A/N: I tried to put some fluff in this chapter but I can guarantee that in the next few chapters there will be more. Thanks for all the reviews everybody it really means a lot! Hope you like this chapter!
After everyone's goodbye's Gibbs took Lauren to his house for the night. Of course Gibbs being Gibbs let her sand the skeleton of his boat, which she enjoyed thoroughly, and let her have some ice cream after promising her not to tell her mom because it was so late. Lauren had giggled as she stuck a spoonful of vanilla in her mouth cheekily. They played around for a while and Lauren managed to convince Gibbs to play Sorry!, claiming that she was the best. True to her word Lauren won every game. Soon though it was getting hard for the little red head to keep her eyes open and Gibbs took her to the guest bedroom where her things were lying on the bed. He gave her some privacy to change while he got the little girl her teddy bear which she had left in the living room where they were playing Sorry! When he came back she was bouncing on the bed with her PJ's on and her hair in a wild mass upon her shoulders. He really was amazed at how much hair the six year old had and how wavy, bordering curly, it was. Gibbs couldn't decide which term he liked better to describe her hair and he couldn't stop wondering if Jenny has the same hair because he definitely did not. Then again maybe it was Lauren's father's hair whoever the bastard was that dare lay a hand on Jenny.
He had just finished tucking Lauren in when she pulled him back. "Gibbs?" She asked as innocently as she could and he knew the begging was going to start unless he turned around, so he did.
"Yeah?" He asked leaning up against the doorway in case he had to make a quick getaway. It was too late as it was and Jenny was not going to happy if Lauren stayed up any later.
"Can you read me a story?" She asked twiddling her fingers. "It always helps me fall asleep." She admitted and he caved.
"Okay, which one?" He asked walking back over to her bedside and sitting down on the edge of the double bed. She shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know, you should tell me a story!" She said suddenly excited and he chuckled and sighed, trying to think of any good ones he used to tell Kelly. Before he could start however his home phone started to ring. Furrowing he brow he told Lauren to hang on while he answered it. Nobody ever called his home phone. He didn't even think anybody knew his home phone. He looked at the caller ID and immediately smirked. Only her.
"Jenny." He said immediately upon answering and over the phone he heard her sigh in embarrassment.
"Jethro." She replied smoothly but with a hint of amusement. "I tried your cell but you didn't answer." She explained because everybody called his cell. He smirked.
"Didn't think you remembered my home phone." He admitted curiously.
"I remember." She said quietly and after a brief silence she spoke again. "How's Lauren?"
"Fine, I was just getting her into bed." He said and he could practically feel Jenny's eyebrows raised in shock.
"Just getting her into bed Jethro it's eleven o'clock!" She exclaimed frustrated and he completely understood because after all he had had his own little girl once. And nobody was happy the next day if they went to bed at ungodly hours.
"At least she's going to bed now." He emphasized trying to find the good in the situation. Jenny scoffed and he could feel her rolling her eyes. He leaned up against a nearby doorframe and waited to see if she would say something. "There a reason you called at eleven?" He asked and she didn't say anything at first but he could feel her hesitation as if she was trying to decide how to proceed.
"Could you stop by the hospital tomorrow around ten and pick me up?" She asked finally.
"They release you?" Gibbs questioned wanting to make sure that she was truly alright.
"Yes Jethro they did, I just have a little concussion." She said and but he didn't believe a word of it. Jenny didn't know but he had talked to her doctor before he left the hospital that day.
"You forgot two cracked ribs and a broken wrist." He added and she sighed.
"Yeah well I'm fine." She said with an air of finality just as Lauren sleepily walked in, rubbing her eyes.
"Who are you talking to Gibbs?" She asked with a yawn, carrying her teddy bear under one arm.
"I'm talking to your mom, you wanna talk to her?" He asked into the phone so Jenny could hear. She nodded sleepily and Gibbs handed the phone to Lauren.
"Hey mommy." The little girl said with her eyes half open.
"Hi honey, you sound pretty tired." Jenny exclaimed with a smile on her face even if she was a little peeved that Gibbs had let her stay up this late. Lauren always brought a smile to her face.
"Yeah I'm really tired. Are you coming home tomorrow?" She asked and Jenny nodded.
"Yep, I'm coming home tomorrow but I'm not going to go to work so we'll have the whole day together." She said and Lauren smiled. Even though she was still holding a bit of a grudge on her mom for barely being able to see her Lauren was happy with the time she got.
"That's good. We can go play in the park." She said but Jenny frowned, as much as she hated staying still and would go to work in almost any physical state she didn't think she could push it that far.
