Thank you everyone for the lovely reviews. story alerts, and favoriting my story! I was inspired recently and got this chapter written within one night, I'm satisfied with it and finally have a strong idea about the direction of the story. If you have any questions/ideas/suggestions, please feel free to PM me or leave them in a review :) Also, I do not have a beta, (excuse my mistakes, I apologise in advance for them!) and would GREATLY appreciate someone to bounce ideas off of.

Anyways, leave me some feedback, I love hearing from you guys!

Enjoy!

xoxo-C

Gibbs stared at the scene in front of him, frustration and curiosity radiating from his body as he watched his entire team hovering over the computer in Abby's lab. Before Gibbs had a chance to walk further into the lab with a limping Jenny, Abby turned around and smiled widely. Running up to them and blocking his view of his troubling team she said breathily;

"Hey Gibbs! Is this her? Wow you always get involved with the prettiest women, which isn't really surprising because well…look at you, you're a silver haired fox!"

"Abs…"

Jenny smirked at the young woman's remark, sneaking a glance at Gibbs to watch his reaction. She was surprised when she saw something change in his cobalt blue eyes when he interacted with the goth. Jenny saw a special type of adoration, something that brought up many memories from her past, painful memories she had battled to push out of her mind on a daily basis. She watched Gibbs and Abby in a complete daze, and for a split second she wasn't seeing them anymore, she was seeing her father and herself.

"Jen, are you okay? Jen." Gibbs shook the red-heads shoulder, concern evident in his voice.

"Yes. I'm just terribly tired." Jenny looked around and noticed that she was the main focus of everyone's attention now. Refusing to be intimidated she reached her hand out to Abby.

"Hello Abby, it's very nice to meet you." Jenny looked Abby up and down, taking in the combat boots and the black outfit she was wearing.

Abby paused, watching Jenny watch her. She crossed her arms almost defensively, not taking being judged in a positive light.

"I love your outfit too!" Jenny said sincerely, adding a wink at the end.

All traces of discomfort left Abby and she happily pulled Jenny in for a light hug, careful to mind her recent injury.

"Awh thank you, Ms. Shepard! Do you think I can call you Jenny though? I mean only if you prefer that, I can call you whatever you want!"

Gibbs watched the women carefully, relieved that they got along and then confused over his relief. What would it matter to him if Abby liked or disliked Jenny? He and Jenny had JUST met hours ago, so why was Abby's approval important to him?

The agent shook his head softly, turning his attention to his team when he knew Abby was taking care of Jen.

Tony looked relieved and content, Gibbs contemplated giving him a good ol' slap on the back of the head but decided against it when he noticed Ziva's tense posture. He walked up to her.

"Everything alright Officer David?" He asked, watching as she avoided his gaze and continued to watch Jenny.

"Yes."

"There a reason you look…interested in Ms. Shepard?"

Ziva met his eyes finally. "No, I just thought I had seen her somewhere before. I must be mistaken."

Gibbs nodded, accepting the answer and turned his attention to McGee, who looked like he was nervous.

"McGee, what are you doing there?" Gibbs questioned, his eyes struggling to look at the partially blocked computer screen.

"Uhm, nothing boss, just looking up some information." Gibbs held back a smirk, always enjoying messing with the young, easily faltered man.

"What kind of information, elflord?" Gibbs' eyes stayed on McGee and he heard Tony choke back laughter. McGee's eyes widened and he stuttered a response.

"Uh, well, you see we were just checking out your friend uh, Jenny, to figure out why someone would want to hurt her, boss."

Gibbs' eyes flashed to the screen and he saw a photo of the said woman. Examining it further with squinting eyes he read that she was divorced and her father had been Jasper Shepard, a deceased colonel who had worked at the Pentagon in arms control.

Suicide.

Gibbs' eyes turned to Jenny, and he was surprised to find she was already looking at him. He looked away and back to the screen. Gibbs felt like he had stumbled onto dangerous territory and he desperately wanted to back-track. He minimized the window and glared hard at his team.

