Repercussions

            “With all due respect sir, there is no way in hell that I am telling Agent David that she has to resign due to her actions as of late.” Jenny said.

“Agent David shot another NCIS Agent in cold blood in front of you and the entire agency, Director. Either Agent David resigns or you resign.” Jarvis stated.

“Like I said, Agent David is not resigning nor am I; sir.”

Jarvis left and Jethro came into Jenny’s office.

“What did Jarvis have to say?”

“He wants me to tell Ziva she has to resign or both she and I resign.”

“Hope you told Jarvis to shove it?”

“What do you think, Jethro?”

“With you, I never know what to think.” Jethro teased.

“Not now Jethro, I’m not in the mood.”

“Oh come on Jen.”

“No Jethro, I have a lot of things on my plate right now. And far too many people breathing down my neck.”

“Who’s breathing down your neck besides Jarvis?”

“Let’s try the President, Jethro.”

“Okay so besides Jarvis and the President what else do you have to worry that pretty head of yours about?”

“The girls are going to be eighteen in less than twenty-four hour then they’ll be heading off to college and it will just be the two of us in that big house of ours. I’m trying to deal with all of this and as easy as I make it look, it isn’t.”

“Should you talk to Dr. Cranston about your empty nest issue?”

“No, I can deal. I learned that from you.”

“Jen, it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Jethro, I don’t want to nor do I have the time to.”

“You can’t keep this bottled up.”

“Can’t keep the fact that I don’t want our girls to turn another year older and going off to college bottled up, that’s rich. Besides you shouldn’t talk.” Jenny said with that raised eyebrow look she did ever so well in Jethro’s opinion.

“You’re just as bad as DiNozzo.”

“Well it needed to be said.”

“Hm.”

“What I can't be upset about this; I carried them for nine months, endured all the ups and downs of pregnancy, woke up in the middle of night to nurse each of them and was there for them every single time they needed me from the second all four of them started walking to now. Excuse me if I don’t want to cut the apron strings.”

“Jen, I don’t blame you for not wanting to let go. I don’t want to let go either.”

“Difference between me and you; Jethro, is that you’re coming from the concerned and overprotective dad side. I’m coming from the mother side and unlike your mother, mine died at a young age so this whole mothering thing has been a learn as I go process when it comes to the girls since it was different with J.”

“Once the girls go off to college you’ll still have DiNozzo, David, McGee, and Abs or did you forget that according to Abby we are Mommy and Daddy to them? Besides if I recall correctly; your sister is going to need all the help she can get with our nieces once they arrive.”

“It's not the same, Jethro and you know that. J’s girls are hers and we’ll just be Aunt Jen and Uncle Jethro to them. As far as Tony, Ziva, Tim and Abby go, they aren’t biologically ours to begin with. And as much as both of us would like to say to Eli and Anthony that we’re Ziva and Tony’s parents, we aren’t.”

Jethro then returned to the squad room and left Jenny alone. As much as he tried there was no way he was going to get Jenny out of her mood.

After Jethro had left, Jenny picked up her office phone and called the one of the few people that she never thought she would call when it came to how she was feeling.

“It’s good to see you, Jack. At least you’ve joined the rest of us in the 21^st century unlike some people.” Jenny said commenting on the fact that her father-in-law had and used the same office phone that did video phone calls unlike her husband who chose to remain in 20^th century.

“It’s good to see you too, Jen. Eventually he will come around, it just takes time. Jackson said.

“Got a second?”

“For my favorite daughter-in-law, of course I do.”

“I’m your only daughter-in-law Jack.”

“What’s on your mind, Jen?”

With that Jenny began divulge her problems to her father-in-law.

“He just doesn’t understand, Jack. He’s far too stubborn. And his tough Marine persona doesn’t help the cause either.”

“He is the way he is. And he does care you know he does.” Jackson said as he took note of the bracelet his daughter-in-law was wearing on one of her wrists.

