Disclaimer NCIS is not mine

Author's note this is where the time jumps begin, but i hope they are not too confusing. Sorry for the delay, i am about to sit all of my exams so the next month and a half will have really bad updates, so i apologise! However, i'm getting my muse back so i hope that when i get the chance i will be writing instead of staring at the screen not knowing what to write.
Thanks for all of your reviews, and please keep them coming! They really do help me out.

This Crazy World in Lonely Times

'Sometimes I'm hard on me,
When dreams don't come easy,
I wanna look back and say,
I did all that I could,
Yeah at the end of the day, Lord I pray,
I have a life that's good.'
-Charles Esten, A Life That's Good

Slowly her eyes fluttered open. Dark thick lashes parting to reveal what were once sparkling green orbs of magic but had been dulled by recent events. They opened only to close at the shock of the startling white lights which met her. She scrunched up her eyelids, and waited a moment until the floating shapes that swam around the darkness had faded, then opened them again. This time slower, and with caution. After a couple more blinks to clear the foggy vision she looked around the room which was a significant contrast from the one she had been cooped up in for the last few months.

This one was stark white as oppose to dusty brown, bright not dark, sterile not filthy. Her ears slowly tuned into the sound of beeping, and the red head turned her head to see that beside her sat a heart monitor. Finally she realised that she had wires attached to her. Taking a moment to adjust she closed her eyes and softly moved her arms and legs which felt numb and like jelly, yet strangely stiff at the same time. Her head swam in a dopey way, as though someone had given her a joint.

Cautiously she began to try and piece together the events of recent she could remember. Beatings, tortures - days blurring into each other - and then there was the strange woman. Jenny's guardian angel who had taken her by the hand and like they were in some action film; whispered 'run'. The red head struggled to remember what came next, everything seemed blank. There was pain, running, shouts and sirens, gunshots, then blackness. And the next thing she knew she was awake. But where?

Cautiously she sat up from her lying position in the metal bed, using the bars at the edge to support her, and squinting through the pain, then she looked down at her chest and pulled off what she assumed where the heart monitor cables attached by sucker pads. But as soon as the sticky pads had left her chest, she could hear the sound of alarms sounding outside the door, of shouts and feet running. Before the red head could remove the IV drip which was placed on her hand, the door had opened and in came a doctor. She then turned to look at him, and he walked over and silenced the machine.

"I'm going to need you to lie back down and let me place the pads back onto you." His English was accented, but his tone was soft and gentle. As she looked at him, she decided to lie back down and do as she was told – she didn't have the energy to argue with him. "Thank you, now you're going to feel drowsy as you have been given Morphine. You are at Mossad headquarters in Israel, there is a lady outside to see you." The doctor then left, and Jenny leant back sighing, Israel, is that where she had been all this time? And why was she at Mossad headquarters?

A small knock at the door captured her attention, and the red head turned to look, and saw a woman. The face flashed before her eyes, as she recalled where she recognised it from. That was the face who had whispered 'run', which'd saved her life. "I'm glad to see you are okay." The woman said, as she entered the sterile room Jenny assumed belonged to the medial department. There were no windows, and the door was solid wood, meaning her only sight out of the room was through the gap which the woman had left in the door. Outside of the room, all that could be made out was the sight of a white corridor. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Jenny immediately replied, guarded, until she saw the smirk of annoyance pass over the other woman's face. "Better than I would have been if you had not rescued me." The red head added, realising that she should be less bitter.

"Good. I thought you might like some answers?"

"Yes, I would." The red head said, moving to sit up, only to find that through the numbness of the drugs, prevailed a sharp stabbing pain in her abdomen that she had not found so painful earlier. Jenny swore under her breath before feeling the hands of the woman helping her lie back down.

"You broke a rib." The woman said, softly.

"Thank you." Jenny replied, and she didn't need to clarify what for, because both of them knew what the Jenny had been saved from. So the other woman just nodded, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"My name is Ziva David, I am a Mossad officer. Your agency discovered you were in Cairo, kidnapped by a terrorist cell, and I was asked by the deputy director to find you. I will not bore you with the details. You ran for nearly a mile before you collapsed, and that was when we identified you had been shot. Mossad had a plane waiting to fly us out of Cairo. You remained unconscious the whole way here."

