Twelve
WARNING: Implied mentions of abuse (or something along those lines…)
Jenny was woken out of a deep sleep by Gibbs' tossing and turning beside her, she sat up and gently rested a hand on his shoulder. She did it without thinking, and instantly regretted it as Gibbs shot up in bed and gripped her wrist tightly. She gasped and fought against every instinct to pull away from him, she knew struggling would only make it worse if he wasn't completely awake yet.
"Jethro." She said through gritted teeth, "Jethro, you're safe."
His grip on her wrist tightened momentarily as his eyes darted around the room in panic, they paused when they landed on her but quickly went back to scanning the room.
"Jethro, you're safe, please let me go."
His face fell as he dropped her wrist as if he had been burned and quickly pushed himself away from her.
"I'm going to turn on the lamp, okay?"
She reached over and turned on the lamp, trying to ignore the insistent throbbing in her wrist. She had no doubt in her mind that there would be a mark, she only hopped that it wouldn't be too noticeable. She wasn't prepared for how lost Gibbs looked as he stared at her.
"Hey…" She whispered, reaching out to brush her fingers over his cheek, "everything's fine, just take a deep breath."
She waited until he sucked in a deep breath, it took him a few minutes to get his breathing back to normal and she placed her good hand on his thigh until it even out.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.
She wasn't surprised when he shook his head in the negative. She moved her hand to his upper arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. She knew he wouldn't talk until he was ready and she doubted he would ever be ready to talk about his nightmares. She understood that, she didn't talk about her nightmares either, those were her demons and hers alone.
"Do you want to stay up for a bit? Or do you want to be alone?" She asked gently, "I can go downstairs for a bit if you want to be alone."
He shook his head. "No, you need to sleep."
"So do you." She retorted, "but I'm not sleeping if you're not."
"Just need a minute, gonna go get a drink."
Jenny nodded and watched him slide out of the bed, she was grateful for the moment alone. She waited until he was gone before she slipped out of bed and into the bathroom, she turned on the light and pulled the sleeve of her top back. She looked at the ceiling as she did it, trying to put off the inevitable. She took a deep breath and looked down at her wrist, biting her lip at the angry red hand print on her arm, she had no doubt that it would turn an impressive shade of black and blue by morning. She turned the tap on and ran her wrist under the cold water, it wouldn't do much for the colour or swelling but it was helping with the pain.
She used her free hand to open the medicine cabinet above the sink and struggled to open a bottle of Tylenol. She took two of the pills and swallowed them dry, she let the water run over her wrist until she heard the door to the bedroom open again and quickly shut off the tap. She dried her arm off and pulled her sleeve down securely, she never wanted Gibbs to see what he had done. He would never forgive himself.
Back in the bedroom she found Gibbs sitting up in the bed, his head back and resting against the headboard.
"I didn't hear you come back up the stairs." She stated as she climbed back into bed.
"Never went down." He admitted with a small sigh, "checked on the kids then went to your office."
'Where the bourbon is.' Jenny thought to herself. Gibbs had cleaned most of the hard alcohol out of the house after she had admitted to not drinking, it had been his way of supporting her but she had asked him to leave one bottle of bourbon and a bottle of scotch in her office, just in case she had a meeting and someone wanted a drink.
"Sorry." He muttered.
"What are you sorry for?" She asked, "it's me who's not drinking, I've never expected you to stop."
"Was trying to cut back."
"And you have." She replied, "but you do what you have to to cope, you don't complain when I need to smoke and I don't care if you drink, as long as it's not to the excess."
"Thanks."
Jenny gave him a small smile and nodded, she reached over for the lamp looking to him for permission before she shut it off. She laid down and turned her back to him, giving him privacy if he wanted it. She had started to drift off by the time he finally laid down and wrapped his arm around her waist. She placed a hand over his and gave it a gentle squeeze.
N*C*I*S
Jenny groaned as she gently massaged her wrist, the Tylenol had done it's job long enough for her to get a decent nights sleep but had worn off by the time she had arrived at work. She had taken two more an hour into her morning but it wasn't working as well as it should have. She had been correct to assume that it would be a bad bruise, by the time she had woken up the hand print on her arm had turned an impressive shade of black and blue and had swollen to twice the size of her other wrist.
She had hidden it well with a long sleeved blouse covered by a loose blazer but no amount of clothing could mask the throbbing pain. Her right wrist was still sore from the shooting range but had nothing on the pain in her left one. She tried to work for another half an hour before finally giving up, she didn't want to involve anyone else but she was starting to worry that maybe the damage was worse than a bad bruise. She pushed her chair back and checked to make sure her wrist wasn't visible before making her way down to autopsy.