Just after Jenny and Jethro had celebrated six years of marriage back in 2005, Jethro had brought Jenny a Brighton charm bracelet. Jackson knew that his daughter-in-law came from money and that wasn’t a problem for him as long as his son was happy.  Anyway what had piqued Jackson’s attention when he saw the bracelet was that there was a new charm on the bracelet. The charm was a pink ribbon charm which Jackson knew stood for breast cancer, but hanging from one of the ribbon ends was another miniature charm that read survivor – 11 years.

“Jen, is that what I think it is on your bracelet?”

“Yeah, Jack; I’m a breast cancer survivor. 11 years now.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that you had cancer. I could have helped you and Leroy with the girls.”

“I didn’t mean to not tell you, we only told Jaylyn about it cause she was here with us. We didn’t even Franks and his family or even Jethro’s team. Noemi barely knew.”

“In all fairness, Leroy’s team only found out about the two of you just recently. Back then the two of you were just their bosses that they were trying to figure out if there was anything romantically going on.”

“Tony was the one who was trying to figure out that, Jack. Ziva kept to herself cause she kind of already knew, McGee was just interested writing his book and jetpacks, Abby was busy being Jethro’s favorite, Ducky and Palmer just avoided the two of us cause they never knew when we’d be screaming at each other.”

            “Oh okay.”

            “How’s Jaylyn?”

            “She’s doing as good as can be expected.”

            “What do you mean by that?”

            “She miscarried her sons and dealt with that whole fiasco. Then Ziva shot the agent that got Jaylyn pregnant yesterday just outside of the squad room.”

            “You’re not going to make her resign are you?”

            “You and your son are alike in more ways than one Jack. And like I told Jethro before I called you; I told SECNAV that Ziva isn’t resigning nor am I.”

            “Good, he should know that you and Ziva are the best things to happen to that agency since Leroy joined.”

            “SECNAV half the time forgets that.”

            “Oh well just stand your ground and make up with your husband. He means well.”

            “Thank-you Jack. I’ll see you this weekend for the girls’ party.”

            “See you then.”

            Jenny hung up with Jackson and went to find Jethro. Jenny was more than ready to call it a day. Even if it was only 11:30am, she wanted to jump into bed with her husband. As soon as she stepped out of her office  Jenny saw Jethro sitting at his desk.

            With one come hither look Jethro knew what his wife wanted.

            “I’ll be gone the rest of the day. Call my cell if something comes up.” Jethro said as he grabbed his things while watching his wife step into the elevator.

            Ziva and Jaylyn instantly got that same look that the girls got when Jenny and Jethro acted like this. McGee was kind of indifferent. Tony on the other hand was his childish self.

            “David, slap him for me.” Jethro said as he joined Jenny in the elevator once it had reached his level.

            “Ouch.” Tony said loud enough after Ziva head slapped him that everyone heard him.

            Just after the elevator doors closed Jethro took Jenny into his arms. A few kisses later and both of them being nearly undressed before the elevator reached the parking garage level, Jenny looked up to Jethro.

            “It’s a good thing I didn’t have those security cameras installed yet.” Jenny said as she winked at Jethro.

            Jethro’s response to his wife’s statement was one last intense kiss which Jenny deepen to the point where it seemed like neither of them was breathing.

Hardball

Things were slowly starting to get back to normal for the NCIS crew after Jaylyn’s partial miscarriage. Jenny was able to convince the doctor that had taken care of Jaylyn at the hospital that it would be fine to release Jaylyn into her and Jethro’s custody. The doctor was a bit reluctant and kept saying that Jaylyn was a suicide risk. It wasn’t until Jethro stepped in that the doctor relented and allowed Jaylyn’s release. Jenny had the spare bedroom set up for Jaylyn ahead of time. Jenny had also allowed Jaylyn to work half days since the miscarriage.

