a/n: And, I return after a long hiatus! Yay!

*cue cheers, etc.*

ANYways, this is a little teaser chapter to tide you over until I put the finishing touches on the next big plot twist (that will probably be posted within the next hour or so)

Spoilers: Season 4

Disclaimer: nope, not mine. I just borrow them occasionally.

10. Intermission

January 18, 2007- Villa outside of Portofino, Italy

"Jesus Christ, you beat me by 114 points." A.J. sank back against the couch of the tiny Italian villa, taking a long swig of beer from the bottle gripped in her free hand. A simple platinum band flashed on her left hand, matched by a larger version of the same band on her partner's hand. They were both on a slightly abbreviated honeymoon after tying the knot at a small ceremony in London, with Trent Kort present as a witness.

Tim McGee laughed triumphantly, punching his fist in the air. "Yes! When I play Scrabble, the tiles arrange themselves in my mind automatically. I am a Scrabble CYBORG!"

"Ooooookay, that's enough drinks and Scrabble for you, Terminator." She lurched to her feet, taking his seventh empty beer bottle out of his raised hand. "Time for bed."

Her very drunk newly minted husband frowned rather adorably, pouting as he glanced at the clock. "But it's only 2130!"

A.J. smirked, already heading for the bedroom, her shirt flying through the air to land on Tim's lap. "Who said we're sleeping?"

McGee grinned wolfishly, chucking the shirt away as he scrambled after his wife, his own shirt joining hers on the floor as the bedroom door slammed shut.

January 20,2007—Abandoned warehouse in Fairfax, VA

"Oh, this is charming. Did Jack the Ripper live here?" Tony DiNozzo's disgusted whisper echoed in the dilapidated warehouse as he followed Gibbs and Ziva into the dimly lit gloom, his SIG out and ready.

Ziva bit back a snort of laughter, rolling her eyes at Gibbs. "I do not see anything here, Gibbs."

"Yeah, neither do I."

There was a loud crash and a yelp from behind them, making both agents turn rapidly, bringing their weapons to bear, until Gibbs dropped his arm with an irritated sigh. "Dammit, DiNozzo, could you be any louder?"

"Rat, Boss. Slimy, icky, diseased rat." The Italian's normally tan and exuberant face was pale and sweaty. "I hate rats."

"It's just a cute little rat, Tony. Why the irrational fear?"

"It's not cute, it's not little, and it's not irrational."

Ziva smirked. "Cowardly, then."

"Not if you're uh, someone who's survived a bout with pneumonic plague, thank you very much. Rats are a known carrier."

"Ah, hell, DiNozzo, ya gonna keep beatin' that plague kick? You're fine, the rat's not diseased, he's covered in oil. See?" Gibbs rolled his eyes, standing from where he'd been crouched near a broken and rotting crate, holding up the squeaking rat in his gloved hands. "He's a cute little guy, isn't he, Ziver?"

Tony grimaced and backed away, holding his hands up. "Yech, Boss, not cool. Can we just put Willard down and continue searching the warehouse for clues on our mysterious perp?"

"Who is Willard?"

Gibbs chuckled shortly, crouching back down to release the rat before discarding his gloves in his jacket pocket. "It's a movie, Ziver."

"Ah. I should have known."

Tony grumbled under his breath as they proceeded further into the warehouse, his nose wrinkling as a rank smell began to permeate the air around them. "Anybody else smell that?"

Gibbs grunted shortly, eyes sweeping the darkened section of warehouse they were in. "You can hear the flies, too. Somethin's dead in here."

Ziva had disappeared off to their side, making her way silently through the packed and abandoned boxes and containers littering the floor. "Gibbs! I found something!"

Gibbs and Tony hurried down the makeshift pathway towards the Israeli. Tony muttered under his breath as they moved along through the shadows. "Yes, Alex, we'll take horror films that occur in badly lit abandoned warehouses for $500, thank you."

They came to a stop where Ziva stood over a bloated body lying on the grimy floor. Flies swarmed around the dead man, the insignia of his Navy uniform barely visible through the grime and muck.

"Oh, goody, double Jeopardy."

"DiNozzo…"

"Calling Ducky, on it." Tony sighed heavily as he walked away, already pulling his cell phone out.

NCIS Headquarters—3 hours later

Jenny stood waiting in the garage as the NCIS truck backed in, full of evidence. Gibbs appeared from the side door, holding a few bags of evidence on his hand.

"Hello, Jethro."

"Jen." He removed a pile of dirty gloves from his pocket, tossing them in another free evidence bag before walking over to the elevator. "D'you mind?" He gestured to the retinal scanner, then to his grimy hands and clothing.

"Oh, yes." Jenny joined him at the door quickly, bending to scan her eye. Her nose wrinkled slightly. "What's that smell?"

"That would be Seaman Alexander Ragner, our only suspect."

Green eyes ran up and down his body, cataloguing the slime on his jacket, and what looked suspiciously like blood splatter on the cuff of his pant leg. "You don't mean…"

Jethro smirked, jerking his head towards the now open doors of the back of the truck, where Tony stood, covered from head to toe in something goopy and sticky that hung off him in strands. "DiNozzo tripped leading Duck and Palmer back to the body. It'd been there for a while, judging from the smell. Leak in the ceiling of the warehouse dripping on the body didn't help matters. Ducky called him body soup."

Jenny watched as Palmer and Ducky levered a bulging tarp out of the back of the coroner's van, aided by Ziva. "Oh, that's disgusting. You can't go in the building smelling like that."

