Note: I love every scene in the show where Gibbs and Jack share their military history. They served in different wars, but I love how they understand what each other have been through in a way I feel like the other characters don't. this was originally two different ideas for a post-episode scene but instead, I ended up with these two scenes. Please let me know what you think of it and ENJOY.
Post talking with John about his daughter and opening up to John
Gibbs is sitting at his desk in the dimmed lit up office. The only light in the entire office is coming from the small lamp on his desk. The rest of the team is down in Abby's lab, trying to trace the original source of the leaked information about the murder. Gibbs hears footsteps coming down the stairs. It is Jack. She is wearing a workout outfit. She isn't carrying either her purse or her coat. She doesn't greet him as she usually does when Jack walks by the bullpen, but she walks very determinedly to the elevator. She pretends like she didn't see him, but her very determined body language and the way Jack is looking down at the ground as Jack approaches the elevator tells him she is avoiding eye contact with anyone. He hears the elevator bell ring, and then the elevator doors open and closes.
Jack has been down in the NCIS-gym for about 30 minutes now. She is alone, and she is going hard on the punching bag. So hard that her fist is starting to hurt a bit, but Jack keeps going. She is sweating, and her heart is pounding. The best way for Jack to deal with the built-up anger is to work out in the gym. Jack knows if she talks to anyone, she might overreact. Jack doesn't want anyone at NCIS to know about her experience. The only person at NCIS who knows is Leon, and she would prefer it stays that way.
She is facing the door leading to the gym so she can see if anyone is coming. She is not in the mood for talking with anyone right now, so she will probably leave if someone else comes. It is late, so she is pretty sure no one is coming. Until she hears the elevator bell dings and the elevator doors opens. She doesn't hear any footsteps coming, which she under normal circumstances would wonder about, but tonight she prefers to be alone with her anger and emotions. She suddenly sees a dark figure standing in the doorway, leading to the small hallway where the elevator is. The shadowy figure is just standing there in the dark without moving or saying a word. Not even notifying her who it is, even though Jack has a pretty good idea of who it would be. The only person who saw her go down here.
"what do you need, Gibbs?" Jack asks as she is continuing her boxing training.
"nothing," Gibbs says and steps into the gym so Jack can actually see him. He leans against the wall right next to the door. He is just observing her.
"Why are you here, then?" she asks and finally stops boxing. She walks over to the treadmill and quickly turns up the speed to a pretty fast running speed.
"I was just wondering what is going on with you?"
"I'm fine." She says, trying to hide her irritation with his presence as she is running on the treadmill.
"you are down in the gym, beating the crab out of the punching bag for nearly 45 minutes and then continues on the treadmill. Either you really need to burn off some steam of something is wrong. What happened at John's?" Gibbs asks and walks over to Jack. He has a water bottle in his hand, and he places it in the bottle holder on the treadmill for her.
"you need to keep your fluid balances up, Jack." He says, and she looks a bit irritated at him before she grabs the bottle and takes a bit of water. She doesn't take her eyes off him. She continues to stare at him with an irritated look that tells him she would prefer to be alone right now. Gibbs goes back to his spot where he was first standing when he entered the gym. Against the wall right next to the door. He is not leaving even though he can tell that is what she would prefer, but he is not going to let her shoot him out like that. He can see something is off with her.
"I got him to open up to me about his experience." She says after a few more minutes on the treadmill where she is pushing herself to the limit.
"he told me he has a daughter who was born while he was in captivity. She doesn't know who he is. She grew up with another father."
Gibbs nods in understanding.
"so, do you think he is the killer?" Gibbs asks.
"he is a proud marine who served his country and who sends care packages to Marines overseas. Yes, he does have some anger issues as a result of living in a cage for five years, but he is not a killer. He never got any help after his escape." Jack starts to slow down the treadmill, and finally, the machine stops, and Jack steps down. She is wearing a light grey tank top that is wet from the sweat while and her skin is covered with pearls of sweat. Jack takes the bottle of water and almost empties it before leaning against the wall to calm down her rapid heartbeat. Gibbs knows he shouldn't be looking at her and thinking of how attractive she looks right now because she isn't doing good, but he is a man, and he can't hide that he finds her attractive as she looks so sporty right now. He is forcing his mind to not stare at her.
"He has no one to help him or to talk to, Gibbs," Jack says. She has so many emotions in her voice, but it isn't her usual compassion. It is something else. It seems like from the look in her eyes that she understands John on a more personal level. His story has gotten to her on a more personal level then previous cases, but Gibbs would be lying if he said that the interrogation of Whit Dexter set of some emotions that he hasn't felt in a long time. A slime scum who is framing a POW veteran for murder just for publicity and fans, made him almost feel sick to his stomach.
"he got you, Jack. The first step to healing is to open up and talk about it with someone. Today he took the first step when he opened up to you."
Jack nods, but it doesn't seem to be enough for her.
"but is it enough?" Jack asks with so much pain and emotions in her eyes.
"We are going to clear his name, and then it will be a process for him, but he has taken a step in the right direction." Jack nods, but her eyes tell Gibbs it might not be enough for her.
