A/N: Sorry for the delay. Our original chapter didn't flow with the previous ones so we changed it to a one shot. Don't blame Tori for the delay, blame my teachers and midterms(: – Jeanne.
Gibbs had never been the type of person to kiss ass to get what he wants; that left her wondering why he was being so suspiciously nice to her.
It had started two weeks ago. That night he brought her dinner and they discussed a case over Bourbon and good Italian food. By the fifth night of the exact same routine she had even grown to expect his arrival in her office.
If it had been any body else she would think that they liked her, but he wasn't just anybody else. He was Gibbs and he didn't need to try that hard, especially when (To the best of her knowledge) he was still with Hollis.
Which only left one option; he wanted something.
But what could he want that was so big that he needed to suck up like this? Surely he hadn't angered any other agency because she would have heard about it by now. He wasn't the type to be hoping for let alone accepting a promotion. He sure as hell wasn't doing it just because he wanted her to think highly of him.
She came to the conclusion that he needed vacation time, time to spend with a certain Colonel. No doubt she had pushed him into taking her on some pricey get away, to Jen that woman was nothing but needy.
She was tired of thinking about Jethro and his girlfriend. She should be thinking about Tony and if he had gotten to Gibbs, and if Ziva and McGee had gotten to Tony in time to be backup.
Backup, for what exactly she did not know, but better to be safe than sorry.
Jennifer Sheppard was not the type to spend her time twiddling her thumbs waiting for something to happen. Problems seemed to always find her, and if they didn't she would find them. There was no point in wasting your time when you could put it into good use, and right now that is all she felt like she was doing.
Gibbs, like always had gotten himself into trouble, and like always she would be there to bail him out of whatever situation he needed her to. This time he had gone off recklessly trying to solve this case, by himself. And something in her, dare she say it, her gut, had told her that this would not end well for him.
In the bullpen, at his desk no less, she drummed her fingers impatiently waiting for a sit-rep from anyone. Her cell phone lay on the desk; her eyes were boring a whole into it impatiently.
It felt like hours before the damn thing rang and she snatched it up quickly.
"Yes?" She said foregoing her usual and more formal address 'Shepard'.
"Director, umm we have a problem." Tony said nervously. Unbeknownst to her, the team had drawn straws to see who would make the call. Tony, like usual, lost.
"And? What would that problem be DiNozzo?" She was not in the mood to play word games, something was not right. Someone was hurt and she knew it was him.
"The boss man is in the hospital." He said quickly; the faster the conversation ended the better. He remembered the last time Gibbs had gotten hurt, when he had gotten blown up. He remembered dealing with a very unpleasant Director Sheppard and he was not looking forward to dealing with that again.
"Damn, what did he do?" She said her worry was cleverly disguised with then annoyance and anger she was currently feeling towards Gibbs.
"Uhh, he broke four ribs and a mild concussion, going after some baddies."
"How did he manage that?" She asked with an exasperated tone. She got up and grabbed her bag and coat all the while listening to DiNozzo's recollection of how a fist fight turned into a wrestling match and how Gibbs and the suspect had fallen off the roof of a two story building.
"Next time Tony; you can leave out all of the movie references." She teased lightly as she stepped onto the elevator.
Ducky was the only one left in the hospital when she had come. She knew that the team including Palmer and Abby had gone to visit Jethro to make sure that he was all right.
Ducky was standing with another man who was no doubt the doctor that was in charge of Gibbs' case. She had two cups of coffee in her hands and handed one to the good doctor who she knew needed it.
"Good evening, Director," Ducky said accepting the cup of coffee from her with a grateful smile. The other doctor has long been gone and the two were just silently sipping their cups of coffee looking through the clear screen at Gibbs' body.
"How is he?" Jenny asked finally breaking the silence.
"You know, Jethro. He's gone through worse," Ducky said trying to reassure his Director that her former partner would be okay.
"I know Ducky, but one of these days…"
Ducky nodded in understanding before checking his watch for the time with a sigh. He turned back his attention to Jenny an apologetic look crossing his face.
"I apologize, Director, but mother needs me home now or she will call the police," Ducky said. Jenny could tell that there was a story behind that little reason. "Would you care to sit with him so he doesn't wake up alone?"
