Cherchez La Femme
- Part 3 -
Entre nous : Between ourselves
'Gibbs! What brings you here oh great one?' Abby ran towards Gibbs grinning from ear to ear, 'Gibbs what is it? You look like you need a hug,' she threw her arms around Gibbs and hugged him tightly, 'thanks Abs,' She squeezed him tightly and pinned his arms to his sides, 'Abby,' 'Shhhhh Gibbs, you need a big hug,' 'Abby, I can't breathe,' she jumped back quickly, 'sorry Gibbs, you gonna tell me what's up?'
'Imagine, a man and a woman, colleagues, disappear from the premises at the same time, and return in the same car, he has his arm around her and when they come in they are joking together, and she makes a comment which could have an alternative meaning,' 'like she could be insinuating they had...' 'yeah, and he couldn't keep his eyes off her, what would you make of it?' Abby folded her arms and pulled a thinking face, she tilted her head to the side, 'well they could just be good friends, but it does sound like there could be more to it, what did she say?' Gibbs sighed, ''I do hope you're not always this slow on the uptake, although you were a lot faster earlier,' and then he grinned,' Abby hugged Gibbs again, 'it's the director isn't it,' she rubbed his back as he stood pinned to the spot, 'oh Gibbs.'
Abby ran beside Gibbs into the bullpen and found Tony, Ziva and McGee sitting at their desks. She stopped beside Tony's desk and she turned to speak to Gibbs, he had continued forward towards the elevator and slammed his coffee cup into the bin. 'Is he alright, don't think I've seen him this mad in a while,' McGee gulped looking at Abby, 'I think he's upset because he…' Tony's phone rang and interrupted her, 'DiNozzo, yea, I'll be right up,' he stood up and Abby finished, 'he thinks the director has a boyfriend.' She nodded knowingly, 'a boyfriend? Or a toy boy Tony? Where are you slinking off to?' Ziva asked inquisitively, 'the director wants to see me, Abby, why does he think she has a, well I wouldn't call it boyfriend, partner maybe?' 'They left together earlier and arrived back together, he had his arm around her when they returned and when they were joking she insinuated that they um, had sex,' she stood looking the picture of innocence as Ziva and McGee snorted. 'Tony, ask her if she has got a 'partner' please, for me.' Abby smiled sweetly and Tony practically ran up the stairs to hide his horrified expression, 'course I will Abby.'
'Oh, great, my boss thinks I'm sleeping with his boss, could it get any worse?' he asked himself as he reached Jenny's door, he took a deep breath and pushed it open. 'Hey,' she was stood in front of her desk and looked up as he closed the door, 'you wanted to see me.' She nodded her head and her bottom lip trembled, her eyes became glassy before she looked away hurriedly, her left arm curled around her front so that her fingers were visible on her right shoulder. He heard her stifled sob and placed his hand on her shoulder comfortingly, he didn't quite know what to do; would it be inappropriate to place his other hand on her right shoulder? Almost in response to his unspoken question she turned around visibly crying, he raised his arms and slipped them around her shoulders.
She gripped his collar tightly using him for support, he froze for a second, he wasn't used to this. He wanted to comfort her but he still didn't know the boundaries, or what would push them, or just plain destroy them. After a few seconds he changed his grip, if someone is crying like this you comfort them, rule number 18, it is better to beg forgiveness than ask permission.
He tightened his grip around her and began to rub her back gently, soothingly, she relaxed into his arms and he held her as she cried heavily into his suit, 'I'm sorry,' she told his breast pocket as she cried, 'I didn't ask you to come here to...' a fresh wave of tears prevented her from finishing her sentence. He looked around uncomfortably as she tightened her grip on him, 'I, I um, er, I know, don't, don't worry,' she continued to cry and he continued to rub her back gently, he made the right soothing noises and found his hand higher up her back stroking her hair, her head seeming to fit perfectly beneath his chin as her hands slipped around his neck.
He sensed she was calming down and slipped his hand into his pocket to pull out a tissue, she leaned back slightly and forced a tiny smile in thanks as she took the tissue with one hand, leaving the other around his neck. She dabbed at her cheeks with the tissue and looked up at him, 'I asked you to come see me because I wanted you to keep quiet about earlier, the last thing I need is for Gibbs to find out.'
He nodded looking down into her eyes, they were shining with the remains of the tears she had shed, and were looking into his. 'Thank you,' she said quietly, looking into his hazel eyes, 'for what?' he asked quieter still, his arms were still around her, something she was well aware of. 'Being there earlier, and now.' She was moving closer to him, he froze, before he had a chance to think she had pressed her lips against his and he had responded to her tongue trying to slip inside his mouth.
Neither were sure how they had got where they were, against her desk moving clumsily with one another, gradually falling into a fluid rhythm, moving as one. He heard her moaning low in each breath she took and the name she nearly called as she came, the stifled syllable, the hurried replacement of 'Tony,' falling from her lips, it sounded shrill, forced, and cold on her tongue. She hated herself for it and looked at his chest they held each other panting, her legs wrapped around his waist. She swallowed nervously and looked up at him, he stroked her jaw with his thumb, she could see in his eyes he was as shocked as she was at what had happened. 'Tell him,' were the only words he spoke as he passed her, her underwear and straightened out his suit and zipped up his flies. She was frozen to the spot as he left, she looked down at the pink lace in her hand and wept as she pulled them back on, straightened her skirt and fastened the buttons on her blouse. What had she done?
As Tony left the office, still in shock, he spotted Gibbs leaning against the railings; he turned to look at him and knew what was coming. In silence they walked towards the elevator and let the doors close, Gibbs flicked the switch plunging them into darkness and stopping the elevator suddenly. 'Boss, I,' 'Me first, I don't have a problem with what you and Jenny are doing outside of work, just make sure you do it outside of work, but I wanna make one thing crystal clear, you break her heart and I'll break you. You got that DiNozzo?' Tony nodded, Gibbs could be terrifying when he wanted to, he flicked the switch back on and the lift began to head down again. 'You should know one thing though boss...' he was interrupted by the doors opening and Gibbs flying out.
'Boss!' he called out as Gibbs stormed towards McGee and Ziva, a door above them opened and feet hurried along the walkway, Gibbs stopped suddenly and Tony reached his side, 'boss, she,' he followed Gibbs gaze up to the red head rushing towards the elevator, her coat on and her bag in her arms, tears were streaming down her face and Cynthia was behind her, 'Director? Director,' Gibbs turned to Tony his face contorted with rage, 'what did you do?' He snarled as he pinned Tony to the glass window by his throat, 'Jethro,' 'Gibbs,' 'What's going on?'
Gibbs turned to his left and saw the form of his old friend dressed to go home looking horrified, beside him a scared looking Abby. He released his grip on Tony's throat slightly, 'What did you do?' He snapped seeing the fear etched onto Tony's face, 'Jethro, let him go,' he released him angrily looking to the owner of the voice for an explanation. 'He did nothing wrong,' she swallowed nervously at the scene before her, glad the bullpen was empty aside from Gibbs and his team. It would be much easier to contain the situation.
Gibbs stared at her, shocked at the speed in which her tears had disappeared. 'What happened?' 'Nothing, Tony just followed me because I'm getting very good at losing my protection detail,' 'Something must have happened to make you cry like that,' she looked at the floor, 'yeah,' she slipped her hand into her bag and pulled out a small piece of white card, maybe 6x4 inches. She handed it to Gibbs, 'he was killed crossing a road six years ago today, I went to lay flowers on his grave,' she allowed a tear to fall as she turned to leave the building.
Regret: Feel or express sorrow or disappointment about something one has done or which one should have done.