Jen looked at her reflection in the mirror as she brushed her teeth and tried to rid herself of the awful taste in her mouth. She looked awful, she decided.

As awful as she felt.

She sighed as she rinsed her mouth and saw the water run pink.

Her phone rang just as was swirling water in the sink, eliminating all traces of the blood. She chose to ignore it – wanting only the security of her comforter, even if she doubted she'd get any more sleep that she had the past few nights.

Cognizant of the fact that this particular caller would ring back, she unplugged the phone before sitting on the side of her bed. She grabbed a brush from the bedside table and ran it through her hair – not at all surprised when some of it broke away onto the brush. She'd been told to expect that too.

Her thoughts ran to Jethro and the fact that there were things she needed to tell him.

God he was going to run a mile.

She slipped under the covers and lay there.

Jen thought of her mother – who also needed to be told. That frightened her almost more than telling Jethro.

Sleep didn't come.

The silence in the car was shattered by the cacophony of several cell phones beeping at once.

Gibbs stepped on the brake – bringing the car to a shuddering halt in the middle of the dirt road they were on.

"What's going on?"

"Out of the Bermuda Cell-angle, Boss" Tony replied from the back as he pulled out his phone and checked it.

"What is a Bermuda Cell-angle?" Ziva asked.

"A cell-free zone or an area where there is no cell phone coverage" McGee explained from the front seat as he rubbed the part of his chest the seatbelt had injured.

"Is it really called that?" she replied, looking askance at Tony as though he might have invented it on the spur of the moment.

"Actually it is" McGee said.

Tony chuckled as he listened to a voicemail.

"Any text messages and voicemails that have accumulated over the past three days are coming in all at once" McGee said – for Gibbs' benefit – before checking his own phone.

"How long is this going to go on?" Gibbs asked after a few minutes when the beeping continued.

"Uh ... that's actually your phone, Boss" McGee said.

Gibbs looked down at his waist, and then he pulled into a service that showed up ahead. He tossed the phone to McGee as he got out of the car.

"Boss?"

"Don't have a clue, McGee. Nobody's ever needed to leave me voicemail."

"Wasn't there the anniversary .." Tony began. He slunk out of the car quickly when Gibbs raised his eyebrows at him. "I'll just go ... get us some snacks" he said.

"You do that" Gibbs said. "And pay for a full tank while you're at it.

"On it Boss" Tony said as he slunk away.

"And gas the car" Gibbs called after him.

"Why can't McGee do it?" Tony asked.

"Because he's busy" Gibbs called as he headed for the toilets.

Tony watched him enter and then stuffed some money into Ziva's hands.

"Pay for the gas, get the snacks, gas the car" he said as he turned on his heel and sprinted towards McGee.

"So, McCellaciousness, who's been calling the Boss?"

McGee turned away but Tony cornered him by a gas pump.

"Haven't got that far yet" his colleague replied. "And it's none of your business anyway."

Tony was not that easily deterred.

"I'm the senior field agent, Probie. Anything that's your business is my business."

"That so, Di Nozzo?"

Tony's hand froze just as he'd plucked the phone from McGee's grasp.

Gibbs took it from him without a word.

"What's on it?" he addressed McGee.

"Three messages, Boss" McGee replied, giving Tony a look of mock sympathy. "Looks like one for each of the days we've been away. I've saved them. You just dial star – eight – six. That takes you to voicemail. It will tell you how many messages you have and play new ones first. In this case there's only three and ..."

Gibbs took the phone from him.

"Press number four to play again, seven to delete, and ... Boss ... you should really think about getting a pass - "

But Gibbs had moved away and was already punching in the numbers as he thought back to the past few days.

It had been a long three days. A brutal assault on three female marines had brought them into the middle of nowhere searching for their suspect. The women been given a few days' furlough unexpectedly, and come home to what they thought was going to be a few days of security. Someone had had other ideas. It turned out that one of the husbands was missing; and because one of the marines was the daughter of a Rear Admiral, Gibbs and his team had been put on the case. They'd tracked the husband to a cabin he lived in for weeks at a time when his wife was deployed - only to find that it was located of 2,200 acres of state park in Arkansas. When Ziva found the husband in Devil's Den Cave they hadn't needed Ducky to tell them that he couldn't have been responsible for the murders. He'd been dead over a week. In the end it was Abby who cracked the case. She'd managed to connect the three dead women to a fourth female marine - who they had all been having affairs with. Her husband, unable to stomach it, had put an end to it.

For all of them.

Gibbs smiled as he heard Jen's message

"Just calling to say hi " was all she'd said - but there was no neediness in her tone and it made him feel good.

