Thank you for reading! x

Five days. It had been five straight days of mind-numbing tedium, watching Michael McKidd accomplish precisely nothing. The man was… uninteresting. If it hadn't been for everything they already knew about him, none of the agents would have given him a second glance.

Today, Jenny had ended up on surveillance duty with Tony, sat watching McKidd lounge by his pool. When they'd been drawing up shifts for surveillance duty, she hadn't mentioned that she wasn't technically supposed to be in the field, and Gibbs, the only one who knew, hadn't said a word about it. She certainly wasn't about to mention it to the director though.

Agent DiNozzo didn't seem to notice that she was lost in thought, keeping up an almost constant stream of conversation with little input needed from her. At first, Jenny hadn't quite been sure what to make of it. Then, it had grown a little irritating. Now, she kind of liked it. Tony didn't care about her past, or her injuries. He wasn't watching to see if she was capable of doing her job. He was chatting away to a fellow agent on an incredibly boring stakeout, about nothing of much importance. And Jenny was enjoying herself.

"It's a masterpiece!" Tony was saying, waving a hand in the air to punctuate his point. "I can't believe you haven't seen it!"

"I haven't had a lot of time for watching films the past few years."

"Well, when you do get time, you need to see this one."

Jenny smiled, head resting back against the chair. Only the straighten abruptly. "Tony."

He was already raising the binoculars. "What's he doing?"

McKidd had his phone pressed to his ear, and was rushing into the house so fast he tripped on his flip flops and had to save himself. Through the windows, they caught flashes of him as he apparently dashed from room to room, and then abruptly disappeared from sight.

A minute passed.

Jenny shifted anxiously.

Tony wet his lips.

Behind them, a bird cooed.

Slowly, Tony leant closer to Jenny, eyes never leaving the villa. "How long until we get worried?"

"I'm already worried." She clenched her fingers around her chair. "I don't like this. Something's wrong."

The minutes were agonisingly long. There was no obvious movement from the house, no sign of McKidd. Jenny had gone from being antsy and unsettled to almost frozen, every muscle tense as they waited. For what, neither was entirely sure. Tony was tapping his fingers against his thigh, Jenny's teeth were worrying her lip. And somewhere, that damn bird was still making noise.

Tony's hand shot out towards the villa. "Movement!"

"He's getting in the car." Jenny grabbed for her seatbelt, started the engine. Tony reached for his own.

"He's never left in the middle of the day before."

"Something is definitely wrong."

It was almost impossible to trail the man without being noticed. He appeared to have never heard of a speed limit, or of road safety. He wound in and out of traffic, jumped red lights and generally caused enough havoc that not once but twice, Jenny lost him and only found him again by following the sound of blaring horns.

When he finally came to a stop, it was, of course, in an area where no parking was allowed. Jenny slowed, Tony practically jumped out of the car while it was still moving, and she drove on. It was so smooth, even a woman walking her dog on the other side of the road didn't appear to have noticed what they'd done, leaving Jenny to unobtrusively drive away while Tony followed McKidd on foot.

She wasn't alone for long. Half an hour later, she slowed just enough for Tony to jump back in, breathless and pink cheeked. "Diamonds!" His voice definitely didn't squeak. "He bought a lot of diamonds. And then cashed in some stocks, and some other stuff I didn't catch. He has more money on him right now than the rest of the town put together. Possibly the entire island."

Jenny's grip on the steering wheel tightened. "He's getting ready to run."

McKidd was at the end of the street, almost out of sight and she accelerated. Hard. Tony grabbed hold of the door handle, did his best not to swallow his tongue and when he finally had the breath once again, he glanced at her. "Just out of curiosity, did Gibbs teach you to drive?"

Jenny just smirked.

He hadn't, of course. That had been her father. What Gibbs had done, was spend several hours teaching her how to drive… well, like him. Fast, with little heed for the law. In a way that avoided being tailed, shot at, bombed, or anything else that might crop up while serving NCIS. It wasn't an agency as safe as people thought.

Those lessons, however, came in very handy as she wove through the midday traffic, chasing McKidd. He wasn't going home, but he seemed no less anxious than earlier, speeding recklessly through junctions and down side streets.

Tony's phone ringing barely registered with Jenny, as focused as she was on the road. She did, however, pay more attention when she could clearly hear Gibbs' apoplectic tone through the speaker.

"DiNozzo! Where the hell are you?"

Tony winced, and he and Jenny exchanged a grimace. They'd forgotten to check in. "We're following McKidd, boss. Something's up." He apprised Gibbs, telling him everything and was treated to a long silence on the other end of the line. "Boss?"

"Keep me updated."