"I don't think so honey, mommy has to get better first. But then I promise we'll go to the park." She said sympathetically and Lauren yawned.
"Okay, then we can watch movies and play board games, I'm really good. I beat Gibbs!" She explained proudly.
"Wow, that's great sweetheart! But I think it's time to go to bed now." She said trying to wrap up the conversation so Lauren could go to bed and Jenny too for that matter, the nurses must have slipped her something because she was also feeling extremely tired.
"Okay, goodnight mommy, love you."
"'Night sweetheart, I love you too. Can I talk to Gibbs?" Jenny asked and she heard nothing for a moment but then she heard Gibbs's voice in the background telling Lauren to hop into bed and that he would come tuck her in, in a minute.
"Talk to you tomorrow?" He asked and she nodded with yet another yawn.
"Yeah." He smiled at her show of exhaustion. "Jethro?" She inquired.
"Hmm?" He hummed; looking around the corridor to make sure Lauren was really getting into bed.
"Thank you." Jenny said honestly and he smiled.
"'Night Jenny." She smiled softly and replied quietly.
"Goodnight Jethro." Her heart fluttered as she hung up and set the phone down on the table beside her hospital bed.
. . .
The next morning Gibbs had brought Lauren to work with him instead of taking her to the hospital because he got the impression that she wanted to talk to him, alone. When 1000 came around Gibbs left Lauren in the, hopefully, capable hands of his team before leaving the building. When he arrived at the hospital he took a deep breath before finding her room and walking in the door. She was sitting up in her hospital bed with her hair tied back in a ponytail and she was eating what looked like brunch. "Sure you can keep that down?" He asked and she looked up at him with a mouthful of food. He walked over to her as she swallowed and shrugged.
"I think this is the best hospital food I've ever had." She said setting her fork down. He raised an eyebrow skeptically at her. "They gave me it as a test. If I can keep it down then they'll let me go." She explained rolling her eyes.
"That's pretty strange. Didn't think hospitals operated like that." He said eyeing her strangely and wondering if the pain meds were talking instead of her. Jenny noticed his skepticism and pointed to the door.
"Go ask my Doctor I'm serious Jethro! Apparently everything else is okay for me to leave so if I keep this down then they'll let me go." She said looking down at her food and poking around in it.
"So how long do you have to wait?" He asked.
"About an hour or so." She said shrugging. When he didn't say anything she motioned for him to sit down so he did, bringing up a chair to sit at her bedside. She picked up some hash browns with her fork and offered it to him. "Seriously Jethro this is really good." She said moving the fork closer to him. Finally accepting the food he took the fork and ate the hash browns. She watched him chew and swallow as he gave the fork back to her. Their fingers brushed and she lingered more than she cared to admit. Taking a deep breath to force her fluctuating heart beat down she plastered on a smile and tilted her head slightly at him. "So?" He raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly.
"Yeah I guess it's pretty good, for hospital food." He joked and she gave him a small smile. After a moment of silence Jenny realized how close they really were. She was sitting up in bed on the very edge and Gibbs was sitting in a chair about as close as he could put it to the bed, in fact they were only about a foot away from each other if the height difference wasn't factored in from her on the bed and him in a chair. Taking a deep breath she pushed the thoughts beginning to surface in her mind down and continued to eat her brunch as they sat in a comfortable silence. But she could feel a question burning in his mind affecting the very atmosphere in the room and she sighed as she set down her fork violently.
"Jethro if you have something to say just say it." She exclaimed looking at him. The NCIS agent tilted his head curiously at her before speaking.
"Lauren mentioned another time you got hurt?" He asked and she immediately knew what he was talking about. Unfortunately it did not bring back good memories. She stared at him with a blank expression.
"I don't want to talk about it." She said sternly before turning her head down to look at her food. Maybe she wasn't ready to be discharged because she could feel the nausea beginning to well up. He didn't say anything as she shook her head and forced another fork full of food into her mouth. Now she really wanted to get out of the hospital and the only way to do that was to finish all of her food.
He could tell what was bothering her now. It was Lauren when she brought up "that other time". He knew she had always hated hospitals since he first met her but he had noticed even more so now than when she was still an agent. He concluded that her uneasiness now must have to do with what Lauren had said. At least he knew that's what was immediately bothering her. Unfortunately he knew that the underlying problem had not yet been taken care of. But at the moment he was more concerned with her complexion which had turned very pale as all the color drained from her face and her eyes looked almost glazed over. She was going to be sick.