A/N - I did suggest an update before I went away and it seems you guys responded to my last chapter very well - it was particuarly good to hear from those of you I haven't heard from before. I also want to thank all of those readers who reviewed in response to my question, I will certainly take your opinions into account and I'm particuarly thankful for those of you who took the time to talk me through those thoughts. So, this chapter is set in the first half of Twisted Sister, and I've taken my creative lisence to switch TS and Once a Hero around - cos I have plans for that ep.

Enjoy!

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"Ziva"

"Ziva." She ignored the voice and continued typing.

"Zeeeeeeeeeeee-vahhhhh."

The book hit the desk, barely millimetres from where Tony's head lay against it and he jumped up. "That's not fair, you have dark evil Ninja skills, you can't use them against me."

"Well shut up then. Gibbs won't be happy if you haven't done anything by the time he gets back."

She continued to ignore him again, if he wasn't going to listen to her, then he deserved to be on the end of Gibbs' wrath when he returned from MTAC. There was something about the team leader's visits to MTAC that left him irate when he returned and she was still trying to decipher what. He would be in an even worse mood when he found out that McGee wasn't there. That posed a question. He had not answered his phone when she'd called, but Gibbs would know what was going on.

In the background of her thought, Tony was muttering something about a movie or such, but she was not in the mood to indulge him today, she'd been no less than thrown out of the Director's office because Jenny clearly hadn't slept last night and was being particularly touchy today – even Ziva, although she tried not to, took offence at her friend's action. Or maybe, Gibbs' bad mood was infectious. Suddenly the noise from the other agent stopped and caught her attention – apparently he'd fallen gone back to trying to sleep – whatever, it didn't bother her, it wasn't her who was gonna get head-slapped by Gibbs.

Scanning the room around her, Ziva's gaze fell on Gibbs' desk, there on the desk was a cup of coffee, one she had not noticed before, it had to have arrived whilst she'd been to see Abby. Abby – the goth woman's name triggered the cogs in her head, there was something Abby wasn't being completely honest about, Ziva was sure of that, and it had to do with Gibbs' bad moods, MTAC and the same reason he no-longer went to see the Director unless he had to. Something had happened, perhaps an argument, or, as she thought more likely, it most probably had to do with Gibbs' recent disappearance to Mexico. Still she thought back to the Starbucks cup.

"Tony." There was no reaction from the still form leant over his own desk. "Tony." She called a little louder. Anyone else would've said the agent was asleep, but he did not look relaxed enough – a telltale white wire peeked out under his jacket as he shifted in his seat and then disappeared again.

Sighing she stood up, and crossed the room, as silently as possible and as far to the edge of his field of vision as possible. She kept her breathing silent and reached one hand towards each of his ears. 1. 2. 3. On 3, she swiftly pulled the earphones out and bent over so her lips came close to his ear, "How many more times am I gonna do that before you catch on?"

"I'm just pretending." That, apparently, was his defence. She chuckled to herself, never had she worked with a partner who wasn't as observant or aware as her, even Jenny had caught on to her tricks very quickly.

"Tony, who put the coffee cup on Gibbs' desk?"

The look he gave her spelt out 'WHAT?' on his face. It was Gibbs' desk no-one messed with his coffee, not unless they wanted to die. "Gibbs maybe." He shot her yet another incredulous look.

"Gibbs is in MTAC, has been for the past hour."

"What's the big deal with Gibbs anyway?? Yesterday you were going on about his mood…why do you keep asking questions as if there's something going on."

"There is something going on Tony, you just haven't noticed it yet – doesn't mean it's not there."

"Oh right, you think Zeeeevahhh; Colonel Mann put the coffee there, so I would say Gibbs is doing better than alright."

The Colonel was just another piece to the puzzle, and it had her wondering. She patted DiNozzo on the head like an obedient dog and handed him back his earphones. Even with her back turned to him she could see the confusion contours mapped on his face – he really did have no idea what was going on around him. As far as she was concerned something big was going down and they weren't going to like the fallin…no, the fallout.

