They weren't friends the next day either, sharing the elevator silently, staring straight ahead, and passing each other in the hall without exchanging more than a fleeting glance. The team had little time to speculate on the change in Gibbs' and Jenny's demeanor towards each other with the case keeping them fully occupied.

It wasn't until the end of the second day of Jenny not speaking to him that Gibbs' team cracked the case and they put away a man bent on getting revenge on the Commander from an event far in the past. There was no relief, merely a heaviness at the waste of another life.

The sun had set long ago and Gibbs still sat at his desk, his lamp the only light. Tony, Ziva, and McGee, along with Abby and Ducky, had left the building a half hour ago, and he'd turned down their offer to join them for a drink. The case may have been over, but Gibbs knew there was one important issue yet to be resolved.

He climbed the stairs to the Director's office slowly, dreading the possible confrontation that was to come, but wanting more to get it over with so they could make up and get back to them. Seeing the faint light coming through her half open door, Gibbs walked in. Jenny was just gathering her briefcase and putting on her coat. She must've known he was there, but she didn't look at him.

"Are you leaving now?" Gibbs asked, unsure. He didn't have much practice with fixing things after a fight, not since Shannon. And that was a long time ago.

Jenny nodded once. "Yes."

"Good," he said, relieved at finding a place to start. "I'll walk you to your car."

She looked at him then, an indecipherable emotion in her green eyes, but agreed. "Okay."

With his hand hovering near the small of her back, Gibbs escorted Jenny to the elevator. Not a word was spoken as they watched the lighted numbers count down to the ground floor. Once they were out in the open however, Gibbs couldn't stand to be that close to her and not touch her.

Jenny turned her head towards him when Gibbs reached for her hand, but it was comforting to feel his fingers linked with hers, so she didn't protest. Finally they reached her car and Gibbs leaned back against it, bringing her around to face him. They stood like that, toe to toe, until finally Jenny smiled faintly.

"Is this the part where we kiss and make up?" she asked, only half-joking. It would be nice if it were that easy. Gibbs pursed his lips, but she saw the corners of his mouth twitch and raised one eyebrow at him. "What?"

"Took us almost a month of have our first real fight," he noted.

Jenny didn't know what to say to that. It wasn't what she'd been expecting him to say. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing Jethro?"

Gibbs looked her over carefully. "I don't know." He sighed. "Jen, about the reporters-" but Jenny held up her hand, not letting him finish.

"It's alright Jethro. I should know enough to expect this by now. I know you can't get along with the media. Not that I'm convince you try very hard. Could you not at least attempt to be civil?" she questioned.

Feeling a bit perturbed, Gibbs focused on tracing small circles onto the back of Jenny's hand and not meeting her eyes. "We have two completely different ideas of what is considered 'civil' Jen."

Jenny shook her head and smiled. "Why am I not surprised?" She took a breath. "Okay, how about next time you just focus on the crime scene and I'll make Tony the official representative to the media should you encounter any?"

Gibbs' eyes widened. "Are you trying to feed his ego Jen?"

"Take it or leave it Jethro," she replied, having compromised as far as she was able.

He rolled his eyes. "I'll take it guess. As long as I don't have to deal with any more cameras." Watching Jenny's eyes, he tried to decide if everything was alright now. "Are you still mad?"

She let out a long breath and finally shook her head. "No," she answered softly, her posture finally relaxing. "I'm not mad."

His expression was mildly disbelieving. "So the last two days...?"

Jenny closed her eyes. "That was me being as immature as I accused you of being. But I got over it." She looked at him seriously. "Are you mad?"

Gibbs paused for a second to consider this, then pulled her closer, grinning just before he kissed her lips. "Not as long as I get to do this."

Jenny dropped her briefcase and pressed against him, her arms coming up to encircle his neck. It felt so good not to have anything between them, to just make up and let everything be okay until the next time, when the process would probably repeat itself. But that didn't matter. What did was that they were finally together, where they belonged. And they wouldn't have it any other way.

NCIS

A throat clearing quietly behind them broke the couple apart several minutes later. It was Jenny's security detail that dared to interrupt, and tactfully suggest that Gibbs and Jenny might want to continue what they were doing elsewhere, just in case someone happened to walk by and find the Director making out with her senior agent.

Conceding the wisdom of that statement and feeling embarrassed at being caught, Jenny pulled back from Gibbs and dropped her eyes. Gibbs didn't seem too pleased to have to stop kissing her, but he just took her keys and held the car door open for her. Tonight he'd drive her home. And as hard as it was, he'd say good night at the door. With possession of her car, he'd have an excellent excuse to pick Jenny up for work tomorrow.

Of course, they'd have to go in early, before one of Gibbs' agents noticed that his car was there overnight and began speculating as to the reason why. If it was DiNozzo, heaven only knew where his mind would end up. It was a dangerous thing to let Tony loose with only half-constructed information.

But getting up extra early was a small sacrifice Gibbs was willing to make if it kept their secret and allowed him to see Jenny first thing in the morning. He smiled at the thought. It was hard to argue with that. Gibbs squeezed her hand and started the car. Neither of them were perfect and they were bound to mess up, but he was beginning to think that just maybe they'd get to forever this time. At least, he could hope.