Family

Before long Jethro got wind of Fornell’s lapse in judgment and how Ziva protected me. On some subconscious level Jethro knew that Abby and I were safe with Ziva around. After all Abby and I were the youngest team members. Needless to say Jethro wasn’t very happy with Fornell. Neither was Jenny; as Jethro fumed Jenny placed a call to Director Hutchins. Jethro’s approach was a little less professional.
When Jethro got back from his visit to Fornell’s; Jenny was waiting for him in her office. Within minutes Jethro was standing in front of Jenny.
“What the hell were you thinking, Jethro?”
“I was protecting your sister, Jen. Tobias crossed a line.”
“I was there, Jaylyn instigated Tobias.”
“She may have, but Tobias should’ve shown some restraint.”
“And Jaylyn shouldn’t have what she said.”
“What happened to defending family?”
“I did defend my sister, Jethro. I just got off the phone with Director Hutchins. Fornell is going to keep his distance.”
“And the joint case between NCIS and the FBI?”
“NCIS now has full jurisdiction, Fornell and the FBI are off the case.”
“Good.”
“There is more.”
“What?”
“We need a family to go undercover.”
“Fill in the blanks, Jen.”
“We need seven agents to pose as a happy family on vacation at a resort.”
“You have agents in mind?”
“Jaylyn was thinking that she, Abby, Ziva, McGee and Tony would pose as the children.”
“And who was Jaylyn thinking would pose as the parents?”
“Us.”
“She has lost her mind.”
“Watch it Jethro.”
“I am not putting you in that kind of danger.”
“I can take care of myself. Besides I’ll have you and your team there to protect me.”
Jethro didn’t say a word.
“We’re doing this and that’s final, Jethro. Go get your team ready. We’re leaving as soon as Agent Blye and Agent Vaile arrive.”
“OSP agents, Jenny. Was it Leon’s idea to send them or was it your idea?”
“It's all Leon’s idea, Jethro. He hasn’t been too happy with me since I came back.”
“And when have you cared about what Leon thinks or anyone else for that matter thought.”
“Play nice Jethro.”
“I’ll play nice later.” Jethro said as a devious smirk played across his face.
“We’ll see.”
By five o’clock that evening Agent Blye and Agent Vaile were at NCIS. Within minutes of their arrival the seven of us were on our way to the resort.
“Now so that everyone knows ahead of time there are surveillance cameras in the kitchen and the living room.” McGee said.
Jenny had procured a Hummer for us to travel in.
“Okay, what are our covers?” I asked.
“Gibbs is a Carpenter, Director Shepard is a lawyer. Tony is a film professor.”
“That’s so fitting.” Ziva said.
“We’re giving him that cover again?” Jenny asked.
“Yeah, that worked out so well the last time.” I said.
Jenny glared at me.
“Ziva is a self-defense instructor.” McGee continued.
“Now that’s fitting. Going to show off your crazy ninja skills?” Tony asked.
Ziva ignored Tony’s quip as McGee continued on.
“Jaylyn is a television producer. Abby teaches forensic science at the local community college and I am an IT analyst.” McGee finished.
“Are we using our own names or do we have aliases” I asked.
“We are using our own names and the family name is King by the way.”
When the seven of us were in the elevator prior to our departure we had put in our earwigs so that we could hear Agent Blye and Agent Vaile.
“Director, Agent Shepard; you two aren’t sisters while you are undercover. You are mother and daughter.” Agent Vaile said.
“I think they know that, Dom.” Agent Blye said.
“Don’t worry about it; Director Shepard has always been like a mom to me.” I said reassuring Agent Vaile.
As I spoke Jenny looked back at me.
“Shouldn’t be a problem acting like mom, right Jen?”
“Not at all.”
On the other end of the earwig we could all hear the surprise in Agent Vaile’s voice as he heard me call Jenny by her name instead of calling her Director like Tony, Abby, Ziva and McGee did.
“Did you honestly think that Agent Shepard would always say Director?” Agent Blye said.
“Kinda did, Kensi.”
“Well I don’t, Agent Vaile. I call her by her name just like Agent Gibbs and Dr. Mallard do.”
At that point Agent Vaile blushed and we drew closer to the resort.
“Some ground rules before we get to the resort. Director Shepard and I will be sharing a room; McGee and DiNozzo will share one room, David, Shepard and Abby will bunk in the third room. And no switching rooms or anything.” Gibbs said as we pulled into the resort’s valet station.
“Got it boss.” Tony, Ziva, McGee and I said in unison.
“Abby?”
“I got it Gibbs.”
“One big happy family.” Jenny said as we got out of the car.

