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After her shower Jenny walked into her bedroom next door, having used her en-suite, she had taken one look in the other bathroom and seeing the baby bath seat, multitude of bath toys and bottles of children's bubble bath realized that she and Jethro had their own space. Opening her wardrobe she saw that saw that in this life she had a lot more casual clothes, she had about ten pairs of jeans some black, some blue and in a multitude of different styles. Examining her tops she figured this Jenny was a lot more laid back. Pulling the second door of the wardrobe open she saw her suits and shirts, checking the labels she saw that they were still designer, although they were styles that were released a few years ago. Taking one out she moved to her underwear drawer and pulled out a matching underwear set before throwing her clothes onto the bed, picking up the hairdryer off her dressing table she dried her hair as quickly as she could before pulling on her suit and heading down to the kids room.

Waking in she saw that Izzy was sitting in the rocking chair again, swaying to and fro as she read 'The Hungry Caterpillar' loudly, stammering slightly over some of the words. Jenny smiled and looked over at Andrew who now had countless toys in his crib and was currently slamming two toy trucks together, completely ignoring his sister's attempts to educate him.

Jenny gave a small cough and the little girl looked up and gave her a toothy grin, 'You look nice, they did a good job on the mother ship, you look exactly like my mummy'

'Um……Thank you', Jenny was starting to regret letting Izzy think she was an alien, but then the alternative would have been so much more complicated, she smiled at the girl and waved a hairbrush and some hair clips at her, 'Do you want me to do your hair now?'

'Uh huh', Izzy jumped up and sat down on the floor causing Jenny to follow suit, she sat behind her and began gently brushing her hair, before pulling it back and securing it into the pink bauble and clipping back the loose strands with pink butterfly clips. Izzy stood up and check her hair in the mirror before turning around and nodding solemnly, 'You did a really good job'

Jenny stifled a laugh as she leaned over the side of the crib and picked up Andrew, settling the small boy on her hip she offered her free hand to Izzy, 'Will we go have breakfast then?'

'Ok, but I want coco pops'

'I suppose that's ok', Jenny headed down the stairs, Izzy on hearing she was allowed her favorite cereal was down the stairs like a shot. At the bottom of the stairs she heaved Andrew back up onto his hip since he was slipping slightly and she stroked his chubby cheek, 'Will we go explore?'

He just gurgled and clapped his hands in reply. Jenny walked through the double archway that led onto a massive living room, it looked cosy though and it was surprisingly tidy. Double French doors led onto a formal dining area and another door led into a large kitchen diner, it had another set of table and chairs and a breakfast bar where Izzy was currently sitting, looking deep in thought as she read the back of the cereal packet while shoveling cereal into her mouth. Jenny walked over to the highchair and began a struggle to fasten Andrew in, after a few minutes a set of small hands reached across and snapped the restraint into place, while a now very familiar voice told her,

'Now you just pull the tray down'

Brushing her now mused hair out of her eyes Jenny puffed out, 'Thank you Izzy, now what does he eat'

'Weetabix, my mum mashes it up for him, his bibs are in the drawer, he's messy though so mum usually covers his lap with a dish cloth so his clothes stay clean'

'Right, ok', Jenny managed a tight smile, she had been up an hour and she was already exhausted and frustrated, why was this so difficult? Rummaging through the cupboard she pulled out the cereal and pouring in the milk mashing it up, grabbing a dish towel she draped the small boy in it, he just looked up at her in bewilderment. Izzy handed her a baby spoon and she handed it to Andrew. Feeling slightly triumphant that she had at least managed that, Jenny turned to look around the kitchen again, the fridge was covered in drawings and bits of paper with paint handprints on them. Her bag was sitting on the counter, picking it up she was about to go through it, when she heard a clatter and two children giggling, turning around she stared in horror at the mess. Andrew had decided he didn't need the spoon and now had Weetabix in his hair, all over the high chair and the remnants and the bowel were on the floor.

Izzy looked up at her, her blue eyes wide and her mouth twitching in a way that was eerily similar to Jethro's when he was trying not to laugh, as she told her, 'You were meant to feed him'

'Of course I was', Jenny's voice sounded faint to her own ears as she stared at the mess. Just as she felt the need to scream in frustration the front door clicked open and a familiar face walked into the room, 'Naomi! Thank God!'. Jenny had never been so relieved to see her faithful housekeeper'

The younger woman smiled, 'Good morning Mrs. Jenny', she looked around the room, 'What happened?'

