The Director's Fool
Author: A'serene
Category: Humor, Romance
Rating: PG
Contents: Gibbs should learn how to listen.
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS.
She knew he wasn't listening. He was to busy concentrating on being angry with her for not agreeing to something. She really wasn't sure what it was she'd done wrong this time. It always came down to the same thing, she was wrong; he was right end of discussion. He hadn't said a word after his initial outburst, but was most defiantly trying to ignore what ever she was saying so she tried to get his attention.
"Jethro, I'm going to step down as Director."
"That's nice Jen," he answered automatically, and she knew it was just a response to give.
"So I'll be gone tomorrow and you won't be my problem, you'll be McGee's."
"Yea okay," he replied trying to get her off his back. She smirked; well tomorrow he'd be in for a rude awakening. She left him alone looking up things in the side portion of the lab nodding to Abby on her way out. Tomorrow would be a day of change and Gibbs would learn a very valuable lesson.
--
Gibbs stormed into the bullpen still pissed at his old partner, thought he wasn't exactly sure why anymore. After much thought the night before he could see her reasoning, supposed that she may have had a point in the way she handled the situation, but he was not about to admit that to her. Instead he'd refocus himself on the case and would make sure his team had answers very soon. He sat down at his desk fully aware of Ziva and Tony's curious glances.
"Uh Boss," Tony began.
"What DiNozzo?"
"Er never mind Boss," Tony backed off. Now would not be the time to ask. Nearly a half hour later, with Tony and Ziva surprisingly working silently Gibbs realized his third member had not shown, highly unusual.
"Where's McGee?"
"Uh…" Tony hesitantly looked up to see if his Boss was kidding or not.
"He's been promoted, as Jenny told you yesterday."
"Promoted?"
"Right, Boss, Director…Err I guess Jenny said she told you yesterday," Tony covered. Gibbs racked his brain; he didn't remember her saying any of the sort. Grabbing his coffee cup he stormed up the stairs to the Director's office, past the usual complaints of Cynthia and into the Director's office, only he was sure he'd walked through some type of portal.
"Boss…err Gibbs," McGee gasped unexpectedly looking up from the Director's desk.
"McGee, what the hell are you doing up here, get down stairs and help Abby."
"Err didn't, Jenny…"
"Jenny?"
"Former Director Shepard, tell you."
"Former?" Gibbs questioned, he glanced around the room studying it, it was more of masculine touch then the warm natural colors Jenny had preferred.
"She said she told you yesterday I would be taking her place," McGee explained unsure of how stern he should be, after all Gibbs had been his boss only twenty four hours ago. Gibbs glanced around, gave McGee a good Gibbs glare and stormed off toward the elevator. Tony and Ziva quickly making themselves busy in the bullpen. Gibbs hit the button for autopsy knowing Ducky would have answers to this. ‘
"Ah Jethro, I don't have anything new since yesterday," Ducky said as Gibbs stormed in.
"Where's Jenny?" Gibbs demanded. "And why the hell is McGee in her office?" Ducky studied his all friend, with something akin to sympathy and worry.
"I would imagine she's packing for
"
"Yesterday Jennifer said to me she would like to see the turtles and whales there. She gave me the impression she had already told you about her retirement."
"Retirement?" Gibbs echoed.
"Yes while she was in Abby's lab yesterday, I thought she told you, good heavens did she forget?"
"No, no," Gibbs assured wondering if perhaps it was his memory that was off. Abby, Abby would know. "Thanks Ducky."
"Of course Jethro." Ducky watched his friend leaving, unable to resist the faint smirk. Gibbs on the other hand cursed the elevator to move faster and practically sprinted off it toward the entrance of ‘Labby,' as Abby liked to call her space.
"ABBY!"
"Sheesh Gibbs, you don't have to yell," the young Goth scolded popping out of her side office. "I don't have anything new about the case and I'm a little busy here, since McGee got promoted and all."
