Note: this is the last chapter, and it took A LOT of brain scratching. It didn't come to me as easy as the other chapters in this story. I hope it was worth hours of brain scratch. Please enjoy and let me know what you think and thanks for reading and leaving comments. I always appreciate hearing your opinion. it encourages me to continue writing.

Jack walks down the stairs and over to Gibbs. He hands her a freshly poured glass of bourbon.

"what was that about?" she asks.

"nothing." Gibbs just says and shakes his head.

"It sure sounded like something," Jack says, amused about Gibbs tired expression.

"It was nothing." He just simply says and takes a swing of his bourbon. "how are you doing, Jack?" he asks. And leans against the table. She looks confused at him. "you didn't seem too well this morning."

"I just needed some fresh air." She explains why she basically stormed out of the elevator.

"being stuck with me for 9 hours required some fresh air?" he asks with a smile.

"you know what I mean." She says and smiles. He nos.

"Yeah, I do. I'm glad to see you are okay, and you had a chat with Vance." Gibbs says and places his now empty glass on the table.

"a chat? He ordered me to talk to Grace."

"what a punishment," Gibbs says sarcastically and receives a playful slap on the arm from Jack. He returns her action with a shocked look.

"I sounded like he ordered you to the same."

"nope. Grace just stopped by to chat."

"why?" Gibbs notice Jack's body language suddenly changes to be more suspicious.

"she just checked up on me."

"the mandatory stuck-in-the-elevator-psych-eval?" Jack jokes, and they both laugh.

"Yeah, something like that, I think."

"What did she want?" Jack asks as She sounds nervous now. Gibbs has returned to his work on his boat. He shrugs. "just about what happened in the elevator. Not much to tell."

"did you tell her about me?"

"why would I?" he asks. He has his back towards Jack as he is sanding the wood frame of his boat.

"I don't know." Jack walks around the boat to the other side to face him. She is gently running her hand over the smoothly sanded wood.

"did she say anything else about me?" Jack asks nervously.

"anything in particular?" Gibbs asks as he continues to focus on his work.

"it was just something I might have said to her a few weeks ago. She has been pretty persistent in trying to convince me to talk with someone about it."

"that thing you don't want to tell me?" he asks and looks up for a brief moment. Jack nods.

"Yeah, that." Jack just walks around the boat. "she thinks I should tell you."

"It is your decision. If you prefer to confide in Vance instead, that is your decision."

"In Vance?" Jack asks, confused.

"yeah, I know you two are close."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him, Gibbs," Jack says in a raised voice. She sounds irritated.

"I know that. You two share a history, and you confide in Vance. I get that."

"but that has nothing to do with us."

"with us?" Gibbs asks and stands up to face her. Jack looks down at her hands to avoid eye-contact with him.

"that thing I have been talking with Grace about… it is about us. About you." she finally admits.

"me?" he asks, confused, and walks closer to. "what about me?" he asks. "how annoying I am to work with?"

"that wouldn't just be one session, Gibbs." Jack jokes and looks up to meet his steel blue eyes with a smile.

"Thanks, Jack." He says with a smile. She looks down at her hands again after a moment. She is afraid to lose her courage to tell him the truth if she is looking into his blue eyes. In case she doesn't see what she is hoping for.

"I have been talking with Grace about feeling lonely lately. Not having anyone to open up to."

Gibbs looks concerned at her. He reaches out to take her hand, but she avoids it and walks away from him. He leans agist his table and is just observing her as she is pacing back and forth in front of him.

"I can't talk to Faith. She won't talk to me at all. Most of my friends and my family are in California. Leon, he is my friend, but he is also my boss."

"I get it, Jack. You don't feel like you have anyone you can talk to."

"There is one person I want to open up to… I'm…" she looks down at her hands. Her hands are starting to get sweaty.

"I'm just not so sure that person feels the same way I do… so." She says and shrugs and looks up to meet his eyes.

"you got a boyfriend? That is what you didn't want to tell me… what do you think? I wouldn't be happy for you." at first, she has a smile on her face, but then her smile fades, and she looks down again. The fact that he clearly didn't understand what she was saying or he was pretending not to, to not hurt her feelings, hurt her way more then she thought it would.

"I do not have a new boyfriend, Gibbs." She says persistently. He looks confused.

"okay… then what are you saying?" He asks, confused. This conversation is hurting her much more than she ever thought it would, so she decides to stop her own misery.

"you know what? It doesn't matter." She says determined and looks directly into his eyes, and then she walks towards the stairs.

"Jack." He says and quickly comes over and grabs her wrist firmly.

"tell me what is going on?" he says, almost whispering. Jack looks down at his hand, firmly holding her wrist. His hand slides down to hold her hand instead.

"it doesn't matter." She says, trying to sound braver and determined then she feels.

"yes, it does, Jack. Tell me."

"let go of my hand, please." She asks, looking into his eyes. He sees how hurt she looks, and lets go of her hand, unwillingly.