The line went dead. Tony winced, closing his phone and shoving it away before concentrating on his surroundings once more. "Where are we?"

"We're heading towards the port." Jenny's voice was grim.

"Is he going to try and get on a boat?"

She didn't reply. Instead, without warning, she wrenched the wheel and took them onto a road Tony hadn't even seen. "Jenny!"

"He looks like he's heading to the commercial area," she said casually, ignoring his yelp. "Freighters and cargo ships tend to dock at this end."

"That doesn't explain where we're going!"

"We can see the port from up here."

The road they were on was little more than a dirt track, overhung by the occasional tree with buildings peppered here and there. Tony could see the ocean, but there was no sign of anything else and he was just beginning to doubt Jenny's sanity, when they turned a corner and just like that, the port was spread out in front of them.

Tony leant out the window, peering below. "I don't see hi- Ack!"

The seatbelt strangled him as Jenny braked, hard. Dust flew, clouding the air and by the time Tony had recovered, Jenny was already out of the car. He rubbed at his shoulder. "No wonder they were partners."

He quickly unclipped himself and followed the redhead, frowning. A small, wooden shed sat in front of them, the cracked and fading sign advertising freshly cooked sea food, though somehow Tony doubted anything had been cooked here for a long time. The entire building looked ready to fall down any moment, but Jenny didn't appear to notice. She walked straight to a side door, wrenching it open and calling out something as she went.

Tony hurried to catch up with her.

"Tony, meet Ziva." Jenny tossed the introduction over her shoulder. "Ziva, I need to use this."

The brunette merely looked amused. "Are you supposed to be doing this?"

Jenny glared at her, while Tony hovered behind her. "Who…?"

Ziva rose from her seat, and held out her hand. "Officer Ziva David. Mossad."

"You're Israeli?"

She arched an eyebrow. "What gave it away?"

"Ziva." Jenny didn't turn around, but the abashment in her voice was clear.

Tony glanced uncertainly between them, but took the proffered hand. "Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. NCIS."

"So why have the two of you flown in here in such a hurry?"

"I'll explain later." Jenny sounded distracted, a pair of binoculars pressed to her face as she scanned the area below. "Come on, where is he?"

"Don't tell me we've lost him." Tony was by her side in an instant. They both began to look, guts churning until simultaneously, they let out a shout.

"There!"

Ziva looked highly entertained. "Did you two practice that?" She wandered over, followed their lines of sight to the man in question, the red sports car conspicuous amongst the lorries and forklifts littering the area. "He is rather obvious. How did you not see him?"

"He must have gotten caught up at the gate." Jenny sounded undeniably relieved. As they watched, the sports car drove further and further into the docks, weaving around the lorries ferrying cargo around. Until finally, he could go no further, and McKidd parked hazardously, climbing out the car and grabbing a case from the boot.

Tony frowned. "Did he have that when he left the house?"

"We would have seen. It must have already been in the car."

"It's not a suitcase. And he put the bags with the cash on the backseat."

They watched, tracking him as he pushed further and further on. And as he did, Jenny was hit with a sinking feeling. "Oh, tell me you're not going where I think you are…"

"What?" Tony looked at her.

Ziva interrupted before she could answer. "Jenny… is he…?" She cut off, as they watched McKidd do exactly as they'd feared. And Tony just glanced between them in bafflement.

"You know that ship?"

Jenny nodded, expression grim. "That is the ship we've been watching, the reason we're here on the island." She nodded towards Ziva's camera set up. "And McKidd's just walked straight on board."

NCIS

It had taken Jenny all of fifteen seconds to get over the shock, and push to her feet with her mobile already in hand. "I need to call the director. Tony, call Gibbs. Tell him we need to talk, back at the house. Ziva, put it on video mode and set up the security- you're coming with us."

From there, it had seemed no time at all before Tony was back in the car. Ziva was driving back herself, and he almost wished he could have gone with her- Jenny's knuckles were white, her eyes narrowed and cool. And her driving rivalled Gibbs. They were back in town in even less time than it had taken for them to leave, which was why Tony did a double take when he saw Ziva lounging against her car, waiting for them.

"How…? We left before you!"

Ziva just smiled.

"Come on," Jenny ordered, and strode into the house. Gibbs and Kate were sat waiting for them and she wasted no time with pleasantries. "This investigation has just crashed into mine and Ziva's original one. This is no longer just about McKidd."

Behind her, Ziva gave a nod to Kate, who was staring at her in surprise. She'd almost thought Jenny's mysterious partner was a ghost, since no one had ever actually appeared after the woman's initial mention of her.

Gibbs was looking at them suspiciously. "Jen?"

