His relationship with Jenny had always been something he struggled to put into words.
She once said that he thinks of her as an ex-wife, and maybe that wasn't too far from the truth. Jenny had made her mark as part of his tumultuous romantic past despite never actually having married her.
He thinks maybe the idea would have crossed his mind if they had been together any longer. Or maybe they wouldn't have gotten married at all. Maybe not marrying her would have been the key to making it word if she hadn't gotten off that plane.
Shannon might be the only person he ever could be married too, but Jenny could have been a real second chance at growing old with someone.
He's reluctant to ever admit it out loud, but he knows all his marriages after Shannon were in some way an attempt to fill a void, even if he believed at the time he was in love. Jenny felt different, like he would have gained something instead of replaced what he lost.
But she walked away, and he hadn't gone after her.
He briefly glances down at his phone just long enough to select her number before looking back up at the road. It had been a little over seven hours since he last spoke to Tony. A five hour plane journey coupled with the chaos of the airport and securing a rental car once he landed took more time than he would have liked.
"You've reached the voicemail of Jennifer Shepard, Director of-"
He hangs up. No sense in leaving a voice mail she likely wouldn't check. It hadn't even rang, which either meant she turned her phone off willingly or someone else did it for her.
The pain of her walking away from him a decade of go might have still stung whenever it crossed his mind, but he knows the pain of getting killed with hit him like a gunshot straight to the chest.
He doesn't know if they're meant to be together in the end but he does know she might have been the only person after Shannon he truly loved and that was all he needed to go after her.
"We got good news and bad news, boss."
Tony had called only minutes after his failed attempt at reaching Jenny.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Tony clears his throat, "The area McGee managed to trace the Directors phone too happened to be the same area Decker's house is in. No sign of the Director when we got there, but Decker's girlfriend was there."
"She have any info?"
"Quite a bit, actually. Turns out the Director has paid her a visit about an hour ago."
So, Jenny was trailing after something that Decker was involved in.
"Girlfriend say why?"
"Well here's the catch, she didn't know who Jenny was. Just said she was a friend of Deckers and that she thought his death wasn't natural. Turns out the girlfriend didn't either, and that Decker instructed her that if anything was to happen to him she was supposed to deliver a message."
Decker may have bene retired but he was a damn good agent, and Gibbs isn't the least bit surprised when he hears Decker made sure his bases were covered.
"Who for?"
Tony scoffs, "For Jenny. The girlfriend didn't even know it was her she had been talking too, only that Jenny said she would get the messaged delivered."
So she had turned her own phone off then. If no one could track her then she could fulfil whatever mission Decker left behind.
"What did the message say DiNozzo?"
He presses the gas pedal down to the floor of the car and is teetering on almost 100mph as he heads towards their location, hoping he'll catch up with them in time to have them all follow Jenny's trail.
"Just an address. Jenny gave the rental car to the girlfriend and told her to get out of the state for her safety, it's by pure luck she happened to come back for some belongings when we showed up, so not sure what vehicle she's in now."
He's trying to keep his frustrations from morphing into straight anger at her recklessness. A personal vendetta against the man who killed her father was something he could at least understand, but this?
This was entirely different.
"Have Ziva send me the address, I'll meet you there."
"Another thing boss," Tony says quickly before he hangs up, "Jenny wasn't alone, the girlfriend said she had another man with her."
Now that throws him completely for a loop.
"She hear a name? Did you get a description?"
"No name, Ziva got her to describe him but it's not a lot to go off of. White male, maybe mid 60's, grey hair and a beard, had a fire arm on him. She said he didn't speak much but said they definitely knew each other."
He can't even fathom who in California she could have called that wasn't an existing agent. But the longer the day goes on he's not sure how much he really knows about her.
"Anything else, DiNozzo?"
"One thing, before they left the girlfriend over heard them say a name. Oshimaida. That ring a bell?"
His blood runs cold as the name unlocks a long forgotten memory.
