While they relaxed on the couch, Jenny snuck her foot over to her husband and wiggled her toes into his stomach. He squirmed and she grinned. When he looked at her though, there was a dangerous gleam in his eyes and she scrambled backwards as he moved towards her.
"No. Jethro..." she admonished, holding her hands out in front of herself. "Stay away from me. I'm warning you..." she stumbled back with a cry as he got closer and then made a mad dash for the kitchen, Gibbs following right behind her.
Jenny ran to get around him in the kitchen, faking Gibbs out at the kitchen table and rushing for the stairs. He caught her leg on the carpeted steps and she fell, shrieking.
"Gotcha!" Gibbs grinned.
But Jenny wasn't about to go down without a fight and she managed to off balance him. It was only for a second but it was all she needed for him to let go.
"No yet!" she cried, taking the remaining stairs two at a time, hoping to keep her lead.
In their bedroom was where he caught her, practically tackling her onto the bed. "You're mine now," he growled into her ear, and began tickling her mercilessly, running his fingers over her ribs, her neck, the arches of her feet. Jenny squirmed and twisted, putting up a violent struggle, but she couldn't best him, especially when she was giggling too hard to get in very many of her own shots. Finally she had to cave.
"Oh, I give up! Mercy!" she yelled breathlessly.
Gibbs relented and the look in her husband's eyes suddenly changed, his gaze burning into hers. Without a word he lowered his mouth and kissed her. Of their own accord, Jenny's hands found his face, cupping his cheeks as they kissed. When they parted, she rolled Gibbs over so she was on top, and leaned down to kiss him again.
Once became twice and then three times and then Jenny lost count. The last kiss carried a bit of urgency with it, but Gibbs suddenly pulled away. Out of breath and trying to quell the response her body wanted, Jenny looked at him quizzically, trying to figure out why he'd stopped.
Maybe he didn't know what his expression looked like when he wanted her, but Jenny could see it in her husband's eyes. She'd seen that look many times, but she'd never experienced him doing everything he could to keep them from getting to the point of wanting to do something about their desire. It was just like what had happened this morning. All because of a stupid dream, she thought, frustrated. But Jenny knew she'd put Gibbs through much worse than this because of her dreams. Now she would have to learn to be the patient one.
Although if she was honest with herself, Jenny too was a little concerned about what would happen the next time they tried to be together. The first time was a complete and total disaster resulting in nearly three whole days of a distance the size of the Atlantic between them. Only Kristyn forcing them to talk had brought them back to each other. And the second time, she got sick. There's romance for you, throwing up right before something happens really says 'I want to be with you'. So would the third time be the charm? Or would it just mean another mountain to climb and more complications to overcome?
Gibbs didn't know how to say it, or even what to say. How do you convey to the one you love the most that you are afraid of hurting her with the intensity of your love? That wasn't exactly it though. His kisses and touches weren't hurting Jenny, but what they led to could. He couldn't stop seeing that concrete bunker and Jenny lying tied to a bed, unable to even struggle as the man attacked her. How could she even want to be that close to him again, Gibbs wondered.
They just sat there, staring at each other, trying to figure out the answers to all of the questions without using any words. Finally Jenny came closer and pressed her lips against his one more time. It was just a short, soft kiss and Gibbs was glad. Any more would've been too much. Then she laid her head down on his chest so she could listen to the beat of his heart. Since he couldn't do anything more, Gibbs just sat there and held her tight, wishing he could talk to her, wishing he could forget, but mostly just wishing that everything about their lives could get back to normal.
NCIS
"You do not need me to slow down, do you Tony?" Ziva asked smugly as her partner started to puff and fall a few steps behind at the beginning of their fourth mile.
"No...no," Tony insisted, taking a breath between each word. "Keep...going. I'm...good."
"If you say so," Ziva grinned, putting on a little burst of speed just because she could.
Tony groaned, wondering if this whole idea had been one great big mistake. He still wasn't sure why he'd offered to join her. He didn't run as much as she did, plague damaged lungs meant he had to be slightly more careful with cardio than the average cop. But after lunch, he hadn't been ready for the afternoon to end yet, and that was all he could think of.
Ziva could hear Tony's laboured breathing and took pity on him, slowing her normal pace to come close to matching his strides. As they pounded out a steady rhythm along Ziva's favourite weekend path, she thought about last evening. They key she'd given Tony just for yesterday had mysteriously not been returned like she'd demanded as the condition to lending it to him. And yet, when she'd remembered that after everyone left, Ziva only felt mild annoyance, as opposed to the acute anger she thought she should feel.
It was a strange quandary and Ziva wasn't entirely sure what to do about it. On one hand, it probably was a good idea for someone to have an extra key in case of emergency, and the man was her partner. On the other hand, it was Tony. So far, Ziva had managed to talk herself out of saying anything to him about the key. And though she wasn't sure exactly why, Tony had refrained from cracking any comments about them falling asleep together on his couch at their movie night last week. So Ziva decided to keep quiet for now to see if she could discover why Tony kept her key without permission and without teasing her with that fact.
