After all of the drama with the ‘ballroom bomb’ incident, everything settled down.  They finally held the interagency meeting and everyone agreed to share information, when possible and did not jeopardize their own agency processes. At that interagency meeting Margie also introduced Jethro and Director Vance to the staff at those agencies with which they had not previously had any interaction.  Margie also finally held the videoconference to introduce Jethro and Leon to her contacts in the international agencies. 

Things have settled down and Jethro and I are back to a ‘regular’ schedule.  One thing that I noticed when I moved in with Jethro was that sometimes he leaves the front door unlocked and his staff just comes over without prior notice.  I don’t mind because I live here and I won’t be the one embarrassed if they walk in on something they really don’t want so see. 

I just finished a run and came into the house and walked to the side porch to drop off my sneakers.  Before I returned to the kitchen I pulled off my running shirt and shorts and only wore my sports bra and boy short panties.  As I walked into the kitchen on my way to the front to go upstairs to shower McGee and Torres walk in the front door all the while calling for Jethro. Jethro entered the kitchen from the basement as I entered the kitchen from the side porch.

“Boss, we found the missing file on that case,” McGee said as he walked into the kitchen.  Both McGee and Torres stopped in their tracks and stared stunned.  Before they could catch themselves they looked at me up and down and then stopped and turned away, shocked at what they had just done.  

In the meantime Jethro had moved to the dryer and had grabbed a towel and gave it to me to cover me.  He stood in front of me while I tied the towel around my waist.  I looked up at him and mouthed, “I told you”.  A few days ago I had said to Jethro that if he continues his ‘open door policy’ that one day someone would see something that they don’t want to see. I will not change what I do because it is my home.  I will walk around in my home how I please.

I moved from behind Jethro and continued my path to the stairs because I desperately needed a shower.  As I pass McGee and Torres I say, “Excuse me gentleman, I must go.”  As I made my way to the stairs I heard them both say to Jethro, “I’m sorry boss, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean, we didn’t mean.”  They didn’t get to finish when Jethro interrupted and asked,“What did you find on the case and it better be worth this interruption?” They reported their findings and left.

I heard Jethro enter the bedroom as I exited the closet after choosing my outfit for tomorrow.  He looked at me and laughed.

“They looked like deer caught in the headlights.  But that didn’t stop them from checking you out. I chewed them out about that and you know what they said?  They apologized and said, ‘Boss, she looks fabulous.  Not saying that someone her age can’t look fabulous, but she looks fantastic.’ They apologized again and then left.  So I guess that I need to put the lock on the door from now on.”

“I would prefer that you do. I knew that something like this would happen sooner or later. I’m tired so I’m going to bed early.  I’ll see you in the morning.”

“But you haven’t eaten dinner.”

“I’m not hungry.  Go finish what you were doing.”

With that we kissed goodnight.  He went back downstairs and I went to bed.  It felt good to have a quiet evening.