Time Heals
Author: Jennygibbsbelong2getha
Category: Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Rating: PG/P12
Contents: Drinking never solves anything. A case comes up that sends Tony and Ziva undecover then puts them in danger, Gibbs must help Jenny cope.
She sat in her study, the only light coming from the small lamp near the door. She slowly moved the glass around, watching the amber liquid move around the patterns that it made. She had lost count of how many times so had refilled her glass, She thought back to the events of the day that had driven her to leaving work early and to be sitting in her study alone and drinking,
Flashback;
It had been a particually hard case. The whole team had put there lives in danger to bring down a couple that had been killing Marines and their wives, They had found their victims at gatherings for Marines that were just about to be shipped out, After many long fights between Herself & Gibb's she had agreed to sign off on the undercover forms so Tony and Ziva could go undercover as bait to draw the killers out.
She had been reculant to sign the forms. Not because she didn't trust Jethro's abilty to protect his team. S(he knew he could do that), but because of the way the murders had been commited, each couple that had been killed, (Four in total) had been brutally killed in different places, In different ways but each time was more brutal, more vicious the common link was the note that had been left with each body, and that all of the marines had been at the gatherings a couple of days before they were due to be shipped out. It had worried her that they wouldn't know when exactly the killers would strike. But as the body count climbed she had to agree that Gibb's idea to send the two agents undercover did appear to be the only way to catch the killers.
Things had been going fine, Tony & Ziva were playing the part of a happily married couple, of a wife that was going to miss her husband terribly, and Tony of the strong and brave marine.But just as she had started to relax and begin to feel a little silly for not letting Jethro send them undercover earlier things had gone so horribly wrong, Tony and Ziva had just reported in that they might have a good lead about a couple, and that they were meeting them at 1030, Tony then gave all of Intel to McGee so that the team could be there for backup to bring them down, Before they got to Tony and Ziva.
But when McGee had gone to make contact with Tony and Ziva he couldn't get any answer, after a hour Gibbs had driven to the base with McGee to check out where Tony and Ziva had been staying in the small two bedroom house.
When they had gotten to the house they had found signs of a struggle in the kitchen and lounge but even more disturbing was the blood they had found in the hallway, When Gibbs had called her when she heard the news, She was so angry at him for letting him talk her into letting them go undercover.
She closed her eyes as she briefly thought over how she had started yelling at him 'How could you let this happen Jethro' She had screamed at him.
Not waiting for his answer she had hung up on him, grabbed her weapon out of her top drawer where she had kept it, Then she had walked out of her office told cynthina that she was leaving for the day. She had them got a ride with Ducky (Dr. Mallard) to the house Tony and Ziva had been calling home.
The look on Jethro's face when he saw her get out of the truck instead of Palmer had almost made smile untill she rememberd why she was there.
'Show me Jethro' She had said her tone leaving no room for the arugements that he usually had about her 'interferring' in his case's, But this time he just nodded and lead her into the house.
Showing her the kitchen then the lounge and finally the blood that was in the hallway.
Looking around her at the scene she knew that they needed to find Tony and Ziva fast especially if one of them was injured.
'Find them Jethro' was all that she had said to him before turning on back to him and going to find Ducky to see what he could tell her.
Whilst she was with Ducky McGee had found a trace on Ziva's cellphone it was a weak signal but it was strong enough for them to follow.
When she heard Gibb's telling McGee he had done a good job and to get in the car, She knew that she had to go with them.
She thanked Ducky and quickly got up to follow Gibb's to the car, He saw her coming towards him
'Jen I think you should stay here' he had told her.
But she wouldn't listen she walked past him to the car told McGee to get in the back if the car and sat waiting for Gibb's to get to the car,
When he had got there he hadn't said anything to her he had just listened to McGee's directions leading them to Ziva's phone.
They had gotten to where the signal was coming from, A area that contained hundreds of old bunkers
'McGee!' They had both shouted at him knowing how long it would take them to search them all and they both knew that since one or both were bleeding they didn't have that much time. After what seemed like hours but was really only a few minutes they had found the right building by using some new thing that Abby and McGee had assured them would work.
After entering the buliding it didn't take them long to locate Tony & Ziva after they had cleared the part where they were being held they checked them both over,
Tony was the one that was shot, In his arm just below his shoulder
They had sent him to hospital with Ziva while her and Jethro had cleared the rest of the building,
On the way back to the office neither had spoken a word to each other but both knowing that as soon as McGee got out of the car, Words would be exchanged and none of them nice.
As soon as they had got back to NCIS McGee had gotten out of the car, probaly gone to see Abby and tell her all about it Jenny thought to herself.
Gibb's had turned to her as soon as McGee was out of hearing range
He had started yelling at her, His words had all mixed together, Tears had started to form in her eyes, Instead of yelling back at him she had gotten out of the car and slammed the door as hard as she could.
He had called out after her, but she had just kept on walking across the garage till she reached the lift, Only when she stepped in to it and its doors had closed did she allow herself to cry.
He had tried to come into her office, But she had locked the door so he had left the case reports outside on Cynthinas desk.
