The week passed so quickly that if you blinked you probably would have missed it, although this would normally annoy Jenny who always felt there wasn't enough hours in the day as it was, this week she was infinitely grateful. The sooner she was out of this nightmare the better.

The day of her doctor's appointment dawned and as irony would have it the sun was shining and it was being described as one of the warmest day's the month of June had ever seen. Jenny wished it would rain, wished that the sky would turn grey and the heavens would open because it seemed so wrong that on such a perfect day she was taking the decision to end her pregnancy.

In the seven days that had just past she had thought of nothing but what to do, it constantly occupied her mind although she had never really consider the possibility of keeping this baby. How could she? She couldn't drag a baby into this world to be raised by a series of nanny's because she was always at work and even when she came home she normally continued to work into the small hours. It wasn't just her lifestyle, what if Jethro resented this child, after all it could quite easily blow apart his marriage, how would she explain that to a child? No it just wouldn't work and as much as it pained her she felt she had no other choice.

Having given her security detail the morning off Jenny drove herself to the doctor's, she didn't want them wondering why she was there again, yes they were usually discrete but she didn't want to run the risk that they mentioned it to anyone. As she drove through the streets of D.C. she thought about the events of the last week. Gibbs's team were once again talking to her, things weren't quite back to how they had once been but she was hopeful that given time things would continue to improve. Then on the night of her fainting spell Abby had turned up on her doorstep, rattling off an apology at light speed and then launching herself at her in a bone crushing hug. It had taken Jenny a few minutes to absorb what the hell had just happened although she was undeniably glad to see the younger woman. She had felt guilty about what she had said and she knew Abby hadn't deserved it but her stupid wounded pride wouldn't let her take the first step, however she wasn't going to turn Abby away and this gave her the perfect opportunity to apologize for her shoddy behavior as of late. Abby had of course shrugged it off and demanded that things go back to the way they had once been, something which Jenny had readily agreed to. To say she was relieved that her relationships with her friends and colleagues had improved would be an understatement, it left her feeling slightly less adrift.

Her relationship with Jethro however had not improved in fact it seemed to have reached a stalemate, he ignored her and she gladly returned the favour. Anytime she saw him she thought about that small blurry image that was currently hidden in her study drawer and what she was planning to do and the guilt of it threatened to swallow her whole. It was times like today that she realised that she was still alone, dependant on only herself.

Once again Jenny found herself sitting in front of Doctor Harper, she forced herself to look up and meet his gaze as he asked her, 'You're quite sure?'

She forced herself to keep her voice steady, 'Yes I'm sure, I can't have this baby'

'Well in that case I'll make the necessary appointment', he smiled gently at her, 'I won't be a moment', he patted Jenny on the shoulder on the way out and left her alone in the room.

Her eyes flickered over the medical posters in the room, although she didn't take in any of the information, she couldn't shake of the feeling she was making a mistake but at the same time she just didn't see another way forward.

The doctor kept his word and was back in the room within a couple of minutes, he sat down at the desk and looked at her, 'As I'm sure you're aware of the earlier on in the pregnancy that this is carried out the better, both medically and psychologically, with this in mind if you want I can offer you an appointment for nine o'clock tomorrow morning. I will understand though if you want to wait until next week…'

'No', Jenny interrupted, 'I've had enough of waiting, tomorrow's fine'

His eyes narrowed slightly, he still wasn't sure that the woman sitting in front of him had really thought through the enormity of her decision but she was adamant and so there was nothing he could do to change her mind. Instead he nodded, 'Very well then Miss Sheppard I will book you in for tomorrow, I would also recommend that you take the entire day off your work and don't attempt to go back straight after the procedure'

'I'll do that', Jenny stiffly got to her feet, her legs felt like lead as she walked to the door, she forced herself to turn and give the doctor one last smile, 'Thank you for all your help'

'Not a problem my dear, it's why I'm here', he watched as she left his office and let out a sigh, he couldn't help but feel that she was going to regret her decision, it was times like these that he didn't particularly like his job.

'Oh train wreck coming this way'

Both Ziva and McGee looked up to where Tony's attention was currently being held, to see a stressed looking Hollis head towards them, she gave them a strained smile, 'Have you seen Jethro?'

The team collectively shook their heads but only McGee spoke, 'No we haven't, I think he went to get coffee though so he shouldn't be too long'

'Fine', she sat down at his desk causing Tony's eyes to widen, 'I'll wait for him'

Hollis didn't even look at the team, her eyes instead scanning the surrounding area, looking out for her husband, his team pretended to go back to work but continued to watch their bosses wife out of the corner of their eyes, all while sending each other curious looks.

