Hi ! Tonight, new chap !
But first I wanted to thank TivalsMyWorld, Soccergirl0388, holland lop, Luizalps, Firesidegirl62, NikkiAlex, EMT1215, kAsS3695, daisydadog, Through the Mirror darkly, Trina Tiffany, Gibbs Girl Kelly and byLunaA for their follows.
I also wanted to thank holland lop, MAK-HGSS, RAD092515, Danish Fantasy Girl, Through the Mirror darkly, Trina Tiffany, byLunaA, lolly59034 for their favs.
Thank you to byLunaA, my usual reader, you're always the first and often the only one to review !
Tonight, we'll learn more about Jenna Price. Gibbs will be nice (yes, it's possible), there will be a dream, Sam will be completely devastated by the death of Jeffrey but also by another new.
Hope you'll enjoy !
Too Hard to be called Love.
Jenna Price gasped when the car turned violently at the corner of the street. He dedicated her a sidelong glance and had a little laugh. She had been joggling in this car for about 15 minutes and her driver wasn't thinking of stopping. So, aimless, she focused on him, trying to analyse this agent. First : the look. His fresh haircut indicated a former marine with the sense of details and precision. His eyes were overcast by a painful past and remains of an expected lifetime he hadn't reached. His hands were calloused by the weapons he had handled. The mark of the ring on his finger's skin was significative of a long marriage and a divorce. Actually, three divorces.
- Do I have something on the nose, Miss Price ?
- Oh ! No… Sorry, professional deformation.
- The journalists try to psychoanalyze their sources now ?
- I've got a degree in psychology.
- This explains it.
- Explains what ?
- Nothing.
- Define nothing.
- Nothing.
He looked at the road. She laughed. This man was terrible. His phone rang and answered quickly.
- Gibbs.
- …
- Yes, we're en route.
- …
- The journalist Jenna Price and I.
- …
- How Samantha's handling it ?
- …
- Ok. Wait for me before talking to her. I will take care of her debriefing.
- …
He hang up. Suddenly, he seemed more concerned. His eyebrows were frowned and he had a look like he was thinking deeply. He parked the car near of a little house in a residential district. He took something out of his pockets. A pair of gloves. He gave it to her before taking one for him.
- Why ?
- Rule n2: Always wear gloves at a crime scene.
- How many rules like this do you have ?
- About 70.
- I think I can add authoritarian to the list of your personnality.
- Make me remember to give you my number. You can call at any time. Day or night.
- Seriously ? Day or night ?
- Rule n3 : Never be unreachable.
- … How do you feel about this Samantha ?
The stare he dedicated her was surprised. He wasn't a man familiar with this feeling and this reporter was disturbing. His famous gut was telling him she wasn't someone he could rely on. She wasn't the woman she was pretending to be.
- Why ?
- Just answer.
- I hate her. Just that. I hate her because she's rebel and stubborn, because she's the portrait of my first wife.
- Oh…
The truck had arrived with Tony, Ziva, Ducky and Palmer. All the team was here. Gibbs asked his agents where was Samantha. The Israeli show the house by a head sign. He noded. The door was wide open. The forensic team was gone and had taken the evidences. He walked through the kitchen to go in the living room. There was a darker mark on the floor when the couch had been. In front of this blot, there were two chairs. The young agent was sitting on one. She had brought her legs back against her and put her arms around it. Her eyes were widened with a white circle around the irises. She was shocked. She didn't looked at him when he crouched near of her and he sayed her name. He could see in her blue gazes something was broken. There wasn't these usual bright sparkles that made her stare shine.
- I know this is hard, Samantha. But you had to tell me.
- Why ? Why him ?
- I don't know. If you tell me, we'll discover.
- I know, Gibbs. I know... I did this so many times... Speak to people who had lost someone they love. But today it's me. And I wasn't prepared for this.
- Nobody's prepared. Tell me.
- I... I was coming from work. Tony had dropped me off because it was raining. I came in. The light was on. I took of my coat and put down my bag. I walked through the kitchen like you did. I saw him on the couch... He was dead but I thought he was sleeping ! I sat near of him to watch him. And I noticed he wasn't breathing. And then, I... I saw this bullet hole... in his head... And all the blood, I was sitting like on a huge puddle of blood ! I've got some on my shirt, on my hands... And he was so peaceful, like he was just resting... Oh my God...
