Sooo I just watched the preview clip for the latest episode 15 of season 17 - and I swear cbs is killing me with this perfectly written slibbs scene! *_* I'll probably have to wait another year the watch the entire episode here in Germany, but I couldn't resist to write my own ending to this! (I hope you like it... let me know what you think!)

disclaimer: nothing's mine... well, despite spelling and grammar mistakes...

a tale of red roses

Jack took a deep breath. One hand already on the doorknob, she thought about whether or not to descend the stairs to the by now so familiar basement. When she had stormed into his home almost two years ago, she knew from the beginning that these blue eyes would be the death of her. Quite literally, if she was completely honest with herself, since right now, her heart was beating with a force she wasn't quite used to. In a weird way, she was feeling excited, scared and full of hope all at the same time. Which made it even harder to decide what to do next.

"Gonna stand there all night, Sloane?" Gibbs' voice sounded from below. Jack jumped ever so slightly, then she shook her head and headed for the stairs. She should have known. He always knew when she was there.

One hand on the banister, the other holding on tightly to the bottle of Bourbon, she made her way towards the basement.

Surprisingly enough, Gibbs wasn't working on his boat. Sure, he had changed out of his office clothes into a more comfortable pair of jeans and USMC sweater, but he just sat there on one of his three-legged chairs and cleaned up whatever he had been working on.

"Hey cowboy," Jack said softly and slowly walked towards him. "How's Phil?"

Gibbs chuckled. "Heading towards Fornell's place."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Really? I would have suspected him to be here with you. Doesn't happen every day that the woman you're dating is a murder suspect."

Blue eyes twinkled. "Was here. Sent him 'way."

"Oh, why would you do such a thing to poor old Phil?" Jack winced, but the way her lips twitched betrayed her.

Gibbs looked straight at her; blue eyes meeting brown. "Was hopin' you'd show up."

To say she was taken aback by his blunt honesty was an understatement. Trying to get her beating heart under control, she set her bag down on the floor and threw her beige coat over the boat. Then she put down the bottle of Bourbon down next to him on the table. When Gibbs' eyes noticed the red ribbon that was neatly tied around it, he smirked ever-so-slightly.

"Well, it's only fair to give you a little Valentine of my own, Cowboy," Jack said softly, and leaned against the boat next to him. Gibbs didn't say anything, just looked at her with a gentle smile on his face.

…

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Jack's cheery voice sounded through the bullpen as she swiftly crossed the room to great the team.

"Hey Nick," she greeted him happily and hugged him with a heart shaped box of chocolate carefully balanced in her hand. "So good to see you back."

"Thank you," Torres smirked. "At least someone's happy," he said somewhat knowingly and glanced at Ellie, who returned his smile.

The young blonde then quickly looked at McGee, only to see the corners of his mouth twitching with amusement.

"Nice Valentine," Ellie continued, gladly accepted one of Jack's chocolates and looked at the older woman excitedly. "Who's it from?"

"I don't know," Jack answered, although a faint blush spread across her cheeks. "Someone left it on my desk this morning along with a dozen roses and no note."

Ellie couldn't quite help the smile that appeared on her face as she quickly stuck one of the sweets into Nick's mouth, who grinned at her with the boy-ish smile she adored so much.

McGee opened his mouth, but before he could say something, Ellie added, "Uh, you know what that means," and Jack turned to look at the young agent with a raised eyebrow.

"You've got a secret admirer."

"Hmm…" was all Jack answered, and even though she tried her best to ignore the blood that was rushing through her veins like wildfire, she felt her cheeks colouring in a bright crimson. So all she could do was look somewhere else but Ellie… and in the current situation, rolling her eyes at the ceiling was the best option.

Of course, Nick was not about to let her of the hook that easily. "Oh, come on," he teased, "it's no secret. You know who sent it."

Nick smirked even more and turned towards Ellie.

The blonde only grinned.

Jack held up her hand. "Stop. Don't even go there," she said vehemently, and pointed towards Ellie's and Nick's teasing smiles. "I told you, we do not have a thing."

Nick narrowed his eyes and shrugged. "If you so say so," he mumbled and sarcasm was dripping from every word he said.

Jack narrowed her dark brown eyes, shoved one more of the delicious chocolates in her mouth and gave him one of her best 'stop-talking-now-or-I-will-hurt-you' looks.

This time, it was Nick's turn to raise an eyebrow. He shrugged, and took a bite from the chocolate bar. Ellie just rolled her eyes.

