'I don't understand Gibbs.' Penny said through her tears, still unsure if what she was seeing was actually real.
'I'm sorry Penny, but you have to understand that we did this for your safety…and mine.' Jenny said as she spoke to her daughter for the first time in seven months.
'How could you do this to me? You've both lied to me; and Gibbs you've watched me grieve for almost a year, you've sat there and comforted me and listened to me, knowing all along that she was alive!' Penny shouted at them both.
'Please Penny, you have to…' Jenny began to say before Penny angrily cut her off.
'Don't you dare! I don't…I…you know what, I can't deal with this right now.' She said before she ran passed Jenny and into the warmth and comfort of the study.
Jenny looked at Gibbs as she tried hard to push the tears back into her eyes, but instead they slipped easily down her cheeks. Gibbs walked towards her and held her in a tight embrace, whispering in her ear and kissing her on the forehead.
'It's going to be OK. We both knew this was going to happen, we now just need to find a way to make her understand.' He whispered and Jenny nodded her head.
'Yeah you're right, I just never realised how difficult it was going to be.' She replied as she wiped her eyes and looked at him once more. 'Did she just go into the study?'
Gibbs smiled and gave a very small laugh at her astonishment.
'Yeah she did, a lot has changed in your absence.' He said as he steered her inside the room that she once spent a lot of time in, what now felt a life time ago for her.
They both sat down in the armchairs next to Penny beside the fire. Jenny placed a comforting hand over Penny's and was surprised to find it wasn't pushed away. Penny's sobs slowly began to subside as she looked at her mom, still afraid that she'd wake up to find she'd been a dream.
'Please believe me when I say I'm sorry Pen; we never did any of this to hurt you.' Jenny said and was relieved to see Penny nodding her head slightly.
'So what happened then?' She asked with a shaky tone.
'Well pretty much everything up to the shooting is true. I did make a grave error of judgement back in '99 when I allowed Svetlana to escape alive. I realised that Decker had been murdered when Drantyev mentioned the word oshimida, and I figured that I was going to be next and that Jethro was in danger too. I was trying to protect him as much as you when I contacted Mike Franks for help. The thing is when he found out that Gibbs was in danger as well he insisted on getting him involved.' Jenny explained before breaking off and allowing Gibbs to explain what happened next.
'The phone call I got in the squad room that day, it was from Mike telling me about what had happened; as you know I got on the next flight to LA, but instead of going to Tony and Ziva, as you thought, I joined Jen and Mike at the diner.' He explained and then allowed Jenny to continue.
'We started doing some investigation into Svetlana and her movements since our last meeting. She continued the work that Anatoli Zhukov had started, moving arms throughout Europe, using her import-export business. But her success wasn't enough for her and she came here to seek revenge for those, i.e. us, who had killed Zhukov.' Jenny explained as Penny listened intently.
'That's when we discovered a few things that didn't add up. We realised that Svetlana had to have received information as to our real identities from an NCIS source.' Gibbs filled in.
'So is that what you've been doing the last seven months?' Penny asked.
'Yeah, that and closing down Svetlana's operation. It was surprising how far she'd got with it.' Jenny replied with the tiniest flicker of a smile.
'So what really happened at the diner?'
'We realised that Svetlana was sending her men after us and we weren't sure how much time we had. In truth I just wanted it all to be over…so that I could come home to you.' Jenny said as she broke off, making Penny realise that this situation had been no plain sailing for her either. 'When her men arrived there were four of them and three of us, we picked them off easily; but I got shot, twice in the arm. I wasn't hurt badly, thank God, but it gave us an idea. Svetlana was still out there at the time, and so was her NCIS contact. We figured that if everyone thought I was dead then she wouldn't have any reason to come after me anymore, meaning you'd be safe, and I could secretly investigate her operation and her contact further.'
'But Ziva and Tony said they saw your body.' Penny said with confusion, still trying to make sense of everything.
'They only saw what I wanted them to see.' Gibbs explained. 'Shortly after the fire fight I got a phone call from DiNozzo saying they were concerned for Jenny's safety, that they'd been separated from her and they thought she was in danger. I took the opportunity to begin faking Jenny's death. I told them that I was on the next flight out to them, giving us about five hours to get Jen medical help before I was supposed to arrive.' He added.
'I was out of the hospital after a couple of hours, thankfully, so we drove back to the diner where Mike was keeping watch. I also called Lara Macey for help. We needed someone to help us fake an autopsy report. We also had to call SecNav and explain to him what was actually going on.' Jenny continued as she continuously pushed back the tears in her eyes.
'Once everything was arranged both Mike and I left. I went to meet DiNozzo and Ziva, whereas Mike went to a pre-arranged meeting point to meet Macey. The plan was to let Ziva and Tony see Jen's "body", take a few photographs and then have Macey's ME take Jen away. They came to pick me up from the airport as planned and the three of us drove to the diner, supposedly for the first time. That's when I "found" Jen. I took her pulse, obviously finding one, but telling them that she was dead.' Gibbs explained further.
'But what about all the blood at the scene? I mean mom's that it.' Penny asked.
'Well all the blood on my shirt was real, I'd bled a lot from my wounds, but the blood on the floor was animal blood. Jethro helped stage the scene before he left, then it was just a case of waiting. Once they'd arrived and then the coroner took me away, as far as I was concerned the easy part was over. I hated not being able to say goodbye to you. I wanted to tell you so bad that I was still alive, but as Jethro pointed out, if anyone came looking and started asking questions, your grief had to be real to protect us both. I stayed with Macey for a few days to recuperate before flying off to Europe to begin my investigations, only…'
'…so it was you I saw at the cemetery!' Penny exclaimed in realisation as she remembered the red head she'd seen in the grounds of the cemetery, on the day of her mom's funeral.
'Yeah you did. I ran a big risk coming to the cemetery, but I had to see you, even if was just for a second. I wanted to make sure that you were being looked after.' Jenny explained as a couple of tears ran down her cheek.
'So have you been in Europe all this time?'
'Yeah I've been moving around a lot, trying to shut down Svetlana's operation and investigating who it was in NCIS who told her our true identities.'
'So why are you back now? And is it for good?' Penny asked as she realised that her mom's job may not be over yet.
'Well my mission in Europe is now complete, as far as we know, but my investigation led me back here, to DC.' Jenny replied.
'We still don't know exactly who, but we have a hunch as to who might have betrayed us. We just now have to catch them.' Gibbs added with a coy smile.
'How are we going to do that?' Penny asked with a determined tone, wanting to make sure she was part of their plan.
'We?' Jenny asked with a raised eyebrow.
'Yes, we Jennifer. I want to be part of this now; I want this whole thing to be over so that I can get my mom back. I mean, you will be coming back, won't you?' Penny said until she realised that maybe her wish was quite going to come true.
'Absolutely! I want this to be over so I can come home.' Jenny said as she stood up and held her arms out to her daughter, hoping Penny would now be ready to be held once again, something that she'd missed more than anything else.
Penny leapt from her seat and almost threw herself at her mom. They both allowed their tears to run down their cheeks as they onto each other tightly, neither believing that they were holding on to the other once again. After a few moments Jenny pulled away slightly and placed her hands on Penny's cheeks to look at her daughter.
'I am so sorry for hurting you Penny, please believe me when I say that this was the hardest part of this mission, knowing that I was hurting you.' She said and was relieved to see Penny nodding her head.
'Back to my original question though; how do we intend on catching out the person who put us in this position?' Penny asked again looking from Jenny to Gibbs and back again, noting their small smirks as they looked at each other.