"Boss!" McGee called to him from the gallery.
Gibbs took two steps at a time on his way to him to arrive faster. The young agent, with the highly respected IT knowledge, held the door to the video conference room open for him. As soon as he entered the room, he noticed that no one but his team was present.
"Update me.", he said eagerly, tossing his rain-soaked jacket onto one of the front row seats.
"Yesterday, 09:30 p.m, Director Shepard was kidnapped in the parking lot. The incident happened four and a half hours ago. I looked at the security camera footage and this is what was seen," McGee spoke, playing the video. "This is a few minutes before he abducted her."
The big screen showed the lead investigator following the red-haired director into the parking lot, they talked, and then came the biggest showdown of their long-awaited reunion, the kiss. It was a situation like this in which Tim and Tony had learned not to approach their boss about it...
The kidnapping occurred just seconds after she had turned him away at the parking lot. He should have just stayed until she drove her car home, and she might be standing next to him now. Ari had her in his power and he had to find her, at least he owed her that. It was a rookie mistake, his job to protect her and not drive her into the arms of a terrorist. If the SecNav found out about this, he could clear his desk.
His nerves were on edge. The hours passed him by, and any attempt to find Ari failed. He couldn't be located, Jenny's car was still here and Ari's was found three streets away from headquarters and except for some blood traces, which came from the redhead, nothing could be found.
With Tony assigned to keep an eye on Ziva and McGee in charge of all the technical stuff, he had no choice but to put two officers on the street for surveillance. Searching each house individually would waste far too much time and be too dangerous for Jenny. The gray-haired man trusted him with everything, and he couldn't risk Jenny's life by making too much fuss.
"Tell me you have something for me."
With a mug of coffee in his hand, he entered the video conference room. There wasn't really time for coffee, but he needed some fresh air to think, and the caffeine was screaming at him.
"About five minutes ago, I got this link sent to me."
"What is it?", he asked, waiting - more or less - patiently for his freshman to display material on the big screen.
"This is a live feed from the safe house where Ari Haswari is staying. Everything you see here is happening right now in another place."
His eyes stared at the screen, and there they were again, the unbearable self-recriminations that had plagued him since he got the call. As an experienced investigator, he should have expected it! Why did he just walk away and leave her alone? Was it his wounded ego?
Seeing her like this, weak and motionless, hurt his heart. She looked so fragile. The injury on her head, the blood that had trickled down her temple and had already dried up. She looked so exhausted, at least he thought she was, because he couldn't make out much in the way of facial features either.
"Where is that?", he asked, stepping closer to the screen. The gray-haired man couldn't help but know the place where Ari was holding her. He felt as if he had stood there before, or was it imagination?
"To find out, I need to trace the link and...", he stopped his sentence suddenly as Gibbs dignified him with a meaningful look. "I'm already on it, a-but it may take a little time, boss."
"You got ten minutes.", Gibbs muttered and left the MTAC again.
Where he went? Ziva David, only she knew where to find Ari and if she helped him, she would confirm he was on the right side. On his and especially on Jenny's, because if she really was her friend, she couldn't help but help him find her!
"Jethro!", Ducky, called after him.
"I don't have time now, Ducky.", he replied curtly, hurrying to the interrogation room where Ziva sat killing time.
"You'll have to have it, because you and I have something urgent to discuss."
Sighing softly, Jethro stopped and turned to him.
"What's so important that can't wait until later?"
"You know what it's about, Jethro.", he said sternly, looking at him seriously.
"I saw the footage from the parking lot..."
"Yeah, so what?", he asked, and it was clear from his voice that the senior field agent had no time to spare to chat with the pathologist.
"What is it with you guys? What are you doing with her?"
Examining, he eyed the senior investigator. The latter seemed less than enthusiastic about the current topic, not wanting to talk about the redhead and himself now. Having a psychological conversation about keeping his hands off her was not currently on his checklist.
"I don't have time for this right now.", he grumbled, annoyed, and kept walking.
"You gave her every reason to leave, back then, and now you want her back? Do you actually notice anything else? Have you forgotten about Stephanie?", he asked, deliberately provocative to bring Gibbs back down to earth.
As expected, Jethro stopped, turned and slowly walked back to Ducky. His look - to others - was frightening, but a Dr. Mallard had long since hardened against it. If he weren't, he certainly wouldn't talk to the chief investigator like that.
"What do you think will happen when Jennifer finds out you're playing the exact same game with her as you did six years ago? Do you think that will make her happy?"
Ducky commanded a look as hard as the dreaded Special Agent Gibbs. With his arms folded in front of his chest, the smaller of the two, reared up in front of the larger.
