Chapter Four: I Have a Plan
Authors Note: Sorry for not updating last week. I started make chapter four really long, doing up to like the middle of season three, only to realize there is way more 'present day' material than I originally thought there would be. Good news is that means I already have most of chapter six written so I'll probably post both chapters five and six up next week to make up for keeping you guys waiting.
As always, thank you for the reviews and for reading! I hope you enjoy!
September 2005 cont…
Something had to be terribly wrong when carrying her damn briefcase up the stairs felt more strenuous than carrying her sleeping six year old daughter. It was only her first day for crying out loud. When she finally made it to her bedroom, she, without thinking, quickly dropped the bag to the ground with a loud thud. Cringing at how the sound echoed through the quiet room, Jenny glanced over to see that the sleeping child resting comfortably in her bed hadn't stirred in the slightest. Not for the first time was she thankful Emily had inherited Jethro's tendency for heavy sleeping.
Digging her glasses and a number of reports out of her briefcase, Jenny settled into bed beside her daughter, using the young girl's comforting presence as motivation to get at least a few reports completed before bed. She had been Director for all of one day and she couldn't believe how many mission reports had wound up in her inbox, much to her dismay. As an agent, she dreaded writing her mission reports, so she could already tell reading through dozens of them a day was sure to be hell.
Running her hands soothingly through her daughter's long red hair, she braved the first in a rather large pile. She made it through about five when her eyes started to glaze over. Glancing over at Emily, seemingly so peaceful in her sleep, Jenny smiled contently at the beautiful creation she and Jethro made mumbling in her sleep. The girl never stopped talking, even when sleeping. Hell, she basically came out of the womb gabbing away. Not that Jenny would have it any other way. "We did good, Jethro," she whispered to the silent room, wishing for the upmost time that he was lying there, arm around her shoulders, admiring their daughter with her.
Shaking off the haunting images of a life she'd never have, she picked up another report, groaning when she saw it was Agent Stackhouse's. Recalling Morrow telling her he needed a dictionary to get through the Shakespeare enthusiast's reports, she tossed it to the side, officially creating a 'for later' pile. Just as she reached for another report, the loud ringing of her phone screeched through the room. "Crap!" she cried, fumbling to grab the phone before it could wake the young girl. "Shepard," she answered, noticing Emily was still dead to the world. 'How on Earth does she do that?'
"I need a partner for the night. You up for it?" Her heart literally stopped when those words rang through her phone. Her first fleeting thought was of a steamy hot night in the city of love where two warm bodies performed a dance that unknowingly nine months later created the beautiful little carrot-top beside her. Funny how that memory seemed to keep popping up today. Her second thought took off from there, as she thought, 'Oh hell no! One labor was excruciatingly painful enough. I certainly do not need to go through another one. Plus Ziva will probably kill me if I break her hand again.' But how much did she so desperately want to simply say yes. She even went so far as to mentally plan out how to carefully get Emily to her own room and…
No! She couldn't do this. If there's one thing she knew about her and Jethro, it was that, at least for her, it could never simply be just one night. He was her addiction, the one she craved beyond anything else. Once she let him back in, she would literally need him as much as she needed oxygen to survive. And yet, they still were boss and subordinate, just as they always were and she knew he would eventually find someone else who could be more than that. While she could handle Jethro finding another 'Stephanie' to have a real relationship with in addition to their forbidden one, Jenny simply could not invite him into Emily's life if he didn't intend to be all in. She owed her daughter a full time father, so before she selfishly crossed that invisible line with Jethro, she needed to insure his desire not to have children of his own wouldn't drive him away a few months in.
"Jen?" his voice called, drawing her out of her inward debate.
"Jethro, don't you know any other women?" Oh God, she so wanted to just give in and she wanted even more to hear him say there would never be any other women.
"None that I can call for back up." Her heart sank, as she closed her eyes, sighing. How dare he play with her like that! And what was he thinking calling her? She was the Director of NCIS, not some probie he could order around at his every waking whim anymore. "You didn't think I meant…?" He started to ask and she could hear the smirk on his face through the line. Damn him!
"That's what you have a whole team of agents for," she said, pulling her glasses off in annoyance. Yes, he may have gotten her hopes up for a minute, but she'd be damned if she let him know that.
"Well, McGee's on protection detail with Abby, DiNozzo's tailing Ziva, and since I lost…"
Whoa! Whoa! Back up a second! "DiNozzo's what?" She could not believe it. She asked Ziva here personally and nowhere in that agreement did it say anything about Jenny's ex-lover putting a tail on her. Ziva was so going to kill her because there was no way in hell Ziva wouldn't pick up on someone following her. It was one of the first things Mossad agents were trained to do.
"He's tailing Zee-vah," he reiterated. Great! She would be buying Ziva dinner for a month to make up for this.
"Well, where are you?" God, she could not believe she was caving to him…again.
"Outside." 'What?' she mentally screamed, hurrying out of bed and over to the window. Drawing the curtain, sure enough, there he was leaning up against his car waving to her. And as she hung up the phone smiling, it suddenly hit her just how in deep she truly was. She could try and build up these barriers all she wanted, but in the end they would never be strong enough to resist him.
Jenny quickly threw on the first thing she could find and grabbed an elastic to tie her hair up on her way to wherever the hell they were going. After insuring she had her badge and gun, she pulled out her cell and dialed her security detail.
"Agent Montgomery," a voice answered.
"Agent Montgomery, it's Director Shepard."
"Director!" the man's voice cried in a dead panic. "Is everything alright, ma'am. We haven't seen anything out here other than Agent Gibbs but…"
"No, everything's just fine. Agent Gibbs and I need to go follow up a lead and while ordinarily I'd be comfortable with the two of you outside, Emily's asleep and I'm afraid if she wakes up for some reason and no one's here she might panic. Would one of you mind coming in here for a little while? You don't actually have to sit with her. You can even watch TV if you want. I just…"
"I'd be happy to ma'am."
"Thank you. Now, she's a deep sleeper, so she probably won't wake up. It's more of a precaution…"
"Not a problem, ma'am. I'll head in as soon as you and Agent Gibbs leave." She smiled at his proposal. It had only been two days and they'd already grasped the art of keeping secrets. Thanking him once more, she hung up and shut the bedroom light off. On her way out she kissed her daughter's forehead, whispering, "I'll be back soon, baby girl," before heading down to meet Jethro.
He stood there, arms across his chest, still leaning causally against the hood of his car. Watching as he sized her up and down, drinking in every curve, she added an extra sway to her hips knowing it'd drive him crazy. And it most certainly did. His eyes followed each sway as she drew near. "You didn't have to change, Jen," he smirked.
She stopped short for a moment. God he would be the death of her! Recovering, she brushed passed him to head for the passenger's side. "You wish."
