From Paris, With Love by DD Agent
I do not own NCIS or any of its characters, or its settings - all belongs to the lovely folks at CBS.
Thank you to everyone who put this story on alert or has favourited it, makes me so happy to see that people are enjoying what I write! Thank you to Maggie and .02 for reviewing! :D
Part Five will be up tomorrow, Part Six will be up Monday and the concluding chapter will be online at Tuesday. Hope you all continue to enjoy the story!
Act Two
"No. No. No."
Jethro turned around to see if Jenny was as upset about this situation as he was. She was just staring at the photographs littering her desk of them in Paris. "I see you've finally moved onto the bourbon."
She looked up at him, holding the glass tumbler. "Jethro, we know these men. We studied these men for months. The reason why we did what we did was because noonewithabadgecouldgetclosetothem. If we show up with a warrant, then we lose any chance of shutting down their operations."
Jethro snorted from his position, this time looking out over the dreariness of DC. Did it ever stop raining? He barely noticed the weather unless he was staring out of Jenny's window. Looking anywhere but at his former lover.
"So what do we do? Put on an undercover operation for a year and wait until he comes into your study before we do anything?"
The glass that shattered over his head shook him out of his haze. He had almost forgotten who he was dealing with, and it certainly wasn't Director Shepard. And if it wasn't the Director then he could get away with all the things he had not been doing since she had took the job. Like pinning her to the windows of the office.
Her hip smashed against the glass, his fingers dug into her wrists. She would have bruises all over in the morning but in that moment she didn't care. Her foot curled around Jethro's ankle, forcing him to press into her.
"Isn't it funny how we can so easily slip into being them? I can remember how we met, how you proposed. Even the details we had for our fake marriage."
The ends of Jethro's mouth twitched in a smile. "The certificates buried in that little box downstairs. Along with all our ID's - driving licences will need to be updated."
Jenny shook her head. "Ever since I set up the OSP in LA they've been keeping on top of updating undercover agents. Everything should be in working order considering we weren't burned at the end of the op."
Jethro nodded, and moved his hand from Jenny's wrist to trail down her arm. He leaned forward and rested his head next to hers. When he raised her arm again, their fingers were entwined. As Jenny sighed softly, she felt Jethro stroking her ring finger.
"The rings. We'll have to get new ones."
He could feel her sigh against the back of his neck. "I still have my engagement ring. It's in the back of one of the drawers in my bedroom," Jenny exhaled. "Sometimes I…sometimes I put it on and think about you. About us."
"Well if we're being honest I still have our wedding bands. They're in my tool box. Along with your letter."
"I thought you would have burnt it."
Jethro spun Jenny around and pressed her into the glass of her window. His hands trailed down her sides and he left his head next to hers. He blew on the back of her neck. "I tried to. But I couldn't. Last piece of you I had was that damnletter."
She looked back at him, reaching for his hand to encircle her waist. Guiding him, his hand ended up on her stomach. He pushed into her, not a molecule of air between them. Her other hand reached up around his neck, spreading herself over him.
"Tony isn't going to handle this well. Watching us undercover, it's going to remind him of Jeanne."
He watched as a tear and then another ran down Jenny's face. "Maybe he'll realise he wasn't the only one who went undercover and fell in love, ignoring that it could never last. That it never lasts."
"I miss you Jemma."
The beginnings of the façade. So much made up their lives, the way they operated and the way they moved through the world. But here was the start of it all. Wide, innocent smiles and the look of love that had never once been faked.
She rested her forehead against his. "I miss you John."
X
"Ducky, you going to fill us in here?" Tony asked, staring at the bathrooms all the way across the bullpen, waiting for Jenny and Gibbs to come out.
The sun had set and it was now two days until opening night of the play. Jenny and Gibbs were going undercover in their old aliases, that was clear. But all the little nitty gritty pieces weren't common knowledge. Two rectangular silver boxes had been brought up from a vault down in the basement, and Jenny and Gibbs had taken one each. Tony had one of those himself, although he doubted it was as well constructed as the ones in these boxes. Tony DiNardo was nothing compared to John and Jemma Vance.
