The last thing Kate could clearly remember was being in the elevator, arguing with an incorrigible, stubborn Gibbs over their most recent case's chain of events, when she was struck with an overpowering need to sit down, to lie down. A sudden, excruciating pain seared through her mouth, traveling along her jaw and piercing her consciousness with a blinding migraine of sorts. She would have remembered the rest, had she not staggered and quite simply fainted away— although an image of Gibbs crouching down and kneeling beside her seemed to flash through her mind.



"Uggghhh…" she moaned hoarsely, a dull pain flowing between her temples.

Gibbs picked up his head at the sound of her rousing and picked himself up from the chair that was placed on the other side of the room. With his hands clasped neatly, anxiously behind his back, he walked slowly over to her bedside.

Kate sluggishly opened her eyes and eventually noticed his large frame watching over her. She looked up to him carefully, squinting one eye slightly more than the other under the harsh fluorescent lights.

"What," she swallowed, although finding it painful to do so, "—what the hell, happened…" Her voice was groggy and she couldn't put her finger on why.


A gentle smirk pulled at his lips as he softly raised his brow and tilted his head, looking down at her in a mild amusement that she didn't yet understand. His tongue peeked out to wet his lips, looking away from her and then back to her face.



"Didn't reschedule that dentist appointment… did you, Agent Todd..?" Gibbs asked coolly, his voice thick and gravelly with a hint of subdued laughter.

Her face screwed up into a grimace of confusion, although the mere action of frowning caused her an unusual amount of discomfort. She brought a slow hand up to her cheek, then sliding it down to her neck.

"What the hell are you—"


"The McCarthy case.. you had a doctor's appointment," Gibbs reached a hand over and pulled a chair to the side of her bed, taking a seat, "but you had to cancel.. we were down in Norfolk..."



Kate looked away from him momentarily, blinking rapidly as if to make the memory materialize faster within her foggy brain. The dentist. She closed her eyes and gave a low guttural groan of pain and disbelief.

"Don't.. don't even tell me, Gibbs—"


"A little old to still have your wisdom teeth… aren't you?" Gibbs drawled mirthfully, his smirk steadily growing into an open-mouthed grin, gently teasing her. The kind crinkles at the edges of his eyes made her insides hum.



Kate's hands immediately covered her face with a soft whimper. She slid them down her cheeks until just her eyes were revealed to him as she looked over to Gibbs hesitantly.


"Did they.. take them out already?" Came her small, muffled voice from behind her palms.


His brow furrowed slightly, but his grin seemed to only get bigger.

"Well, that depends," he ran his hands over his thighs, "Are you speaking and are your cheeks ungodly swollen?" He ribbed at her gruffly.



Kate reached out a hand and swatted at his arm. "Shut up, that doesn't happen until a few days after…"

Gibbs' brow lines lightened as his face grew softer. "I know." His eyes lingered on her silently before shaking his head in response to her question. She groaned with the realization that oral surgery was in her imminent future and slid further under the hospital sheets.

"Oh man.." she whined softly.


"Scared the crap outta me, you know.." his voice was husky, breaking through her thoughts of how to escape from her hospital room. Gibbs leaned back in the stiff-cushioned chair, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyebrow raised as his mouth crinkled in a disgruntled frown. "Had no idea what the hell was wrong with you," he mused lightly.



"Well thanks for bringing me to the hospital.." she croaked sarcastically, closing her eyes, her face covered in worry and discontent.

His eyebrows shot up as he gruffed at her roughly. "Hey... you had an infection.. You think you fainted ‘cos-a my good looks? I'm flattered really, Kate, but—"


"I know…" Kate's eyes fluttered open and she looked over to him, giving him a sweet, apologetic smile. She nodded, "I know. I'm sorry. I just… I don't like hospitals… doctors… Probably why I never rescheduled my appointment." She chuckled weakly.


He looked her over, and eventually nodded at her confession before looking down to his hands. Her voice made him lift his gaze.

"Or maybe it was your good looks." Kate murmured playfully. She smiled.

---

"Alright Agent Todd, you're just going to feel a slight pinch with the sedation, and then I'll take you back for the general anesthesia when the doctor's ready for you…." The nurse gently administered the sedative before smiling sweetly at Kate and carefully patting her arm. As the nurse turned to leave, Gibbs strolled back in with a coffee in hand.



"Agent Gibbs?" The nurse questioned, receiving a nod from him as he looked over to Kate. The nurse offered him a small smile, "I just gave her a little something to calm her nerves.. she'll be a little…"


"Stupid?" Gibbs finished her sentence as he looked back to her. The nurse smiled.


"I was going to say loopy, but yes." She smiled and nodded, patting Gibbs' arm on her way out, "She'll be fine."


Gibbs' eyes followed the nurse out of the room before turning back to Kate. He slowly sidled up to her bedside, drawing her attention and earning himself one of her ear to ear grins.


"Hi." She cooed softly, smiling.

His eyebrows quirked upwards with a hidden smile as he gave her a nod, "How you feelin'?"

