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.

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            “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.”

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            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.