Despite her quip, truthfully Jenny hadn't expected to be found. It would be several hours before she discovered exactly how she had been, despite McKidd's best efforts. In the immediate aftermath of her rescue, Ziva and Gibbs had carefully helped her to her feet, provoking a sharp hiss from Jenny. The pain in her side suddenly reminded her of the injury there- she pulled up her top, heedless of who was watching and it was with some relief that she found that the bullet had simply grazed her. "Can you walk?" Ziva had questioned, and Jenny had shot her a look.

"Of course I can."

But she had found two pairs of narrowed eyes watching her when her voice had come out hoarse and raw, and although she had no idea what her throat looked like, it hadn't taken as long as she would have liked for their gazes both to lower to it. Ziva had opened her mouth first, but Jenny had been saved when Kate approached them, quietly informing them that McKidd was dead. There was no mourning, but rather a surprised silence as several pairs of eyes looked at Jenny in a new light. Gibbs had glared, and ushered her outside where she had been almost stunned to discover it was still light out. The whole ordeal had been only a few hours long.

"Jen?"

She'd blinked then, coming back to reality. "I'm fine." She hadn't met his eyes. It was without a word that Ziva offered her a bottle of water, but when Jenny reached for it, there had been blood covering her hands and arms. "Oh God…"

Over her head, Gibbs frowned at Ziva. "Jenny?"

She was breathing too quickly, wiping ineffectively at her arms. Gibbs had caught a hold of her, walked her backwards a few steps. "Come here." His arms had wrapped around her just long enough to lift her onto the boot of her car, before he had captured her hands in his, preventing her from continuing to swipe at the blood. "Jen, stop. Breathe, okay? I've got it."

She'd stopped moving. The bottle of water was poured over her hands and arms, and neither questioned Ziva when she abruptly appeared with yet more bottles and a t-shirt of unknown origin, which Gibbs used to gently wipe at the dryer blood. Jenny let him, sitting silently even once her hands were clean and he had moved on to her face and neck. She'd simply closed her eyes, and tried to control the trembling in her hands.

It'd felt both an eternity and a mere second before he spoke. "Okay."

She looked at him. "It's gone?"

"As much as I can here."

Jenny swallowed. "Thank you." Her voice was barely above a whisper, and it was only when he shrugged off his jacket to wrap around her that she realised she was shivering. It held the latent warmth from his body, smelt of that familiar scent that was simply Jethro and safety and she huddled into it gratefully, ducking her head for a moment. But when she had looked up at him to thank him, she was faced with the sight of his back as he walked away, leaving her alone with Ziva.

Her confused look was met with a shrug. "He was very worried about you," Ziva said quietly, and reached out to squeeze Jenny's hand. "We both were."

Jenny gave her a weak smile, and pulled the jacket closer. Companionable silence reigned between them until an ambulance arrived, and Jenny was in too much pain to protest going to hospital. Her wrist was swollen and bruised; her head pounded. Although her fingers had come away clean when she had tentatively probed the back of her skull, she suspected there was going to be an impressive bruise hidden by her hair.

It was at the hospital, wounds cleaned and bandaged, that Ziva no longer had an excuse to avoid the question Jenny had asked several times. "How did you know I was missing?"

"That was me."

Both women looked towards the door, where Gibbs had one hand shoved in his pocket, expression blank. For a moment, silence hung in the air between them until Ziva rose, lips pressed together, and bent over to kiss Jenny's cheek. "I will return later."

She was far too perceptive for her own good. Jenny squeezed her hand, watching as Gibbs stepped backwards to let her out the room, before crossing to where she was sat, eyes unsubtly grazing over her. Instead of taking Ziva's previous seat, he perched on the edge of the bed. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Jethro. Nothing a good night's sleep and a hot bath won't fix."

"That why you're still in a hospital bed?"

Amusement had her lips twitching into a smile without her permission. "They're keeping me overnight for observation. I have a mild concussion."

"He hit you."

Jenny wasn't sure if he was even aware that his hand had risen, the back of one finger tracing over her bruised jaw with a feather-light touch. She caught it in her own, pressed a kiss to his fingers without thinking. "I'm okay," she assured him softly. His skin was warm against hers, familiarly rough. Neither pulled away, their eyes meeting and trapping the other indefinitely as the air between them crackled.

When the tension threatened to overspill, Jenny offered him a wobbly smile. "You found me."

He nodded, mouth twisting upwards. "Not that you needed the help."

She laughed, but it was more verging on tears than amusement. "No, I did. I was so relieved when I heard your voices outside."

"Jenny."

She had no idea how he managed to communicate so very much with just her name. Their hands had fallen into her lap, still joined, and now his thumb moved in gentle circles across her palm. Somehow, that gentleness was almost worse, and Jenny found herself blinking back tears. "I didn't think anyone would realise I was missing until later," she admitted in a whisper. "I didn't think you were coming."

"I'll always come."

Her eyes snapped to his face in shock, and he blinked, as if surprised himself. Jenny swallowed, decided to gloss over it before he could retreat back into himself. "What happened?"

A risk to ask, but she needed to know. Gibbs pressed his lips together and shifted his weight slightly, his hand never releasing hers. "Realised the only reason for McKidd to run was if he knew we were coming," he explained gruffly. "Curtains were only drawn on the side of the house we could see into, only rooms that looked recently used were on the other side of the house. He figured out he was being watched."

"He knew," she confirmed quietly. "He'd known since the beginning, he told me."