"Plus," Jack added, hoping to kind of turn the situation for the better, "Gibbs is definitely not the type of guy to send a valentine."

Now it was McGee who sent her a look. "Yeah. Sure…," was all he said, not believing her at all.

Ellie was just about to add something, when a quickly ushered "Gear up, we got a dead body," was heard from behind.

Jack, who jumped at Gibbs' sudden appearance, turned around to see him gather his things.

"Torres, are you good?" he asked, while grabbing his own stuff from his desk.

"Good to go, Sir," was all Nick replied as the team headed towards the elevator in their usual rush.

When Gibbs walked straight past her, Jack just kept standing right where she was; carefully holding on to her Valentine's gift, when Gibbs walked past her, mumbling "Nice Valentine,".

Jack felt as if her heart had skipped beat.

"You want one?" she asked automatically.

To everyone's surprise, Gibbs stopped right in his track and turned around with his lips twitching.

He walked towards her, and she held up the heart-shaped box.

The team stopped dead in their tracks. Neither Ellie, nor Nick and McGee dared to move; all aware of how rare it was to witness such a clearly private 'Gibbs-Moment'.

While Gibbs was deciding on which one of the identical looking treats to get, Jack couldn't help but hold her breath. All she could do was hope that he didn't see how much her hands were shaking.

Then, when he had made his choice, he smiled at her and his blue eyes rested on her lips for a second longer than they usually did before he leant forward and kissed her on the cheek.

And just like this, Jack's heart stopped for a moment. Sure, he had given her a small peck before, but this felt different.

Ellie's eyes had also widened. Gibbs' lips had lingered on Jack's cheek only a bit longer than usual and he had brushed his own cheek against hers before he pulled away.

It was such a small gesture – for anyone else probably not even the slightest bit important – but Ellie had seen it, and for Gibbs – a man who rarely showed his affections, let alone in front of his team – the soft and gentle way he had touched her told them more than a thousand words could ever have.

"Thank you," Gibbs added, hints of a smirk still evident on his face, before he headed towards the elevator.

"Y-You're welcome," Jack stuttered, still too stunned to say or do anything else.

Brown eyes wide, she shoved another piece of chocolate in her mouth and watched the team head of to their next case.

Nevertheless, neither Nick nor Ellie could stop themselves from teasingly blowing air-kisses towards her – both their eyes dancing with mirth and joy.

"Oh, shut up," Jack mumbled, shook her head, half-heartedly glared at the two younger agents before her brown eyes travelled towards Gibbs, who turned around one more time. The smile he sent her was almost undetectable, but she caught it. It was the kind of smile he only saved for her.

Jack knew she didn't have to say anything, so she just returned the smile before the elevator doors closed.

…

"Thought there was no note," Gibbs mumbled, head slightly cocked, and a smile playing around his lips.

Jack smirked, and moved to retrieve something from her bag. "Well, who needs a note when a girl gets a dozen delicate red roses carefully carved out of wood?"

She held up one of the roses and slowly traced the beautifully painted rose petals with her fingers.

"You like it?" he simply asked, and it kind of took her by surprise. They had danced around 'their thing' or whatever it was for so long, that she didn't expect him to be so straight forward.

Jack still played with the rose in her hand. "They're all so beautiful," she whispered, walked closer to him, picked up to more or less clean glasses and put them down next to the bottle of Bourbon she bought him.

She liked how they understood each other without words and she watched him with a small smile on her lips as he removed the ribbon from the bottle and poured the liquid into their cups. Wordlessly, he handed her one.

"For a moment I thought you preferred Ducky's chocolates," Gibbs mumbled, a small smirk on his face, before he clinked his glass to hers and took a sip.

Jack laughed happily. "And still you let Nick and Ellie believe they were from you? Thanks for that, Cowboy. I'm sure it made their day."

Gibbs chuckled. "Certainly made mine."

The blonde sipped on her drink. "You know, they already think we're having a 'thing'. Now there's no chance they'll drop it anytime soon."

"So, are we?" Gibbs asked, set his drink down and got up so he was standing right in front of her – studying her features.

Jack blinked, confused. "Are we what?"

He was so close that she could feel his breath on her face and his piercing blue eyes stared right into her own brown ones.

When he slipped a hand around her waist and pulled her closer towards him, Jack couldn't help herself but place one of her own hands on his chest. Her heart was beating so fast under his touch that she was sure he could hear it.

"Are we a 'thing'?" Gibbs whispered his question before he gently brushed one of her blonde curls back behind her ear and softly touched her cheek with the palm of his hand.