At 0730 Jenny stepped off the elevator one floor below her own, the tray in her hands filled with six coffees, and a bag of muffins hanging over her arm. She noted the surprise on the team's faces as she entered the squadroom. She met each set of eyes, trying not to let her gaze linger too long on Jethro. No sense in having their secret discovered before they put their plan for revealing it into action.
"I heard you caught a case last night and figured you'd been here all night." She set the tray and bag on Gibbs desk and smiled. "After everything you all did for me last week, I figured the least I could do was bring breakfast as a way of saying thank you."
The joy on their faces was immediate as they rushed to accept her gift.
"Bless you Jen," Ziva murmured as she slipped by.
"Thank you Director," McGee smiled, lifting his cup to her.
"Director, you are my favourite," Tony grinned, trying to beat Ziva to Gibbs desk.
"Two extras Director?" Gibbs asked when they had all claimed their drinks and muffins.
"Cynthia and I enjoy breakfast too," Jenny smiled, collecting the leftovers. "Oh, and Special Agent Gibbs?" she turned around as she was leaving. "I'd like an update on your case when you know more."
Gibbs nodded, eyes on his computer screen and Jenny headed upstairs. As soon as she stepped foot in her outer office, Cynthia looked up, relief smoothing her features, and she put down the phone.
"Director, thank goodness you're here! I was just trying to call you."
Jenny set her things on her assistant's desk. "What's wrong Cynthia?"
"You have an emergency mission report update in MTAC in five minutes. The director of the LA office is on hold for you there as well. SecNav has been calling since 0700 and demanded a return call the minute you stepped into the office. On top of that I have four phone messages here requesting meetings and lunch appointments to discuss everything from the new leader's protection plan to our emergency procedures in case of a terrorist attack on the Navy Yard."
Jenny took a breath as she absorbed her assistant's rather frantic litany of to do's. When she spoke, it was with all the efficiency and authority Director Sheppard of NCIS possessed.
"Cynthia, I want you to call SecNav. Offer my apologies but tell him I'm in MTAC and unavailable for the next," she paused and looked at the clock, "three hours, just in case something takes longer than expected. Have one of the techs get on with Hettie and tell her I have an emergency conference call on screen and I'll be with her as soon as I can. She can either wait or call me back later." Jenny took a breath and smiled, glancing through the phone messages. "We can take care of these once MTAC no longer needs me. Looks like I'll be having two lunches today." She checked her watch. "Online in one minute, I'm in MTAC Cynthia."
The director's assistant finished rapidly jotting notes and reached for the phone. Jenny strode off, completely in her element and ready to tackle the situation head on.
NCIS
0900. Gibbs leaned back in his chair and surveyed the empty squadroom. Half of his team was out running down leads and trying to contact people who knew their dead sailor. McGee was down in the lab with Abby doing something on the computer that he didn't understand. And Gibbs was waiting to hear back from Ducky about cause of death. He glanced up to the thick, steel MTAC door into which his wife had disappeared more than an hour ago. He checked his watch. It had been fifteen minutes since the last time he'd asked and Ducky hadn't called back yet. He was probably in the middle of regaling Palmer with a story that began, "This reminds me of a time..." Ducky's stories were legendary and hard to get away from. Still time for a coffee run.
Twenty minutes later he bent down to let the iris scanner at MTAC check his clearance. He entered silently, one cup of coffee in each hand and watched as Jen finished up what looked like a mission report briefing. She made the motion to cut the transmission just as he sat down. Jenny smiled when she saw him and glanced towards the techs who were all suddenly very busy with their computers.
"Jethro," she greeted him. "Oh, coffee." She took the cup from him and just breathed in the aroma. "Thank you." She took a sip and looked over at him. "How goes the case?"
"Tony and Ziva are out following leads and McGee and Abby are in the lab doing their thing on the computer."
"What about you?" she asked.
He grinned. "I'm supervising."
She rolled her eyes. "Sure you are. Because you can keep an eye on them so well from here."
"Hettie standing by for you Director," Jeff, the senior technician announced.
Jenny looked at him regretfully. "Duty calls."
Gibbs looked at her like he wanted to do something more than just say goodbye. "Later Jen."
She watched him walk out, missing how normally he would squeeze her hand or run his fingers down her cheek or touch her shoulder before he left and wondered if that meant she was getting better. Something to mention in therapy this afternoon. The screen flashed and Jenny smiled at the director of the LA office.
"Good Morning Hettie. What can I do for you?"
NCIS
When Gibbs got back to his desk, he sat down, resisting the want to go check on Ducky's progress. The ME would just tell him that the phone still worked and he would call when he found something. Pushing some papers out of the way, Gibbs noticed the folder containing flower meaning which McGee had put together for him yesterday. He opened it and fingered the pages. Maybe he could use them more than just once.
I wonder what else I could say? He flipped through the papers, skimming down the list of meanings. Suddenly a word caught his eye and he smiled slowly. Perfect. He had another idea.
NCIS
It was 1540 and Jenny hadn't stopped running all day. After her morning in MTAC she spent almost half an hour on the phone with the Secretary of the Navy discussing an important issue. Then it was two back to back lunch appointments that had her security detail chauffeuring her all over the city. When she returned, Assistant Director Vance had left a message for her which resulted in another half hour conversation as the two tried to resolve a situation long distance.
No sooner had she hung up with Leon than she was pulled into a top secret meeting regarding the agency's current undercover operations. There was a very pointed message on her desk when she finally sat down, from Agent Fornell about a jurisdiction problem with one of NCIS' cases, but Jenny pushed it under some papers and elected to worry about that tomorrow. Pushing away her fatigue, Jenny hit the intercom button for Cynthia.
"Get Agent Gibbs up here please."
NCIS
Gibbs phone rang. It had been a long day and they still hadn't solved their first case. If this was another one he was going to shoot someone.
"Yeah, Gibbs," he answered.
"Agent Gibbs? You're wanted in the director's office."
Gibbs hung up and headed for the stairs.
Tony lowered his voice and whispered to Ziva, "I wonder what Gibbs did now?"
"Maybe she just wants to talk to him," his partner suggested.
"Oh no. Uhun. Gibbs and the director never just talk. Someone's in trouble. Did you see the look on Gibbs' face? Ten bucks says we hear that argument all the way down here, loud and clear."
Ziva rolled her eyes and muttered something in Hebrew. At the moment Tony was glad he couldn't translate it. He knew she could severely wound him with the pencil she was twirling and he didn't want to give her a reason to aim it at him.