He followed her, making sure to get there fast enough to open the door for her. Leaning over the open door, he whispered, "Yea, I most certainly do," in her ear. His warm breath tickled her neck, sending shivers down her spine. Yep, she was in for a boat load of trouble tonight.
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Spending every other night scanning a street for potential threats was not what Agent Montgomery expected to be doing with all his years of experience as an NCIS agent. Yes being trusted to protect the Director was an honor. But it would be more of an honor during the day. Instead, he and his partner, Agent Matthew Davis, would relieve the afternoon shift and left when Stanley arrived in the morning. They never even got to see the Director.
A hand slapped his shoulder causing him to jump out of his thoughts. "Dude, check it out," Davis said pointing to a car driving past to park across from the Director's house. Perhaps he'd spoken too soon in assuming the night shift would be boring.
"Wait…is that Gibbs?" Montgomery asked, watching the man step out of the car.
Davis, whose hand instantly flew to his gun, relaxed slightly after recognizing his fellow agent as not a potential threat to the Director. At least not physically, anyway. Montgomery watched Davis' face light up at the sight of Gibbs and felt the overwhelming urge to smack his friend. "See, dude! I told ya there was somethin between those two!" Davis cried, practically jumping out of the driver's seat in excitement.
"Davis, how many times do I have to tell you, just because she's a red head does not mean anything. You lasted all of one week on Agent Gibbs' team. That does not make you an expert."
"Montgomery, we've worked together for how long? You don't see me waving to you from outside your bedroom window."
"Okay…all that proves is that they've known each other longer than we have. Maybe the standing outside my window thing will come a few years down the road," he joked.
"Don't hold your breath, Montgomery." He chuckled at Davis' annoyance. It wasn't that Montgomery didn't think the man had a point. Frankly, if he were honest with himself, he did indeed agree with Davis' observations. He just didn't think here in the car with the two individuals in question nearby was the best location for this discussion. The Director would have their heads if she ever found out and Montgomery didn't even want to think about what Gibbs would do.
"They were partners, ya know?" Davis pointed out. Oh, the man did not give up!
"Yea so? We've partners."
"And why are we partners?" Crap! Davis had him cornered now. Years back, Montgomery had been partnered with a woman. Against his better judgment he'd fallen for her only to screw it up.
"My case aside, not every male-female partnership results in sex," Montgomery stated knowing many agents who never crossed the line.
"Yea, 'cause either one or both are married."
Before Montgomery could chastise his partner more, his cell rang. He gulped hard when he heard the Director's voice on the other end and he started sweating nervously, fearing she somehow knew exactly what they'd just been discussing. Instead, she simply wanted to know if he or Davis could watch her daughter while she and Gibbs followed up on a lead. Knowing Davis would take the opportunity to snoop around the Director's house for more proof, Montgomery volunteered for the task. After all, hanging out in a house with food, a bathroom, and TV was better than staring at a lifeless street for the next few hours.
"What was that about?" Davis asked anxiously, having already determined it had been the Director calling.
"Looks like Gibbs and the Director have a lead on Kate Todd's killer, so I'm on Emily duty."
"Following a lead my ass! They're probably goin to…wait! The Director's trusting you with her and Gibbs' kid?" Davis asked in disbelief.
Rolling his eyes, Montgomery pointed out for the umpteenth time, "Davis, you have no proof that Emily is…"
"She has his eyes!"
"I'm sure your wife would be interested to know, you've stared at another man's eyes long enough to have them committed to memory."
"Oh go babysit, you asshole! And don't forget to stay on channel two," Davis ordered holding up his walkie-talkie.
Once Gibbs car had safely turned off the street, Montgomery hustled across the way to the Director's townhouse and let himself in. Figuring it best to insure the young girl was still in fact asleep, he quietly climbed the stairs only to find the girl's bedroom empty. Noting no one had been in the bathroom when he walked by, Montgomery started to panic. "Davis, Emily's not in her room," he squeaked nervously over the walkie-talkie.
"Dude, will you relax. Emily's six and at that age they often like to sleep in their parents' room."
"Right," Montgomery nodded, starting to relax slightly. "What do I do if she's awake and wants her mom?"
"You tell her the Director will be back soon," Davis said as if it were obvious.
"Oh yea 'cause you have so much experience at this."
"This coming from the man who thinks she's going to wake up and throw a temper tantrum 'cause her mother's out. Emily is six years old, not six months, so if you calmly explain that the Director is out with Gibbs and will be back soon, she may be sad but will understand. And for the record, I have three younger siblings and a baby on the way."
"Sorry. Guess I'm just a bit nervous. I mean this is the Director's kid."
"Exactly, so she's already used to this kind of stuff. Now, go check on Emily and while you're at it see if the Director's got any photos of her and Gibbs."
"I am not going to snoop around the Directors house! Now go to radio silence to I give the clear. I don't want Emily waking up if she's still asleep."
Quietly peaking into the master bedroom, Montgomery saw the girl was snuggled up in her mother's bed still out cold. Smiling at how peaceful she looked with her head buried in a stuffed Eeyore and her tiny hand gripping a pink blanket that was hanging off the bed. Tiptoeing over to her, he managed to wiggle the blanket free from her grasp and tucked it over her. Montgomery may not know much about kids but he did know enough that if the blanket fell to the floor in her sleep, Emily would not be happy when she woke and found her blanket was 'missing.' He supposed, having met her, Emily would be smart enough to realize it was only on the floor, but he was not taking any chances while he was in charge.
With Emily taken care of, Montgomery headed back downstairs to wait in the living room. He was about to turn on the TV when he noticed the boxes still waiting to be unpacked. The top one was open and Montgomery couldn't believe what he was about to do. Pulling back the flaps, he found several framed photographs sitting at the top. He grabbed the top one, smiling at the sight of the Director with her arms wrapped securely around her daughter, looking more relaxed than when he met her yesterday. He found a second one of the Director and a younger woman, Israeli by the looks of it, holding what must have been Emily as a baby. But it was the third that had him pulling out his walkie-talkie. "Davis…DiNozzo wouldn't happen to have started a pool on this yet, would he?" He asked looking at the image of Director Shepard and Gibbs holding each other intimately under the Eiffel Tower. What really shocked him though was when holding the first photo next to the third, there was no question who Emily Shepard's father was.
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She couldn't believe she allowed him to talk her into this. This whole situation screamed 'bad idea' and yet here she was letting Jethro talk her into his whole kill Ari mission against her better judgment. But what worried her was the last time she'd been alone on a stakeout with Jethro, things happened and she wasn't entirely sure she would have it in her to resist him if he wanted a repeat performance of six years ago.
Tying her hair up, Jenny tried to keep their conversation on professional topics to prevent being pulled into personal ones. "What are the chances that Ari is still at his house?" God, she still could not believe she was giving into him!
