Jen heard her name being called through the dimness of sleep. She knew someone was trying to wake her up, but that was the last thing she wanted to do right now. The voice suddenly stopped, and she returned to her deep slumber and entered a dream.

She was walking along a path leading through a wood. It was beautiful; the sun was shining through the ceiling of leaves above her and shimmered around her. She smiled to herself as she kept walking through this wonderful forest. Grass, flowers and small bushes grew between the trunks of the trees and birdsong was heard. She kept walking and admired the stunning picture in front of her, when she suddenly reached what looked like a portal where two trees on either side of the path had almost grown together, their branches intertwined over the path. She walked up to the portal and looked through it; it looked exactly the same on the other side. Without hesitation she walked through it, but the instant she had passed through, everything changed abruptly. It immediately became darker and she was surrounded by tall, dead trees whose branches reached up toward a dark, starless sky. She spun around, only to find the portal gone, and behind her was the same that was in front of her, dead trees and a long, winding path. Her blood froze as she heard a cold, creepy voice call her name. She was scared, and once again spun around when she heard something crack somewhere deep inside the forest. "Oh god" she whispered and started to run in the opposite direction of the sound. "Jenny!" her name echoed through the dead forest and she ran faster, trying desperately to find another portal that could lead her away from this awful place. Suddenly she felt an ice-cold hand grip her shoulder. She screamed…

"Jenny!" Gibbs called out, shaking her slightly as he tried to wake her up. But she kept twisting and throwing herself around in her bed. Her forehead was covered in sweat and her face expressed pure horror.

"Jen!" he tried again started to shake her a little more violently. She suddenly opened her eyes, her breathing was heavy and she looked terrified when her eyes found his.

"Are you ok?" he asked, his voice full of concern. She took him completely by surprise when she abruptly sat up and threw her arms around his neck.

"Thank God it's you" she breathed as she felt his arms sliding around her waist.

"Did you have a nightmare?" he asked when she pulled away, and she nodded and slowly laying herself down again "What happened?"

"I…I was walking through a beautiful forest, and…then it all just…changed. It became a dark, dead forest" her voice broke, but she gathered herself and managed to continue the story "Someone called my name…I…I ran…I was just so scared…" she closed her eyes, but flinched as Gibbs reached out his hand to touch her shoulder. She looked at him again and saw him withdrew his hand from her.

"I'm sorry, just…whatever that was hunting me did that, I just reacted…" she began explaining, but he cut her off.

"I understand. But it's ok now, Jen. It was just a nightmare" he told her "And I'm here for you"

At his last words, Jen frowned, it had been a while since he had said that, but she suddenly didn't know how she felt about it. She rose up into a sitting position again, slowly sliding backwards until she could rest her back against the bed frame.

"I brought you coffee" Gibbs said and held out a cup for her. She accepted it and took a sip of the hot liquid, it's strong but familiar aroma helping her focus on the memories of what had happened last night. She suppressed the nightmare as she flashed back to everything that had happened. She glanced at Gibbs who was still sitting on the edge of her bed; he was dressed in his usual grey pants and jacket with a darker grey cotton shirt underneath.

"What time is it?" she wondered

"0600" he answered and took a sip from his own coffee "We need to talk. About last night"

"I remember"

"Jenny" he sighed "What do we do?"

"I don't know, I don't even know what I want anymore" she said with a small laugh "Oh Jethro, I'm sorry about what I did last night…" she started, but he held up his hand to stop her apologies.

"I know you are"

"Right…" she said and stared down into her cup of coffee. She was still feeling a bit mad at him, she remembered the fight they had had before she went to the bar, she remembered she had hoped her words would make him change his mind, especially the part about Semper Fi, but he had still wanted to divorce. Now she started to believe that maybe their time was up, maybe he had been right all along…

They sat in silence, both waiting for the other to start talking; neither knew if the other had changed their mind. Gibbs looked at her where she sat curled up, her gaze on her coffee. He wondered what she was thinking about, wondered if he should bring up the conversation. Last night, first when she had been away, and then when she had gotten home drunk, he had known what he wanted to do, but obviously the daylight had brought with it the doubt he had felt before. He wasn't sure anymore what the right thing to do was.

Jen raised her gaze, only to find Gibbs staring at something on her bedside table. She followed his gaze and found their wedding photo. When she studied his eyes she detected a hint of longing. He did not notice she was watching him, and she figured he was way back in the past, probably re-living one of the many memories they shared. She looked back at the picture, seeing how the younger Jen looked up at her new husband with a huge smile on her face, her love for him so obvious in her eyes. The Gibbs in the photo looked just as happy as his wife, one of his arms wrapped around her waist and his other hand was holding onto hers.

Jen found herself to be jealous of the younger couple, the passion they had, and most importantly their faith. How would they find that again? How would they be able to go back to what they had been, if they didn't know how to find it? Deep inside, were they still the same couple as the one in the photo, just with a different surface? Maybe the way things appeared, and the way things truly were, was not the same thing.