&Stones&

"Where's McGee."

Ziva had seen both Gibbs' mood and question coming and pre-empted his gaze towards the empty desk. She shrugged, Tony meanwhile remained still, head down and listening to his ipod, he attracted the boss' attention.

Smack. "Wake up DiNozzo. And find out where McGee is." There was almost an irritated growl to his voice.

"Yes Boss." All of a sudden, Tony found himself staring at Ziva – the woman must be able to read minds.

The phone rang, breaking the ignorant silence.

"On our way." The opportunity to get a case seemed to listen the older man's mood, or perhaps, as Ziva mused it was an opportunity to get out of the building.

As soon as he'd put the phone down, he looked up, his team of two had already got their guns and headed towards the elevator. They brought a small smile to his face – he was proud of them.

Tony whispered towards the assassin, "How'd you know about Gibbs?"

She shot him a look when they were stopped in their tracks by a short red-head. "Something is going on."

Gibbs looked up from the note he'd scrawled. The younger agents parted and his eyes were cautious as they settled on why. The look she was giving him made her look like she had something to announce, as if she were teasing him, except that in the three weeks since she'd summoned him to her house, she'd he'd never once laid eyes on her out of choice. Instead, he'd sent one of his team to talk to her, his lack of barging into her office probably had the entire agency talking. Part of him was glad to see her, he tried to crush it, but the covered-up dark circles under her eyes had him worried.

Hate. It gave him a sour taste in his mouth just to think about it. No, hate was a far too strong feeling for him to have towards Jenny, he couldn't hate her, but at the moment, he didn't like her very much either. A magnetic pull was still held there, for him anyway, fuelled by recent vivid memories.

She held a piece of paper in her hand. "McGee's off sick." She began to read from the email: "Woke up this morning with laryngitis, hope to be back tomorrow."

That, apparently, he saw from her body language, was not all she had to say, it looked from her amused expression that she was going to try and make a joke at him. "Yes, Director?"

"If he's emailed me, I'm sure he's emailed you too. If you check." She gestured toward the computer.

Something he knew not to take personally was comments on him and computers, but he couldn't decide why. Was she trying to buy herself a truce?

He clicked a few buttons on screen, and sure enough the email came up. "Yes, I see what you mean, apparently I have 361 NEW messages too." He played along, he wouldn't let her make a fool out of him until he was sure what was going on – not talking at all was completely unchartered territory for them.

Grabbing his jacket from the chair, he crossed the room, breathing in her scent as he breezed past her. Her perfume seemed overpowering, leaving a lingering thought in his mind as to what the perfume and make-up were masking.

&Mosaics&

Why would she send Tony home without at least telling him first? The question rolled off of his mind, he was almost angry at her for interfering, but he already knew why. She was rightly angry for the way he'd played her earlier, he'd manipulated her in order to get what he wanted, that was her method not his. This had to be a way for her to get back at him, or maybe he'd really gotten to her. Whatever was going on with her, it was affecting her behaviour, making her less predictable and more importantly, it was dangerous – for whom exactly, he did not want to consider. Still, in his stubbornness, he argued that Ziva was upstairs doing the work of 3 agents, and he was not having that. She probably hadn't noticed anyway, was probably up in her cosy office playing politics with other people's problems.

He stopped as the elevator doors closed with a quiet click; two voices escaped Abby's lab, the second caught his attention and set it alight. The voice was upset, not to the extent of tears, but certainly full of discomfort and it screamed fear. Yet, it was hers, and she was far from cosy in her office

"Jenny, do you want to talk about it?"

