Around the time most people were getting ready for dinner, Jenny Gibbs managed to convince her husband to go for a walk to the park a few blocks away. Yes, they did have to change. But while Gibbs grumbled the whole time about having to get out of comfy clothes and wear jeans, Jenny was pleasantly surprised to find that she could wear jeans now. She pulled a long-neck sweater on overtop and quickly brushed her hair into a ponytail. Gibbs liked it down better but after him complaining about her putting it up once, she'd told him to try having hair as long as hers and leaving it down all the time. He'd looked in the mirror at his barely grown out military haircut and shut up.
They went downstairs, donned their coats and stepped out into the pleasant evening. Gibbs held out his hand and Jenny took it with barely a pause to think. He was glad. He'd been wondering all afternoon what her flashback would do to the progress he was hoping to make with her. Maybe she was learning to trust him through the memories. That would be good.
Their pace was somewhere between leisurely and brisk. They were too used to walking fast to be able to wander, but neither did they feel the need to speed walk to the park. The shadows were beginning to lengthen as they turned onto the gravel pathway that lead through Francis Scott Key Park. Since it wasn't late by any means for a Saturday, there were still several people and couples with whom they shared the space.
Two bikers whizzed by on the trail. Several people drifted along the path bordering the Potomac River. An older couple sat on one of the benches, watching the ducks floating on the water. A young man was jogging with his dog. A couple in their twenties pushed a stroller, smiling and laughing and talking to their child. It was the serenity of normal life that encompassed all whom they passed that evening. All around them life was going on just as it always had. Jenny needed to see that, to know that her life too would follow that path and eventually things would feel normal again.
Near the end of their circuit of the park was a hotdog vendor. Gibbs looked in that direction and raised his eyebrows at Jenny. Laughing, she nodded and they headed that way. Gibbs dug his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out a couple of bills, handing them to the man and holding up two fingers. When the hot dogs were handed over, Gibbs gave one to Jenny and let her dress it herself, while he smothered his in almost every condiment available, except hot peppers.
They made for a nearby bench and sat to eat their hotdogs.
"Is this your idea of a fine meal Jethro?" Jenny asked after she swallowed. She couldn't seem to keep the smile off her face, even if she had no idea why she was so happy right now.
Gibbs tried to decide if that was a dangerous question or not, women could turn almost any answer into a way to get their husbands in trouble. Finally he shrugged. "Nah, but it is kind of fun."
Jenny wiped her lips with the napkin. "And it's not bad for street meat." She gazed off over the expanse of green, focusing on a couple of boys who were throwing a football around and a little boy playing frisbee with his dog. "Do you remember in Paris Jethro? How we would wander the streets just because we could?" She met his eyes and he nodded, the memories heavy in his mind as well. That had been the beginning for them. She laughed. "And we would buy whatever the vendors were selling off their little carts." Jenny shook her head. "It didn't matter how many fine Parisian restaurants we visited, nothing ever tasted so good as the street food we ate while wandering Paris together."
Gibbs squeezed her hand. "Lots of good memories from back then, Jen."
She looked at him with serious eyes. "And some not so good too."
He knew she wanted to apologize again. They'd been over this ground a hundred times since getting back together last year, but Gibbs knew she still carried a lot of guilt in her heart for what had happened in Paris. It had been hard to remember, but having her with him every day and knowing that this time she wouldn't be going away had helped the hurt to heal.
"Jen..."he started, but she put a finger to his lips.
"Don't say it's alright Jethro. That was the worst mistake of my life and I will forever be sorry for how I hurt you, for what I did and how I left. And more importantly, for how I said goodbye."
Gibbs raised her hand to his lips and kiss the back. "The good memories are stronger than the bad ones Jen. If it wasn't for Paris I might not have you now. And I would do Paris all over again if it meant I still got you in the end."
Jenny blinked back the moisture in her eyes. How did she get so blessed to have him love her like this? So much she didn't deserve and yet she had it anyways. Perhaps God had a hand in how things worked out after all.
When they finished, they headed back towards the park entrance, throwing their napkins in the first garbage can they passed. They headed for home the long way, going the other way around the block. On a corner was a small flower shop and outside a woman was selling roses to passerby. Gibbs slowed to a stop at the shop and held out a bill to the woman, pointing to the red roses sitting in a black bucket. Despite Jenny's protests of what are you doing?, he took the flower and handed it to her.
Jenny gazed at him and shook her head, though her smile belied her protest. She reached for the rose and brought it to her nose, inhaling the delicate fragrance. He was taking her back to Paris, saying that she was forgiven. Their first night in Paris, on their undercover op playing husband and wife, he had stopped at one of the many flower stands that littered the City of Love and bought her one red rose. Back then he was just trying to be romantic, and that was the first time she wondered if there might be something more to their relationship than just junior and senior agent.
Now she had a feeling Jethro knew exactly what the meaning of a single red rose was. It was a way to say I love you. He didn't have to say the words or even reach out and touch her, she could read it in his eyes and she felt so cherished. She signed it back to him before holding out her hand and letting him weave their fingers together. He wasn't going to let her go and Jenny knew it.
NCIS
Later but not too late Jenny and Jethro Gibbs could be found cuddled up on the couch together, watching a movie. Jenny may have been completely wrapped up with what was going happening on screen, but Gibbs was pretty wrapped up in the beautiful woman beside him. He had a plan running through his mind. He wasn't necessarily sure it was one of his best ideas and he wasn't even sure if he would get away with it. But he was determined to try.