In light of Jaylyn's miscarriage, Ziva had not been acting like herself. And of course Tony took note of it. Ziva would leave for the day around the same time as Jaylyn or she’d stay until her adoptive/surrogate American father left to get coffee for himself, her adoptive/surrogate American mother and a Caf-Pow for Abby. Then there were the phone calls that Ziva would get throughout the day that piqued Tony’s attention. With every phone call Ziva received she’d speak in Hebrew so that her nosey partner would not know what was going on. Today was one of those days where she got a phone call and of course Tony was in the squad room. So was McGee, Jaylyn was in the ladies’ room while Jethro had stepped away.

“Agent David.” Ziva said when she answered her cell phone.

“Hi, it’s Mads and Asher is here too.” Madalyn said.

Ziva reverted to Hebrew before she answered.

“Madalyn do you have the phone speaker?”

“Yes I do, Asher can hear you.”

                “How was school today?” Ziva asked.

            “It was really, really good; I made you something during art class today and I sat next to Grant at snack time.” Asher said excitedly.

            “Mads, how about you?”

            “It was great; I played with Ashley and Amanda at recess.” Madalyn said just as excited as Asher was.

            Despite how much Tony was trying to disguise the fact that he was eavesdropping, Ziva knew that he was and excused herself.

            “Who do you think she’s talking to McNerd?” Tony asked once Ziva left.

            “I don’t know, Tony. If Ziva wanted to tell us who she is always talking to then she would have told us.”

            “It took her forever to tell us about CI Ray and introduce us to him.”

            “That’s cause you act like a child about everything, Tony.” Jaylyn said when she came back from the ladies’ room.

            “We don’t keep secrets on this team, Jay. You should know that by now or at least you should after all this time.” Tony said taking a verbal jab at his ex.

            “Leave her alone, DiNozzo.” Jethro said as he sat down at his desk.

            Jethro looked over to Ziva’s empty desk.

            “David get another phone call?” Jethro asked.

            “She was on her cell phone when I came back from the ladies’ room, Jethro.” Jaylyn said.

            On the other side of the stairs that lead up to MTAC and Jenny’s office, Ziva finally changed languages once again.

            “Sorry my babies, I wasn’t alone in the squad room.” Ziva said.

            “Was Daddy there?” Ziva’s son and daughter asked in unison.

            “Yes your dad was in the squad room with me. So was McGee.”

            “Is Daddy why you started speaking to us in Hebrew, mama?” Asher asked.

            “Yes he’s the reason. My native tongue is one of the few languages that he has a hard time understanding.”

            “Are we ever going to meet him? Are we ever going to get to meet the team, Mommy?”

            “Soon baby girl, soon.”

            “Mama, don’t you have a lunch with Jenny, Jaylyn and Abby today?” Asher asked.

            “I do.”

            “Take us with you, this way we get to meet them at least. Once we meet them then we can wait to meet Daddy and the guys.”

            “I don’t know, Jaylyn is still going through a hard time and seeing the two of you especially seeing Asher may set her off.”

            “Mommy please, we’ll be good; I promise.” Madalyn said.

            “Yeah please mama, like Maddy said we’ll be really, really good.”

            “Fine you two win. Tell Nanny Maria that I’ll be by to pick you up at noon.”

            “We will, bye mama.” Asher and Madalyn said in unison.

            “I love you guys.”

            “Love you too!!!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            By 12:05pm Ziva David walked over to the food court with her daughter on one side and her son on the other. It was now or never. The last thing she wanted to do was disappoint her kids.

            “Who are these two adorable little ones?” Jenny asked.

            “My son and daughter. Madalyn and Asher.”

            “Your what?” Jaylyn and Abby asked completely dumbfounded by the revelation.

            “We’re her son and daughter. I’m Madalyn and I’m eleven. This is my kid brother, Asher; he’s six.”

            “Eleven and six, Ziva? Is there something that you want to tell us?” Jenny asked already knowing the answer.

            “Tony is their dad and I haven’t told him about them yet.”

            “So you are telling us that you had Madalyn in August of 2005 and Asher in October of 2010?” Jaylyn questioned.

            “And didn’t tell any of us? Why?” Abby pressed.

            “Rule 12.”

