[Oneshot] Winning a battle, losing the war
TITLE: Winning a battle, losing the war
AUTHOR: nicis_anatomy
CHARACTER: Jenny/Vance (just kidding *g*) Jenny Shepard, Leon Vance
GENRE: Gen, General, Episode tag
RATING: PG
WORD COUNT: 1000
SUMMARY: Jenny may have won the battle, and the jesters have been kicked out of the kingdom, but there still is no fairytale ending in sight. - Written for prompt #17 "I believe that one’s yours" for ncis1000words, prompt #14 "It was time to go." for 24_times & prompt #37 "Leon Vance" for madame_director
WARNINGS: SPOILER for Season 5! English still isn't my native language (although I wish) and the story is not beta'd.
NOTES: Tag to episode 5.14 - I had to change one sentence in the conversation to fit the prompt. Hope you don’t mind.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters, nor am I making any money from them. If I would Season 5 would have ended different.
"Fairy tale ending?"
"The Frog is dead, and the jesters have been
kicked out of the kingdom"
"The queen is back on her throne."
(5.14 "Internal Affairs")
~*~*~*~*~
The investigation was finally over. She’d managed to clear herself and Tony at the same time.
She’d proven once again that she was a damn good agent, great in interrogation and worse this chair she was no claiming as her own again.
But she still wasn’t happy.
She had won this battle, but something told her, she hadn’t won the war.
This investigation might be over, but most of her problems were still present. Jethro sure had some question and she knew full well she soon had to face him. And there was this other thing - her 'H.I.' as she secretly had named her condition, unwilling to even think about the illness that soon may cost her her life and everything she’d worked for. Sooner or later the life as she knew was gone. And there was nothing she could do about it.
Her 'H.I.' was taking over more and more of her life. She had trouble sleeping. The constant headache was keeping her awake all night and the rest of her time she had trouble focussing on her work.
She was starting to make mistakes and people were getting suspicious; especially Jethro. She knew sooner or later he would find out about her condition. She’d always had trouble lying to him and it was surprising that he hadn’t found out by now. Or did he already? Was he going to confront her, now that she was back on duty? Was there a way to avoid him, when she here, at work, reachable all the time?
Walking back to the office that now officially was hers again, Jenny realized that there was still something she could control: The time she had left, the life that was given her to live.
Maybe a short vacation would be a good start. Of course, she wouldn’t travel, but a few days off couldn’t be wrong. She’d never been good in doing nothing, but maybe she would find time to do stuff that work had kept her from doing in the past. She had no 'Things you want to do before you die'- Plan or a list she had to work through, but still there were some things she needed to do. And having Leon around gave her a good opportunity to leave now.
She could’ve asked Jethro to cover for her like he did when she was in Paris last year. But after all that had happened she just wanted to avoid questions she wasn’t willed to answer.
No, Leon had to do it.
After she’d called SecNav to talk about her time off, Jenny made a little detour to give Gordo time to discuss the matter with Leon.
It had been surprisingly easy to convince Gordo to approve her leave of absence. But considering the fact that over the past three years she’d worked non-stop for the agency, she sure had deserved this break. The SecNav had even sounded pleased when she’d told him about her plans; as if it had come in useful for him that she wouldn’t be around for a few weeks to give him time to calm the waves.
Jenny tried not to take it too personal.
Ten minutes later Jenny entered her office, only to find Vance packing his stuff, ready to leave.
"I hope you're not rushing out on my account," she said, walking to her desk, putting as much strength in her voice as possible, although she saw her plans go down the drain.
But when Vance told her he wasn’t leaving at all, Jenny regaining some of her confidence.
She nodded and put her gun and badge back in her drawer, than took out her father’s picture to put it back where it belonged.
"It was never my intention to burden you with this responsibility," she said, knowing full well that leaving him in charge was a double-edges sword.
On one hand she was glad she would’ve him as her temporary replacement, because Leon knew perfectly well what he was doing and he was more of a leader/administrator than Jethro may ever be. On the other hand it was always dangerous to let someone do your job and give him the opportunity to proof himself to her own boss.
It wasn’t long ago when that point had been on the agenda.
They both had applied for this job, both qualified and willing to become Morrow’s successor, and Jenny was fully aware of the fact that it was only thanks to Mrs. Vance’s wish to stay in San Diego that in the end she got this job. It weren’t her skills that had made her better than him. She’d just been lucky.
And now her vacation gave Vance the opportunity to proof himself. He may even be able to proof he was even more qualified to do this job than she would be after all that had happened. And although he now assured her once again that his wife was everything but excited about him being here, she intuitively knew that his wife won’t be an obstacle for much longer.
Surprisingly, Jenny didn’t care. She knew sooner or later, someone else would sit in this office, doing her job, maybe proof that it was a mistake to put her in charge in the first place. And there was nothing she could to about it; even if she tried. Why waste time and energy trying?
Sitting back on her chair, she noticed the toothpick lying on her desk.
"I believe that one is yours," she said, pointing disgusted at the ugly intruder, not knowing if she was actually talking only about this tiny piece of wood or her desk in general.
Apparently, Vance didn’t know, either. He looked at her for a long moment, confused. Then he grinned, and turned around to leave.
"Keep it," he answered, still grinning, and Jenny brushed the toothpick on the floor.
Another battle she’d won, but she was still sure that in the end she was going loose this war, too.