He wanted to find out what was okay, how could he touch her and not also touch her fear? He didn't like always having to ask, he just wanted to know. So this was an experiment. Gibbs had one arm around his wife, the other was resting on the side of the couch. While Jenny wasn't paying attention, he slowly moved his hand over and rested it on her leg. He felt that she moved her head to look up at him, but he must've been convincing in his pretend concentration on the TV screen, because the look didn't last long. A minute or two later, Jenny placed her hand over his, her fingers tracing his wedding band.
The score for The Experiment now stood with Successes - 1 and Failures - 0. Getting caught of course, would be a failure. Gibbs waited a little longer before trying something else. He moved the arm that was around Jenny as if he were shifting to get more comfortable. In doing so, he brushed the bare back of her neck with his hand. Jenny froze. He thought maybe she'd caught him but he sensed she was more wrestling with herself than wanting to say something to him. He settled his arm back where it had been and after several moments of Jenny being very tense, he felt her start to relax again.
Gibbs added a second category to The Experiment. Okay Touches - 1 and Not Okay Touches - 1. In a little while, he slouched down on the couch a little more and slid his hand from Jenny's leg, up to rest on her stomach. That got notice right away and she made no attempt to be subtle as she picked up his hand and moved it away from her abdomen. Gibbs winced - busted. But Jenny still didn't say anything so either she wasn't angry or she was working out just what to say to him because she was getting angry.
After awhile of sitting in the same position, Jenny got fidgety and turned so she was resting more against the couch than him but draped her bent legs over his lap. Gibbs smiled. He was using to being used as a sofa pillow, Jen really wasn't good at holding still for very long. Seeing as she'd moved and saved him some of the work, he moved his hand to her knee and slowly started rubbing his hand up and down her leg, from her knee to her ankle and back again.
Jenny made an exasperated noise. "Jethro, what are you doing?"
"What?" he tried out his best innocent look which never worked with his wife and he knew it.
She pointed at the offending hand. "This. You seem to be having a hard time keeping your hands to yourself tonight."
The look he gave her conveyed a whole lot more than his words. "Jen," he said slowly, "I always have trouble keeping my hands to myself when there is a gorgeous redhead practically sitting in my lap. Especially one that is my wife."
Jenny rolled her eyes. "Try."
He couldn't exactly tell whether that was an order or a suggestion in her tone. But he knew one way to find out. And if he was wrong, the elbow he'd get in his ribs would not be undeserved. Since he'd already gotten in trouble once, Gibbs decided to practice some of that patience Ducky was talking about and wait a whole lot more than a couple of minutes before making his next move.
Again, Jenny made it easier for him. Completely bored with her current position, Jenny grabbed one of the small while sofa pillows and placed it over his lap, then settled her head on the pillow, one hand under it and sighed contentedly. This she could get used to. Gibbs just looked and then his hand found her arm and he did it again, rubbing up and down her upper arm. This time Jenny put her hand over his to still his movements but she didn't say no.
When he thought she was close to falling asleep, he started running his hand up and down her side, from her rib cage to her hip. He felt the muscles along her side tighten and knew that what he was doing was probably not okay. The last thing he wanted to do was make her want to move or make her unable to relax, so he switched to something he was pretty sure was safe: playing with her hair.
The moment his hand traveled to her hair, Jenny rolled over. "Jethro," her voice was soft but his name was more of a question than a warning.
"I was just going to play with your hair Jen, honest."
She looked at him for another moment, then reached up and tugged the elastic out of her ponytail. She didn't say anything else but he took it as permission. Gibbs loved his wife's hair. He loved the colour, the texture, the length and how beautiful it looked on Jenny. No other colour would quite do justice to his beautiful wife. Moving slowly and gently, he drew his fingers through her hair and ran his hand over it. Back and forth, up and down, knowing it was as relaxing for her as it was for him. After awhile he noticed a change in her breathing and looked down.
There she lay, with her head in his lap, fast asleep. And there was nothing he could do but smile and watch.
NCIS
Jenny didn't know exactly what Jethro was up to, but he was having difficulty keeping his hands still. At first it seemed like he was just shifting and changing position as she did. Most of it she didn't mind but he was getting really obvious about the fact that he was trying not to be obvious about it. She thought it was an accident when his fingers brushed her neck and reminded her of other fingers on another hand that weren't so gentle. It had taken a little bit to get away from that thought.
She didn't like it at all when his hand was on her stomach so she simply moved it. But she started to get what he was trying to do, figuring out what she was okay with and what wasn't. She wanted to tell him to keep his hands to himself but after how great he'd been today and in general, that hardly seemed fair. And Kristyn said she should try and get used to being touched again, without pushing too hard. So she let him do some more experimenting, not saying anything when it bothered her but also not having any control over the way her body reacted to his hands on certain areas. It had been hard to relax and focus on the movie with his hands all over her but she tried, wanting to remember when the sensation of his hands on her was a pleasure and not a test.
When Gibbs had reached for her hair, Jenny almost said no but she knew how much he loved her hair. So she gave in and was surprised at how good it felt to have his fingers in her hair. He just played with it, running his fingers through it, all in a very non-threatening way. Without even noticing, Jenny relaxed and then her eyes got heavy. After that she didn't remember anything else.