WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS
I am sorry about this chapter being so short; it was longer but after I finished the latter part of it I realized that part didn't fit with this one, so I broke them in two. They are now, two rather short chapters, but at least the next one will be coming soon after this one. I am going to try and refine it a bit and try to make it better and possibly longer, depending on how it cooperates. Anyway. This is actually a chapter I have been trying to figure out how to handle for a while, nearly since I began this story. I am pretty happy with how this turned out; I hope you enjoy it! NCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS Chapter 13: Nightmares Blue and red lights flashed off of the walls and windows in the alley. People were crowded around the police tape craning their necks to see the crime scene, while people in cars were rubber-necking to do the same. Jenny pushed her way to the front of the crowd, desperate to get to the front. She slipped past a police officer and ducked under the tape. She was less than a dozen yards from the white sheet-covered form when one of the officers managed to grasp her around the middle, stopping her. But not before she saw the draped form. At that moment the coroner stepped to the side to lift the sheet to cover the head of the victim; giving Jenny a clear view of the victim's face. Kelly's blue eyes stared at her, wide and empty. A bullet wound right between her eyes, like another young woman, not that much older than her. Jenny sat bolt upright in bed, gasping. It took her a few moments to orient herself; she looked next to her to see Jethro still asleep. Out the window snow was drifting soundlessly down. She carefully eased herself out of bed, trying not to disturb her husband; she stepped into her slippers next to the bed and pulled on her bathrobe as the quietly made her way to the door. She made sure to make as little noise as possible as she closed the door behind her. She walked the ten steps to her stepdaughter's room and eased the door open. Kelly was sound asleep, curled up slightly on her side, one arm tucked under her head, her chest gently rising and falling. The tight bands that had formed around her chest loosened substantially; she let out a relieved breath; then shut the door again. The nightmare was still clinging to Jenny and she knew that if she went to bed at that moment she would not sleep. She headed down the back stairs to the garage, half of which Jethro was using as his woodwork shop space. She walked over to the bench and opened the drawer, pulled out the bottle of bourbon and poured a healthy measure into an empty mason jar. She then proceeded to take a larger than normal gulp. "What's keepin' you up, Jen?" She lowered the glass from her lips, staring at the chair on the sawhorse in front of her. He was standing inches from; when she began to raise the glass again, he placed a hand on the rim, preventing her from doing so. Jenny finally looked up at him; then she looked to the side. "Natasha Lenkov." His fingers closed over the top of the glass convulsively. "Which part's bothering you?" She finally released the glass, allowing it to remain on the work table, and brought both of her hands up to rub them over her face. "I don't know. Both?" "Most people aren't meant to kill like that, Jen. It's not a weakness," he told her firmly. She looked up at him. "You could." "I'm a sniper, Jen, that's what I was trained to do." When she started to look back down, he caught her chin. "You told me and we kept it from bein' a problem, didn't we?" "You kept it from becoming a problem, Jethro," she corrected. Several months earlier… Jenny still felt slightly foolish for confessing to Jethro that she did not feel she could kill the young woman. It was killing in cold blood, to her. But this was the job; Decker had killed his mark earlier in the day and if all was going to plan Jethro's mark had been dead for half an hour. Now it was her turn. She sat in the window looking down on the alley where her mark would be exiting, gun trained on the door. The woman came through the door – she was so young! – a beautiful blond, not many years older than Kelly. She could not do it. Her hand shook. Wavered. The gun was out of her hands, retrained on the target, dead steady. With the muffled pop red blossomed dead center on the blond's forehead and she fell to the ground. Eyes wide open, empty. Jenny turned to look at Jethro, who handed the gun back to her; then rushed them both out of the building and as far as possible from the scene without being seen. Once they were far enough away from the shooting he pulled her into a tiny, empty side street and gently pushed her against the wall. He looked her straight in the eye. "We met up on the way back. You took the shot, made it, and left. End of story." Part of her wanted to object the dishonesty, but she knew that it would do nothing for either of them for the truth to come out. She nodded. Jenny gritted her teeth, "It was my job and I couldn't follow through." "Jen," he said sharply, causing her to look up. "If that woman had been a direct threat to any of us; you, me, Decker, Kelly, Ducky, then or now, would you pull the trigger?" "Yes," she responded without hesitation. "That's what really counts in my book." He shifted back, leaning against the chair he was working on. "Most people aren't made to be snipers, Jen. But I know you, and I know that when it counts, you won't let us down." She let out a sigh, leaning forward so that her forehead rested against his chest and her hands gripped his sweatshirt at the sides. His arms came up to wrap around her shoulders; he rested his chin atop her head. After several moments of silence he asked, "What brought this on?" "Nightmare," she muttered into his shirt. "What of?" "Kelly…dead, like her." His arms tightened around her convulsively. She took a deep breath. "Part of me actually wonders if you hadn't shot her that this wouldn't have come back to bite us in the ass…" He ground his teeth. "And ya wonder if that dream mighta come true?" She nodded against his chest. He cupped her face, tilting it up to face him. "It's over, Jen. We don't have to worry about that coming back to haunt us." She took a deep, cleansing breath and nodded. "Yeah." NCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS I am sorry if Jenny and Gibbs seem out of character, I tried to avoid that; I'm not sure I succeeded. I felt the need to deal with at least that part of Judgment ever since I started this; this was my answer. I thought that perhaps after opening up to each other Jenny might feel comfortable enough to admit to Gibbs her doubts about being able to carry out the hit, and Gibbs being Gibbs would do his job and then help her. Please let me know what you think!
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