Two weeks after New Years, Jenny woke up with a pounding headache and the scratchy feeling of an impending sore throat. Wonderful, she thought, just what I need. The Director doesn't get to take sick days. She tried to sit up and discovered that not only was her whole body sore, but the movement caused her stomach to threaten to rebel.

After several moments of laying in bed and staring at the ceiling, Jenny attempted to get up again, much more cautiously this time. Making it to the shower without incident, she dared to hope that the nausea was a one time, momentary thing.

Washing, and shampooing one's hair should not be this exhausting, Jenny decided when she got out of the shower after ten minutes under the hot spray. It took all of her focus just to get ready for work. She even opted for lower heels this morning, not certain she'd be stable enough in her regular high ones.

Jenny was extremely thankful for her security detail that morning, knowing she would've been a hazard if she was driving herself. Arriving at NCIS later than usual, Jenny didn't even glance into the bullpen to see if Gibbs was there. She went straight to her office, murmured a 'good morning' to Cynthia, and collapsed into her chair, eyeing her couch with longing.

Maybe I'll take a quick nap later. The thought became a fleeting hope when the phone rang. Jenny took a deep breath and picked it up. "Director Shepard."

NCIS

Midway through the morning, Gibbs climbed the stairs to Jenny's office carrying two cups of freshly brewed coffee from their favourite shop down the street. Cynthia must've left on an errand because her desk was empty and Gibbs was glad not to encounter any interference.

Balancing both cups in one hand, he opened Jenny's door, surprise and concern flooding him when he saw her leaning back in her chair. The blinds were drawn behind her and the lights off. Her eyes were closed and Jenny had a less than pleasant expression on her face.

He shut the door quietly and walked over to her desk. "Jen?"

It seemed to be a great deal of effort for Jenny to open her eyes. She tried to sit up straighter and smile when she saw him. "Hello Jethro."

The raised eyebrow he directed at her expected more of an explanation but Jenny didn't appear to notice it.

"Why's it like a dungeon in here?" he asked, handing her the steaming cup.

Jenny took a deep breath and sipped the hot liquid gratefully.

"Jen?" Gibbs prompted again.

She shrugged. "It's a little bright out today."

His eyes narrowed, Bright out, my butt. "You take anything for that headache?"

Jenny tried to glare at Gibbs but her eyes were too tired. "Some Tylenol."

Ignoring her feeble protests that she was fine, because she was clearly lying through her teeth and he didn't even need the eye twitch to tell him that, Gibbs came closer and laid his hand on her forehead, frowning.

"You're kinda warm Jen."

Giving up the pretense of it not being so bad, Jenny groaned and leaned forward to rest her head on her arms. "That might explain why I feel so awful."

He put his hands on her shoulders, slowly massaging out the tension she always carried there.

"Don't do that Jethro," Jenny tried to tell him 'no'. "It'll just make me fall...mmm," she practically purred, his warm hands on her neck felt so good. "That's really nice."

Grinning because he loved when she melted under his touch, Gibbs kept up the slow, steady motions of his fingers while they traced and kneaded out the knots in her neck and shoulders. Jenny rolled her neck forward, taking a deep breath. Finally he'd done all he could do with her in that position, and moved to sit on the edge of her desk.

"Why don't you just go home Jenny? The agency could make it without you for one day."

Jenny rubbed two fingers back and forth across her forehead, wincing at the pressure inside her skull. She lifted her eyes to meet Gibbs'.

"I'm the Director Jethro, I can't just take sick days. It doesn't work like that."

Doing his best not to antagonize her as it would go against his goal of getting her to go home as soon as possible, Gibbs chose his words carefully.

"You're still human Jen. And you work twice as hard as half of the agents here. You need to take a break if you want to stay healthy enough to do this job."

Jenny surveyed the piles of paperwork covering her desk, the stack of phone messages Cynthia had stuck onto her metal holder, and the schedule on her computer screen. It was so much easier being sick back in high school, she mused. At least it didn't effect the workings of an agency responsible for people's lives. She sighed.

"I've got too much to do. I can't just leave." Even to her own ears, her reasons sounded weak.

"I bet Noemi would just love to spoil you with chicken soup and honey and lemon tea." It looked like he was going to have to resort to bribery to get her out of there.

Indecision wavered on Jenny's face, but the wave of exhaustion that swept over her made her long for her own bed. Suddenly she simply could not face another minute in this office. It seemed her decision was made.

"Alright, I'll go," she conceded. "But no bullying my assistant just because I'm not here Jethro."

His innocent expression didn't fool her for a minute. "Would I do that Jen?"

"Don't get me started," she muttered darkly.

Letting the comment slide, Gibbs slid his arm around her waist and helped Jenny to her feet. A moment later she had her coat on and he distracted her enough that her briefcase was left untouched by the desk. He didn't want her going home and reading files just because she had to spend the day in bed.

"I need to leave a note for Cynthia," Jenny remembered distractedly.

"I'll tell her," Gibbs offered. He kissed the side of her head. "Go home and get some sleep Jen. You look like you need it."

"You sure know how to make a woman feel good." Jenny's comment elicited a small chuckle from Gibbs but he didn't dare raise her ire by opening his mouth again. He'd learned a long time ago that sometimes it was better not to respond once she got to the point of not censoring her words.

A quick phone call put Jenny's detail on alert and Gibbs saw her to the elevator, his eyes holding sympathy for her misery.

"Feel better Jen," he said as the doors closed.

Yeah right, she thought, leaning back against the wall and closing her eyes. All she wanted right now was a bath and then her bed. Or maybe just bed. And a bath later. Or maybe she wouldn't even make it out of the car. She was so tired she couldn't think and it didn't matter anyways. She was just glad to be going home. Getting out of bed this morning had not been her best idea ever.