"John Vance and Jemma Barrett were a married couple travelling through Europe as part of an extended honeymoon. They occasionally met up with Jemma's brother and John's friend from work," Ducky started to explain. "It was an elegant cover. I was based in Paris, playing the role of Jenny's uncle. They would live and work undercover, gathering Intel in Paris. But for a time they went along the coast."
McGee looked up from where he and Abby sat. "What did they do there?"
"State sanctioned executions," Ziva replied. "It's how I first met Jenny, we both turned up to kill the same man. I didn't know her name until much later. At least, not her real one."
Tony was still staring at the bathrooms. "What happened in Paris between them Ducky? I mean, everyone's guessed they were sleeping together. But was it something more than that?" His body was shaking. He already knew the answer, but he was hoping for Jenny's sake that he was wrong.
Ducky went to speak, but it was Ziva who intervened. "There is only so much you can fake, and believe me I am gifted at picking it up. When I saw them together, I had no idea that they could be anything other than lovers. Other than Gibbs buying Jenny a knife, of course."
"Beautiful gifts, they both had matching knives throughout their partnership. I assume they both put them in drawers when they parted ways," Ducky added, looking at Ziva with a piercing look. She got the message - it really wasn't their place to announce to the group the ins and outs of Jenny and Jethro's relationship. But this wasn't Tony joshing for extra gossip. This was him trying to determine how much to hate Jenny for what she had put him through.
A door opened to the left, and the group turned to see Jethro come out of the bathroom. The polo shirt was gone, the badge and gun removed. His hair was brushed back, his reading glasses rested on his face. For once he was in a tie and braces, his jacket hung over the back of one shoulder. Very much like an investment banker, or a property lawyer.
"John Vance, I presume?" Tony asked, and Jethro nodded.
Gibbs put the jacket over the chair and rolled up his sleeves. He opened his desk drawer and removed a smaller silver box. Opening it up with a key from his pocket, he took out an elegant carbon knife. He and Ziva exchanged nods - anonymous to each other she had helped him buy that particular set for him and Jenny.
The last two items in the box was the letter Jenny had left him, and the wedding rings they had worn as part of their cover. He took the band out, still freshly polished and slipped it over his finger.
"Boss, you sure about this?"
Jethro sighed, glancing over to Tim and Abby with an attempt at a reassuring smile. "Yeah, McGee, I'm sure. The Director's right, we need to do this. They've already seen Tony and Ziva and we have had dealings with these types of people before."
He could see Tony's jaw clicking. He wasn't happy with the scenario, and Jethro wasn't either. This was going to open up too many fresh wounds, could possibly destroy what little working relationship they had. But it was the perfect choice, their only option.
He heard a squeal from Abby and Tim's side of the room and looked up to see that Jenny had come back from the bathroom. Her hair was parted differently. It was off her face, held back with clips. She looked younger. The dress she wore was cream, and the tan jacket over her shoulders made her look like a very sophisticated version of the young woman who had run around Europe with him.
"You must be Jemma," Tony hissed. His look was one of pure fury and disappointment. Jethro supposed that Jenny could have given Tony advice about his undercover work, but he doubted Jenny would have wanted to share one of her most intimate failings. Now it was coming back to bite her.
Jenny put a similar smaller silver box down on Jethro's desk and used the key from her purse to open it. Jethro's twin knife was put in her bag, and the ID's from the other box went in there too. She felt Jethro's hands behind her as he gripped the collar of her tan jacket and slipped it down her shoulders. Its straps were thin, and a lot of her skin was on show. Just like Europe.
"Let me do this," Jethro whispered as he reached inside the box. The necklace he had bought her for their first anniversary with the stone the same colour of her eyes touched her neck. It slipped down her skin as Jethro did the clasp behind her. She sighed softly as his fingers trembled down her skin.
Jenny swallowed. "Rings?"
"Got 'em."