"Yeah, yeah it does."
Shit.
The diner is dusty and blistering hot. Why Decker decided to buy some run down building in the middle of the desert is beyond her, but she's sure he has his reasons.
"You know," Mike says as he surveys the run down building, "You're real concerned about protecting Gibbs, you ever think maybe he'd wanna protect you just as much?"
She gave him an out on the way to the diner; that she got what she needed and he could go ahead and hop on the next flight back to Mexico now that his part is done. She knows they'll end up coming to the diner for her, and she didn't want Mike to be another fatality in her line of mistakes.
"He would," She agrees, "He would get himself blown up if it meant protecting his people."
"No bombs in sight," Mike points out, "I'm starting to get the impression you just don't want him around."
It's only being said to get a rise out of her and she's refusing to take the bait.
"I don't want his life to be in danger because of my mistake."
Mike grunts, "My life though, totally fine with tossing it aside."
She glares over her shoulder at him and it occurs to her that perhaps Gibbs took after his former mentor more than she initially expected.
"I told you that you were free to go."
Mike dusts off a stool with the palm of his hand before plopping down in the seat, "And then get my ass chewed out if something happened to Gibbs lady? Yeah right."
She doesn't mean to slam shut the cabinet door she had been perusing through as hard as she did, but the L word again was finally starting to grind her gears more than she would like to admit.
"I'm not-" She takes a deep breath in order to calm herself, "I'm not his lady. I'm not his anything other than former partner and current boss, and I would appreciate if you would stop implying otherwise."
Mike snickers, "You're fun to get a rise out of Shepard. And just cause you two haven't figured out whatever the hell is going on between you doesn't mean you ain't his something."
"I'm atoning for a mistake I made that cost Decker his life," She bites back, "And protecting Jethro at the same time. I'm not his anything anymore, just his former partner."
Mike sits in silence for a while and it gives her enough time to get her heart rate under control and try to shift her focus back to the matter at hand. Distractions were a luxury that she could not afford.
"Lot of conversations on my boat when we were in Mexico," Mike finally says, "Wouldn't call you not anything. But what do I know."
She had known that he had been married before, more times than what would have been considered normal. She hadn't known then what had happened to his wife and daughter, and maybe she wouldn't have gotten involved at all if she knew that.
And maybe there was a time back when she was younger and more naïve that she fancied herself different from all his ex wives and thought that, just maybe, what they had was more real than all the women before her.
Learning about Shannon and Kelly made whatever bit of hope she carried with her even after she walked away vanish completely.
"Jethro lost something that no amount of marriages will replace."
Mike snorts, "I didn't say anything about replacing, did I? You think he can't love another person cause he loved Shannon first? Maybe you aren't as bright as I was giving you credit for."
She doesn't know whether she wants to scream at him for bringing any of this up at all or cry because she knows it was all too late to try and fix what she broke by getting off the plane.
"We're not discussing this any further." The tone is one she solely uses when she's in Director mode and she hopes, despite how much Mike seems to disregard her position, that he'll let the subject go.
Thankfully, he takes the hint without much argument.
"You wanna tell me what is it we're looking for?"
She pushes all thought of Gibbs out of her mind for the time being and slowly surveys the diner. It hadn't looked like anyone had even entered the building in years, but she knew Decker would have been smart enough to cover his tracks if he were trying to make this place seem unimportant.
"Decker would have left a message." She surmises, "A code of some sort. Coordinates maybe, or a passcode of some kind. He was good, it wouldn't be obvious."
She's pacing as she speaks, but stops in front of a wall of photographs and stares intently at them before quickly glancing back at Mike, who's observing her with a level of intensity she isn't quite comfortable with.
But he looks away as their eyes meet, and she decides she doesn't want to know what's going through his head.
A/n: I know I'm dragging out their reunion, but I want it to flow as nice as possible. Next chapter I intend to have everyone come together, so please be patient.