When she had finally decided to open her office door and go home part of her had secretly hoped that he would still be there waiting for her, But of course he hadn't.
Problay at home working on that boat she had thought to herself.
When she had gotten home she had come into the study and started drinking, She was still sitting there now.
End of flashback.
Her glass was now empty, She slowly stood up and started to make her way to the bookshelf where she kept 'Her Supply' as he called it, She smiled to herself thinking about him, Thinking about how today had reminded her so much of when her and Jethro had been undercover but they had to save themselves that time, She missed him so much. She thought back to paris to how happy she had been, back then she had thought that their love was something that would last forever, but things change she thought to herself sadly.
Ever since she had started being his boss though she had started to think about paris more and more, about how was the only man that she had ever truly loved, but he had gotten married again after her, then their had been Lt. Mann, seeing him with her had almost broken her heart, She wished that it was her he smiled at, her he spoke to softly saying wordsof love but that was all in the past she told herself.
She was his boss now things could never be like that again, At least that is what she told herself, but still part of her hoped that maybe one day she could call him hers once again.
At that moment someone knocked on her door
Part of her knew it would be him, but when she opened her door and saw him her heart still jumped.
'What are you doing here Jethro, Here to say sorry?' She said
'No' He said smiling at her, with the smile that still made her weak at the knees
'I bought us tea' he said holding up the bag that he was carrying
'Its 02330 Jethro, A little late for tea' She said to him
'Can't a guy have tea with his old partner?" He said now smiling at her
'That line is old Jethro, You need a new one' She told him but she still let him wanting to feel his presence in her house, secretly she did like it when he stopped by to talk have a drink or on rare occasions like this he bought tea for them both, usually they would sit in her lounge and eat and talk in there but tonight was different, tonight she was allowing him truly in, inside of keeping him on the outside, she now realise just how much she missed him, Just how much she needed him.
'She lead him through to the study where she had been sitting alone, drowning her sorrows a few moments ago, His eyes scanned the room and he saw the empty glass, noticing that she seemed more carefree he assumed she had been drinking for awhile.
'Drink?' She asked him
He just shook his head, knowing that it wasn't good for her to be drinking so much, he had been worrying about it for sometime, especially when everything was happening with the Frog, He made more of an effort then to spend time with her out of work hours in the hope that it would distract her from what seemed like a constant need to drink.
'Coffee' He said simply 'I think we both need some coffee Jen'
She just nodded, Knowing he was trying to stop her from having another drink.
She walked through to the kitchen to make the coffee, While he set up dinner in her study.
Taking the glass she had been drinking out of and putting it on the bookshelf he sighed when he saw just how empty looking the bottle was, He didn't really understand why she was doing this he couldn't think of anything that could be upsetting her so much, Once the Frog had been dealt with he had assumed the drinking would stop but if anything it had just gotten worse.
In the kitchen all she could think about was him, How when he walked in she could smell his scent the mixture of coffee and sawdust, how when his slighty grazed hers it sent shivers up her spine.
She carried the two cups through to the study, where she found dinner set out on her desk, she handed him the coffee without saying a word.
They ate in comfortable silence for awhile, both lost in memories of times long ago.
Jenny felt tears starting to form, threatning to spill over down her cheeks she quickly tried to wipe them away hoping he wouldn't notice them, but of course he did.
He noticed that she had stopped eating and that her hand had moved to her eye, when he glanced closer he noticed that she was close to tears,
'Jen, Whats wrong' He asked her
'Nothing' She said back sharply
He moved from sitting from across to her to sitting beside her, gently grabbing her hand in his own he looked into her eyes and said quietly
'I know something is wrong Jen, Everyone has noticed that you have been drinking more, You know you can talk to me'
Despite the tears that were falling from her eyes so steadily now she smiled and replied
'Not when you are the problem Jethro'
When he heard her say that, His heart skipped a beat, did she mean that she to had also been thinking about how things used to be between them he wondered
'What do you mean Jen' he pressed
'Nothing, just forget it you should leave now' She told him
He shook his head, 'No Jen'
'I'm not going anywhere till you tell me what you meant' he told her
She went to stand up but found that he was stopping her
'Move Jethro' She said trying to sound assertive but she couldn't manage it
'No Jen, Since you arn't going to say what you were going to, I'll start' He said softly
The tone of his voice made her worry, Worry about what he was going to say.
'Don't' She said
But he put his finger to her lips
'Shhh Jen' He said
His touch made her heart race even more, she was suprised that he couldn't here it
' Ever since you came to NCIS i have realised how much i have missed you, How you are the only person that i truly loved after shannon, I think about you all the time Jen, I have missed you so much' He said
Before he could say anymore she kissed him softly at first, when he didn't respond she pulled away.
He looked at her again into her emerald eyes he loved her eyes, how they could speak a thousand words.
'I love you Jen'. he murmured
Then lent in and kissed her.
The need for air took them both over, When they pulled apart she slipped down onto the ground so she was leaning against him he put his arm around her and she leant into his embrace.
'I love you to' She told him
The End