"You're sleeping with, Jethro!" Hollis Mann demanded, bursting into Jenny's office in a way that was so Jethro. The Director leveled a glare at the blonde and used all her willpower not to kill the woman in the slowest most painful way possible.
"No, I am not. As Mark Twain once said; get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please." Jenny managed icily. She had become what so many had accused her of being; an unfeeling robot, the ice queen. It was the only way she knew how to deal with the heartbreak she was feeling. She was running on autopilot, barely getting through her work as Director.
"What the hell is with both you and Jethro's team? They've been spewing quotes at us all day too! They've been calling me Colonel Flirt and telling myself and Jethro how horrible we are for breaking your heart."
Jenny just managed to hide her surprise at this new tidbit of information. She felt her heart swell a little to know that someone was looking out for her.
"Better yet what the hell is wrong with you? How dare you burst into my office and accuse me of sleeping with one of my agents? I am the Director of a Federal Agency. An agency you will now be escorted from the premises of." Jenny was ever so grateful to see one of her detail members had overheard the conversation and had come to the door of her office.
Jenny walked out onto the catwalk with Marvin, the detail member, escorting Hollis behind her. Jenny paused as she noticed Jethro's desk and the surrounding areas around his desk were covered completely in used tissues. Gross was about the only word she could come up with. There was a sign that Jenny couldn't quite make out so she leaned forward a little and then suddenly she was tumbling down the stairs, headfirst. As she fell, she grabbed the wrist of the hand that had pushed her and quite literally took the person down with her as she fell.
Her line of vision blacked out as her head came in contact with a railing during her descent. As she came to, she heard sounds of shouts and her detail going after the person who'd also fallen. She assumed it was the person who had pushed her and landed on top of her. They seemed to be fine as they were sprinting away with quite a few agents in hot pursuit, including Ziva and Tony. Jenny couldn't be sure of course but she was almost positive she'd seen a crown of blonde curls.
The redheaded Director tried to stand and found the ground rushing up to meet her. It most certainly would have made contact with her once again had it not been for McGee and Abby catching her so quickly.
"What happened?" Jenny asked, unsure of everything that had just occurred in the blur of events.
"You were escorting Colonel Mann out after she accused you of sleeping with Gibbs when she pushed you down the stairs. Don't worry the ambulance is on it's way." McGee explained hesitantly.
She almost asked why she needed an ambulance when she felt a warm trickle starting down her forehead and reached a hand up to touch it. The woman who'd suffered so much already pulled her hand away only to find it sticky with crimson red blood.
Jenny muttered something that sounded strangely like, "Son of a bitch." And just as Gibbs finally made it over to see what all the commotion was about, promptly puked on his shoes and passed out once again.
***At the Hospital****
Beeps and voices were what awakened Jenny. It took her a few minutes to take stock of her surroundings and to realize that she was in the hospital.
It took a few more minutes for it all to come back to her.
Even longer passed before she realized she wasn't alone and that Abby was clutching one of her hands in a death grip and Ziva had the other. Tony stood next to Ziva and McGee was stangind between Abby and Ducky. Her heart broke as she realized the one person she wanted to be there most was not even near here. She wished she could wipe away the tears that were beginning to flow but it was embarrassing to say the least.
Instead she cleared her throat to speak and prayed no one noticed them. "So, how bad do I look?" She questioned, actually wondering what their answer would be.
"You gave us quite a scare, Jennifer. You suffered two broken ribs, a concussion, and a nasty gash that required six stitches on your forehead." Ducky explained, exhaustion evident in his voice.
Abby bit back a hysterical giggle. "Thank God you're OK. I told you we should have killed her!" She insisted, turning to Ziva who was reaching for tissues.
"I promise she will be in severe pain the next time we meet!" Ziva held up her hand in an 'I solemnly swear' gesture and then handed the tissues to Jenny who released the Israeli's hand to accept them.
"More to add to the pile around Gibbs's desk." Tony announced grimly.
"I was wondering what that was about, would someone care to enlighten me why there are nearly five hundred used tissues around Special Agent Gibbs's desk?" Jenny's eyebrows rose as the words left her mouth.
"Well you see, those are kind of all the tissues you've used every time he made you cry. We might have been a little pissed at him but we're not going into detail here. " Tony explained darkly.
"I see."
The door to the private room suddenly burst open and Gibbs burst in. "Damn it, Director! It's bad enough you're so god damned clumsy, you have to pull Hollis down the stairs too? She sprained her ankle because you grabbed her on your way tripping down the stairs!" His words were near to a shout and everyone but Abby and Ducky, who moved to shield her from his view, sprang to Jenny's defense.
"Move." Jenny ordered through gritted teeth as she stood from the hospital bed, quite clearly disobeying doctor's orders, she was sure.
"I didn't pull her down the stairs with me because I freakin' tripped. Your little witch accused me of sleeping with you and while I was having her escorted from the building decided to push me down the stairs. She has a freakin' sprained ankle while I was hospitalized. She almost killed me and you don't even give a damn! You don't give a damn about me at all do you? Well I used to give a damn about you. Hell, I was in love with you but it's just not worth it! I just keep getting hurt. I'm do—" She never got to finish because her legs simply gave out and once again she blacked out.
Gibbs would never be forgiven for this.
When Jenny woke up several hours later, she was in ICU. There was only one visitor she was aware of through her closed eyes and grogginess. The man, for it was most definitely a male hand, was holding onto her hand like it was a life-line and he was drowining. For he most certainly was drowning, this mysterious man, in his regrets.
Jenny breathed and gasped as she took in the all too familiar scent of bourbon and saw dust. Her eyes fluttered open and made contact with blue ones.
"I'm so so so sorry, Jen. I've been such a bastard."
"Yeah, I've noticed. I don't know if I can just say it'll be alright, Jethro, because you've torn me up from the inside out."
"Please Jen?"
And she had no idea what to say because her chance for a happy ending was being presented on a silver platter but she didn't want to take it when, to her, it looked to be not out of love but purely out of guilt.
Jenny swallowed hard as she prepared to make the hardest choice in her life. "No." She'd just said no to a second chance and it was already torture but she wondered if it were for the best.
Gibbs dropped her hand and retreated to the hallway.
What had he been thinking anyway? He was in a happy relationship with Hollis. He didn't need her. He never needed her.
The team had once again been present for this moment and although they wanted Jenny to have her chance at love and say yes they knew she had a right to say know when Gibbs had put her through all of this crap.
"She thinks he wanted to make it up to her out of guilt." Ziva sighed as Gibbs walked off.
"I see we still have a lot of work to do. The work we must first accomplish seems impossible but as Thomas Carlyle said before; Every noble work is at first impossible." Ducky spoke at last.
***Author's Note***
As JibbsGal1 told me before, the characters just kind of tell you where they want to go and basically what they feel like doing. Well this is what I got from my characters at the moment but I'm sure that they want a happy ending as much as all of my readers.
-C.E.S.