Revenge Is A Seven Lettered Phrase: Kill Ari
Some low life flat head scum infects
The sickness in his eyes reflects
You wonder why your life is screaming
Wonder why we’re Humans Being
The ride upstairs was silent, slow, peaceful. Nerve wracking. There were many possibilities as to why Morrow would want to see him. Perhaps he had reconsidered what Gibbs had said about resigning and was accepting his offer. Perhaps the document he’d filed to the director’s office hours ago had been approved, or maybe not. That could be the reason he was summoned.
It was while he and the team were writing up their after action reports when they had initially arrived in the building together. He’d written his up quickly and taken a silent look round his three agents, each remembering events differently. His eyes lingered a little longer on Kate, taking in her injured arm and the fear that was in her eyes.
Out of all of them, she had to be the only one injured. The only one to dive in to take a bullet. It had been her job in the Secret Service, but she couldn’t just shut off what years of training had instilled in her. Protecting someone like that was as natural to her as brushing her teeth. It made her relatively more braver than him, and he wouldn’t deny that. It made her a stronger character than he’d first pegged her to be.
He moved his gaze to the document he had on his desk, sitting under his report. He wasn’t being biased by doing this; he’d do it for any one of his team who he felt deserved the recognition, it just so happened to be Kate. All he had to do was sign the request, put it in with the reports and leave it up to the director to decide. Morrow would see through reading the reports why he’d filed the recommendation in the first place.
But now wasn’t the time to think of what he’d done for her. Now was a time to make sure he was suitably attired for his meeting, and that required taking a short cut through the office for the suit jacket he had hanging over his chair.
The elevator stopped on his floor and Gibbs stepped out quietly and determinedly. He hadn’t got very far, when he spotted Kate in his chair, sound asleep. He stopped where he was, allowing himself a small moment of peace.
She was curled up as small as she could get, one leg underneath her and the other resting on the edge of his desk. She would be sore later when she woke up, but for now, Gibbs was quite happy to let her be. She looked calm, something she hadn’t done for almost three days now, and he hated to disturb her when it looked as though she was having a nightmare free sleep, but she was wrapped in his jacket.
Cutting past his desk quietly, he headed straight to hers in order to pick up the blanket that lay in the bottom drawer of the desk. As he was turning to go back to her, Gibbs spotted her sketchpad hidden underneath a few sheets of paper. He always loved looking through her work, because she was extremely talented and perhaps didn’t know just how much.
His favourite drawing she’d done recently was of the two of them asleep together in bed. He loved it so much because she’d captured them and the moment so brilliantly, as only she could. When he’d had the chance later to look at it more closely, he’d realised that she’d placed them in the cabin they’d rented on honeymoon. That had brought back countless memories for him.
Picking up the sketchpad now, he wasn’t surprised to see sketches of Ari staring right back at him. The way she’d drawn him, obviously from memory, made him remember her very first encounter with him and why she’d been able to put exquisite detail into his face.
The page had been split into three, equal sized rows and each one depicted a different time in which she met Ari. The first was clearly from autopsy; this was how she’d first viewed him to be. An unknown man with kind eyes and an alluring smile. Even on paper he could see why she’d be attracted to him. She’d drawn him with those eyes, that smile, and had even been able to capture his thoughts right there in his face. It was unnatural the amount of detail she’d put into it.
The second was from when he’d had her kidnapped. The detail was still there, but the kindness in the eyes had vanished as had the enchantment of the smile, leaving way for what Kate had finally seen in him. He was rougher round the edges in this one, perhaps how Kate seen him.
The first being the suave, debonair stranger who captured a small piece of her heart after one meeting; the fantasy man. The second being a corrupt, evil assassin who was there for one reason and one alone; the killer. It was in this drawing Gibbs could see the promised threats, which Kate probably had no idea she’d included. She drew what she knew, and she knew this man was dangerous.
It was the third and final image that made his heart clench and breath stop. This was the picture of Kate’s wishes, which Gibbs would be sure to make true for her. It was the eyes that stood out most from the drawing, not the bullet hole in the centre of his forehead, which had also been sketched to an almost lifelike quality, as if he were looking down on a photograph. The eyes were dead and lifeless. No cheeky sparkle as in the previous two, no kindness, no promising threat dancing behind the iris. He’d make this drawing a reality, no matter what the cost.
