Hey! It's me ncisaddiction. Okay, first of all, thank you to all those who are still here and reading this. I know that this is long overdue and I offer no excuses. Second of all, please tell me what you guys think of my new pen name; if you like I can change it back. Anyways, special thank you to my dear brother, who beta'd this chapter for me.

By the way, Gibbs maybe a bit out of character here, but I'm not sure.

Nonetheless, I hope that you guys will like this chapter; it's shorter than the last one, but still.

***JIBBS***JIBBS***

All eyes were on the elevator.

The team was sitting down at their desks, quietly, not a sound coming from them. They weren't doing anything; they were just sitting down and staring at the elevator, not batting an eye; no one was even sure that they were breathing.

They looked too much like statues.

Everyone would normally be annoyed at the fact that they weren't doing any work, but now they were just scared. Maybe that's because, normally, if they weren't doing any work they would be playing around or just annoying everyone, but they were just staring at the elevator.

Of course, they haven't done that much this past week and it was really becoming a problem, it was just so distracting. No one could focus on their work because the last time this sort of thing happened, it started out, well, to be honest kind of cool but then something bad happened that affected anyone.

Though, the fact that they hadn't seen Agent Gibbs, their boss, come in at all may have something to do with their behavior.

Gibbs hasn't come in yet and it's almost lunch, so of course they would be worried. The guy practically lived at NCIS and he wasn't particularly one for tardiness, so when he didn't arrive the first few hours of the day everybody started noticing.

Tony, Ziva and McGee had been staring at the elevator with different expressions on their faces but the fact that there hasn't been a sound from anyone of them was more curious than the fact they weren't doing any work.

Tony was staring at the elevator with an expression that was a cross between anger and blame; Ziva, on the other hand was staring at the elevator with a more worried expression; McGee, well, he seemed like the one who didn't know what was going on since he was just staring at the elevator with a blank face, but if you looked closer, you would see that he was actually looked like he was waiting, for anything.

Another minute of silence was about to pass, when Tony's telephone started ringing. All their reveries broke and their gazes turned to the phone, Tony straightened up and reached for it carefully but quickly at the same time, his face filled with hope.

He answered the phone with his usual greeting then his face changed and he became disappointed then he turned his face to Ziva and McGee, who were at the edges of their seats, and he shook his head.

"No, he's not yet here Ducky." Tony answered solemnly while Ziva and McGee slumped back to their seats. This was the second time Ducky had called them after he had went to check if Gibbs was in his basement.

After a couple more seconds of conversation and assuring Ducky that when Gibbs arrives he would inform him then he slowly put the phone back to the receiver. He stared at the phone for a couple of seconds before he finally broke the silence.

"What the hell did you do Ziva?" Tony asked, before shifting his accusatory gaze to Ziva. Who looked shocked and outraged by what he had said, while McGee shifted his wondering gaze at them.

"You think I did this?" Ziva asked, sitting up.

"Well, you were the last one with Gibbs. Let's see, what could you have possibly told him that made him react like this? Oh, wait, that's right. You won't tell me." Tony said and staring at Ziva with an angry expression, which she returned with an annoyed/about-to-kill you glare.

"Tony, enough. I have told you that I am not going to tell you anything so please just leave it and I am pretty sure that Gibbs has other reasons to be absent other than what had happened between the two of us. So, if you want to be able to see Gibbs come back I will highly suggest that you shut up!" Ziva said in a firm tone, pointing a finger at Tony while staying seated. Everything again went silent in their area of the bullpen but the two of them continued at glaring at each other.

She had enough of it, he had been trying to get anything he could from her and she was feeling a little bit exasperated. It seemed like Tony didn't get the hint, or maybe he did and decided to act like he always did, like a child.

But she had enough of it, the little "talk" they had last night was enough to make her want to do something to make him stop. And another thing Tony didn't bother to notice was that she was trying hard not to think that what happened yesterday between her and Gibbs was the reason why he was MIA right now.

