Only With You
- Chapter 5 - Nightmare and Car Trips -
A/N: The quote in here is from National Treasure, which I do not own sadly. Still don't own NCIS either.
She could feel every knife they stabbed into him. She could hear her voice outside her own body begging them to stop. There was another voice, laughing, asking her what she thought of her lover now. She pleaded with them to stop, as blood stained the sheets. She struggled against her bonds trying to break free. She felt the tears stinging her face, knowing she shouldn't be revealing so much emotion, and yet unable to stop them this time. She saw the knife rise again and based on the direction she knew the blow would be fatal, she screamed.
He froze as a scream filtered into his sleep filled brain. He sat straight up as the scream registered and was recognized as Jenny. He looked over to his side to find she had somehow managed to wrap herself up tightly in the sheets and she was sweating, her eye movement fast. Duke, he noticed had quickly moved to the side ready to defend her but was now staring at him with loss in his eyes. He didn't understand what was wrong with her, but Gibbs could see the makings of a nightmare, one that for whatever reason had hit her deeply.
"Jenny!" He called gently but forcefully, trying to drag her out of her nightmare. She seemed to tense but it was obvious to him she was still asleep. "Jen wake up," he tried again. She still didn't budge but seemed to calm down, and curled up on her side facing him. With her face now bathed in moonlight he could make out the faint tear tracks and was even more worried. He shook her gently and called to her again trying to drag her out. He was trying to figure out what could have caused this nightmare, wondering if perhaps her apparent calmness in the last few months was a façade. She finally began to stir and when she swatted at him as he shook her again, he knew she was coming out of it. Her eyes blinked open and widened as he came into her view. He could sense her movement and grabbed her arm holding her in place.
"What's the matter?" She questioned.
"I should be asking you that, you had a nightmare." She looked at him confused for a second before remembering what she had seen as she closed her eyes for a moment.
"I'm fine," she said forcibly.
"You are not fine, what happened?"
"Nothing, just ...nothing."
"I didn't want to do this Jen. Duke!" Duke bounded onto the bed, settling between them, licking Jenny's arm in a comforting motion.
"Duke!" She protested. "Interrogation by the dog?"
"Come on, what did you see?"
"It's nothing Jethro."
"Was it the frog?" He asked carefully. She met his eyes over Duke and shook her head, unsure where that had question had come from. "Then what was it?"
"Just the case, I should know better then to look at crime scene photos before going to sleep," she finally revealed. He studied her for a second.
"You want out Jenny, just say the word and we'll call this off."
"I'm fine Jethro, really!" she protested again. He didn't look convinced but nodded his head. "Now will you get him off, he's lying on my arm."
"Duke down," Gibbs commanded and the Duke slowly moved off the bed surprising Jenny by lying down on her side of the bed. Gibbs closed his eyes and counted to one hundred before opening them again. In that time he'd felt Jenny shift to her other side and as he opened his eyes, he knew she wasn't asleep. "Jen..."
"I'm fine."
"You can't go back to sleep," he stated.
"I will, just probably need some water or something," she replied moving to get up. He held her in place and then got up himself. He came around to her side, Duke moving out of the way. She looked up at him and stared as he held out his hand. She took it and he led her to the bathroom. He turned on the shower.
"Have a shower, you'll feel better," he suggested leaving the room. She heard him dig around in her drawer for a second before returning and knocking on the door. She had stepped into the shower thankful the curtain was dark. She gave him the okay and he entered. "Towel and new pajamas."
"Thank you," she responded hesitantly, not really sure what he was doing. He left and she heard him leave the bedroom, telling Duke to stand guard. She finished in the shower and dried off pulling on her clean pajamas. She stepped out of the room to find that he had changed the sheets on the bed and fluffed her pillows. Her eyes widened and she wandered down the hall looking for him. She heard noise in the kitchen and found him boiling water. He poured the water into two teacups and turned as he heard her feet on the floor.
"Hey you could have stayed up there."
"Jethro...what..."
