Jenny wiped her arm across her forehead to remove the sweat she felt gathering there, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she jabbed at the swinging punching bag. She was breathing hard and soaked, the sweat rolling down her back, the sides of her face, her stomach. She was exhausted but couldn't let herself stop yet. After more than an hour of physical exertion, nearly half an hour of fighting back against an inanimate enemy, Jenny was finally starting to feel the nightmare slipping away into the back of her mind. She could only pray she wouldn't see it again.

Whirling around, she delivered a solid kick to the bag and gave it a couple more punches for good measure. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a flash of something and spun around, fists up in fighting position, her chest heaving and eyes glittering dangerously. When she saw who it was, she dropped her hands to her sides and stood there, wary.

After a minute of staring at each other, Jenny took the velcro strap of one of the boxing gloves in her teeth and ripped it open to tug the glove off. "What are you doing here Jethro?"

He slowly stood up, brushing his pants off. "Feeling like I should be putting in some practice time down here myself. At the rate you're going, I'm going to have to polish my skills up or you'll be able to take me down."

Jenny removed the other glove and started unwrapping her aching hands. "I can already take you down."

Gibbs put his hands in his pockets, wondering what the right answer was. "Would it help?"

She frowned. "What?"

"Taking me down? I know your therapist said not to fight with someone, but would it make you feel better?"

"I have no reason to fight you Jethro," she wasn't looking at him. Then her eyes met his. "Unless you keep stalking me. Why are you here?"

"Do you remember this morning?" he asked, surprised that she didn't get it.

Jenny touched her forehead gingerly. "Trying not to," she mumbled.

"Well I do." He took a step closer. "You scared me this morning. Why didn't you wake me up after you had that nightmare?"

"It was too close," she said softly. "I couldn't have had you touching me."

"And what about when you left?"

She looked up, anger flaring in her eyes. "Stop hovering Jethro! I don't always have the answers. I don't always want to talk." She grabbed a towel and stalked off in the direction of the locker room. "Right now, I want to shower." Jenny pushed past him and didn't look back, leaving Gibbs wondering how they were supposed to communicate and be honest when she was shutting down again. He couldn't let her push him away, even if it meant that he got in her face later and made her mad just so she would get out whatever she was fighting in her head.

NCIS

"Director's in a foul mood today. Have you noticed?" Tony mentioned to Ziva as he sat down at his desk.

She looked up briefly. "I have not seen her today."

"Went to hand in my report and she nearly bit my head off for not just leaving it with Cynthia." He raised his eyebrows. "You think she and Gibbs had a fight?"

"I think if you do not mind your own business you will find yourself in more trouble than usual," Ziva replied, not taking her eyes off her computer screen. One more paragraph and her report would be finished.

Tony's eyes flashed around the bullpen. They were alone. Gibbs had disappeared again and he would bet money that McGee could be found down in the lab with Abby. Hiding or perhaps breaking Rule 12, he couldn't be sure unless he could get eyes in the lab. And seeing as how both hackers were in there together, his chances of spying were slim to nil.

"Sooo..." he drawled, "what was this morning about?"

Ziva's hand jerked and her pencil holder fell off the desk, spilling all over the floor. "Tony!" she yelled.

"What?" his expression was neutral. "I just asked a simple question."

She bent down to pick up what had dropped and he moved around to lean on the front of his desk. "I do not suppose you can help?"

"Don't want to get too close." He eyed the box of paperclips sitting innocently on her desk.

Ziva slammed the pencil holder back onto her desk and closed the few feet separating them. "There was nothing innocent about that question."

Tony looked her up and down, pointedly reminding her without words that she was now in his personal space. "Uh...do I get an answer?"

Spinning around on her heel, Ziva paced back to her own workstation. "You are my partner Tony. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"And you chose to do that by...sleeping on my couch all night?" he asked, wondering how far he could push. Deciding there was no point in changing now, he grinned. "There was plenty of room in my bed."

The glare Ziva turned on him was enough to freeze his blood. He silently began running through all the ways he knew of that she could kill him, wondering how high he could count before he died. She walked over to him and shoved his shoulder.

"That was not why I was there. Besides," she leaned closer, her breath tickling his ear, "how else would you have gotten to work today?"

"That...uh, that's a good point." Tony tugged at his collar and shifted backwards. "Hey Ziva..."

Gibbs rounded the corner from the elevator, staple cup of coffee in one hand. "Do not make me headslap you for breaking Rule number 12 DiNozzo."

Ziva swished her curly hair around so it hung down her back and smiled at him impishly as she moved to sit down.

"Boss I..." Tony began, feeling ganged up on. He pointed to his partner. "It was all her, I swear!"

"This isn't Kindergarten Tony and nobody likes tattle-tales." Gibbs looked up from his computer. "Where's McGee?"

"I believe he is in the lab with Abby," Ziva answered, printing off her report.

Gibbs picked up the phone and punched the button for the lab.

"This is Abby."

"Sent McGee up here."

"But Gibbs..."

"Now Abby!" He looked at the phone as the call disconnected. She had hung up on him.