Jenny shook her head as if to say 'no, I don't mind' because she knew that Ducky's duties were with his aging mother after hours, and her condition was more important than Gibbs'. Though, Ducky being Ducky didn't want his friend to wake up alone in his hospital bed.
Ducky walked away leaving Jenny there. She had already placed a foot inside the hospital room when she remembered something, more like someone; Hollis Mann.
"Doctor Mallard," Jenny called out to him making him turn around and face her.
"Yes, Director?"
"Has anyone informed the Colonel of Jethro's current status?"
"No, I do not believe so, Director," Ducky replied taking a step forward. "Was that all?"
"Yeah, thank you, Ducky," Jenny sighed running her hand through her short hair. "I'll just do it myself."
"Very well. Goodnight Director," Ducky said as his parting word.
Jenny didn't reply. She looked inside her black Chanel purse taking out her Blackberry and going through her contacts knowing that Colonel Hollis Mann was in there somewhere.
Colonel Hollis Mann. That lucky bitch who stole Gibbs' heart from her.
She pressed the call button and waited for her to pick up. She didn't know what she was gonna say and how she was gonna say it, but she knew that Hollis needed to know where her boyfriend was. After the third ring though, her voicemail picked up.
"This is Colonel Hollis Mann. I am not able to answer the phone at the moment. Leave your name, number and message and I will try to get back to you at the first possible moment. Bye."
"Colonel," Jenny started realizing that calling her Hollis was out of the question. They weren't friends, they weren't even acquaintances. If she wasn't Gibbs' girlfriend, she seriously doubted that she would ever call her. "This is Director Shepard, from NCIS. I'm calling to inform you as Special Agent Gibbs' next of kin that he was hospitalized today at Bethesda Naval Center for broken ribs and a concussion. I advise that you come to the hospital as soon as you can to be update with his current status."
She said it with her business tone. It was a tone that she had used many times when calling families to inform them of an agent that has been injured or died on NCIS' watch.
Jenny walked over to Gibbs' bedside after hanging up the phone. She looked down at him, remembering that look for the countless times she stood by his side while he was in a hospital bed unconscious. She was there many times while they were partnered undercover in Europe and once when he had been in an explosion while she was the Director. That seemed like eons ago now.
The only thing she remembered from those times was his face, the gentle expression he had and that when he was in an explosion, he called out another woman's name. The only woman who has ever truly held his heart: Shannon.
It was why she was prompted to call Hollis Mann in the first place. She knew that when he woke up, he wouldn't call out for her, Jenny, but for his current lover. The one who he came to at night and woke up with in the morning. The first time was bad enough; she vowed that she would never let that happen again. She was better than that, she deserved better than that.
She sighed looking around her thinking that now, she didn't have an excuse to turn Gibbs down when he requested for vacation time. She knew that on that vacation, so many things could happen, one major thing: he could propose.
Gibbs being engaged, surprisingly, hurt. After all those times he had gotten married and after all the relationships that he's been through; Hollis Mann seemed like the woman who was the most capable at being able to settle him down. And Gibbs settling down, not being available for her when she needed him, scared her.
She looked at her phone checking to see if the Colonel had called her back. Nothing.
She looked at the door expecting her to be there. Nothing.
Jenny then looked over at Gibbs' sleeping form as she sat down on the chair closest to his bed.
He twitched as if sensing her presence and she knew that she shouldn't do it, but it her action would be something she would later dismiss as a reflex.
Jennifer Shepard did what she had always done when she sat with him unconscious in a hospital bed, she put her hands over his and squeezed it, letting him know that someone was there, that she was there for him. She knew that it might not be her particular hand that he wanted giving him comfort but for now, it'll have to do.
She sat there watching the minutes go by waiting for Hollis Mann to come to Jethro and be his rock. Take her turn in sitting by Gibbs' bedside. It was something that she would have to get use to anyway, Gibbs being who he is.
After a while, the steady beep of the machine lulled her exhausted body into a state of slumber and with her hand still in his, Gibbs muttered a name that Jenny should've heard.
He said, "Jenny."