"Here." He handed her the cup, she eyed the contents warily before taking a sip and finding to her surprise it was chamomile tea.
"I didn't think we had tea in the house."
"Abby must have stocked it, she likes to drink tea on very rare occasions," he said. She nodded taking another sip watching in surprise as he drank some too. She would have sworn on any other day that the man lived and breathed coffee, but here he was drinking tea. "Wanna watch a movie?"
"Jethro..." But he was already off in the direction of the living room where there was a large flat screen TV. He was already flipping channels. He stopped at The Mummy and stared at it for a second. "You won't like it, mummies and stuff."
"
"Movie's over, that's the last scene," she informed recognizing the quote. She took the remote out of his hand and pressed the forward button to see what was on next.
"National Treasure," he read. "Sounds dull."
"Actually you might like it," she replied. "You like American history after all."
"Okay." He watched her settle down on the couch carefully curling into the far side. As the credits rolled for The Hunt for Red October, she glanced over at him.
"Jethro?"
"Hm?"
"Why are we watching a movie at two in the morning?"
"Because we can," he answered and continued adding a cocky grin, "Besides you wouldn't have gone back to sleep and its impossible to sleep next to you when you're tossing and turning." She didn't respond, she was rather touched that he had gone through this for her. Sacrificing the little sleep he got to stay up with her. Though as she thought about it she realized it wasn't the first time he'd stayed up with her after a nightmare, he had just used other methods to distract her. She realized if he had tried those, she would have gone along with it, as it was watching a movie was probably a safer idea. She glanced over at him as the new movie began to play and watched him eye it curiously before getting completely entranced. She grinned a little and turned back to the movie. Her eyes closed as she heard one of her favorite lines, the line that always reminded her of Gibbs.
"We don't someone crazy, but one step short of crazy, what do you get?"
"Obsessed?"
"Passionate."
She smiled faintly as she heard a low chuckle from him and then she felt the sound disappear and she fell back into sleep.
He knew the second she had fallen asleep and hoped she wouldn't mind to much, after all she had said she'd seen the movie before. He stayed and watched it, just to make sure she was all right. He figured if she slept through the whole movie, she'd be okay for the rest of the night. The movie he thought amusingly was pretty good; he could see why she liked it. As the credits rolled though he was presented with a smile dilemma. Jenny was sound asleep on the couch. The couch was small, and not comfortable, so option a, he could leave her there and listen to the complaining the whole next day, or the look of pain every time she moved, or option b, he could carry her back to bed. Carrying her to bed was not something he'd never done, he'd just been younger and not through two explosions. He took a deep breath, the pain would be bearable he decided and slipped an arm under her knees and another around her back, scooping her up carefully. Duke followed a few feet behind and Gibbs was happy he didn't try to attack him. He moved up the stairs slowly, surprised that she weighed so little, he'd get on her case for that one later. He lay her down gently on the bed tucking the covers around her and watching for a second as she turned and snuggled into them, not all bothered by her transport. He walked around to the other side and slid in beside her pulling the covers around him. To his surprise she rolled closer to him and settled in, absorbing his heat. He smirked slightly as Duke jumped up on the foot of the bed and settled there.
"Good boy," he whispered, before closing his eyes. His brief glance at the clock just as his eyes closed told him there was at least another two hours before they had to get up.
---
The buzzing of the alarm clock filled the room and Jenny tried to swat at it, but the low groan told her she missed. Her eyes widened and she glanced at her surroundings. She'd somehow gotten back to bed, she wasn't quite sure how, and she'd also managed to sleep closer to Jethro than she had in a while.
"Ouch," he grumbled, feeling the effect of her swat.
"Sorry," she whispered quickly turning over and silencing the alarm clock before reburying herself in her pillow.
"What time is it?" he mumbled.
"Too early."
"Jen..."
"It's quarter to eight," she replied, her voice muffled by her pillow.
"We should get on the road at nine."
"Fine."
"That means up now Jenny."
"Shut it, I'm still your Boss," she grumbled. He laughed quietly as she felt him get out of the bed. She watched him go toward the door. "Jethro."
