I'm so sorry that this hasn't been updated in what feels like ages, Real Life unfortunately decided to come along and play havoc. But just as a guide, there'll probably be about 3 or 4 more chapters to this, although, with the way my writing gets away from me, who really knows. Thank you all for the reviews and follows, it really is a great incentive to write. x

One Month Later

Gibbs headed into the house after a long day in the yard. Their current murder investigation had taken precedence over the trafficking ring for a temporary period but he was still trying his best to follow leads as he found them which led to a lot of long nights at his desk.

This night however he had decided to come home at a more decent hour and finally crossed the threshold to his house around 8pm.

Immediately, he was aware of the presence of someone else in the house. Looking around, he quickly identified a pair of stilettos and a jacket hanging up that he knew belonged to Jenny so he just began to head towards the basement. However, when he saw no light coming up the stairs, he paused, listening for any sounds in the house. In the silence, he quickly heard a sound that broke his heart.

Gibbs had only ever truly seen Jenny cry a few times.

Once had been one night in Paris where she mourned her father and had told him all about her relationship with her father and why she had pushed so hard to join NCIS in the end.

Another had been that first night in the hospital, although she didn't think he knew about that time. Since then however she had not shed a tear over the entire ordeal she went through, and Gibbs knew that it wasn't healthy for her. But, instead of confronting her, Gibbs had hoped she would either talk to Ducky, her usual confidant, or Ziva, or even open up eventually to him.

But it seemed the time for willing conversation had passed.

Entering the living room, Gibbs could see Jenny curled up on the couch, a blanket wrapped tightly around her. When she looked up as he entered the room, he could clearly see the tear tracks on her cheeks, and he knew that she had not only been there for quite some time, but she had also been crying most of the time she had been here.

"Hey, didn't know you would be here." Gibbs started softly, not wanting her to throw her defensive walls back up.

"I... I just needed to see you."

"Why?"

"Am I not allowed to want to spend time with you?"

"Jen, you are always more than welcome, however, for the past three weeks since you got out of hospital, you have avoided what happened to you like it's a plague. You haven't talked to anyone about it, despite Ziva knowing almost exactly what you've gone through and Ducky being your closest confidante. Both of them would keep your secrets and give you an outlet."

"I... I can't talk to them."

"Why not?"

"I... I know they mean well... but I couldn't cope... with the pity."

The sobbing breaths that Jenny took told Gibbs how close she was to once again breaking down and he decided that he would be there for her as she fell that night.

"Jen..." he started softly, "you want to talk about it? I mean, seriously? Because I'm here for you. I always will be, even if you don't want me."

"I'll... always want you... Jethro."

Gibbs sat on the couch at Jenny's feet and she quickly moved to lie with her head in his lap, allowing him to stroke her hair as he tried to help her consider her emotions and where to start.

"I... I was so scared."

Jenny's whisper almost took Gibbs by surprise but he listened to what she spoke, not saying anything.

"They took me from my home, my safe house home, and they tortured me. They fucked me and they beat me and they... they made me do... things I never thought would happen to me in a million years. I felt... I feel dirty, I feel used, I feel paranoid, I feel like I'm worthless, like a speck of dust could hold more worth than I do at this moment. And you know what, normally... normally I'd hide behind my walls. But they're gone now as well. Because of you. Because you taught me... you..."

Jenny couldn't stop the gasping breaths this time and once again dissolved into tearful sobs, turning to clutch onto Gibbs' shirt.

Gibbs manoeuvred his crying redhead into a more comfortable position as he supported her body against his own, allowing her to cry and let her release all of the tension that had built for far too long.

It was only after ten minutes that Jenny's crying seemed to tail off and her grip of Gibbs' shirt slackened, but he realised quickly that this had only happened because she had fallen asleep crying in his arms.

Tightening his arms around the sleeping woman, Gibbs stood and slowly climbed the stairs to his bedroom, placing her on his bed as she still slept. It was only then that Gibbs realised that she was already in a pair of yoga pants and a loose vest and he thankfully didn't have to undress her so he then quickly changed himself in the bathroom before sliding under the covers beside her. Gibbs carefully wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close into his body and letting sleep take over.

Gibbs awoke groggily to see the room was still pitch dark. Confused for a moment, he finally felt something wriggling in his arms and moments later remembered bringing Jenny up to bed the night before. Carefully rolling back from her, Gibbs let his arms slide from around Jenny's waist up to her shoulders as he carefully shook her.

"Jen, stop moving, I can't sleep."

"Go back to your own house then and sleep there," was the mumbled response he received and he grinned as he realised she was barely awake.