"Zero." Oh super! So he was just wasting her time, after all. She should simply demand he take her back home before Montgomery had himself a panic attack. She knew he had no experience with kids and hoped he let Davis handle things. "Ducky was a diversion so your friend Ziva could pass cash and documents to him."
Oh my God! If he and Ziva butted heads one more time, she couldn't be held accountable for her actions. "Ziva's a control officer doing her job. You'd do the same if the roles were reversed." And she knew for a fact that he most certainly would for any member of his team.
"She's using you, Jen."
"And I'm using her," she countered, while mentally adding, 'for a babysitter.' Instead of voicing that though, she went with, "A half dozen Hamas suicide bombers will not be blowing up our boys in Iraq because of Ziva."
"She's Metsada, isn't she."
"The Mossad codename for that division is Komemiute."
"Whatever they name it, they specialize in assassinations."
Oh he's one to talk! He was a sniper for pete sakes, not to mention, one of their undercover operations involved assassinating a Russian couple. "Excuse me. Weren't you a marine sniper?"
"If I have to go through your friend to get to Ari, I will," he said, ignoring her.
"Ziva knows that." Hell, Jenny was pretty sure the whole agency knew that. Jethro had most certainly made his intentions clear.
"You really do like her."
'No, I just brought her all the way out here, stuck my neck out for her, and defended her about a million times in the past minute for the hell of it!' "She's damn good," Jenny assured him before quietly adding, "And I owe her. She saved my life in Cairo two years ago." Not just her life either, but Emily's as well.
Two weeks that bastard had her daughter! To this day, Jenny still didn't know the full story about what happened, but she thought for sure he was going to kill her. Jenny would never forget that hollow, dark, sickening feeling. It was a feeling that still haunted her whenever Emily was out of her sight, no matter how trustworthy the person caring for her was. If it hadn't been for Ziva, Jenny doubted she and Emily would be alive right now and for that she would forever remain in Ziva's debt.
She could feel Jethro's eyes on her, knew he desperately wanted to ask, but she kept her eyes trained on the road ahead. She couldn't talk about it, couldn't go down that road again. Even if she left the part about Emily out of her verbal recollection to him, her mind would instantly jump there. She just couldn't go there, not at the risk of completely breaking down in front of him.
So instead, they sat in silence until she thought she might choke on the tension. If this was what working with Jethro would be like for the next God knows how many years, she predicted they would either kill one another or end up releasing the tension right on her desk or worse…that damn elevator!
Allowing Jethro to drag her out tonight had been a bad idea. Hell, being alone with Jethro anywhere, for any length of time, was a bad idea. What she should have done was told Jethro off and stayed home with her daughter who's mere presence did wonders for Jenny's stress level. But instead, she gave into Jethro and was now sitting here worried sick about what could be going on at home.
Emily may be heavy sleeper but what if she woke up and Jenny wasn't there? It was only the girl's second night in a new place and she'd left her basically alone if Montgomery decided to be the one to keep vigil over her. What if Emily had a nightmare of Cairo? She had already asked to sleep with Jenny for the night, which was never a good sign. Emily was as independent as six year olds come and smart too, already a grade ahead. She rarely ever had difficulty spending the night in her own room.
As an image of her daughter waking up looking for her and not being able to find her crossed Jenny's mind, she mentally cursed her decision to come. She was Director for God sakes. That was supposed to mean she could be at home with her daughter most nights, not leaving her in someone else's care while she staked out a house that their suspect probably abandoned long ago! "I can't believe this," she whispered. Realizing she broke the silence when Jethro turned to look at her, she added, "I've been a director less than twenty four hours and I'm back on the street."
"It's great, isn't it?" he asked trying to bait her.
"No, Jethro. It isn't," she corrected. No the sinking feeling in her stomach and fleeting thoughts of worry she got whenever she was away from her daughter were not great. It's the reason she gave up field work and became Director. Her daughter needed to come above her thrill of the chase.
"Come on!" he laughed, trying to coax it out of her with that 'Jethro' smirk that always had her going weak at the knees. "Come on. You love it."
Yes, she did love it, but she loved Emily more and would rather be back home snuggled up in bed with a protective arm wrapped around her daughter, insuring the young girl was safe from harm. "Truthfully? I'd rather be in bed."
Only when he sat up more with a knowing smirk being sent her way did she realize exactly what that must have sounded like. "Sleeping," she added nervously. True she had been thinking about sleeping, but now that he put the image of the two of them engaging in another form of sleeping, that backseat was looking more entertaining than the abandoned house they were staring at.
"Remember that stake out in Marseille?" Oh no! No he couldn't possibly be going there! Her composure and determination were already slipping. If he continued to conjure up that memory, this evening would most certainly end in more than just talking. But did he stop there? Oh, not in the slightest. Nope, as usual, Jethro continued on, painting the picture of their 'first time.' "August. Stuck in that attic with no air. Photographing everyone who boarded that Lebanese trawler. That second night, that's the first time we…"
Oh God! She had to put a stop to this, already feeling aroused at merely his recollections of that night. Placing a hand over his mouth she silenced him before he could put a voice to exactly what activity they partook in for the first time while in Marseille. "Okay…shut up."
Feeling him smirk and place light kiss to her palm, she quickly retracted her hand, focusing her attention back on the street. "Hand me the binocs. They're underneath your seat," he said, turning on the windshield wipers. She watched his brows furrow in a manner that told her he saw something she didn't. Reaching under her seat, she passed him the binoculars, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu back to her probie days in Europe.
"What?" she asked, when she couldn't take his silent musing any longer.
"That's Ari's SUV," he said passing her the binoculars.
In shock, more over the idea that Ziva might be wrong than Jethro being right, Jenny grabbed them to see for herself. Before she could get a look at the plates, she saw the window roll down and the butt of a rifle stick out. "Shooter!" she screamed, ducking down. She felt Jethro manage to dive down on top of her just missing the bullet going through the windshield.
"Stay down," he commanded, leaving no room for argument. Shifting the car into drive, he took off towards the SUV, all while staying down below the windshield.
'Oh God!' she thought. 'I just survived a near miss with a bullet only to die from Jethro's driving!' He was bad enough at driving when he could see. God only knows what could happen with him not looking.
She watched him spare a glance up and he must have seen something because he stayed sitting up and took a sharp swerve onto the sidewalk, all while keeping sure she didn't move from her crouched position. Damn chauvinist!
Following his lead, she flung her door open and couched behind it firing her weapon. When the man went down, she let Jethro move towards him first while she provided back up, knowing he'd bite her head off if she tried moving first. He always needed to make sure a suspect was down before letting her near. A habit that had been the source of many arguments during their partnership. She watched Jethro flip Ari onto his back only to come face to face with, not the man she expected Ari to be, but a boy. "I expected Haswari to older," she said, surprised Jethro would be so determined to hunt down a young boy.
