Chapter 11: Day Ten

Jennifer Shepard couldn't believe she was so bored again. The chess pieces lay to one side, long since forgotten in the sea of awkwardness that surrounded them after the kiss. All she wanted to do was forget about it and move on, something which would hopefully involve a game of chess.

She was on the verge of asking him to play anyway. It would give her something to do instead of turning things over and over in her mind. She had the option of forgetting everything and focusing on kicking his butt.

Yet she couldn't open her mouth and ask. She couldn't push herself off the wall behind her bed and reach for the pieces. She wasn't sure that she had the energy for anything except thinking. Her body did not want to respond to her desires.

Which was probably a good thing. Jethro had fallen asleep again in an attempt to pass the time, and he looked so peaceful. She was sorely tempted to cross over to his side and place a kiss to his temple. Even if he woke up, he would hopefully be left to muse as much as she had been.

Her heart fluttered as she watched him sleep. He was an enigma to her, despite her pretending that she understood him completely. He could hide anything from her and read her like a book in return.

Sometimes she felt he didn't know what he wanted from life. Sure, he lived for his job, but there would come a time when he would have to retire and he didn't seem to have anything else to do. He had no family and no significant other. If his job was taken away from him, he would wither and die.

The door opened, waking Jethro. She glanced over at the hazmat suited being that stood in the doorway. There was something in his hand…

"One phone call," the being announced, placing the cell phone on the table between them.

Jenny looked across at Jethro, surprised that he didn't seem surprised. It took her a moment to realize why.

"Who you gonna call?" he grinned.

A slow smile grew on her face. The little rascal! He knew she needed to talk to someone other than him and he had managed to get her a call.

She didn't have to think hard about who to contact. She dialed the number, placed the phone on speaker and waited.

"City morgue: you stab 'em, we slab 'em," came the greeting.

"Abby?" she checked. She was fairly sure she had the right number…

"Director!" the Goth squealed. "Sorry about that, I thought it was Tony and I was just joshing him, but I didn't think it was you – I don't normally answer the phone that way because I'm really professional, although I won't wear that monkey suit in my lab because it's my lab, even though it's in the building you run so in a way it's your lab as well –"

"Breathe," Gibbs ordered.

"Gibbs!" Abby cried. "Aw, how sweet – Mommy and Daddy in a room together. Are you enjoying yourselves? Of course you're not enjoying yourselves, you're in quarantine."

"And you're taking this rather well," Jenny realized.

"Only because Ducky managed to get hold of your blood work and pinky promised me that you two appear to be well," Abby replied. "I wanted to run my own samples, but the CDC are meanies and won't let me near their labs. But they've got some good scientists so I trust them, however much I want to triple check their results."

"How is everyone?" Jenny asked.

"Well." Abby took a deep breath. "Tony's in charge of the team and he's doing okay, sort of. I mean that the cases are being solved but he's annoying everyone. Ziva's gone beyond threatening to kill him and is now writing a list of the numerous ways she could torture him until he dies in serious pain. They've started a prank war, so Timmy's hiding in my lab to avoid the crossfire – say hi, Timmy!"

"Erm, hello boss," came the nervous voice of McGee. "Is everything okay?"

Jenny smiled as Gibbs raised his eyebrows, giving her the role of responding. "Agent Gibbs and myself are fine, Agent McGee," she answered. "Other than the prank war, how is my agency?"

"Acting Director Wofford has stated that she wants a vacation as soon as you return, but other than that, everything is fine," McGee told her.

"FBI causing any problems?" Jenny checked.

"Fornell's been in, but I don't know what that was about," McGee recalled.

"He came in to ask Acting Director Wofford out on a date," Abby piped up. "She told Cynthia who told this guy she's dating in Legal, who told Jenkins in Accounting, who told Palmer who told me."

Jenny smirked as Gibbs tried to follow Abby's chain of people. She suspected the first thing he did when he got out would be to call Tobias and wish him luck.

"You didn't tell me that!" McGee complained.

"I meant to tell you," Abby admitted. "I've been a little busy, what with all the evidence I have to analyze and everything else that's going on here."

"What do you mean by everything else?" Jenny interrupted, concerned.

"Abby's helping both Tony and Ziva with their pranks," McGee confessed.

Jenny glared at Gibbs, silently telling him to deal with the favorite.

"Abs, no Caf-Pow," he ordered. "Stop helping them."

Abby whimpered, but acquiesced. "I'll be good," she promised.

"Is Ducky around?" Jenny inquired, knowing how much Jethro would appreciate it if he could talk to his friend.

"Sorry," Abby commented. "He's in court today or I would have called him upstairs already. But Bert says hi!"

Jenny grinned as the telltale sounds traveled through the phone.

"We're going to have to hang up," she warned. "I'm sure you have a lot of work to do and the doctors are going to take this phone back soon."

"Mean doctors," Abby decided. "They should let you keep the phone."

Jenny smiled sadly. "It's their rules, I'm afraid. We'll be back soon."

"Behave yourselves," Gibbs ordered as they cut the connection.

Jenny smiled at him. "Thank you."

"For what?" he questioned, leaning back on his bed.

"For getting me that call," she replied. "It was a lovely gesture."

He smiled back at her and she felt the tension leave the room.