Her fingers were turning white because of the force that she was gripping onto the rim of the toilet seat with as she heaved into the water below, her brow was covered with a thin sheen of sweat from the effort. She let out a moan as her stomach muscles clenched again and she felt her eyes water slightly at the exertion of emptying what little was left in her stomach. After a few seconds Jenny leaned back, grabbing some toilet roll she wiped at her mouth and flushing the toilet she let herself slump to the side so her head was pressed against the cold bathroom tiles. For a few minutes she just sat there, breathing heavily, her eyes closed as she willed her stomach to stop rolling.

This was the third morning in a row that she had had to rush to the bathroom and bring up the contents of her stomach, it wasn't just confined to the morning's either and certain foods and smells also made her feel queasy. She was pretty sure that someone up there was screwing with her because she wasn't just nauseous ,she was also six days late. Getting shakily to her feet she looked at the unopened pregnancy test that she had bought last night, she had yet to summon up the courage to take it though, mainly because the answer terrified her beyond belief, she honestly didn't know what she would do if it came back positive.

Picking up the box Jenny turned it over in her hands letting out a shaky breath, to make things worse Jethro was due back from his honeymoon today. She still meant what she had said to him, she had no intention of letting conversation stray outside the confines of work related topics, in fact she had planned to ignore him as much as possible, she just wasn't sure how that would work if she was carrying his child. Tears pricking at her eyes she tried to think about what she should do, she was just so confused, this wasn't supposed to happen. At one stage in her life she had always thought that she would be a mother but those plans had went out the window after her dad's death and had been replaced by her five point plan. Even if she still wanted kids, which she wasn't sure if she did, she very definitely didn't want them like this, with her married employee. When she had wanted them she had also planned to have a husband who she loved and who loved her back. Jenny let out a low groan, she was going to a home wrecker, well that was assuming she was pregnant, that she had wanted to keep it and that Jethro would have anything to do with them. Although she actually wasn't sure if she wanted him involved in anyway shape or form and the thought of another woman being anything close to a mother figure to her child made her want to scream in anger.

Opening up the box Jenny realised there was no point in trying to make decisions about her future when she didn't even know whether or not there was even any reason to. In reality it was very probably just a scare, she was forty three for Christ's sake! Women her age were meant to struggle to get pregnant and if they did it seemed to entail almost militant planning, temperature taking and only having sex at certain times in certain positions, so it was highly unlikely that she had managed to get herself knocked up from that one stupid night in her office. Feeling slightly braver now Jenny decided she was ready to get her answer, confident that it would be negative and she could get on with her life.

Less than five minutes past and Jenny perched on the edge of her bath, tears filling her eyes as she stared at the two vibrant blue lines on the test. They seemed to almost jump out at her, mocking her, she threw the test into the sink in disdain. It was wrong, it had to be, it was a false positive they had to happen to someone and maybe that someone was her. Jenny got to her feet and moved into her bedroom, she stood in front of her full length mirror turning sideways to examined her perfectly flat stomach, there was no way she was having a baby, she just had a stomach flu, that was why she was feeling ill, no other reason. Her hand stalled, hovering over her stomach, she couldn't even bring herself to touch it, the thought that there was a life in there that was completely dependent on her scared her witless. She had screwed up so much, she constantly let people down, her dad, Jethro, when she left him in Paris, Dinozzo, her family, she was a failure and she wasn't sure if she could cope with letting down her own child. Her hand snapped down to her side, no! She wasn't pregnant, there was no baby, she refused to be in this situation. Jenny turned away from her mirror, she wasn't in this situation.

'The boss is back today'

Tony rolled his eyes, 'Thanks for stating the obvious McGoogle but believe it or not I am aware of the date and what it means'

'Yes', Ziva smiled, 'It means your reign of terror is over'

Looking wounded Tony replied, 'Hey! I was an amazing leader'

Ziva walked over to his desk and patted him on the head, 'Of course you were my little hairy butt. I think my favourite part was when that cat mauled you at the crime scene'

Tony winced slightly at the memory, he still had the scratches all the way up his arms, animals really didn't seem to like him, he tried to look as though he wasn't bothered as he shrugged, 'It didn't even hurt'

'You cried!'

'No I didn't!'

Gibbs couldn't help but smile slightly as he stepped out of the elevator into the bullpen, the last week of his honeymoon had been better than the first but still nothing special. Amazingly he had actually missed his team although he would never ever admit this to them. He laughed slightly as he got closer to his team and heard the familiar sound of Ziva and Dinozzo bickering, taking a sip of his coffee he breezed past them both and sat down at his desk, 'Why do I have the feeling that I would have been better leaving a five year old in charge'

Tony only just resisted the urge to jump up and down on the spot in frustration as he whined, 'I did a good job'

The other two Agents ignored him as McGee asked Gibbs, 'So how was the honeymoon?'

Gibbs didn't even look up at the his probationary Agent, he just started opening his mail as he answered, 'It was fine'

Tony snorted, 'If it was just fine someone wasn't doing something right', he stopped and went pale as the ramifications of what he had just implied sunk in. He stuttered at the killer glare that was coming his way, 'I didn't mean that you weren't doing what you should, I'm sure that Hollis was…..um…..I mean…..what I meant was……..I'm going to stop talking now', he trailed off lamely, ignoring his colleagues giggles.

'I think that would be for the best Dinozzo', Gibbs got up from his desk, 'I'm going to see Abby, let her know I'm back', as he walked past he made sure to smack the back of Dinozzo's head, repressing a smirk when the man whimpered slightly in pain and muttered,

'Missed you too boss'

Tony waited for the lift doors to close before he turned to his team-mates, 'He has a tan'

McGee frowned, 'Well he was in Hawaii', he raised an eyebrow at Tony, 'I hear it's quite warm there'

'Oh ha ha', Tony rolled his eyes, 'No what I meant is who goes outside enough on their honeymoon to get a tan? Sunbathing isn't the point of the exercise. Plus it didn't sound as though Gibbs had fun, did it?'

