A/N: So this will be just a short little nothing as I was in need for some fun stuff. And what's better than playing off Jenny against Diane?
Please keep in mind that in Germany, we are still waiting for season 12 and therefore I don't know anything about Rebecca beside the fact that she is potrayed by Jeri Ryan so I will use Diane as Gibbs' second ex-wife, not as his second wife what will set the period of their marriage around the time Gibbs meets Jenny.
- DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NCIS OR ITS CHARACTERS!-
Giving Diane A Coronary
This is set at the beginning of season three.
He wasn't sure what he'd done wrong again, but he was sure she would tell him soon. It wasn't like Diane to just rant and yell and be furious and then just drop the subject and let him off the hook. That was probably why he'd divorced her.
"Listen Tobias, that one is important for me. It's just for two days, even you can't do so much wrong in such a short time." She spat, combing a hand through her fiery red hair. "I will bring Emily to you on Thursday at about nine o' clock, she doesn't have to go to school, it's inset day, so you two can just spend some time together."
Fornell nodded, looking at the blonde girl sitting on the couch and watching TV, seemingly unconcerned by her mother's outburst.
"She will go to bed at nine o' clock at the latest, not like last time around eleven and-"
"Diane" he interrupted her, forcing himself to speak calmly. "I'm her father, I'm a parent too. I know such things."
The redhead narrowed her eyes at him, scrutinizing him intensely. Eventually she nodded. He let out a sigh of relief, that had gone down better than he'd thought. He turned around, a rather smug smirk on his face, and went towards his daughter, determined to spent at least a few minutes of his stay with her.
"And Tobias? Don't botch things up this time, otherwise I'll send her to my parents whenever I have to go somewhere."
He didn't say anything. Although her parents lived far away in Seattle, he was sure she would somehow find a way to follow through with her thread.
A week later, it's Thursday, just after ten o' clock. True to her words, Diane had brought Emily to her father at around nine o' clock.
"Daddy? You've seen my doll somewhere?"
He smiled, he'd forgotten how messy Emily could be. It was nice to have his daughter in the house again, even if it was just for two days, and he cherished every minute of it. "Somewhere in the living room I think." Fornell called back as he heard tiny footsteps running towards the stairs on the floor above him. "No running in the house Emmy!" He yelled and the scampering stopped abruptly.
"But that's mommy's rule Daddy!"
He was just about to reply to that as his phone began to ring. He swore under his breath. What the hell was wrong with people? A day of was just that, not some free ticket to call him whenever they wanted. He picked the phone up and listened to his boss telling him about some emergency and that he had to come to work, all the time cursing lowly. He slammed his phone shut, fighting against the overwhelming wish to chuck it against the wall. There went his day with just his daughter.
"Emmy?" He called. "Come down here, we're going on a trip."
The drive to the Hoover Building was silent, giving him enough time to plan how to kill the person responsible for it. Half way through the city his phone began to ring again, and again it was his boss, telling him that they would have to co-operate with NCIS so he'd better start out for the Navy Yard.
What had he done to deserve that on his day off? Now he had to watch DiNozzo trying to hit on every female between sixteen and thirty while he had his own daughter in tow.
"Emmy?" Tobias asked, forcing himself to sound cheerful. "Guess what? We're going to see Gibbs."
His daughter looked up and beamed, somehow she really liked Gibbs, a fact Diane blamed him for. He parked his car in his usual parking spot and took Emily's hand, leading her into the building and over to the reception area, getting them both visitor badges. When he stepped out of the elevator he saw Gibbs already barking at two rather young FBI agents -he sent a silent thank to heaven that at least that idiot Sachs wasn't one of them- and DiNozzo gloating over it, probably happy that for once it wasn't him who got chewed out.
"Gibbs? Why are you yelling at my agents?" He shouted, his menacing tone somewhat prescribed by Emily bouncing up and down next to him, happily waving at Gibbs.
"FBI don't have enough agents to back you up anymore Tobias?" Gibbs asked mockingly as he waved back.
"Diane had to go to some conference. Wanted to spend the day together till someone thought it was necesary to punish me with you instead." Fornell deadpanned.
"So what are you going to do with her while we go out to collect the second body, process the crime scene, and speak to witnesses?"
Fornell looked at him, then at his daugher, then back to Gibbs. "Can't Abby look after her for the time being?"
Gibbs wrinkled his forehead a little, looking at his wrist watch. "McGee? Is Abby back from court already?"
The young agent looked up from the screen of his computer, shaking his head. "She'll be back around four in the afternoon boss."
The FBI agent stared at the elderly Special Agent for a few moments, thinking hard. "You know anybody else Gibbs?"
Gibbs shrugged, then smiked a little. Fornell wasn't sure if it was because of his situation or because he'd come to a solution he was sure wouldn't suit him. "You could always leave her with Jen. I'm sure she wouldn't mind." He sounded seriously, but grinned a little wryly.
"Director Jennifer Shepard?" He asked, just to be sure.
"The one and only."