"You're breaking her heart, Jethro. This woman loves you with and you're playing with her, but for what?"
"I'm not playing with her, and I don't even see why you and I need to talk about my love life with my wife right now?", he growled softly, looking at him sharply.
"Stop it, you won't make her or yourself happy that way. Come down from your ego trip and decide who you love. Stephanie or Jennifer, but don't break her heart a second time."
"I'm not breaking her heart, she doesn't want me anymore.", Gibbs explained to his oldest friend in a stern undertone.
"Because you hurt her, clear it with her and do it as soon as she recovers, or you may be reading her out for good."
"Thank you, I know," he said softly. "Are you finished, Dr. Mallard?"
Silently, he gave a barely discernible nod in response and stared after the gray-haired man, shaking his head slightly in exasperation. Of course, there would be much better moments to discuss this with him, but Ducky felt this one was urgent.
Angrily, Agent Gibbs walked down the orange hallway toward the interrogation room. Where did Ducky get the nerve to tell him about his love life and his relationship with Jenny? It was a delicate matter about which, until it was cleared up, no one was allowed to say a word.
"Where is she?", he asked dangerously quietly, slamming the door to the room. He stood close to her chair and leaned down to her.
He was unaware that Ducky had followed him to the interrogation rooms. The pathologist didn't like his idea of grilling Ziva about her brother in an interrogation room, but if he had told him, the investigator would have gone ballistic. He could understand that he was worried and afraid of losing her too, but what Gibbs just did didn't help Jennifer much either.
"Who?"
"You know who I mean. Where did her brother take her?"
The Israeli Mossad officer was silent. She honestly didn't know what Gibbs wanted from her, could only imagine that Ari was now kidnapping Jenny as well to finally get to the dreaded Special Agent, but would she try to explain to him that she didn't know where he took her... he wouldn't believe her anyway. It was still worth a try, Ziva thought.
"Talk!", he yelled, slamming his hand on the table. Ziva flinched barely noticeably, but kept her emotionless expression.
"Kate. Abby. Jenny." He emphasized each name individually, always pausing briefly between them. "Your brother is targeting the women I work with, and if you want to prove to me, you're on our side, you'll tell me now where your brother is."
"I don't know," she muttered.
"Wrong answer."
"Look, I really don't know. I have no contact with Ari, can't reach him myself.", she answered louder, looking deep into his eyes.
"Since you arrived, you've been trying to convince us that Ari wouldn't have killed Kate, and you've managed to make Jenny think the same way. You used her, and Jenny is too blind to see that."
"I'm not using her!", the young woman now shouted as well.
"Prove it to me, help me find her before Air kills her."
"Boss!"
The gray-haired man sighed inwardly; there was nothing he hated more than being interrupted during an interrogation. How many times had he had to explain this to his agents? Often enough!
"Sorry...", he gasped, out of breath. "McGee was able to trace the link, we know where Ari is."
She came to with an unbearable headache. The ground was cold and hard as stone, and she could feel how soaked her clothes were. Everything felt cold. Her field of vision was blurry and the surrounding space was spinning like a merry-go-round. A strong nausea spread through her stomach the longer she kept her eyes open. Her eyelids were far too heavy, and she could barely keep them open, powerlessly falling shut again. Her wrists were tightening, the cable ties were cutting off her blood and the tape over her mouth was making it hard to breathe, she was having a much harder time breathing, and her breathing was a lot harder than usual.
Outside in the corridor many footsteps could be heard, loud voices and much more that she could not place. In her head it throbbed unbearably, the just so loud noises of her environment were completely silenced as a shot rang out, and she did not know what would happen next. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the heavy door was pushed open. A bright beam of light illuminated the gloomy room, immediately making it seem much larger and the air better. The light burned in her eyes, which she immediately had to close without groaning in pain.
She did not see the tall person who rushed to her, but felt someone pulling the tape from her mouth. This someone also tenderly caressed her cold cheek.
"Hey...", she said softly, and she opened her eyes.
Her head was throbbing so hard that it was almost impossible for her to concentrate on the person who entered the room.
"Jenny.", Ziva said softly, smiling warmly at her. "Look at me."
Carefully, Ziva took her head between her hands to look at the injury on her left temple. It really needed to be treated by a doctor, she thought. The blood had already dried up, was smeared not only on her skin but also in her hair.
Tenderly, she stroked her cheeks with her thumbs, wanting to make her feel safe and secure. "Do you think you can sit up?", asked Ziva cautiously, receiving a barely discernible nod in response.
