Thank you so much to everyone who read the first chapter! x

Gibbs could admit, if only to himself, that he wasn't entirely sure what strings had been pulled in order to secure him, Tony and Kate seats on a flight to Cyprus that afternoon, but he wasn't about to complain. Especially since they were scattered throughout the plane, which meant he got some peace and quiet from the constant nattering of the other two.

Of course, the problem with that, combined with a long plane ride was that he had far too much time to think. It had been easy enough before, in the rush to grab his bag from home and get to the airport. Tony and Kate, he had simply had to trust would both make it despite the need to detour to their respective homes to pack bags, albeit that trust was placed for different reasons- the former would be unwilling to face his wrath, he knew, while the latter was simply too disciplined and too much of a perfectionist to risk missing a flight.

But still, once they were settled waiting to board, it gave him too much time in his own head. He closed his eyes, hoping his agents would believe him asleep despite the uncomfortable chairs while really, his mind wandered to Jenny. She had grown into a skilled agent. She'd been green when first assigned to his team, new to the agency and Gibbs hadn't missed the way Decker's eyes had lit up and become gleeful upon meeting her. It had taken her all of an hour to thoroughly disabuse the notion that she would be unable to handle herself. Her sharp tongue gave as good as she got and by the end of the first day, she and Decker had almost developed a rhythm in their sniping.

She'd been a good agent even then. Quick thinking, good instincts. By the time they'd received their undercover assignments, Gibbs had stopped worrying about her in the field, though deep cover… that had given him a pause. It was as if she could sense it, though, and she had striven to prove him wrong.

Their relationship had not been his smartest move. He knew that. But she had been so alive, clever and funny and it was like a moth to a flame. It had been easier to resist in DC, at first with his wife at home, and working in the office with other agents with the director constantly around. But trapped together in that attic in France, with no one waiting for them and nobody there to make those little comments or glances that reminded them both of who they were… it had been as if all of their rules and morals had been chipped away. Both succumbing to temptation, tumbling headfirst into the inferno together and the longer it went on, the easier it had become to forget all of the reasons they shouldn't have been together in the first place, to forget that there were rules and policies and to simply be them, rather than the professional agents they were supposed to be.

"Boss?"

Gibbs snapped to awareness, glaring at Tony. "What?"

"I… that is, we were wondering…" He glanced to where Kate was trying to look innocent. "Why exactly are we going to Cyprus?"

Gibbs sighed. They had a point, he supposed, and withdrew the file from his bag. He handed it over without a word, and Tony blinked. "Thanks…"

He ignored them both, not missing the way Tony and Kate looked at each other in baffled exasperation, before both bending their heads over the file at the same time while he leant back against his seat. Kate slapped at her partner's hand when he tried to turn the page too quickly, Tony hissed in response and Gibbs rolled his eyes, wishing he really could fall asleep and get this whole fiasco over with.

Of course, that would also mean hurrying up his reunion with Jenny. And even though he'd never admit it aloud, that caused his stomach to summersault at the very thought.

NCIS

Cyprus was warm, and busier than Gibbs liked, especially given the early hour. It was almost amusing, the way Tony and Kate had to scramble to keep up with him as he strode through the airport, apparently unaffected by the many, many hours he'd just spent trapped in a flying metal tube. Tony wasn't so lucky, wincing theatrically as he rubbed at his back. They had all been separated on the plane, Gibbs seated near the front while Tony and Kate had ended up further towards the back, several rows apart but just within distance to gesture to each other about information in the file. By the time they'd been allowed to wander up the aisle, their boss seemed to have fallen asleep, or at least pretended to. Either way, neither of his agents had wanted to risk potentially waking him up.

"What do you think?" Tony muttered as they hurried in Gibbs' wake, and Kate grimaced.

"He is definitely being more… Gibbs, than usual."

"Think it has something to do with 'Jenny'?"

"I don't know, but please let me be there when you ask him."

The sun was only just rising in the sky as they stepped out of the airport, morning light not yet bright enough to hide the shadows leftover from the night. And yet still, there seemed to be people everywhere, the place bustling and alive. Gibbs didn't appear to notice, striding off and Kate frowned as she reshouldered her backpack. "Does he actually know where he's going?"

Tony shrugged.

It would be hot today, Gibbs thought, based on the way the sun's rays were beginning to warm the ground. And, more noticeably, the way they were highlighting the red hair of the woman a little way away from them, illuminating it like a flame.

Jenny was leaning against a car, sunglasses in place as she allowed the sun to warm her face. The moment she caught sight of them was readily apparent- she stiffened almost imperceptibly before easing herself upright, expression carefully blank. Her sunglasses were slid onto her head as she waited impassively for them to draw nearer, face just a little too controlled to be natural.

Gibbs stopped when he was a few steps away, blue eyes meeting green. "Jen."

"Jethro." She mimicked his tone, an expression that was unsettlingly unreadable etched over her face. There was a beat of silence, her head tilting as she looked at him. "Shall we skip the 'you haven't changed a bit' bull?"

"Why start lying to each other now?"

Behind him, Kate and Tony's eyebrows had practically touched the sky. Tony nudged his partner, and when she looked over, he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. He didn't think he deserved to be elbowed quite so hard, barely hiding his wince as Gibbs gestured to them both over his shoulder. "Special Agents DiNozzo and Todd. Kate, Tony, Special Agent Jenny Shepard."

Jenny relaxed almost imperceptibly as she focused her attention on the pair, her smile more genuine than it had been as she held out her hand to them. "Welcome to Cyprus."

