied with thoughts of her having company he would have charged up the stairs and found her earlier. He cursed himself as he laid her carefully on the cold floor and made sure her airway was clear before he started mouth to mouth. He had let her down, had she intended to do this? No, he knew she hadn't but the panic he was in made the possibility too likely to discount.

He was very surprised when she began coughing and spluttering after only a few compressions, her arms coming up to ward him off as she rolled over onto her side and emptied her lungs of what little water that she had managed to inhale. He sat back a little, relieved that he hadn't been too late; in fact, he had been right on time. Judging from how quickly she had responded and what little she had brought up, she must have only just slipped under the water.

"Jen?"

"Jen?" Jethro's voice pierced through the sound of her coughing, which was dying down now, and she desperately tried to recall why he was at her house, but came up empty. The last thing she remembered was getting a bath, alone. She hadn't really seen him all day. Her throat ached from the water she had breathed in and from her subsequent coughing, so she rolled back on to her back and just concentrated on steadying her breathing.

She groaned, opening her eyes to look around her and assess the situation. Jethro was kneeling next to her, his eyes full of concern as he brushed her wet hair from her face. She frowned, realising that the arms of his clothes were soaked.

"Jethro?" she said, her voice a little raspy. "What are you doing here?" she asked, utterly confused. She was exhausted from the hard day at work and her crying sessions, and the cold floor under her was uncomfortable, so she was within her rights to feel slightly exasperated that she was now looking up into the face of the person she had been trying to avoid. He looked down at her body momentarily and then his eyes snapped back up to her face, before he turned with something akin to embarrassment on his face, almost as if he had only just realised something. Her cheeks flooded with heat when he turned back to her and covered her with a large bath towel. Dear god, she was naked! Now that she was aware of that fact she gripped the towel to her body like a shield and glared at him, feeling her best defence mechanism when it came to Gibbs flaring up; her temper.

"Care to tell me what, exactly, you are doing here?" she hissed, trying to tuck the towel around her body as well as she could manage, considering she was still lying on the floor. She refused to sit up until he had backed off, which was exactly what he wasn't doing.

"What's rule 3?" he asked, his voice deceptively calm. Jenny glared at him in disbelief for a moment.

"What?" she fumed. That was all he had to say?

"Rule number 3, Jen. What is it?" he pressed, leaning closer to her, his gorgeous blue eyes boring into hers in that perfectly innocent but completely sinful way that left her reeling.

"Never be unreachable." she recited distantly, until the words penetrated her mind. "I wasn't. You could have just called my cell!" she growled, averting her eyes so she could concentrate and regroup. He hates you remember, don't let him walk all over you!

"I did. No connection." he replied, his voice slightly harder. Jenny closed her eyes momentarily, recalling that she had stepped on the screen earlier and broken her Blackberry. She hated it when he was right, which just made her fight harder to not let him know he was right.

"I have a landline also, Jethro!"

"Your cell is never off, so why try the others if that's a sure indicator of a problem?" he questioned and Jenny shook her head at him, wondering how he had made that leap, while she shuffled away from him, sitting up with her back against the bath.

"Since when has my cell phone been a sure indicator?" she asked, annoyed by his presumptuousness. Did he think he knew everything? Maybe her battery had died.

"James Dempsey mean anything to you?" he asked sarcastically, remembering when she had last been unreachable. "Besides, if I had tried every means of communicating with you, you would have drowned long before I even set off to find you." He shouted, his temper flaring in response to her obstinate attitude.

"I would not have drowned, Jethro, I would have woken up choking. It's not the first time I've fallen asleep in the bath." she contradicted him, feeling a little stung that he thought her that careless. Exhaustion had taken its toll today, but she had still woken up. Granted Gibbs had tried to help her, but she refused to believe she had needed it. It had just been awkward timing.

"Know that for a fact?"

"Did it never occur to you that maybe I just wanted some privacy? What couldn't wait that you had to find me now?" she questioned, glaring at him as she attempted to tuck the towel more securely around her after finding it almost dropping away on her left.

"We just closed a cold case so I decided to let you know." he said, but his tone made her suspicious.

"It couldn't wait till tomorrow?" she hissed, narrowing her eyes.