Ziva tapped her pen against the side of her cheek, 'You think it's failing already?'

'It wouldn't surprise me, the man really doesn't have a good track record with these things'

Pacing across the floor of her lab Abby wrung her hands together, where was Gibbs? He should have been here by now and she needed to talk to him. For the past week she had tried to decide what the best course of action was when it came to Jenny, she was getting worse, at least Abby thought she was, she wasn't sure. Over the past few days she had barely touched the food that she brought by at lunch, although she still sat and spoke with her and they laughed and she seemed to relax slightly but still not eating wasn't a good sign.

Also it was how she acted when she thought no one was looking, she would look sad and distracted, almost like she had during her nightmare. On Rebecca's advice she hadn't brought that up with Jenny, she hadn't asked what it had been about, or even mentioned it, she already sensed it would cause the red head to clam up and she knew she would shut her out. That was why she wanted to speak to Gibbs, he would know what to do, he always did.

The lab doors swooshed open and Gibbs strolled in, Caf Pow in hand, Abby squealed and ran at him, hugging him tightly, 'Oh Gibbs you're back, it's so good to see you', she stepped back, 'Oh and you brought me a present!', Abby grinned and swiped the caffeine drink from his hands. She supposed she should be polite and so asked him, 'So how was the honeymoon?'

She noted with interest that he glanced away at that question and rubbed the back of his neck, 'It was fine Abs. How have you been?'

'Um I've been good', Abby took a deep breath in preparation for her next sentence, 'I need to talk to you though'

Gibbs took in the young girl's anxious worried eyes and was immediately at unease, he moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, 'What is it? What's wrong?'

She looked up at him, 'It's Jenny, something's bothering her and I don't know what to do to make it better, I was wondering if you would talk to her?'

Letting his arm drop Gibbs let out a harassed sigh, 'I can tell you now that that won't be happening Abby'

'Why not?'

'She isn't going to want to talk to me'

'Yes she will', Abby gave him a sly smile, 'I'm sure she will'

'Abby it's not going to happen, also Director Sheppard is a grown woman who can deal with her own problems and I don't think she'll appreciate you getting involved'

'Gibbs! Please! Something's wrong with her'

Gibbs snapped, 'Nothing is wrong with her Abby! Apart from the fact the woman is in need of a damn good shaking and a social life she is perfectly fine and even if she wasn't it isn't my place to go running around looking after her'

The pair jumped when they heard a familiar voice float coldly through the air, 'I don't believe I ever asked you too look after me Agent Gibbs'

He wanted to groan in despair as he turned to face a furious Jen, her eyes were like ice as she stood in the doorway, her arms folded, Gibbs couldn't help but notice that she looked even paler than she had been when he left.

When neither one replied Jenny raised an eyebrow, 'Cat got your tongues? I suppose it is pretty difficult to dig yourself out of this hole'

Abby stuttered out, 'Jenny I'm sorry, I just thought that maybe Gibbs could help…'

'I don't need his or anyone else's help', Jenny turned away from the younger woman who couldn't help but notice the flash of pain that shot through the emerald eyes, 'And I certainly don't need your pity Abby', She faced Gibbs, 'Agent Gibbs what I said to you before you left still stands, now go and get on with your work!'

He placed a small reassuring kiss to Abby's forehead before brushing past Jenny, not once looking at her, and out of the lab leaving the two women alone.

Jenny's voice wavered slightly as she asked, 'So was that what the past few weeks have been about? Making sure I didn't suffer some nervous breakdown?'

'No', Abby shook her head vehemently, 'Of course not, it was just I was worried about you, you've been so distracted and I just wanted to help, I know you and Gibbs were close and I thought he might know what to do'

Letting out a slightly bitter laugh Jenny replied, 'You know I am so fed up with people giving me their opinions on what I should do with my life. I will say this one last time, I am fine, I don't need anyone's help', she turned to leave but paused slightly as she got to the door, 'And Abby as far as I'm concerned you are my employee so I only expect to see you if it's work related issue, not for any other reason', she looked back at the Goth, 'Have I made myself clear?'

Abby nodded miserably, 'Yes but Jenny please I really am sorry…'

'DON'T!', Jenny snapped, 'I do not want your apologies they don't mean anything, their just empty words just leave me alone', with that she stormed out of the room, leaving a tearful Abby standing alone in the lab.

Jenny was trying to keep the tears from falling, it didn't help when she saw Jethro standing by the elevator doors glaring at her, 'Was that necessary Jen?'

'It's Director Sheppard! And yes I will not have my personal life debated about by my employees'

She held her chin up defiantly and willed herself not to burst into to tears as he shot her a disgusted look as he asked her, 'What the hell happened to you? You used to be better than this, now you're just a machine. To be honest I'm amazed that Abby even bothered to try, you don't deserve it'

Refusing to show how much his comments had stung her she spat back, 'Oh because you're such a saint!'

Gibbs's lip curled in disdain, 'At least I don't treat the people who care about me like crap'

Jenny raised her eyebrow at him, 'Really? Then what do you call walking out on me after we spent the night together?

For a brief moment Gibbs was stunned, he had no idea what to say to her, 'Jenny I….'

'No don't', she shook her head, 'Just leave it'

He didn't answer this time he just stormed off in the opposite direction back into the lab to comfort Abby, meanwhile Jenny stepped into the lift and somehow she managed to keep her composure, not once showing the cracks that she felt were beginning to appear in her façade.