- Eh, eh... It's ok... It's ok...
He put his hand on her arm, feeling her shivering, her shoulder moving violently as she was crying a bit. He tried to comfort her. She looked at him.
- It hurts...
- Yeah, I know, Samantha. I know. Can you tell me more ?
- I know who did it.
- Who ?
- Kostia.
- How ?
- The wound. It wasn't burnt around it but the shot was short. He fired at about 30 centimeters. Jeffrey might be sleeping. Or he would have defended himself. But there wasn't any fight marks. No blood under his nails. No hematoms. Nothing. He was just... sleeping.
- Ok. Thank you. Do you want something to eat or drink ?
- Coffee ?
- I can make some if you want.
- I will. Do you want some ? I'd like a little compagny.
- Ok.
She stood up and went to the kitchen. Gibbs was surprised by her reaction. She was kind of calm, she was able to speak about the way he was killed without crying so much. She could analyze the wound and the traces. He heard the sound of the coffee machine and joined her in the little room. Her hands was still shivering a bit but she was controlling herself. When she gave to him a cup, some liquid dropped from it.
- Sorry.
- It's ok.
- Who is the woman who came with you ?
- Jenna Price. Journalist. How do you know ?
- I heard her. I'm shocked but my brain is still working.
- I didn't denied it.
- I know. She's pretty ?
- Why ?
- Journalist at a crime scene ?
- Yes, she's pretty...
- Red-haired, I guess ?
- How do you know ?
-Antecedents. Four red-haired wifes. Affairs with red-heads. You've got a crack for them, huh ?
- Do you mind if I head-slap you ?
- Do you really need my agreement ?
- Nope.
He gave her a soft slap, as a pat, on the back of the skull. She had a little smile but the light in her eyes wasn't back yet.
- I'm disappointed, Agent Gibbs.
- Why that, Agent Hudson ?
- This wasn't a real famous Gibbs's slap.
- You think ?
- According to Tony's face when you did it to him ? No it's not.
- Right.
This time, he slapped her with his usual strenght. She had a little indignant cluck. He laughed slightly when he saw the scandalized stare she dedicated to him.
- What ? This wasn't the slap you were expecting ?
- After reflexion, I think I prefer the first one.
She drank a sip of her coffee. The bite of the hot liquid on her throat soothed the pain of her heart. Gibbs hadn't been so nice with her ever. She had a mind smile. It was like she had won a fight. He was observing her too. He had suceed to make her smile. Yes, she wasn't really better but it was a little step. She was more relaxed with him, like she was enjoying his compagny. But he could see she was broken. By this man. Nobody had the right to persecute his people. And this russian man wouldn't be the first.
Jenna Price started to do her work which wasn't, despite appearances, journalism. She was a kind of spy. She was like a contract killer but hired to obtain informations. Her notebook in one hand, she tried to question the members of the team. She knew she was just part of a huge plan established by her employer. When someone got rid of her once more, she gave up. She had been hired to learn informations from Gibbs. According to the amount which would be her pay, this was a difficult mission. But she had already discovered interesting things. Like his feelings for this Samantha. He sayed he hated her but his sudden concern about the case when he was talking about her, and the way he had managed to sidestep the questions to see her faster were full of meaning. There was here something more than a work relation and a hatred for a woman who wasn't obeying to him. She decided to disappear. Quickly. A few seconds after, she was gone. Nobody had noticed her vanishing.
Camille Marshall stepped out the restaurant. Her job diner was good, she had done a great step for her case. But she was satisfy of something else. Gibbs was trapped. Now, the delicate perfume of revenge was in the air. For the first time in so many years, she knew something he wasn't. She took her phone while she was walking swiftly. But the object rang before she had dialed the number she wanted. She smiled. Perfect timing.
- Yes. Thank you for calling me.
- …
- So. I'm listening.
- …
- This Samantha girl… I've heard of her. Take a little deeper about their relationship. But I want a report. Day or night.
- …
- Good job.