"Preeeetty good, Gibbss.." her smile didn't fade as she tried to sit up further on the bed, unsuccessful. He took note of the fast-acting sedative and was thankful. He didn't envy her— Gibbs hated the dentist, the hospital, and certainly anything that involved both at the same time. He perched himself on the edge of the bed, gently helping her sit up against the barrage of pillows Abby had brought earlier.

"You gonna stay with me?" her voice was soft and small and slightly slurred; unlike anything he'd ever heard from her before. Her face oozed the vulnerability the sedative was uncovering, revealing to him the little girl that hid inside Kate.

He nodded slowly, looking down to her small hands on top of the bed sheets.

"I'll be here when you wake up.. if you want." He added gruffly. And her smile returned; her eyes crinkling slightly.


She tilted her head, examining his face. "You smell good." She murmured frankly. She leaned over to him, placing her nose close to his skin at the crook of his neck and shoulder as she inhaled him deeply. Kate all but nuzzled him before she contentedly sighed and slunk back into her pillows.

Gibbs stared at her, briefly struck with her actions before he remembered what the nurse had cautioned. His eyebrows raised in amusement as he nodded, going along with her.

"Thanks.. Kate.." he replied to her slowly, softly.


They sat in a comfortable haze of silence before Kate interrupted his thoughts.

"I always wondered…" Kate began pensively, sighing, "what it'd be like.. to kiss you." The last of her sentence was slurred and quiet, but he heard her.


"You what..?" Gibbs' mind staggered.

She flashed him a goofy grin, "I betcher goood." She turned off of her back and slightly onto her side, giving her a more comfortable angle.

"You've never thought about it?" She continued dreamily, her smile fading as she looked to him with a hazy cloud of seriousness.

"Well, I…" Gibbs stammered at first, but slowly realized that the chance she'd be able to honestly recall any of this once she was out of surgery was unlikely. He ducked his head and smirked slightly, faintly bobbing his head. "Yeah.. I've thought about it." He gave her a throaty murmur.

Kate smiled. "So? What's your problem?" She asked lightly.


Gibbs cocked his head with a smirk helplessly tugging at his lips. He covered her small hand with his, and leaned down to her tauntingly, his grin slowly spreading as she gave a low giggle at his slow antics. She held her smile but remained quiet when his face stopped an inch or two away from hers; the quiet realization of his proximity seeming to have hit Kate even in her sedated dream world.

His breath spread across her lips as he whispered so close against her mouth, "You're not gonna remember any of this in the morning," he hushed gruffly.

"I wouldn't be so sure.." Kate whispered, soft and happy and clearly sedated.

Gibbs brought his hand up to her cheek, placing his rough palm against her soft skin, rubbing the pad of his thumb underneath her lower lip. He looked to her eyes and back down to her lips before his lids slipped shut, softly eliminating the space between them, tenderly pressing his lips to hers, slowly molding her pliant mouth with his— he fully intended on remembering this, even if she wouldn't.

Kate groaned quietly at his intimate contact; his warm mouth pressing and desperately tugging against hers as she tried to draw him closer. Her lips parted slightly, and it was all he needed to deepen what he had foolishly, or ingeniously began—slipping his tongue to spar with hers as his hand slid from her cheek, down her neck to the back of her head. She still tasted like the hazelnut coffee from her early morning java-run, and she felt like a billow of dark velvet, inside and out. He could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as her tongue melted against his in a sensation he honestly never felt before. It was his turn to groan.

Gibbs gently pulled from her mouth, sucking lightly, blindly at her lips as he left her intimately personal space. He pressed his lips soft and flush against hers before he broke completely away.


"Was that what you wondered.." he spoke hoarsely, sitting back in the chair beside her bed.

She hummed quietly, smiling. "Something.. like that. Yeah…" she purred, her eyes drooping ever so slightly. Gibbs smiled quietly.

The bubble was broken when the nurse came back into the room, set with what he imagined to be a vile of general anesthetic. She smiled calmly at the two of them and spoke softly:

"The doctor's ready for her now.."

Gibbs nodded and got up from the chair, walking to the bed one last time. Kate was almost asleep as it was as he placed a warm hand on her forehead, brushing her hair back as he smoothly slid his hand toward the crown of her head. She smiled in her haze, looking up to him under heavy lids.

"You aregood…" she murmured thickly. The nurse began to run the anesthesia through Kate's IV while another nurse moved her to a gurney.


"Yeah.. that's what they all say…" he grumbled fondly, a smirk permanently in place as her eyes slipped close.

---

Gibbs could cook. And he kept repeating it to himself, too, as he struggled to turn on Kate's stove with a furrowed brow and rolled-up sleeves. He wondered what the hell the trick was as he huffed and tilted his head and turned and pressed and pushed various buttons and knobs that he believed should logically, eventually, get him the result he desired: to just light the freaking burner. And just as he was about to turn to his old friend the microwave, the small front burner ignited with a low, reluctant hiss. Gibbs smiled and "ha'd" at the stovetop— victorious once again.