"Jen?"
"Thank you," she said quietly. He glanced over at his shoulder briefly to find her playing with the pillow.
"Your welcome." He left going to make coffee and she smiled just a little bit, before it faded as a thought crossed her mind. She quickly got out of bed and scurried to the steps.
"Jethro!"
"What Jen?"
"What are you wearing?" There was silence and she reinterpreted her words. "To this thing? Are we going casual? Business?"
"Jeans." She sighed going back to the room, trying to debate on a sweater top to go with the jeans when another thought occurred to her.
"Jethro?"
"What?"
"Problem." He came out of the kitchen and stood near the bottom of the stairs.
"What kind of problem?"
"These couples are all in the military, what are the odds they're going to recognize the Director of NCIS?" He looked at her for a moment; sometimes he forgot that she was so important, that she might be on TV or at some senate thing or military base, although it explains why Ziva did background checks on all of them.
"Ziva did background checks on them, I don't think there will be any, and besides just the other day I saw some actress that looked kinda like you, just say you get that a lot."
"Okay," she agreed going back to the room again. She changed quickly finding a pair of boots to go with the jeans, thankful that Abby and Noemi had both thought to pack various pairs of shoes. Ten minutes later she was stepping into the kitchen and Gibbs forgot how the oxygen exchange process worked. She looked at him for a moment surprised that he hadn't said anything. "Jethro?"
"Uh yea?" he answered grateful that she hadn't noticed him starring at her.
"Something wrong?"
"Uh nope, have some coffee," he recovered ignoring the fit of her jeans. He was not blind, he was fully aware that she was still as gorgeous as she had ever been, but it was much easier not to focus on it when she was in the business suits. "I'm going to get ready."
She watched him practically bolt from the kitchen up the stairs. She turned to the dog who looked as confused as she did and shrugged her shoulders. Wonder what his problem is. She sat down flipping through the paper and drinking her coffee. He came back in ten minutes later in jeans and a shirt and poured himself a cup of coffee sitting down across from her.
"So..."
"Yes Jethro?" She said not at all like the stalled silence.
"Are we an at war all the time couple, a sometime fighting couple, public fights couple?" She looked up over at him.
"We could just see how they act and try and go from there."
"Possessive?"
"You or me?" He shrugged his shoulders. "We'll see how they interact and we'll go from there."
"You wanna drive?" He inquired. Her eyes widened.
"You're going to let me?"
"Only if you've learned how." She laughed.
"I don't break speed limits."
"Then you haven't learned to drive, guess I'm driving."
"Oh goody," she remarked. She glanced at the clock and noticed the time started to get up and clean up the dishes. "You talked to the team?"
"Not yet, we'll call them in the car. I'll pack the car, you wanna get Duke ready?"
"Sure." They ambled around doing out last minute chores before grabbing everything they needed. Jenny grabbed a long warm coat and tossed it in the car. Gibbs had packed the trunk and folded down the back seat so there was more space. Duke hoped right into his transport crate and laid down going to sleep. The crate took up most the space in the back of the car, as it was enough room for Duke to turn around in. The suitcases were neatly stacked on the side along with another bag. "What's in the black bag?"
"Your shoes dear," he replied and she glanced over at him quickly realizing it was not shoes but probably some sort of equipment. He slid into the driver's side and she buckled her seatbelt, wrapping one hand around the handle. "Ready?"
"As ready as I'm likely to be with you driving."
"Live a little Jen," he remarked starting the car. "We'll probably have to stop for gas about half way." She nodded setting up the navigation system and finding a CD holder in the center console.
"You put CDs in?"
"Nah must have been Abby or Tony."
"Well turn the volume down if its Abby we could be in trouble." She pushed the CD in and hit play looking up at Gibbs as the music came over the speakers. "Elvis?"
"There's nothing wrong with Elvis," Gibbs defended at Jenny's look of amusement. "Anyway turn down the volume, time for Tony's wake up call." Jenny turned it down as Gibbs put his phone on speaker and hit send. It was a direct feed into the communication link in Abby's lab that would reach anyone on the team. "DINOZZO!'