- The End -
AUTHOR: nicis_anatomy
CHARACTER: Jenny/Vance (just kidding *g*) Jenny Shepard, Leon Vance
GENRE: Gen, General, Episode tag
RATING: PG
WORD COUNT: 1000
SUMMARY: Jenny may have won the battle, and the jesters have been kicked out of the kingdom, but there still is no fairytale ending in sight. - Written for prompt #17 "I believe that one’s yours" for ncis1000words, prompt #14 "It was time to go." for 24_times & prompt #37 "Leon Vance" for madame_director
WARNINGS: SPOILER for Season 5! English still isn't my native language (although I wish) and the story is not beta'd.
NOTES: Tag to episode 5.14 - I had to change one sentence in the conversation to fit the prompt. Hope you don’t mind.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters, nor am I making any money from them. If I would Season 5 would have ended different.
"Fairy tale ending?"
"The Frog is dead, and the jesters have been
kicked out of the kingdom"
"The queen is back on her throne."
(5.14 "Internal Affairs")
~*~*~*~*~
The investigation was finally over. She’d managed to clear herself and Tony at the same time.
She’d proven once again that she was a damn good agent, great in interrogation and worse this chair she was no claiming as her own again.
But she still wasn’t happy.
She had won this battle, but something told her, she hadn’t won the war.
This investigation might be over, but most of her problems were still present. Jethro sure had some question and she knew full well she soon had to face him. And there was this other thing - her 'H.I.' as she secretly had named her condition, unwilling to even think about the illness that soon may cost her her life and everything she’d worked for. Sooner or later the life as she knew was gone. And there was nothing she could do about it.
Her 'H.I.' was taking over more and more of her life. She had trouble sleeping. The constant headache was keeping her awake all night and the rest of her time she had trouble focussing on her work.
She was starting to make mistakes and people were getting suspicious; especially Jethro. She knew sooner or later he would find out about her condition. She’d always had trouble lying to him and it was surprising that he hadn’t found out by now. Or did he already? Was he going to confront her, now that she was back on duty? Was there a way to avoid him, when she here, at work, reachable all the time?
Walking back to the office that now officially was hers again, Jenny realized that there was still something she could control: The time she had left, the life that was given her to live.
Maybe a short vacation would be a good start. Of course, she wouldn’t travel, but a few days off couldn’t be wrong. She’d never been good in doing nothing, but maybe she would find time to do stuff that work had kept her from doing in the past. She had no 'Things you want to do before you die'- Plan or a list she had to work through, but still there were some things she needed to do. And having Leon around gave her a good opportunity to leave now.
She could’ve asked Jethro to cover for her like he did when she was in Paris last year. But after all that had happened she just wanted to avoid questions she wasn’t willed to answer.
No, Leon had to do it.
After she’d called SecNav to talk about her time off, Jenny made a little detour to give Gordo time to discuss the matter with Leon.
It had been surprisingly easy to convince Gordo to approve her leave of absence. But considering the fact that over the past three years she’d worked non-stop for the agency, she sure had deserved this break. The SecNav had even sounded pleased when she’d told him about her plans; as if it had come in useful for him that she wouldn’t be around for a few weeks to give him time to calm the waves.
Jenny tried not to take it too personal.
Ten minutes later Jenny entered her office, only to find Vance packing his stuff, ready to leave.
"I hope you're not rushing out on my account," she said, walking to her desk, putting as much strength in her voice as possible, although she saw her plans go down the drain.
But when Vance told her he wasn’t leaving at all, Jenny regaining some of her confidence.
She nodded and put her gun and badge back in her drawer, than took out her father’s picture to put it back where it belonged.
"It was never my intention to burden you with this responsibility," she said, knowing full well that leaving him in charge was a double-edges sword.
On one hand she was glad she would’ve him as her temporary replacement, because Leon knew perfectly well what he was doing and he was more of a leader/administrator than Jethro may ever be. On the other hand it was always dangerous to let someone do your job and give him the opportunity to proof himself to her own boss.
It wasn’t long ago when that point had been on the agenda.
They both had applied for this job, both qualified and willing to become Morrow’s successor, and Jenny was fully aware of the fact that it was only thanks to Mrs. Vance’s wish to stay in San Diego that in the end she got this job. It weren’t her skills that had made her better than him. She’d just been lucky.
And now her vacation gave Vance the opportunity to proof himself. He may even be able to proof he was even more qualified to do this job than she would be after all that had happened. And although he now assured her once again that his wife was everything but excited about him being here, she intuitively knew that his wife won’t be an obstacle for much longer.
Surprisingly, Jenny didn’t care. She knew sooner or later, someone else would sit in this office, doing her job, maybe proof that it was a mistake to put her in charge in the first place. And there was nothing she could to about it; even if she tried. Why waste time and energy trying?
Sitting back on her chair, she noticed the toothpick lying on her desk.
"I believe that one is yours," she said, pointing disgusted at the ugly intruder, not knowing if she was actually talking only about this tiny piece of wood or her desk in general.
Apparently, Vance didn’t know, either. He looked at her for a long moment, confused. Then he grinned, and turned around to leave.
"Keep it," he answered, still grinning, and Jenny brushed the toothpick on the floor.
Another battle she’d won, but she was still sure that in the end she was going loose this war, too.
- The End -