Finally they came to the end of her route and Ziva drank half her water bottle as she stretched and cooled down. Tony came in moments after and nearly collapsed on the ground as soon as he stopped. But not before he grabbed and guzzled the last of her water.
"Tony!" Ziva yelled. "Get your own!"
"Forgot mine," he responded cheerfully, as soon as he could breathe. He shrugged. "I've got bad lungs. So sue me."
"You are so immature!" she fumed.
Tony leaned casually against a tree trunk and crossed his arms. "It's been three years Zee-vah," he informed her. "This shouldn't surprise you anymore." She glared at him. "Hey, just because you never have any fun..."
Ziva's eyebrows shot up. "I never have any fun?" she spit out. "What do you know about my life Tony?"
"Your hobbies include knife throwing, showing off ninja skills, and murder by innocuous objects," he began in his best game show host voice before a pebble hit him in the side of the head. "Ow," he winced, "what was that for?"
Ziva suddenly appeared within inches of his face. "You know nothing!" she retorted, not sure why she was letting him get to her so much. Turning on her heel, she stalked away.
Tony watched her for a minute. "Okay," he yelled after his partner, "well, that was fun. See you tomorrow!"
Ziva's words didn't quite reach his ears, but Tony figured he probably didn't want to know. He grinned and headed back towards his car. She was so easy to bug! The Israeli woman probably wouldn't speak to him tomorrow, but he liked when she was annoyed. It only made her that much more unattainable, and Tony had always loved a challenge.
NCIS
Sometime later, Gibbs and Jenny were still sitting on the bed, Jenny resting against her husband's chest, Gibbs rubbing her back gently because he didn't trust his hands anywhere else. Finally he leaned down and kissed her hair.
"Hey Jen?" he asked, trying to act like having her that close wasn't affecting him.
"Mmm?" Jenny was feeling entirely too relaxed to form an actual word.
"Would you mind very much if I went over to my place for a couple hours to work on the boat?"
Jenny knew he was asking because he probably didn't want company tagging along. She used her fingers to draw circles on his shirt.
"No, I guess not," she said at last. "Go. I've got some stuff I need to catch up on."
"Oh yeah?" Gibbs asked, wondering if she was making up an excuse so he wouldn't feel bad about leaving her. "Like what?"
Jenny sighed. "My journal. I missed yesterday because of...well, everything that was going on. To be honest I didn't even think about it. I'm supposed to write in it every day. And Kristyn's going to be checking up on me at our session Tuesday."
Gibbs could feel her body getting tense. "You sure you want to be alone for that?"
Jenny looked up and put her hand on his cheek. "I need to be," she said softly.
Gibbs hugged her. "Okay. But if the memories get too much, call me. Promise?"
Jenny nodded, "I promise." Then she turned and looked deeply into his eyes. "What do you see?" Jenny asked her husband, knowing he could read her like no one else could.
He searched her eyes and gave her a small smile. "That you want me to kiss you."
When he didn't move, Jenny had to chuckle. "Are you going to?"
This hesitancy was an indication of his state of mind. Normally she barely even had to hint, unless he was being difficult. She'd never had to beg for her husband to touch her before.
Gibbs' answer was to lower his mouth to hers. It was a long, slow kiss, with no pressure for anything more behind it, but they still held on until they had to finally let go and breathe. Jenny laughed at his expression and sat up away from him.
"Looks like you better go. Otherwise you might never get out of here."
Gibbs shook his finger at her. "It's not nice to tease Jen."
She shrugged. "Can't help it. You're easy."
He gave her a sharp look, then rolled his eyes and got off the bed. "Fine, I'm going." Gibbs looked at her pointedly. "Be good."
She shot him her best wide eyed innocent look. "Since when did I become Abby?"
Gibbs grinned. "Just making sure."
"Goodbye Jethro," she said firmly, as he laughed and headed downstairs.
Jenny sat at the top of the stairs and watched him leave. Then she found the blue journal and a pen and got comfortable at the kitchen table while she waited for the kettle to boil. This was a task that required tea.
NCIS
Gibbs sighed in relief when he descended the stairs to his basement less than twenty minutes after leaving Jenny. His poor boat was getting neglected lately and every time he'd come since the kidnapping had only been as a means of preserving his sanity.
Today was the same. It had been great, spending the afternoon with his wife, everything was so normal, almost natural between them. But when he caught her in their room and started tickling her...he'd had a hard time restraining himself to just kissing. It wasn't like he could have her even though he wanted her anyways, intimacy of that sort was still a yellow light for them.
The dream he'd had Saturday night still wouldn't let go and Gibbs was scared to death of hurting Jenny again. He'd always thought he'd be able to protect her, what happened three weeks ago proved he couldn't. But Gibbs never thought he'd have to protect his wife from himself, that his desire for her would become a burden.
Gibb sighed and picked up a new board. This was his therapy and he had a lot of work to do before he'd be okay to go back home to his wife.