On the other side of Tony and Ziva, sat a very uncomfortable McGee, who was watching his two partners wide-eyed and open-mouthed. He was looking at his two partners, who both just burst into, well, he didn't know how to describe what just happened.

The two of them looked uncomfortable since this morning and when Gibbs didn't arrive on time, it looked like they were just ready to explode, which they just did.

Of course, he was also worried about Gibbs, but it didn't seem like it was a good idea to speak since Tony looked like, well, he looked like he did around the "Michael Rivkin" incident, like someone with a mission.

When Gibbs dismissed them early yesterday without showing up, he had known that something was really up and so could everyone, but nobody would be able to do anything, since Gibbs was breaking his own rule and not answering his phone and even Ducky didn't know where he was going. So, they were all lost at what to do.

McGee felt useless and he hated feeling that, one of the great things of being the geek of group and having Gibbs as a boss, is that he would tell McGee to make a way to make himself useful.

He was trying to do just that right now, but he came up blank, he tried to track his phone but it seemed like Gibbs finally learned to use it and turned it off, and that's why he came up blank, he could try to track his boss using street cameras, but Gibbs drove worse than Ziva so that was impossible and this was Gibbs, McGee was good with technology and Gibbs practically never used any.

So, all he could do right now was sit down a gawk at his partners who seemed to not know that he was still here. After a few more tense moments, McGee got too uncomfortable so he decided to find a way to exit this "moment".

"I'm going to go now." McGee said awkwardly, but he just rolled his eyes, knowing that they wouldn't even care and left to go down somewhere where someone actually will help him figure out his problem.

Ziva got too tired of staring at Tony, so she shook her head and looked down at the open file on her desk, which she was working on when she arrived but then stopped doing when they realized that Gibbs went MIA and she decided to just get lost in thought while looking at the files instead of just staring at Tony's hazel eyes.

"What are you going to do if he doesn't come back?" Tony asked softly, breaking the silence and her thoughts. Ziva looked at him quickly before looking down with a face that said to him that she could not think he wasn't coming back.

"He will."Ziva said simply and confidently, while looking down at her paperwork, Tony studied her for a second more before looking down at his keyboard, angry that he couldn't read her.

"He has to."She added quietly and more sadly, but loud enough to be heard. Tony's gaze snapped up and he looked at her and saw that her gaze was at Gibbs' desk.

Tony looked sadly at Ziva and he felt slightly guilty for what he had been doing to her. He should have known better, this wasn't Ziva's fault, well, not completely maybe, but he should have known that they were all worrying about Gibbs.

Maybe he has been too focused on Gibbs that he forgot to act adult. He has been mad at her since this morning and has been finding a way to get her to tell and so far he was thinking that maybe doing what he was now was the key.

But he, of all people should have understood what she was feeling and he should have treated her better. Then he nodded to himself. For now, he will leave it alone.

***JIBBS***JIBBS***

Gibbs stared straight at a tree, dreading what was beyond it.

He had been sitting here, in his car for…so long that he couldn't even remember. But all he has been doing here was doing a routine of holding the car door, letting go, opening the door, closing the door and staring at that tree.

Everything was so quiet and hot inside his car, and his clothes weren't making it any better. He could hear everything, the ticking of his watch, the sweat that was forming in his head and he if really listened, he could hear the quick tapping of keys on the computer and the slamming of the phones of his team who are probably trying to find him.

Oh, they must be worried sick, especially after yesterday, but he just couldn't swallow what Ziva said to him-no not that-he couldn't swallow at just how much Jenny still meant to him, at how much all this was much more than just another investigation.

Ziva was just an eye opener, an eye opener he really needed all this time; since he found the photo he had been thinking that all this was just a blast from the past, something that could not be avoided, something that he had to hurdle through.

She made him see, maybe unintentionally, that this was really something more, that it felt more and he couldn't just avoid it anymore.

He had been barricaded by memories since this entire thing began, he had been so consumed by it that he almost couldn't work properly anymore, but yesterday was the push off the cliff, the last straw, the time when he realized that he had to face it. To go to the root of the problem.

