A/N: Tag to "Blast From the Past" (12x16). Originally, I had only planned for 10 chapters of this, but this moment in this episode as well as another later one made me change my plans. It is looking like it may actually be around 12 chapters. The main unfortunate thing is that this will now be off schedule, especially now that I have a full time job and have very little free time.
I know last chapter wasn't super Jenny-centric, and I warn right now that there may be another chapter or two that are similar in fashion (though I haven't written them yet, so hey, maybe I'll do something different, I change my mind pretty frequently). Hopefully this chapter will make up for it, it has a couple Jibbs flashbacks.
Jethro Gibbs stared at the body on Ducky's table, the body of a man who had been using Gibbs old undercover alias; "Leland Robert Spears".
"Do you think this could be connected with one of your old cases?" Ducky asked.
"Anything's possible," Gibbs replied.
"Do you ever miss your undercover days?" Ducky inquired. "The adrenaline rush, the unrelenting fear of suddenly being exposed?"
"The real danger, Duck?" Jethro said, thinking back on his experiences. "Losing focus of what matters, being buried deep undercover for too long."
"Losing focus of what or whom, Jethro? I recall one case when you had no choice but to run off to Prague with a gorgeous redhead," Ducky said with a smirk, chuckling to himself.
Jethro tried to contain a smirk when he realized what Ducky was referring to, completely failing to not smile widely as the memories with that gorgeous redhead zipped through his mind.
"You were clearly forced to go above and beyond," Ducky said with amusement, nodding at Jethro sarcastically.
"Ah, no such thing," Jethro responded wryly, his mind wandering back to those first couple of days in Prague.
Jethro woke up, feeling a little worn out from traveling. He gave himself a minute to adjust to being awake, blinking away the blurriness in his eyes and rubbing a hand across his face. He tilted his head to the side, watching his lover peacefully slumber beside him, listening to her quiet breathing sounds and watching her shoulders move with each one.
They were both still in their clothes from yesterday, having both just collapsed on the bed and instantly falling asleep when they had reached the little apartment they had been assigned to. After he had healed in Positano, they had been sent back to Paris to finish up some surveillance and give reports, and now they were in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. This particular mission wasn't one they had been required to do, but they volunteered anyway—being undercover together as a 'married couple' in Europe was much more entertaining than sitting in the bullpen ignoring their feelings for each other.
Their mission was to keep track of—and potentially take out—a couple of arms dealers involved with the Russian group the agency had their eyes on. This mission had the potential to be really dangerous, and he was hoping it all went smoothly.
They'd both sustained many injuries over the course of their Europe adventures, but the majority had just been bruises, cuts, and minor broken bones. The most life threatening had been when he'd taken a bullet in Positano, and he hoped to God that she came out all of this without a single bullet wound—or worse...
He shook the thoughts from his mind and stared at her.
He almost felt jealous of the pillow she was hugging—they had been so busy the last few days that it felt like ages since he had properly touched her. They had a couple of days to relax, and he was looking forward to just unwinding and spending some time with her.
He scooched closer to her and wrapped an arm around her, nudging her neck with his nose and breathing her in. He began to trail wet kisses along her neck, slipping his hand underneath her shirt and resting it against her waist.
"Jethro," she growled groggily, stirring a little. "I know it's been a while, but I swear if you don't let me sleep in—the next time anyone at NCIS sees you will be when they open your body bag."
He lifted his head in surprise, smirking at her tightly shut eyes.
"Startin' to feel like I'm married again," he quipped, brushing his hand through her hair.
"Good, that means our undercover identities are working out," she replied.
"Other undercover things I'd rather work out," he teased, letting his hand roam over her suggestively.
"Like sleeping, for instance," she shot back, removing his hand from her. "Too bad I won't actually get the benefit of an alimony check if you leave me," she grumbled, trying to get comfortable in the covers again.
He smirked and let his lips go back to her neck, moving his hand back under her shirt.
"I haven't gotten to sleep in for ages," she complained.
"I haven't gotten to make love to a certain beautiful woman in ages," he retorted, doubling his efforts with his lips and hands.
She lay there with her eyes closed, trying to ignore him, but he knew his ministrations were succeeding as she visibly relaxed and tensed at the same time, almost seeming to shiver. She turned her face towards him after a minute, fluttering her eyes open to reveal her dilated pupils, and she started to kiss him languidly.
"Mmm," she moaned quietly as he let one of his hands work beneath her pants.
"You damn well better let me sleep as long as I want after this," she groaned, starting to try and tug his shirt off and kiss him harder at the same time.
He broke away to breathe.
"Don't know why you're complainin', seems like you're pretty into the idea," he gasped as her hand wandered below his naval.