"Boss?" came the sleepy response.
"Rise and shine Tony!"
"Boss to early."
"DiNozzo!"
"Yea okay, Ziva wake up," Tony hissed.
"You wanna be shot Tony?" Jenny inquired.
"Huh?"
"Ziva doesn't like being woken up."
"Yea I can see that," came Tony's nervous response.
"Ziva," Jenny chided gently hearing her friend's curses.
"Good morning Director, Gibbs."
"Ziva, how's the surveillance coming?"
"Abby tapped into the security cameras so we can watch from here. If anyone pops on the background check Tony and I can be there by helicopter, and McGee will be there as a waiter."
"Oh yea Boss, Probie looks good in his waiter outfit."
"Ziva slap him," Gibbs sighed.
"Thank you Boss," came McGee's voice.
"Gibbs!" Came Abby's whine.
"You got something?"
"Nothing major yet, but Ducky said that we could be looking at either a small guy or a woman if that helps?"
"Yea it helps, we'll go quiet till we get there, check in as we can," Jenny said.
"The Director's going to have a GPS tracking device on her, if for whatever reason it goes dark, you respond, got it?" Gibbs ordered.
"Yes Boss," Tony agreed. There was silence and Jenny looked over at him.
"Tracking device?"
"Your bracelet, do not take it off."
"You were planning on telling me this?" She inquired.
"I just did," he reminded. She sighed in irritation. "It's a safety precaution."
"Fine," her response was cold and Gibbs knew she was not happy with not being told ahead of time.
"There's a panic button to," he began. "I'll get it when we get out." She said nothing but turned to look back at the scenery.
Forty minutes later they pulled into the gas station and she went into the store to grab some water bottles and something to do in the car. The silence was getting to her. She grabbed the latest Cosmopolitan, typically she wouldn't even take a second look at it, but the bold cover questions were enough that she figured it would be excellent payback for not telling her about the tracker. When she came out she found he'd moved the car over to the side lot and was walking Duke. She leaned against the back bumper watching him over the edge of her magazine, glancing back down as he came over. She could tell the moment he noticed what she was reading.
"Interesting choice of reading material," he commented.
"You never know what you can learn."
"Aren't you one for practicing what you've learned?"
"Who says I won't be?" She inquired not even looking up from the magazine. He didn't rise to that one, fully aware that it was an opening for a fight. Instead he let Duke sit on their feet, while he rummaged through his bag grabbing something. He opened the box he had and stared at it for a moment.
"Turn around," he told her. She looked up from her magazine.
"What?"
"Turn around," he repeated making the spin motion with his finger. She eyed him carefully but did as she was told, her breathing stop as she felt him step closer behind her. He moved her hair to the side and slipped something around her neck. She felt his fingers graze her neck as he fastened the necklace in place. She looked down and found a heart shaped locket around her neck, settling neatly on her chest.
"What's this?"
"Well it's the panic button," he explained stepping back quickly. "If the clasp is broken it sounds an alarm, and the locket is just a façade, the diamond pressed in as a panic button. Don't take it off." She fiddled with it slightly, getting used to its faint weight and trying to get her heart back to a normal pace.
"Thank you." He nodded and ordered Duke back in the car, Jenny climbing in as well. The ride was silent as Jenny flipped through the magazine smirking as she reached sixty-seven tips. Hm...done, done, done...haven't done...She smirked slightly, wondering what would happen if she cut this little article out circled it and handed it to a certain person.
"What's so amusing?" She looked up in surprise to find him glancing at her every so often as he navigated the roads.
"Nothing," she replied a little to quickly. Gibbs let it go and she let out the breath she'd been holding, she knew he'd let her off easily; no doubt she would get the ninth degree later. An hour later they were pulling into this ski lodge. The temperature having dropped considerably and the faint snow falling giving it a soft appearance, one that screamed romantic get away.