That and the fact that he woke up today with a feeling in his stomach that he couldn't shake off, a feeling he has felt for the first time in years and that he was wishing that he could just disappear, that he could just end the pain once and for all.

There were only two times in his life when he felt that, the first was after he had gotten his revenge on Pedro Hernandez and felt empty and useless, like he had nothing more to live for, which was practically true.

The second, he didn't even care about his revenge anymore, he just wanted to die, he just wanted Svetlana Chernitskaya to have her revenge and end his pain and if it wasn't for Franks and his timing he would have succeeded.

Though, he should have at least called in sick instead of making his team worry to death. But, if Gibbs was sure of anything now, it was that his team would understand. When they find out, they will understand. Heck, they might even give him a ticket back to Mexico to try and figure it out.

A gust of wind rocked Gibbs out of his reverie and he watched as the wind put some leaves up in the air, then he looked beyond the tree again and his gaze shifted back to the seat right next to him, where a bouquet of orchids sat. They were Jenny's favorite.

Gibbs sighed and laid his head back at the headrest and his gaze caught at the phone that was sitting on his dashboard and then at his watch. It was getting late and he still hadn't done anything, he looked beyond the tree again and took a deep breath. 'Just get it over with' he thought, while grabbing the flowers and his phone and opening the car door. When he went out, he quickly opened his phone to check how worried his team was and when he was satisfied he closed and locked the car door.

Gibbs started walking down a path that he hasn't walked on since the first time he was here while holding the flowers in his hands and stopped when he arrived at where he wanted to be. He looked down at the flowers in his hand, and then he took a deep breath.

"Hey, Jen."

***JIBBS***JIBBS***

He looked at the sign that said what floor he was in and waited it to flash the number of the floor he was waiting to be in. When he heard the ding, he waited the doors to open and headed out and slowly approached the open door of the lab which was strangely blaring music in a low volume.

As he got closer to the door, he approached carefully, his hand going on his gun, as if it was expecting something bad to happen.

When he was at the doorway, he peeked at the door and carefully called Abby's name and was relieved to see the forensic scientist turn her chair to respond to her name.

McGee let go of his holster and continued to enter the lab. But, as he entered and Abby realized who it was, she quickly closed whatever it was she was so focused on.

McGee stopped at his tracks and looked at her strangely and with questioning eyes. Which she noticed and decided to try and sidetrack him because she knew that she wouldn't be able to lie to McGee.

"What, Tim? Has Gibbs arrived?" Abby asked a bit snappishly and with a bit of sorrow then McGee's expression became a more solemn one.

"Nope, still nothing." McGee answered as he found a seat and sat down on it. He heard Abby sigh and both of them turned to look and her computer which was filled with commands that it was trying to carry out.

"Where could he possibly be?" Abby sighed, as she laid her head on her hands and McGee felt bad and wanted to find to make her feel better.

"I'm sure he'll come back Abs. He has to-I don't think I want to be under DiNozzo again and plus, he needs to come back if we ever want to see Tony and Ziva in the same room again."

"Hmmm. Where are they?"Abby asked, casually.

"Upstairs." McGee answered simply. He'll tell her the specifics later.

"Wait, why aren't you there?" Abby asked in an accusing tone, as she looked at McGee, her hand firmly on the table.

"Yeah, it's a bit icy upstairs."

"Well, McGee," Abby said, "it's ice of you to mention that."

"Ha-ha. But seriously, it's, like, frozen up there."

"Really? How so?" Abby asked, her mood changing.

"Well, they've been practicing their Gibbs' stares, and testing it on each other." McGee said, facing Abby sideways with a smile.

"For how long?"

"Well, counting when I felt it started, this morning"

"Ooh, exciting. What brought that on?" Abby asked, rubbing her hands together, turning her chair and facing McGee.

"What do you think?" McGee said, falling back into a solemn mood, she knew what he meant and that also put her back in the solemn mood and then she turned her chair back and put her head back in her hands.

