Chapter 11- Quell

A/N: OK, I know I usually do shoutouts at the end, but I just needed to put something at the beginning…

TO miss-tarletone- DO NOT THINK FOR A SECOND THAT I MIND YOUR WORDS! I appreciate them so much and they are so helpful- these would never get written if not for your suggestions. They give me a fun way to challenge myself, which is AWESOME. I'm just a horrible procrastinator whose muse is a fickle, absent being, so my writers block ensues from that. So…. THANK YOU!

Back to the A/N: Sooooo…. Just to say because I don't think I specified this- the whole "La Grenouille" storyline never happened. Just saying. Also- the beginning of this one got a bit wordy- sorry if it's confusing.

As we have so discovered, I am horrible at updating. Therefore, I must amend my previous goal of two chapters a week and make that goal one chapter. (But hey- that's better than none… Right?) Thanks for being awesome!

Disclaimer: I am the proud owner of…. Drumroll please… NOT NCIS! So, yeah, that about covers it. I do not own NCIS; the only things I do own are the plot bunnies. (Who are EVIL LITTLE MONSTERS, by the way.)

***JIBBS***

Team bonding was usually one of the best parts of a day without cases. These events- not exactly rare but not exactly a frequent occurrence- were usually orchestrated by Abby and Tony. Abby would spread the word to the rest of the team, and set up decorations- usually with McGee, who she often bullied into helping- and Tony would pick a movie and make popcorn (usually with the help of Ziva, as she thought Tony burned the popcorn).

Most of the "family" was always happy to come and spend time with the rest of the team. Abby and Tony, of course, always were present as they usually planned the events. Ziva and McGee also always came- the two were not about to miss a party that they had been- in McGee's case- bullied into helping. Ducky and Palmer also usually showed, the only time they were absent from the festivities was if they still had an autopsy to finish.

The two "fearless leaders," however, always presented a bit of an issue. Jenny and Gibbs were both a bit… antisocial, one could say, and they were usually quite content with spending the evening in each other's company instead of being badgered by the team. However, Abby could almost always bully Gibbs into joining the team in MTAC for a movie and some fun (though there was often a promise of bourbon involved), and since Jenny and Gibbs were rather inseparable lately, the forensic scientist was almost positive that the Director would tag along to whatever parties they planned.

And so Abby and DiNozzo, upon ensuring that everyone would be coming, began to plan yet another team- bonding night.

***JIBBS***

Gibbs barged into Jenny's office, ignoring the cries of protest coming from Cynthia's general direction. He shut the door rather forcefully, as per usual, and turned to face his fiancé. He turned toward her, grinning.

"You looking forward to team bonding night, Jen?" he said teasingly.

Jenny looked up from the pile of paperwork on her desk, smiling at Gibbs. She took off her glasses and said in a light tone, "Well I'm not sure, Jethro, should I be?"

Gibbs made a look of mock surprise. "What do you mean you're not sure, Jen?"

Jenny raised her eyebrows and twirled her glasses between her fingers.

Gibbs raised his eyebrows back in mock seriousness.

Jenny, after holding the face for as long as she could, burst out laughing. "I've- never- been," she worked in between laughs.

Gibbs grinned and walked behind the desk to where Jenny was seated in her desk chair. He turned the chair around so that Jen was facing him. With a smirk teasing at the edges of his lips, he said, "Well I guess I won't ruin the surprise for you, then."

Jenny smiled. "Well now I'm excited."

***JIBBS***

As the team, Ducky, and Palmer gathered (AN: used to be conjugated, but I may have used the word wrong so I decided to change it to gathered... Sorry to whoever I have confused...) in MTAC, there was only one thing missing- well two, actually- and those two things were Jenny and Gibbs.

Abby was almost going into a full- on panic attack, and McGee was attempting to calm her down.

Meanwhile in Jenny's office….

"C'mon, Jen, we're going to be late!"

Jenny glanced at her watch. "Shoot, I didn't realize the time," she said, standing up and quickly shutting down her computer.

She walked up to Gibbs, linking her elbow in his, and together they walked down to MTAC.

***JIBBS***

When Jenny and Gibbs walked into MTAC, laughing and looking like the happy couple they were, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. They had come to be a bit afraid of what Abby would do if they didn't show.

"YAY GIBBS! AND JENNY! You're here!" Abby squealed in excitement as she left up from the floor, nearly knocking over McGee (who had been leaning over her, trying to calm her down).

Jenny was now beaming. She stood on her tiptoes (as she was wearing a pair of ballet flats, so she was about four and a half inches shorter than usual) and whispered to Gibbs, "Now what did we do to quell that excitement?"

Gibbs leaned down and whispered back, "Remind me later to ask you what quell means, and then I'll answer your question."

Jenny laughed. "Deal."

Tony began to play the movie (a thriller that he had chosen just to give him reason to "comfort" Ziva- though now that he thought of it, she was not that likely to get scared…) and passed around the popcorn that had been deemed acceptable by Ziva.

By the time the credits had rolled, Tony's plan had backfired- it was Ziva that was comforting him.

But his plan had worked for four others- Jenny had hidden her face in Gibbs's chest for nearly half of the movie, and McGee had been comforted by Abby at least once over the course of the film.

And as the evening went on, stories were told (mostly by Ducky- and at least three of his Paris stories made both Jenny and Gibbs blush), a popcorn- kernel war ensued, and rule number twelve was broken into happy little bits and pieces along the way.

***JIBBS***

A/N: So a bit of a rubbish chapter, but I had to get this out of my system because this plot bunny was EVIL! (Actually, I really dislike this chapter… Make me feel better in a review! *hint, hint*)

As always, love goes out to all my reviewers and readers, but especially to alix33 for catching the West Wing tag in the last chapter! (it was the "Special Agent Sunshine" bit…) Hugs to leftmyheartinparis for attempting to guess as well! :)

So… sorry about the late update (and the evil plotbunny)… I'll probably get another chapter up next week, but in the meantime please review!

Words, as well as requests, are welcome as always.