            “Clearly that rule of his is pointless. Not only have Jethro and I broken it, but you and Tony have, so has…” Jenny cut herself off.

            “So have I and Kellan. It’s okay Jen, you can say it; I won’t fly off the deep end.”

            The collective sat down at a table that was able to seat all of them. Jaylyn stayed with Madalyn and Asher while the others went to get lunch.

            “Ms. Shepard.” Asher said as he tugged on Jaylyn’s sleeve.

            “Yes Asher.”

            “I’m sorry that you lost your little boys, I bet they are up in heaven watching over you and their sisters right now.”

            “Thank-you Asher. And you guys can call me Jay, it’s alright.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Back at the Navy Yard within the walls of the agency; Tony, Jethro and McGee were sitting at their respective desks when they overheard Agent Kellan James trashing Jaylyn to a fellow agent as they walked by the squad room.

            “She’s a whore plain and simple man. Shepard gave me drink after drink and then seduced me into sleeping with her while I was in drunken stupor just so that she could play house and have the perfect little life that the Director has with Agent Gibbs. Jaylyn Shepard is nothing but desperate whore.” Kellan said.

            Upon hearing that despite his current feelings toward Jaylyn, Tony got up from his desk and shoved Agent James against the windows.

            “She’s not a whore, you son of a bitch. And in case you haven’t noticed she’s been going through hell as of late.” Tony said as he started beating up Kellan.

            Jethro and McGee rushed over to break the brawl apart. Once Jethro had separated his senior field agent from the asshole agent that knocked up his sister-in-law he pushed Tony in McGee’s direction.

            “Take him to the lounge or down to Autopsy and calm him down, McGee.”

            “On it Boss.”

            “C’mon Gibbs let me finish the bastard off.”

            “DiNozzo go calm down or I’m taking your gun and badge from you.”

            “But Boss.” Tony protested.

            “Go or I’m suspending you.”

             With that Tony left with McGee as instructed.

            “Thanks Agent Gibbs, I don’t see why Agent DiNozzo acted that way.”

            “Really, I can think of a reason.”

            “Oh that. What can I say your sister-in-law is a whore.”

            “You never did learn while you were at FLETC that you don’t piss off a Marine, did you?”

            With that Jethro took his turn beating the crap out of Agent James.

            “JAYLYN SHEPARD IS NOT A WHORE. YOU’RE THE SON OF THE BITCH THAT TOOK ADVANTAGE OF HER AND KNOCKED HER UP.  It’s a good thing that you chose not to be a part of everything cause she and my nieces are a hell of a lot better off without you in their lives.” Jethro said as he stood over the scrunched up Agent James.

            Jethro walked away to cool off.

            “Thought she was having quints. Three girls and two boys?” Kellan called after Jethro before Jethro had completely disappeared from sight.

            “She was, she miscarried HER SONS a few days ago. It’s just her and HER DAUGHTERS, and the support she gets from her family; you deadbeat scumbag.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Some time later Agent James was walking into Jenny’s office to file a complaint against Jethro and Tony.

            “Ma’am I’d like to file a complaint against Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo for physically assaulting me earlier today.”

            “Complaint denied, Agent James.”

            “Why ma’am?”

            “Cause you verbally assaulted my sister and expected no repercussions after impregnating her; that’s why.”

            “So you’re letting your husband and Agent DiNozzo off on a technicality?”

            “How about you do yourself a favor Agent James; shut your mouth before it gets you into anymore trouble, hand over your gun and badge. And get the hell out of my agency.”

            “I was wrong before.  Both of you are whores and bitches.” Kellan said as he handed over his gun and badge.

            “GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE I BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOU!!!!!!”

            Kellan started for the door.

            “One more thing Agent James.”

            “Ma’am.”

            “You’re lucky you only dealt with my husband and Agent DiNozzo earlier. If you dealt with me, you’d have a bullet in your head as your corpse rested on one of Doctor Mallard’s cold tables.”