"He is," Jethro confirmed sadly. Only she couldn't tell if the sadness was due to having killed a teenager or that this wasn't Ari. Probably both she figured. He never took any killing lightly and she knew he still wanted Ari dead.
Looking back at the dead boy, Jenny froze at how innocent and young he looked. She bent down next to the boy and traced a finger along his jaw. "He is so young," she whispered, still shell-shocked at the boy's age. God, maybe it was a good thing she was no longer a field agent. It wasn't the first instance where she needed to fire the kill shot on a young person. And yes, while it had been a while with her more recent focus being on the intelligence portion of anti-terrorism, it still should not leave her feeling like she was the monster.
"He tried to kill you, Jen," Jethro pointed out and she could hear in his voice that he was as confused by her actions as she was.
"I know," she said quietly. And she did know that, did understand that there was no other way. So why did she feel differently? When did she become so soft? Oh yea, when she gave birth to a child of her own. She just couldn't believe how much being a mother had changed her as an agent. "It's just…" she tried to find the words to explain it to him, but failed.
He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and said, "I know, Jen. I know." Right, they never needed words.
Thankfully, it was still dark when Jethro dropped her back off at home, claiming he would take care of things at NCIS and she could give her statement and review Abby's findings in the morning. Normally she would protest, and the schizoid libber half of her definitely wanted too. But she left Emily home long enough, so the mother half of her won. She knew Jethro was surprised that she didn't argue, but he took his victory silently not wanting her to change her mind.
She quietly crept into her house, finding Agent Montgomery in the living room watching the news on mute. "How was she?" Jenny asked, trying not to let her nervousness show. She still feared Emily might have had a nightmare when she wasn't there to comfort her.
"Just fine, ma'am. Slept the whole time you were out," Montgomery said, looking as relieved as she felt at that news.
"Thank you again for this. You and Agent Davis can go home for the night. Stanley will be here in two hours anyway," she said dismissing him.
"Yes, ma'am."
After seeing him out, she ventured upstairs to find her beautiful girl still fast asleep. Taking a few moments to watch Emily sleep from the doorway, Jenny felt the events of the night slowly start to fade away. For the next few hours, she would be right where she wanted to be. After kicking off her shoes and locking up her badge and gun, she crawled under the covers and wrapped an arm around her daughter, not even bothering to change. She smiled as Emily unconsciously shifted closer and then Jenny fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Peaceful…until her alarm clock blared an hour later. Reluctantly, she rolled out of bed to shut the annoying buzz off. Walking back over to the bed, she slowly started to rock her daughter awake. "Emily, baby, it's time to get up." Emily simply mumbled something and rolled right back over in her sleep. "Alright sleepyhead, you better be up by the time I get out of the shower," Jenny ordered, tickling her daughter into a sleepy giggle fest. "What's that, young lady? I couldn't quite hear."
"I'll get up," Emily shrieked through her laughter.
"Good," Jenny laughed, kissing Emily's forehead before heading into the shower.
After her shower, she peaked out the bathroom door to insure that Emily was up. Seeing the bed empty, Jenny shut the door once more to finish getting ready, only to open it a minute later when a thought hit her. "Emily Ziva Shepard, you had better not have gone back to sleep in your own room!"
Hearing covers being flung off and a loud thump of her daughter jumping of bed, Jenny knew she'd been right on the money. That was one of the difficulties of having a smart and cleaver child; Jenny had to work to stay one step ahead of her. "I'm almost ready!" she heard Emily cry.
'Yea, right, you're almost ready!' "Just because I can't see your eye twitching does not mean I can't tell when you're lying," Jenny hollered, hearing the hall bathroom door shut as a response. Yep, Emily was already smart enough to know not to confirm or deny an accusation. Chuckling at her daughter, Jenny shut her own bathroom door to finish getting ready herself. This was Emily's way of instigating a challenge to prove she could sleep late and still be ready on time, so Jenny would be doomed if she let the girl finish first.
When Emily finally ran downstairs to the kitchen, Jenny already had her own coffee made and a bowl of cereal ready for Emily. She laughed when she saw Emily glance back and forth between Jenny and the cereal questionably. "I just thought since we have a few minutes we could sit down and you could tell me how your first day of school went. You kind of fell asleep on me last night."
"And you went out with Agent Gibbs last night," Emily retaliated slyly, sliding into her seat at the counter.
"How did you? You know what? Never mind, I don't even want to know." How her daughter always managed to pick up on these things, Jenny would never know. Taking a sip of coffee, Jenny sat down next to Emily at the counter, anxious to hear how her first day went. "So how was school?"
"Fine," Emily shrugged. Not exactly the enthusiastic response Jenny expected, which worried her. Emily loved school and loved to talk about it even more.
"Just fine?"
"Ms. Swanson wants to have a meeting with you," Emily mumbled, staring into her cereal bowl.
"Emily!"
"I swear I didn't correct her on anything! I learned my lesson at my last school"
Okay if that wasn't the problem, now Jenny was really worried. Emily didn't get in trouble, certainly not enough for her teacher to need to speak with Jenny. "What happened then, sweetie?"
"She says she thinks I need to skip another grade." And now it all made sense. Emily already skipped one grade and hated being the youngest kid. Skipping another grade would not be what the young girl wanted.
"We had you tested when we signed you up and you tested into second grade."
"I guess being able to speak three languages makes me too smart for second grade."
True, having lived in Europe, Emily had attended classes taught in both Spanish and French, but Emily had already been through so much. Did she really need the added challenge of being a six year old third grader? Plus, Jenny still felt she needed a stronger basis in English grammar to get rid of those 'gottas' and 'gonnas.' But she couldn't help but wonder if by giving in, she would be holding her daughter back? Still, seeing Emily, who generally couldn't wait to get to school, looking so miserable, Jenny knew what she had to do. "Don't worry about a thing, baby girl," she said, turning the girl's chin to face her. "Mommy will take care of it."
"Really?" Emily exclaimed, her eyes lighting up.
"Of course."
"Thank you!" she cried, leaning over to give Jenny a tight hug. "I love you, Mommy!"
"I love you too, baby girl," Jenny said, kissing the top of her head. "Now, eat up if we want to get to school early enough for me to tell Ms. Swanson that my little angel wants to stay in second grade."
After getting everything settled at Emily's school, Jenny finally made it into work only to wish she had stayed home. First, she learned the only person last night's sniper had been trying to kill was her. Not a single shot was intended for Jethro. Just another reason to add to the list of why she should never have gone out last night! Secondly, she'd learned all the rounds from last night's shooting matched the round that killed Agent Todd.
