AN1: I have an important law paper due on Thursday, ergo I'm writing this.

AN2: Ok, obviously Jenny and Gibbs are a thing, but how come there's nothing (or almost nothing) written about "how close" Tony and Jenny got while Gibbs was in Mexico, either as friends or more. I thought it was fairly blatant but vague on the show. (Re-watching season 4 is/was part of my procrastination plans.) Anyone want to write it?

AN3: Angel Pagan hit a home run, which makes me very happy. And the Mets won, which makes me very, very happy. This has nothing to do with anything except that it's baseball season and my emotional state is [unfortunately] tied to the ups and downs of the Mets.

AN4: I still don't own it. Potential beta pending, so all mistakes are still my fault and the fault of the wee hours of the morning. I'm once again going to make this subject to editing.

199?

Kate was running later than usual this week. She'd been assigned to a security detail at a formal event again and was dying to get out of her slinky black dress. One downside of formal events was a lot of testosterone mixed with a lot of alcohol - neither made for a good night for the single women. It was almost worse if you were 'on the job.' Kate felt like a magnet for slime-bags. She needed "girl time."

A night at the bar with Jenny while wearing comfortable clothes was the closed Kate could get to a "girls' night." She swung by her office to change into a blouse, jeans, and flats. They felt like pajamas after a night in a dress and heels. Kate took a cab over to the normal Georgetown bar and offered the cabbie an extra $20 to step on it, hoping Jenny would be there.

When Kate got there, Jenny was at the bar in her normal state - sitting on a stool with her legs crossed, foot dangling, bourbon in hand. She was dressed as if she had come straight from work and was still carrying her service weapon, so either she'd been there for quite a while or had left work quite late.

Jenny provided an answer to Kate's unasked question. "I was kept after school today to clean erasers."

"What?" Kate picked up the martini that had magically appeared in front of her. They were there too often if the bartender didn't wait for them to order, she thought.

"Remember I told you I put milk and sugar in the boss' coffee? Well, it turns out there's an actual rule against it. Rule 23, to be specific. 'Never mess with a Marine's coffee if you want to live.' I violated a rule. I was being punished."

"Punished how? I'm assuming you weren't actually cleaning erasers." Kate tried to imagine what sort of creative punishments Jenny's boss could come up with, but the answer was surprisingly mundane.

"Paperwork," Jenny grumbled. She recited her boss' ruling, "All paperwork on all open, recently closed, and cold cases must be up to date before you leave the building."

Kate winced. It might be mundane but there was nothing worse than paperwork.

"So messing with his coffee got you paperwork duty?"

"No. I've been properly punished for that already."

Kate wanted to ask what that punishment was, but she restrained herself; Jenny's service weapon was visible and Kate's mind was going somewhere bound to get her in trouble. "So what did you do this time?"

"You assume I actually did something?" Jenny acted offended. Kate gave her a look. "I violated another one of the sacred rules." Jenny showed obvious disdain for whatever rules her boss had.

"How many of these rules are there?"

"He says 50, but I've never heard them all and they're definitely not in order. I think he makes them up as he goes. Today's was Rule 13. 'Never, ever involve lawyers.' I went and got JAG involved 'without his permission.' As if I had a choice." Jenny scoffed. "The director pulled in a JAG lawyer to oversee us once I pulled my gun on a suspect when I came up on him while off-duty."

"I don't see a problem with that." Kate really didn't see a problem. She was either missing something or Jenny was rubbing off on her now.

"Well, let's put it this way. I went on an unauthorized surveillance mission authorized by the boss, my boss, not the director, and we may or may not have been previously threatened with harassment suits by this suspect's lawyers. Somehow this is all my fault even though it was under his orders. He says I shouldn't have gotten caught."

"Oh." Kate felt better having been missing a piece of the puzzle; she was a very by-the-book agent and would hate to lose her touch in that respect. Kate couldn't believe the audacity of these NCIS agents, though after spending time with Jenny it was becoming less shocking.

"We are now being babysat by JAG for the foreseeable future. The boss is pissed."

"I'm sure he knows plenty of ways to get around using lawyers."

Jenny rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, he knows his way around them, in every way possible. He was married to one. That's where the rule came from."

2003

Kate watched Gibbs interact with Commander Coleman. It was clear that Gibbs had an obvious and deep-seeded hatred for all lawyers and no lawyer showed any love for NCIS. Or maybe it was just Gibbs... again.