She hang up. Gibbs's intimate ennemy took a cab. The vehicule dropped her in front of a little house which had been her's a long time ago. She turned the grip of the door and it slided open. She laughed. It had always been like this. He never ever closed the door, even if his life was in danger. She sat in the living room, looking this too familiar room. Nothing had changed. But ten years had made her anger grow in her heart. And despite the memories that were coming back as she was waiting here, it would be the moment to let it go. But suddenly, she wondered. Was it the moment to speak to him ? She finally stepped away and rejoined her hotel. She was still thinking this man was guilty. But he would discovered it soon.
Gibbs wasn't coming back at his house tonight. He was staying with Sam' at her place. She was still traumatized. Lying on the bed of the spare bedroom, he was thinking. This Kostia was disturbing. He wasn't stupid. Actually he was really, really clever. And he knew Samantha could recognize his "mark". He was playing on them. Gibbs get up and walked to Sam's room. She was sleeping but her eyebrows were frowned in a stressed line. Her fists were closed, her body tight. She moaned. Her eyes were rolling under her eyelids as she was hopelessly trying to get rid of her nightmares.
He kept watching her. She was clear-sighted. She could read in him easily, she had proved it. This thing about red-heads. It was completely true. He was a fool for red-haired stubborn, smart, rebel and disturbing young women. But not for her. He was just watching her tonight to solace her of this pain he had been through too. But it was just that. Just a shoulder to cry on. Nothing else. But there was somewhere in his mind, he was thinking about her in a different way. Yes, she was pretty. Just pretty as a stranger crossing his way in the street. He wasn't thinking at her like a gorgeous girl. No. He stepped out the room. His brain was still running. He finally fell asleep.
- Jethro.
- Shannon.
She was standing next to him. He tried to take his hand but his palm ran into empty. She wasn't real. But she was exactly like in his memories. Maybe it was the trick. His mind was making her almost real to make him feel guilty. But guilty of what ?
- You've seen her ?
- Who ?
- Samantha. She's destroyed in the inside.
- I know. I can't do anything.
- Of course you can. Follow your gut.
She disappeared and he woke up. Someone was walking in the corridor. He took his gun and went to do the job he had given to himself. Protect the cracked woman who was part of his team now, despite all he had done to kick her away from him.
Samantha woke up violently, panting. And then, she remembered all the things she had been through this night. The pain growned in her chest but no tears fell from her eyes. She was fighting her distress. She sighed.. She had woken up about a hundred times this night. It was 0530, according to the clock. She decided not to try to sleep again. She sat on her bed, feeling her body full of aches due to her unceasing nightmares, and tried to relax it. She grunted as she was standing up. She put on old pants and a sleeveless t-shirt and walked to the kitchen. She took some coffee in the pot but when she tested the liquid she spat it.
- Disgusting, huh ?
She jumped when she heard the male voice behind her. She turned to face the intruder and figured out it was normal for Gibbs to be there as he had kept an eye on her tonight.
- I'm too young to have a heart attack, Gibbs.
- I've scared you ?
- You know, I'm a little bit nervous currently.
He smiled. She was ironic, as usual, but she was broken too. Completely broken.
- You gonna find him, right ?
- Yep.
- When he will be in front of you, kill him.
- Why ?
- For me.
- I can't do it. You know the rules…
- Yes, I know the rules… And it's why I want you to do that. With a little bit of chance, I will kill him. But if I can't… I want you to do it for me. Please. You know what pain I'm going through. You know how I feel about this dirtbag. So please.
- I will.
- Thanks.
She didn't smiled. He took a deep breath.
- But I won't be the one to arrest him.
- Why ?
- Because the case will be imparted to the FBI in order to prepare them to complete the investigation. You're personnely involved in it.
- But the thing with this captain ? He's still our number one suspect !
- He's still our number one suspect but… The two cases are related.
- What ? Jeffrey was a Marine and this captain was in the Navy !
- Jeffrey.. wasn't applying the Marine motto to his private life.
- The motto… You mean… Semper Fidelis ? He wasn't faithful ?
- Actually, he was having more than an affair… He was her fiancé.
- Whose fiancé ?
- Captain Rodriguez's.
So, what ?
Jenna ? Gibbs ? Samantha ? Camille ?
Sam's reaction ? Gibbs's care about her ? Jenna's true job ? Camille's hate ?
Hope you'll review !
Too Hard to be called love.