"I really do hope that Gibbs is okay. I wish that there was something I could do to help." McGee said sadly; Abby, who for a moment seemed like she had an idea, looked quickly at him and the computer, a move that did not go unnoticed by McGee. He raised an eyebrow at her as if saying to her that he saw what she did.

"What?"

"Is there something I can help here, Abby?" McGee asked, playing along. Abby took her head out of hands and shook her head hardly and said no. He simply just looked at her with a "are you sure" look and Abby looked at him with conflict written in her eyes.

"I can't tell you anything." Abby stated, and focused her eyes on her keyboard. McGee went closer to her with a questioning look.

"Is this about Gibbs?" McGee asked, trying to look at Abby's face, which she was trying hard to hide because she knew that McGee can read her well; actually, anyone can read her and when McGee saw her expression, he put a hand on her back.

"Abby, if it is about Gibbs, you have to tell me. We can't have secrets on this one." McGee said, trying to look her in the eyes. She sighed, and then she turned her chair and looked at him with sad and conflicted eyes.

"McGee, I can't. I promised him that wouldn't tell anyone, not even you."

"Abby, Gibbs isn't here. He's gone MIA, we don't know where he is or what is happening. If something happens….Abs, you have to tell me, or else maybe it'll be too late."

She stared silently and sadly at him. Not wanting to think that something might happen to Gibbs, she looked away from McGee's pleading eyes and said.

"Do you really think that what I have might hurt him?"

"I don't know because I don't know what it is. But you do, and if you think that it might have the capability to hurt him, then you have to tell me. We have to make sure that he is safe because he's always done that for us."

Abby sat, silently, thinking of what to do. She thought back to everything, the photo, the person in the photo, the person she knew could hurt Gibbs real bad, but she also thought back to Gibbs and what might happen if she told McGee.

"I want to, but, it would be betraying Gibbs." Abby said, hoping McGee would understand and McGee straightened up and nodded. Of course he would understand, he would feel the same way.

"Okay, but if you need me…." McGee said, knowing that she already knew what he was saying. He knew that she would want to be alone and as he was standing up, he was crushed by a hug while Abby whispered in his ear "Thank you." Knowing that he would understand what it meant.

He returned the hug and when he felt Abby loosen her grip, smiled and slowly stood up and headed for the door. He had accomplished his mission.

But, when he was about to exit he heard Abby shout "wait". He turned around with an expectant and surprised look aimed at the now-standing Abby.

"I need to ask you a question Mr. Johns Hopkins." Abby said in a teasing tone and he smiled and nodded while moving closer to her. Then, Abby's voice lowered and her voice became shaky.

"Is there any way someone who's been dead for awhile to find a way to get a photo, that's only known to few people, to someone, without being alive?" Abby asked sadly and vaguely and McGee looked at her again with questioning eyes. But, he could see how urgent this looked to her and he decided he would ask her later.

"Well, maybe those other few people are responsible, or maybe, someone else found out." McGee said, racking his brain and Abby just kept nodding and then she smiled sadly.

"Thanks, Tim."

"No problem, Abs." McGee said, while Abby turned back to her computers. He wanted to stay, but knew that he shouldn't, it would just wouldn't be right for Abby. So, he just headed out and headed back to the bullpen while thinking 'Maybe Tony and Ziva have killed each other, or maybe they finally found a way to deal with their tension'.

***JIBBS***JIBBS***

Another wind rushed in at Gibbs, his eyes were now on a tombstone. Written in it was Jenny's name carved in beautiful script, as well as her birth date and the day she was officially proclaimed dead. He hesitantly sat down, and just as hesitantly laid down the flowers beside the tombstone. He looked down as he spoke.

"Sorry, for uh…well, a lot actually, and before you call me out on it Rule #6 doesn't apply with…friends." Gibbs said, choking up at the last part. He didn't really know what to call the two of them anymore; he tried to occupy himself by playing with his hands but it didn't do much.

"I don't know why this is so hard. We used to be able to communicate so well. I could say what I wanted to you without saying a word. Now, it's just so hard. I know that I have to talk about my feelings since you aren't here to see it for yourself. You know that it's not my strong suit but this is completely for a different reason, it's just …" Gibbs sighed sadly, not being able to find the words to use.