'Slight breakfast mishap, that's all', Jenny tried to sound casual but she felt she was failing.

'Oh ok, well I'll just take this little one and get him washed up, so you can take Miss Izzy to school', she quickly undid the highchair and hoisted Andrew into her arms and ruffled Izzy's hair.

Jenny watched as she left the room humming happily before turning to Izzy, 'So what happens to Andrew while I'm at work?'

'Nomi watches him and I go to kindergarten, it says in your diary who picks me up on certain days'

'And my diary is in my bag?'

'Yes'

'Great', she headed over to the counter and rummaging in her bag found the black leather day planner, flicking through it she saw that at least this Jenny was semi organized, although nowhere near as bad as she was. Flicking to the days date she saw that Jethro was picking up Izzy today. Glancing at the clock she saw she better get a move on and grabbing her bag and the car keys lying next to it she herded Izzy out the door, 'Come on lets go, I'll need you to give me directions'. The little girl grabbed her backpack and followed her happily out the door.


After dropping Izzy off at school, Jenny drove to NSA and pulled into the employee car park. Picking up her bag she realised she needed her security badge and had to empty out the contents of her bag to find it. When she did eventually locate it, she read the job description on it, the first thing she noticed was the fact she used her married name and was no longer Jennifer Sheppard but was now Jennifer Gibbs and she was Head of Intelligence Analogy. At least that was something she could do, it was basically what she did when she was in MTAC and despite the fact she had children she obviously hadn't let her career slide, now she just had to find her desk, which was easier said than done.

Walking into the building Jenny quickly scanned the directory and found she had an office on the third floor, she smiled at the security guard as she strolled into the lift, holding it open for a tall dark haired man. He slipped in and grinned at her, 'Morning Jenny, how are you today?'

Smiling politely she replied, 'I'm fine thanks, you?'

He all but leered at her as he replied, 'All the better for seeing you'

The doors pinged open leaving Jenny unbelievably relieved, 'Oh well this is my stop, bye', stepping out the lift she could feel his eyes watching her, she shook her head in disbelief, for Pity's sake she was married and he was a blatant creep, like she'd let him near her in any life.

A petite blonde ran up to her, 'Hey, I see that James is trying it on again, you think the guy would give it a break, like you'd leave that silver fox you've got at home for a mangy mutt like him'

Jenny couldn't help but laugh, making sure to glance down at the girls name tag, taking in her name, the blonde continued, 'Anyway I just wanted to give you these reports to check over, I need to run across town, FBI needs a Kurdish translator and lucky me is the only one in the area. But don't panic I'll be back in time for lunch, I'll call you when I get out and meet you in the café at the corner as usual', she smiled, 'See you then'

Jenny nodded and took the files, 'Ok Amy I'll see you there'

Walking past all the desks she smiled and greeted all the people who stopped her before finally reaching her office, walking in she picked up one of the photo frames she had on her desk. It was one of all of them, they were outside sitting on a picnic rug, it couldn't have been taken very long ago, Izzy was sitting in front smiling angelically while Jethro had a laughing Andrew on his knee, one hand supporting him while the other was wrapped around her and she had an arm wrapped around Izzy, pulling her in close. Jenny studied the woman in the photo, she wasn't looking at the camera, instead she was gazing at her husband, they were both laughing at something, they looked so happy. It was strange she was so jealous of this version of her, she looked so happy and carefree, like she didn't have a care in the world. Jenny doubted she had ever really relaxed like that, the only times she had felt so happy was when she had been undercover with Jethro and yet she had still walked away. Jenny put the photo back down and scanned over the other photo's, there was one of a much younger Izzy in princess costume, one of Izzy holding a newborn Andrew and one of Jethro and her, they were sitting on a sofa and she was curled into him, his arm wrapped around her. She shook her head trying to will away the tears she could feel building up between her eyes, it was pointless to get upset, she had made a choice. It just seemed so cruel though, to show her this life and point out the mistake she had made when she had already lived with her regrets everyday since then. Squeezing the bridge of her nose she took a deep breath and decided the best thing to do was get back to work.

