Disclaimer: I own nothing, am purely borrowing these characters for my own and your amusement…

Car is parked, bags are packed, but what kind of heart doesn't look back
At the comfortable glow from the porch, the one I will still call yours?
All those words came undone and now I'm not the only one
Facing the ghosts that decide if the fire inside still burns – Sara Bareilles, Breath again

Breath Again

She looked out the window and wondered, wondered how she'd ended up how she was, how she'd let her life get this way. So messed up, so confusing, her heart just lying on the ground in tattered pieces with no one to help her put it back together.

Her finger traced a rain drop as it rolled down the window, she let out a sigh, taking a breath she almost regretted what she was doing, why she was doing it, but she couldn't change it now, she was too stubborn to go back and undone what she'd done, she would just forever have to live with the guilt, the regret, the pain.

"Are you alright miss?" the air hostess asked her, noting how upset that the redhead looked.

"I'm fine" Jenny spoke, her voice hoarse with emotion.

"We'll be landing soon and the storms beginning to pick up, you might want to put your belt on" she told the redhead. Jenny nodded and let the other women continue on her rounds, once again happy to be alone, she never liked people prying into her life.

The redhead closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing herself to get a grip on her emotions, she would not allow herself to breakdown until she was in the private sanctuary of her own home.

….

An hour later and the lonely redhead stood waiting for her bags, looking around she noted the many couples who stood together, some just talking and laughing, some kissing and holding hands, then there were also families, the husband and wife looking at their children with hazy looks in their eyes of love and pride. Maybe they only seemed to be everywhere because Jenny noticed more of what she had given up in the last twenty four hours.

Moments later, feeling very uncomfortable in a what was becoming a crowded area of baggage claim, Jenny's bag came along the conveyer belt and so she grabbed it and began to make her way out of the airport.

As she walked she could have sworn she saw a familiar man with grey flecked brown hair in front of her, Jenny stopped and couldn't help but mutter "Jethro" but all hope in her mind and heart was dashed when she saw him turn around, no it was not the man she'd left behind, not the man she would love until her dying day. "I need a drink" she mumbled before running a tiered hand down her face.

It had been a long and emotional day, all she wanted was to go to her large, lonely, home that had been handed down her family through generations, and then curl up in bed and drown her sorrows in a big bottle of bourbon, but alas she then realised it would only remind her of him more, she then also realised that she also didn't have any bourbon at home.

….

An hour's drive and a stop at the supermarkets later Jenny finally arrived home, her hands full with a shopping bag and her duffle bag, so it took longer to open the front door but she managed to, getting soaked by the storm raging outside in the process, her hair curling and sticking to her face.

"Shit" she muttered as she stumbled into the house, her duffle bag being caught by the door handle of the door, sending her flying into the dusty phone cabinet in the darkness.

She'd already opened the first of the two bottle of bourbon she'd bought, while in the parking lot of the supermarket and had a large swig and now took the opportunity to have another, she wiped her mouth to catch the bourbon dribbling down her chin before she swallowed the burning liquid.

Her bags hit the ground with a loud thud as Jenny felt the walls for the light switch, she could now see how the house had been neglected at the months she had been away, a thin layer of dust covered all of the beloved furniture that like the house had been passed down the generation, the large grandfather clock in the hall being one of them.

Jenny walked over to the banister of the stairs and ran her hand over where the wooden handle swirled to a finish along with the door, they were her two favourite things about the house, one of the only things she loved about the house, other than that she hated it, hated the memories it held for her, watching her mother die of a slow and horrible illness, then finding her father dead in his study. The two major life events still haunted her till this day.

Going back to the shopping bag on the cabinet she grabbed the open bottle of bourbon and was about to head upstairs when she heard a noise come from her living room, it had been the sound of someone walking around, she believed she was the only person in the house, so it must be an intruder.

Within seconds she'd pulled her gun out of her duffle bag and was approaching the door to the living room as quietly as she possibly could, then she noticed the light coming from under the door, taking a breath to sober herself quickly, she reached over and turned the door handle quickly and pushed the door open her gun drawn.

The minute she saw who it was, she dropped her gun on the floor, at the back of her mind thanking that the safety was on so that it didn't go off. "Jethro" she spoke his name for the second time since she landed back in D.C. This time though, she wanted him to turn around and be someone else.