"Well yeah, I'm sendin' DiNozzo to the biohazard showers, but most of this is grime from the floor of the warehouse, not the body."

"Jethro, there's blood and gore all over your shoes. You're not setting foot in my building until you get out of those clothes."

Inexplicably, his eyes flickered in amusement. "Can't pace yourself, Jen? Thought you got enough this morning."

She flushed bright red as the implications of her previous statement finally hit. "Shut up. You know what I meant."

"Mmhmm. So we're just supposed to walk around in our underwear while we investigate because you think we smell?"

"No…" Jenny sighed heavily. "I'll get you all some clothes."

"Can ya take this to Abs while you're at it?"

She glared at him briefly as he held out the grime streaked evidence bags, taking them gingerly by one corner as she bent to scan her eye again. "You were planning this all along, weren't you?"

"Nah." Jethro leaned in, kissing her cheek quickly before stepping back with a wink as the elevator doors opened again. "Madame Director."

Jenny rolled her eyes as the doors slid shut. "Bastard."

"Do decaying bodies normally carry communicable diseases?" Tony's voice echoed in the biohazard showers, over the sound of the three occupants scrubbing themselves vigorously as Jenny walked in, clothes for all three agents in her hands.

Ziva's voice came next. "They can. Why do you ask, Tony?"

"I've got this weird…spot on my arm, where Mister Decaying Body managed to soak through my Dolce & Gabbana shirt, which is now being burned, along with my Ermenegildo Zegna suit, my Armani tie, and my Gucci shoes!"

Jethro's exasperated voice echoed from the stall on the end. "Maybe if ya stopped spendin' so much damn money on how ya look, DiNozzo, you wouldn't have tripped and fallen onto said dead body."

"Boss, seriously, though. That suit cost me two weeks salary!"

"And you probably should have learned from your bout with the plague, DiNozzo."

"Anyone else feelin' itchy? I really think this spot on my arm is something, guys."

Ziva snorted dismissively. "It's a freckle, Tony."

"It's not a freckle."

"Freckle."

"Never had a freckle."

"You have always had a freckle on your arm, Tony."

"Uh, how would you know whether I had a freckle or didn't have a freckle, and by the way, I have never had this freckle!"

Jenny finally chose to speak up. "Your clothes are on the bench out here." She paused, calmly addressing Tony. "Agent DiNozzo, Ducky wants to see you down in autopsy."

Ziva chuckled. "There! You can show Ducky your freckle!"

"Do I have to go down to autopsy? Mister Dead-Decaying Body is there!"

Gibbs emerged from his stall, towel wrapped tightly around his waist, clearly uncaring of his state of undress. "DiNozzo…"

"Going to see Ducky, Boss. On it."

Jenny remained silent, raising an eyebrow as Gibbs grabbed his clothes, blue gaze meeting hers and then flicking to the side; towards a clean shower stall a few down from the one he'd just exited.

His lips turned up in a smirk as she rolled her eyes and followed, toeing her heels off along the way.

"Think you can keep it quiet?" His breath washed over her ear as he leaned in behind her, smirk still present.

Jenny chuckled low in her throat and reached back, brushing her hand over his groin, delighting in the sharp hiss of breath. "Not sure I'm the one who's going to have that problem."

He growled low in his throat and tugged her into the shower with him, muffling her gasp with a hand across her mouth. Callused fingers divested her of her clothing in record time, tossing them in a pile under his own and the now discarded towel from his waist.

Jenny bit back a moan, sinking her teeth lightly into his shoulder to muffle a sharp gasp as he hitched her up against the wall under the spray, listening until the sounds of Tony whistling to himself faded out of the room.

"I think we're ok—mmmph!" Her whispered observation was smothered as he leaned forward, kissing her violently, rough hands circling her wrists and bringing them up above her head.

"Thought I told you to keep it quiet?"

Jenny narrowed forest green eyes at him, grinding her hips against his in a deliberate movement. "Move it, Marine."

Gibbs chuckled darkly, leaning in to kiss her again as he shifted and slipped in, grip on her wrists tightening as she writhed against him. "Still can't pace yourself, Jen."

Her retort was cut off by the low hum of a song in another language weaving its way through the air.

Both froze, wide green eyes staring at equally surprised blue as the singing in Hebrew continued. Gibbs grit his teeth and leaned in, mouth against her ear as he dropped his grip on her hands. "Thought you said we were okay?"

"How was I supposed to know Ziva's still here? She's more sneaky than you are!"

"Gibbs has nice abs, yes?" Ziva's voice rose over the sound of falling water, Hebrew dialect unfamiliar to Gibbs.

Jenny paled further, hand against Jethro's chest to prevent him moving. "Ziva!"

A low accented laugh. "I am pretty sure that is not the name you should be yelling."

"Shut up!"

"Oh, it is quite alright. I know you are merely helping Gibbs wash his back, yes?"

Jenny groaned, head falling against Jethro's shoulder under the spray.

He took that as consent to continue, recapturing her hands as he thrust again, smirking at the muffled gasp he elicited. "You still got enough brain cells left to speak?"

She whimpered, teeth latching onto the meat of his shoulder, manicured nails digging into his skin.

Jethro grunted, hand rising to cover her mouth again as he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Shh…don't want Ziver to hear any more, do we?"

Virtual cookies to whoever recognizes Tony's dialogue and can tell me the episode. *grin*

okay, back to tweaking before I post the next chap.

reviews are lovely!

-meg