A silence followed, flowing from the lab like waves and spreading through the seemingly empty corridor. Abby's words were wrapped in a concern he knew she reserved for only the closest friends or deepest fears. She was comforting the older woman. As he waited, he could almost touch her hesitation as if it were a force to be reckoned with; apprehension crawled under his skin. What was going on? What was she scared about? Perhaps what was happening to her was bigger than what he had imagined. Despite everything that had passed he wished she had come to him, she always had – before you left – but now they were further apart than ever. They were all each other had for family, but he knew Jen better than anyone else, nothing should've stopped her from coming to him when she needed him. A burning sensation – guilt - spread through his gut; there was something seriously wrong about this, could Abby have found something in her blood, maybe? His suspicions were confirmed in her voice.

"I couldn't do it Abs. I went to the clinic, but…I couldn't stay…I couldn't go through with it." She struggled to find the words: "I don't want to give this up, Abby, I love being Director – I know I'll lose it all when people find out, but I've given up enough of my life for NCIS – not this."

She choked out a sob, only one this time, but it hurt Gibbs like a broken limb. Jenny had always been one to never openly cry, or show her emotions, whatever it was, it was destroying her; talk of clinics and doctors scared him, he was angry with her, but he still cared a lot and the guilt of not being there tore at him like a savage.

"What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know Abby, I don't know."

In his mind's eye he could see Abs sweeping across the room to comfort the older woman, encasing her in a bear-hug and holding her till she calmed. He knew when she'd composed herself; Jenny had a habit of clearing her throat and he recognised the mouse-quiet sound. She also changed the subject very quickly, he noted the sudden influx of confidence to her voice as she drew up the walls she usually held around herself and he knew he would no longer be intruding.

"Abby, thank you, really, but that's enough of me. Why don't you tell me a little about your weekend, it's always good fun." By now she was probably trying to escape the Goth's death grip, but Gibbs knew she would be held onto just that little longer that Abs was certain she'd made things better.

Midway through Abby's recount was probably a safe place to enter the conversation, particularly before he started thinking to much. He caught Jen's eyes first, but she pulled away from the hold of his vision, feeling scrutinised under his gaze. "Hey, I've been looking all over the building for you"

Watching her improvise was like watching a magician, how she went from crying to her usual self in less than 30 seconds was formidable, but to him, it was no longer entirely convincing.

"Since we're low on agents, I thought I'd give Abby a hand."

"The only reason we're low on agents is because you sent DiNozzo home." He mentally slapped himself, he'd been intending to confront her, but it no longer seemed appropriate after what he'd just heard – still he done it anyway and now she was on the defensive.

"Well there's no sense in us all getting sick is there?" Her eyes were already darkening as they did when she was getting defensive, ready to put up a fight to him.

Abby, working away on the cell phone, cut in before either of them had the chance to speak. Diffusing the moment was important imperative for her considering Jenny's all-over-the-place emotions. The last thing she wanted was a full out fight between Jen and Gibbs, despite whatever was going on there, Jenny was gonna need him, more than she knew just yet; Gibbs was Abs' rock and she wanted him there to help their friend as well.

' "Next time you send one of my team home, you clear it with me first, Director!" ' Her impression of Gibbs got their attention.

' "Oh, I didn't know I needed your permission to manage my own personnel, Agent Gibbs."

"Your personnel?"

"Last time I checked, it said director on my door - not yours." '

She looked up at them both and caught the Director's eyes drifting downward, amused, a small smile crossing her face and Abby was glad. "The kids don't like it when mommy and daddy fight."

The comment came like a punch to the stomach. Jenny felt herself falter, she looked anywhere but where he stood. What was she doing? Apparently all mommy and daddy did anymore was fight. Gibbs was going to hate her and her child forever when he found out. She forced the thought to pass in the hidden shiver that shook through her body and met Abs' eyes.

"You got the call log off the phone we found on Seaman Petty?" Gibbs rounded the table, but Abby's attention lay firmly on the older woman in the room. That had been a stupid comment on her part; she connected with Jenny's gaze, desperately sending her apologies and hoping to bring some comfort to her.

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So, thoughts? I'm around tomorrow so any comments before sunday, I can reply to, any others I guess I'll see you around in 3 weeks, and I'll be looking forward to what you have to say.

BTW I just dyed my hair deep red. And that is completely irrelevant.