“Gibbs, if I wasn’t dead and duty bound to protect you, I’d be wringing your damn neck right now!”
The sound of Kate’s voice jolted Gibbs from the sanding of his beloved boat. Turning around, he found his deceased friend standing at the foot of the basement stairs, an aggravated look on her face. The first thing he noticed was that she was alone. “Where’s your back-up,” he asked, the last time he’d seen Kate was when she and that Uriel come to warn him about Tony after he and Ziva had been locked in that box.
Kate didn’t seem fazed by his question, “Don’t change the subject Gibbs, you’re making my job a hell of a lot harder and it’s pissing me off.”
Gibbs frowned, “What did I do?”
Kate sighed, “Gibbs, I didn’t make an ass of myself in front of the Angel of Death just for you to throw it away for whatever woman in a uniform that crosses your path!”
Gibbs’ frown deepened, “What’re you talking about?”
Kate made a sound of aggravation, “You breaking up with Tony! Gibbs, the order to get you two together came from the top and now you’ve fucked it up. You know how pissed that makes Them?”
Gibbs’ eyebrows rose, “Them? Who’s Them?”
Kate sighed, “The Board. They run the afterlife, decide who to allow in and who to keep out. What to do with souls, the whole works.”
Gibbs’ frown deepened, “You’re saying that Heaven is run by a committee?”
Kate gave him her ‘Don’t push me’ looks. “Anyway, they gave the order to the Head of Guardians, who is my boss, to send me down to help Uriel convince you that Tony was in danger so you’d make your move.”
Gibbs scowled, “That whole thing with Tony dying in a car wreck was just a ruse?”
Kate looked horrified, “What? No! Uriel’s one of the Archangels, he can’t lie. Tony was going to die in that car accident unless someone interfered and The Board decided that it was going to be you and sent us down to warn you. And now you’ve thrown it away and They are pissed!”
Gibbs frowned, “Kate, Tony and I have been split up for over a year. Why is your Board just now getting ticked off at me?”
“Because They were trying to give you a break. After the explosion and your bout of amnesia, they figured it would take you some time to get your head together after having to relive fifteen years of your life so quickly. But instead, you dropped Tony like a sack of garbage and took up with that Hollis Mann, even after you remembered the relationship you guys’d had. So now, The Board is getting pissed and getting on my boss who’s getting on me to fix this mess of yours and get you two back together,” Kate replied, folding her arms over her chest.
Gibbs sighed, “It’s not that easy, Kate.”
Kate scowled, “Who says? Seems pretty simple to me, Gibbs. You and Tony belong together only you’re either too stubborn or too stupid to admit it.”
Now Gibbs was getting angry, “Excuse me? I get caught in an explosion, lose fifteen years of my memory, have to relive losing my wife and daughter and then find out that I’m sleeping with a male subordinate and you’re mad at me for freaking out about it?”
Kate rolled her eyes, “No, I’m mad because after you remembered the relationship, you started treating Tony like garbage and rubbing your new relationship in his face! You really wanna know why he agreed to that unsanctioned undercover op for Director Shepard? He was trying to get over you. You hurt him so badly by pretending that your relationship never happened that he threw himself into an undercover op that nearly got him killed!”
Gibbs sighed, everything Kate had said was right. His treatment of Tony after he’d returned from Mexico had been extremely unfair. He’d basically kicked Tony out of his life with no apologies or explanations and had expected the young man to just go on like the their relationship had never happened. It wasn’t fair and it had sent Tony’s already frail ego into a tailspin which had made him easy prey for Jenny and her vendetta against La Grenouille.
“What about Shannon and Kelly, Kate? When Tony and I got together, I’d managed to pretty much put it behind me. I woke up from that explosion thinking that they’d just died. It just brought back all those memories.”
Kate looked sympathetic, “And so you couldn’t bring yourself to look at Tony because you thought you were betraying Shannon’s memory.”
She walked over to where Gibbs was standing and put her hand on his arm, “Gibbs, Shannon doesn’t want you to be miserable the rest of you life. She knows that you still love her. You finding someone else to love isn’t going to change that. Plus she likes Tony a lot better than all those ex wives of yours or Director Shepard.”
Gibbs was stunned, “You know Shannon?”
Kate nodded, “Yeah, she’s in the Guardian Department with me, Kelly too. Kelly’s good at comforting frightened children because she looks like them.”
The thought of his wife and daughter working as Angels made him smile, Shannon always had a big heart and was always trying to help people, it was perfect for her. And Kelly had always been a kind-hearted little girl so helping other children would be right up her alley.
After a moment, he looked up at Kate, “Where’s Tony now?”
A smile tugged at the corners of Kate’s mouth, “He’s in his apartment looking for the scotch Ducky gave him for Christmas last year that he’s certain he’d put in the top cabinet in his kitchen.”
Something about the mischievous sparkle in Kate’s eyes told Gibbs that she had a great deal to do with the scotch disappearing but refrained from commenting on it. He hesitated for a moment before patting Kate on the shoulder and running upstairs. A few minutes later, Kate heard the engine of Gibbs’ car start up and of tires squealing away. A big smile formed on her face and she began jumping up and down like a cheerleader.
“Now, now, Caitlyn, don’t get ahead of yourself. You don’t know if Tony will even want to talk to Gibbs,” Uriel said, appearing next to her.
Kate sighed, “I know, but I also know Tony, he never holds a grudge for very long.” She saw how sad Uriel looked and, knowing what his mission had been, tried to cheer him up. “You wanna go over to Tony’s place and watch Gibbs grovel?”
Uriel shook his head, “No, you go ahead. I think I’ll pop over to Miss Sciuto’s lab, she always amuses me.” With that, he vanished. Kate smiled to herself before heading for Tony’s. She had a mission to complete.
TBC
Author's Chapter Notes:
Kate gets frusterated with Gibbs' behavior and gives him a piece of her mind.