A few memories went through his mind; he laughed and tried to gather his thoughts. He looked at the tombstone and started talking again, trying to make conversation to the person he missed.

"This kinda reminds of that time when, Fornell was working a case with us and he…asked a question that I couldn't answer and you caught it, even though he couldn't and you answered it for me. Do you remember?" Gibbs said looking down as his eyes slowly started filling with tears.

"It's been fine, at NCIS, though it's been hard. If I filled you in on everything that had happened and is happening since the last time I was here, then we'd be here a long time. Well, recently, there was a bomb and everyone was pretty shaken up. You probably saw it there; and I've been trying to just think about better times, to get through it, though some days it's harder….I found your photo, Jen." Gibbs said finally, looking at the headstone.

"It's all I've been able to think about these days, Jen and it's been pretty hard. I can't tell you exactly how it's been hard, you can guess but you gotta help me through this. It's been a while since LA, but today, I woke up like it was yesterday. Like, I had just found out your plan of ditching your detail went south. Like I had just called your phone and heard DiNozzo tell me that you were…." Gibbs said, looking up as he got choked up. He paused again, trying to gather his thoughts so that he could at least try to make sense but he couldn't and his feelings just spilled out and spoke for him and he didn't care one bit because he knew that even now, she would know what and how he felt.

"God, Jen. Why did you have to…I am so sorry Jen. I should have been there, for you. I should've…..you left me again Jen. This time I have no hope of seeing you again and of all the things I have been through, Shannon and Kelly, Kate, Pacci, Cassidy cases that were hard, days when I felt alone and so many other things, hell, even Paris, I never thought that I would lose you, that I would never see you again." Gibbs said, looking in the ground breaking down in small tears.

"Though, I wish we could have left things on better terms. I know that we went through a rough patch and everything after La Grenouille was pretty much bad, but now, I wish I could do something, anything different from what I did. I would trade anything in the world to change what happened. I would trade everything in the world to see you again, I took you for granted and that's breaking a rule and I will never be able to make up for it."

"I talked to Ziver, about you and us. And….I wish I'd known Jen." Gibbs said, knowing that she would know what he was trying to say.

"I miss you, I really miss you and I am so tired. I just, I don't know if I have enough left in me to go on. Please Jen. I don't think I can last longer anymore." Silence overtook the cemetery, as if they had known the meaning behind his words. Gibbs was still crouching and his emotions overtaking him and the silence was broken when his cell phone started ringing.

Gibbs reached for it, angrily and slightly wondered why, out of all the times his team chose to interrupt it had to be now. He checked the caller ID and was intending to just hang up but he remembered that he asked her a favor, so this may not be a social call. He got himself as together, wiped some couple tears out as much he could and pressed the answer button but didn't even get the chance to greet her before she started talking.

"Gibbs, I don't know where you are, but I found something." Abby said quickly, but not sounding like her usual self.

"Okay, I 'm on my way." Gibbs answered as he stood up. He looked at the headstone once again "I'm just gonna get my answers Jen. I'll see you soon." He said as he headed back to his car. Halfway through, he stopped and looked back, he again remembered what Ziva had told him and what he told her.

He looked back and saw the sun lighting her grave magically and when he looked back he saw a figure appear, it was Jenny, sitting down cross-legged on the grass.

She turned and looked at him, a smile forming on her face when she saw his face. When he saw that smile, it made him smile too, and he whispered 'I love you' in the air spontaneously and like she was real, and then, as if she heard it, started laughing.

Oh, how he loved that laugh.

Gibbs then gave her a curt nod, she returned it with a salute that she used to do when she was under him, as a subordinate and he laughed when he saw it and when her laughter changed into a loving gaze, he blinked and she was gone.

After that moment, he was gone too.

***JIBBS***JIBBS***

When Gibbs arrived at NCIS, he took the shortcut way to the lab, the way which didn't involve going to the bullpen and facing anyone just yet, when he arrived at the lab Abby greeted him the way she greets most everyone, with a bone crushing hug.

