Back at Central Office

Gibbs' Desk

The whole point of joining up with NCIS was to get information, not to be put to work, but as she sat at Gibbs' desk, she found it hard to believe that the man could even read the tiny hand printing he had. Well, considering that he had to touch his nose to the computer screen to actually see it properly, she could let the idea slip in. She typed away, squinting back at the tiny post-it in the corner of her screen than to the screen itself. Inwardly, she hoped that she didn't develop the same cornea problem.

Tony and Ziva watched quietly from their desk, looking back and forth between themselves and Aiden, silently speaking their own ideas. As quietly as she could, which I might add was quite stealthy, Ziva made her way closer to Tony, all the while, keeping her eyes on their newest guest.

"Hey Zee-vah, do you think….?" Tony began before she turned to him and covered his mouth with her hand. The eye connection they shared, told them many things, sharing the ideas they had, and all without voicing them.

"But who?" Ziva asked, drawing out the syllable as she spotted Gibbs exiting the elevator. Quickly, she removed her palm and turned the back of her head away from the isle, but Tony wasn't as fast.

Aiden jolted when she heard the crack against Tony's skull, but said nothing as they exchanged words. Tony, all the while, held the back of his head. Ziva, on the other hand, looked guilty, but of what? From the glances she had managed to sneak, it looked like they were conversing like they normally would; though, the staring into each other's eyes wasn't what she thought.

He head quickly snapped back to look at the screen as Gibbs made his way from them to her, taking his time before he settled in behind her. His coffee rest on the desk, his palms on the arm rest of his chair, but, yet, he never moved it nor voiced an opinion.

Slowly, Aiden looked up, meeting his blue gaze with her own. There she met what she thought was curiosity, but later, as she would find out, it was not. With mild speculation, Aiden stood, quickly trying to move out of his way; but as she pushed herself around him, he caught her elbow. That tiny gesture had the whole team stunned.

They had watched from the beginning when he had entered and then to now where their boss had laid a hand on the new girl's elbow and began leading her towards the elevator. Even as the two passed Tony and Ziva, they said nothing, and not even the trained assassin could get a hint of what they were up to.

Tony approached Ziva's desk then, moving slowly and quietly, all the while looking at the pair of retreating backs. The other agent didn't even move as he came up behind her, but as he tapped her shoulder, she jumped in surprise.

"Tony!" She shouted, glaring up at him from the floor. Dinozzo just grinned and looked down, eyeing the way she had feel. Somehow, during the whole thing, she had tripped over something. Now, she sat on the floor, her ankles crossed and brown gaze shooting daggers up at him.

"How'd you get down there, Zee-vah?" He asked, a slight swell of laughter escaping his lips. It was just too funny not to laugh at it. The highly trained, sneaky assassin turned NCIS Agent had spooked and ended up on the floor.

She scowled, aiming her booted foot for the open area between his legs. Tony caught on and promptly closed them, easing a hand down towards her to pull her up. Ziva took it, but instead pulled him down with her. With his legs closed and attention else where, he fell quite easily, landing right beside her.

Gibbs and Aiden approached, arriving at almost at the same time. As Ziva and Tony looked up, they noticed two pairs of blue eyes boring into them. Tony found it hard not to voice a certain question aloud, but Ziva had no problem.

"Gibbs, did Jenny ever have a…" Aiden, fearing the up coming question, quickly pointed out something else, but it lost quite a lot of interest in just a few short moments. A groan escaped Aiden as she backed away quickly. She didn't want to be here without back up when Gibbs found out.

She hurriedly picked up her pace and raced down the stairs towards the only person, hopefully, to know. As she entered the room, loud music blasted into her ear drums, but it didn't matter at the moment. She had to find a certain scientist before….

"Abby!" She heard behind her in the same masculine voice Gibbs always seemed to use when he was mad. She twirled around, cringing as she came face to face with him. Abby came out of her office, a smile on her face, but as she caught the scene before her, she paused. There had to be only one reason…

Gibbs stared at them both, not speaking until he was sure they were ready to crack. If this even pertained to what he saw before, he was sure as hell going to find out what it was. From what he could tell, it had to be something important. They neither spoke about it, nor glanced at each other, and with each passing minute he saw both their faces transform into what he assumed was his own stare.

"I want answers, Abby. Now." He stated, pointing to them both after he set his coffee down on the table near by. This time, they both shared a glance, and what he assumed was a nod from Aiden. With a sigh, Abby turned and hit one button. Just one button to bring up the lab results from this morning.

Aiden sure as hell didn't want him finding out this way, but with the incident upstairs with Ziva and Tony, she guessed it was inevitable. She stepped to the side, took in a deep breath, and waited. Waited for the moment when he would turn to her and look her over, test the waters, ask Abby if he lab work was conclusive, and like always, Abby would contort and say that she was insulted.

Gibbs glanced at the computer screen then to Abby, who transferred it to the plasma. He moved that way, brushing past Aiden as he did. He hadn't noticed she had prepared; though, he did notice her tense up. As he drew closer, the words Match Found, Jenny Sheppard, and Aiden Sheppard popped up to his mind first. Then it hit him.

He turned around, taking his time to gather his thoughts as he approached the girl. He watched as she met his stare, squared her shoulders, and crossed her arms over her chest. Something he used to do when he was young or facing an opponent. He eyed the red hair, the blue eyes, the delicate turn of her jaw, the way she raised an eyebrow at something that was annoying her or trying her patience.

A small smile came to his lips then. He should be amazed, maybe angry that this type of secret was kept from him, but, when he looked down inside his memories, he always seemed to know. Raising a palm, he gently cupped her cheek, watched as she didn't flinch away.

"How…." He began before Aiden cut him off, moving away from him and towards the other side of the room. She pulled something off the end of Abby's seemingly endless table tops and once more approached him.

"Her journal. She….uh….it was the only thing I had left of her."