Thirdly, she had to be the one to explain it all to Jethro. "Since Miss Sciuto confirmed that the sniper rifle we recovered last night was the weapon used to murder Special Agent Todd, and with no evidence to the contrary, it appears that Mohamed Esfiri was the sniper." And of course, as usual, he was just ignoring everything she was saying. "I believe it's safe for your team to go home now, Gibbs."
Seeing as Jethro continued to choose to ignore her, she refocused her attention on his team. "Special Agent Todd's funeral is in Indiana tomorrow afternoon. SecNav has offered us his private jet to fly us there. Go home. Get some rest." There lied problem number four. What to do with Emily while she went off to Indiana.
Instead of following her orders, they all stood there looking at Gibbs. Oh she was going to have her work cut out for her if this team continued to value Gibbs' orders over her own. She should be the one to have the final word. She was the Director, after all. Finally Gibbs seemed to come to and nodded for them to do as they were told.
When they all had left, she finally turned to Jethro who hadn't moved an inch. "What about you, Jethro?"
"Mohamed didn't kill Kate and he didn't shoot at Abby." Would he ever give this a rest?
"You are not infallible, Jethro, no matter what your gut is telling you. Ari is not trying to kill you but this obsession might." He needed to let this go before this destroyed him.
"Hey, Jen?" Oh and now he was trying to be cute. And damn him! It was working.
"What?" she asked annoyed.
"Why did he only shoot at your side of the car last night?" God, hadn't they been over this earlier with McGee?
"I suppose you were right. He was trying to kill women who work with you."
"How did know you were in the car?" he argued, leaning over his desk to level with her. "I called you at the spur of the moment. I parked in the dark. He couldn't see through our windshield even with a scope." Okay, so he may have her there… "That guy was sent to die, not to kill."
Well, he had her up to that point, at least. The sniper was just a boy! He wouldn't…he couldn't! "No," she objected. "No one's going to do that."
"Come on, Jen," he tried to reason, heading for the elevator. "Hamas suicide bombers blow themselves up all the time. It doesn't matter how they die as long as it's for the Jihad. Mohammad's last night? He died for rivers of honey and seventy two virgins," he argued slamming the button on the elevator.
She couldn't believe she was letting him get to her again! Did she ever learn her lesson? Apparently not because here she was starting to believe him more and more. "I'm not saying you're right, but if you are, how do we prove it?"
"We? Did you just join my side?" Was he really asking that again? Apparently he never learned either.
"Jethro, I've always been on your side," she said firmly, hoping to ingrain the fact in his head once and for all. "What do we do?"
"Kill Ari before he kills me," he answered simply.
It took all she had not to add a 'Duh!' to his answer, but as soon as the elevator doors closed giving them privacy, she couldn't help it. "I thought that was rather obvious, Jethro. I was kind of hoping you might have a more detailed plan in mind."
She watched a smirk weave its way onto his face and it suddenly felt just like old times. "Oh, don't you worry, Jen. I definitely have a plan." By the tone of his voice and the way he was looking at her, Jenny knew they were no longer discussing Ari. He started to reach out to her and she knew the second he made contact with her skin she would be lost to him forever.
Her eyes fluttered closed in anticipation, only to shoot back open when his caress never came. The elevator doors opened and he instantly retracted his hand at the sight of people waiting for the elevator. Stepping out awkwardly to free up the elevator for those waiting, Jethro turned to her after the doors shut once more. "They were not part of my plan."
Jenny simply smirked and brushed passed him, whispering, "Next time, flick the emergency stop," before sauntering off adding that extra special sway to her hips. Oh she most certainly was interested in hearing the rest of this plan of his.
October 2005
"Auntie Ziva!" a voice cried, startling Ziva David out of her unpacking. Laughing, she turned around just in time to catch the little girl running into her arms. Picking up and spinning her around, she smiled as the child shrieked in laughter. The young girl then placed a kiss on each of Ziva's cheeks, greeting her in the traditional Israeli way, "Shalom."
"Shalom, precious," Ziva said, responding in kind. Continuing to hold Emily in her arms, Ziva walked out into the kitchen to find her friend Jenny unpacking a few things she obviously must have brought over. "She is getting rather good at cracking locks, yes?" Ziva joked, knowing Jenny just loved when Ziva taught Emily some of her Mossad tricks. Currently they were secretly working on the eighteen different ways to kill someone with a paperclip.
"It's picking locks, Ziva," Jenny corrected, feeling like she was talking to Emily on her grammar. "And trust me when I say she desperately wanted to try. I'm afraid you left the door unlocked this time, though."
Frowning at that news, Ziva said, "I thought for sure I locked it so she could test her new lock picking kit." As a sorry-you-had-to-move-again gift, Jenny had given the girl a photograph of her father. Ducky sent her a bouquet of gorgeous flowers. And what did Ziva get her? A lock picking kit. "Oh well, we will just have to try it out later, won't we?" she asked the girl in her arms.
"Alright!" Emily exclaimed, in excitement.
"Super," groaned Jenny, causing both Ziva and Emily to giggle. "Well, we got you a couple things as a house warming present. This is from me," Jenny said, holding up a bottle of what looked to be very expensive wine with a bow wrapped neatly around the top.
"Thank you, Jenny. I know what we shall be doing later on when you arrive home from work."
"Oh that's not all," Jenny assured her, pulling out two nicely wrapped presents. "This first one is from me and the second is from Emily."
Walking over, Ziva sat Emily down on top of the counter so she could open her gifts. Opening Jenny's first, she found her signed transfer to NCIS paperwork, officially assigning her to Agent Gibbs' team, along with her NCIS badge and standard weapon. Excitedly, Ziva hugged Jenny. "Thank you very much. I am greatly looking forward to working with Gibbs."
"You're welcome, Ziva," Jenny said, hugging Ziva back. "I can assure you working with Gibbs is hardly ever boring." Ziva smirked at the second part, but knew well enough not to make any sly comments on just how entertaining Jenny's partnership with Gibbs seemed to be with Emily sitting right there. While Ziva felt that Emily should know the truth, seeing as she was now living in the same city as her father, she also knew it was not her place to tell the girl who her father was.
"Open mine, Auntie Ziva!" Emily cried on the counter, passing Ziva the box.
She playfully shook it a bit for the girl's amusement. "I wonder what it could be." Ziva then ripped off the colorful paper and carefully took the top of the box of. Pushing the tissue paper back, she smiled at what she found. She held up the picture frame and scanned over the photo of Ziva and Emily smiling in a park near one of their European apartments, with Ziva carrying the young girl on her back. A donkeyback ride she thought it was called. "This is perfect, Emily. Thank you," she said gratefully, pulling the girl into a hug.
"Emily, sweetheart, why don't you go put your bag in the other room," Jenny suggested, holding Emily's backpack out to her.