Five minutes passed in an awkward silence and McGee resisted the urge to let out a sigh of relief when the elevator doors opened and Gibbs stepped out. This urge quickly disappeared though when he saw the bosses eyes narrow as he took on the sight of Hollis sitting at his desk.

'What are you doing here? We don't have a shared case'

'I know that', she stood up and went to give him a quick kiss on the lips, the team was quick to notice that Gibbs turned his head so she caught his cheek instead. Slightly perturbed Hollis shakily continued, 'I thought we could go grab some lunch.'

He brushed past her, 'I'm busy'

Tony's eyebrows shot into his hairline at that remark and even Ziva stopped pretending to be working, Hollis's mouth fell open but then she glanced at the team and obviously thought better about what she was going to say and amended herself, 'I understand that but we do need to talk and I'm quite willing to do so here if you force me too'

At this Gibbs mumbled something under his breath and pushed himself to his feet, grabbing his jacket, 'Fine then let's go'

His team watched as Gibbs and Hollis left the bullpen, noting with interest that Gibbs stormed ahead leaving his wife struggling to catch up. Tony tutted slightly, 'Such a shame'

'I know', Ziva shook her head sadly, 'It's never nice when a marriage breaks up'

'No not that, I said it would last three months, if they end it today I won't win the pool…Ouch!', Tony rubbed at his head where the notepad that Ziva had thrown smacked off of him, 'What was that for?'

She glared at him, 'You're a creep'

They had only just sat down at one of the small bistro's tables when Gibbs sighed and rubbed at his forehead, 'Hollis this isn't working'

She gave a small humourless laugh, 'I had a feeling you'd say that. It's why I wanted to talk to you, I'm not walking away from this, from us'

'Hol…'

'No just listen to me Jethro, I married you for better or for worse and I knew your track record but you are not shutting me out!', she reached across the table and grabbed his hand, 'You know you haven't even given us a shot, you said on honeymoon that you would and you haven't. This needs to stop Jethro, I didn't get married for it to end barely two months later, but for us to even have a chance you need to try'

Gibbs looked past her and out of the window, he had thought she would agree with him, agree to walk away, maybe yell at him for a while but eventually like the other's admit it was for the best. He didn't think he could end his marriage when she so obviously wanted them to try, if he wanted too he knew how to get her to walk away, he just had to tell her he didn't love her or alternatively tell her about Jenny. That would open up it's own can of worms though and he just wasn't ready to face up to what he wanted from Jenny because he knew he wouldn't get it. It was why he had avoided her over the past week, it hurt him to see her in pain and yet whenever he went near her he just seemed to add to it and so he continued to stay away.

He looked up into his wife's trusting gaze, her eyes searching his for any sign that he would grant her her wish and move forward together and he found he just didn't have it in him to deny her. He squeezed her hand slightly, 'I will try Hol but I can't promise you anything'

'I know', she shook her head sadly, 'Just don't end it, not yet'

That night Jenny didn't sleep, she finished all of her paperwork before heading up to her bed but sleep just wouldn't come, her mind refused to switch off. At one point she had considered drinking herself into an oblivion after all she wouldn't be pregnant tomorrow so it wouldn't do any damage but when she reached for the bottle she found that she still couldn't bring herself to do it. She was already ending her baby's life, how could she add to it by getting drunk?

She opened up her desk drawer and picked up the scan picture, before going back to bed. Her fingers traced lightly over the image, it ate away at her that this was all she would ever have when it came to having a family of her own, a blurry black and white photograph to show her what could have been. The tears ran silently down her face, dropping onto the picture, she couldn't do this.

The hours crawled by and the morning sun began to creep through the gaps in the curtains, the rays of light creeping across the room. Jenny lay her hand on her stomach and the photograph on the pillow next to her, she glanced over at her alarm clock and saw it was almost eight a.m. she knew she really should get up but she couldn't move, couldn't bring herself to make that final step. During the night as she had silently wept as she had realised that she just couldn't through with it, she didn't know what her next step would be but she knew that from now on she would be putting her baby first, everything else was inconsequential.

Sitting up she reached across for the phone and cancelled her appointment, then she rang the one person she had ever been able to talk freely to.

New character in the next chapter plus things take a turn for the worse. Bit worried it's going to be OTT but too far into it to change it now

xxxxx