Chapter Text
Bishop and McGee just watched as the elevator door slid closed. Gibbs had an odd look on his face, one neither of them could quite place. It was rather unsettling but neither really wanted to admit just how unsettling.
“Come on Bishop, you don’t really think…..no, no way,” McGee said as he as he turned to walk behind his desk.
“Come on McGee, you saw that look,” Bishop said as she leaned against the front of her desk.
“What look?” McGee asked, trying to wrap his mind around what Bishop was really suggesting.
“You know what I’m talking about,” she whispered harshly.
“No way Gibbs does that, not even for one of us,” McGee answered, shaking his head.
Bishop just gave him a pointed look. McGee returned the look but said nothing further, almost daring her to voice what she was actually thinking.
“McGee, family is everything, we’re like his kids,” Bishop said as she pushed herself off the desk.
“We are not like his kids,” McGee snorted as he turned his attention towards his computer.
“Yeah, you kind of are,” Jack’s voice came from the balcony.
“Not helping, Jack,” McGee called over his shoulder at his teammate.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked as she came down the steps. She met them in front of Tim’s desk, balancing there on one hip. Ellie came closer, not wanting to talk very loudly, even though they were the only ones in the bullpen.
“Bishop has this crazy theory,” McGee said as he rolled his eyes. “Go ahead, tell her,” he urged.
“I think, this sounds crazy…” Bishop started.
“Cause it is crazy,” McGee snorted.
“Tim,” Jack said, eager to get Bishop to finish her thought.
Bishop glanced around the room, making sure they were still alone. “I think Gibbs killed Xavier,” she whispered, arms crossed over her chest.
“See, crazy,” McGee declared with smirk.
Jack said nothing for a minute, mulling over Bishop’s hunch. To be honest, the thought had crossed her mind very briefly an hour earlier after checking in with Gibbs. He certainly hadn’t confessed anything, or even really mentioned it. But she certainly had a sort of sixth sense when it came to Gibbs. That being said, she was also not in a million years going to ask him.
“You agree,” Bishop said as she pointed at Jack.
“I don’t agree, or I don’t want to agree. To be honest, I don’t want to know,” Jack admitted as she held her hands out in front of her.
McGee’s text message alert went off and he picked up his cell off his desk. “I gotta go,” he said. “The kids are apparently staging a coup,” he announced as he picked up his backpack and threw it over his shoulder. “We can talk about this tomorrow, or never, that works for me too,” he said as he made his way to the elevator. Both women called their “goodbyes” as he stepped on the elevator.
Bishop started to say something, but Jack waved her off. “I can’t even think about this, let alone talk about it,” she said a little more firmly than she had planned. Bishop nodded her acceptance of the situation.
“Okay, we can drop that subject, but can I ask you something else?” Ellie asked as she sat down at her desk.
Jack took her sitting down as a signal this was not going to be a one question, quick conversation. She hesitated for just a second before sitting down in Gibbs’ chair. She pushed aside his glasses and coffee mug to prop her feet up, clearly making herself comfortable.
“How is he?” Ellie asked, keeping her question vague, taking a move from Jack’s playbook.
“Can you be a little more specific?” Jack asked as she opened the top drawer of his desk, looking for a snack. The only thing she found was an old pack of gum. She closed the drawer and picked up a paper clip off the desk, something to occupy her hands.
“We had a conversation where Gibbs said something about not wanting me to turn out like him. Which wasn’t all that weird, but he said something like….”do I look happy to you?” And then he muttered something about the boat in the basement and Bourbon. And it got me to thinking, he doesn’t look happy or I guess he looks more unhappy than usual. Which doesn’t make sense because he’s got you. He should be more happy than usual.” Ellie spit out, as she opened her top drawer rooting around for something.
Jack took a deep breath. “We haven’t seen too much of each other lately. He’s working through some things,” she replied vaguely.
“Phineas?” Ellie asked as she tossed Jack a granola bar.
“Among other things. It’s really not my place to say much but he is at least starting to realize that’s he not doing all that great, to put it bluntly. It’s hard enough to see him upset, it’s worse to see him floundering, so unsure of himself.”
“I can’t even imagine,” Ellie whispered.
“Yeah, it wasn’t pretty the couple days after he killed Sahar,” Jack sighed as she swiped her hands over her eyes.
“Too much Bourbon?” Ellie asked as she tossed Jack a little pack of tissues from her desk drawer.
“Thanks. Actually no, apparently his gut is not very fond of it right now. And I think that’s a good thing. He needs some healthier coping skills. He needs to talk to someone other than me. We realize we need boundaries. I don’t want to be his therapist.”
“Is he talking to Grace?” Ellie asked.
“Yeah. And without too much complaining, I think.”
“Meds?” Jack just looked at Bishop, wondering where that comment would have come from. “I overheard him talking to Ducky one day. I think he knows I overheard the conversation.” Jack just nodded. “Does he hear from Finn?”
“Yeah. They were up last weekend taking care of some things at the house. Finn was sorry he missed you. He was so excited to see Gibbs. Otherwse, they talk every few days. Usually Skype on the weekend.”
“Skype? You’re kidding me. You set that up for him?” Ellie asked with a laugh.
“Believe it or not, he owns a laptop which McGee set up for him. He actually uses Skype pretty regularly with Finn and with Tony, Ziva and Tali. That’s a bright spot in his life right now.”
“You are a bright spot too,” Ellie pointed out with a smile.
“I’d like to think I am, or could be, if we were actually spending time together. I’d like to get back to our normal, poorly defined relationship,” Jack said with a little snort. “We haven’t seen that much of each other outside of here lately. It’s by choice, a mutual choice,” she added.
“But you miss him?” Ellie guessed with a little smile.
“Yeah. Sounds ridiculous to say I miss a man I pretty much see every day,” Jack sighed.
“Makes perfect sense to me,” Ellie grinned as her text went off. She picked up her phone, a big smile coming across her face.
“Nick?” Jack guessed, already knowing she was right.
“Yeah, he’s bored. Gibbs apparently just left him.”
“Go, get out of here and visit him,” Jack suggested as she pulled her feet down.
“I think I will,” Ellie agreed as she stood up. She put her backpack on her chair and stuffed a few things in there.
“Give Nick a kiss from me,” Jack said as she gave Ellie a quick hug. Ellie sputtered a little and blushed as Jack just shook her head at her friend. “If Gibbs and I can navigate our more than slightly unconventional relationship, you and Nick certainly are capable of a normal one,” Jack said with a smile. Ellie returned the smile and gave a little teary nod. She headed for the elevator and Jack grabbed her shoes before heading for her office.
*********
Jack did a little work and texted with Finn for a while. She told him in very vague terms about Nick, feeling that keeping things from him completely was not the way to go. Finn promised to make him a card.
About 7:00 she gathered her things to head home. She hadn’t heard from Gibbs since the early afternoon. Part of her wanted to check in with him and she thought for the 100th time in the past few weeks that it would be so much easier if the man would get a smart phone so she could just send him a quick text. She was hoping Finn would eventually persuade him to get one.
She told herself that if she didn’t hear from him by the time she got home, she would call. In the 6 weeks since Sahar’s death and Phineas’ move, Jack had continued to give him some space. Some days she did better than others, but Gibbs understood she was trying. Just as she knew Gibbs was trying to communicate better and not bottle everything up inside. They saw each other at work, shared lunch and coffee once or twice a week but they hadn’t spent a whole lot of time with each other after work or on the weekends. Last weekend, after helping Finn and his family with things at the house Jack had fallen asleep on Gibbs’ couch but that was the only time they’d spent the night in the same house in well over a month.