"Yea about that Abby, where's the Director, is she done here with you?"
"Unless McGee got a sex change, I'm pretty sure he's a he, and he's still hanging in his office or MTAC."
"McGee is not the Director, Jenny is." Abby looked at Gibbs in confusion.
"Did you hit your head last night? I was standing right there when she told you she was stepping down."
"Wait a minute when was this?"
"Yesterday, Gibbs, you said that's nice Jen," she intimated in his tone. "She said goodbye to me and left."
"She left?" He echoed. Abby nodded like this shouldn't be a surprise to him. He racked his brain trying to remember, the only thing he could up with was when he was angry with her and not listening to what she had said, sure it was her trying to rein him in. "And McGee is the new Director."
"Yea, where have you been?"
"This is a disaster, what the hell was she thinking?"
"Wait a minute I thought you were happy?" Abby questioned looking somewhat hurt. "Yea we all liked her, but you didn't."
"That's not…true. She's a good Director," Gibbs admitted. "McGee is going to get eaten alive by the Director of the FBI."
"Hey!" Abby protested.
"Abbs he's going to hate that job," Gibbs informed sadly.
"Well we all thought you were going to stop her, but then we thought that maybe there was another reason she was stepping down and that's why you weren't making a big deal of it, but now…"
"Now?"
"Well I can't believe you let her do it," She snapped at him. "Who's supposed to give me advice on what to wear to court? Or Tony girl advice? Or help Ziva with the language? Whose going to make sure McGee doesn't get caught hacking into the CIA? Or that you don't get in trouble again?" Gibbs was silent at Abby's unusual outburst. She hadn't been this mad at him since he went on his margarita safari. He came really to the only conclusion he could, he was going to find Jenny, and talk her back into her Director position, because if she was obsessive, she was good.
"What if I can get her to come back?" Gibbs asked.
"You can try," Abby sighed. "I think she gave you the opening yesterday, you just shot her down."
"Abby, I'll fix it, you just hold down the fort and get McGee out of her office!" he ordered leaving the room and hitting speed dial one. It rang and rang, none of the usual voice mail, or the redirecting the call, just ringing. He ended that call and hit speed dial two calling her house, it also rang endlessly. By then he had made it back to the MTAC floor and knew there was one person who would have the information she needed.
"Agent Gibbs, Director McGee is busy," Cynthia huffed.
"Cynthia where is she?"
"Who?"
"Director Shepard where is she?"
"Former Director Shepard is no longer an employee of NCIS, we do not keep tracks on her comings and goings."
"She's your friend Cynthia, and you if she wanted to book a trip you would help her, where is she?" He asked again.
"She booked a one way ticket to
"
"Yes Agent Gibbs
"Friend got a name?"
"Cynthia," McGee's voice came through the intercom.
"Yes Director." Gibbs cringed.
"I need the number for SecNav."
"Yes Director."
"Cynthia where is she?" Gibbs tried again.
"I can't help you right now Agent Gibbs." Gibbs clenched his teeth and walked down toward the elevator, he entered it, hit the button and flipped the emergency switch. He sat down against the wall in the small space and sighed sadly. I really screwed up Jenny, he thought sadly. He knew he shouldn't have blamed her yesterday for everything going wrong, and he knew that wouldn't be the only reason she quit, not quit, he reminded, retired. She'd probably been trying to tell him something and as usual he was to set in his own way to listen. He wondered if it had been like this the last time she left, had she tried to tell him and he just hadn't given her the time of day. He couldn't remember, either that or he'd blocked it out. He was feeling rather abandoned, at that moment, knowing that Jenny would have spotted the fact that he was down and would have tried to help him out, let him bend the rules, teased him about something. He again hit the button for autopsy. He walked slowly into the room and Ducky looked up from the body he was working on.
"Something the matter Jethro?"
"She's really gone."
"Well of course she is, she told you that yesterday, Abby said you were fine with it."