"Because if you'd kept your hands to yourself I'd still be thoroughly enjoying my beauty rest," she replied, giving him a reprimanding slap to the shoulder.
He smiled against her lips, knowing he probably should feel sorry for waking her up, but not really feeling all that guilty. He'd take this over sleep any day of the week.
"Jen," Jethro whined.
"Leroy Jethro Gibbs, I swear if you don't go stand over there and cooperate I will find several ways to make your life completely miserable," she threatened.
He glared at her, but found himself faced with a terrifying glare from her—one that clearly booked no nonsense—so he grudgingly made his way over to where she wanted while grumbling under his breath.
"Would it help you to smile if I bribed you with a lollipop?" She mocked.
He glared harder, hearing the click sound of the camera.
" 'M not a child, Jen," he protested, making his way back over to her.
"Could've fooled me," she muttered. "You'll regret not having more pictures of our Europe adventure someday."
"Nope. Don't need pictures when I got all the good stuff up here," he said as he tapped his head with his finger.
She snorted.
"That brain of yours isn't as good as you think it is," she retorted, putting the camera away and taking his hand in hers, continuing to walk up the park path.
"Better than yours," he mumbled.
"What was that?" She asked, feigning ignorance.
"Nothin'."
"That's what I thought," she said, smiling at him.
His lip quirked up at her smile and he rolled his eyes good naturedly. He glanced around at their surroundings, intertwining his fingers in hers.
She had drug him out with her today to walk around Petřín Hill, a popular tourist area in Prague that was full of parks. She insisted that they could use the exercise.
Personally, he thought they had gotten plenty of exercise the day before when they had stayed in bed most of the day.
And unfortunately, despite his best efforts, he hadn't been able to convince her to stay in and just enjoy that kind of exercise again.
"Don't see why we had to do this today," he complained as they continued walking uphill, starting to feel a little out of breath.
"We won't have much free time after today. We'll be too busy doing surveillance. Unless our targets happen to tour Petřín Hill, this is probably our only chance," she replied.
"I'd have rather stayed in bed all day with you," he countered, smirking at the look she gave him.
"I'm sure you would have, but we can't just spend two entire days having sex and sleeping," she said, rolling her eyes at him. "This is probably the only time in our lives that we'll be in Prague. You should enjoy what the world has to offer when you can," she mused, turning to look at the view of the city from where they were.
"Already am," he responded, pulling her into him and planting a kiss on her lips.
He felt her smile against his lips and he pulled back a little to look at her, resting his forehead against hers.
"That was smooth," she said huskily, still smiling. "But there are other people around, and I don't want us to be that obnoxious couple that everyone hates."
She tried to pull away from him, but he held onto her.
"Mm, I got an easy fix for that. No other people at the safe house." He shot her a mischievous grin.
"You're impossible," she said with a laugh, smacking his chest lightly. "I'm determined to see as much of Prague as I can today, though, and you will not deter me," she said, pushing against him a little harder and escaping his arms.
He glared at her back as she retreated. He'd never been a fan of touring things and being around other people, especially when he could be doing other more enjoyable things.
She looked behind her shoulder at him and smirked, giving him a knowing look.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm having a lot more fun with you by my side than I would on my own," she said warmly, slowing to walk by his side and grab his hand in hers again.
He let go of her hand and slipped his arm around her waist instead, keeping her pressed against his side as they walked, not able to help the smile he knew was on his face. He inhaled with his nose deeply, smelling the grass, the interesting smells that seemed to waft from the city, and the subtle fruity hint of Jenny's shampoo. Despite his complaining, he knew he felt the same way, and he was simply glad just to be with her.
"Here," she said suddenly, pulling the camera from out of her purse and shoving it into his hands. "I want you to take a picture of me standing over there with the city in the background."
She wandered over to where she wanted and moved around a bit, seeming to decide where the best place to stand was. He shook his head a little, feeling both baffled and amused, and lifted the camera up, waiting for her to stand still and smile.
"Is this fine?" She asked, standing by a tree and placing her hand against it.
He looked at her, taking in the way her red hair moved at the ends with the slight breeze, and the content look on her face.
"You're perfect, Jen," he replied meaningfully, clicking the camera and capturing the blush that shot through her cheeks and the smile that danced across her face.
If any of my stuff from now on seems either rushed or nonsensical, it's because I have a full time job now and anytime I'm home I'm pretty much constantly exhausted. I'm not giving up though, I love this darn couple too much to call it quits right now.
As a side note: I'm really dreading Abby's final episode tomorrow, I know I'm just going to bawl my eyes out. I'm really going to miss her! The season has already been hard enough with whatever real life tension is going on between Pauley Perrette and Mark Harmon, and I'm hoping her final episode ends on at least a semi-positive note (as opposed to her perishing like all the other women on this show...).