Twenty-Five

When Jack woke up the following morning she instantly felt guilty and a bit pathetic, the bed was empty and the light in the hallway had been turned off but light was streaming in the window as the sun rose over DC. She hated herself for pulling Gibbs along for the hellish ride that were her nightmares. He had handled it well and so far had adapted to whatever she had thrown his way surprisingly well but she still felt bad nonetheless. He had made her an amazing supper and she had passed out on the couch almost directly after, then she had woken him in the dead of night and he'd had to sleep with the hallway light streaming in, more than likely keeping him awake, because she was a big baby.

She rolled out of bed and padded into the bathroom, after brushing her teeth and pulling her hair back into a ponytail she made her way downstairs. She found Gibbs seated on the couch, a coffee in one hand and the paper in the other.

"Good morning." She greeted almost shyly.

"Mornin'." He replied, offering her a smile, "how'd you sleep the rest of the night?"

"I slept okay… I'm really sorry I was such a pain in the ass last night." She dropped down on the couch beside him and pulled her legs under her.

"You weren't and don't apologize, Jack." He put the newspaper down and placed a hand on her knee, "you weren't being a pain in the ass, just being human."

She placed her hand on top of his and offered him a thankful smile, she knew he wasn't one to lie to her and she could read him well enough that she knew when he was irritated and he definitely wasn't. She still felt a bit guilty but she wasn't about to continue to push the subject when he seemed prepared to drop it.

"Thank you."

She gave his knee a gentle squeeze and leaned back against the couch.

"I seem to remember something about making going to bed early last night up to you this morning…" She ran her hand up his thigh and watched him close his eyes for a second.

She used that to her advantage and shifted, she threw on leg over his lap and within seconds was straddling him with a grin on her face. His eyes shot open in surprise as his hands automatically settled on her hips.

"So…" She trailed off, bitting her bottom lip, "I've been thinking about how I'm going to make it up to you."

"Yeah?" Gibbs asked with a raised eyebrow.

She rocked against him and smirked when he groaned low in his throat, she could feel him underneath her and knew that he was definitely getting interested whatever she was talking about even if he was doing his best to pretend otherwise.

"I think I have a better idea." He said before she could respond.

She shrieked and laughed loudly when he flipped them around so that she was laying on the couch underneath him while he kissed a path down her neck.

"I don't see how this is making it up to you." She said as she felt his hands slide under her shirt.

"Trust me," He paused what he was doing and looked up at her, "it is."

She snorted at his impish grin and carded her fingers through his hair as he moved lower.

N*C*I*S

Jack felt Gibbs' hand settle on her back as he followed her up the steps of the diner, she rolled her eyes when he reached over her to open the door but couldn't help a small smile at his actions. As long as it wasn't overbearing and overprotective she didn't mind a little bit of chivalry every once in a while.

"Well good morning!" Elaine greeted them as they walked into the bustling diner, "I was starting to wonder what happened to you two."

"Busy couple of days." Jack replied with a kind smile.

"I can only imagine." Elaine replied empathetically, "are the kids joining you?"

"Just the two of us." Gibbs informed her.

He chose to ignore the slight smirk on Elaine's face.

"No kids and no grandkids?" Elaine asked in shock, "how'd you pull that one off?"

"We didn't tell them we were going out." Jack replied, holding her finger up to her lips, "our little secret."

"You got it." Elaine promised, "go ahead and grab a table I'll be right over with coffee."

Jack followed Gibbs to the booth at the far end and slid in across from him, she grabbed the sugar container and pulled it closer to her.

"I can feel the judgement radiating off of you, Cowboy."

He didn't get a chance to reply before Elaine appeared at the table, a tray with coffee and water in her hands and menus tucked under her arms.

"Here we are." She said happily, "I'll give you two a few minutes."

Jack watched her leave and poured a more than generous amount of sugar into her coffee before taking a sip and sighing contentedly. She looked across the table and was surprised to see Gibbs' studying her intently, his coffee sitting untouched in front of him. She raised an eyebrow and when he didn't respond to that she reached across the table and tapped the top his hand to break him out of his trance. He shook his head almost as if he had to physically break his train of thought and surprised her again by taking her hand and tangling their fingers together.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked skeptically.

Gibbs was rarely spacey and he definitely wasn't one for public displays of affection, she had to wonder for a moment if she had woken up in an alternate universe or if she was having some sort of weird dream.

"Fine, why?"

He took a sip of his coffee and looked at her like she was the one acting the complete opposite from what was considered normal. She glanced down at their hands pointedly and his eyes betrayed his surprise, almost as if grabbing her hand in his had been an unconscious act that he hadn't even been aware of. He dropped her hand and she could swear she saw a touch of red on the tips of his ears, he quickly grabbed his menu and busied himself with deciding what to eat even though she knew he would have the same thing he got every time they went out for breakfast.

She reached across the table and gently ran her fingers over his wrist, his eyes darted up from the menu in silent question.

"I didn't say I didn't like it." She said quietly, "but if we don't want your team to know for a little while this probably isn't the place to be holding hands over the table."

