TRAGEDY OF THE HEART

Jenny sits quietly in the back of the crowded room listening to the good-natured jibes being tossed out. Their boss, Curtis Nelson just laughs and takes the playful insults in stride. After working with this group for years he knows them all well enough to accept their teasing. Especially since this is his last day and they all want to give him the traditional going away party.

Laughing along with the group as one of the guys brings up an old story from when Nelson was a young rookie agent... another calls out a story of his first day in the Paris Office. Jenny thinks back over all the good times they had working together this past year. She had a boss she really enjoyed working for and now he was leaving. He had been a good agent and a good assistant director and she sighs as she wonders what their new boss will be like. She doubts Leroy Jethro Gibbs will be as understanding of her unusual techniques. She probably gave Curtis most of his gray hair, but she always got results even if she violated more than a few rules.

She draws herself out of her stupor as everyone begins filing past Nelson to say one last farewell before he packs up his office and heads to his new job in Washington, DC. She is too depressed to join in so she slips from the room and heads back to her desk. Once there she remembers the forms that needed his signature before he leaves. She takes them up to his office without knocking and is surprised to find he has already returned and is boxing up his personal belongings.

"You probably need a bigger box than when you moved in here, huh?"

"Yea, I seem to have collected a lot of stuff while I was here. I noticed you skipped out on the good-byes, Jenny. Is everything all right?"

"I just hate good-byes... and I did have a few last minute things for you to sign so I thought I better get them… if you don't mind."

He stares at her for a moment then casually pushes the door closed as he gestures toward a chair. "Have a seat, Jenny. There were a few things I wanted to talk to you about before I left."

"Last minute reprimands?"

"In a way." His words are tempered with a good natured chuckle. "I wanted to tell you what a pleasure it's been to work with you these past year."

"Because I gave you so much grief?"

"Maybe a little. When I came here I was burned out and bored, but after watching you and your team work with such enthusiasm I found myself wanting to run amok with you. As the director, I couldn't do that, but I hope you never lose that special talent for inciting people to follow you."

"I might have to lose it real fast come Monday morning. Agent Gibbs may not appreciate my enthusiasm as much as you."

"I wouldn't be so sure. Gibbs is a great agent and he's fair. He just likes to act tough... actually reminds me a lot of you. I was a rookie agent when we met... and he hadn't mastered his calm exterior. During an argument with another agent, things got a little heated and I stepped in. He just glared at me... but he never forgot about that. 'Bout ten years later he thanked me for stopping him from getting fired for punching the guy. Guy needed to be punched, but not then... not there. He told me after that day, he went out of his way to be more patient. He won't give you the answers, but he'll make sure you find 'em."

"Heard he can be a stickler for details."

"And I'm not?"

"Well, yes, but you don't worry about the small stuff as long as the results are within guidelines." Nelson raises a skeptical brow at her admission and she hurries to change the subject. "I just wish they hadn't decided to move you over to the Department of Defense. I'm gonna miss you, Curtis."

"I keep telling myself that everyone who gets sent there is being groomed for bigger and better things. Now, what do I need to sign?"

She hands him the papers and when he is done he grabs something from one box and turns to hold out a framed picture of the unit. In the photo everyone is cheering as Jenny holds up the award she won while Nelson is placing a kiss on her cheek.

"Here, I think this photo should stay with you."

"I can't! That's your photo."

"I have another copy of it at home in my scrap book. Go on, keep this one. It was one of the great memories of working with you."

"Thank you; it was a great day."

"Well, I guess I better get moving. I still have to help my wife pack for the move back to the States. And Jenny… " He stops with a large box in his arms.

"Yes?"

"Be nice to Gibbs, okay? Give him a chance like you got. He's new at being the director and only an interim director at that."

"I'll try, but I just hope he's as understanding as you are." Nelson just shakes his head and continues out the door.

Monday morning comes way too soon and Jenny finds herself a little nervous about her new boss. Gibbs was an unknown to her and she only knew him by his reputation. She'd heard about his legendary glare, his rules and that he kept his distance, even when working as a team. She knew he never discussed his personal life... or his past... and she wonders why. She also wonders what changes are in store for them all in this office. She drops her bag by her desk and is about to head for the coffee machine when she sees a note on her desk. "Need to see you as soon as you get in. Gibbs."

She sighs heavily and heads up to the office, so recently vacated by Nelson on Friday. She hesitates a moment outside his door to get her first glimpse of him. He was older than she thought... judging by the silver tinted hair at his temples... and handsome, in a rugged sort of way. She take a couple deep breaths and silently berates herself for even allowing that thought into her head. Just then he looks up and smiles at her, ushering her in. She takes a deep breath and tries to act normal as she steps inside.