"Have you gotten anything to eat, Jack?" Gibbs asks after a few moments of silence.
"not really hungry, Gibbs." She says and forces a smile on her face. She pushes herself off the wall that she was leaning against.
"I'll go take a shower. I stink."
"she says and walks by him.
"can't disagree." He says with a little sideways smile and receives a playful push on the shoulder and a small smile as she walks by him to the lady's shower. That little smile on her face was all he needed for tonight to go home, knowing that she is going to be okay.
Post episode
It is around 9.30 pm. Gibbs has just finished up the paperwork on the case. The other three agents left a while ago. Gibbs is wondering why he hasn't seen Sloane left yet. She came back to the office after she had helped John reconnect with his estranged daughter. He knows the last couple of days has been rough on her. He doesn't know much about her story other than that she is an Army veteran with two tours to Afghanistan. The last one ended in 2002. Gibbs turns off the light at his desk and walks upstairs. The bullpen is quiet and dark. He walks to Jack's office and gently knocks on the door. There is no answer. He tries the handle. The door is unlocked, which tells him that she is still in her office. He slowly opens the door. The office is almost dark, only light up by a small light near the couch. Jack is lying on her sofa, sleeping. She is all curled up. She seems a bit cold. Gibbs looks around the office, searching for something he can put over her as a cover. He finds a blanket hanging on the armrest of a chair behind her door. Gibbs grabs the blanket, unfolds it, and gently places it over her. He then turns around and is about to leave the office when he notices the pictures on the small coffee table. There is one photo of Jack in her army-uniform, where she is standing together with three young men. They must be her army-squad she served along with. Jack and the three men are smiling in the photo while making some sort of hand sign to the camera. The case and John's story must have taken her down memory lane of her own time in the service. Gibbs picks up the photo to take a closer look at it. Jack looks excellent in combat uniform. Gibbs thinks to himself as he looks at the picture with a shy smile. Gibbs knows he shouldn't be thinking of his colleague like that, but she is unlike any other woman he has known before. Because she has served. She has a history in the military, and she seems to understand him differently. Gibbs looks over the other pictures on the table. There are a few different pictures with the same three men and Sloane. All photos appear to be from a combat zone. They are most likely from Afghanistan since that was where Sloane served.
"Gibbs?" Jack says. Her voice is raspy from the sleep, and she is blinking a few times before she gets used to the dimmed light. Gibbs quickly places the photo back on the coffee table.
"hey. Just checking in. See how you were doing. Didn't mean to wake ya, Jack" He explains to why he would be in her darkened office late in the evening while she is sleeping.
"Thanks." She says with a small smile as she sits up.
"What is this?" Gibbs asks.
"the case. Kind of took me a trip down memory lane. Seeing John meeting his daughter. Coming to terms with the sacrifice he made for serving his country." She explains, and she tocks the blanket up around her shoulder.
"yeah, this case was a rough one," Gibbs admits. Jack notices how he is looking at her photos on the table.
"That was my squad—the mighty Wingos." Gibbs smiles at the name. "We served in Afghanistan. Two tours." She explains. Gibbs sits down on the chair across from her. "where did you serve?"
"dessert storm." He explains. She nods. "different wars but a lot of similarities." Gibbs says, and Jack nods. She knows every war has some similarities in what the servicemembers experience a lot of death, pain, and destruction, and a lot of memories. Some good and some bad.
"Are you still in contact with them?" he asks.
She first looks at him, but then she quickly looks down at the photos. Gibbs regret he asks. he can see the pain in her eyes as she almost not audible says. "no." it takes a moment where she seems to be controlling her emotions before she adds. "it was a long time ago." He nods in understanding. He has no contact with his old unit anymore, either.
"John made some major sacrifices to serve his country," Jack says in an attempt to get her thoughts away from her own time in Afghanistan.
"every service member does. It is rough on any family to have a service member in the family." Gibbs says thinking about how much more time he could have spent with his two girls if he hadn't been on deployment.
"well, I wouldn't change it for anything, though," Jack says, trying to force a smile on her face.
"me neither," Gibbs says with a smile. There is a moment of silence. They are both lost in their thoughts about their own time in the military.
"Have you had dinner yet?" Gibbs finally asks, breaking the silence.
"no," Jack says as she snaps out of the thoughts of her fellow unit members.
"We could go to the diner. Get a bite to eat. If you would like it." He offers with a casual shrug. She nods with a smile.
"Sounds good." She agrees. She grabs all of her photos and places them back in the empty envelop on the table before she puts them back in her desk draw. She grabs her coat and puts on her black high heeled leather boots and then leaves her office together with Gibbs. After this day, Jack is happy that Gibbs stopped by her office, so she didn't have to go home to her apartment alone. She stayed in her office, precisely because she didn't want to be alone in her apartment tonight.
Note: I am not a service member myself (yet – I am planning on joining the army when I finish school), so what I describe in this chapter is purely my imagination and only what I can imagine it would be like. I hope if anyone who has any actual real-life experience will like my story anyone, and it doesn't offend anyone. I am only writing for pure entertainment.