Gibbs checked out of his hotel room. He'd gone home to pack an overnight bag and left. He turned his phone on and had voicemails from Hollis. Why bother calling her back? He'd see her at work. He'd take a back seat in the rest of the investigation. Enough damage had been done yesterday.
In the squad room, he sat on his desk. Yesterday, they had discovered Sweigart being unfaithful to Stephanie. Now, they were rehashing the facts and putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Hollis was ignoring the fact Jethro was in the room. He wondered what she had found out yesterday. He would have known if Jen had a confrontation with her. The whole District of Columbia would have known. He imagined there would be more damage than a natural disaster would cause if Jenny told Hollis the truth. They sent the team to get Jill Reynolds. She was beginning to look like a prime suspect.
Gibbs and Mann walked out of the Director's office. She had wanted to be updated on the case. Gibbs not so subtly directed Hollis into the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, she stared at him. He flicked the emergency switch, and the elevator halted.
He turned to face her. "You gonna tell me?"
"Tell you what?" She didn't think she was the one who needed to be talking. He needed to explain a few things to her.
"What's buggin' ya."
"How long have we been together?"
Great. It would be his favorite sort of conversation. He hit the switch, turning the elevator back on. He wasn't too surprised when it stopped a second time. "Weeks," he answered.
"Months."
"Meaning," he said, facing her, "many weeks." He turned the elevator back on.
"Meaning we've shared a lot, right?"
"Yeah…"
And there went the elevator again. He rolled his eyes and turned his head in her direction.
"Divorced two times."
"I told you that."
"Married four. You never told me that."
He stared at her. "I should have."
"It's true." Hollis looked like the wind had been knocked out of her lungs.
Jethro nodded. "We never got divorced."
"Jethro, you didn't think that was something I needed to know?"
"We've never been a married couple. I didn't want to get divorced a third time or remarried. Hell, I never thought I'd see her again," he mumbled something about being left in Paris.
Unfortunately, Hollis caught it. "Paris."
Jethro looked up to the elevator ceiling.
"Jenny? Your wife is Jenny Shepard."
He looked at her, nodding his head.
"Have you put her behind you?"
"No," he spoke honestly. He flicked the elevator switch and turned away from Hollis.
"Jeth…Jethro…" She wanted to discuss this more. She needed answers as to why he started a relationship with her. She understood relationships could be complicated. Why start if he was married, especially if he still loved his fourth wife? It was clear he was finished with the conversation. She shook her head and said nothing more. She was putting the pieces together. With the time she'd spent at NCIS, she knew the rumor about Director Shepard being pregnant was true. It didn't take a trained investigator to figure out who the father was. Hollis Mann knew it was over between them.
After grabbing a folder from his desk, he left the squad room and got into the elevator to go one floor up. Cynthia didn't bother saying a word to him. He entered Jenny's office and sat down in the chair in front of her desk, waiting for her to get off the phone.
She raised an eyebrow at him and continued the conversation. Five minutes later, she hung up the phone and put her earring back in.
"What is it? You updated me on the case less than an hour ago."
"I told her."
Jenny looked at him in confusion. "Told her?"
"Hollis."
She examined his face. Something was off. "Jethro, you told her."
"She knew I was married four times." He shrugged his shoulders.
"And...?"
"She knows it's you, Jen."
She nodded her head. "I'm glad she knows. She deserved the truth, Jethro."
"So," he said, getting up and rounding the corner of her desk. "your place tonight?"
She laughed softly and turned her chair towards him. "My place?"
"Yeah, Jen…I'll bring dinner. Maybe spend the night."
She smirked at his confidence. The man had just broken or chipped a woman's heart, and he was discussing coming over to her place. She didn't know how she felt about that.
He took her hand and moved his finger over the ring on her right hand. "I missed you."
Before she could speak, Cynthia buzzed in. "Director, Stephanie Flynn is here to see you."
Jenny rolled her eyes and looked at Jethro. "What have you done now?"
"Nothin', Jen."
She shook her head. "I'll think about tonight."
"Send her in, Cynthia."
Gibbs kissed Jenny's forehead and walked to the door. He nodded to Stephanie and held the door open for her. He turned and mouthed for Jenny to be nice before leaving. He'd love to be a fly on the wall.
Stephanie turned, looking at Jethro. He smiled and decided to leave the door open. He walked to Cynthia's desk and whispered for her to keep an ear out.
His ex-wife sat down in the chair he had occupied moments before. She would get straight to the point. "There's a serious conflict of interest here. Jethro shouldn't be leading this investigation."
"He's not. Colonel Mann is."
Stephanie gave Jenny her best Gibbs look.