The rest of the day past in a blur. She had plenty of work to keep her going and it was work she could do, which helped when you oversaw a department. It had also been nice to get away from her desk for lunch, meeting up with Amy she had listened to the woman's latest dating disasters and then the blonde had tried to find out what she was doing for her fortieth in six days. Since she didn't have a clue Jenny neatly skirted around the question and managed to avoid the question from coming up again until they went back to work. Just after five o'clock one of the young techs put his head round and looking surprised to see her asked, 'Do you not head home about now?'

Jenny had looked at him in confusion for a moment before realizing that she actually had a reason to go home in this life. As she headed back out to the car she tried to think back to the last time she had left work during daylight hours and wasn't really that surprised when she couldn't remember. Slipping into the car she began the drive home and was perturbed by the fact she was actually looking forward to getting there.


Less than half an hour later she pushed open the front door, the faint aroma of food hit her and she could hear laughter coming from the kitchen. Walking down the hallway she stood in the in the doorway for a moment watching the scene in front of her, smiling. Jethro was standing against a kitchen worktop with Andrew in his arms and an excited Izzy telling him all about her day. Behind him on the cooker there were pots boiling merrily away. At that moment as though he could sense her, he looked up and smiled at her. She headed over and picked up the pan lids, peering in she saw they contained pasta and some sort of chicken in sauce, he was watching her in amusement.

'You know I made it myself'

She turned to face him, trying not to laugh, 'Oh you must be so proud'

He placed Andrew in his playpen and then walking over pulled her into his arms. She felt breathless and flustered just from him touching her, and when he lowered his mouth to hers she felt as though her stomach was going to leap out of her mouth. When he pulled back his blue eyes were twinkling in amusement, something she hadn't seen for years, well not to the same intensity as he told her, 'I am, that sauce is homemade'

'Yeah' a little voice piped up 'Nomi made it'

Jethro shook his head and still keeping one arm around her waist turned to face Izzy, 'You traitor!'

'What you can't cook! Mummy knows that', she shot Jenny a meaningful look.

Jethro faced her again, 'You know I think someone doesn't need desert tonight'

'Nooooo! Daddy

Jenny tried not to laugh at the desolate look on Izzy's face as she told her, 'It's ok, you can have desert, but you need to go wash up for dinner'

Izzy just smiled and ran out of the room causing Jethro to try and take advantage of the fact that there were no longer any prying eyes watching and pulled her as close into him as he could, he lowered his face to hers, so close their noses were touching and they were sharing the same air, 'So how was your day?'. he gave her a concerned look, 'Are you feeling better?'

Trying to control her breathing and heart rate she replied, 'Much, my day was ok but nothing special, yours?'

'Murdered marine, killer turned out to be his commanding officer, he'd been having an affair with his wife. So the usual really. You know you had me worried this morning', he gave her a smirk, although concern was still apparent in his eyes, 'I hope you turning forty hasn't sparked some mid-life crisis'

'Says the man who is on the slippery slope to fifty and builds boats in the basement'

'You've never complained before'

Jenny said nothing just gave a non committal shrug, at least some things hadn't changed. Her attention was diverted by small giggling sounds, she looked up to see Andrew peering at them through his playpen laughing. Feeling grateful that he had distracted them, because Jethro's fingers drawing circles on the bare skin of her back, having crept up under her shirt during the conversation, was almost too much for her to bare.

She pulled out of his arms and picked up the little boy, cuddling him close as she said, 'I think I forgot to say hello to you', she got the usual babbling back in reply. Looking up she saw Jethro watching her with a look that made her heart skitter, so she turned her attention back to Andrew.

Jethro's voice cut through the silence though, 'Oh by the way there's been a slight change of plan for tomorrow, I have to go to a sexual harassment thing for a couple of hours in the morning it's compulsory, so I was thinking if you come by with the kids about twelve we'll just leave from the Navy Yard'

Not wanting to point out she had no idea what he was talking about Jenny just smiled and nodded, 'Sure that's fine……wait isn't tomorrow Saturday, why are they having it then?'

Jethro rolled his eyes, 'Vance doesn't want it to interfere with work'

Leon Vance? The Assistant Director? What has he got to do with it?'

He walked up to her frowning, 'Vance was promoted to Director about five months ago when Morrow moved to Homeland Security.', He placed a hand to her forehead, 'Jen are you sure you're ok?'

