Author's Note :

Thank you for the reviews and I know that I surprised you guys by pairing Gibbs and Jen. The idea just kinda snuck up on me and I had to see where it would go…

So here's the next installment… Enjoy and review soon!!!

P.S. I will be updating 'Enemy Within' and 'Survival' this weekend….

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The next month passed in a haze of anger and frustration for Gibbs. He had nightmares almost every night. They were either of Kelly or Emily accusing him of being too late, too late to save them. Sometimes he would see himself, the barrel of his Sig in his mouth, his finger on the trigger. But he was too much of a coward to shoot himself.

And when he wasn't having a nightmare he was dreaming of streaming hot, erotic sex with a nameless, faceless woman. He wanted her, needed her, craved her but didn't know how to find her.

She's a figment of my imagination….

But that bra in my closet's very real.

The team had never seen Gibbs like this. His eyes were red-rimmed on more days than not, evidencing the lack of restful sleep. His coffee consumption had tripled and he was snapping at Ducky and even Abby. And he and Jenny were on opposite ends of every topic.

It was Monday morning. Gibbs wasn't in yet. Tony, McGee and Ziva took turns glancing at each other.

"Okay, enough. As Senior Agent I have decided that we need to do something to get Gibbs to snap out of this trance his in." Tony said.

"What should we do?" McGee asked.

"That's what I'm asking you, McGeek?" Tony glared.

"We should force Gibbs to deal with his feelings." Ziva suggested.

"Yeah. That's brilliant. All he'll have to do is withdraw his weapon and blow our heads off for even suggesting that he has feelings." Tony growled.

"We could take him to that hypnotist that helped me." McGee suggested.

"And do you think he will allow us to do such a thing?" Tony asked.

"We could get Ducky to knock him out and then we could take him." Abby who had just entered the bullpen suggested.

"Who am I supposed to know out?" Ducky asked entering the bullpen from the other side.

"Gibbs." McGee, Ziva and Tony said at once.

"Try it and you'll be off my team in a blink of an eye."

"Boss!"

"Gibbs!" Tony and McGee gasped as Gibbs' hands connected with the back of their heads.

"Good morning Jethro." Ducky greeted as Ziva returned to her desk and Abby mumble something about her mass-spectrometer and headed for the elevator.

"Doctor." Gibbs greeted coolly, his sunglasses shielding his eyes.

"When you have a moment I would like to see you down in autopsy." Ducky said.

"Sure." Gibbs replied, but I won't have a free moment for the next few days, weeks, possibly months …

Taking a seat at his desk, he started scanning through various reports. What he hadn't told anyone was that he was spending every weekend in his basement with a bottle of bourbon and pretty much nothing else. So he had a severe hangover every Monday and it took him up to Tuesday evening to feel human again.

But this Monday was different. This Monday he made a conscious decision to deal with this mess. And he did this by doing what he always did. He suppressed every ounce of hurt, guilt, despair, disgust and disappointment and he shoved it to the deepest, darkest, furthest part of his mind. And he prayed that it would remain hidden there forever.

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Up in her office Jenny restlessly paced.

She knew that Gibbs wasn't okay and she knew that this time it was worse then ever because he wasn't able to cover it up. Tony had come to see her a week earlier and he had laid his suspicions about Gibbs' alcohol consumption on the table. As a result of a severe hangover, Gibbs had also gotten himself shot on the previous case. Abby, Ducky and Ziva had also discussed Gibbs' bloodshot eyes, snappish behaviour and quiet introspection with her. When she observed him, he was either quiet or in the middle of an outburst. He didn't come to her office and report regularly, instead sending Tony or Ziva.

It was Ducky who mentioned that Jethro was being eaten alive by guilt and anger and that they would have to do something and soon.

Jenny wished that she could reach out to him. She wondered how things would have turned out if he knew that they had spent the night together. Would it have helped him come to terms with Emily's case or would he have been more furious?

And she? She spend many a sleepless night imagining him close, touching her, soothing her, moving deep within her.

She missed him.

And she was realistic enough to acknowledge that she hungered after him. But she would never let him know, never!

She continued pacing, expecting him to burst into her office at any moment.

She was also feeling rather shaky and a bit nauseous. She was probably coming down with something, what with the climate change from winter to spring.

Oh will you get in here already Jethro, so that we can get over with this!

And just as she thought it, her door was flung open. Her back faced the door as Gibbs growled.

"What the hell's the meaning of this?"

"Come in and close the door Jethro." Jenny calmly said as she turned to face him.

His face was pinched in anger and his hands shook with repressed energy. He reminded Jenny of that night. He had been domineering and demanding taking her with such force.

Stop it, Jen!

Focus on what needs to be done!

"I'm not in the mood for a pep talk. What is this?" Gibbs demanded waving a memo in the air.

"It's an order for you to meet with the NCIS resident psychiatrist today at 2pm. Pending her evaluation, you may be asked to attend more sessions or you may be given a few days or weeks of paid leave to deal with the trauma's inherent on your job." Jenny stated. Her nausea and vertigo was getting worse.

Maybe it's just the effects of dealing with an irate Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

"No!" Gibbs insisted.

"It's not open to discussion." Jenny stated, reaching for the table.

"Why is this necessary?" Gibbs demanded refusing to admit that he did have a problem that he was having great difficulty dealing with.

"Because, you almost got yourself shot." Jenny stated. He stomach was rolling like the ocean at high tide and suddenly the room was spinning.

"I didn't almost get shot! I knew exactly what I was doing, like I always know!" Gibbs growled.

But Jenny didn't hear him. She felt her muscles turn to jelly.

"Jethro…" was the only thing she said as her body slumped.

Gibbs rushed forward and managed to catch her before she hit the floor.

"Jen! Jen, wake up! Cynthia… Cynthia…" Gibbs shouted as he carried an unconscious Jenny to her couch.

"Agent Gibbs…. Oh no! What have you done to the Director?" Cynthia gasped.

Gibbs glared at her for a moment before growling, "Get Dr Mallard."

Turning back to Jen, noticed that she was slightly pale. He made quick work of untying the bow at the top of her blouse and undoing the first few buttons. Next he pulled her legs up onto the couch. Inadvertently, her wrap-over skirt flipped open and revealed her lacy black panties. Gibbs did a double take at the sight of her panties. They matched the bra that he had sitting in his closet.

Jen?!?

Memories flashed through his mind of ecstatic moans and gasps and suddenly he knew the truth!

It had been Jen!

She come to him, comforted him and loved him when his world seemed to fall apart around him!

Jen, why didn't you tell me!

Why?

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Author's Note:

That's it for this chapter…

Let me know if you like it and stay tuned for more….