"Good morning."

"Agent Shepard, come in." He was being polite, but that didn't mean anything. The man was an enigma when it came to reading his moods.

"I hope I'm not in trouble already. I'd hate to start off with a bad mark."

He smiles, but she notices it doesn't quite reach his eyes "No, Curtis had nothing but praise for you and the team."

"Well, I'm glad he was pleased with our work."

"I saw the photo on your desk. Early last year, right? He seemed pretty pleased."

Jenny hears a faint note of disapproval in his voice, but it isn't apparent on his face. She stifles the explanation that rose to her lips, deciding it would only make matters worse if she tried to deny there had been anything more than just an innocent kiss. She changes the subject instead.

"Do you always come to work this early?"

"Most of the time, but I have been known to sneak in just under the wire a time or two. Why?"

"I'm usually the first one in... before everyone arrives, that's all."

Gibbs is curious why she wants to be here before everyone else, but decides against asking her. It was something he would file away for later use. She sighs and tries to listen to his run down on their cases and what he expected from her. By the time she leaves there is a lump in the pit of her stomach. Her life was about to get complicated. She heads for the coffee machine in desperate need of a double latte' today.

Back in his office Gibbs sits wondering about how Curtis Nelson described Shepard to him. 'Conscientious and professional', but Gibbs hadn't seen how she operated... let alone ran a team. She was attractive... Gibbs had to admit that. No wonder Nelson had taken advantage of the moment to place a kiss on her cheek... or maybe there had been more to it. She hadn't jumped in to set him straight when he commented on it earlier. He knew some agents didn't believe in keeping their personal lives separate from the office and his stomach twists uncomfortably as sudden memories emerge. He quickly banishes them back to the dark vault of his mind and sighs as he goes back to reviewing the personnel files on his desk. He had never wanted this job, but until someone else got appointed as the assistant director of the NCIS Paris office, he was it... Interim Director.

Jenny is at her desk, trying to work when she is interrupted for the millionth time. This time it is Joe Stoddard, one of the senior field agents. She makes one last notation before giving him her undivided attention.

"Hi, Joe, what can I do for you?"

"Nothing. I just thought see how your first day was going with the new boss?"

"Fine. I saw him for about five minutes this morning and that was it."

"Is he gonna be as strict as everyone says?"

"It's a little hard to tell, Joe. I think we better give him some time and see how things go."

"I hear you, but I also see the look in your eyes. I just want you to know that if it comes up... I got your back, okay?"

Just then Joe sees Gibbs walking towards them with several papers in his hand. He watches as the large black man clears his throat nervously and remains silent at his question. "If what comes up?"

"Nothing, we're just catching up after the weekend." Gibbs gives her a long look and then turns his attention to the other man.

"Hello, Joe. How's Harriett these days?" Jenny is surprised that Gibbs seems to know Joe personally.

"She's good, Gibbs. We worked an Op together some years back." Joe sees her brow crease and explains. "Well, I better get back to it. I'll see you later, Jenny?"

"Sure, same time."

Joe leaves and Jenny turns her attention to her new boss who is looking at her a bit suspiciously. She correctly assumes that he misinterpreted Joe's last comment and tries to clarify it now. "We run together every other day."

"I see." There is an uncomfortable silence and Jenny wonders just what he 'sees'. She feels her anger flare, but controls it as she prompts him to continue in a cool voice.

"Was there something you needed?"

"Yes, I was handing these memos out. Here you go."

He hands her a page and goes on to place one on all the other desks before leaving. Jenny quickly scans the page and sighs; it's starting already. Starting immediately all the mailboxes are to be moved up by his office. She sighs and throws the memo into her basket before returning her attention to the work in front of her. She can't help wondering what the next few weeks will hold.

Jenny doesn't have to wait long to see what changes were in store for herself and the others. Over the next month Gibbs makes a steady series of small changes designed to mold the unit to his liking. She has to admit most of the changes don't affect her directly, but it was hard having to accept every little thing his way when she liked how Nelson did things. It also irritates her that many of the changes have actually made life easier on all of them. The team leaders had already accepted his way of doing things and liked the changes. She glares over at the man stepping off the elevator, realizing Abbott Young's team was used to this... since he worked for Gibbs before his promotion to team leader here. Young sees her glare and wonders what he's done to piss her off again.