When she finally let go, she headed to her computers and Gibbs followed the best he could, still trying to recover from the hug.

"I'm glad you're okay, Gibbs. You really worried everyone when you left, you know." She paused, and turned, pointing at him with an accusing gaze. "So, how'd they react? Did their jaws go to the ground? Did you like need to headslap Tony or something?" Abby turned and continued with a smile before Gibbs interrupted her.

"Abs, you said you found something?" Gibbs asked in a firm tone, he didn't want to tell her that he hasn't gone to the bullpen yet; he really didn't want a lecture when he knew that she had found something out about what had been bothering him.

"Oh, right." She said, remembering what he was here for. She sent him a quick apologetic gaze and pressed a few keys to show him what he had found and in a few moments the picture was up in the computers screen.

When Gibbs saw this he walked closer to her to have a better vantage point, but the inside of him was churning, he felt like for some reason he was going to throw up.

"The first thing I did was to search for fingerprints."Abby said, lifting one finger in the air and Gibbs nodded and spoke when Abby paused.

"Yeah, and can you tell how old a fingerprint is?"Gibbs asked, his gaze never leaving the computer screen. Abby smirked, as if she knew he was going to say that.

"Yeah, that was what I was thinking of when I started examining it. But, when I finished looking, I found out that that the only, fingerprint that was on the photo was yours." she said, looking at Gibbs when she ended and saw the reaction she had expected.

"What? That's not possible." Gibbs said looking at Abby as if she were crazy. she smirked again and nodded at him.

"That's what I said, so I asked myself how it happened. So, I reexamined the photo to try and figure it out, to see if anything was out of place." Abby said, taking a breath.

"And?"

"Relax, Gibbs, I was just taking a breath. And, I did find something. When I swabbed it, to see if latex gloves, other than mine could've touched it or something else, and I found the chemicals of a cleaning material." she said, tapping some keys and showing Gibbs the chemicals she found in the photo.

"Cleaning materials?" Gibbs asked skeptically and Abby nodded.

"Yeah, some people clean their photos when they don't want fingerprints on it." Abby explained and Gibbs just nodded confusingly, this was getting stranger and way more confusing.

"Of course, when I found that out, I reexamined it again to see if there was anything else that I missed, like a message or ink or some sort of clue to where it was kept or something. And, I found, nothing." Abby said still smiling and gesturing with her hands and Gibbs looked at her expecting her to elaborate more.

When he didn't reply Abby looked at him, expecting him to react more, but she saw that she wasn't getting a drum roll or anything else other than him waiting, so she continued.

"I found, nothing." Abby reiterated happily. "As in, not even a trace of dust of any particles of any kind. So, what I'm saying Gibbs that it was untouched by nature. It means that…"Abby said, stressing words so that Gibbs would get what she was saying and he did.

"That someone placed it there." Gibbs said simply as Abby nodded and he headed towards the plasma and stared at the larger version of the picture there and he started trying to piece together everything he could.

"Yeah, and whoever put it there, had a plan." Abby said simply and Gibbs looked at her questionably and asked her why.

"I dug deeper, the cleaning material that our mystery person used, I was able to trace it to a specific product that was made and released in 2013."Abby finished and Gibbs looked at her with a 'that's-not-possible' look and Abby just returned it with a nod.

"Gibbs, whoever put this, knew what you were going to do. The message is not the one written in the photo."Abby stated, pointing at it once more and Gibbs looked back at the photo shaking his head.

"No, it's the forensics." He replied just as simply and Abby nodded, looking at him with a determined gaze.

"Whoever did this, knows forensics, like, big time. And whoever did this.."She started walking over beside Gibbs. "Has to have been alive, recently."She concluded pointing at the photo and looking at Gibbs with a 'what-next' gaze. He just stood there, thoughts running all over his head and his eyes still glued to the photo.

He didn't know what to do next.

***JIBBS***JIBBS***

Thanks you guys, I love you all. Please tell me what you guys think.

I really hope that you liked it. Till next time.