Walking back towards Jenny and Abby he temporarily allowed himself to think. He had his fair share of painful secrets, and he looked at her in a new way. There was a feeling of mutual understanding and respect coursing between them now, well on his part anyways. Gibbs thought it was unwarranted that he intruded on her private life without being invited to but he made a silent oath to disregard her father until she felt it was necessary to speak to him about it, and that was if she even deemed him worthy of discussing it.

His attention of averted to the red heads amiable laugh. She and Abby were talking about something and he watched with amusement as the goth guilted her into tasting a Caf-Pow.

Gibbs outwardly laughed this time at Jenny as she made a contorted face, scrunching her face in an adorable way.

"What? You not a fan of Caf-Pows either?" He said, his eyes lingering on her lips slightly as she licked the rest of the drink from her mouth.

"Nah, I'm more of a coffee and bourbon kind of girl. But thanks for letting me try Abs."

Gibbs' eyes widened, not sure if he was more surprised at her referring to Abby as 'Abs' or the fact that she liked bourbon.

"It's alright Jenny! Gibbs likes coffee and bourbon too," she paused and raised her eyebrows. "He also likes redheads…"

Gibbs interrupted, placing his hand on the forensic scientists shoulder and avoiding Jenny's amused look.

"Abby, remember that favor I needed? Get to it…now."

"Oh yeah! You need shoes! Would you prefer boots, or slippers?" Abby said excitedly.

Jenny met Gibbs' eyes with a nervous look, the moment disappeared and the red head looked back at Abby.

"Whatever you want Abby, I'm not picky."

The car ride had been mostly silent, only a few words were spoken about the humor of Jenny's fuzzy, bright, neon orange slippers until the woman couldn't resist her curiosity any longer.

"Abby's a very wonderful and bright young woman." She stated, her eyes still looking out the passenger window.

Gibbs spared her a glance and turned his eyes back to the road.

"Uh huh."

"The rest of your team seemed pleasant as well, you must enjoy working with them?"

"Yup." He began to wonder what direction the conversation would take, he knew she was fishing, and he didn't feel particularly inclined to stop her.

"I take it you're not a man of many words Jethro?" She finally looked at him, waiting.

"I let my actions speak for me, Jen." The use of her name made her smile softly, and she was intensely satisfied with his answer.

"Well, this isn't exactly how I'd imagined our first date." That statement grabbed Gibbs' attention, and he glanced at her with amusement.

"First date huh?"

Jenny looked down in embarrassment.

"Well, why else would you have left me your number earlier tonight at the shop?"

Gibbs ignored the comment and just smiled, knowing his lack of reply would bother her. Enjoying the fact that she would have contacted him again under different circumstances.

"We're here." He said, turning off the car and getting out. Jenny reached for the door handle and was surprised when Gibbs beat her to it, helping her out into the night.

"That was rather chivalrous of you Jethro. Thank you."

Gibbs nodded in response, placing his hand on her back and directing her towards the police car on the other side of the road. The uniform stepped out and as did the one in the passenger seat, one was male and the other female.

Gibbs shared a few words with them and Jenny looked at her watch, finally feeling tired. It was 5:00 AM.

"Can we hurry this up Jethro? I'd like to sleep before I have to go back to work today."

He walked up to her and held out his hand. Jenny looked down at it, confused.

"What?"

"Keys. I need to get inside first, once it's cleared you can sleep, you need it Jen."

She nodded and put her key ring in his hand, watching tiredly as he and the other male cop walked up to her door, and entered warily.

"Ma'am, can you think of anyone that would want to hurt you, for any reason?" The female said, walking up to her.

Jenny shook her head and laughed. "Quite frankly I don't think anyone is 'out to get me'."

The woman looked at Jen, waiting for her to further elaborate.

