The Man With Blue Eyes
- Chapter 6 -

The rest of the day was spent catching up. Jenny spent an hour with Tony and Ziva gently talking over their roles in what they thought was her death. She'd then sat with Abby as she sobbed into her shoulder and they got caught up on their girl talk. McGee had stood silently in the corner during that conversation and as Jenny got up to leave the room she had placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled gently. It was all the reassurance he needed that things would work themselves out. In return he told her that Ducky was looking for her. That was a conversation Jenny was not looking forward to, but less so than then one that would no doubt be incredibly painful with Jethro. She found Ducky in the library that Julia had set up a few months ago.

"Ducky," she greeted quietly.

"Ah Direc...Jennifer," he returned blushing at his blunder.

"We haven't really talked in a while."

"Jennifer we spoke..."

"As friends, you always called me Director," she reminded.

"Yes, well, it seemed more appropriate." They sat in silence for a minute before Jenny tried again.

"You kept my secret and for that I'm grateful. I'm sorry you had to be in that position."

"I still think you should have told him," Ducky responded.

"I know, in the end I didn't think it would matter much."

"He found the letter, or rather beginning of a letter."

"I imagined he had after I saw the house on TV."

"Director Vance believed it was a more appropriate cover," Ducky informed his tone suggesting just what he thought about that.

"I figured that might have been it."

"And Jethro broke your card table."

"Fit of rage?" She joked.

"No." She sat up straight at the tone. "He lured Syvltena to the house. Franks had to shoot her, she fell on the table."

"Mike? But...Why didn't Jethro shoot her?"

"He didn't have his gun."

"He calls a known killer and doesn't have his gun?" She asked in disbelief.

"The gun was sitting on your desk, Franks did ask if he was going to go for it after the fact."

"And?"

"Gibbs never answered. The team was split up after the funeral."

"I'd heard that," she said quietly. "I could've killed Vance for it."?"They all could have, Jethro got them back though."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." The silence fell around them again. "How...how is he really?"

"I don't know, Jennifer, and that's what worries me." She nodded her response.

"Where is he?"

"He went to sit on the boat."

"Very Jethro," she laughed lightly. She stood grabbing a bottle of bourbon and two glasses from the shelf. Ducky watched her leave and sent a silent prayer for his two friends. Jenny passes Julia in the hall and her sister grabbed her arm to stop her.

"You know that stuff isn't very good for you."

"Just because you don't like bourbon, doesn't mean I can't."

"You're angry."

"What do you think?"

"I know you didn't want them to know Jenny, but..."

"Don't you but me Julia, you had no idea what I was running from."

"I know who you're running to," she stated. Jenny met her glare. "You're running to your Jethro."

"He's not mine," Jenny snapped.

"I think he might disagree with you." Jenny remained silent. "I made my mistakes Jenny, I left Horatio, I didn't listen to him when I found him again. I tried hard to protect Kyle but it wasn't enough without him. Horatio and I...I didn't think we'd ever be more than just Kyle's parents, but we are more, we are more to each other."

"Julia...you think just because..."

"I don't think, I know. Give him a chance Jenny," Julia cautioned.

"Mom!"

"Julia!" The voices of Horatio and Kyle sounded up the stairs.

"Be right there," Julia called back down. "He's out on the boat," Julia whispered to her sister before heading down. Jenny watched with surprise as her sister, usually cold and calculating embraced her son lovingly and then turned to the father, kissing him gently. She watched Horatio wrap his arms around her, holding her as he handed her a pill bottle. She was shocked and pulled back from the railing. Her sister's illness was something they both took great lengths to hide, yet this man, this Horatio Cane knew. She had admired Cane when she met him undercover, she could live with his relationship with her sister. Apparently Julia can live with Gibbs, she thought before turning to head outside.

Jenny walked slowly down the dock to the boat. She spotted Jethro standing on the stern watching the horizon. She carefully slipped aboard and approached him coming just behind him before her turned.

"Should I be worried?" He inquired.

"About?"

"The last man you met on a boat ended up in the drink with a bullet through his skull." She scowled.

"It was deserved, you I'm not so sure about."

"You know Fornell could never conclusively say the bullet matched your gun. He told me he would need the magazine. Funny how I ended up with that magazine."

"Would you have turned me in?"

"No, but I wouldn't have turned you in if you had told me your plan either."

"You would have just tried to stop me."

"Damn straight, do you know what could have happened to you Jen?" He demanded and she was glad to see the anger she knew so well finally surfacing.

"Jethro, I did what I had to do, may not have been right, but it wasn't wrong either. I would think you of all people could understand it."

"That doesn't explain your latest stunt," he snapped.

"I thought Mike explained that to you."

"He left out the part where you survived."

"He didn't know, Fornell did."

"Yea I'll deal with him later."

"I was trying to protect you Jethro."

"I don't want your protection if that's the price."

"Too bad," she bit back. "You're getting it anyways."

"Ducky said you were...you lied to me."