As he turned at his place by the fireplace, it was him, it was really him. His thick brown and silver flecked her sticking to his head, his t-shirt covered in patches from the rain. He hadn't been there long obviously.

The steely gaze of his blue eyes making her feel uncomfortable. She could see the anger, the hurt, the upset she had caused him. She'd left him with nothing but a letter with a flimsy excuse. So why was he here? she would never get an answer unless she asked him.

"What are you doing here Jethro?" she asked him, taking an unconscious step towards him.

Gibbs smiled "I came for you" he told her like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How did you get here before me?" Jenny asked him, trying to not think about how his last statement had warmed her heart and cause butterflies in her stomach to take flight, a way that only he could make her feel.

"Does it matter?" Gibbs asked her with a slight chuckle as he stepped towards her and reached out to touch her damp, red curls but she stopped him but grabbing his hand and cupping it with her own.

"You shouldn't have come" Jenny told him, turning away from him and dropping his hand.

"Why?" Gibbs asked her "Were you lying when you told me you loved me?" he asked her, she'd told him she loved him, she's written it in that stupid letter.

Jenny's green eyes dared to make contact with Gibbs' blue again "Of course I wasn't" she told him "But you don't love me" she reminded him.

"How can you think that?" He asked her, running a hand through his dark, damp hair, beginning to get frustrated with her.

"Well you don't…." Jenny began but Gibbs's cut the beautiful redhead off in her tracks.

"Would I have come after you if I didn't love you, would I be standing here if I didn't love you" With every sentence he spoke he took a stride towards her. Jenny wanted to step back but couldn't she just wanted to be with him.

"Would I ask you to move in with me if I didn't love you, would I have bought this ring if I didn't love you" he said pulling out a jewellery box from his trouser pocket and opening it to show her a simple yet elegant engagement ring with a diamond in the middle with a small green stone one side and a blue the other, representing both of them.

"Jethro…" Jenny shook her head, this couldn't be happening, this was what she didn't want, she didn't want to have to choose between a life with him and a career, it wouldn't be fair on either of them and it would kill her.

Gibbs got down on one knee making the redhead gasp once again and her heart start to beat even faster than it already was and then he began to talk and all thought left her mind. "Jen, I planned to do this in front of the Eiffel tower but you always like to do things on your terms, you stubborn, infuriating, maddening, beautiful, funny, smart, amazing women, I love you, I know you don't believe me but I do, I may not say it often but I promise to show it in everything I do for you, in my actions towards you, will you marry me?" he asked her.

Jenny gulped and in that moment, Gibbs thought his whole world was over, she was going to say no, he was going to have her leave him for real this time, that he was going to let the only other women he'd ever loved slip through his fingers.

"Jethro, I want to marry you…..but…." she began, Gibbs got back up to his feet and his hands went to her shoulders to comfort her, "The letter, I wasn't lying when I told you I've taken a promotion" she told him, exasperate, "I love you but we can't get married" she finished.

"Why?" Gibbs asked her, his voice full of hurt and concern.

"The promotions means I'll be traveling, I'll be away from D.C for long periods of times, I could be the next director of NCIS" she told him "I'd been neglecting you, what we have might not survive that, you'll be here and I could be anywhere, we would barely see each other" she began to ramble but Gibbs stopped her by kissing her.

"Mmmm, that doesn't solve the problem" Jenny told him when they parted moments later.

Gibbs smiled at her before kissing her gently on the nose "We can make it work Jen, we'll find a way" he assured her.

"I won't be one of those stay at home wives, cooking, cleaning, looking after the kids Jethro, I want to work, I want to have a career" she told him, her hands going to his chest as she looked up at him.

He grinned at her "Wouldn't expect anything else of you Jen" he assured her before lifting up the ring in his hand, she offered him her left hand and he slid the ring onto her finger before pulling her in for another breath taking kiss.

"About the letter…." Jenny began moments later.

"What letter?" Gibbs asked turning with the redhead still in the confines of his arms, and threw the letter into the fire that was still roaring in the fireplace. They watched the letter burn, it a symbol of all the doubts, all of the pain, the hurt being washed away and a new day, a new dawn beginning.

TBC….Maybe.

Should I continue or make it a one-shot, it's up to you guys.