Finally Jenny stretched and pushed herself into a sitting position, despite her husband's protests.
"We really should get up Jethro, maybe get some breakfast?" Jenny wasn't sure how much she would eat but a little something couldn't hurt.
Gibbs chuckled. "If we have breakfast now, we'll be pulling an Abby. It's 1200."
"Oh." Jenny laughed. "Well, looks like we finally managed to sleep in."
She moved over to her side of the bed and slid out from under the covers.
"I'm declaring today a comfy clothes day," her husband said, reaching for the drawer where he kept things he couldn't wear to work. He grabbed an old gray hoody, one of his NIS t-shirts that Jenny often slept in after they'd been intimate, and a pair of sweatpants. Jenny surveyed her options and chose her yoga pants and a long sleeved blue shirt.
They headed down to the kitchen and Jenny took a seat on one of the chairs, one knee pulled up to her chest.
"What sounds good?" Gibbs asked, opening the fridge.
"Breakfast," Jenny smiled.
"Okay Abby," he teased. "Eggs?"
"Scrambled. Toast?"
Gibbs considered his choices. "Blueberry."
Jenny wrinkled her nose at him, she only liked strawberry jam. But she obligingly removed his choice from the cupboard too and stuck two slices of brown bread in the toaster. Theirs was a familiar routine coming from the many times they'd made breakfast together over the course of their relationship.
"I wish we had bacon," Gibbs lamented. If they had to have breakfast for lunch, they may as well do it right.
"You're lucky Noemi will be back next week," Jenny laughed, "since we never manage to go shopping by ourselves."
It didn't take long before both eggs and toast were sitting on plates at the kitchen table. Jenny poured them both a glass of orange juice and they sat down. Gibbs watched Jenny carefully, noting that she didn't so much eat as nibble at her food. It didn't help that she'd barely been eating enough to keep a bird alive for the last week. He was concerned about her but decided not to mention anything. Jenny could get awfully defensive about her eating habits and he wanted today to be peaceful for them.
When he'd finished and Jenny had eaten all that she was going to, they took their plates to the sink. Dirty dishes from the last couple days stared up at them. They exchanged glances. How sad that two grown adults simply couldn't function without their housekeeper!
Jenny shrugged helplessly. "Wash or dry?"
Gibbs grabbed a towel off the stove door handle and flicked it over his shoulder, grinning. "Dish towel duty."
Jenny reached over and switched the radio on, while she waited for the sink to fill with water, so there was something to listen to. As an afterthought, she noticed that the piece of paper with her scribbled lyrics on it was missing. She wondered if it had blown off the counter or if her husband had found it. And if he had, did he understand?
She stuck her hands into the hot, soapy water and started scrubbing their dishes clean. Gibbs tried to keep up with the drying and they teased each other when one or the other fell behind in their duties.
"Waiting," her husband announced gleefully a few minutes later.
She flicked her dripping fingers at him.
"Can't keep up, huh?" she smirked when a few dishes lay waiting for him to dry them.
"Missed a spot," he declared, dropping the chili pot back into her water.
"You're impossible," she muttered, scrubbing at the speck he'd pointed out.
"Hey, Marines know how to get dishes clean the first time, amateur."
"Good," Jenny grinned, "then next time you wash and I'll dry. Fair trade?"
"Plead the fifth," Gibbs said after a moment of careful thought about how to get out of that one.
"Uh huh," Jenny noted, finishing with the last of the silverware.
At last the dishes were all clean and dry and they moved around the kitchen, putting them back in their proper places. When the sink was drained and the towel rehung, they stood and looked at each other again.
"Board game?" Jenny suggested.
An hour and a lot of laughter later, after Gibbs had solidly trounced Jenny in two games of Battleship, they packed up the old game and dropped onto a couch with satisfied smiles.
"Now what?"
Jenny looked happy and Gibbs would've been fine just sitting and looking at her for awhile. He hadn't seen that look on her face for awhile, it had been too buried in the hurt. Not to mention this was pretty much the first free time they'd had together all week.
"Movie?" he suggested. He wasn't a huge fan of movies but Jenny enjoyed them so they watched one together sometimes.
Jenny shook her head. "Too early in the day for a movie. Want to go for a walk?"
"Then we'd have to change," her husband complained.
"Well, yes, there is that," Jenny acquiesced.
There was silence for a moment as Gibbs reviewed their remaining options. Then a thought struck him. He'd noticed how Jenny had been rubbing her neck all morning, maybe he could help.