"I thought it would be best for you to know now." he replied, his eyes flashing dangerously and control of his temper snapping. Jenny was taken aback at his vicious words, recognising them from what she had said to him the night Carson had stayed over and she finally lost control. She stood, clutching her towel tighter in an attempt to remind her rage saturated brain that she needed to keep it there. Gibbs followed suit, his clothes dripping audibly on the floor.

"Is that it?" she snarled.

"Yes." he replied, tone for tone.

"That's crap, Jethro, and you know it! Just say what you came to say!" she yelled, watching as he visibly held himself back from advancing upon her, and a thrill of fear, or excitement, coursed down her spine.

"I'm not sure I want to anymore." he groused, trying to rein in his temper. Unfortunately he was the only one doing so.

"Cut the crap and just say it!" Jenny growled, attempting to keep her breathing under control so she didn't grab him and drag him to bed. Arguing with Jethro had always had this effect on her, but now she knew how little he really cared for her, she was adamant she would train her body to hate him rather than love him.

"I wanted to talk about children." he said finally, glaring at her calculatingly.

"What? What children?" she shouted exasperated. The sudden apparent switch in topics left her reeling and she realised how tired she really was.

"Our children." he elaborated and Jenny shook her head at him, feeling a headache coming on.

"We don't have any-" then she stopped speaking and stared at him. "wh-children? Our children?" she asked incredulously. Surely he can't mean… not after… "I don't believe you!" she exploded, stepping away from the bath and wrapped her towel more firmly around herself. "I asked you to stay with me, you said no! With a smile! What? Did you think that I'm so desperate I would just throw myself in your arms when you ask? That I'd just drop on my back when you decide you want something from me?" she fumed, getting close enough to poke him in the chest with a finger.

"No, but I sure as hell didn't expect this!" he exclaimed, brushing her off and throwing his hands up.

"What? Am I not as compliant as you imagined?" she mocked, resting a hand on her hip and sassily giving him an angry once over.

"No." he yelled, and as her face contorted with rage he held up his hands as if to ward her away. "No, that's not what I meant. I saw how much Carson made you upset, and it affected me too." he divulged, hoping to get Jenny on the same page.

"So I'm the cause of your misery?" she shrieked indignantly.

"No, now would you please shut up for a minute!" she fumed silently and he nodded his head gratefully. "I realised that you are the only woman I know who I could see as the mother of my child." he said softly, watching as his words penetrated her brain and she relaxed slightly. Wow. That was probably the last thing she had expected him to say, but then he could just be making it up because it sounds better then 'I'm out of options'. Jenny watched his face for a moment, hoping to see any indication of falsehood, but there was none.

"I'm not sleeping with you." she stated, hugging herself as her skin cooled, no longer given the illusion of warmth from her anger.

"I don't expect you to." he murmured, amused.

"Then you already have an idea of how to do this?" she asked surprised that he had taken the time to plan something out. was it that important to him?

"Are you really considering it?" he asked innocently, and Jenny couldn't stop her head from nodding immediately.

"Yes." she replied. Of course I am! She thought emphatically. After her daydream of a few hours ago, seeing the perfect little family she could have had with Jethro, she couldn't say no. She wanted his children and had done for a while, at least unconsciously. Actually she yearned for them. How could she say no?

"Then yes."

"Donations-" she began and he nodded with her.

"And turkey baster's, yeah." he finished, and she felt a shy smile tug at the corner of her lips, watching an answering one appear on his.

"Fine." she agreed, suddenly going on the alert when the front door audibly opened. "Who is that?"

"Ah, probably Melvin." Jethro answered, running a hand through his hair.

"You called Melvin?" she said, appalled.

"You were unreachable." he reminded her and she shook her head.

"Go! Tell him everything is fine." she ordered. "Then come back. You aren't going home tonight, you're soaking." she noticed his sly expression and she shook her head again, curbing the excited part of her brain that was already imagining making her babies the natural way. "I have a spare bedroom Jethro, you know where it is." she said airily, closing the door on him and letting out a deep breath.

She was still reeling from what he had said, what she had agreed to. She shook her head and turned out her light, dropping the towel to the floor and crawling under her bed-covers. She was asleep as soon as her head touched the pillows.