Chapter 4

Zoe woke in the early hours of the morning, sweat covering her body and soaking into the old NCIS t-shirt and shorts that Jenny had given her to wear, her hair sticking to her forehead and the back of her neck.

Her eyes shot open as her nightmare began to fade, as a memory of her father punching her woke her just as he was about to land one last powerful blow to her chest, her green orbs darted around the dark room.

She lay in the middle of an unfamiliar double bed, she could see the large bay window that was draped in curtains that blocked out most of the light from outside, looking to her right Zoe saw that the bedroom door was open enough for her to realise that the landing light had been left on and she could look out onto the small landing.

It then hit her, Jenny, she was staying with Jenny the women who'd rescued her, who'd promised to keep her safe, she was safe, she remembered the night before, having noodles that agent Gibbs had bought, she liked him, he seemed nice and he seemed to like Jenny a lot.

Zoe sighed contently before closing her eyes and trying to fall back asleep, but she couldn't, the thought of her father made the darkness of the room almost feel as if it was closing in around her, she tried to kick away the scared, gut churning feeling she felt and snuggled back into her pillow.

After a couple of moments, she heard tapping at the window she hid under the bed covers but the tapping just became louder and more and more frequent, then a birds crowing could be heard from outside scaring her more and after mere seconds of that the old grandfather clock down stairs in the entrance way began to chime loudly.

Before Zoe registered it she jumped out of the bed and ran across the hall, pushing the door open a little and slipping in, she felt a little bit of relief when she saw Jenny asleep in an even bigger double bed, the covers resting low at her waist, showing she was wearing a similar t-shirt to Zoe although hers said NIS and looked more warn.

She walked over to the redhead and managed to climb up onto the bed and went to the unoccupied side of the bed and slipped under the covers, snuggling into Jenny's side taking comfort in the smell of her jasmine and flowery perfume and her coconut shampoo.

Jenny rolled over in her sleep and put an arm around Zoe with a faint mumble of "Jethro" escaping her lips before she fell back into a deeper sleep and the five year old soon followed.

…

The redhead woke a couple of hours later, her eyes fluttering open and she couldn't help but smile when she saw her bed companion, she wondered for a moment why Zoe was there but she then realised she should have expected it, of course after what Zoe had been through she would have scars and nightmares for a long time.

Jenny looked over Zoe and saw that it was eight in the morning, later than she usually woke up, brushing some of the girls blond hair out of her face, she decided to let her sleep for a little longer while she got ready for the day so she could give her her full attention.

Carefully slipped out of the bed, Jenny then made her way to her en-suit bathroom, she closed the door gently then looked at herself in the mirror, she was still very much confused about Jethro, he'd kissed her on the forehead.

What did that mean? He kissed Ziva and Abby on the forehead all the time but she couldn't help that shake the feeling it was different than that, his lips had lingered, he'd been so gentle and nice, he'd assured her that he would there for her, what did it all mean?

Looking at herself in the mirror she looked at the t-shirt she was wearing, it was his, she'd 'accidently' packed it when she left in Paris and still wore it, even though it had long lost the smell of him, bourbon, coffee and sawdust, was it a sign that she wasn't over him? of course she was still in love with him, but after all she'd done, there was no way in hell that he would even think about taking her back

Sighing Jenny ran a tired hand through her hair before going to hit the shower, hoping she didn't wake Zoe in the process.

….

Almost forty minutes later Jenny had showered, dried her hair and changed into a pair of casual jeans and green jumper and the five year old still hadn't woken up.

Jenny sat down gently on the vacant side of the bed and brushed her blond curls out of her face, "Zoe" she said her name as gently and as calming as possible and watched as the little girls nose crinkled up and then her green eyes fluttered open.

"Momma" the little girl mumbled.

"No it's me Jenny" she told her, hoping she would remember and not freak out.

"Jenny" Zoe gave her a small smile before realising where she was "I'm sorry" she began to panic, she shouldn't be in Jenny's bed, she would probably get in trouble "I didn't meant to, I had a nightmare" she said hiding under the covers.

"It's okay" Jenny told her following Zoe under the covers, "It's okay" she told her again and the little girl calmed down a little "You're not in trouble" Jenny assured her, reaching out to touch her gently, "You had a nightmare, it's okay"

"It is?" Zoe asked a little surprised.

"Of course it" Jenny said with a warm smile as Zoe pulled the covers down and Jenny did the same it getting too hot and stuffy. "You can come in here whenever you want, in fact any room of the house" she told her "Especially if you can't sleep of have nightmares okay"

"Okay" Zoe nodded slowly,

"We better get up we have a busy day" Jenny told her, Zoe looked at her with wide green eyes, "We're going shopping to get you some clothes and then we have to go to NCIS and see my friend Helen again" the redhead explained.

