Title: Doubts
Prompt: Water
Pairing: Jeanne/Fornell, references to Jeanne/Tony
Rating: PG â€" PG-13
Cat: mostly Gen (with reference to canon Het)
Spoilers: very minor season 4
Use of prompt: reference at the beginning to a glass of water

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Doubts...

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Jeanne sat alone in her apartment, her finger tracing the rim of the glass of water that she had been staring at for the past hour. There was something up, something that was definitely not right, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

He was never forthcoming with information regarding himself but he would never shy away from answering any of her questions either, and Jeanne had no reason (other than the nagging feeling she liked to call women's intuition that lay in the back of her mind) to believe that anything he had told her was anything less than the truth.

But as hard as she tried to reason with herself, the nagging feeling just would not go away. She knew that as much as she wanted to believe that he was the respectable film studies professor that he claimed to be, she would have to confirm or disprove his identity for herself. She knew that the easiest and most effective way to find the truth would be via her father, but she didn't much like his methods so she decided that now would be the time to visit an old family friend.

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Fornell sat behind his desk reviewing the months solved case reports. He sighed as he placed yet another unsatisfactory report in the pile he had mentally marked “needs re-written�. It amazed him that some of his senior agents had even worse grammatical skills than the Probie's. He honestly wondered how some of them were even able to form a coherent sentence sometimes.

He let out an audible sigh of relief as his cell phone buzzed, alerting him to an incoming call.

“Fornell,� He answered it.
“Toby, I need to talk to you. Can i come visit you at work?� The female voice on the other end of the line said.
“Of course you can Jeanne, what's the problem?�
“Um...it's not really a problem, more of a-...well, i'll explain it when i get there. I'll see you in ten�
“Oka-� he started, but she had already hng up.

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“Jeanne,� He greeted her, kissing her cheek as he let her in his office.
He poured her a glass of water as the agitated woman sat down. She stared at the water and traced the rim of the glass with her index finger as the determined look on her face began to fade.

“Toby, i need your help with something� she looked up at him and abandoned her tracing of the glass' rim.
“Another dodgy boyfriend you need a background check on?� he joked.
“Something like that...� now that she was here, actually doing something about it, she began to worry that she was betraying his trust with pointless suspicion.
She resumed her steady circling of the rim of the glass as she pondered the need for her private inquiry.

Fornell could see that there was something bothering her, but he felt it would be best to allow her to tell him in her own time.

Making a decision, she abruptly stopped tracing the rim of her glass and looked up, once again face to face with Fornell.

She had decided that her mind would continue to plague her with suspicion until she finally confronted her distrusts. If he was as he claimed to be: a movie buff who managed to turn his passion into his job, he need never find out about her misgivings. But if she was right, and he wasn't who he said he was...well, she would decide what to do if the situation took that unfavourable turn.

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Half an hour later Fornell found himself staring at a rap sheet for one “Tony DiNardo� who was the exact double of NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.

“What does it say?� Jeanne asked, attempting to peer over the desk at the computer screen.

Fornell decided that, from experience, he knew it was always better to say what you see and not what you know. From the detail that the false background went into, Fornell could guess that Tony was on a deep-cover mission and that it was more than likely that Jeanne had no idea about his true identity.

“Nothing really, a couple of DUI charges from college and several counts of Indecent Public Exposure, also in college.� he said, not lying per se, but telling the truth as he saw it on the monitor in front of him.

Jeanne let out a breath of sheer relief. She was almost laughing at herself at the thought of doubting the authenticity of his identity.

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As she walked through the crowded streets of DC and let the cool breeze flow past her, Jeanne still felt the nagging feeling that there was something wrong. But now, she reasoned with herself, she had proof that he was who he said he was and that all of her suspicions concerning Tony must be nothing more than the regular doubts one has when entering a serious relationship.