"Marrow's given me permission to read you all in." She pretended he hadn't spoken. She perched on the edge of the desk, pleased when Tony followed her lead and sat on the sofa, Kate soon joining him. Gibbs preferred to lean on the arm of the chair, but she didn't say a word about it. "A few months ago, intelligence was received that weapons finding their way into the hands of various terror cells in the Middle East were being distributed out of Cyprus," she began. "Various agencies tracked shipments from where they ended up back to major ports such as Jebel Ali and Cairo, and a high proportion of them had arrived there from ships previously docked in Cyprus."

"NCIS and Mossad set up a joint surveillance operation, in order to discover who was shipping the weapons and how they were getting them through customs." Ziva took over, and they all turned to look at her where she was leaning against the wall. "Jenny and I have been watching a particular ship we believe to be involved. It is that ship that your Mr McKidd boarded today."

Kate was frowning. "Do you think he knows? About the weapons?"

"Or he's supplying them." Jenny said quietly. That caused a beat of silence.

"You really think he…?"

"He stole from the navy and murdered his wife in cold blood. I'm not sure he's a particularly moral person."

There was another silence. Tony scrubbed his hand over his face. "So, what do we do now?"

"Bring McKidd in."

"Keep watching."

The simultaneous answers were followed by a stunned silence. Jenny and Gibbs both turned to stare at each other. "You want to just keep watching him?" Jenny questioned incredulously. "Have you gone mad?"

"We still don't know who he was working with."

"Who…? Jethro!" She looked aghast. "He could be part of a weapons network supplying the terrorists shooting at our people on a daily basis! You want to let him continue that?"

"I want to catch the lot of them! Not just McKidd!"

"If we don't arrest him now, we run the enormous risk that he will simply disappear!"

They glared at each, and simultaneously came to the uncomfortable realisation that this was different to all of their disagreements in the past. Things had changed. He was no longer her mentor or her boss, unlike ever before they were now on an almost even keel, neither higher in the hierarchy than the other. He might have been at this for longer than her, but she had experience he didn't. They were far more equals than ever before and it was occurring to them both for the first time.

"We need his accomplice before arrest him," Gibbs said lowly, but Jenny shook her head.

"We have nothing to prove there even is one. He's getting ready to leave, Jethro, and if he does we might not find him again. We have to bring him in."

"And let the other guy walk?"

"There might not be another one!" Jenny exclaimed, irritation colouring her tone. "And right now, we won't know until we question McKidd!"

"Who will clam up!"

"So we make sure he doesn't!" She glared at him, frustrated that he wouldn't listen to anyone but himself. "We play dumb, make out like this is all about the money he stole. Don't mention the weapons yet. We offer him a deal- his accomplice for a reduced sentence. Get him to flip on his partner- assuming there is one- and then we go after him for the murder and the smuggling afterwards. Everyone wins."

"Until we can't get him to talk."

Jenny threw her hands up in the air. "Why are you so against this?"

"Why are you so okay with letting a second criminal walk?"

"Didn't I just suggest a way around that?"

Neither Jenny nor Gibbs cared that off to the side, they were being viewed as a rather interesting television programme might be- Tony looked highly entertained, in stark contrast to Ziva, who looked almost bored with an impassive expression on her face. And Kate just looked concerned, eyes sliding from one agent to the other as they argued. "Do you think they were like this before?"

"I'd get head slapped if I argued like that." Tony didn't take his eyes from them, and Kate snorted out a laugh.

"You don't need to argue with him for that." She continued to watch, tilting her head to the side. "Somehow, I just can't see him doing it to her."

"Not on the head, anyway."

"Tony!" She hit him. Hard.

"What? Come on, Gibbs plus a feisty redhead? No prizes for guessing how that one ends. And Ducky was suspiciously tight-lipped when we asked him."

"He was her boss!"

"Hot."

She hit him again. Ziva was now watching them, looking amused. But also a little worried they would draw attention from Jenny and Gibbs, and end up on the wrong side of their wrath. "I have never seen Jenny become this angry so quickly," she observed, successfully distracting the pair before it could escalate. "She is an interesting colour now."

Her words had Tony's and Kate's attention turning back to the arguing pair and sure enough Jenny's cheeks had become a flushed pink, while Gibbs was practically vibrating as he hissed at her. Kate's eyes widened. "He is really mad."

As if to punctuate her, Gibbs chose that moment to let out a furious growl that was probably Jenny's name.

"I think that's our cue," Kate whispered, and Tony nodded his agreement. As cautiously as they could, they slipped out of their seats and began to creep from the room- Kate had only taken a few steps when she realised Ziva hadn't moved, and reached back to nudge her. At the confused look she received, she simply grabbed her hand and tugged her along behind her.

