Chapter Fourteen – All in the Game

By the end of the day, Jenna felt like she'd been on an emotional roller coaster, and that exhausted her. She was yawning in the chair at Gibbs' desk as they wrapped things up with the DEA on the DAX investigation. She should feel relief that Brenna was safe, but all she could think about was that somewhere out there, Sterling Lancaster was on to her. Her neck was tight and she could feel a tension headache coming on. Closing her eyes for a moment, she was startled to be shaken awake by strong hands.

"Come on, Jenna," Gibbs said, "let's go."

She stood. "We're still doing the buddy thing?"

"Yep," was his reply.

"Where's Brenna?"

"I'm right here. I didn't want to wake you until it was time to go. You looked like you were getting a headache."

Jenna smiled at her sister and hugged her. Whispering in her ear, she told her, "Take it easy on McGee."

Brenna laughed and replied, "I will if you will," and nodded in Gibbs direction.

Jenna blushed and smiled slightly. "I don't think you have anything to worry about on that front."

---

He was watching from across the street, surprised to find each sister and the Sciuto woman leaving with different men. Steph must have messed up badly to have each one protected by a federal agent. Picking out the car Jenna was in and matching the agent with her to a picture in his file, he let the car pass by him. He knew the agent's name from the picture ID: Special Agent Gibbs. His home address was listed in the file and, once all the cars traveled past him, he started the engine of his gray truck and made his way away from the Navy Yard. Special Agent Gibbs was about to get a visit he didn't expect.

---

"So, what was with you and the private eye, Abby?" Tony asked as they slowly made their way from the Chinese restaurant where they'd just picked up dinner.

Abby grinned. "He's kinda cute, Tony."

"You go for that, huh?"

Abby laughed outright and rolled her eyes at him. "Like you haven't 'gone for that' in the past?"

Tony smiled even though he didn't feel very happy. "Oh, I have definitely never gone for that. I don't swing that way, Abs."

"I meant that you go for cute, not cute male private investigator."

"You have a point, Ms. Sciuto," he conceded.

"Exactly. Now, tell me; what is Tony DiNozzo doing to get back in the game?"

He shrugged as they reached his building and parked. "You mean other than 'going for that' every chance I get?"

Abby thought for a moment and then told him, "Never mind. I don't think I want to know."

---

"So, you're the main contact for all three buddy teams?" Steph asked, sitting across from Ziva with a glass of wine.

"Yes," Ziva confirmed, cutting into her chicken.

They had agreed to get some dinner. Steph had decided to take a break from work, since the CIA would have everything they needed to take Sterling down by morning. Steph admired the Israeli woman in front of her, knowing she was like a fish out of water coming from Mossad to an agency like NCIS.

"What made you become the liaison officer between NCIS and Mossad?" she asked her.

"I wanted a change. NCIS is a very nice change."

Steph smiled. The Mossad officer had been very talkative earlier in questioning the evidence against Sterling, but now that they were alone, she was quiet and observant. Both sides were appealing to her.

---

"You are awesome. I wish I could say it better, but there are no other words. Just awesome," Brenna told him with a huge smile on her face.

McGee blushed, making Brenna smile all the wider. He was just adorable! And his mouth was perfect. She had been tempted to kiss him since she met him, and didn't regret for a moment giving in to the impulse earlier that day when she had an excuse.

"I'm not awesome," he said quietly. "If Tony had been guarding you, or Gibbs, you probably would never have…"

"McGee! Are you trying to get me to kiss you again?" she teased. "Seriously. You need to stop berating yourself over this. You have done a great job protecting me. And I can't even believe how quickly you uncovered the evidence against Franklin and cleared my name. You're totally my hero."

"Well, that's a bit of a stretch," he said, slumping into the chair next to the bed. She moved to sit on the edge of the bed, facing him.

"Agent McGee, I think I'm more than qualified to assess my own feelings toward you at the moment. You can hedge and avoid and put yourself down all you want, but it doesn't change anything." She looked into his eyes, begging him to see that she was sincere. "I was only trying to thank you for a job well done. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm never very comfortable with someone telling me I've done a good job right on the heels of failure."