Secretly she had enjoyed the moment, it had felt so right to have her hand in his, so easy. It had been a long time since she had felt so at ease with a man and she didn't know if it was just who Gibbs was as a person or if it was because they had been friends for a year before things had gone any further. She still didn't know how to define their relationship, if they even had one. Sure they had agreed not to sleep with other people but that didn't change a whole lot for her. She hadn't slept with anyone else in well over six months, her last date had ended in her getting arrested, and she had found that even before they had crossed a line she had hadn't been interested in sleeping with anyone else.

Gibbs raised his lip in a half smirk and gave an imperceptible nod before going back to the menu.

"What're you getting?" He asked, glancing back up at her.

"I'm thinking French Toast today." She replied, "are you getting your usual?"

Gibbs closed the menu and nodded, almost a soon as he had closed the menu Elaine appeared to take their orders.

N*C*I*S

Gibbs watched Jack place a tulip bulb in the hole he had just dug, her hair was pulled back into a pony tail and the few pieces that had fallen framed her face loosely. She had a streak of dirt over her cheek where she had tried to push her hair back and he smiled at how attractive it made her look, in an outdoorsy, natural way. They had returned from the diner a few hours earlier and had spent the remainder of the morning and early afternoon working around his backyard.

"I can't believe you waited this long to plant your bulbs." She said with a small shake of her head.

"Been busy." He shrugged, "'sides it's kinda fun watching you do it covered in dirt."

She offered him a mild glare and flicked the dirt on her fingers over at him, he chuckled as he dug another hole for the last tulip bulb. He glanced over at her again and smiled when he saw how baggy his jacket was on her, she had put on her Army windbreaker again and as soon as he had seen it he had handed her one of his jackets with a pointed look. She had rolled her eyes but put on the jacket he handed her without protesting, more because she really didn't want to ruin her own jacket than out of any real concern about what he thought of her wardrobe.

"I can put everything away if you wanna go get cleaned up." He offered.

"Are you trying to tell me I need a shower or something?" She teased with a raised eyebrow.

"Go look in the mirror."

"Alright, alright." She replied with a laugh, "if you're sure you're good."

"I'll be fine."

She pushed herself up off the ground and dusted off her hands before heading into the house. She left her now muddy running shoes at the back door and made her way to the upstairs bathroom. As soon as she looked in the mirror she could see what Gibbs had meant, her cheeks were streaked with dirt and somehow she had gotten mud in her hair. She washed her hands and face off before pulling her hair out of the ponytail to attempt to get the mud out, she finally just gave up and hopped in the shower. By the time she got out and got changed into the extra change of clothes she had brought with her she could see Gibbs just finishing cleaning up the yard from the bedroom window.

She made her way downstairs and to the fridge to grab them each a bottle of water but got sidetracked when she noticed the chocolate cake sitting on one of the shelves in the fridge. She pulled it out with an excited smile.

When Gibbs came into the house he almost laughed when he saw Jack sitting on the counter in jeans and baggy knit sweater digging into the cake he had left in the fridge from the night before.

"Enjoying yourself?" He asked with a smirk.

"It is so good." She replied with a small moan.

He stepped over to her and stood between her legs when she parted them to make room for him, he almost laughed again when she raised her eyebrow almost as if to question his presence while she was clearly trying to enjoy her cake.

"Did you shower?" He asked as he pushed a piece of damp hair behind her ear.

"I couldn't get the mud out of my hair." She replied, "and I didn't want to spend the rest of my day picking at it."

She took the last bite of her cake and put the plate down on the counter beside her before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Did you save any cake for me?" He asked, taking a step closer to her.

"There's still a piece in the fridge."

She leaned forward an placed a gentle peck on his lips before pulling back with a small grin on her face. Her grin turned into a full on smile as he leaned forward, he pressed his lips to hers in a much deeper kiss and tangled his hand in the hair at the base of her neck. She knew it wouldn't go anywhere but she was enjoying the moment none-the-less and wrapped one leg around his waist to pull him closer. She laughed when he broke the kiss and gently nipped at her neck before pressing a light kiss over the spot, he nuzzled his nose into her hair for a moment before pulling back and giving her another quick kiss.

"Oh my god!"

There was nothing like the sound of Ellie Bishop's surprised exclamation to break the playful atmosphere in the room, Jack immediately dropped her legs and Gibbs stepped away from her.

"Oh. My. God." Ellie said again when she saw Jack who had been previously hidden behind Gibbs, "I'm so sorry, I… I'll just go."

"It's fine, Bishop." Gibbs said with a sigh.

Ellie stopped in her tracks and turned to face the two of them, Gibbs was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly and Jack was running her hand through her hair with one hand and biting her thumbnail with the other.

"What did you need?" Gibbs asked when the younger blonde didn't say anything.

"Um, you said on Friday that you could look at my truck today, it's making that noise again." She explained quickly, her eyes anywhere but on Gibbs or Jack, "but I can come back another day." She added quickly.

"No, I'll come take a look at it now." He replied.

"Really, I don't want to interrupt your day." Ellie protested again.

"It's fine, come on let's go." Gibbs said, gesturing for him to follow her.

Jack watched them leave and groaned when it hit her exactly how badly they had just screwed up.

I hope you all enjoyed, please leave a review and let me know what you think! I love to hear from you! I hope everyone had an awesome weekend! (I own nothing)

Also, CHAPTER 25! YAY! A huge thank you to everyone for all of your support on this story! A big thank you especially to Isla who has been my sounding board and has listened to my endless rants and potential plot-lines, I couldn't do this without you!

~Katie