"Okay!" the girl said, jumping off the counter, grabbing her backpack and running off into the other room.
After Emily had left, Jenny turned back to Ziva. "Are you sure you're okay to watch her for the day?" Jenny asked cautiously. Emily had a day off from school and Ziva knew Jenny was nervous to leave Emily with anyone other than Ziva, but she also did not want to put Ziva out.
"We will be fine, Jenny. You need not worry, though I know you rightly will." Ziva knew nothing she could say would make Jenny feel comfortable leaving Emily anywhere, not after Cairo. A fact that Ziva did not disagree with. She herself, dislike whenever Emily was not in the care of either herself or Jenny.
"It's a professional hazard of being a mother, I'm afraid. So Emily has her blanket and Eeyore if she wants to take a nap. She despises getting up early, so she will probably fall asleep at some point today."
Ziva smiled, as Jenny listed off a number of things Ziva already knew. After all, up until now, Ziva had lived with Jenny and Emily, so she was fully aware of all Emily's habits and needs. However, she allowed Jenny to inform her of everything once more in the hopes that it may relax Jenny, at least enough to get her to work.
While Jenny was still in the middle of her speech, Emily came running back in, rolling her eyes at her mother's protectiveness. "Mommy, Ziva already knows all this," she pointed out and Ziva watched Jenny's shoulder's relax. Emily really was good for her.
"Okay, I see your point," sighed Jenny. "Come here and give Mommy a hug and a kiss before I go to work."
Smiling at her victory, Emily ran into Jenny's arms and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Bye, Mommy. Have a good day at work and don't call Auntie Ziva twenty times." Oh yes, the girl was most certainly cleaver.
"Yes ma'am," Jenny laughed, faking a salute to her daughter. "Now, be good for Ziva and help her unpack."
"Okay, Mommy," Emily agreed, giving her mom one last hug before hurrying back off to wait for Ziva in the other room.
"Thanks again, Ziva. I'll see you later on," Jenny said one last time before seeing herself out.
The weekend flew by about as fast as Jenny and Ziva managed to down that entire bottle of wine Friday evening. Jenny and Emily had spent the weekend at Ziva's apartment helping her unpack and taking her to all the best home decorating stores in the D.C. area. Jenny found Ziva to be adjusting quite well, even in the short while she'd been in the States, and she knew with hers and Gibbs' team's help Ziva would soon be as comfortable in America as anyone.
With Emily back in school, Jenny managed to get to work earlier than she had Friday and at least could relax slightly knowing at school she could blend in as an ordinary kid and not stick out as the daughter of the Director of NCIS. Having settled the matter on Emily remaining in second grade with the school, Emily was back to her usual self of all but jumping out of the car before it fully parked in front of the school, which also helped to keep Jenny from stressing too much of her daughter's well being. As long as Emily was happy, Jenny was happy.
Her first month as Director of NCIS had been strenuous at best, with the loss of a deeply loved special agent, a number of high profile cases including a serial killer's apprentice nearly killing Agent Cassidy, and as always, Jethro was being Jethro. And it was the latter that seemed to make her life most difficult because she was the person who had to deal with SecNav, the FBI, the CIA, Homeland Security, Metro Police, and the rest of the alphabet soup whenever he managed to piss someone of with his sparkling personality.
God, she could not wait for Ziva to start work later on in the week. Having her friend there would be comforting and beneficial. She could learn more about how Jethro's team operated without her having to poke around down in the bullpen herself. Not that she would encourage Ziva to be her own personal spy, but if the two went out to eat or were enjoying a glass of wine, and Ziva happened to provide her with some professional or even juicy details about Gibbs and the boys, Jenny would hardly object.
Now, all she had to do was find a way to tell Jethro, she was assigning Ziva to his team as a Mossad liaison officer. After all, there had been a great deal of animosity between the two the last time Ziva had been around NCIS. But that only had to do with the minor detail that Jethro had been completely determined to kill Ari who happened to be Ziva's half brother. Nothing they couldn't move on from, right? Jenny certainly hoped so and she was banking on the somewhat more courteous interaction between the two following Jethro proving Ari guilty of murdering Agent Todd and Ari's own death shortly thereafter.
The door to MTAC opened and somehow she just knew it would be him. He didn't have a case yet and, despite it being only the very start of the day, he was probably bored and thought bothering her would be more entertaining than paperwork. She didn't necessarily mind; after all, his attempts to avoid doing paperwork got her out of doing paperwork too. She just preferred he bother her in the privacy her office and not in the middle of MTAC where she never seemed to be alone.
Of course, he didn't have any legitimate reason to insure they were in private. They never did anything more than flirt these days. He seemed to seriously be respecting her no 'off the job' comment because he hadn't even come within a one foot radius of her since his failed attempt to caress her face in the elevator a month ago. She regretted that damn comment so much. One thing was for sure, she definitely needed to find a way to see him off the job little by little so she could see more of this so called plan he had to convince her to retract the barrier she built between them back on day one of her time as Director.
He must have spotted the row of seats she was sitting in, not that it was that hard with her being the only one sitting down, because she sensed him slide down the row and plant himself in the empty seat next to her. "Something I can help you with this morning, Special Agent Gibbs?" Jenny asked, keeping her tone light but still strictly professional. MTAC was rather crowded for this early in the morning. Still, she could almost feel the 'I'm bored' comment bursting out of him.
Instead of answering right away, he started glancing around and watched an agent exit MTAC. Jenny sighed, pulling off her glasses, getting the unfortunate feeling that this may not be a Jethro's bored visit, as originally expected. "Yeah. I got a personnel issue. You know anything about that?"
Oh crap! "I take it Ziva arrived a few days early?" She knew she should have made more of an emphasis on the highlighted start date to Ziva when she gave the paperwork to her Friday. Not to mention, she had known Ziva for six years and should have predicted Ziva would get bored and want to start work early, figuring Jenny would have already told Jethro to expect her sometime this week. Well, on the plus side, Jenny could cross figuring out how to broach the subject of Ziva's liaison position with Jethro off her list. He already knew.
At his silent staring, Jenny sighed feeling a headache coming on. "Right. Before we get into this, I'm gonna need a refill," Jenny said, gesturing to her second empty coffee cup of the morning. She would definitely need more coffee if she was to get through this conversation, especially at eight o'clock in the morning.
As she started to close the file she had been reading, he grabbed her cup, popping the lid off. She watched the lid flutter to the ground, while Jethro dumped the rest of his coffee into her cup and dropped it back into her seat's cup holder. "That was sweet, not necessarily sanitary," she commented, eyeing the cup not sure whether to drink it or not. Sure they had shared more than just coffee back in the day, but her brain suddenly shifted into overdrive trying to determine what him giving her his coffee meant. Usually she had to steal it from him and pay significant consequences as a result.
