On Monday morning Jenny arrived at her office dressed in a black, pin-striped trouser suit. She walked past Cynthia's desk and smiled curtly at her PA.
'Good morning Director.' Cynthia greeted.
'Morning Cynthia.' Jenny replied, forcing a smile.
Unfortunately she wasn't in the mood for smiling or even really talking to anyone. If she was honest she didn't even want to be in work, which was a first for her seeing as she loved her job; on this occasion she wanted nothing more than to be at home waiting for Penny, but Gibbs had told her to go to work and act as normal as possible because they didn't know how long Penny was going to be away for. Jenny knew he was right, but it didn't exactly make her feel any better.
Downstairs in the bullpen Tony sat at his desk throwing balled up bits of paper into McGee's waste paper basket.
Tony, McGee and Ziva sat and discussed Penny's whereabouts. It was half past seven and she was late, but Penny was never late.
'Well I haven't seen the director yet either, maybe they've taken a vacation?' McGee suggested.
'Nah McGoo, I saw Jenny and Gibbs arriving first thing, and if I'm honest she didn't seem her usual self.' Tony said as he tossed another ball of paper at the bin but hitting McGee instead.
At that moment Gibbs walked into the bullpen, causing immediate action by the team. After a few minutes of looking at Ziva with the occasional glare and nod towards Gibbs, resulting in the same look and reaction from Ziva, Tony plucked up the courage to ask Gibbs about Penny.
'Err boss…we were just wondering if you knew where Penny was? Only she's not come in yet and…well we're a little concerned.' Tony said.
'Well don't be DiNozzo; she's just decided to take a little vacation time.' Gibbs replied as he sat behind his own desk.
Down in Abby's lab Abby was busy working away, heavy rock music blaring from the stereo in the corner of the next room, when her mobile began to ring.
'Hello, Abby Sciuto forensic scientist extraordinaire.' She answered cheerfully.
Abby heard the caller on the other side giggle before they replied.
'Hey Abs it's Penny.' Penny said.
'Hey Pennla how are you?' Abby said cheerfully with recognition.
'I've been better Abs but that's kind of why I'm calling. I can't exactly go into details but I just wanted to ask a small favour of you. Could you keep an eye on Jen for me? We had a sort of fight and I've gone away for a little while.' Penny explained as she called from a phone box on the street.
'Sure Penny, but where are you?' Abby asked with concern.
'I'm not going to say because if I tell you and Jenny finds out I've spoken to you she'll only bug you to find out where I am, and I don't want her to know just yet. So if she asks you won't be lying when you say you don't know.' Replied Penny.
'Um…Ok but are you at least somewhere safe?' Abby asked.
'Yeah I'm in a nice hotel so don't worry, I'll be fine OK?' Penny said comfortingly.
'OK Penny just keep safe alright? And if you need anything just give me a shout.' Abby said before they both hung up.
Although Penny had expressed that she didn't want Jenny knowing where she was, she hadn't told her not to tell Jenny that she had called. Leaving her lab Abby took the elevator up to the top floor and walked to Jenny's office. Abby was surprised to see that Jenny was not sat behind her desk as usual, but was instead standing by the window staring into the distance.
'Um…Director?' Abby said.
'Yeah Abby?' Jenny replied without turning from the window.
'Um…I just thought you might like to know then Penny's called.' Abby explained.
Jenny turned round quickly to face the young Goth.
'Oh thank God! Is she OK? Has she said where she is or when she's coming home?' Jenny rattled off her list of questions.
'She hasn't said where she is, but she was asking after you and wanted to make sure you were OK. She sounded upset but she said that she was safe.' Abby said.
Jenny breathed a slight sigh of relief that Penny was OK, but she wanted her to come home desperately.
'If she calls again will you let her know I'm sorry and that I want her to come home?' Jenny replied desperately.
'I will do Jenny. It'll be OK.' Abby said comfortingly, resulting in a weak smile from Jenny.
Elsewhere, Penny sat in her hotel room staring at the traffic out of the window. She was still reeling from the revelations of the weekend. Although she was feeling home sick, she couldn't face going back home yet.
Having brought nothing with her she realised she was going to have to go out and get a few things to keep her going. Grabbing her coat and bag she headed out to hit the New York streets.
Whilst wondering down towards the harbour Penny heard a commotion, like a fight of some sort. As she continued to walk she noticed a young man run past her, and then about a hundred yards further down in an alleyway, she saw the body of another young man. Her instincts took over and she immediately ran towards the end of the alleyway, checking the body for a pulse but couldn't find one.
She checked the body for identification, and found a naval ID card in his wallet.