            With that threat Kellan left. On his way past the squad room he received death stares from everyone but Jaylyn who was guarded by Jethro and Ziva. Jenny had taken her place on the stairs that she had taken the night Jethro had retired.

            “Thanks for getting me suspended whore.” Kellan said to Jaylyn.

            With that last remark Ziva left Jaylyn and the others, pulled her sig from its holster and fired the same shot she had when she took Ari out in the basement of the house Jethro had shared with Shannon.

            “Don’t ever call her that again.”

           

Nothing Finer

            It was all unanimous with the team; there was nothing finer than a Jenny and Jethro interrogation. Tony, Ziva, McGee and Jaylyn all stood around in observation watching the pros at work. It was a work of art to see Jenny and Jethro question the Marine before them. The guys were starting to be a bit concerned with the amount of time Jaylyn was spending on her feet while at work. They made sure that there was a chair for her sit on as they all watched. When Tony and McGee told Jaylyn to sit down, Jaylyn stared Tony down when Ziva and McGee weren’t looking.

            “Think they’ve done this before?” Tony asked as Jenny walked behind the Marine.

            Ziva had that look on her face that made Tony realize that she was getting tired of hearing him ask that whenever they had observed their bosses. Even McGee and Jaylyn were a bit annoyed with him constantly bringing it up. It was times like this that made Jaylyn’s head spin. And that was the last thing she needed while being pregnant.  One minute Tony is acting like a complete and utter child then the next he’s acting like an adult who’s ready to settle down after being a playboy for his entire adult life.

            Jenny and Jethro were questioning the Marine since he was the prime suspect in Jethro’s case for selling arms taken from the base armory to the enemies of the US.  Jethro was content with breaking the Marine himself, after all Gunny Gibbs knew the right buttons to push when it came to getting PFC DeLuca to talk. Jethro didn’t want Jenny to get involved with his case since it always annoyed him when she did, and then there were two other reasons why he didn’t want her involved.

            There was no need for the Director of NCIS to be involved with this case in Jethro’s opinion. Then there was the fact that Jenny had no military training like he did. He also knew never to verbalize that Jenny and Jaylyn were not qualified to be NCIS like he was. One time he had mentioned it Jenny had gone beyond postal on him in the middle of the squad room in front of everyone a few months after she had taken over as Director after Kate’s death and Morrow had switched agencies. Needless to say that day was only hers, Ziva and Jaylyn’s second day at NCIS. Well technically it was really only Jaylyn and Ziva’s second day at NCIS; it was more like Jenny’s fifth day back at NCIS after being in Tel –Aviv with Ziva for the intervening months that were sandwiched between 9/11 and Kate’s death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            “Not qualified. I’m not qualified to be the Director of NCIS, Jethro? Really? How the hell am I not qualified to run the agency? Is it because I don’t have Navy or Marine Corps training? Cause the last time I checked it didn’t matter whether you have military training or not as long as you had some sort of connection to either of those military branches and could handle a gun then you were qualified. And the last time I checked not only did I have both but so did J. Oh and one more thing, in case you haven’t realized; only you, Ducky and Ziva have military backgrounds. The rest of us have made do with the hand that was dealt to us.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Since then Jethro has never brought that subject up. He valued his life far too much to go there again.  Tony, Ziva, McGee and Jaylyn watched in awe as Jenny did her little interrogation dance just as she had nine years ago when her and Jethro were interrogating the art teacher for forging the EUC document during the Webster case.

            “I’ve heard Franks say that Jenny is an artist with steel.” Tony said as they watched.

            “She is, you know that.” Ziva said.

            “Like us she has learned quite a bit from Jethro over the years.”

            The quartet continued watching on. But soon after things took a turn for the worse. At only four months and five days into her second trimester Jaylyn who was standing briefly suddenly collapsed in an unbelievable amount of pain as she stood in between Ziva and McGee.

            “What’s wrong?” Tony asked as Ziva and McGee caught Jaylyn before she completely hit the floor.

            “I don’t know, Tony; I just felt like falling.” Jaylyn said sarcastically.