The New Flame

Jenny was a bit taken aback by the news of my split with Ethan. Needless to say she would be blown away when she found out that I was dating one of her agents. Agent Balboa and I had a dinner date planned for later. I was hoping against hope that today wasn’t going to be one of those times when we worked all night. After stopping at my desk following the disastrous meeting with my sister I had gone down to see how far Abby had gotten with ballistics test. I had learned from my sister and Jethro never to go down to Abby’s empty handed.
“Here you go, Abs.” I said as I set the caf-pow in front of her.
“Thanks; are you here for the ballistic test or the finger print match?”
“Ballistics.”
“The rounds from Fornell’s dead guy are .45mm. The first two missed major organs from what Ducky said. But the third isn’t in good shape, it’s pretty smashed up.”
“Okay, anything else?”
“Nope, onto something not related to the case. I hear that you and Ethan are no longer together.”
“McGee was kidding, word travels fast around here. Yeah, Ethan and I ended it this morning.”
“You okay?”
“I’m fine, Abby. In fact I have a dinner date with Agent Balboa tonight.”
“Okay.” Abby said as she hugged me.
“Did you find out what killed Fornell’s agent and the Marine we brought back yesterday?”
“Not yet, Major Mass Spec is working on that.”
“Thanks Abby, I’ll tell Gibbs when he gets in.”
“You look happy Jay.”
“I am; couldn’t be happier if I tried.”
“I am too, and all of us have managed to snag an NCIS Agent our own. The Director and Gibbs, Tony and Ziva, You and Balboa, McGee and me.”
“Yeah, we did pretty well for ourselves. I’ll see ya later Abby.”
When I got upstairs I heard Fornell asking Tony and Ziva a question.
“What is going on with Jethro’s team? You all are acting differently.”
“We’re not acting differently Tobias.” I answered.
As Fornell looked over to me Jenny looked down from the overlook in front of MTAC.
“Yes you all are.”
“No we’re not.”
“Well it looks that way to me Agent Shepard.”
“What you see as acting isn’t. We are a family all nine of us. We put our lives in each others hands everyday with this job. It’s too bad that you don’t see it. Let alone have that kind of relationship with your agents.”
Fornell didn’t like that; a second late he rose from Jethro’s desk and made his way towards me. Before long Ziva was in between Fornell and me.
“I’d back off Fornell.”
“Not after that I won’t.”
“You really should.”
“Agent Fornell.” Jenny called.
Fornell backed off and Ziva returned to her desk after Fornell went back to Jethro’s desk.
“I told you we were a family. In a family the baby is always protected.”

Growing Pains and Sibling Bickering

A few weeks later Ziva and I were back to normal. No one outside of the team would have been able to tell that we had recovered from taking a bullet to our knees seven weeks ago. We were both beyond glad to be out of the casts and to be back in the field. Even though Ziva and I were fully healed we had occasionally caught Jenny and Jethro worrying that we were overexerting ourselves. That morning Ziva and I had come into work at the same time. As we waited to go through the security check we talked about the day at the spa that Jethro had paid for.
“I really needed that deep tissue massage we all got.”
“You were pretty tense, Jay.”
Before long it was our turn at the security check, the guard handed us each a container to put our guns in as we set our backpacks on the conveyer belt to go through the x-ray machine.
“ID please?” the security guard asked.
“NCIS Special Agent Jaylyn Shepard.” the security guard said as he compared my NCIS photo id to me.
“Yes.”
“Go ahead through. ID ma’am.”
“Bad word choice, Officer.” I said as I walked through the security gate.
The security guard didn’t understand; Ziva handed over her id.
“NCIS Special Agent Ziva David. That’s Israeli; you’re Mossad.”
“Yes I’m Israeli; I am not Mossad anymore, I’m an NCIS Special Agent on Agent Gibbs’ team.” Ziva said as she took her id from him and joined me.
Within minutes of joining me, Ziva grabbed her gear and made a beeline for the elevator. I noticed that the security guard flinched a bit upon hearing Gibbs’ name.
“Just so that you know, she doesn’t like being called ma’am. And never bring up Mossad, unless you want to get on her bad side or by some insane reason you want to contend with Agent Gibbs and Director Shepard.” I said.
“You and the Director have the same last name.”
“You’re an absolute genius; we have the same last name because we’re sisters.” I said as I joined Ziva in the elevator.
“What did he say now?”
“He just realized that Jenny and I have the same last name.”
“He’s brilliant.” Ziva said as the elevator binged.
A second later we were stepping out of the elevator to find Fornell sitting at Jethro desk.
“Fornell.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“The FBI needs NCIS’ help on a case.” Fornell answered.
“Does Gibbs know?”
“No, but Director Shepard does.” Fornell answered.
As Fornell answered Ziva’s question I was halfway up the stairs to Jenny’s office.
“Where is she going?” Fornell asked.
“To talk to her sister.” Ziva and Tony said in unison.
Fornell was a bit puzzled by Tony and Ziva’s answer.
“Director Shepard and Agent Shepard are sisters?”
“Yeah Fornell, they are.”
“They have the same last name.”
Minutes later I was walking past Cynthia’s desk towards Jenny’s office. As I walked by Cynthia looked up from her computer.
“Is she in?” I asked.
“Yes she is Agent Shepard.”
“What happen to knocking Jethro?” Jenny asked as she answered an email from one of the senators she knew.
“Try again Jen.”
“Oh sorry Jay, what do you need?” Jenny asked as she looked up from her computer.
“Fornell is here.”
“I know.”
“Okay, when did you plan on telling us?”
“I was going to tell Jethro when he came in. He’s getting coffee.”
“Jethro isn’t going to be happy when he finds out about this.”
“It will be fine. NCIS has worked cases with the FBI in the past.”
“I know, Jen. Jethro isn’t going to be happy about you agreeing with Hutchins on a joint investigation.”
“Jethro will have to deal.”
“You sound like Leon.”
Jenny gave me her stare which had always been her way of telling that I had gone too far.
“That may have work when we were younger, but not now.”
“Is there anything else you need Agent Shepard?”
“Just one thing Director Shepard.”
“And that would be?”
“I’m moving back in, Ethan and I broke up this morning.”
“Okay, if I don’t see you; I’ll see you at home.”
I left Jenny and made my way down the stairs back to the squad room.
“What’s wrong with Agent Shepard?” Fornell asked as he, Tony and Ziva saw me descend the stairs.
“Nothing good.” Tony responded.
“Sibling disagreement; just give them a few hours and they’ll be fine.” Ziva said.
“You sure about that Ziva.”
“Yeah I’m sure, Tony. It happened with Tali and me when we were younger. It even happened with Ari and me.”
“I hope you are right about this Ziva, otherwise it’s going to get uncomfortable for all of us.”
“Everything will be fine Tony. Jaylyn and the Director just need some space from each other.”