Slowly, so that it didn't happen too quickly for her, the Mossad agent helped her sit upright. This was not such a good idea after all. Her head throbbed terribly, and the pressure of the movement made her bite her lip with an agonized groan. Exhausted, she leaned against the wall behind her and hoped that everything would finally stop.
"I know it hurts, but we need to get out of here, so a doctor can take a look, you know?", she asked cautiously, eyeing the red-haired woman in front of her.
"Let me help you."
But before Ziva wanted to get up with her, she first had to cut the cable ties with her knife, so Jennifer could also hold on much better in case she ran out of strength. As soon as the ties were cut, Ziva prepared her friend to stand up. She didn't know if she could do it, but she had to get out of here somehow, and Gibbs was still with Ari in the other room.
"Can you do it?", she asked uncertainly.
The change of position from lying to sitting was already quite hard, but finally standing up gave the redhead the rest. The pressure in her head got worse the closer she got to her goal of standing up straight, but she also knew that she had to endure this pain right now. She didn't even want to think about the nausea, it was still driving her completely crazy.
"Slow down, okay?"
Step by step she walked beside her friend, holding her arm for support, and before they both reached the door Gibbs joined them. The look in his eyes when he saw Ziva with Jenny was enough for the brunette woman to understand that Gibbs was - of course, at that moment - extremely grateful for her cooperation. After all, it should not be forgotten that Ziva fired the fatal shot at Ari, but that could still be discussed at a later time. Much more important for both of them now was to get Jennifer to a doctor.
"Jenny...", he said in such a soulful tone that even Jenny had never heard from him before.
From his voice sounded not only the pure relief that she was still alive, but also the joy and happiness to have her - more or less - unharmed again. Without giving it much thought, Gibbs took his Jenny in his arms, catching her as he noticed her strength fading. A single tear ran down her cheek, triggered by the deep pain and relief of being freed from this nightmare. Without even a second's hesitation, he stroked her back, pressing a gentle kiss to her head - careful not to hurt her, of course. This gesture completely upset her, and more and more tears followed. His heart broke whenever he had to listen to her deep, pain-filled sobs. If he could, he would kick himself for his stupid rookie mistake. She was suffering enough, and now she had to deal with this trauma too. Was that fair?
"Are you feeling better?", the medical examiner asked as he removed his gloves and tossed them into the trash can.
Jenny nodded weakly, putting a hand over her eyes to dim the glare a bit. Ducky, of course, turned this off immediately, not needing it now. Her wound was cleaned as well as stitched.
"I'll drive you home, you rest, and I'll get your painkillers in the meantime."
Again she nodded. She was far too drained and didn't want to waste the last of her strength talking, after all, she still needed it to walk those few meters to his car. She knew she had to pull herself together, couldn't just collapse in the open office like that. A loud clang could be heard behind the three of them. An agony for Jennifer, who groaned in pain. Instantly, Jethro and Ducky turned, eyeing Jimmy Palmer with a scowl.
"Sorry...", Jimmy muttered while picking up the dissecting instruments and placing them on the metal tray on the table. "Sorry." he repeated softly.
"We should go, you need to rest.", Jethro murmured. She opened her eyes, blinked a few times before adjusting to the light again, and just slowly sat up. Although she still felt dog-legged, she was already feeling a little better than before. This was probably due to the painkillers Ducky had given her earlier. But the next hurdle was right in front of her - she had to get up! Whether she succeeded as she wanted? The dizziness had come back right after she sat up... Carefully, the redhead climbed down from the dissecting table, and although she wasn't standing properly yet, she felt her knees give way again. Before she reached the floor, she felt them both catch her in time.
"Slow down, you're still weak.", Ducky spoke into her conscience.
"Do you think you'll make it to the parking lot?"
Nodding, Jennifer confirmed to him and also noticed how she was gently placed by both of them in the chair, which Jimmy immediately pushed towards them. Exhausted, she propped her arm up on the backrest and put her head in her hand, trying to push away the nausea.
"I'll have to.", she mumbled, barely audible.
But even as she tried to stand up again, the annoying nausea won out, and she reached for the trash can next to her just in time.
"That won't work." Jethro said suddenly sternly. "You need to get to a hospital, now."
"Let her get some rest first.", Ducky now interfered, handing her some paper towels. "The wound is closed, has been cleaned and what you see here are normal symptoms of a proper concussion.", the man spoke into Jethro's conscience.
"I can't let her go to the car like this, I have to get him here."
Donald nodded; "Go, I'll take care of her in the meantime."
That´s it! What do you think?