Jenny would play nice if she wasn't pushed. If she received another one of those looks, the gloves would be off. "You pick up that look from Gibbs?"
Stephanie glanced around, slightly embarrassed that the look hadn't fazed the other redhead. She should have known better. "I picked up a lot of bad habits from Gibbs."
Jenny smirked. She understood that all too well. "I understand your concern."
"Then take him off the case."
"I've known Agent Gibbs a long time. I trust and respect his judgment," she replied.
"My boyfriend didn't kill anyone."
"Then I'm sure the investigation will bare that out."
"Maybe not before damaging Eric's military career."
"If Major Sweigart wasn't involved, I'll personally see to it that he suffers no career repercussions."
"Thank you," Stephanie responded, surprised.
Jenny smiled. She couldn't believe she was being nice after Stephanie wanted her best agent off the case. The smile faded when Stephanie didn't get up from the chair.
"Can I ask you a personal question?"
Jenny took a deep breath, grimaced, and gave a short nod of her head. She prayed it wouldn't be a personal question about her, Jethro, or her and Jethro.
"I don't know quite how to put this, but I always had the feeling that after our marriage…there was something between you and Jethro."
She answered calmly. "It has always been strictly professional between us."
Jethro may have been honest today, but she didn't have to be so. There was no reason that Stephanie needed to know the truth about her strictly professional relationship with Gibbs. She actually found herself laughing with Stephanie over stories about Jethro.
"I'll personally show you out of the building," Jenny said, taking a sip of her water as Stephanie finished off the bourbon. She longingly looked at the bottle of bourbon as she picked it up to put it away.
"Miss it?"
"What?"
"Bourbon."
Jenny smirked. "I didn't pick up bourbon until working with Jethro. I miss coffee more."
"Who's the father?"
"Oh, I decided I wanted children, so I went to a sperm bank." If Madison could hear her now…
Stephanie nodded her head and walked out of Jenny's office with her. Tony and Ziva were discussing the case as they made their way to the squad room. As they rounded the corner, DiNozzo noticed Stephanie and Director Shepard coming down the stairs. "Uh oh." He didn't think Jenny had a happy look on her face when she glanced towards Gibbs and Mann. Neither had noticed the two redheads. Hollis started walking in the direction of Tony and Ziva. Gibbs followed.
"Train wreck," he said excitedly. He would witness the run in of exes. "I want to look away, but I can't."
"Agent Gibbs," Jenny said cheerfully.
His eyes scanned the pair coming to him. Maybe Stephanie shouldn't have talked to Jen and vice versa.
"Director," he said carefully.
"Colonel," Jenny spoke to Hollis with a smile. "I was just reassuring Gibbs'," she paused, looking thoughtful. "Your witness that Agent Gibbs could separate himself from the personal aspects of this investigation. "
Jethro stood there surrounded by his ex-wife, wife, and ex-girlfriend. What had he done to deserve this today?
"Well, I'll monitor him closely, Director."
"I'm sure you will."
What in the hell was Jenny doing? She seemed like she was in a good mood after he told her he'd finally ended things with Hollis. They were only together now because of the case. He smirked, turning his head and rolling his blue eyes.
"Is that the look you're talking about?" Stephanie asked Jenny.
"Yeah, that's it."
Hollis looked at Gibbs. She had turned into one of his mistakes. She glanced at Jenny. The pregnant redhead was giving him a helluva time, but she could see that love was still there. Jenny had Gibbs and a baby on the way, two things Hollis would never have. She smiled, her features a mixture of regret and pain. "Yep. We've all seen that one."
Jenny glanced at Hollis and looked at Jethro. He wished he could wipe the smirk off her face and crawl out of his skin at the same time.
"Well, Miss Flynn was just leaving unless you need her for something."
"Ah no, she can go home," Jethro spoke as he bolted between Jenny and Hollis. He'd had enough. He walked to DiNozzo and Ziva to find out what they had found from their visit with Jill Reynolds. The case soon came together. The murderer had been in the NCIS building for the last two days. Fred Rinnert, the DIA overseer of Abby, had killed Reynolds out of greed.
At the end of the day, paperwork had been finished. He'd dismissed the team. He wasn't sure if the Director was still in the building or not. He jogged up the stairs and entered the office. Cynthia looked at him. "She went home an hour or two after escorting Miss Flynn out of the building, Agent Gibbs."
He nodded his head and left. He hoped she didn't go home sick. Maybe he hadn't missed another doctor's appointment with her. She hadn't been telling him when those were. He would pick that bone with her shortly. He hadn't received an answer about whether or not he could come to her place, but he was going to see her anyway.