"Yikes." In the bright sunshine outside, Tony regarded the two women with wide eyes. "When they go for it, they really go for it."

Kate nodded her agreement. "Ducky said that their clashes were legendary. I see what he means."

"What is a Ducky?" Ziva glanced between them.

"Our medical examiner, Dr Mallard," Tony explained. "He knew Gibbs and Jenny back when they were partners, but kept annoyingly shtum when we asked about them."

She nodded her understanding, not considering for a moment to share what she knew. For a moment, the three stood in awkward silence. "What do we do now?" Kate slid her hand in her pocket, pointedly ignored the sound of raised voice from inside the house.

Several beats passed, before Ziva tentatively spoke up. "There is a good ice cream shop not far from here?"

Kate brightened. "Then we are definitely going there," she agreed firmly, not even giving Tony a chance to respond. Ice cream was exactly what was needed.

NCIS

Inside the house, Jenny and Gibbs were standing face to face, both angry, both stubborn refusing to back down as they faced each other. Neither willing to concede, both believing they were in the right.

Neither saw it coming. It wasn't intentional, wasn't even a possibility in either of their minds. Both caught up in their disagreement, trying to convince the other that they were right. Gibbs wouldn't even remember what she'd said. Only that it had prompted him to curse and gesture wildly, anger and frustration that only she could provoke coursing through him.

And Jenny flinched.

It wasn't even subtle. She inhaled sharply and every muscle contracted, and suddenly she was further away from him than she'd been previously while he was frozen, horror icing his veins and dropping his stomach through the floor. "Jen..."

She was breathing too fast, eyes too wide but even as he watched her, she grit her teeth, took a deep breath. "We need to bring McKidd in," she tried to continue, but right now, he couldn't care less about the man.

"Jen," he said again, feeling oddly off-balance. "You must know I'd never-,"

"Of course I do!" Her voice was harsh, her words short and he wasn't a fool, he could see the embarrassment and shame in her expression. "It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me."

He didn't even think before he'd stepped forward, had carefully reached out to run his thumb across her cheek. "You went through something horrendous," he murmured gruffly, and her breath had caught in her throat. "A month in the sun isn't going to fix it."

Jenny suddenly had the mortifying and almost overwhelming urge to tell him everything. To tell him how the nightmares returned night after night, how one night early on she'd woken up with her knife to Ziva's throat (and had had to stop sleeping with the weapon after that). How she hadn't quite shaken the feeling of being hunted, unsafe. How terrified she was that this was her life now.

She didn't, however. She clamped down on the urge, took another deep, unsteady breath. Her eyes were wetter than they should have been and he would have noticed, but he wouldn't bring it up. Not as long as she pretended she was fine. So that's what she did, swallowing hard and taking yet another breath and by unspoken signal he stepped away from her, shoving his hands in his pockets. "We seem to have lost the kids," she quipped lightly, and was grateful when he pretended not to notice that her voice was choked and hoarser than it should have been.

"They'll come back," he shrugged, gaze never leaving her. "And when they do, we'll have a plan. One we both agree on."

He was being nice, trying not to upset her. She didn't know whether to think that was sweet or condescending, but she couldn't deny that she was thankful for it. She nodded her acceptance. "Okay. You want to watch, I want to bring him in. Where's the middle ground?"

He went to sit at the small kitchen table, hoping she would follow his lead and hiding his triumphant look when she did. "Your main issue is you think he's going to run," he said instead, and she nodded.

"All indications suggest he is. The sudden asset liquidation, the erratic behaviour. And that original phone call… we have no idea what that was."

"So we watch until then." He leant forward, pushed on even though she had a dubious expression on her face. "When he has a bag and heads towards the airport, then we'll get him. Otherwise we watch."

She shook her head tiredly. "I don't know how you can be so flippant about this."

"I'm not, Jen." His tone turned serious, and it had her gaze flicking up to meet his eyes. "I don't want this guy to get away. But I don't want anyone else to either."

There was a long pause between them, until Jenny sighed and inclined her head. "Fine. You win."

"Aw, Jen..."

"I'm too tired to argue with you, Jethro. We'll do the surveillance."

Usually, he would have relished winning an argument with her. But this felt like a hollow victory, less of a success and more of resigned surrender. It was almost a surprise to discover he only enjoyed winning their battles when she was fighting as hard as he was.

"Jen..."

"I'm going to take a shower." Jenny stood, ignoring the fact that it wasn't even evening yet and she'd already showered that morning. "Put a call into the director to sort the extra surveillance equipment, will you?"

With a sigh, he watched her go without a word. And wasn't surprised when the shower upstairs never turned on.