            Before Tony could say anything Ziva as usual hindered him.

            “Tell Jenny and Gibbs to meet us at the hospital, McGee and I will take J there.”

            On the drive over as Ziva sped down the road disregarding every sign and traffic light along the way Jaylyn decided that something had to be done between her and Tony. She was going to have her hands full with five kids after her sons and daughters were born, she didn’t need to add a sixth. So with that despite the excruciating pain she was in Jaylyn sent Tony a text message.

It’s over.

            At the hospital Jaylyn received terrible news. The doctor that was taking care of her told her that she lost two of the five babies she was carrying. Three of the baby girls were still holding on. The doctor prepped Jaylyn for surgery to remove her sons from her womb. Jenny, Jethro, Tony, the girls and the rest of the NCIS family arrived at the hospital while Jaylyn was in surgery. Ziva briefed Jenny and Jethro when they with the rest of the group met up with her and McGee.

       Once Jaylyn was out of surgery and back in her room she remained silent with her back to the door. The blinds on the windows in the room were drawn shut, Jaylyn was completely depressed. Seeing the corpses of her sons once they had been removed and put in basinets had only made things worse. The nurse asked if Jaylyn wished to give her sons names before they were sent down to the hospital morgue.

            “I want the one on the right to be named Trace and the one next to him, Aiden.”

            That was all Jaylyn said for the rest of the day.  The only solace Jaylyn had been when the doctor had told her that her girls were perfectly fine inside of her despite the ordeal their brothers went through.

            Jenny had asked if Jaylyn was allowed to have visitors. Knowing what was running through Jaylyn’s mind, Jenny wanted to be with her sister to support her sister in whatever way she could. The doctor had said yes and Jenny went in. When Jenny went in it completely tore her up to see her sister the way she was.

            When Jenny came out of the room the doctor had told her that they would have to keep Jaylyn for a day or so because they considered her to be a suicide risk. To hear the doctor say her sister was a suicide risk set Jenny off the deep end. Jethro wasn’t too pleased either. Ziva wasn’t either. No one was to say the least.

            “She’s a suicide risk; my sister is a suicide risk. She is the furthest away from being a suicide risk anyone could possibly be.” Jenny said clearly getting pissed.

            “I’m sorry Director but she is. The way she is acting is not typical.”

            “Not typical. She just lost her sons and had to lie on the bed staring at her dead sons while you took your sweet time making sure her daughters were fine and stitching her up. And you wonder why she’s keeping to herself.”

            “Director, there’s nothing I can do. Your sister is a suicide risk.”

            “She is an NCIS Federal Agent, who has seen more than her fair share of death and how death in any form tears a family a part. Jaylyn Shepard is not a suicide risk!!!!!”

            With that the doctor left.

            “We’re staying with her. In shifts while these asinine people insist on keeping her here.”

            Ziva, McGee, Abby, Jethro, Ducky and Palmer nodded in agreement. Tony didn’t say a word. He was still sore that Jaylyn had dumped him via text. As far as he was concerned he didn’t want to have anything to do with Jaylyn no matter what the circumstances were.  When Jethro had noticed Tony not agreeing with Jenny, he head slapped Tony so hard Tony’s head would be throbbing for days. Tony agreed with Jenny and then said he’d take the girls home. Jenny said she’d take the first shift and told the others to go home, to get some rest.

            Jethro not wanting to be away from his wife said he’d also take the first shift with her. Jenny of course protested knowing full well why Jethro was staying. Before she had left Ziva said that she would also take the first shift. Jenny was pleased that Ziva was dedicated as she was. Jenny had thought that the reason why Ziva was staying was because Ziva thought of Jaylyn as a sister. It was obvious that Ziva saw Jaylyn as a surrogate sister just as she saw Jenny. Jenny and Jaylyn were Ziva’s fill-in for Tali after all. But the reason that Jenny had thought was behind Ziva staying wasn’t it. Ziva had a secret of her own that no one knew about.