Chapter 8: Day Seven

Jennifer Shepard placed the chess pieces back in their starting positions, trying to hold onto the last fragments of her temper.

She had originally not told Jethro about her request, nor had she informed him when it had arrived. If he chose to sleep, she didn't have to tell him what happened during those hours. She had asked for the game for her, intending only to produce it when she was on the verge of a mental breakdown over their only other game.

The boredom had got to her first. The endless silence and the sheer awkwardness of it all had combined to force her to ask him if he wanted to play chess. From the look on his face, she suspected that he had never played a game.

And now she was trying to teach the complicated nuances of chess to someone who had taken three days to get the hang of checkers. She didn't know why she was bothering.

Her mind cleared for long enough for her to remember. She needed something to do and it would pass the time. If he had known how to play, she would be bemoaning the chance to waste half a day or more. He would get the hang of it soon enough, she hoped.

Sometimes she wondered what he did; he was so cut off from the world. He knew more about movies than he let on, although they tended to be older movies and he kept his mouth shut because Tony blathered on about everything too much already. But his TV was the most basic model she had ever seen – though it was color, shockingly – and he had no concept of a DVD player. She was tempted to buy him one for his next birthday.

Even if she guessed he would smile to her face and get rid of it as soon as possible. He had no use for it. All he did in his spare time was work on his boat and drink bourbon. He needed to get a life.

She was one to talk. Her life consisted of paperwork, meetings, paperwork, conferences, more paperwork and yet more paperwork. It was only interrupted by Jethro's latest stunt and her phone ringing off the hook with the SECNAV and everyone else demanding that she sort it out.

He might complain that she interfered with his cases, but she enjoyed getting out from her office for a while. A small part of her wanted to go back into the field again, before she remembered that she was of better use behind a desk.

She wished she had never left her desk when he had asked her to. If she had refused or stalled him for a little longer, the CDC would have entered the house first and cordoned it off before they had become exposed.

She doubted they were ill. They might not have been told the symptoms, but both of them seemed fine. She knew they would have to remain for a while longer, in case whatever it was took its time to appear, but she felt they were in the clear.

She wished the doctors had been more forthcoming over what they had been exposed to, but she couldn't have everything.

All they had to do was survive each other.


Leroy Jethro Gibbs watched the sparkle in Jenny's eyes grow.

He had been surprised when she had suddenly announced that she had procured a chessboard. It had made him vow to stop sleeping so much. Clearly he was missing out on things.

It was making a nice change from Hangman. For starters, he had the opportunity to win. If he had lost the word game again, he would have snapped. Then again, he wasn't sure if he would have continued playing to keep her occupied. If she was happy, he was happy.

And she was definitely happy now. There was a twinkle in her eye that he had not seen for a long time. She was determined to teach him how to play and how to play well. He knew they could play against each other for a long while before boredom set in. Chess was a meeting of the minds, not trying to come up with a word and leaving it to the other person to guess what it was.

He suspected she was a good player. For now, she was taking things slowly, making sure that he understood everything she had told him before moving onto the next part. It felt strange to allow her to teach him, but she knew what she was doing.

Even if she was getting a little frustrated at his speed. He wanted to take his time for the moment. There was no need to rush; they had at least another week in each other's company. Time would continue to crawl and they did not need to race it.

"I think you've got it," she informed him. "Do you want to try playing a game?"

"Go on then," he replied, watching as she reset the board.

He watched her first few moves carefully, allowing himself as much time as he needed to make his next move. She seemed to have realized that she might as well slow down, and he amused himself by watching her as well as the board.

Her face was scrunched up in concentration as she plotted her strategy. There was a gleam in her eye that warned she wanted to win. He was tempted to give her the win simply so that he could observe her victory. She had always been competitive.

But at the same time, he wanted to win as well. She needed to learn that she couldn't always win, and she had too much power in their relationship already. He had been losing at Hangman for days; this was revenge.

Planning his every move as though it was a real war, he gradually began to take control. She was no pushover; she fought back with everything she had. But it wasn't enough.

He moved his castle to claim victory and leant back on his bed.

She glanced up at him. "How did you… It took you three days to get the hang of checkers!" she pointed out.

He smirked.

She began to smile as well. "You already knew how to play! Right, I'm going to win this time."