It had been a surreal experience the first time he had stayed over at the Directors house. Tim realized they really didn't know each other that well and suddenly he found himself perusing her linen cupboard, using her shower and running her expensive scented guest soaps over his naked body.

They had had a surprisingly pleasant dinner together and had discussed the case. He still felt foolish for confronting them. He had wanted to test the waters and see how far these so called Big Boys would go. But most of all he wanted some answers.

Instead they had simply laughed and after over powering him had thrown him to the ground. An instant later he felt himself being dragged across the rough concrete, his shirt and skin beneath it being shredded. It had been humiliating how easily they had surprised him. He had not been expecting them to use force like that rather than simply saying no to his demands. But he would not make that mistake again.

It hadn't been long after dinner though when he had felt his eyes sag and Jenny had gently insisted he go to bed. He had been embarrassed, it was as if he was still some errant teenager in her eyes. But his aching body had not protested the way his bruised ego did and he acknowledged the sense of him getting some rest.

After some minutes getting ready for bed he had started to head back downstairs to get a glass so he could have a drink of water beside the bed. He really didn't fancy wandering around in the middle of the night in her house in case he woke thirsty. She might conceivably shoot him as an intruder among other things.

It was then that he saw her from his vantage spot on the stairs. She was in the lounge on the deep soft couch, reading. Something about the scene stilled him and he stood there and just watched her. It seemed almost as if he would intruding if he broke the stillness of the scene.

It was the vulnerability she showed. Her bare feet tucked up beside her, her hand on her cheek as she read her book, a single glass of wine on the table beside her, her glasses perched on the end of her nose. She was completely relaxed and she looked beautiful in the soft flare of the fireplace. This was Jenny Shepard not The Director of NCIS before him. He had obviously thought about how attractive she was. He might be 'McGeek' but he was still a man but it had never occurred to him that she was a woman that you could have a relationship with.

This woman in front of him was someone who could concevably eat breakfast in bed with a lover on Sunday mornings. This woman could converse on books and politics while neck deep in a scented bubble bath. This was a woman who could out shoot him on the target range and yet seeing her here like this she seemed different.

This was the woman who existed beyond what he saw at work. It made him less nervous around her somehow. It was as if he had glimpsed her for the first time as human. She was fallible, she made mistakes, she had tiny feet and she wore soft T shirts.

Tim considered for a moment and then turned and silently went back up the stairs to his room, unnoticed by the woman on the couch.

It was later that night as Jenny slipped alone in between the cool cotton sheets of her large bed and switched off her bedroom light that she wondered if Tim would blush in the dark.

(Come on people let me know who you think this is going. Who do you want to hear from now? Tobias? Mystery Blonde? Abby? Tony?)