Just over a minute later McGee hurried back into the squadroom. "Something wrong Boss?" he asked.

The Gibbs stare hit him and he froze. "McGee. While you are here, it is work time, not playtime."

"I finished my report," Tim tried to explain.

Gibbs stood up and walked over to McGee. "Unless you are helping Abby with computer...stuff that has to do with one of our cases, you do not go down to the lab. You do not leave the bullpen unless you have my express permission. And if you go to the head, I'm timing you. Am I clear?"

McGee was leaning back to get away from the overpowering intimidation of Gibbs' presence right in his face. "Clear Boss," he managed to choke out.

"Good." Gibbs turned away in a huff, too agitated to sit back down. He looked at Tony. "Any calls?"

Tony had been very interested in the exchange between probie and the boss. "Nothing good." He watched the silver-haired man pace back and forth. "I heard there's a mission evaluation in MTAC today, just started. You could go see if they found anything interesting."

The look Gibbs turned on his senior agent was hard to interpret, but Tony had the feeling Gibbs was relieved to have something else to do. Without any acknowledgment at all, Gibbs picked up his coffee and took the stairs two at a time to MTAC.

Ziva watched their fearless leader escape. "Now that was odd." She turned to McGee, who was already typing on his computer. "McGee, what did you do to get on Gibbs' bad side?"

Tim barely glanced up. "That implies he has a good side."

She had to give him that one. "Why is he so angry with you?"

McGee shrugged. "Must just be a bad day at the office." He went back to typing. The minute Gibbs had left the squadroom, he'd pulled up his email. He typed a short message. Grounded to the bullpen. Boss's orders. He's ticked! In MTAC for awhile, if you're bored. Dinner tonight? He pressed send to deliver the message to Abby and wondered how long Gibbs was going to hate him for this time. Last time it had been days until the boss had even spoken to him directly again.

NCIS

It was dark in MTAC when Gibbs entered. Lots of people were milling about or sitting down, waiting for the transmission to get more exciting than a dirt road in the middle of the desert. He spotted his wife sitting in the front row, glasses on and a black folder in her lap. She looked completely different than when he'd seen her hours ago. Gone was the sweaty, out of control, mad fighting woman. In her place was a cool, calm and collected individual who knew exactly what her role in this operation was. She was the director of NCIS and she was in charge here.

"Okay everyone," she announced, "here we go."

The room filled with silence as battered desert vehicles began to appear on the screen. It was time. Gibbs took a seat in the back row, sipping his coffee, content to watch. Several times during the next half hour, he noticed Jenny turning in her seat or looking over her shoulder. They'd always known when the other one was around. He wondered if she could feel somehow that he was in the room.

When the gunfire and explosions ceased, a small cheer ran through the crowd. Mission accomplished.

"That was a great job everyone," Jenny praised. "Another successful mission. Thank you for coming."

Slowly the crowd in the dark room thinned as people began to file out, heading back to their respective floors and offices. The technician crew looked at her expectantly, awaiting her next direction. She waved her hand at them. "Take a break, you all deserve it." She peered over her shoulder again. "Cut the cameras in here and seal the room on your way out. Report back here for 1500. That will be all."

There were no questions. Quickly the crew left the room, and only two people remained. Jenny swivelled in her seat. "How long have you been here Jethro?"

Gibbs stayed where he was and swirled the coffee around in his cup. "Long enough to see that the director is firmly in place." He looked at her for a moment before standing up and coming down a couple rows. "What I want to know, is if I can talk to Jenny."

Director Shepard took off her glasses and set her folder aside. "Are they going to fight again? Jethro and Jenny, I mean?"

"Depends," he said slowly, sitting in the chair across the aisle from her, not wanting to crowd his wife. "Are you going to keep pushing me away?"

Jenny turned her eyes towards the large black screen on the opposite wall. "Sometimes, probably." May as well face up to it now. It had taken half an hour in the shower under burning hot water to wash away all the memories of the early morning nightmare that had sent her scrambling for safety in the guest room closet. And she felt fine now. A little tired, the headache still nagged but was much less forceful than it had been earlier. If it took her half a day to get over each nightmare or flashback, she and Jethro were going to spend all their time fighting and making it back up again. It wasn't something she wanted to become a routine.

Gibbs was silent, allowing her whatever thoughts were floating around in her head. "Can you tell me why?"

She spread her hands. "It takes me this long to feel normal again. It probably would have taken longer if I hadn't been in the gym this morning. Right after I wake up, nothing helps. And even after," she shrugged, "this is something you can't help by holding me. I need space. I need to be alone."

"If you're alone then there's no one to save you from what's going on up there," he pointed to her head.

Jenny brushed her bangs back. "Kristyn explained it on Tuesday Jethro. When I need to be alone I'm not rejecting you, I'm just...trying to cope."

Gibbs didn't know what to say. He couldn't force her to share her healing with him. He couldn't make her let him in. Yes she was being honest, but that didn't make it any easier to swallow. He stood up and faced her. "Okay Jen," he said quietly. "I'll be at my place when you're ready."

He walked back up the ramp and left. Jenny slumped in her seat, wondering if they really were okay or not.