She'd left it three days ago.

He'd been on a plane to Arkansas within a few hours of leaving her house. She'd left the message later that evening. A little over twenty-four hours after he'd left her.

He smiled again as the next message started to play.

"Leroy" a familiar voice purred. "Veronica. I'm making coq au vin and thought you might like to ... grace us with your presence? We'll expect you at seven."

The time stamp told him that the message had been left the day after Jen's message. He wondered briefly how Jen had explained the no show, because she evidently hadn't checked with her daughter first.

His brow creased a little when the third message rolled around.

It had been left last night.

It was Jen again – and although the message ran along the same lines as her first, something was different. He wondered if she was annoyed because he hadn't called, or whether Veronica had given her hell because he hadn't shown up for dinner; but replaying the message told him that it probably wasn't that at all. She sounded tired. And tense.

He looked at his watch and calculated the time difference before punching in her number. By his calculation she would be at the office by now. It was just after eleven in the morning for her.

"Shepard" she said into her phone as she as entered the parking garage.

"Hey ..." he said, walking a bit further away from the agents who had snuck up on him a little as he'd listened to his messages.

"Jethro .."

Her voice was gentle, and she sounded happy to hear his voice - but whatever it was he'd picked up from her phone message was definitely still there.

"You going into a meeting?" he asked as he heard her shuffling things.

"No. Just going out to run an errand" she said, balancing her things in one hand as she slid the key into the lock.

"New shoes?" he asked conversationally, enjoying the moment of privacy.

"Um ... no" she said.

He couldn't have missed the hesitation even if he'd tried.

"You okay?"

"I have an appointment in about fifteen minutes" she said. "I'm running late. Can I call you later?"

He heard her car spring to life.

"Sure. On our way back to DC in about two hours. I can swing by this evening?"

He felt her hesitate again.

"I think you'd better."

And just from the way she said it he knew there was something she wasn't telling him.

He snapped his phone shut.

"They got any coffee in there?" he asked Ziva.

She looked at him and then nodded. The three of them watched as he stalked off, noting that his body language had turned tense.

Tony groaned.

"I wish I hadn't eaten those two doughnuts now" he said.

"Why Tony?" McGee asked.

"Because whatever that was didn't go well and we're an hour away from the airport. And that's not taking into consideration the fact that he drives like a man possessed on the best of days."

McGee gulped. and rubbed his chest again.

Gibbs walked into autopsy as soon as the paperwork was done and the team had been sent home.

"Long day, Duck?"

"Ah Jethro. Welcome back. Mr Palmer and I are in he middle of an update" he said, indicating Jimmy at the computer.

He looked at Gibbs closely, and then called to his assistant.

"I think we're done for tonight, Jimmy. I'll see you in the morning" he said.

Palmer made a quick exit.

"I know that look, Jethro" the medical examiner said, as he collected files. "Is something the matter?"

"You tell me."

"Am I supposed to be privy to something that you are not?" Ducky asked as he pulled his jacket off the stand.

"When's the last time you heard form Jenny?" Gibbs asked, cutting to the chase.

Ducky looked at him in surprise; it was obvious he'd been expecting something else totally.

"Two nights ago" he said. "I had dinner with her and Veronica. She was very disappointed that you didn't show up."

"Jenny?"

Ducky smiled.

"Veronica" he qualified. "Her coq au vin is quite something. Like everything else about her."

He smiled and then looked closely at Gibbs again.

"Is something bothering that famous gut of yours?" he asked.

"How did Jenny look?"

"How did she look? The way she always looks. Elegant. Full of poise. Beautiful."

He put his jacket and hat on.

"She look or sound tired? Or tense?"

"Not particularly. Why all the questions Jethro?"

And then he smiled widely

"Oh ... I see. Heading for another relationship are we?"

He patted him on the shoulder.

"I introduced you to your last wife, Jethro. It cost me my friendship with her. Try not to screw this one up please .."

"Duck ..."

The medical examiner stopped in his tracks and looked round at him – amusement written all over his face.

"It's not terrible to really like her, you know .." he said.

And Gibbs could hear the laughter that he wasn't expressing.

"Who really likes who?" Abby asked as she appeared and handed some forms over to Ducky. "Jimmy left these in the lab."

"Ah .. thank you Abigail."

"So ... who really likes who?"

She hoisted herself up on one of the metal tables and looked round happily – waiting for an answer.

"Ohhh" she said suddenly as things fell into place. "Want me to send a few more roses?"

Gibbs smiled affectionately at her.

