Jethro Gibbs knows something isn't right the second he steps into his house at 2;30 in the morning: firstly it smells like a brewery and secondly there's a hint of a familiar scent that he hasn't smelt in years. Moving his hand to his gun that's holstered to his hip, the ex-marine Gunnery Sergeant walks slowly down the basement steps where he sees a familiar figure sitting on the chair, drinking straight from his bourbon bottle, in the dark, tears streaming down their face.
"Jen?!" Jethro exclaims, shocked as he holsters his gun and jogs down the steps to where the redhead is curled up in the chair, drinking.
"What are you doing here at 2:30 in the morning?" He asks her as he tries to wrench the bottle of alcohol away from her but her grip is too hard so he gives up for the time being and concentrates on the tears sliding down her face.
"Jen, why are you crying?" Jethro asks her. Jen shakes her head at him and takes a gulp of bourbon, a frown etching on Jethro's face at her drinking.
"Not tellin ya." Jen slurs, Jethro sighs as he scrubs a hand over his face.
"Yes, you are, Jen, so I'll ask you again: why are you crying?" Jethro asks her again.
"Nightmares." Jen mumbles and flicks her tears filled eyes to his face. Jethro shakes his head as he kneels down in front of his ex-lover, ignoring the protests his knees make, and wraps her in a hug, letting her cry into his shoulder.
"Let it out, Jen, just let it out." Jethro whispers into her strawberry scented hair.
"I… I don't..w…want to go back… t… to sleep." She gets out around her sobs.
"You don't have to." He says in her ear softly.
He knows Jen needs sleep but he's not going to force her to sleep: he has ways for his agents to sleep when they come around and it worked on Jen when she was his Probie, so he hopes it'll work on her tonight. He releases Jen, gets to his feet and drapes a blanket over her tired form.
"I'm gonna sand the boat for a bit, okay?" He whispers to her, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear, she nods, giving him a small smile.
As he sands his boat, the soothing sounds of sandpaper sanding the wood, Jethro looks over to the chair and sees Jens eyes getting heavy with each sanding noise that fills the basement and she's soon asleep.
She walks into his house as silently as a cat, thanking him silently that he leaves his door unlocked. She'd never get in if he'd locked it.
She takes off her heels before she steps over the threshold of his living room and walking down the steps to the basement where he's no doubt still working on another boat. She keeps to the shadows as she walks down them, her hand going to the hilt of her knife that's strapped to her thigh.
He's sanding his boat, his back muscles rippling through his shirt as his hands move backwards and forwards.
"Go with the grain." He whispered in her ear one night when she couldn't sleep when she was on his team and found herself wrapped up in the scent of her boss: sawdust and coffee.
She's always remembered that, always remembered and never forgotten it.
She walks up behind him, tears streaming down her cheeks as she retrieves her knife from her thigh sheath. Her whole body shakes as she wraps one arm around his throat, the sander in his hands dropping to the floor. His blue eyes wide as he notices who has just assaulted him.
"I'm sorry, boss, I love you." She whispers in the ear of her former boss and lover before she brings her thin bladed knife up to his throat and drags it across his throat before he has time to speak and try to stop her. She watches through blurred vision as he falls to the floor with a thump, slowly bleeding out. She drops to her knees beside him and sobs.
"I'm sorry, Jethro, I'm so sorry!" She shouts as the tears flow from her eyes like a waterfall.
She stays with his dead corpse until his cell phone rings, startling the whole basement into noise, shattering the silence.
She gets to her feet, grabs her knife and runs back up the stairs, only stopping once to turn to look at him once more before grabbing her heels and fleeing his house, shutting the door behind her and running into the night, tears still falling down her face as only one thought assaults her mind.
I killed the love of my life!
Jen wakes up with a gasp, sweat sticking to her body. She hears something drop and her name being called but she doesn't care, all she focuses on is the smell of sawdust and coffee, one of her her safe smells
"Jen, Jen, it's okay, you're safe." A familiar voice tells her gently but she shakes her head as tears fall from her green eyes.
"No, no, it's not okay, I killed you, I killed you!" She shouts at him as she stands up and walks around him, only to be grabbed by her arm and is spun. Her eyes are locked on his blue eyes.
"I'm right here, Jen. you didn't kill me, I'm standing right here." He tells her softly. She shakes her head.
"Let me go, let me go." Jen says as she struggles to get out of his grip.
"You're not going anywhere, not tonight. Not until you've had some interrupted sleep." He tells her.
"I don't want to go back to sleep." she whines softly as she leans her head on his chest. His chest moves up and down as he sighs and drops a kiss, as light as a feather, onto her head as he wraps his arms around her.
"I know, I'm here." He whispers. Jen and Jethro stay in each other's arms for what seems like forever. Jen feels her eyes getting heavy as she inhales his scent that's clinging to his shirt and finds herself being swung into his strong marine arms and settles her head on his chest, finally succumbing to the exhaustion she's been feeling over the last few week, combined with the nightmare she had five minutes again and the drinking she's been doing since she left the office hours ago, she falls asleep in Jethro's arms.
"I still love you, Jethro, always have, always will." She whispers before she dreams back happier times with Jethro in Paris.
Looking down at the woman that's fallen asleep in his arms and telling him she still loved him, a smile spreads across his face as he walks up the stairs to the rest of the house and walks up the stairs to his rarely used bedroom. He places the passed out Jen on one side of the bed, the one that's been cold for so long, and pulls he covers up to her chin before climbing into bed beside her himself, wrapping his arms around her.
"I still love you too, Jen, always have, always will." Jethro kisses her forehead and falls to sleep, his redhead in his arms.