"I wasn't listening to her."
"Ah I see, well what's done is done."
"No its not, I should have stopped her."
"From doing what she wants?"
"That job is what she wants, trust me on that one Duck."
"Well then she wouldn't have retired would she?" Ducky questioned.
"I should have stopped her."
"You could still," Ducky encouraged. Gibbs nodded, and then nodded once more. He had ways to convince her. He moved at his usual fast pace out of autopsy and back to the bullpen. Tony and Ziva were sitting at their desks their banter more of a serious discussion that fell silent at his reappearance.
"DiNozzo! You're in charge for the rest of the day."
"But Boss…"
"Did I stutter?"
"No Boss," Tony replied quietly.
"Officer David," Gibbs said gruffly, Ziva looked up in surprise.
"Yes Gibbs?"
"Where is she?"
"I do not know, she would not tell me and I'm against interrogating my friends."
"If she calls you, I want to know."
"Yes of course," Ziva assured, lying through her teeth. Gibbs glared at them both and then stormed off toward the garage.
"To be a fly on the wall," Tony sighed.
"He's going to have to find her first."
"Think she'll make it to
"Maybe…" Ziva trailed off as her phone rang.
--
He jerked his car to a stop in front of her house and was out the car door while he pulled the key from the ignition. He went straight up to her door and hit the doorbell along with banging on the door. He did notice that her car was gone, but he was hoping it might be in the shop or in the garage or some place else, but that she was at home. Packing. After a minute of no answer he tried the phone again and heard it ring inside the house. He tried to peer in through the window to see if she was just avoiding the world, but he couldn't see in that well.
"Damn it Jen, pick up your phone."
"Senor Gibbs?" a voice inquired from behind him.
"Noemi, is the Director home?"
"Senora left for the plane, she said she be gone for some time, we closed up the house."
"She closed up her house?"
"Si Senor," Noemi answered.
"Which airport Noemi?"
"I do not know, a friend picked her up. She is not Director anymore, Senor Gibbs."
"Yea I know Noemi, thank you." She nodded opening the house and he could see the sheets covering the furniture. He turned back to his car and slid into the front seat slamming his hand on the steering wheel. He stared at it for a moment before picking up his phone and dialing a number.
"Director Timothy McGee's line."
"Cynthia put him on now," Gibbs ordered.
"Boss, err Agent Gibbs?"
"McGee which airport is she at?"
"Uh…"
"Now MCGEE!"
"Err I don't know who told you airport, she told me she was going by boat," McGee informed. Gibbs hung up his phone and tossed it across the car before throwing it in driving and speeding off. He took every short cut and pushed the speed limit on every road using his lights just to get people out of the way. He reached the port in record time and found the ship that was just getting ready to leave; there were hundreds of people there. How the hell am I going to find her? He started to repeatedly call her phone all the while searching for amongst the crowd of people, finally stepping up to the boarding agents and asking if they'd seen her pass, using an old picture he kept of her. They all said no and as he looked at the schedule, he saw that there had been a ship to leave two hours before, destination
He got back into his car, the disappointment sinking in. This time he went after her, done what he should have done years ago and it still didn't make a difference. She was gone. He knew he could fall back on his previous response, he could be angry with her or irritated, but in the end she had told him, given him the opportunity, and he ignored it. Damn, damn, damn. He noticed Tony calling him and then Ziva but ignored both calls. Abby called and he ignored that one too, along with McGee's. He didn't want to talk to them, he'd let Abby down, he was going to have to answer to McGee an odd concept in and of itself, and Ducky…Ducky would probably give the same sympathetic expression he had almost ten years ago. He drove home rather slowly, sighing an awful lot. I have the perfect name for the next boat, he thought sadly, never ever expecting to build a boat named Jenny.