"She's going to take me away isn't she?" Zoe asked with tear filled eyes.

Jenny's heart almost broke "She's going to find you a family, a family who will love you and keep you safe" she explained.

"Can't you love me and keep me safe?" she asked her with her big innocent green eyes.

"I…I" Jenny knew she'd told Jethro that she was thinking of taking care of Zoe permanently but she'd realised shortly after saying that, that she was the director of NCIS, she didn't have time to be a full time mum, even though she wanted to be.

"Please don't let them take me away, please" the little girl stressed, she may have only been five but she was wise beyond her years, even more so than Jenny, looking into the similar green eyes Zoe could have been fifty. "I like it here, I like you" she told her.

"I like you here and I like you" Jenny told her, "I'll see what I can do, but in the meantime do you like pancakes?" she asked the little girl, she knew Noemi made amazing pancakes but she had the next two weeks off to visit her family so Jenny would have to make them and pancakes and omelettes were the only things she really knew how to cook.

"I don't know" Zoe told her, Jenny was a little surprised she'd never had pancakes before, but then remembered the background that she had come from.

"Well you'll just have to try them" she told her before slipping out of the bed and Zoe followed her.

….

In the late afternoon Jenny and Zoe arrived at the NCIS headquarters, the little girl now had more outfits than she could ever remember, she liked shopping with Jenny, she found that the older redhead was good a choosing clothes that she knew Zoe would like.

They walked into the bullpen, Jenny dressed in the casual outfit she'd dressed in this morning while Zoe wore one of her new outfits of light blue jeans, light purple converse and a pink SpongeBob t-shirt.

"Good afternoon Zoe, Jen" Ziva greeted the two as they rounded the corner of the bullpen, Tony looked up and his mouth fell open as he looked at Jenny in her pair of figure hugging jeans

Tony's trance was broken by a sharp slap to the back of his head, he looked up to find Gibbs rounding the corner of the bullpen with a fresh cup of coffee in his hands, "Jen, Zoe" he smiled at them both.

"Hi Gibbs" Zoe spoke to only him, she only trusted him out of the team so far and she still stood behind Jenny, keeping a tight hold on the older women's hand.

"You got new clothes?" he asked her knowing she only had the rags that they'd found her in.

"Yeah" Zoe gave him a small smile.

"Ugh Jethro could you look after Zoe I have an important meeting I need to do to and so she can't ben in my office.

"Of course" Gibbs nodded knowing this would be a good time to get to know Zoe if Jenny really was going to adopt her.

"Thank you" she said giving him a smile before turning to Zoe "Will you stay with Jethro and make sure him and his team behave?" She asked the little girl and she nodded with a smile before going over to the extra chair Gibbs had pulled up next to his desk.

….

Moments later Jenny walked into her office and was surprised to find Helen sitting at the conference table, "How is Zoe?" Helen asked.

"She's good, I got her new clothes" Jenny explained "She's eaten a little and she had a nightmare but that's to be expected" she continued as she sat down opposite her at the table.

"Well, the good news is we already have some families lined up, all very keen to meet her, all loving and live in safe neighbourhoods" Helen told the redhead with a smile.

"No" Jenny said shaking her head, all of a sudden the thought of not seeing Zoe again terrified her, like Gibbs had said, not knowing where or how she was, if she was okay, it would haunt her for the rest of her life.

"What do you mean?" Helen asked Jenny a little bit surprised.

"I want to look after Zoe" Jenny told her "I will love her and she'll be safe with me" she continued.

"You want to adopt Zoe?" Helen asked her, trying to confirm what the redhead was getting at.

"Yes" Jenny nodded.

"I'm Sorry director but you can't" Helen regretfully informed her.

"Why not?" Jenny asked her voice rose in anger "Zoe is very much attached to me and I her, I've looked after her and I think I did a good job and I always…." She began to ramble.

Helen stopped her "Your job is too demanding, you wouldn't be there for Zoe when she needs it, not matter how much you want to be you just can't" she told her.

Jenny's heart almost felt like it was tearing inside her "Isn't there anything I can do?" she asked.

"There is another option" Helen told her seeing how much Jenny wanted to look after Zoe and take care of her.

"What?" Jenny asked, wishing life was for once simple.

"You can get someone to co-adopt her with you"

TBC…

I hope you guys like, please review, any ideas of who would do such a thing, plus how she can persuade them to do it?