'I'm fine honest, I just forgot', she moved away from him and went to check on the dinner. She didn't really know why she was so surprised, after all she had always known that Vance had been expected to get the job and was passed over in favour of her. She could feel Jethro's eyes boring into the back of her neck and knew he was worried, thankfully just before he could say anything Izzy rushed back in.

'What are you talking about?'

Smiling at his daughter Gibbs told her, 'I was just telling your mum that we're going to be later in going to the zoo tomorrow, I have work to do, so you have to meet me there first'

Izzy smiled, 'Can I see Aunt Abby?'

'Course you can'

'Well then it's ok'

Realizing the dinner was ready, Jenny handed Andrew over to Jethro, not really wanting to wrestle with the highchair again, asking him, 'Can you get him organized, put his bib on and stuff while I serve'

He looked at her incredulously, 'You are not seriously going to give our nine month old, chicken and pasta in sauce'

Without thinking Jenny blurted out, 'Well what else is he going to eat?'

'Jen he doesn't have teeth, he'll choke! I gave him his dinner just before you came in, Jenny you know this, what is with you today?'

She ran her hand through her curls, 'Nothing I just…..my mind was elsewhere', she turned back to the plates and tried not to spill the damn sauce everywhere.

They sat down at the table and Jenny noticed that Izzy was staring at her in interest, Jethro seemed to notice too and told the little girl, 'Izzy it's rude to stare'

'But I've never seen how an ali……'

Seeing where this was going Jenny jumped in, 'Izzy how was your day?'

'It was good…', Jenny relaxed as the little girl rattled off a multitude of stories, she smiled at her enthusiasm, but she could see out of the corner of her eye that Jethro was still looking at her.


After dinner Jenny took Andrew for his bath. The bath itself went fine, it was when she was confronted with putting a nappy on him that she was stuck. What way round did this thing go on? She pulled at the tabs and one came off in her hands, she was pretty sure it wasn't suppose to do that. Four nappies later Jenny let out a wail of despair, causing Andrew to clap his hands and giggle before peeing, having not covered him up Jenny found herself ducking down while still trying to keep him from rolling off the changing table. When she was satisfied he had finished she decided to get inventive, wrapping him in a towel she carried him out into the hall grabbing the cellotape she had seen earlier. Standing him up on the changing matt she balanced him with one arm while wrapping the cellotape around the nappy to keep it in place, letting out a triumphant cry when it stayed in place. The happy feeling didn't last long though when she heard a deep voice in the doorway,

'What the hell are you doing?'

Her head shot up and she saw a bemused Jethro standing in the doorway, she looked back at her 'masterpiece' and then back up at him, 'I um…..couldn't get it to stick…..so I improvised'

'With cellotape!'

The happy feeling was completely gone now and she just gave a slight nod, 'Yeah'

'Jenny….' he rubbed his forehead, 'What is wrong? You've been distracted today'

'I'm fine', her voice sounded false even to her own ears, 'I'm just tired that's all'

'Here', he held out his arms, I'll take over bath time tonight, you just go rest'

She handed Andrew over and went to slip past him, he grabbed her around the waist and hugged her into him, whispering into her hair, 'Jenny if something was wrong you would tell me, wouldn't you?'

An immense wave of guilt washed over her as she nodded and told him, 'Of course I would', she couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes though as she said, 'I really am just tired'. With that he let her go, she headed towards their bedroom her thoughts whizzing around her head, lying down on the bed she closed her eyes a feeling of pure tiredness creeping over her and she drifted off.


After putting the kids to bed Gibbs went into their bedroom to check on Jenny, she had been acting so strangely today and it had him concerned. Walking into the room he saw her sprawled out on the bed, fully clothed and fast asleep. Smiling slightly he moved towards her and grabbed one of his t-shirts from his drawers. He drew her up into a sitting position and she just mumbled slightly, as gently as he could he undressed her and pulled the t-shirt on over her head before tucking her under the covers. She slept through the entire process, he went through to the bathroom and got ready for bed, slipping under the covers next to her, he wasn't very surprised when she rolled into him, her head resting on his chest as she sought out his warmth. Putting his arm around her he closed his eyes, maybe she was just tired, he was sure everything would be fine after a good nights sleep.


The next chapter will have the team in it.

xxxx