She reached inside her own box and took out the engagement ring Morrow had given her so many years ago. She slipped it over the appropriate finger, sighing at the cool metal. It was then that Jethro took her hand and pushed on the wedding ring, all part of their cover. All part of getting back into the heads of John and Jemma. There wasn't a lot to get into, just dates and facts. John and Jemma had always been them.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" McGee asked quietly from his seat. It all seemed so intimate, so unreal that they were the same people. He couldn't believe quite how both his bosses had changed so much. It was scary.
Jethro smiled and reached over to clasp his hands over Jenny's cheeks. She automatically closed her eyes and waited for his lips to press against hers. The kiss was soft, tender, a kiss after being apart for so long. They didn't even move away from each other, just rested foreheads and fingers together.
"It'll work," Ducky whispered.
Tony just stood there, watching the display. He now realised that he didn't know a damn thing about Jenny Shepard, or Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
X
It had been decided between Jenny and Jethro that they would spend time in a hotel room before and after the play. Neither of their houses were safe, and it would be easier to control their legends if they were staying somewhere with minimal records. So both had packed a bag, and Tony had been sent with them to make sure everything was secure.
"This whole thing is banking on those men not knowing who the Director of NCIS is," Tony stated from the doorway, still coming to terms with the knowledge of Jenny and Gibbs' previous undercover assignment. His debrief kept playing in his mind, her throwaway words making him sick.
Jethro looked up as he put the duffel bag down onto the floor of the hotel room. "DiNozzo, does anyone know who NCIS is?"
Jenny came out of the bathroom at that point, still looking very much like Jemma. Tony couldn't get over the change. The way she held herself, the way she smiled at Gibbs - hell just the way she smiled.He watched like a voyeur as Jemma - he couldn't seem to call her Jenny - walked over to her husband and pressed her lips to his cheek.
"Let's hope they don't."
Jethro reached over and curled a hand around Jenny's. He lifted it up to his mouth and kissed it. "I'm going to call Wes, make sure he knows what's going down."
Jenny nodded, slightly unsettled to be left alone with Tony. But Gibbs knew that, and despite the touching and the kissing, they would still have the same problems when they stepped off this operation. Tony would still be angry at the way he was treated after the Frog operation, and he and Jenny would still be trying to not go backwards.
As Jethro went to call Will Decker to inform him that their op was back in play - albeit a smaller version - Jenny went out onto the balcony. There was surveillance in the hotel room, the team not sure how deep Jacques Morrell and his men would check and whether their Paris aliases would make a memory dent. But for now they had a little bit of time before Jemma and John took over completely. Tony double checked their security setup before moving out onto the balcony with her.
"I don't know where to begin. I think a dictionary definition of hypocrite is certainly in order," Tony stated, resting his arms over the railings.
Jenny looked over to him, moving a lock of hair behind her ear. "Go ahead, Tony. I'm waiting."
"You're waiting? Well good for you, I'm glad you've got the time to sit here and listen to me yell at you about all the ways you screwed me over. I lovedher. But it's okay, because you're not supposed to, right? The only way you could have saved yourself a little was if you had shown a damn bit of sympathy. But you didn't, you just satthereand acted like I was a silly kid when you had been in the exact same position I was."
"You don't know a damn thing about the position I was in." Jenny moved into Tony's face, her hand gripping the railings tight. Despite their rank, there was only a few years between them. That was the incredulous thing - Jenny was young but knew what she wanted. And what she had to give up. "You go into an undercover operation knowing that nothing is real. That every time you kiss them, make love to them, it's just you playing a role. Actor on a damn stage. It means nothing."
"It was real to me. You knew it was a possibility, when I went undercover. You should have-"
Jenny slammed her hands down on the railings, her hair moving with the energy of the body. "Let it go, Agent DiNozzo. I'm sorry things didn't work out with Jeanne, I am. But you went into that world knowing that it was all a lie. It takes a special sort of person to forgive that, and I guess Jeanne Benoit wasn't one of them." The energy went out of her."Tony, I had every faith that you would be able to see through the fact and fiction and get the job done. You proved me wrong."