"What is she doing here, Jen?" Jethro asked all business.
Okay if he wanted to take an all business tone of voice with her, she could easily reciprocate. "If we're going to fight a global war on terror, we need to work closely with our allies."
"Well, that sounds good. Put her on someone else's team." See there was a reason she kept putting this conversation off. It was going about as bad as she expected. God the last thing she needed, as both Director and Jenny, was another wedge cemented between herself and Jethro.
"I want her with you, Jethro." Jethro had trained Jenny and now she wanted him to train Ziva, but she would be oblivious if she didn't admit she had personal reasons for it too. Jenny desperately needed Jethro and Ziva to workout whatever differences they had, so that when the time came for her to finally tell Jethro he has a daughter, the two most important people in hers and Emily's life would not be at opposing ends.
"Mossad trained her to spy and kill, not to investigate crime scenes." Did he really believe she didn't know that? Of course, she did and that was exactly why she wanted Ziva working for Jethro. Ziva wanted to be trained to investigate and Jethro was the best NCIS had at both the investigating and the training. "Send her to the CIA," he concluded in a tone that said he would not cooperate.
He might be able to push Jenny around and make her go weak at the knees with just one look, but after a month the Director half of her had grown stronger and she would be damn sure he did cooperate. "Just to be clear, this is not a request or a debate, Agent Gibbs."
"Anything else about my team you wanna change about my team while I'm here?" Did his attitude count? Probably not, she determined. So much for not driving a wedge between her and Jethro.
"Look, if anything, you're lucky to have her. She's one of the finest agents I ever worked with in Europe," Jenny tried to reason, hoping to convince him that even if he was upset about her professional decision not to be angry at her on a personal level.
"Why didn't you ask me first, Jen?" he asked angrily.
"And what would you have said?" she asked in kind, knowing full well his answer would have been an outright 'no!' She wanted to tell him that, as he glared at her as a response, he was only reaffirming her point. "Exactly," she pointed out, getting a perfect idea of how to settle the issue once and for all. "Number 18, it's better to seek forgiveness than ask permission," she stated, quoting one of his infamous Gibbs' rules of how to be a good NCIS agent. This one however, was one of the ones she planned to hold off teaching Emily, seeing as she definitely wanted her daughter to ask her permission before doing anything – especially during her teenage years.
"Oh, that's real nice. Using the rules I taught you against me," he groaned before dropping the Agent Gibbs act and complimenting, "Nice touch," with a smile that was all Jethro.
"I learned from the best, Jethro," she said, reciprocating the compliment back to him. "I want Ziva to as well."
Nodding his acceptance, he fell silent for a while. She turned her attention back to her file, before feeling someone poke her in the arm. "Hey, Jen," Jethro whispered.
"Yes, Jethro?"
He paused for a moment, before finally saying, "I'm bored." Oh, here we go again!
It had been another tiring day with the early morning mission in MTAC, several meetings, and about four dozen mission reports to read over, but Jenny still couldn't help but feel like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. Ziva was finally here and Jenny was thrilled to be working with her one again, as well as having her best friend around and someone who she trusted Emily with more than any other.
She was heading upstairs to her office to pack up her things for the day and head home to relieve Naomi when a sight caught her eye. She faulted on the stairs, nearly tripping, as she felt as if someone was tearing her heart right out of her chest. The simple metaphor of her heart breaking could never cover what it felt like to see Jethro walking another redhead to the elevator, kissing her goodnight on the cheek. She quickly forced herself to recover before he could turn around and catch her. Climbing the rest of the stairs as quickly as she could, Jenny hurried off into her office, her sanctuary, where she could freely deal with her emotional torment as her hope of her, Emily, and Jethro someday having a future where they could be a true family shattered.
Once back in the safety of her office, she called Naomi to see what the woman's plans for the evening were and when she informed Jenny that she had none, Jenny asked if she would watch Emily a while longer because she got held up at work.
Jenny had lost track of how long she'd locked herself away in her office, when she heard a light knocking at her door. "Jenny?"
Not even bothering to attempt to rid away the evidence that she'd been crying, knowing the Mossad officer would see right through her, Jenny hollered, "Come in, Ziva."
Cautiously moving through the office, Ziva took a seat opposite Jenny and sat quietly for a moment before finally asking, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No…yes…possibly…I don't know," Jenny flip-flopped, not really sure if she could handle talking about it, but also unsure if keeping it bottled up would do more harm than good. "I just…he's been acting all flirtatious and being all nice, you know? I just never expected to be blindsided like that."
"So he has been acting as if he would like to continue your intimate relationship, yes?" Ziva asked, trying to insure she heard everything correctly through Jenny's tears and American euphemisms.
"Yes," sighed Jenny. "Since my first day as Director."
"That is a good thing, is it not?"
"I thought it was," Jenny admitted. "But with him you never can truly know. I just wanted to hold off on diving right into everything like he seemed to be insinuating because I needed to take things slow enough that I could judge if he would be involved enough to be a part of Emily's life of if he would simply flee at the first mention of him having a daughter."
"I can see how that would be important…" Ziva agreed for which Jenny was gracious for. After all, Ziva had made her opinion that Emily's father should be told the truth, both for his and the girl's sakes, perfectly clear. Hearing her agree that Jenny did need to know that Jethro was ready and willing to be a father to Emily before introducing the two at least made Jenny feel slightly better about the whole mess.
"I thought things were going well. I mean we were talking, flirting, acting like friends again. Just the way it was leading up to when we first crossed that invisible line. But now this…"
Ziva opened her mouth to respond, but never got the opportunity to when Jenny's office door slammed open. "Jenny, I was wondering…" Jethro began as he strolled into the room, only stopping when he finally registered that Jenny wasn't alone. Watching as he took in her appearance, she tried to hide her face to mask the evidence that she'd just been balling her eyes out. He glanced back and forth between her and Ziva, and Jenny could see that she'd been too late. Jethro already caught sight of her stray tears. As if reading Jethro's mind, Ziva nodded to him, before slipping out of the office and shutting the door to give the two some privacy.
Jethro ignored any pretense of personal boundaries and rounded around her desk so that he was crouching right next to her sitting form. Jenny didn't dare glance up at him, instead chose to continue hiding her face. He may have seen evidence of her crying but she certainly did not need him knowing that it had been complete waterworks…over him, no less. "Jen?" he said, reaching out to brush her hair back slightly to try and see her face.
Oh, how she so desperately wanted to lean into his soft caress, but he'd torn her to pieces with his earlier PDA so she instantly retracted away at his touch, alarming him further. "Jen, what's wrong?" he asked softly, not daring to attempt the physical contact thing a second time. At least not so soon after his first failure.