She sighs and stops typing to sip her coffee, her mind has once again strayed to Jethro Gibbs. What kind of a name was that? And what kind of man was he? Ever since she got here last year, she'd been so focused on proving herself; becoming a top agent. Gibbs was tough, but also a handsome man and that was proving to be a distraction. It had been apparent from the start he wasn't interested in cultivating personal relationships with anyone here. Never smiling, never flirting over the water cooler... and what was it with those rules? She'd learned about Gibbs' rules as he felt the need to point them out to her. He had a rule for everything. Gibbs lived by them and expected everyone who worked for him to do so too. The problem was they weren't given a set of rules at the onset and apparently didn't share them with you until you violated one of them. She shakes her head, smiling; as she again tries to work on her report.

Gibbs stands, unnoticed in the back hallway for several minutes watching her and wondering what she finds so amusing. The private smile on her face seems almost devilish as if she were plotting something. He feels a twinge in his gut as he pictures her daydreaming about some man. He instantly scolds himself for even allowing his thoughts to go there. He suddenly clears his throat as he steps over to her desk.

"Agent Shepard, you got a minute?"

"Oh! Sure, what's up?" She tries to cover the involuntary startle he gave her when he appeared as if her thoughts had conjured him up out of thin air.

"Some of the new changes, I got a couple questions... but first I got a question for you."

Already Jenny doesn't like the sound of this and the skepticism shows in her voice. "Okay."

"How is it that every morning I find you already here working? Do you sleep here?"

"Seems like it sometimes." She smiles innocently at him and he realizes she never actually answered his question. She is toying with him and he wonders why it's so important to her to beat everyone in each day.

Gibbs takes this as a challenge and decides to get here even earlier tomorrow. "Wanted to ask you about the re-organization. Gonna shake up the teams a bit...you know, move people around."

Jenny's shock is unmistakable. "Move who? And why? Is there a problem?"

Gibbs studies her reaction, but can't keep the smirk from his face as he comments, "You do have a lot of questions, don't you? I can see from your initial reaction you haven't read the latest memo?"

"Well, I... no..." She quickly grabs her mouse and opens her emails to see the new memo attachment from him. She scans it quickly, then sighs, "I didn't think we had any problem areas."

"Not problem areas, but he thinks some of the agents… and a couple team leaders are getting stale. For starters I want to move Dave Lynden over to Cyber Crimes and put Steve Hayworth over Trafficking."

"And me?" Shepard can't help the impatience in her voice.

"I have a special plan in mind for you. Jason Hill retires next week. I'm going to split up his team between you and Young. I want half of them working undercover Ops and the other half as tactical support. Think you two can handle that?"

"You want me to be a team leader? In what, undercover agents or tactical?" Shepard was not intimidated when it came to standing up for herself.

"Your team will be undercover... unless you don't feel you can handle it. Young is already trained on tactical response so it makes sense."

Jenny feels her anger flare at his comment and suddenly bolts from her chair to confront him face to face, angrily demanding he explain that comment. "Are you insinuating that because I'm a woman I can't do as good a job as a man?!"

Gibbs stares into her furious eyes for a moment and tries to keep a straight face as her sudden anger tells him she wasn't intimidated and she'd gladly tear him apart if he wasn't careful. Others in the room begin to stare.

His hand suddenly comes out to grasp her arm, spinning her around to escort her into the hallway where they are out of the eyes of the other agents. Once there, he gives her a firm head slap and she gasps at the sudden reprimand. "If I thought you couldn't handle it, Agent Shepard, I wouldn't I have suggested it."

Recovering from being head slapped by Gibbs; a new experience for her... Jenny backs down. She darts a quick glance at Gibbs and her cheeks flush as she lowers her gaze and stammers to explain her reaction. "Well, no, but it just sounded that way when you said..."

"I wanted you as the U.C team leader because you've shown some good initiative in the past year. Not that you're any less qualified to do the tactical end of this operation."

"All right, Director… understood." She nods and quickly returns to her chair feeling silly for jumping to conclusions and sits staring at the papers on her desk.

Gibbs watches her for a moment, then rolls his eyes and walks away. He is amused by her sudden outburst and even more so by her reaction. Her eyes had dilated, her cheeks flushed in anger, then she'd backed down immediately. Back in his office, he wonders if Shepard was more flustered over the new assignments or being head slapped. Gibbs wasn't one to criticize his people, especially in front of the others, but a head slap now and then made them see what he expected of them.