She hesitated in the doorway as the doors swished open.
"Ah, Jennifer! What brings you down to my humble abode today?" Ducky exclaimed, closing one of the drawers before walking over to her.
"I was wondering if you would take a look at something for me?" She asked, nodding her head in Jimmy's direction.
"Why of course." Ducky replied, "Mr. Palmer why don't you take a long lunch." He suggested.
"Thank you, Doctor!" Jimmy exclaimed, bolting for the door before the older man could change his mind, "always nice to see you, Director!"
"You too." Jenny replied with a kind smile.
She waited until Jimmy left the room before taking a seat by Ducky's desk.
"And what would you like me to look at my dear? A file or perhaps something else?"
Jenny sighed and folded her hands in her lap, "I need you to promise confidentiality."
"Of course," Ducky replied seriously.
"I need you to take a look at my wrist."
"Did you over do it on the range the other day? You really must be more careful my dear." Ducky chastised gently.
"No… Well yes, but it's the other wrist I need you to look at." She admitted softly.
She carefully undid the buttons on the wrist of her blouse and pulled it up, wincing as she did so.
"Oh good lord." Ducky whispered, "what on earth did you do my dear?"
She watched Ducky's face darken as he saw the shape of the bruise, understanding passing over his face as he gently turned her wrist.
"Jennifer, please tell me this is not what I think it is."
"It was an accident." She whispered.
"Jennifer, this was not an accident, an accident is hitting it off of the dresser or slipping and falling… This… This is abuse."
"No!" She protested quickly, "he had a nightmare and I reached out for him, I shouldn't have done it, it was my fault but he didn't do it on purpose."
"Do I want to ask why you were in bed together?"
"His dad is in town, and we both sleep better when we're together." She admitted, pursing her lips, as she looked past Ducky and at the wall instead
"Does he know?" Ducky asked quietly as he prodded at her wrist.
Jenny gasped and shook her head in the negative as she fought against the tears threatening to fall, the pain was horrible but the guilt and frustration she was feeling did nothing but add to an already bad situation.
"I'd like to do an x-ray but I do not believe it is broken or fractured, it just looks like a very bad and quite painful bruise." Ducky stated, "I cannot do much for the pain but I do recommend icing it off and on for the next forty eight hours, after that switch to a warm compress. It won't help much with the pain but it will aid in reducing the colour, since you are obviously not going to tell your partner about this."
"How long will it take to fade completely?" Jenny asked.
"About two weeks, maybe less, maybe more, it simply depends on how you take care of it my dear." Ducky replied, "I would not recommend doing any heavy lifting, putting pressure on it or any repetitive movements. Although I don't necessarily agree with the decision if you do not wish for Jethro to know about it I wouldn't advise putting make up or anything over it yet, it is much to sensitive I would simply stick to long sleeved shirts."
"So no sex then?" She asked with a weak grin, "I'm kidding, we're not sleeping together in that way, Ducky."
Ducky shook his head at her antics, as upset as he was over the situation and the obvious pain she was in he couldn't help but be glad that her sense of humour, although subdued, was still intact. He was just wrapping up his initial examination when the doors to autopsy swished open, he looked up to see Stan Burley standing there with a look of first shock and then outrage on his face as he saw the bruise on Jenny's wrist.
"What the hell happened to you?" He asked angrily, "what did that bastard do?"
"It was an accident." Jenny stated quickly, "calm down Stan, it was just an accident."
"What? Did you fall down the stairs?" He snarled.
Ducky saw Jenny recoil at the thinly veiled accusation and immediately leapt to her defence.
"Stanley! That is enough."
"What do you mean that's enough?" Stan exclaimed vehemently, "she's sitting there, black and blue, calling it an accident! We've all seen it before! Oh I fell down the stairs, oh, he didn't mean to, he said he'd never do it again! God damn it, Jenny you know better than that!"
"Special Agent Burley that is enough!" Ducky yelled, "you are making matters much worse."
"I'm going to kill him." Stan stated, turning on his heel.
Third update of the day! I'm on a roll guys…. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's a bit darker but again like always I promise there is a reason! I'd like to again thank everyone for their support with The Night Before Christmas and again remind you to drop a line for one shot prompts! Please remember that I don't own anything but I love to hear from all of you!
~Katie