"Massage?" he asked.
Jenny's eyes showed her gratitude that he'd noticed. She nodded, "I'd like that." She got off the couch and moved to sit in front of him but he caught her hand first.
"I could just do your neck, but if you lay down," he pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and spread it on the floor, patting it, "I could do your whole back."
Jenny looked at him skeptically. "If I didn't know you were such a wonderful man, I would think you were buttering me up for something."
"Come here Jen," he said. "No ulterior motives, I promise."
She looked a little reluctant but finally stretched out on her stomach with her head resting on her arms. Before he started she looked up at him, wishing she didn't have to put conditions on him being so nice. "You'll have to do it from beside me," she said softly.
Gibbs understood. Sometimes he would straddle her body with his knees so he could work right overtop of her back. But she obviously wasn't ready for that yet. "Works for me Jen." He didn't want to make a big deal out of it.
He started with her neck, tracing the tight muscles with his fingers. He slowly worked his way down to her shoulders and she completely relaxed, knowing he would make it feel better. In a way it was therapy for both of them. Jen got to relax and have all the knots kneaded out of her back and Gibbs got to touch his wife in a way that didn't make her nervous to be close to him.
With the low heat of the fire in the background and the familiar pressure of Jethro's hands on her back, Jenny felt herself drifting off to sleep. That is, until he reached her lower back and drew his fingers over the line of skin showing between her shirt and her pants. With no warning at all Jenny's nerves started screaming and the pictures hidden in her mind came roaring back to the forefront.
"Stop!" she ordered in a voice so tense and brittle that Gibbs froze.
Jenny reached up and yanked her shirt down farther. Her eyes darted around the room, looking for somewhere she felt safe. Gibbs watched her frantic movements and wondered if she even saw him. He wasn't sure if he should say anything. Would a man's voice just freak her out even more? But when she moved to stand up, trying to get away, Gibbs grabbed her wrist.
At that moment, it was the wrong move. Jenny spun around and he narrowly avoided catching her elbow in his chest as her defense mechanism kicked in and she reverted to her agent training. Hating what he was doing, fighting with her, Gibbs blocked a couple of her moves before he got her in a position where he could wrap his arms around her from behind and hold her to his chest.
Her breathing was rapid, her eyes wide with fear and she struggled against his grip. He dropped them into a sitting position and began whispering in her ear, even as he tightened his grip to keep her from flailing.
"Jenny, Jenny, it's me. It's Jethro. I'm not going to hurt you. Honey, you have to calm down."
Her movements were getting weaker and she wasn't struggling quite as much so he kept talking to her. "Jen I don't know where your mind is right now but you're at home, you're safe. I swear you're safe. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Jen you need to hear me, please."
Finally her body went limp against him and he turned her slightly to see that her eyes were closed. A moment later they opened and she looked around like she wasn't sure where she was. It was like Tuesday morning all over again, when Gibbs had lost her to a flashback somewhere he couldn't protect her. He loosened his grip and reached for her hand.
"Jenny?" he asked.
"Jethro?" he could hear the confusion and then clarity kicked in and she groaned. "That was not fun."
"Where'd you go?" his voice was quiet and non-threatening.
"Not sure exactly. But I don't want to go back." She shook her head slowly as if trying to clear it. "I don't even know that it was a memory. All I know is that one minute I was enjoying my massage and the next all I wanted to do was get away from your touch because I just knew something bad was going to happen."
"Nothing bad was going to happen while I was around," he assured her, not exactly sure what to do in the aftermath of a flashback.
She held his gaze. "Was it bad?"
"Well," he chuckled, hoping to lighten the moment, "let's just say you haven't forgotten your training."
"Did I get you?" she winced, knowing what a fight might've looked like.
"Nah, but you came close. I am fully confident in your ability to take someone out Jen. Your skills are still pretty sharp."
"Working with Ziva for two years will do that. It was either learn to fight better or not make it out alive."
"Remind me to thank Ziva," he smiled, opening his arms.
Jenny hesitated, watching his eyes. Why she thought they would say anything different this time, she wasn't sure. But she needed to see something different than what she'd read in her attackers eyes. She was pretty sure he didn't have a soul. His eyes had been black and empty, as if bringing pain to others gave pleasure to him. In Gibbs' eyes she read something completely different. That he loved her, that he wanted to help, wanted to comfort. And for that reason alone she closed the distance separating them and laid her head on his shoulder. She just wanted to stop being afraid.