"How long was I . . ." She let the sentence hang in the air, not knowing what to call it, kidnapped? Held hostage? So she didn't name it, that way it was easier for everyone. Ziva nodded though, knowing what the agent had meant. She herself had been kidnapped, however never for the amount of time that this woman had been. Jenny had managed to survive something excruciating for longer than anyone the Mossad officer had ever known.

"I believe it was around three months." Jenny just nodded and pressed her head into the pillows, attempting to bury herself away out of eyesight. "NCIS are about to be informed of your safety, you will stay here until you are cleared to fly. I suggest you get some sleep." And with that Ziva left, silent in her combat trousers and black vest top. Curly black hair snatched back in a ponytail with a headscarf.

Jenny sighed, and for the first time in a long time she let her mind wander to DC, and those that were waiting for her there. If anything, the past few months had made her realise how short life was. Lying there now she realised that she didn't want to live the rest of her life solely for her work and die in the line of duty leaving only co-workers to grieve her absence. She didn't want her grave stone to solely commend her achievements at NCIS. She wanted something more, wanted someone more. Maybe it was time for her to change what her priorities were; maybe even though his marriages seamed to never work, Gibbs had the right idea.

And with dreams of a husband and family, dreams she had never allowed herself to dream, she fell asleep.

Gibbs, Will, Stan, and Ducky sat on the soft black leather chairs which sat on the back of MTAC, whilst Tom Marrow stood in the centre of the room, all of them waiting to be connected to Mossad headquarters. Every one of them waiting to hear the news on Jennifer Shepard – their elusive agent. Waiting to hear whether the infiltration of a terrorist cell to retrieve one of their agents had worked or not. An operation that would have been stopped at the beginning by any other director, that would never have gotten this far if Tom Marrow had not known how to work people. An operation that had only been allowed because of the reputation of two infamous men; Tom Marrow, and Leroy Jethro Gibbs. All hoping, with all of their being, that they would get her back.

After what felt like an eternity of looking at a black screen, finally it burst into colour, and even though it was just the initial multicoloured striped which came into view, it was something. Then, there sat the face of deputy director Eli David, and each of the men sat on the black chairs visibly sat forward. All apart from Gibbs, who stood up and walked over to stand next to his director in the centre of the room. "Deputy Director David." Acknowledged Tom; looking at the face of the dark haired man who looked to be stood in their own version of MTAC.

"Director Marrow, Agent Gibbs I presume." The director mirrored with a small nod of the head.

"Did you get her? Is she okay?" Jethro jumped straight in with the questions, something that Marrow wanted to do, but was too much of a politician to do so, and something which those sat down were grateful for. The deputy director of Mossad, stood in Israel, on a video call to NCIS a thousand miles away smirked at their boldness. There were so many things that divided their agencies, but he and Marrow were desperate to try and bridge that rift – he hoped that this would be the push that the rest of their agencies needed. Even though there were so many differences between the two agencies, the dedication to their cause was evident in both.

"I apologise for his boldness Eli, this day had been a long time coming. Most of us expected her home three months ago." Marrow commented, running a hand down his face in tiredness. Maybe if she was safe he could actually sleep, maybe the SecNav would be off of his back and maybe he'd be able to bridge relations with the sister agencies he'd annoyed in his treasure hunt.

"Well then it is my pleasure to tell you that Agent Shepard in safely here in the building I am in. She's receiving medical care, and will remain here until the doctors clear her for flight." Said Eli, watching the relief wash over the faces of the men in Washington DC. The way each one of them – even just momentarily – closed their eyes and silently prayed to thank god that she was safe.

"Thank you." Gibbs said, it wasn't much; it was less than the agency deserved. Yet coming from Gibbs it was a lot, and it was all that the deputy director needed, something that was evident from the way that he nodded in reply.

"I owe you Eli." Was Tom's response.

"And I will collect my friend. This is Officer David, she is the officer who infiltrated the terrorist camp, and who will be monitoring your agent until she returns." A young woman, with dark hair and subtle features, yet with guarded eyes appeared on the screen, and each person in DC felt in her debt. "Officer David will give you any extra information you would like." And with that Eli David, was gone.