"Don't you-"
Jenny looked him in the face, a resolve he had never seen before strong in her eyes. "Don't I, what, Tony? You know the difference between me and Jethro, and you and Jeanne? Your world was always going to be a lie. Ours? It had the potential to be something real, because we based the lie on fact. To everyone else it was fiction, but to us it was fact."
She could hear movement in the hotel room; she knew she had to say this before Jethro came back. "You want the truth, Tony? I will always love Jethro. I will never stop loving him. But our chance is gone, our moment was in Paris and I chose to walk away. Because that's what you do at the end of an undercover operation, Tony, you walkaway. You will move on from Jeanne, and I wish that I could do the same."
"Director…"
"You were living two lives, Tony. We were living one life, just with a different past. There was no break, no escape, no downtime. We were the lie, wrapped up together. I'm sorry, Tony, but only a fool falls in love on an undercover operation. I was a fool, but at least I have the guts to admit it."
Jenny left the balcony, her hand lingering over the railings. Tony collapsed against them, struggling to make sense of his own feelings.
X
"You were harsh on him, earlier," Jethro said, reading one of his Russian books under the covers. He knew exactly where the cameras were, and he kept gazing over his pages to stare directly into the camera. Tony, Ziva and Tim were watching them. This was so very unlike Paris.
Jenny came out of the bathroom, wearing one of his old shirts. He smiled; she must have taken it out of his bag. "I didn't know what else to say. Decided to be Director Shepard about it."
"I don't think we were fools to fall in love, Jen."
She looked up from where she was, dragging out the tangles in her hair to stare at Jethro in the bed.
"Considering all we're left with, this half relationship full of arguments, wouldn't it have been better if we'd never fallen in love?"
He sighed, and stepped out from the sheets to take the brush from her hair. He forced her down in front of the dresser and started brushing her hair out. Jethro was surprisingly gentle with her hair, and Jenny sighed softly as he stroked her shoulder.
"I don't regret anything."
Jethro stroked her face, putting her hairbrush down on the dresser. He leaned down, brushing the pads of his fingers over her cheek. Her skin was so soft. He knew he shouldn't, knew that although the camera wouldn't be able to differentiate between John and Jemma and Jethro and Jenny, she would. But he still closed his eyes and moved in for their first real kiss since Paris.
"Jethro."
"I fell in love with you from the moment I met you, Jen. I had no choice," Jethro kissed her bottom lip, taking it between his and slowly sucking on it. He then pressed a butterfly kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Now come to bed, and stop worrying about DiNozzo. He's a big boy, he can handle it."
Jethro moved away from the dresser, while Jenny still sat there. Her fingers were tracing the wood, her body trying hard not to spill what was on her tongue. But it failed her. "I hoped he would fall for her."
Jethro barely heard the whisper, but he heard enough to make himself want to tape Jenny's mouth shut. He turned back around, his arms covering the t-shirt he was wearing to bed. He was so glad that they didn't have ear pieces or microphones in the room.
"Please tell me I didn't hear that."
Jenny looked up from the mirror. "I thought if Tony had his eyes elsewhere, then maybe he wouldn't be tempted to repeat our mistakes."
"I don't follow."
She let out a sad sigh. "Tony and Ziva. You were off in Mexico, you didn't see them. It was like us in the spring before Paris. Completely entwined in each other's lives, hands going where they shouldn't be going. Teasing more foreplay than flirting. I thought that if I put Tony undercover then he would be too busy trying to play the part, maybe develop feelings for Jeanne rather than his partner." She gave him a pleading look. "I didn't expect their relationship to go that far."
"You had no right."
Jethro moved back into the duvet, his book smashing the mirror which Jenny was still staring into. Payback for the glass thrown at his head earlier that day. "Jethro…"
"I really don't know you anymore Jenny."
He turned the lights out, leaving her alone with the cracked shards of mirror.