He had successfully snooped around Kate's kitchen cabinets, finding a couple cans of chicken broth and chicken soup; dumping the contents in a small silver pot, he stood back and waited.


"Gibbs?" Kate's groggy voice pulled him out of his peculiar domestic haze. He turned to her with a surprised but firm brow.


"What are you doing up?" he rumbled lightly.


She leaned against the kitchen wall, blinking slowly and rubbing the light crick that tugged in her neck as she steadily returned his stare. Her gaze crept past him and fell on the stove; her lips quirked slightly, but was unable to form a full smile.


"What'er you doing here?" She mumbled curiously, softly pushing herself away from the wall and taking a few steps closer to him.


"You shouldn't be up…" Gibbs warned, his voice lowered in concern and irritability as she got closer. She stood in front of him and peered around his shoulder and into the small silver pot. She didn't move an inch, but only raised her eyes up to his in a silent little question. He looked down to her under a heavy, scrutinizing brow, examining her face before his eyes lightened and broke their visual connection to look around and down to the soup.

"Hungry?" he asked hoarsely. She smiled ever so slightly.

"A little.." Kate replied softly. He gave her a nod as he went back to inspecting her carefully.

"You really shouldn't be up." He grumbled, vaguely shaking his head at her.

"I'm fine." She emphasized lightly with slightly widened eyes when he gave her a skeptical stare, "Really. You really don't have to stay, Gibbs.."


"You think you're fine, Kate," his voice faintly rose in pitch, stern and strangely amused, "...you're not going to recover—" his words fell away with the sudden pressure of Kate's hand on his shoulder.


"Oh, maaan…" Kate mumbled and moaned softly, wincing and closing her eyes. Her hair fell in her face as her head bowed down; her stomach tightened as she swayed and somewhat doubled over underneath an abrupt onslaught of nausea. Her hand tightened on his shoulder as the wave began to pass, only to swell up in her gut again, accompanied by another groan; Gibbs' hand firmly gripped her upper arm while the other skirted across her stomach and held onto her waist. After vaguely ascertaining what had happened, Gibbs' voice deepened as he mocked her, tilting his head as he spoke:


"Oh yeah… you're just fiiine, aren't you.."

She gently slapped at his shoulder before opening her eyes and looking to him under a straining, furrowed brow, dripping with mild disdain and annoyance. She slid her hand off his shoulder and put both of her palms on her hips, exhaling slowly while bending over slightly at the waist.

"I think I'm gonna be sick.." she mumbled pitifully.


"Come on.." Gibbs sighed and put a hand on her back, leading her back down the hall and into the bedroom. Once getting her situated back on the bed, Kate curled into a ball, facing him with her knees pressed to her chest. Gibbs ran a steady hand down her calf as he studied her with quiet eyes.


"It's the anesthesia.. it'll do that to you." He caught her gaze and held it, quirking and squinting his eyes for a millisecond as he stared at her playfully, "Which is why.. you shouldn't.. be up."


Kate sighed and closed her eyes, "Fine. Fine, fine. I'll stay here— hostage… a captive in my own bed."


Gibbs flashed her an impish little grin. Kate looked up at him and screwed up her face in confusion: "What...?"


He frowned and smirked simultaneously as he cocked his head to one side. "Oh.. nothin'..." He grinned an open-mouthed smile as she slapped at his arm. His smile faded as he frowned at her, taking her chin carefully in his hands. He tilted her face to one side and then the other.


"Did you take the cotton out?" he gruffed.

"Well, I…" Kate stammered, a bit wide-eyed at his sudden change in demeanor. "I just.. thought it'd be fine now, Gibbs.." she replied lightly.


"You can get sick from swallowing blood ya know.. C'mon, Kate. Open up." He pointed and wagged his index finger at her mouth as he placed more gauze between the tweezers from her night stand. Kate sighed once again as she grudgingly obeyed. Carefully putting more cotton at the crux of her jaw with her chin in his hand, his thumb grazed over her cheek. She watched him carefully, her eyes transfixed and bemused by the sheer determination that poured over his face. When he finished his eyes caught hers— caught her staring— but she didn't look away like perhaps she would have. She melted as his eyes darkened with something akin to desire, a small flame in the heart of his pupils that seeped into his irises and drenched her consciousness in floods of warmth. She shuddered slightly as his hand abruptly left her skin.

"Thhanks.." she slurred, sarcastic, beneath the new cotton. The corner of his lip tugged upwards.


"Yer welcome." He murmured. "Now. Stay.. in bed. Got it?" he commanded as he rose from the bed, walking across the floor towards the door. Kate just helplessly nodded. He smirked lightly as he slowed his pace, throwing her a quick glance over his shoulder.

"You know somethin' about hostage situations, Kate?" he said as he reached the door, shoving his hands in his pockets as he strolled over the threshold.

"What's that, Gibbs.." Kate mumbled. He didn't stop or turn to answer her, but merely called down the hall on his way to the kitchen:

"Stockholm Syndrome."


Kate rolled her eyes as she sank further into the bed.

---