"Agent Shepard suffered a gunshot to the shoulder during our escape; she also received numerous injuries whilst she was captured, a broken rib, a serious head wound, as well as other smaller injuries. We, however, will leave her psychological state to be evaluated by NCIS. She is being given fluids through an IV drip as she is severely malnourished and dehydrated as well as being given morphine for the pain. Tetanus and other injections have also being delivered by the doctor. None of her injuries pose any serious threat to her life." Her voice was almost monotonous, level headed as she read off the facts from a clipboard.

Everyone left that MTAC room feeling like the weight of the world had been lifted off of their shoulders. Feeling like that night they would be able to go home and rest easy. Even though there was still the feeling of guilt, even though they still all felt as though they had failed her for ever letting her get in that position in the first place. They all also knew that they had done everything they could to get her back home.

Standing at the top of the staircase that went down into the bull pen, they all stopped, and Tom Marrow asked for the attention of every agent that was in the bull pen. The thing was, it had not just been those that had been in MTAC who had found her, it had been every agent in NCIS as much as them too. It had been every one of them who had worked late into night.

"In the last 24 hours, Special Agent Jennifer Shepard has been located, rescued, and placed in the medical facility belonging to Mossad. Jenny will be coming back to DC once the doctors have cleared her to fly – thank you all for your help." There was a round of applause, cheering and smiles, not for the speech their director had just given, not for the agents who were stood at the top of the stairs. But for Jenny, for her perseverance and determination to survive, for God, Jesus, Buddha, anyone up there who had made this happen – who had given her the ability to survive.

The job every one of them did was dangerous. Each one of them had had that moment when they thought they would not be making it back home that night, and some had even known people who didn't make it home. So to see that one woman had come back from the brink of death – that was something to celebrate. And celebrate was something that they would mostly all do that night in one way or another, some would just be surrounded by the love of those at home, whilst others would hit the bars. But no one would be alone that night, because that would make it all too hard to handle. That was a night they all needed to be together.

When the noise had died down Ducky looked at the men in front of him and felt pride. This was his family, along with Jenny, they were the reason he did what he did. "Now, I don't know about all of you but I could do with a nice cup of tea, and anyone who cares to join me is welcome." Yet what he didn't expect was that they all would, but it was what he needed, and when they got down to autopsy, they got something stronger than tea; Scotch. "I know it's not your usual poison Jethro, but it will do." Said the Scotsman, making the agent smirk.

"Thanks Duck." He replied, and they all looked at each other, waiting for someone to make the toast, and the duty fell on Ducky, who took his glass, out stretched his arm, and smiling ever so softly he looked at Gibbs, who was stood in the corner.

"To Jennifer." He said, and there was a chorus to 'to Red' 'to Jenny' 'to Shep' and, then there was Gibbs, who chose to adopt his nickname for her from Paris. The one that recent events had meant he didn't use. The one that their torn relationship before the op, had made too intimate.

"To Jen." Gibbs said, before downing the glass of liquor.

That night Gibbs actually arrived home before midnight, in fact he arrived home at 7pm, a time unheard of as of late. And as soon as he stepped through the door he felt different. He felt like now he had found Jenny he could be happy – or try to be – it all depended on whether he was able to fix what he was pretty sure he had broken. "Jethro?" Stephanie questioned as she walked out of the kitchen. Surprised that he was actually home.

"Hey." He said, walking over to her and kissing her gently on the lips.

"Is everything oaky?" She questioned warily, the only tiem he came home these days was to change clothes or crash on the sofa.

"We found her." And as annoyed as she was at him, Stephanie could not help but feel a wave of relieve, because she knew how much it meant to her husband. And even if it didn't mean a lot to her husband, it was a horrible thing that Jenny had had to endure.

"Good." And with that she returned into the kitchen to plate him up some dinner. There was a rift in their marriage – both of them knew it – but now he had fought his dragon, maybe they could repair it. Hopefully it would not grow a second head - for now it was in the hands of the gods, they had done everything that they could.