Gibbs arrives at the office just before six o'clock the next morning and stops in the bullpen to listen. He grins when all he hears is silence. For the first time he has beat Jenny Shepard. He heads to his office to put his stuff down as he wonders why this little victory is so important… and why she went to so much trouble to keep him from beating her in. He decides to find out and heads back to the bullpen area as he grabs a chair and pushes it over near the elevator to wait for her arrival. He recalls yesterday... when she stood up to him, angry over her perceived slight. Gibbs couldn't resist a smile at her passion and realizes he's been thinking about her a lot lately. He forces these thoughts from his mind as he sits down to wait for her arrival.

Jenny had detoured to the locker room to stow her clean workout gear this morning. She is hurrying up the rear stairs to the bullpen and as she opens the door she stops suddenly; hearing a noise. She stops short and tiptoes the last few steps towards the bullpen where she sees the tip of a silver tinted head over the cubicle wall and realizes Gibbs has finally beaten her into the office. Not only has he beaten her, he was waiting at the elevator to greet her. She backs away silently, thankful her shoes are soft-soled and quiet. She quickly decides on a plan and ducks back down the hallway. She quietly texts his phone and inserts a message that appears to be from Dispatch, asking for a video conference in his office right away. Then she hangs up to wait for him to take the bait.

A few seconds later she hears his phone buzzing and then him grumbling about it. She again creeps towards the bullpen and waits until Gibbs heads to his office. When she hears him open the door, she races through the bullpen and ducks into her desk. A few minutes later she hears Gibbs return to his position by the elevators, not realizing she was there. She takes several deep breaths to calm her racing heart, picks up some files and calmly walks up behind him.

"Good morning, Director, is there a problem?"

Gibbs is startled by her appearance behind him and stands up abruptly, spinning around to face her. His head swivels quickly from the elevator to her and back; speechless, but he finally regains his composure. "How did you….?"

As he is speaking it dawns on him what she did. He points an accusing finger at her as he slowly advances, moving in like a predator. Jenny stands her ground and tries to look innocent, but when he stops directly in front of her, pointing his finger at her in a scolding manner, she exaggerates the innocence in her voice as she asks, "How did I… what?"

"It was you! You sneaky little…"

Jenny can't contain herself any longer and erupts in laughter even as she shakes her head in a weak denial. Gibbs can't believe she tricked him. No one, man or woman, has ever gotten him like she just did. Gibbs was the one who excelled at playing practical jokes on others without ever getting caught. Her laughter suddenly dies away as he reaches out to wrap his hand around her throat.

He exerts a slight pressure on her slender throat, forcing her to look up as her eyes fly up to his in surprise. She trembles as a chill runs down her spine and her eyes darken slightly, but not from fear. He sees her reaction and feels her pulse hammering under his fingers. Their eyes never waver as he stares down into eyes so green they captivate him. He manages to tear his eyes away from hers, but only to lower his gaze to her parted lips. Her lower lip is trembling slightly and he longs to still it with a kiss. His fingers curl more possessively around her throat and he bends closer, but stops suddenly as the elevator bell disturbs the moment. Realizing what he was about to do, shocks him back to reality and he suddenly releases her and steps back.

"Excuse me, Agent Shepard." He moves past her as the elevator doors open to admit a couple of other agents arriving to work.

Gibbs hurries from the bullpen; leaving Jenny standing there in stunned silence. Gibbs makes it safely back to his office and closes the door. He frowns in frustration, knowing he is to blame for the interaction, but thankful he backed off in time... he will have to me much more careful around her in the future.

It takes Jenny several minutes to calm her racing heart, and only then does she realize she dropped the files in her hand. She bends to pick them up as the others give her a curious look as they walk past. Still dazed she tries to sort out what just happened as she goes back to her desk and flops down weakly in her chair. Her prank backfired. In one instant it had gone from being funny to a very intense sexual moment.

The moment he touched her everything had changed, held captive by her own raging passion, she had wanted him to kiss her. She wanted everything his smoky blue eyes had offered. It had rocked her to the core... because she had answered the question in his eyes with an equal desire.

Although nothing was ever said after that morning a mutual agreement arose. They both avoided contact unless it was strictly related to work. Jenny resumed her regular schedule of arrivals in the morning and Gibbs never again attempted to beat her into the office. When their eyes did meet there was a veil, viewing each other as work professionals only.

It has now been three months since Gibbs took over NCIS and he has finally begun to relax. His changes are in place and everything seems to be running smoothly. Everything that is, except for the tension between Shepard and himself. Gibbs was uneasy around her, afraid if he lets his guard down something will happen. Maybe this new undercover Op will get them focused on work instead of avoiding each other all the time.