"That'll give Diane a coronary if she finds out. She's still refering to her as 'the little redheaded whore that ruined her marriage'." Fornell said, making DiNozzo snicker in delight. "Shut up DiNutso." He added rather hostily.
"Considering the alimony you're paying her a coronary cann't sound too bad, don't you think Tobias? And I'm sure Jenny and Emily will have fun together."
"Just walk right in Jethro, it isn't as if I had work to do anyways." Jenny said sarcastically as her door slammed against the wall, not looking up from the files in front of her.
"Don't act too enthusiastically, here are a few people that want to see you." Gibbs gave back in the same tone of voice. She looked up and saw a small blonde girl that seemed vaguely familiar walking into her office, closely followed by Agent Fornell. She mentally congratulated herself for her facial recognition skills, obviously the child was his daughter.
"Agent Fornell, what can I do for you?" She greeted pleasantly, indicating him he should take a seat while she ignored Gibbs who was wandering around her office and finally came to stand behind her seat.
Fornell shifted uncomfortably in his seat, watching his daughter smiling warmly at the woman in front of them. "Look director, it's just-" he broke off again, raising an eyebrow at the amused grin that was slowly forming on her face. "Like you surely know, the FBI and NCIS will co-operate on the case involving a Marine and a Fed and as I have to look after Emily for the day 'cause Diane had to go to some conference, I cannot go to the crime scene. So I wanted to ask if you minded looking after Emily for about an hour or so?"
Now it was at Jenny to raise an eyebrow at him. Not that she actually minded looking after his daughter for a moment, in fact she could need some down-time, but it was just nice to let Fornell squirm a little. It amused her as well as Gibbs and a happy Gibbs wouldn't upset the press - so it really was a win-win situation here.
"I'd like to." She answered shortly, reaching her hand out for the little blonde to shake. "I'm Jenny. It's nice to meet you Emily.
After Fornell and Gibbs had left, she and Emily had sat in silence for a while. It hadn't been a tense one, but not comfortable either, so she had soon tried to fill it. She'd asked the little girl what she wanted to do, and having elaborated that it would be fun to go to the zoo, they now were in her black towncar on the way there.
"How long have you known Uncle Gibbs, Jenny?" The little girl asked, still looking around the interior of the car.
"About eight years." She answered, a small smile on her features at the thought of her early days with Gibbs.
"Wow." Emily said, sounding completely awestruck. "That's longer than Daddy's known Mommy."
Jenny smirked, not voicing that her mother thought she was the reason Diane'd even become involved with her father in the first place.
"So are you and Uncle Gibbs di-vor-ced too like mommy and daddy because you've known each other for so long?"
Jenny's smirk vanished, and with it her amusement. "No, we aren't divorced. We weren't even married." She answered, her words sounding hollow even to her own ears, with maybe a distinct layer of hurt underneath.
"So what do you want to see first Emily?" She tried to change the topic to a more pleasant one.
"The giraffes please? Can we see them first? They are my favorites!" She nodded, visibly enjoying Emily's obvious excitment.
"Maybe we can even buy something to you can feed them too?"
After they'd seen the monkeys, giraffes, and lions, and a bunch of other animals Emily'd wanted to see while simultaneously drawing curious stares to themselves because of her security detail, they'd had an ice cream at the zoo before Jenny'd decided it was time for a real lunch.
She'd called Gibbs who'd told her that they were still out in the field and it would be great if she could look after Emily for a little while longer. So now, having been to the movies in the meantime, they stood in front of the pizza place where they'd had lunch and she was running out of ideas of what to do to entertain the little girl.
"Jenny? Can we go over to the shops please?"
She looked down at the child beside her. Shopping did sound nice, especially as since she'd become director she had very little free time at her hands and she didn't usually spend the little time she had on shopping. Plus, it would probably give her personal stylist a heart attack if she did.
"Sure." She answered and let herself be dragged over to a small shop for kids' clothing. Emily stood in front of a window, completely in awe over a beautiful red dress.
"You wanna go in?" Jenny asked, steering the girl towards the entrance, a laugh escaping her as Emily almost fell over her own feet as she tried to walk and take in everything around her at the same time. She turned to her security detail, mentioning to them they should wait for them outside, she didn't want to force them to go shopping with a six-year-old girl.
"Are you looking for something special for your daughter ma'am?" A tall brunette woman, obviously the shop assistant, asked.
"Er, she isn't my daughter." She replied a bit tensely, looking over at Emily.
"Oh." The brunette said, obviously embarassed. "I'm sorry, I just assumed. Are you, er, looking for something special anyways?"
Jenny shrugged and looked around the shop, first at Emily, then at the red dress in the window. She inclined her head thoughtfully, she didn't want to do something creepy, but she just couldn't get the little girl's amazed gaze when she'd looked at it out of her mind.
"Can you get me that dress in her size?" She asked, pointing at the window.
The brunette nodded and hurried off, just to come back mere seconds later with the red dress in her arms.