NCIS

Jenny hadn't been sure of what would happen when she and Jethro saw each other again. It had been a long time since they'd last seen each other, but equally it wasn't quite enough time at all. He would still be angry with her, but how he'd handle that... she could never tell. Would he be curt with her, short and dismissive? Or would he be in that mood where he seethed under the surface? Or maybe he would be uncaring, pretending they were nothing more than former teammates. She thought that might be worse, actually. She had seen him with all those emotions before, but it had been over four years since she'd left him... closer to five now. She wasn't sure he'd be so raw with his emotions. He certainly wouldn't broadcast them with his team there, that much she was sure of.

So busy worrying about how he would react, Jenny had forgotten to factor in herself. Of how it would feel like a punch in the gut when she blinked and focused and suddenly, he was in her line of sight and she hadn't been as prepared as she'd thought she was. She had to fight to hide her emotions, to conceal how there was suddenly an elephant on her chest and her hands wanted to shake. She had hurt this man, and whatever the reasons had been behind it, that was a hard pill to swallow.

He came closer, flanked by two agents she barely noticed. She was painfully aware of the way his gaze flicked over her, just once. She would never admit that she had worn this vest top because she knew it clung to her the perfect way, well within the bounds of propriety but showcasing certain assets well. Or that the colour of the shirt she wore over the top particularly suited her skin tone- something Jethro would never notice, but a small detail that gave her own confidence a bolster.

It was almost surprising, the way he studied her without saying a word other than her name, an expression on his face that on anybody else she might have called wary. So she took a risk with a light quip, praying he would respond in kind. She wasn't sure how they would ever work together if he didn't.

His answer might not have been quite as light-hearted as her attempt, but it was amicable. Jenny took that as a win. Still, that didn't mean that having him sit next to her in the passenger's seat of the car was any fun- his two younger agents hadn't even questioned sliding into the back, and now from the corner of her eye she could see him, sat in a way that told her he wasn't relaxed but was trying to pretend to be.

"Agent Shepard?" It was Kate who broke the silence that was rapidly becoming awkward. "Can you tell us more about McKidd and the initial case? Anything that wasn't in the file?"

"Not much." Jenny glanced at her in the rear-view mirror, curious at the question. Hadn't Jethro had this conversation with them on the flight over? "I can tell you that the investigation wasn't initially focused on him." She tapped her finger on the steering wheel, waiting for the lights to turn green. "It was an inquiry into missing funds. We were only a few days in, didn't have any real suspects yet. But McKidd flagged. He was... too calm. No indignation at being interviewed, no frustration that we were delaying things. We turned our attention to him after that."

Agent DiNozzo snorted. "How did he take that?"

"Almost didn't appear to notice. But then he didn't turn up for work."

That seemed to interest them both- Kate leant forward, focused entirely on Jenny. "He ran?"

"That's what we thought. His wife was gone too, house looked like they'd left in a hurry. We'd barely started looking when there was a report of a boat in distress a few miles out to sea, and McKidd identified himself over the radio."

"Strange thing to do when running," Tony commented, and Jenny nodded, glancing at him in the rear view.

"Search and rescue were dispatched, found a body in the water a couple of days later. Badly burnt, waterlogged. It was identified as the wife through dental records. McKidd's body was never found."

"Never did like that." Three sets of eyes looked towards Gibbs, who continued to stare straight ahead. "Too clean. Convenient."

When he added nothing more, Jenny took up the slack. "Which was why we continued searching. We chased leads from DC to just about every other continent, but nothing panned out. Official report was that McKidd was lost at sea, presumed dead. We never found solid evidence to prove otherwise."

Tony looked at Gibbs. "But you didn't believe it, boss?"

"Nope."

They all waited, but he didn't elaborate and Jenny rolled her eyes. "We carried on looking for weeks," she remembered. "Tried to find the money, followed up on every potential sighting but eventually, orders came to shut it down. It was felt it was a waste of resources. And then shortly afterwards our team was… reassigned. So it ended."

Kate's ears pricked up. "You never found the money?"

Jenny shook her head, eyes focused on the traffic as she manoeuvred through the streets. "If I'm honest... that bothered me."

In her peripheral vision, she could just see the faintly amused look Jethro got at that. He remembered as well as she did, then, the way she'd been torn between thinking he was crazy and agreeing that McKidd was alive. There had been too many loose ends for her to be entirely happy, but believing that he'd somehow escaped from a boat in the middle of the ocean and made it ashore… that had been a little trickier to accept.

She supposed she would have to eat humble pie at some point. "How the hell did he do it?" she muttered, mostly to herself. But Jethro heard her, and shot her a considering look before he spoke.

"We always wondered if he had an accomplice."

Jenny wasn't sure if she'd managed to keep the surprise off her face. He was actually speaking to her, and fairly cordially too. That was more than she'd honestly expected. "It makes the most sense." She kept her voice carefully even. "Although how they pulled it off without alerting anyone…"

"Took some planning."

She nodded in agreement as she made a left turn. "And a fair bit of luck."

"Need to re-interview all of them."

"We need to catch McKidd first. Only takes one of them to spook him."

Behind them, with undisguised fascination on their faces, Tony and Kate were watching the conversation as if it were a tennis match, eyes flicking back and forth between each speaker. Gibbs treated this woman like… well, a partner. Albeit one with whom he was prone to awkward silences and pointedly avoided glares, but a partner nonetheless.

The pair looked at each other, and were in perfect agreement. This was going to be interesting.