Slowly he entered his house and trudged through it tossing his coat on a chair in the kitchen. He searched through his closet finding the old laptop and booting it up surprised it still worked. He thought about what his options were, he could retire too, he could take some time off and go to Hawaii and find her, she was good at undercover, but she also didn't know he was looking for her. Then what would you say once you found her? Well that was a problem, he admitted silently. What would he say indeed? He moved toward the basement steps sighing as he saw the shell of the new boat he was building, he hadn't thought of a name for it yet, but now he knew. It would be the third sister ship, the only three boats he wouldn't burn, the Kelly, the
He walked slowly around the boat toward a stool that sat in the darkened corner, faintly he could make out the crossed legs, legs he recognized immediately and felt his breath catch. He told himself it wasn't possible, but he knew he hadn't had a drop to drink and he wasn't that tired to be dreaming. He flipped another switch on and the darkened corner was filled with light revealing the rest of the body, sitting rather peacefully on the stool, one leg crossed over another, cradling a mug full of bourbon.
"Jenny?"
"Hello Jethro, have a nice day at work?" She inquired, trying to withhold her smile. He debated yelling at her, it was obvious he hadn't, and she would know that.
"You could have told me."
"I did tell you as I'm sure your team pointed out."
"Why'd you leave?"
"Ah…trying to talk me back?"
"Well you never said why."
"Actually I did, I told you yesterday, you said that's nice."
"You didn't," he challenged.
"You might not be aware of this, but Abby has recording devices in her office…" She pressed play on the tape recorder.
"Jethro, I'm going to step down as Director."
"That's nice Jen..."
"So I'll be gone tomorrow and you won't be my problem, you'll be McGee's."
"Yea okay…"
He found a nice spot on his shoes to stare at as he heard his less then interested answers. She smiled faintly noticing his look as if he were about to be scolded for having a pet frog. He sighed a bit as he heard her shut the tape off.
"Okay you told me," he said.
"Yes I did," she agreed.
"But you weren't serious," he pointed out recognizing the tone as her ‘you're not listening to me' tone. "Were you?"
"That all depends."
"On?"
"Jethro do you know what today is?" He glanced over at the calendar.
"First day of April," he answered.
"Uh huh, and what's the first day of April?" She dragged out. He looked at her pretending to know but she could see the confusion lurking in the blue depths. Her phone rang. "Shepard."
Gibbs could hear Tony on the other end.
"Yes he's here," she said. She laughed at something they said. "I'll tell him, tell McGee thank you."
"What are you thanking McGee for?" He questioned as she closed her phone.
"For being my doppelganger."
"Never did know what that meant," he replied.
"My stand in Jethro, just for the day," she remarked.
"The day?" He echoed. She stood up intent on leaving now that she'd found him.
"Yes I was taking a boat to
"So wait a minute…" but she had already passed him and lingered near the calendar.
"I think your eye sight is getting worse," she said causally before moving to the stairs. He noticed she had left her glasses by the side and he picked them up and glanced at the calendar. April Fool's Day.
"Jenny!" He shouted making a break for the stairs. He heard her laughter as well as the sound of her heels against his floors. His hearing however was not awful and so he knew she had disappeared out the back door into his backyard, he chased her, catching her wrist in his hand, pulling her to a stop. "So you're not leaving?" he questioned his breath heavy on her ear.
"Nope," she answered her voice still full of laughter.
"Promise?"
"Promise, I won't be stepping down anytime soon, besides who would I get to take on you?"
"No one but you," he replied softly. She turned smiling to him. "Do I get to…"
"Your team was following orders, leave them alone."
"So you're the one that was behind it…" he drifted off. "What am I going to do with you?" She smirked and shifted her weight quickly knocking him to the ground. She placed her hands on his face.
"I keep asking myself that everyday," she whispered gently against his lips before kissing them.
"That works," he agreed as she pulled back. "Unless it was another joke."
"Not a joke, no way," she assured as if the very idea was a sin. She decided to prove just how much of it wasn't a joke, starting with kissing the words off his lips.
END