"Emily" she called softly to the girl, "do you want to try this one?"
The bright smile on her face was all Jenny needed to realize she'd made the right decision. She handed the dress to Emily, impatiently waiting for the little girl to come out of the dressing room.
"Wow, Emmy, you look great." She said honestly. The girl beamed at her again, and this time, Jenny could feel herself beaming back. She'd known this girl for about five hours and she had already wrapped her around her little finger. She'd probably end up buying the dress for her, no matter the price.
"So, what do you think?" Jenny asked. Emily just nodded, and the redhead smiled, fishing her wallet out of her purse as she turned to the shop assistant. "We'll take it."
"Jenny? Can I leave it right on?" She looked over at the brunette who gave her a barely noticeable nod and gave her a bag for Emily's other clothes.
"Of course. Let's just put your other things in here." She smiled at the child, again being rewarded with a bright smile, but completely unprepared for the hug Emily engulfed her waist in.
"Thanks Aunt Jenny, you're truly the best!"
She brushed a hand down her face, it had been one hell of a day. When she'd arrived at Norfolk after a three and a half hours' drive, she'd been more than ready to kill everyone around her as they told her the conference had had to be postponed. On they way back she'd been caught up in traffic and when she'd been back in Washington it had already been around four o'clock.
She'd gone straight to her ex-husband's house to collect her daughter, and become quite furious as both of them hadn't been there. She'd looked around the house, finding his badge and gun gone, so it'd been highly likely he'd gone to work - on the day he should spend with their daughter. She'd tried to reach his cell but had gone straight to voicemail, so she'd driven to the Hoover Building just to have Agent Sachs tell her that her ex-husband had caught a case over at the Navy Yard.
So now Diane stood in the elevator at NCIS' headquarter, gritting her teeth and ready to rip Tobias a new one. Maybe she could even argue with Leroy a bit.
The doors opened and she stormed out towards the section of the MCRT. She didn't know who'd had the brilliant idea to let both her ex-husbands work together, but she was fairly certain whoever it was hadn't been too good at calculating risks.
She strolled into the bull pen, looking around for the pair of them, but instead found a nerdy looking young man, a tanned woman with dark hair, and a middle-aged man with a playboy smile.
"Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo." The middle-aged agent said sending her a flirtatious smile as his gaze wandered up and down her body. "At your service. How may I help you?"
"I'm looking for my ex-husband." She answered, glaring at the unoccupied desk.
The smile on his face fell, as he sat down again. "Gibbs isn't here yet, but I'm sure he'll be coming soon."
"Actually I'm looking for the other one." Diane replied, quirking an eyebrow.
"The other one?" The man echoed.
"FBI Agent Tobias Fornell. Agent Sachs told me he's here?"
Now Agent DiNozzo looked like a cat that had eaten the canary. "So you are Diane?" He asked right as the elevator binged, but Diane ignored him, instead turned to the two men stepping out of it.
She looked them over, waiting for a little, blonde girl stepping out of the elevator as well, and becoming even more furious as that wasn't the case.
"Tobias Fornell, where the hell is my daughter?" She demanded, her voice shrill, as she glared first at him, then at Gibbs, the latter just smiling at the former as he proceed to go to his desk.
"Stay here Gibbs, this mess is more your fault than mine, after all this was your idea!" Fornell shouted, effectively stopping him.
"Where is my daughter Tobias? And what the hell was his idea?" She shrieked.
Fornell slumped down a bit, angrily staring at Gibbs. "I told you she'd find out!" He muttered before he turned to his ex-wife. "It was his idea to leave her with Jenny."
Diane's face turned red, as if she was about to explode. "You left my daughter with that fucking whore?" She yelled, but was interrupted as the elevator doors opened once again, this time revealing the woman in question and her daughter.
The bull pen fell silent as they stepped out of the elevator together, Jenny still holding Emily's hand, as the girl was happily chattering away and smiling at her till she saw her mother.
"Mommy! You're here!" She called, racing over to Diane. "Look what Aunt Jenny's bought me!" The little girl exclaimed, turning for her mother to admire her new dress while Jenny came to stand next to Gibbs.
"Diane, how nice to see you again." She said, forcing a smile, but Diane ignored her, already having turned to Fornell again.
"No matter what you say now Diane, please remember our daughter is present." He tried to calm her down.
"And thanks to you two calling her Aunt Jenny and admiring that sl-" She fell silent, catching Gibbs' angry stare. "Oh, please tell me she doesn't have you still wrapped around her finger!" She glanced at them and laughed mirthlessly. "Of course she does. Typically. Probably you're still fuck-"
She broke of, smiling at her daughter who stood next to Jenny again, having taken the other woman's hand in hers.
"Mommy?" Emily asked, looking at them with wide eyes. "When Uncle Gibbs comes over for dinner next week-end, can he bring Aunt Jenny too?"
So I hope you liked this. Unfortunetaly this isn't the original version as I had troubles with my computer and it deleted it, but I hope this was okay too.
Please leave a review and tell me what you think!