"I just think it was someone's attempt at robbing me, or heaven forbid a rapist. Either way I fought him and I'm alright. There's a 98% chance that I won't find myself in that situation again."

The cop nodded, seeming to agree with Jenny's sureness.

"Thank you for taking the time to survey my house, although it's greatly unnecessary."

"Well, we typically like to be sure and take all precautions after someone has been attacked. You aren't acting as a typical victim, are you sure you're alright."

Jenny thought of Gibbs, and the feeling of security he gave her.

"I'm more than alright."

Gibbs entered the big house and looked around, signaling for the cop to check the back of the house while he covered the upstairs and the study. Walking into the study he realized this was a room that was used more often than the others.

He noticed the bottle of bourbon sitting on her desk with an empty glass. There was a fireplace, which looked recently used. On the small couch was a pillow and a throw, Gibbs decided she had spent her nights in here often, opting to sleep on the sofa rather than her own bed. His gut told him that all was well in the study, and he made his way upstairs.

He checked the bathroom, the spare room and a blank, empty storage room. Everything looked in place.

Gibbs came to the last room and determined it as the master bed room. Opening the door slowly he let his eyes adjust to the dark room. He felt for a light switch and flicked it on.

His eyes traveled over the large King-sized bed and he imagined how often she had guests over for sleepovers. Ignoring the bed he carefully examined the television set, her bare dresser except for a makeup bag and different perfumes, and her night-stand. Upon her night stand was a lamp, along with a picture of whom he assumed to be her and her father at her graduation. Gibbs' eyes traveled over the night-stand, almost skipping over the sticky note placed on top of it.

Call Michael, order a shipment of Jamaican blended coffee for the shop, T.F, shooting range, call Aunt Fern back.

It was a to-do list, Gibbs picked it up, surprised at the reference to the shooting range and making a mental note to question her about it later on. Gibbs declared the house was clear and returned downstairs, meeting the cop.

"Looks clean to me, whoever attacked her didn't come back looking for her here."

Gibbs nodded, and with that they walked outside.

Jenny looked up, unsure if she should be worried. A wave of relief and reassurance washed over her as Gibbs' eyes softened and he nodded to her. "Thank god." She whispered.

Jenny spared the two cops a smile and met Gibbs in the middle of the street.

"Everything seemed in order Jen. If anything hinky happens, you call me. You going into work tomorrow?"

Jenny contemplated it and stared into his eyes. "Not sure yet, all I can think about is being in bed," she paused, noticing Gibbs' eyes sparkle with entertainment. "sleeping." She finished, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you Jethro, it was nice spending time with you, although I can say I wish under different circumstances."

Gibbs nodded, feeling the same way. As she turned, he gently held onto her upper arm.

"I'll be by later to check in, Goodnight Jen."

Jenny smiled and continued to walk to her door, as she closed the door she paused and looked at Gibbs. Their eyes met and he felt a tinge of something, though he was unsure what. The door was shut completely and he looked back at the two cops, feeling Jenny was safe he got into his car and drove towards his house.

On the ride to his house, thoughts of Jennifer Shepard wouldn't leave his mind. He thought of Jenny and her father's death, he thought of her long red hair and the tattoo he had snuck a glance at. Gibbs imagined Jenny climbing into bed and not bothering to change clothes, falling into a deep sleep the moment her head hit the pillow. He shook his head, trying to erase her out of his mind. She had gotten to him and Gibbs didn't know what to do. It had been a long time since any woman had gotten under his skin and it blew his mind that Jenny, a woman he didn't even know, had done it within one single night.

Gibbs arrived and walked into his house, not bothering to lock the door. Immediately he changed clothes and went into the confinements of the basement. He filled a mason jar with some bourbon and picked up the sand-paper and block of wood. As he began sanding his boat, his mind began to wonder to Jenny again.

"Damn." He said in aggravation. Luckily his phone began to ring, temporarily distracting him and without looking at the number he answered.

"Gibbs."

"I need your help Jethro."