"Just leave, Jethro," Jenny ordered, trying to pull herself together but ultimately failing. Ignoring the forcefulness in her tone, Jethro stayed exactly where he was, silently ordering her to tell him what was bothering her. "Just because you continue to stay here does not mean I am going to spill my guts out to you," Jenny tried, though her resolve was failing as a few stray tears started to fall.
With a deep breath, Jethro disregarded the risk of her inflicting bodily harm and reached out to wipe a tear of her cheek, whispering, "Who hurt you, Jen?" At first he thought she might be giving into him when she didn't pull away, but the second he added, "If it was Fornell, I swear I'll…" he knew he screwed up big time.
"It was not Fornell!" she screamed. "Do you honestly believe I would be crying if it was Fornell, Jethro? There is only one person on this planet who has ever been able to hurt me this way and you know it!"
She watched as the light bulb flicked on in his head, before pushing away from her desk and gathering up her coat and briefcase. "Jen…what did I do?" God didn't he know the phrase 'if you have to ask…?' When she put her coat on and started for the door, he pleaded, "Jen don't leave. Talk to me!"
"Just drop it, Jethro," she whispered, leaving him standing there in shock and confusion.
When Jenny finally made it home that night, Naomi informed her that Emily had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for her and that she carried her up to her own bed. Thanking Naomi for staying so late, Jenny saw her out before closing the door to what sounded like a very quiet house. The quiet started to suffocate Jenny as the events of the evening started to well up inside her once more.
Cursing herself for not coming home in time to spend the evening with her daughter, Jenny headed up the stairs to check on the young girl. Peaking into the girl's room, the small nightlight cast just enough light for Jenny to see her daughter fast asleep looking safe and secure with her blanket and Eeyore. God how Jenny hoped and prayed the girl would never grow up and know the hardships of the real world like falling in love only to end up with a broken heart.
As she watched Emily sleep, Jenny felt the tears form once again as the reality of the family she always promised herself she and Emily would one day have would probably never happen smacked her right in the face. Hurrying off to her own room, Jenny quickly changed into some pajama shorts and an old NIS t-shirt of Jethro's she never returned or washed for fear of washing away his unique scent of bourbon, coffee, and sawdust. Jenny then returned her daughter's room, carefully nudging the girl over slightly to make room for herself in the small twin bed. Holding her daughter close, Jenny drank in the unique smell of Jethro, willing that and her daughter's presence to help get her through the night.
Jenny felt someone trying to shake her awake, but she refused to open her eyes. She desperately wanted to return to her dream of her, Emily, and Jethro having a picnic in the park, a ring on her finger and a small baby bump starting to form. "Mommy," she heard a tiny voice cry, but she could not determine if it was in the real world or her dream one. But the shaking did not stop and the voice screamed "MOM WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE!"
Jenny bolted out of her sleep at the sound of her daughter yelling. When she finally came too, she looked over to find Emily already dressed in her uniform. "Baby, what time is it?" Jenny asked panicking.
"Stanley will be here in ten minutes. I've been tryin to wake you up for a half hour," Emily complained, before concern for her mother sunk in. "What's the matter, Mommy?"
"It's trying, Emily…and did you say ten minutes?" Leaping out of the small bed, Jenny ran out of the room towards her own. "We are going to be so late! I'm going to have to…" she cried in her mad dash to get ready.
"MOM – WHAT – IS – THE – MATTER?" Emily asked from the doorway, extremely frustrated
Jenny stopped instantly at the tone of her daughter's voice. She shouldn't be surprised that Emily noticed something off with her. After all, the girl picked up on everything. Still, Jenny did not want to burden the young child with anything. Emily had enough to deal with already. "Nothing's wrong."
"Mommy, something is wrong. You never oversleep. Plus you slept in my room…and you were crying."
Any other day, Jenny would marvel at the amazing way the girl could piece things well beyond her age level together so quickly, but today she just sighed at how observant the girl was. "It's nothing to worry about, baby girl," Jenny tried once more knowing it would never work.
Emily stood their quietly for a moment before softly saying, "It's Dad again, isn't it."
"What makes you say that?" Jenny asked, unsurprised that Emily managed to string that together too.
"Most times you cry it's 'cause you miss Daddy."
"True," Jenny conceded. "But this time it was about Agent Gibbs." Emily still believed her father and Gibbs were two different people. Jenny was actually quite impressed with herself that she managed to keep Emily from determining they were one in the same by only telling the girl her father's first name and only referring to 'Agent Gibbs' by his last.
The doorbell rang before either could say anything more on the issue. "Honey, could you go answer that and tell Stanley I'll be down in a minute." Nodding in defeat, Emily hurried down the stairs so that Stanley wouldn't be kept waiting.
When Jenny finally made it to NCIS, she was relieved to find herself still early enough to avoid Jethro. She quickly crossed the catwalk to the sanctuary of her office only to find she may have not been as lucky as she originally believed. There sitting in her office chair with his feet kicked up on her desk was none other than one Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Upon hearing her enter the room, he instantly dropped his feet to the ground and strolled right over to her, so his face was practically right up against hers. "You want her gone, Jen? All you have to do is say the word," he said firmly and this time he was the one stalking out of her office leaving a very shocked Jenny in his wake
[][][][][][]
"I still don't get it," Emily said, staring in the mirror checking out her Halloween costume. Jenny tried hard not to laugh but was failing. This had to be the hundredth time since she'd taken Emily to pick out a costume that she explained the concept of Halloween. Having lived in Europe for her entire six years thus far, Emily had never experienced the American holiday of Halloween and she was still trying to wrap her head around it. Still, Jenny didn't believe the girl should miss out.
One would think a child with Emily's intelligence would be able to grasp the concept quite easily, but here the girl was with her brows furrowing in confusion, still trying to work through what on Earth Halloween was all about. "So I dress up in a funny outfit, go around to all the neighbors, and they give me candy?"
"Basically…yes," Jenny laughed. Most children would hear the word candy and didn't care what they had to do to get it, but Emily was seriously trying to figure out why on this one particular day in the year they gave it out to children in costume.
DiNozzo would have been proud of Emily's costume choice if he knew about her. Instead of choosing to be a princess like most girls her age, her little movie-buff in the making had chosen to go as Indiana Jones, straight down to the trademark hat and whip.
"I am also still trying to determine what this holiday is all about. Tony mentioned all the 'crazies' come out tonight, whatever that means," Ziva said from where she was sitting on Jenny's bed, just as confused as Emily.
"It means…" Jenny started, before deciding it was probably best not to even try and explain that. "Well, frankly I don't even really know. It's just traditional."
"You Americans really like your traditions."
"Yes, it's a bad habit of ours," Jenny joked, before placing a hand on her daughter' shoulder. "Now, come on, my little jungle explorer. We don't want to be out too late in case Aunt Ziva gets called into work because one of the 'crazies' decides to come out."