"I didn't lie to you, I just didn't tell you the whole truth."

"No fair, you can't use my lines against me."

"Yes I can, I was also following your rules, Rule 8."

"Yea I think I'm going to come up with all set of rules just for you, you twist those too easily."

"I had a good teacher," she teased. He sat down and she sat beside him keeping her eyes focused on the horizon as she felt his on her form.

"If your sister hadn't turned up...would you have come back?"

"No," she answered and felt him flinch slightly. "I don't think I would have," she elaborated. "I didn't know if I had convinced Syvltena and the rest of her team or if I had just taken the edge off. If they could find you like they found me, they would have killed you and your team. I did what was best for all of us."

"Well, it's my turn now."

"Your turn?" She questioned.

"To do what's best for all of us, and that starts with you coming home."

"Jethro..."

"Or we could both retire, go on a margarita safari together for a change," he suggested.

"What?" He paused keeping his eyes away from hers.

"I thought a lot about leaving after the funeral. The team was split up, it just didn't feel the same anymore. I'm tired Jen, I'm getting to old for this all day run. I thought if I could get the team back, then I could leave Tony in charge and they'd be fine on their own."

"They wouldn't let you walk out of their lives again."

"I know, but they don't need me there all the time either. The kids have to leave the nest someday."

"You're serious."

"DiNozzo's ready to be a leader. I wasn't going to get to keep him much longer anyway."

"You would be lonely."

"Well, I figured Franks could use some company. Thought about traveling too."

"You hate traveling."

"Yea...wouldn't mind going back to Serbia though, or Italy, London maybe," he told her.

"By yourself?"

"I couldn't take anyone else." She shifted closer to him knowing they both needed the contact. "I found the letter."

"The one I didn't finish." He turned to look at her trying to see if anything was different. "It's gone now. To get the bullets out was risky, they figured they might as well try to remove the tumors as well."

"You lived through it."

"Barely. I was basically dead when they got to me, I would say this fell in the miracle category."

"Second chance at life," he guessed.

"It was hard. I had spent so many weeks coming to terms with death that I didn't quite know what to do. I couldn't go back to NCIS, so Fornell put me with my sister."

"You could have come to me."

"You thought I was dead."

"I didn't want to believe it, I have some of your stuff...from the house."

"Like?"

"A couple sweaters, your perfume, your keepsake box, your badge, your pillow."

"My pillow?" He tried to hide the bashful blush. "Oh Jethro..." She trailed off not really knowing what to say. "Things were changing, we were different with each other."

"Yea..." He could remember the way they changed, him waking up on her couch, her tucked in beside him, the screen for a DVD in front of them. The first of many such mornings. Till the morning where she was gone forever.

"The team didn't know."

"No." She said nothing. He cleared his throat. "There's just one other thing."

"You're allowed to be angry about more than one thing Jethro, I certainly wouldn't fault you."

"No...this is about your latest escapade. Cane showed me some surveillance photos," he paused. "You got a habit I should know about?" She glared. "Or not. He said you were looking for your lovers' child." The lover definitely had a bitter taste to him. She froze beside him. "You moved on." It wasn't an accusation.

"No," but she felt she had to deny. "I never moved on. Not from you."

"So this child story..."

"Isn't a lie." Gibbs watched as she stood up and put space between them. "I looked into their deaths, after you went to Mexico."

"And..." he didn't want to get his hopes.

"And there was a reason I never told you."

"Because of what?"

"Because if the truth wasn't different from what you knew I would never forgive myself for getting your hopes up."

"And if the truth was different?"

"I would have been happy for you."

"What?"

"I would have made you happy once in all the time trying, that has to count for something right?"

"You make me happy Jen, just by being you."

"You're not a very good liar, Jethro, we both know I made you anything but happy, especially lately."

"That..." He sighed, he'd fight this battle after her found out what she'd discovered. "Is the truth different?"?"No, no it wasn't. There were rumors that Kelly survived, I found someone who was there, no one survived. The only thing..." she paused turning back to him. "She was asleep when it happened. She didn't feel a thing."

He said nothing and she dropped her head turning away. He stood up and moved closer to her wrapping his arms tight around her, pulling her to him. He ran his fingers through her red locks inhaling the soft scent that he'd missed so much. Perfume was only so good, but it never added up to the scent that was just Jen. He had never thought he'd get the chance to hold her again, to touch her again. He wasn't going to let anything stand in his way this time. She was just going to have to deal with the fact that someone else got to decide what was best for a change.

"You are what makes me happy," he whispered in her ear.

"How can I make you happy, when all I bring you is death," she whispered back and he felt the tears against her cheek.

"Because you don't bring death, you bring hope." He kissed her again, as he had back in the crime lab. She kissed him back just as passionately. When he pulled back she was smiling faintly her green eyes alive and sparkling. "You know what they say."

"What do they say?"

"Third time's the charm."

"Hm...really?"