"I love that photo" she suddenly said, causing Gibbs to snap out of the memories. He glanced at her and noticed she too was looking at their wedding photo.

"Yeah, me too" he agreed with a sigh.

"But still… I'm still upset with you. I tried everything last night, every argument I could think of, but you didn't give in. I just don't know what else to do. In a relationship, sometimes it's just not enough that one person is fighting. I think both have to try, and I've done what I can. It's up to you whether we save us or not" Jen sounded almost defeated as she spoke. She didn't want to lose him, but she refused to fight for a lost cause. She refused to embarrass herself by keep coming up with useless arguments and clinging onto him and appear desperate.

"I know, and I have been thinking, a lot actually. Last night when you were gone, I stayed up, I was worried about you. Right then, everything you had said made sense, but now…" he began, but she cut him off

"I just need to ask you something" she started to get frustrated, why couldn't he just make up his mind and stick with it? "Why did you give up on us so easily?" she took another sip of her coffee and daringly met his gaze. This was something she had been thinking about last night at the bar. She knew from experience, he wasn't one to give up, she knew him as a fighter, a marine.

Gibbs ran his fingers through his hair. He knew he had been quick to agree to the divorce, but he just wanted her to be happy. But she had made it very clear these couple of days that she was happy as long as she was with him, the way they had been before. So what was it that had made him give up?

"It just felt…" he started and broke eye-contact with her, the intensity in her eyes was too much for him "Something changed, with us. We changed"

"What the hell are you talking about?" she replied coolly.

"You changed" he shot back and raised his gaze and met her burning eyes again. He noticed she looked very surprised and almost shocked by the accusation, he made it sound like it was all her fault.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"When you became Director…" he didn't have the chance to finish his sentence, because Jen cut him off furiously.

"Are you gonna hold that against me now? Just for the record, you have chanced too!" she burst out, her tone of voice angry and cold.

"Just let me finish!" Gibbs called out; he hated it that she always interrupted him. Jen took a deep breath to calm herself and gestured for him to go on.

"Thank you" he replied a bit sarcastically before continuing "When you became Director, our marriage just seemed to be so different. And I'm not talking about the fights, I'm talking about you. You weren't the funny, loving, exciting Jen I used to know. You changed; you became Director even after work hours. You were either too busy with work you had brought home or you had a meeting early in the morning so you had to go to sleep as soon as you got home. We didn't have time for each other, and that's when it all started to fall apart" he silenced and Jen had broke eye-contact when he spoke. She knew he had a point, she had been a bit obsessive with work, but she hadn't understood he had seen her like that.

Gibbs watched her for a while, and when he understood she would not say anything, he went on "You started to shut me out, focusing entirely on you work" That part he added just to get some sort of reaction from her, and she abruptly looked up at him.

"I didn't shut you out. I tried to find time for us, but you changed too. You started spending more and more time in the basement, working on whatever you're doing down there" she replied before they both went quiet for a while again.

"I said last night," Jen began softly "that I miss the old Jethro. You really have changed too, maybe more than you like to think. You gave up, and that's not the Jethro I know. The Jethro I married never gave up; he never lost his faith in us and our marriage"

Gibbs once again glanced at the wedding photo, knowing she was right. He suddenly felt like he had failed her, he realized he could have confronted her about her Director style earlier, then maybe they would never have ended up in this situation.

"You're right" he finally admitted "I'm sorry. But if I can change back, so can you"

Jen watched him, she could tell he was being sincere, and she knew he missed her as much as she missed him.

"Okay" she replied and he raised his eye brows "I will try to bring back the old Jen, if you become the Jethro that taught me the meaning of being always faithful"

"You're already coming back" he said "You fought for us; you believed we deserved a second chance. You are stubborn, and you didn't give up"

"So, how do we find our way back to each other?" she asked, but she was already feeling more comfortable in his presence than she had felt in a long time. Maybe it was because they had the most honest conversation they had had in months.

"How about we go on a date tonight? Forget about work or early meetings. Just spend some time together" he suggested and reached out and took her hand in his.

"That sounds…like along time ago. We haven't been out in ages" she said, but couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"Is that a yes?" Gibbs questioned teasingly, it had been a long time since she had heard him use that tone with her.

"It is" she replied softly and with their eyes still locked together they leaned closer to each other and met in a tight hug.

Jen closed her eyes and buried her face in his neck, inhaling his scent and enjoying the warmness of his body.

Gibbs felt her hair tickle his face, but he was just so glad to have her in his arms again.

"I have to get ready for work" she said with a small laugh. Gibbs reluctantly let go of her.

"Ok, you get dressed and I'll wait downstairs" he said and she nodded in agreement. Gibbs leaned forward and left a soft kiss on her lips before he walked out of the room, leaving her still sitting in the bed. Jen looked after him as he went, a smile playing on her lips as she realized they had found their long lost faith.

So, next chapter will be the date. I hope you liked the chapter and I hope you will review. Thank you so much for reading!

Take care,

Emma