'So you're Jethro huh? My daughters have spoken about you often.' Sarah said as she held out her hand to Gibbs.
Gibbs shook her hand and looked at her with slight confusion when she said "daughters", he then remembered that although Jen was Penny's biological mother, Sarah had been the one who had raised her, and was still unaware that Penny now knew the truth. And that was how Jenny was going to keep it, if she could help it.
Jenny looked a lot brighter than she had done earlier; clearly the sleep had done her some good.
'Any news on how Penny's doing?' He asked as he approached her still unconscious form.
Jenny looked at him with sadness and shook her head.
'The doctor came back to check on her and said that he's a little concerned that she isn't awake by now, but that we weren't to worry. I guess she'll just wake up in her own time, when she's good and ready. She always has done things on her terms.' Jenny explained with a small smile.
'Is there any news on who did this or anything?' Sarah asked.
Jenny had been so busy with her thoughts about her baby and her concern for Penny that she hadn't once thought about the agency. For that matter neither had Gibbs.
'I haven't heard anything, but no doubt we'll be getting a visit from the FBI.' Gibbs explained with a side glance at Jenny as he gingerly sat next to her on the edge of the bed.
'Well they'd better get the bastard that did this.' Jenny replied as she looked angrily at Penny and the condition she was in.
As Penny lay unconscious she began to hear voices filtering through her dreams. As some of the fogginess began to clear she distinctly recognised Jenny's voice, and then Gibbs's. Within a few minutes she felt like her chest was heavy, but when that feeling cleared she began to fight against the tube in her throat.
'Oh my God Jethro, she's waking up!' Jenny said as she almost lunged herself off the hospital bed.
Gibbs and Sarah both shot over to Penny's side as she violently began to choke on the tubing in her throat.
'Penny sweetie you're alright.' Sarah said as she soothingly ran her hand gently over Penny's head.
Gibbs ran out of the room to get one of the nurses, who then grabbed the doctor, returning shortly after.
'Penny can you blink for me?' The doctor asked, resulting in Penny giving two hard blinks. 'Good. Now can you raise your thumbs?' He asked again, and Penny lifted her thumbs. 'Great, would you like the tube out?' Penny nodded her head the best she could, still fighting against the tube.
The doctor pulled the tubing out with the help of one of the nurses, and Penny gagged as she felt it being pulled from her. She felt instantly better once the tube was out, but wasn't so keen when they replaced it with a nasal tube, although the latter was better than the former.
The doctor checked her over, making sure her pupils were dilating as they should, her blood pressure was normal and that she had no memory loss or disorientation after her surgery.
'Ouch, my head hurts.' She said groggily as she placed her hand on her head.
'Well it's no wonder Miss Shepard; it was one hell of a bump to the head. I'm surprised that you didn't feel any side effects long before you did.' The doctor explained.
'Penny.' Penny said, hating being called Miss Shepard.
'Excuse me?' The doctor asked with confusion.
'Please don't call me Miss Shepard, my name is Penny.' She explained with a very week smile. 'So what happened exactly?'
'You had a small bleed in your brain which resulted in a blood clot. You collapsed almost twelve hours ago and we had to perform an emergency operation to relieve the bleeding.' The doctor explained rather matter of factly.
Penny thought for a few seconds before she looked at him a little annoyed.
'Dude does that mean you had to shave my hair?' She asked sounding absolutely appalled by the concept.
The whole room laughed with Penny's comment. Most people would have been worried about important things about their surgery, like long term effects, healing time etc, but not Penny.
'Sweetie don't worry about that, your hair will soon grow back.' Sarah said.
'And when did you get hereā¦err Mom?' Penny asked as she quickly looked at Jenny.
They had both agreed that they would keep it between them, within the family, that she now knew the truth about her parentage, but Penny now felt awkward calling Sarah mom and going back to calling her mom Jenny.
The doctor wrote a few things down on Penny's board and left the room, and then, just as Gibbs had predicted, Tobias Fornell walked in and was accompanied by Deputy Director Leon Vance.
'Hello Tobias.' Gibbs said in his usual tone of greeting for his old friend.
'Jethro.' He replied simply. 'I'm glad to see Penny's awake at last.' He added, acknowledging Penny, who smiled back at him.
When he'd heard Penny had been rushed into surgery he'd been concerned, to say the least. He really liked Penny and she in turn really liked him. In fact the whole team had grown to see Fornell as the team uncle, and he also considered them family.
'Hi Fornell.' Penny greeted with a little wave.