"Jack. I got that you might not trust me enough to share personal details with me, but…"

"I do trust you, Gibbs, but I know you have rules that you would never break." She says, interrupting him.

"which rule?" he asks.

"it doesn't matter."

"rule 12?" he asks.

"What did Grace tell you?" she suddenly asks, sounding very defensive.

"nothing." He says casually. Jack walks away from him and starts pacing back and forth again.

"not sure he feels the same way as in?" He asks and turns around to face her. He is waiting for her to finish the sentence.

"never mind. Forget I said it," Jack says a bit irritated, more at her self for putting her self in a position where she would risk getting hurt by the man she cares about and trust so deeply.

"Jack, we have shared some of our deepest and darkest secrets with each other, and suddenly, you don't trust me? what has happened?" He is starting to sound hurt now.

"things between us have changed… or at least it has for me. I know you would never break your own rules, so I know it isn't even possible, which is why I didn't want to tell you."

"It isn't because of my rules…" he admits. Jack looks very surprised at him, and her eyes shoot up to meet his. The moment her eyes meet his, he loses courage and looks away from her. "people I care about get hurt or killed."

"ill take my chances." She says as she is trying to hide an unavoidable smile on her face.

"I won't," he says, and the smile fades away on her face again.

"I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself, Gibbs."

"I know you can, but I can't risk losing you too. I have lost too many I loved already. I can't risk losing you too. The best way for me to keep you safe is to stay away from you."

She walks closer to him and is standing right in front of him, invading his personal space.

"no, it isn't. that is the dumbest thing you can do." She says, and he looks up to meet her eyes with one of his famous Gibbs-stare, and it amuses her. "if you isolate yourself from people you care about you are giving the bad guys exactly what they won't."

"and if I don't, people around me get killed." He says in a harsh tone.

"so isolating yourself in your basement, is your solution?" Jack asks with a raised eyebrow. "how is that working?" she knows she might be poking the bear, but she is willing to take her chance now. She is feeling braver now that he has admitted that he feels the same way for her. He is just staring at her with his intense Gibbs-stare.

"oh, you do not want a staring contest with me. I'll bury you," Jack says in a threating tone, and it makes him smile, and he looks away from her.

"you are playing with fire, Jack. And you risk getting burned."

"It wouldn't be the first time." she just says with a shrug. "trying to spook me away isn't going to work Gibbs." She says determinedly. "either you tell me you don't feel the same way and we forget this conversation ever happened or…" she stops in her sentence when he looks up to meet her eyes.

"or What Jack?" he asks with a daring look right into her soft brown eyes.

"or you kiss me, and we see where this goes."

He is just starring at her for a few moments.

"so which option do you chose Gibbs?" she asks with a daring smile on her face.

"I don't play games, Jack."

"you think this is just a game?"

"is it?" he asks back.

"try me?" she asks.

"you are bluffing."

"am I?"

"This is not poker, Jack."

"then try me?" she asks with a daring look at moves one small step closer to him to try and see if he is going to call her bluff or not. He just casually reaches for his glass of bourbon on the table next to him and takes a sip. He is waiting to see if she is giving in first. Right now, it is a game of how is giving up first. They are staring at each other. He can see how her eyes are wandering down to his lips as he licks the liquor of his lips, and it amuses him.

"give it up, Jack." He says after having enough of them just starring at each other. They are both very stubborn people, and he knows they could keep doing this forever. She steps away from him and turns her back to him to try and hide the disappointed look on her face.

"I told you, Gibbs." She sounds a bit disappointed. "You got 2 options. Either tell me to leave or…" She never gets to finish the sentence when his lips are crashes into hers. It takes her a moment to recover from the surprise, and then she kisses him back with just as much passion as she feels from him. Once they finally break the kiss for much-needed air, they are just smiling at each other.

"I told you I wasn't bluffing." She says.

"I knew you weren't. you have a terrible poker face, Jack." He says with a smile.

"no, I don't." she pretends to sound offended.

"yes, you do. You can't keep a straight face."

"Is this your way of telling me to stay?"

"I guess. You have told me before I am not a romantic."

"you really aren't."

"well… maybe I can convince you otherwise." He says with a suggestive look.

"maybe you can." She says, and he looks at her with a soft sweet smile. She hides her face against his chest when she feels she is blushing, and he takes her in for a hug.

"come on, Jack." He says as he is still holding her in his arms, against his chest.

"where are we going?" she asks as she is trying to keep her balance while he is walking forward, which means Jack is being pushed backward, but she knows she is safe from falling while he is holding her securely in his arms.

"upstairs." He just simply respond. She quickly looks up at him in surprise.

"to the living room." he clarifies, and she just chuckles when she notices he is blushing now, and he looks away from her. He let go of her so she can walk up the stairs safely, but he never fully lets go of her. His hand rests on her lower back as they walk up the stairs.