"I got this one, Abs" he said before kissing her on the cheek.

Abby watched as he left the suite. And then she turned to Ducky.

"He has it bad, huh, Ducky?" she asked in awe.

Ducky smiled.

"I believe you may be correct."

He stopped in the doorway.

"Are you coming – or are you planning on sleeping down here tonight? It's been a while since you did."

The sight of a single yellow rose in his hands when she opened the door to him a few hours later made tears well in her eyes.

Gibbs stepped into the hall and looked up the stairs.

"Thought this colour would get us into less trouble" he whispered conspiratorially.

Jen snorted.

"She's gone" she said.

"When?"

"Day before yesterday. That's why she invited you to dinner. She wanted to say goodbye."

"Things end well between you?"

Jen looked at him for a moment and then she smiled sadly.

"Things are fine the moment she leaves. I even miss her when she's not here sometimes. As crazy as that sounds."

She smelled the rose.

"This is beautiful, thank you."

Gibbs followed her into the kitchen and watched in silence as she placed it in water and carried it into the study. He was almost sure she'd been crying before he arrived – but wasn't quite sure how to broach the subject.

"Drink?" she asked.

"Sure" he asked, surprised when she didn't pour one for herself. "Not gonna join me?"

"I can't" she said.

Whatever she was struggling with was written all over her face, and Gibbs put his drink down on the desk.

"What's wrong Jenny?" he asked gently.

She looked at him for a long moment before giving up the fight.

"I'm pregnant" she said softly.

So softly that for a moment he thought he'd heard wrong. But when she lifted tear-filled eyes to his he knew he hadn't.

He wasn't expecting the sense of loss that besieged him. There was no maths to do here – the child couldn't possibly be his. He half wished she'd mentioned that she'd been seeing someone recently. He felt uncomfortable. As though he had leapt in with both feet here while she might have been on the re-bound; still getting over someone whose child she was now carrying.

But there was not much to do beyond open his arms to her. And she came without hesitation; sobbing into his jacket as he did the only thing he could – rub her back and let her cry.

"The father stepping up to the plate?" he asked when she stopped.

His fingers caressed her hair of their own accord.

"It's not what you're thinking" she said, resting her head against him but not having the courage to look at him. "There is no father. At least not one that I know personally."

Gibbs waited.

"I'm over forty, Jethro. I can't wait around any longer for the right person to come along and give me one. I have a good job, my mother will no doubt be delighted. People have done it before. I'll be fine ..."

"Then why are you crying?" Gibbs asked, raising her face to his, "You've got all your bases covered. This is supposed to be a happy time."

His tone surprised her.

"Hormones?" she asked, looking into his face and feeling unsure about what she was seeing in his eyes.

"Ah .. I'd forgotten about those."

Jen gave him a questioning look.

"Long story" he said. One which he wasn't ready to go into. Not right then.

She reached up and touched his face.

"I'm sorry ..." she said.

"What for?"

She pulled away slightly and ran a hand down the side of her neck as she looked at him.

"I understand that this isn't what you signed up for, Jethro" she said instead of answering his question directly. "But I'm hoping we can at least still be friends?"

Gibbs surprised her by shifting close to her and placing a hand on her abdomen.

"How far along are you?" he asked, his fingers caressing the area.

It was impossible to miss the little bit of awe that had crept into his tone.

"Not far. And there are still a lot of risks. This is the third time I've tried" she admitted.

Gibbs stroked her face with his free hand.

"Third time's a charm."

She was finding it very hard not to gravitate towards his blue eyes that looked at her so penetratingly.

"Can you just stay with me while I call my mother? I need to tell her, and I keep chickening out."

He put his hand over hers as she picked up the receiver.

"Jenny ..." he whispered – and she turned her head to find that he was right behind her.

She felt one of his hands wrap around her come and to rest on her abdomen again. He used his other one to turn her face towards him.

The kiss was as welcome as it was unexpected, and she could feel him pouring all his support into it as she turned and allowed him to pull her against him.

"It's going to be fine" he promised – hoping she understood the deeper meaning behind his words.

He took the phone from her as she turned back to it.

"What's the number?" he asked.

Jen looked at him.

"If you call her she's going to think .."

Gibb gave her a smile and dropped a kiss into her hair as he pulled her into his side

"I can live with that."

Author's Note:

This fic is officially done.

Hope you enjoyed it – and sorry if you thought Jen was sick. Gums do bleed and hair does break during pregnancy. Have been through three, so I know.

I have to put in a big thank you to Morgan for the amounts of handholding. I don't think I would have made it to the end without her encouragement.