"But there's no fun there Jen, You're not there, you're here."

"If by fun you mean irritating the living daylights out of me then no there's none of that there. But there is plenty of rest for me if that were to occur."

"Except one thing Jenny..."

Jenny finally rolled over to look at Gibbs.

"What?"

"We're in my house already. You fell asleep here."

Jenny sat up and looked around in the darkness, quickly realising they were indeed not in her bedroom.

"I fell asleep... in your bed?"

"Not quite."

"Jethro..."

"You kinda... cried yourself to a point of exhaustion so I brought you up here..."

Gibbs felt Jenny tense up beside him as he mentioned her moment of weakness the night before.

"I'm sorry about that Jethro, it wasn't my proudest moment."

"Oh no Jen, you're not doing this, you're not crawling back behind those walls of yours again. I only just got to see the damage that had been inflicted and now you're going to hide it again."

"You enjoy seeing my pain do you?" asked Jenny hotly.

"Not at all but it seems that seeing you at your most vulnerable is going to be the only way that I'm going to get you to open up about how much you've been hurt by all of this and then to try and help you heal from it."

"Jethro, I'm coping and 'healing' fine."

"Tonight says otherwise. Please, Jen, just talk to me."

"What more is there to say?"

Jen seemed to have finally remembered their discussion the night before and was ready to avoid the topic as much as she could.

"I want to know how you felt. I want to know every piece of hurt you felt. I want you to share it with me so you're sharing all of your pain with me. Then we can both move forwards together and I won't be left wondering what happened to you."

"You know, you saw the video."

"No I didn't. Jen, I refused to watch the video because I wanted to give you the chance to tell me what happened to you yourself. All I saw was the first video and then when I was with you. The rest has been left entirely to my imagination. And maybe watching the video might have left me without the doubts, but I want to give you the chance to tell me everything, including how it felt to you at the time. I want to be there for you Jen, in everything."

Jenny was touched by the emotion she could hear behind Gibbs' convictions. Before she could stop them, the tears spilled over down her cheeks and a drop landed on Gibbs' hand.

"Jen, I didn't mean to upset you, honestly."

"No Jethro, it's not that. I've never had someone care so much about me that they'd put themselves through such pain as you do. And you've done it for me time and again. What did I do to deserve you?"

"I ask the same every day Jen. How did I get such a resilient, beautiful, stubborn-" Jenny laughed at that- "wise and intelligent woman to agree to spend any time with me more than necessary with our jobs?"

"We make a pair, don't we Jethro?" asked Jenny, leaning forward and letting Gibbs wrap his arms around her.

"We certainly do."

The pair sat in silence for a few moments before Jenny began to speak once again.

This time, she told Jethro everything that she had told Fornell in her statement weeks ago but she added every feeling, breakdown and injury that she had felt whilst she had been held captive. There were several times that she had to stop talking and try and catch her breath, sobbing breaths showing how tightly she was holding on to the last vestiges of her calm visage.

When she finally finished, Gibbs understood completely why she had tried to hide how she was suffering. She was terrified that everyone would view her differently; that they would treat her as a victim and no longer as their friend. Although Gibbs knew the fear was unfounded, he understood her point of view completely as he had felt the same after his memory loss.

"Jen, I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but the team would never do that. And besides, what's wrong with admitting you're a victim? There are plenty of women out there who have been victims and yet go on and survive what happened and become something brilliant. Just like I'm sure you will."

"But they're not me. They're not the former head of NCIS. They're not the daughter of Jasper Shephard. They're not… me."

"What about Probie Jenny, who was terrified as we started our first undercover operation? Or Jenny who I fell in love with? Or the Jen who managed to escape from some pretty hairy situations before. Just because you got hurt this time, and in such a vile way, doesn't mean that you can't come back from those like you have from the others. Maybe you're not Director Shephard anymore, maybe you've finally stepped out from beneath your father's shadow. Maybe you're finally able to be the Jenny Shepard you have the ability to be, to become better than you even were before."

"Do you really think so?" The hopeful look in her eyes would've hurt if Gibbs wasn't sure of his answer.

"I really do. Jen, you may not be your old self with the Director's walls and power suits but that doesn't mean you're not strong. You managed to survive going into the Witness Protection system and being kidnapped and tortured for god's sake. I don't know many people who could do that. So yeah, Jennifer Shephard, I really do think that you are going to come out the other side of this as a survivor."

Jen smiled softly, placing a soft kiss on Jethro's lips before she cuddled back into his side, allowing his steady breathing to lull her back to sleep as he watched over her.