When he ran his hands along her outer thighs, Jenny's hand came to cover his.
"Please don't," she whispered, pretty sure she knew where he was going with this.
"I promise I won't touch you Jen, not where you're afraid of." The fact that she might still be sore was enough to keep him respecting that area of her body, but he wouldn't have done it even if she was healed either. One step at a time, that's all they were worrying about tonight.
Gibbs moved his hands to the top of her thighs and slid them gently down. He could feel Jenny jerk when he placed his hands on her inner thighs, but he only went about halfway down, keeping his touch as light and gentle as he could. She relaxed when he moved away from that area but when his hands traveled to her stomach next, Jenny could feel her muscles tightening.
"I don't...like your hands there," she finally got up the courage to say.
His voice was low, soft. "Why?" he asked.
Jenny tried to explain without going back to the bunker and seeing the scene. "Because, it reminds me of...there."
Gibbs held his hands still against her middle, not moving anything at all. "Is it better if I don't move my hands?"
Jenny sort of nodded. "A little, I guess." She cringed. "Jethro, I don't like this."
Gibbs tried not to be visible when he sighed. He wanted so badly to help her through this, to get back to them, but he knew he needed to let her make the call about what was too much. He just wasn't sure how much longer he could wait. "Do you want me to stop?"
"I don't know!" her voice sounded like a little girl's and she curled up on him, her side against his chest, her legs pulled up almost on his lap.
He wrapped his arms around her whole body and held her while she cried. This hadn't been a good idea, he'd been wrong, it was too soon. When he let go, he knew it was time to let her out. "It's okay Jen, we can get out now. It's probably time for bed anyhow."
But Jenny didn't move. Her body was very still and Gibbs got the feeling she was thinking about something. "No," she finally shook her head. "No, you're right. The memories are only going to get worse unless I replace them with something else. I can do this, I need to do this."
Despite his surprise at her acceptance, he gladly let her stretch out in front of him again. But this time Jenny was no passive party in the process. With her hand over his, she guided him along her body. It felt better this way, her in control, doing what she was willing to do and no more. Slowly and carefully, they worked over nearly every inch of her body. Then they just lay in the water for awhile, relaxing without a word.
Finally the water cooled and they shifted positions. Gibbs got out while Jenny closed her eyes and he wrapped a towel securely around his waist before reaching to hold her towel out in front of him, while his eyes were closed. "Okay."
Jenny looked up and stepped quickly out of the tepid bath water. But instead of taking her towel from Jethro as she had done last time, she stepped into it and let him wrap it around her. He just held her for a moment after, grateful for the chance to be so close. He stayed in the bathroom to brush his teeth so Jenny could change. When he came out, the first thing he noticed was her pyjamas.
She'd switched from her long sleeved ones to pj's with capri length pants and a short sleeved t-shirt. Even a little progress was something to be thankful for. She was already sitting in bed, one leg pulled up as she read a book. Jenny looked over at him and smiled.
"Don't worry, I won't look."
There were many things he could've said to that, but Gibbs did what he did best and kept quiet rather than say something that would burst the fragile bubble of trust they were living in after their time together. Jenny kept her focus on her book while he changed and put it aside when he climbed onto the bed. She sat watching him for a moment before she crept to the middle of the bed, inviting him there with her eyes. He moved over and Jenny lay down contentedly beside him, one hand on his chest and her head over his heart, listening to the comforting sound of his heartbeat.
Gibbs laid his hand over hers and held her close, grateful that they weren't on separate sides of the bed tonight. Then he closed his eyes and prayed that her healing would be faster. She meant everything to him and Leroy Jethro Gibbs was not about to mess it up. But right now it was killing him to be this close to Jenny, to hold her and know that for now, that was all he could do.
NCIS
The next time Gibbs looked at the clock, it was 0630. He laid his head back down but a moment later, sat straight up. 0630? That couldn't be right! Their alarm was set to go off at 0600. He fiddled with the little black machine for a moment before smacking it across the bedside table. No time to waste fiddling with a stupid electronic box. Gibbs turned over and put his hand on Jenny's shoulder. There was a slight smile on her face as she slept and he hated to wake her, but she took the longest getting ready and she would be pressed to get to the office at her normal time today. As it was, he was going to have to leave without her and let her security detail play chauffeur.
"Jenny," he said, brushing back her hair. She made a little noise and curled into herself more. He shook her shoulder. "Jen, it's 6:30."
"What?" Suddenly wide awake, Jenny's eyes darted to the clock. "Oh no," she groaned. "What happened to our alarm?"
"Malfunctioned, I guess," he sent a dark look towards the innocent looking clock.
Jenny slid out from under the covers and started rushing around. "I hate being late!" she griped, while he pulled on pants, a shirt, and a jacket. Brushing his teeth and running a comb through his hair, Gibbs was good to go minutes later. He stopped to kiss Jenny's cheek before he left.