He shot her a look at that, one she couldn't quite read. "He noticed the change in surveillance that morning, worked out what was happening. Didn't he?"

She shrugged, looking down at the blanket covering her. "I assume so." For several beats, she could feel his eyes on her. She didn't dare lift her gaze, unsure of what she'd see there.

"You'd been silent for too long." His voice was quiet, rough but so familiar something inside Jenny ached. She swallowed harshly.

"You realised I'd been kidnapped because I hadn't interfered?" She faked a lightness in her voice. "I'm not sure if that says more about you or me." But his expression remained serious, unamused, and the smile that had never reached her eyes fell rapidly from her face. "I didn't think anyone would notice. I had no real reason to speak up anymore. The best I hoped for was that Ziva would try to contact me when they reached the warehouse."

"I tried first. When you didn't reply…" He trailed off.

"You knew."

"I knew."

He'd known before, really. Long before the deafening silence on the other end of the comms, his gut had already been churning, unsettled by the whole picture. McKidd's absence, the feel of his house. No passport, wardrobes wide open. The realisation that if he knew he was being watched, he might have known an awful lot more. Contacting Jenny had been an instinct, the lack of answer like a sucker punch. It hadn't just been him either. The entire team at the house had all frozen, falling silent as they waited for a response, realising what was happening.

He'd contacted Ziva first, whilst already speeding down the roads back to the house, hoping she knew something he didn't but already feeling the truth deep in his gut. Ziva wouldn't know what was happening either. There had been a clear uneasiness in her voice when she confirmed she couldn't get a hold of Jenny either, despite having spoken to her not long before without issue.

The door of the house had been closed, but Gibbs had already known the rooms inside were going to be empty. The phone and earpiece on the desk, the chair sat alone in the middle of the living room… it all told its own, horrific story.

"Jethro."

Jenny's voice brought him back to Earth, her free hand now over his and Gibbs realised he'd been squeezing too tightly, his hand crushing hers. He loosened his grip as if it had burnt, but couldn't pull away, Jenny's own hands stopping him. "I'm okay," she murmured, squeezing gently.

"Almost weren't."

She barely suppressed a shudder. "I know."

She thought he would pull away, but he remained exactly where he was. "It was pure luck," he murmured suddenly. "The little girl next door… she saw you getting into the car with a man she didn't recognise. And somehow she remembered the colour, the fact it looked old."

Jenny had to fight back a shudder. It really was pure luck. So many chances for that to go wrong, so many ways she might have never been found. She tightened her fingers around his, not even noticing how she leant into him slightly.

Their hands were warm, the quietness of the room forming their own private haven as they simply breathed, looking at each other. Perhaps others would have attempted to fill the silence- they had never needed to, and now both were content to simply exist in the other's presence. Both here, both alive.

Jenny wasn't taking it for granted.

They remained like that for a while, peaceful and less awkward than they'd been at other times over the past few weeks. Until without warning, a knock on the door had Gibbs abruptly pulling back, hand sliding away from Jenny's and leaving her feeling oddly alone.

She couldn't bring herself to glare at Kate and Tony when they poked their heads in, but silently cursed their entrance. "Hi."

Kate offered a small smile. "We wanted to come and check on you..."

"That's sweet, but I'm fine."

Tony grinned at her. "You kicked that guy's arse. And with only a pocket knife!"

"DiNozzo!"

"Tony!"

Tony suddenly found himself on the receiving end of two very icy glares, while Jenny had just ducked her head, looking uncomfortable. He glanced between them. "What? She did!"

Gibbs clenched his jaw. "Kate."

Without hesitation, she reached up and smacked Tony across the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"We'll be going now." She turned to Jenny. "We're really glad you're okay."

This time, she couldn't muster up even the weakest of smiles for them. Kate began to berate Tony before the door fully closed and even once it had, her voice could still be clearly heard as the pair walked down the hall. Jenny hummed. "Are they always like that?"

Her only answer was a long-suffering look from Jethro, and that had amusement flashing across her eyes. But it died quickly, and she found herself playing with her fingers, staring at the blankets. "So what happens now?"

"My team and I will stick around until the weekend for the clean up. Ziva is co-ordinating with the local LEOs on the search of the ship. And you're going to get extra time here on the island until you're healed." His fingers touched her wrist, swollen and bruised as it was, and her gaze flicked up to meet his.

"More downtime. Yay."

"Most people wouldn't be complaining."

"I guess I'm not most people."

He smirked. "Guess not."

His fingers were still against her arm, and Jenny was abruptly tired of doubting herself. She shifted, and in one- almost- smooth move twisted her legs so that she was sat facing him more centrally. For a brief moment, he looked startled, before his expression smoothed out into barely hidden confusion. Jenny bit her lip. "Jethro…"

His hand gently cupping her cheek had her trailing off into silence.

"You could have died today."

She swallowed thickly. "I know."

She didn't dare move, barely dared to breathe as his thumb stroked across her cheekbone, so softly she might not have felt it if she hadn't been so hyperaware of his touch. "You could have died," he repeated and ever so slightly, she turned her cheek into his hand. Just a little, just enough that they were both aware of the change in pressure.

They both knew what he was really saying.

Jenny pressed her hand over his, just for a second, before moving again only this time, it was towards him. She didn't allow herself to hesitate as she carefully slid her arms around his neck, pressing her face into the curve of his shoulder and almost instantly she felt arms wrap around her, almost too tight for comfort. She made no reaction, however, other than to squeeze her eyes closed a little more firmly and relax into his embrace.