'Great, just great. I try to get away from NCIS and you turn up Petty Officer Messer.' Penny said before stopping suddenly. 'And now I'm talking to dead people, I think I've spent too much time with Ducky.' She added with a smirk.
Penny went to grab her phone from her pocket, but then remembered that she had left it back at NCIS. She began walking back into the street in search of a pay phone when she saw two NYPD officers coming towards her.
'Excuse me officers?' She said as she called them over. 'There's a body of a sailor in that alleyway, and the suspect ran off in that direction.' She explained.
'OK Mam, are you hurt at all?' The female officer asked.
'No, no, not at all. I arrived seconds after the victim was stabbed. But we need to secure the crime scene and contact NCIS.' She said.
'NCIS?' The male officer asked.
Penny rolled her eyes, DiNozzo was right you never did quite get used to people asking. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her NCIS identification bad.
'Naval Criminal Investigative Service; I'm a federal agent and since the victim was a naval officer he falls into our jurisdiction. Would you mind if I borrowed your phone a moment?' She explained before borrowing one of the officer's cell phones.
She dialled the NCIS number and was answered by the switchboard.
'Good afternoon, NCIS switchboard who can I patch you through to?' The female voice replied.
'This is Special Agent Shepard; can you please put me through to Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs?' She said.
After a few minutes she heard Gibbs' gruff voice as he answered the phone.
'Gibbs.' He answered.
'Gibbs it's Penny.' Penny replied.
Gibbs looked furtively at his team who were quietly working on their case files, and then up the stairs at the catwalk, thankful not to see Jenny. He walked from behind his desk to the back of the staircase.
'Do you care to tell me where you are?' He asked, a slightly concerned tone to his voice.
'I'm in New York Gibbs, and I have a little situation. I've found the body of a Naval Petty Officer; local LEO's are at the scene cordoning it off, but I've taken control of the investigation under our jurisdiction.' She explained.
'Right Penny, we'll be right there.' Gibbs said as he hung up.
He couldn't help feel relieved that Penny was alright, but he couldn't tell Jenny where she was just yet. He knew that if he told her she would want to drop everything to join them at the scene, which could compromise the investigation and the missions that Jenny was supposed to be working on.
He walked back into the bullpen and grabbed his gun from the top drawer of his desk.
'Gear up! Dead body of a Naval Officer in New York.' He said.
Each team member grabbed their bags and their guns from their desks, McGee stopping briefly to phone Ducky.
The four agents drove the four and a half hours to New York, closely followed by Ducky and Palmer in the van. They finally pulled up outside the entrance to the alleyway, and Gibbs was approached first by Penny.
'Hey Gibbs.' Penny greeted warmly, only to be met by a not so warm look from Gibbs.
'What you got Shepard?' He asked in his usual irritable tone.
'Well I was walking down this street here when I heard some sort of altercation. A young guy, mid to late twenties, short dark brown hair, with a tattoo on his neck ran past me in that direction.' Penny explained as she pointed in the direction the suspect had run in.
'OK; DiNozzo crime scene photos, McGee bag and tag any evidence you find and Ziva I want you to collect witness statements.' Gibbs ordered his agents, not taking his eyes off Penny.
'Right well seeing as you've obviously got everything covered now I'm going to leave you to it.' Penny said awkwardly as she turned to head away.
'Not so fast Penny; you and I are going to have a little chat.' Gibbs replied as he placed his arm around her shoulders and walked her away from the scene.
They walked beside the bay, neither saying anything at first before Gibbs finally broke the silence.
'Everyone's been rather worried about you Penny; especially Jenny.' Gibbs explained.
'Uh huh.' Penny replied after a few minutes hesitation.
'You need to call her Penny, but better than that you could go home.' Gibbs said as he stopped dead in his tracks and pulled Penny round to face him.
'Gibbs…I can't.' Penny stammered as she fought back her tears. 'Did she tell you…?' She added as a single tear rolled down her cheek.
'Yeah she did; and if it makes you feel any better, she isn't taking any pleasure any of this, or the fact that she lied to you.' Gibbs explained as he hugged Penny tightly.
'I know that Gibbs, and I'm not taking any pleasure in not talking to her or having run away. But I just can't face her right now.' Penny replied. 'I'm not coming home for a couple of days at least, but will you look after Jen for me; after all I do still care.'
'OK.' Gibbs replied simply before smirking at her. 'You know anywhere around here that does decent coffee?' He asked.
Penny gave a small laugh before walking three blocks to the nearest coffee shop where Gibbs bought them both a coffee, which Penny accepted greafully.