As per usual Vance looked grumpy and irritable. Penny could never get a measure of him, but she knew she didn't like him very much. She preferred people who could be tough when they needed to be, but knew how to have a laugh at the same time, which was something Vance didn't come across as.
'What can we do for you both?' Jenny said, not particularly in the mood for visitors, other than Gibbs and her mother.
'Well we wanted to give you an update on our investigation, and to see that you were both OK.' Fornell replied caringly.
'So what've you got?' Penny asked with concern, still sounding very groggy.
'Well we know a bomb was planted in the boiler room, which sits directly under MTAC and the Director's office; that's why those two areas were the worst affected, which resulted in the damage caused to the rest of the squad room.' Fornell explained.
'Special Agent Shepard you were tasked with escorting a group around the agency, did you notice anyone acting suspicious?' Vance asked in his usual gruff tone.
'No Sir I can't say that I did.' Penny replied a little defensively.
'Leon do you think we can do this another time? Penny has only just come round after her surgery and needs to rest and so do I.' Jenny explained.
'Well Jenny the sooner we do this the sooner we can catch the person who did this.' Leon replied irritably.
'Yes I appreciate that Leon, but neither of us can tell you anything that would be of any use to you except that as a result of a bomb blast we both nearly lost our lives.' Jenny snapped back.
'If any of you remembers anything will you give me a call?' Fornell said, sensing that now would be a good time to leave before a full on slanging match occurred.
'We'll be in touch Tobias.' Gibbs said as he corralled them both out of the room.
'Bye Fornell.' Penny croaked as he left.
Although she enjoyed seeing Fornell she was glad that they were both gone. Her head was banging and she was beginning to feel like she'd been hit by a bus.
'Does this mean Vance is going to be acting director for a while?' She asked as she grimaced at the thought of having him for a full time boss.
'Yeah I guess it does.' Gibbs replied, not particularly enjoying the thought himself.
'Ooo goody, I can't wait to enjoy that little bit of fun.' Penny said sarcastically.
'Don't worry Penelepops; he'll be gone long before you're back to work.' Jenny said as she suppressed a smirk. She knew how much both she and Gibbs disliked him, and she herself wasn't so keen on him; although it was more his toothpick habit that bothered her more than anything else.
Penny sighed as she realised it was going to be a long time before she was back at work, and even longer for the place to be rebuilt. The thought of being stuck at home with nothing better to do than to sit a watch daytime TV didn't exactly fill her full of enthusiasm.
'So where are you staying Mom?' Jenny asked her mother, not particularly wanting to concentrate on work or the agency.
'Well I was hoping to stay at yours for a little while. I'm happy to help out where possible; after all, you and Penny are going to need all the looking after you can get.' Sarah said as she looked from one daughter to the other.
'That'll be lovely Mom; the only thing is I haven't, obviously, got the spare room ready. Are you happy just to make it up yourself?' Jenny replied, feeling a little daunted by the thought of her mother staying.
It wasn't that she didn't love her mother, but she found her to be a bit domineering, and her relationship with her had suffered badly after Penny was born and she was forced to hand her over to her parents. Things had improved a little over the years after Jasper's death, as Sarah had allowed Penny to move back to DC to live with Jenny, just a few years after they'd moved to a small seaside town near California.
'That'll be just fine.' Sarah replied as she grabbed her coat and her purse. 'I'll head just now and get organised, and also let you both rest. Penny darling you look absolutely exhausted.' She added as she kissed Penny on the cheek.
'Yeah I guess a brain haemorrhage will do that to you.' Penny said with a very small smile.
Sarah then walked over to Jenny, also kissing her on the cheek.
'You both take care and get some rest, and I'll be back in the morning.' She said. 'Jethro any chance you can give me a lift?' She added to Gibbs, who looked reluctant to leave Penny and Jenny but figured it was maybe for the best; especially since he was considering making her his mother-in-law.
'Night Jen; I'll see you first thing in the morning.' He said as he kissed her briefly. 'You take care Penny, and don't go doing anything stupid whilst I'm away.' He said playfully.
'Now Gibbs, why would I ever do anything stupid?' Penny replied in all innocence, which resulted in one of Gibbs's very famous, but rarely seen, smiles.
Once Gibbs and Sarah had left the hospital room became very quiet. Penny had drifted off to sleep, leaving Jenny alone with her thoughts, and she found that the more she thought the harder it was to keep her tears back. She ran her hand over her bruised stomach thinking about how less than forty-eight hours ago there had been something growing inside her, and now it was empty, leaving the same empty feeling in her heart.
She glanced up at the window where rain drops began to appear, and she saw her face reflected back, just as the rain drops began to run down her reflection and replacing where her tears should be.
