Chapter 21. I am not going to lie. The flashback chapters have been my favorite in this whole story. So here is another one and I really like it. I hope you do too. I should also probably remind you that because this scene was set over twelve years before the story is set that Jenny and Gibbs were very different people then… Enjoy.

Spoilers: None

Disclaimer: I do not own Gibbs or Jenny

OCTOBER 1998

"It's so beautiful," Jenny remarked letting out a satisfied sigh as she looked out over the canal. They had been trapped inside of a building for the past two weeks with nothing to do but count everyone who went on, off, or near the USS Pleiades, a navy ship that had been under investigation for dealing illegal drugs. Their investigation had ended the day before when a petty officer came forward and provided the names of everyone involved along with proof.

"It is a nice little city," Jethro replied with a small smile watching the light play across his partner's face.

"To bad we don't get to see any of it," she commented, her tone a mix of bitterness and sadness.

"We can," he offered holding up two tickets, "I picked these up this morning." Jenny tipped her head a little to the side trying to figure out what the tickets were for. "They are for a little canal cruise." Jethro then watched with some amount of pleasure as Jenny's eyes lit up and the glum expression was replaced by a radiant smile.

"Thank you," she told him, and she leaned forward to place a soft kiss on his check.

Jethro could have sworn he felt his face turn scarlet. "The boat leaves in fifteen minutes so we should probably get down to the docks," he suggested, and she nodded. Hand in hand they set off for the dock.

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"Beautiful," Jethro murmured not realizing he spoken out loud.

"I know," Jenny replied, "I would kill like a view for this outside my bedroom window."

"I wasn't taking about the scenery," he replied almost involuntarily, and Jenny turned to look at him.

"Oh?" she asked him raising one eyebrow with a soft smile, "Then what?"

"You," he replied simply.

"Thank you," she told him with a soft chuckle.

"No need to thank me," he replied staring at spot just over her left shoulder because he could not quite bring himself to have this conversation looking in her eyes, "any other guy in this city could tell you the same thing."

"Maybe," Jenny replied, "but you were the only one who did."

There was a pause, and in that moment Jethro decided it was time to throw caution to the wind. "Do you remember when you were shot in Rostov?" he asked her, and he was grateful when she just nodded instead of pointing out how stupid of a question that was. "Well I made a promise to myself that if you," he paused considering his word choice.

"Survived," she supplied for him, and he nodded gratefully

"Then I would tell you the truth," he finished looking at her, "except I never got up the courage to do it."

"Okay," Jenny replied gently, encouraging him continue with what he was saying.

"I love you," he told her, "I know romance between agents is frowned upon and if you don't want to or you don't feel the same way then you can—" His speech halted abruptly as Jenny's lips closed over his in a soft sweet kiss.

After a few seconds, they broke apart, and Jethro looked down at his partner still a little taken aback at her response. Jenny's eyes were sparking again, but somehow this seemed like a different kind a sparkle than the one he had seen earlier that day. If anything the sparkle was more radiant and more beautiful.

"I love you too," she told him.

"Really?" he asked not quite daring to believe the words he though he was hearing.

"Really," Jenny replied, and Jethro could tell by conviction in her voice that she truly meant it.

"So does that mean you want to be couple?" Jethro asked just slightly hesitantly. He wanted to be absolutely sure they were on the same page before he made another move.

"I kind of though that was implied," she replied tilting her head a little to the side and looking up at him.

"Well," he told her feeling his face turn red again, "relationships between agents aren't exactly popular with the powers that be."

"Well then," Jenny said leaning in close to him, and he could feel his heart beat faster, either from anticipation of what she was about to say or purely because of her proximity, "I say screw the authorities. I want to be with you. I don't see how that is any of their business."

Jethro allowed a wide smile to spread across his face for the first time during the entire conversation. In the months since Rostov he had come up with several dozen possible ways that conversation could have happened. Some were bad. Some were good. Some were very good. However none of them came anywhere close to comparing to the real thing.

Jenny was equally as pleased. She had not seen it coming…well okay that was not entirely true…she had known that Jethro had felt something other that friendship towards her because of the way he had been acting, but she had not expected him to actually do something about it. That said she was ecstatic that he had because well…she felt the exact same way and probably would not have had the guts to do anything about it.

"So what happens now?" she whispered quietly as the boat they were on approached one of the many bridges that spanned the canal.

"What do you want to happen?" he asked just as quietly.

There was a pause, and Jenny chuckled slightly. "Well when you put it that way," she told him as boat was plunged into near darkness by the bridge it was passing under.

Slowly she leaned forward again and closed the distance between the two of them, and she placed her lips on his for the second time as they reemerged into the bright sunlight.

It was a whole new world…for him…for her…for them…

So what did you think? I had fun with it… Please review and tell me what you thought.