NCIS

Three hours later the team was working on a new, very uninteresting case and making very little progress. Tired of scanning through meaningless documents unrelated to what they were looking for, Gibbs stood up.

"Going for coffee," he announced, not that any of them would dare to argue.

Tony looked up, anxious for a distraction. McGee was trying to find a needle in a haystack of old phone records, and Ziva was on hold again waiting for someone to get her an answer better than 'I don't know'.

It wasn't long before Gibbs' car pulled up in front of a brownstone townhouse near Georgetown. Out of courtesy for his sick girlfriend, and because her housekeeper still wasn't used to him just walking in like he had a right to be there, Gibbs knocked. Noemi opened the door.

"Mr. Gibbs, como estas?"

Letting the comment slide because his Spanish was as rusty as his French, Gibbs nudged the door open and entered. "How is she?"

The housekeeper shook her head. "Senora is still in bed. She was asleep before I could bring her food." She clucked her tongue like that was some sort of unpardonable offense.

Gibbs chuckled. "She'll definitely be wanting some chicken soup and tea later Noemi, don't worry." He looked up the stairs. "Gonna go check on her."

Unable to decide between lecturing him to let her sleep and knowing him being there would make her employer feel better, Noemi chose to say nothing and went back to the kitchen where her soup was simmering.

As he expected, the room was dark and Jenny was curled up on her side under the covers, one hand resting over her eyes. So she still had that headache. Gibbs couldn't tell from her breathing whether she was asleep or just resting, but he went into the bathroom anyways and ran a clean cloth under the cold water.

Back in Jenny's room, he folded the cloth and draped it across her forehead. Hopefully it would help with the fever and the headache.

"Thank you Noemi," Jenny murmured without opening her eyes, but when calloused fingers brushed down her cheek, she squinted up at their owner. "Jethro, what are you doing here? Don't you have a case?"

"Just wanted to see how you were doing Jen."

"Been better."

Gibbs chuckled. "Can I get you anything?"

Jenny sighed. "You must think I'm really sick. You're not usually this sweet."

"Hey, I'll have you know I can be very sweet, thank you."

As if to prove his point, Gibbs gently climbed up on the bed behind her and got settled against the pillows. She always liked to have lots of pillows on her bed. It made him smile to realize how little they had actually changed since the last time.

Soon Jenny felt this fingers running through her hair and down her back, over and over again. She couldn't help but be relieved. He knew just how to make her relax. When she was almost asleep again, Gibbs took her hand in his and just sat there, content for the moment to watch her sleep.

NCIS

The next thing Jenny knew was Gibbs' phone ringing shrilly, interrupting their peace and quiet. He reached for it groggily, realizing he'd dozed off, and answered it gruffly to cover up the sleep in his voice.

"Gibbs."

"Hey Boss." It was Tony.

"Got something for me DiNozzo?"

"Um...not exactly," the senior field agent hedged. "The company is still stone walling Ziva despite multiple threats of damage to various body parts if they ever put her on hold again. McGeek can't find anything suspicious in the wife's phone records and, yeah. Basically, we've got nothing."

Gibbs sighed. Just what he wanted to hear. "Tell everyone to go home DiNozzo," he decided. "Nothing else is going to happen tonight."

There was silence for a moment. And then, "Are you sure Boss?"

"Don't make me repeat it," Gibbs warned.

"Got it." There was a click and Tony hung up.

He looked down to see Jenny watching him quietly. "Want some tea Jen?"

"Sure," she agreed, more to give him something constructive to do than for any other reason. Jenny knew he'd be happier if he felt like he was helping.

It had been nice, waking up to find him there beside her. And if he kept his promise from New Year's, that would soon be something permanent. Jenny was looking forward to when that happened. She couldn't imagine anything nicer than falling asleep beside him every night.

Down in the kitchen Gibbs found a note from Noemi about reheating the soup. Rummaging around in the cupboard closest to the door, he found everything Jenny used for making tea. Lemon juice from the fridge and a spoonful of honey were the foundation for the drink, while he waited for the water to boil. Pouring it in and stirring the whole mixture together, Gibbs carefully carried the hot beverage upstairs for Jenny.

When he entered the room she was asleep again, or maybe just resting her eyes. Putting one hand on her shoulder, Gibbs held up the tea.

"Mmm," Jenny smiled, "thank you Jethro." She took a sip. It was still very hot but it did feel good sliding down her throat.

Gibbs set it on the nightstand where she could reach it easily and went into the bathroom, returning quickly with a glass of water and two aspirins. Jenny reached for them without a word, needing something to combat the pounding in her head. When he was settled back beside her, he returned to playing with her hair.

"Feeling any better?" he asked quietly.

Unable to shake her head because it made the headache worse, Jenny settled for shrugging her shoulders weakly. "Not really. My head is a wreck and I'm still so tired even though I've been sleeping most of the day."

"Go back to sleep then Jen," Gibbs suggested. Her hand tightened on his as her eyes slid closed.

He thought briefly about waiting until she was asleep and then heading home himself, but several minutes later when Jenny rolled over and snuggled against his side, Gibbs decided that he had absolutely no motivation to move. After awhile he let the sleep take over his body as well, and fell asleep fully clothed, his arm resting comfortably around Jenny's back.

NCIS

The numbers on the clock showed 2:32 am when Jenny next opened her eyes. It was a relief to realize her headache was finally, mercifully gone. Then it dawned on her that she was wrapped around a warm body. She glanced up at his face, glad to see Gibbs was still sleeping. Jenny remembered Paris and how much she had loved falling asleep with him then. It had been so long, and even if it was just a one time thing, she was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

She smiled contentedly and closed her eyes again, letting the steady beat of Gibbs' heart soothe her back to sleep.