"Yes really," he told her, reaching behind him. "Like I said before, it's my turn to decide what's best and that starts with you and me," she felt metal around her wrist again and pulled.

"Again with the handcuffs?"

"I only took them off because Tony and Ziva were reporting on your whereabouts in the house."

"Your loyal St. Bernard till the end."

"You know back in the day cavemen used to raid tribes for mates and they would tie a rope around them so they were joined and they girl couldn't run away. Later after she'd gotten the point, he simply tied a string around her finger to remind her."

"I see...so you're resorting back to this...primitive idea?"

"Well, no, see the rope gives you to much of a leash, handcuffs keep you close by. Besides, I like your neck free of obstacles, a collar would be to much of a hindrance."

"Hindrance for what?" She received her answers in the form of kisses and nips along her neck. "Jethro..." she growled.

"Did I mention cavemen used to mark their mates too?"

"I'm starting to see the resemblance."

"Hey Boss!" Came the loud interruption.

"Di-Interruptus."

"Jethro..."

"He's always making fun of McGee."

"Hey Boss!"

"What DiNozzo?"

"Uh...the plane? Were supposed to leave tonight, and then Vance has been calling off the hook. He wants to know where we are, Probie is stalling but..."

"Gibbs!" Ziva and Abby came running down the docks with McGee in tow.

"What?"

"Well Vance won't stop calling, we've got Ducky stalling.

"Jenny, Julia wants..." Jenny and Jethro turned to one another and Gibbs started moving towards the edge pulling them both towards the end to get off the boat.

"You know cavemen also used to separate the female from her children so she would want to reproduce again," Gibbs informed.

"Oh really?" She inquired.

"Yep, hold on."

"Hold on? Hold on for..." she watched as Gibbs pulled his knife from his pocket. In one swoop the line was cut and the boat started drifting away from the dock.

"Boss!" Jenny watched as the ropes slowly came undone. The boat had only one line to tie it to the dock and it was already running in reverse. She missed that when she got on board. She watched as the team started running down the dock to try to catch the boat and Julia, Kyle and Horatio came out as well. Julia waved goodbye.

"Jethro!"

"I thought it was a very good plan."

"Jethro...your team..."

"The children can survive without mommy and daddy for a bit."

"I don't have any clothes."

"You won't need any."

"Where are we going?"

"Bahamas sound nice? We could go to Mexico too..."

"Jethro..."

"Jenny," he whined in the exact same tone. She put her hands on her hips as best she could cuffed to him. His fingers traced her hipbone gently.

"You going to un-cuff me?"

"Once we get out of the harbor. You'll be to scared of sharks to jump in then."

"This is your grand plan?"

"Well, your sister happened to mention you have thing for guys with blue eyes and that Lt. Cane over there reminded you of the man you love, so....I have blue eyes about the same shade and..."

"And?"

"Well, after a few weeks alone, you'll be so enamored..."

"That was the plan."

"Good plan right?"

"Not exactly," she replied moving closer and leaning against him.

"Oh?"?"You could've just said, ‘Jen I think we should get away.' And I would have sailed the world with you," she answered.

"Really?" She nodded. "Why?"

"Because idiot, I already love you, so all you're really accomplishing is giving yourself time to become enamored with me," She challenged.

"Problem with that theory too."

"Oh?"

"Well, I already love you, and even more so now that you're not six feet under so, I guess we'll just have to go sail off into the sunset."

"Uh huh...just one thing."

"Hm?"

"Don't ask me to marry you."

"Don't ask me and I won't ask you."

"Excellent, but since you did burn down my house and such, you get to buy me a new wardrobe."

"I can live with that."

"And I'm still mad about this unexpected trip."

"I can live with that too," he assured.

"Oh really?"

"Yep, I find you angry an incredible turn on."

"So anytime during any of our fights all I would have had to was kiss you..."

"Oh and I be done for."

"So how long does it take to get to Mexico?"

"A month."

"Hm...well then...I have plenty of time."

"Time for what?"

"To tire you out."

"Woman you can't pace yourself," he informed.

"Maybe...maybe not, wouldn't you like to find out?" She was about to kiss him again when they heard the beeping of phones. "Don't suppose we could toss them in the water?"

"We might actually need them eventually, we can turn them off," and he did just that and tossed them below deck. As they passed the last buoy and there was nothing but open sea Gibbs undid the handcuffs and was about to toss them overboard when Jenny caught his hand.

"No polluting the ocean Jethro."

"Fish hugger."

"No, I want these for myself." They heard a beeping noise and looked over to their GPS tracker.

"Coded message."

"For us?"

"From Fornell... ‘Team called, they claim you've disappeared, I can have her on satellite in five minutes, won't tell DiNutso. See you in a month or two.'"

"See what happens when you cooperate with sister agencies?"

"I bow to your infinite wisdom," he teased. "So first stop?"

"Hm...wherever the winds take us?"

"Works for me." He leaned down and kissed her again.

"Think they're watching?"

"Let them."

END