The next few days went by in relative peace. She had been avoiding Gibbs as much as she possibly could, though she would never admit the fact aloud. If anyone had asked, she simply had to much work to do and didn't have the time to be any more sociable than strictly necessary.
Nothing was meant to last forever, though. When she made her way out of the elevator early that Friday morning, she was greeted by the smiling face of Abby, who stood in front of Gibbs team, bouncing slightly on her toes as she spoke.
The man himself though was no where to be found, and she was grateful.
"Morning Director!"
Jenny couldn't help but return the younger woman's smile. There was something about Abbys happiness that was infectious.
"Morning Abby."
She makes a move to continue towards the steps, but stops at the sound of Tony's voice.
"Why don't you ask the director, Abs?"
She glances between the two of them, eyebrow slightly raised in question.
"Sure," she says, "Have you ever heard of Locus Amoenus?"
She racks her brain for any memory of the phrase, but she comes up short.
"I have not."
"It's Latin," Abby explains, "It's sort of the idea of a personal paradise; like your own garden of Eden. The actual meaning gets a bit deeper, but it's essentially your idealistic happy place."
"Ah," she says, "and I take it you were all discussing your own versions."
Abby nods, "Yeah. For example, Ziva said hers was any place that she didn't have to hear Tony run his mouth about movies, or girls, or cars."
She glances behind Abby and towards Ziva, who's perched on the edge of her desk with a coy smile, and she can't help but laugh at the mossad agents antics.
"What about you, Director?" Abby says.
The question threw her. A personal paradise? She never gave something like that much thought. A happy life? Sure. But her own garden of Eden? Never even crossed her mind.
"I don't know," she admits, because she really doesn't, "I suppose I would have to take some time to really think about it."
Abby doesn't get a chance to respond, the dinging of the elevator cuts her off instead. Her heart rate shoots to a mile a minute when she realizes who's most likely on that elevator.
"Gibbs!" Abby practically shouts, "Locus Amoenus?"
He brushes past Jenny without as much as a glance towards her, and for a moment she feels a pang of something in her chest. Hurt, maybe?
She supposes he's hurt too.
He's shrugging off his coat when he answers, "Mexico."
She suppresses the urge to roll her eyes. Of course he already knew what 'Locus Amoenus' was. He was nothing if not surprising.
Abby shakes her head, "How did I already know that would be your answer."
The chatter between them shifted from the overarching question into the semantics of why Mexico was either the best paradise or the worst, and she decided this would be the best time to faze herself out of the conversation.
She makes the mistake of looking back though as she made her way up the steps. He was staring at her with an intensity that created a whole new wave of butterflies in her.
After all, she might not know what her Locus Amoenus is, but she knows for sure that he's there.