"For the last time, it wasn't your fault!" she said, letting out a sound of frustration that was some sort of cross between a growl and a squeal. "You know, you may be extremely intelligent, absolutely gorgeous and smoking hot, but you are really starting to piss me off. Nobody is perfect. If Agent Gibbs had been guarding me, I would still have been taken. And look at what happened in the lab today; Tony didn't have a moment to respond. Now get over it and stop feeling sorry for yourself. I need a shower," she added, almost as an afterthought. She gathered her things and stormed into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

McGee's pensive expression slowly turned to a smile as he leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms behind his head. Maybe he had done a good job today, after all.

---

Gibbs put the food down on the table and saw Jenna heading for the front door. "Where are you going?"

"I think I dropped my cell phone in the car, I'll be right …" Jenna was grabbed and jerked off the porch toward the road.

Gibbs was running before the man disappeared from view. Gun ready, he made it to the yard just as Jenna bit the man's hand and elbowed him in the stomach. He brought his weapon up, ready to fire, when the man grabbed Jenna and pulled her to him. Gibbs heard the gun fire a moment before Jenna dropped to the ground.

Firing openly, he ran to Jenna, keeping his eyes on his target. Seeing that the man had been hit, he looked down at Jenna. She had been shot in her midsection. Gibbs ripped his button-up shirt off, pressing it to the wound as he dialed 911.

"This is Special Agent Jethro Gibbs. A woman has been shot. She is down. The suspect got away, but I think I hit him. Get an ambulance here now," he said shortly. After providing the address, he was asked to stay on the line until emergency services arrived. He informed the lady that he had an investigation to run, but left the line open. He retrieved Jenna's cell phone from the floorboard of his car, and contacted Ziva. He filled her in on the events of the past few minutes, while attending to Jenna's wound as best as he could.

Jenna was blinking at him, trying to breathe. Her mouth opened once, and then twice, as if she were trying to speak before her eyes closed, shutting him and the pain out.

"Jenna! Jenna!"

---

McGee was busy in the kitchen when his cell phone rang. Seeing the ID display Ziva's name, he answered right away.

"McGee… What?... When? Where are they taking her? We're on our way." Ending the call, he ran out of the kitchen, through his bedroom and started pounding on the bathroom door. "Brenna!"

"Hold your horses, Tim. I'll be out in a minute."

"Brenna! Ziva just called. Jenna was shot. The ambulance is taking her to the hospital now."

The door flew open, and Brenna rushed out, still trying to tug a t-shirt over her towel-wrapped hair. "Help," she squealed.

He tried not to smile as he helped her get her shirt on. She quickly exchanged her pajama shorts for jeans, not even bothering to hide herself from him. Jenna was more important than modesty. She tore off the towel and shook out her wet hair, finger combing it into some semblance of order. She shoved her feet in her boots and was by the front door holding her purse when she noticed Tim wasn't beside her. "Tim, get the lead out! Get me to the hospital!"

"Waiting on you," he said, as he grabbed his keys and led her to the car, this time carefully watching for any threats.

---

Gibbs had hopped into the ambulance with the EMTs. The shooter was wounded and he knew Ziva was already placing a BOLO for him. Jenna was whiter than the sheets covering her legs, and the technician on her left side kept replacing bloody, soaked-through gauze with fresh ones. The driver was relaying her stats to the hospital and the tech on the right side, where Gibbs sat, was busy managing the IVs they had already started. The jolt transferring the gurney to the ground caused her to open her eyes for a moment, searching, finding his and then closing once more.

He stood in front of the reception desk in his jeans and t-shirt, staring after the techs, nurses and doctors rushing her into the emergency room. A nurse touched his arm, "Sir?"

Gibbs looked down at her. "What?" he asked, ready to follow and find out how badly Jenna was hurt.

"Sir, if you'd like to clean your hands first, the bathrooms are over there. Then we can get you to fill out this paperwork."

For the first time since everything happened, Gibbs looked at his hands. Stained red from dried blood, he had held them clenched the whole trip, blaming himself for what had happened.

"Sure, I'll clean up," he told the nurse.