Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS

Author's note – this was so lovely to right, I seriously love this story as it comes so easily. My little mind just floods with ideas!

Thanks to all who reviewed, to left my heart in Paris who always reviews no matter how bad of a story or chapter it is. And who's tweets often make me laugh :p

To TeamCarisleandEsme8 who reads both my current stories and frequently reviews :D

To RhizOneill who also always reviews and leaves me such sweat comments,

And finally to a new reviewer Guest who I love because new reviewers always make me smile

Enjoy…

As the next few days began to pass Jenny and Jethro fell into a routine. He'd come to the hospital straight after Uni. He'd bring Jenny any work her lecturers had given her and they'd sit on her bed, one at either end typing away on their laptops as they wrote their essays. Hours later when one or the other had finished or given up, Jethro would join her at the top of the bed and she'd rest her head against him. Around 19 00 Ducky would come and visit. It had been awkward at first but he'd soon gotten on with the younger man. Ducky would leave after an hour or two and Jenny would fall asleep on his shoulder. She'd awaken in the morning to a note saying he'd see her later.

She'd gotten used to falling asleep in his arms, it felt so right. But she knew that things would be different when she left hospital. She just hoped that in her mind this was one of those relationships that would last a life time.

On Wednesday afternoon Jenny lay in her bed dosing off. The morphine she was still being given only now in smaller doses made her tired. As she looked up she saw a middle aged man in a suit looking at her. She smiled and sat up. "Can I help you sir?" she asked running her hands through her hair and attempting to make herself look presentable.

"DI Lewis ma'am, I'm heading up the investigation into your hit and run and attempted murder."

"It's nice to meet you officer. What can I do?" she asked, her American accent coming through stronger as she faught to stay awake.

"In the early hours of the morning we had a breakthrough and have convicted a man who we have substantial evidence that he was the culprit of your hit and run and we believe tried to poison you. Does the name Rene Bientot mean anything to you?"

"Erm…I've heard rumours he was the man my father took the bribe from but I can't prove or disprove anything. Did he do this to me?"

"We believe so. Now the hit and run we have enough evidence for a conviction. But the poisoning although we feel confident he did it would help if you could identify him. If I show you a series of faces would you be able to pick out the man who was in your room."

"I think so yes."

The man placed a series of face shots on the table. She looked at each one closely studying their features. As soon as she looked at the last one she flashed back to the night, to him speaking. "He was French, he…we spoke French for a while. He said he gave my father a bribe, that I was more of a fighter than him." She picked up the picture and looked at the inspector. "Him, it was him."

"You're sure."

"Yeah, I'm 100% sure."

"Thank you. There is something else. To make sure we get a conviction it would help if you would testify for both cases. It will be hard I'm not denying that but it would help."

"I'll do it."

"Sure?"

"Yeah. "

With that the DI Lewis thanked Jenny and left. She lay there staring out of the window. The car park was quiet, she watched all the people leaving, those with their new born. Others were in wheelchairs. Some cried, other laughed. Some were in pairs, others in groups and some alone. She watched elderly, the worrying mothers, the relieved fathers, the carefree children. Life went on she though, life goes on with or without us in it.

Time passed that day, she remembered the night, walking down the pavement to her date, the crash, and the sirens. Then his voice, that French accent, then it was blank. She couldn't remember it all, just looking at him injecting her and not being able to move. Watching her heart rate raise. Then it was blank, blank, black, forgotten.

She closed her eyes and breathed in. She was scared, what if she forgot? What if she panicked? What if it got to her? What if…what if…what if… In reality anything could happen, but she knew that she would have Jethro, and ducky and a crowd of bonkers friends around her. That would get her through it.

-an English rose-

"Doctors say you can go home Friday." Jethro said as he walked into the room. She smiled at him and looked back out of the window. "Jenny?" he asked concerned.

"The police want me to testify." She said he was silent, he knew it could tear her up, but it would even more so if that monster that did this got off with it. "I said I would." He didn't know what to say, he couldn't say anything. So he sat next to her on her bed and let he cuddle into him. Time passed slowly, he stoked her hair lightly, and it felt so right. "The reason I moved here is because my father died. He was accused of taking a bribe, not long after I found him in his study, dead with a gun. They called it suicide, I never thought that. He was proud, and he wouldn't so it to me. My mother died when I was young. That house felt empty, each room held haunting memories, I couldn't stay. So I came to live with Ducky, he sort of ordered me in a way. A friendly way though."

"I'm sorry Jen." It was all he could say, what else could he.

"Dying doesn't scare me, it seemed so easy. It was an escape I wanted I suppose. But now I have you, and the guys, I know I have a family – even if it's not by blood."

"I'm not leaving you Jenny." She kissed him softly.

"You can't promise me that. I'd never ask you to."

Silence fell, a silence filled with memories, memories for her and for him.

Time passed, slowly, yet fast. Each second spent together.

"My mum died years ago, I never really knew her. I always remember it being just me and my dad. I always had a best friend – Shannon – she was pretty, and clever, and the most caring person you would ever meet. Whatever she did was for the right reason, she'd put everyone before herself, whether they deserved it or not. Everyone would think we were seeing one another, but we weren't. Whenever I had a girlfriend she'd be nice but…jealous I suppose. I was the same whenever she saw someone." She felt him take a deep breath and kissed his chest. "The first year of sixth form she…she witnessed one of the guys in our year hitting someone over the head and killing them. He was drunk at the time, or high. She reported it and was going to testify, somehow he found out. In a drunken spree he killed her one night whilst she was out. He killed her in cold blood, and at night, on the dirty streets. That's not how young girls with their whole lives ahead of them are supposed to die. I lost my best friend that night, but I also lost a part of myself. Being with you, it's like I've found it again."

She sat herself up, wincing at the pain slightly and looked at him. She kissed away the lone tear that fell down his cheek and cupped his face. "Thank you. Kate told me you don't wear your heart on your sleeve, and I feel honoured you told me. You are a remarkable man Jethro Gibbs, and I just so think that I love you."

He looked at her, and for the first time ever saw her glassy eyes and full of raw emotion, the guilt from her father's death, the pain – physical and emotional, and love, true real honest love. Brushing a stand of her red hair behind of her ear he smiled.

"I think I love you too Jenny Sheppard."

Je voudrais un avis s'il vous plait curtosy of google translate!

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