"See you at work."
"Okay," she was distracted. "Bye." Just as he headed downstairs, he heard her voice and turned around. "Oh, Jethro!" she called.
"What?"
"Don't forget our appointment today, with the shrink. 1600."
"I'll do my best."
"Just tell the team you're getting coffee, then you can bring me some too. And you'll be back within the hour."
"Okay Jenny, got to go. I love you."
He could hear the smile in her voice. "I love you too."
Gibbs hurried down the stairs and out the door. He raised a hand to Jenny's security detail sitting across the street. They'd know she was going with them this morning.
He made it to the office by 0658 and shared the elevator with Ziva. Tony came in last with barely seconds to spare before he would've been headslapped for being late. McGee was already there, checking everything he'd left running overnight to see what his computer had found.
Gibbs dropped into his chair, frustrated already because he didn't have a coffee in hand. First moment he had, that's where he was heading. He shook his head, trying to focus, and looked up.
"McGee, what did we get off the traces?"
McGee winced. "Not much that we can use Boss. No suspicious phone calls to either of their cells or their homes in the last six months. They didn't call each other either. I'm starting to wonder if they either didn't know they were related or didn't know they were on the same base. Everything in their bank accounts checks out and both men have clean records, nothing that makes them look like targets for a hit."
"Dig deeper!" Gibbs ordered. "There has to be a connection somewhere." He eyed Tony. "You read Ducky's autopsy report yet?"
"Uh, no Boss."
"Why not?"
"I don't have it yet?" he made it sound like more of a question than an answer.
Ziva was standing there, looking at Gibbs. "You got something you want to add, Officer David?"
She met his hard gaze without flinching. "Security tapes arrived from the base early this morning, so I sent them down to Abby. She wants to see you."
"Well why didn't you say that before?" Gibbs replied, starting for the lab only to turn around and head back towards the Caf-Pow! machines. At 0700 one came bearing gifts when going to see their forensic scientist.
NCIS
Jenny stepped off the elevator, walking fast. She glanced at her watch again, but just like all the other times she'd checked, nothing had changed and she was still late. She hated the harried feeling that came with waking up late and she wished she'd been able to spend more than a few seconds with her husband this morning. Jenny preferred the days when they got up on time and were able to have breakfast or coffee together before heading into the office.
When she entered her outer office, she found Cynthia already at her desk. Jenny's assistant was punctual to the point of being obsessive and only today, when she was the late one, did Jenny find that particular quality irritating. Cynthia stood and offered a polite smile.
"Director Shepard, good morning." She shot a not so subtle glance at Jenny's left hand. "I heard that I missed some of the excitement yesterday by leaving early. My fault for having a dentist appointment, I guess."
Jenny saw the slight look of disappointment at being left out on her assistant's face. "Oh Cynthia, I am sorry! I should've told you first. Yesterday it seemed that I was busy all day and we didn't really tell anyone until just before I left. But those are bad excuses, I'm sorry." She held out her hand so Cynthia could see her rings better.
Cynthia looked closely at the rings and smiled. "Congratulations Director. I'm very happy for you. But," she looked unsure, "Agent Gibbs, ma'am?"
Jenny laughed. "As a Special Agent he lacks respect for rules and he has absolutely no tact. But as a husband," she let her smile grow, "I couldn't ask for a more patient, gentle or loving man. Especially in light of our last week. But don't tell him I said that," she warned, "I don't want him getting a big head about it."
Cynthia's smile was genuine. "I'm glad for you Director. Having someone to love you is a very special gift."
"One that I almost missed out on," Jenny added, agreeing. "Now, as Director, what may I look forward today? I certainly hope I didn't miss a national crisis by being late."
"We managed to survive without you for a few minutes Director, but..." Cynthia's eyes dropped to the day planner in front of her, "you do have a meeting with the Board of Directors to do an NCIS resources adequacy assessment, which is scheduled for the entire morning."
Jenny suppressed a groan and momentarily closed her eyes. The Board of Directors were not her favourite group of people to spend a couple of hours with. It was a tedious process to do the resources assessment and it meant loads of paperwork and headaches for her as she would be forced once again to explain why they needed everything they used to solve their cases. Now that's a meeting I should let Jethro take my place in, he would just stare them into submission. She smiled at the thought.
Cynthia continued. "There is a threat report briefing in MTAC after lunch followed by some new intelligence assessments and of course, there is the update to our protection plan that needs to be approved and several phone calls to be returned. Also, your four o'clock appointment with Dr. Renway. She called with a reminder just before you walked in."
Jenny had to respect Kristyn's determination. But she wasn't intending to try to find a way out of today's session, merely wondering just what that hour would look like when her husband was in the room.