Putting the pad back, he took the blanket and went back to his desk where Kate slept on unaware. He hadn’t realised just how long they’d been in the building until he noticed the sun was creeping in the large windows at the end of the room, the water droplets on the panes creating a waterfall effect on the carpet. Checking his watch, he noted this would be the time Kate would be waking up next to him and greeting him with sleep glazed eyes and a warm smile. He wanted that now.
As if on cue, Kate groaned as she began waking up, her position having given her an ache or two. To make up for not having a suitable place to sleep, he’d likely give her a massage at home once everything was taken care of.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The obnoxious sounds of an office coming to life broke through the fog that encased Kate’s head, leaving her confused and unsure as to why the noises were encroaching on her peace. As she became more aware of her surroundings, and of the crick in her neck thanks to the position she had somehow contorted herself into, she recalled never having left the office the previous night.
With the remainder of her senses having caught up to her hearing, Kate gathered she was in one of the uncomfortable office chairs, and that it wasn’t hers. The sensation of being watched crept in and Kate’s eyes fought the exhaustion to open just enough to see who was with her. She was silently elated with whom she found.
“Jethro.”
Her voice was husky with sleep, making Gibbs smile when he realised she was awake and staring at him through half closed lids. If he had the time, he would’ve sat with her for an eternity but for the moment their time together would be brief.
“How you feeling?”
“I’m fine. Achy and a bit stiff. Nothing a stretch won’t cure.”
As she spoke, Kate stretched her right arm out until the socket popped and the muscles relaxed; leaving her arm a temporary dead weight.
“The Director wants to see me up in MTAC.”
“What does he want? Is he going to pass the case over?”
“I don’t know. If he tries to pass it over, there’s no way I’ll accept it; you know that. But the sooner I get up there, the sooner I find out.”
“Well get going, I’ll be here.”
“Honey, I need my jacket.”
Kate smiled a little as she unwrapped herself and handed the jacket over, catching his hand in hers to kiss his knuckles, before letting him take it from her. Placing the blanket on the desk, Gibbs slipped his jacket up over his shoulders, running his hands over his chest and down his arms to smooth out any wrinkles.
Kate ran her tired eyes over Gibbs face, taking in every line and mark she could. She’d memorized his face months earlier, but was always checking for something, anything new. Sometimes there’d be an extra laughter line, or a new worry wrinkle. She loved every part that made Gibbs who he was, and as she admired him, Kate indulged herself in a little “After Ari” fantasy. She hadn’t got very far before Gibbs interrupted her dreams by tucking the blanket up round her shoulders, making sure she was completely covered and warm.
“I shouldn’t be too long. When I get back, I’ll take you home for a proper rest; think you can stay awake?”
Kate looked up at Gibbs, who was waiting rather patiently for her response, and smiled. He leaned down, hands on either arm rest and looked into Kate’s tired hazel eyes. She looked back at him just as hard, her smile growing wider as she answered his silent question with a single blink; it seemed that was all he needed to give her a quick kiss and turn away to go to his meeting.
Her eyes followed him as he walked through the office, up the stairs and across the landing. Only until the steel door to MTAC opened and Gibbs vanish inside did Kate pull her gaze from him and allow her eyes to close again, to take her back to the place she felt most safe at the moment; her dreams.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The room was dark upon entry, save the glow coming from the large plasma screen at the head of the room which was currently displaying a mission of sorts that was underway. Gibbs paid no attention to what was happening up there, instead using the low light to find the director, which was no easy task with his eyesight.
The director was a well built man, who was easily picked out in a crowd. Even in a room with a lack of sufficient lighting, Gibbs spotted Tom Morrow sitting on the far right hand side, apparently watching the happenings on screen, but appearing deep in thought.
For a man who ran a government agency, he was up to date on all the team happenings, right down to what they had for breakfast, without even having to step foot outside his office. Only on a few rare occasions had Gibbs had personal dealings with the Director on a semi personal basis, and that was only when a case got to close to home, like now.
Most of the time, Morrow was quite happy to let Gibbs lead the way in his team, which was what he liked, but found himself stepping in when needed. He was also a man of very little words, his actions and silence speaking louder than any term or phrase could.
Gibbs made his way silently down the first step and cut across to the director, stepping past him to take the empty seat on his right. For a few moments, they both watched what was happening on screen, but not really taking it in; each man was trying to come up with the words to start the difficult conversation which would ultimately lead them no where.
“What do you have?”
“Brass from Ari’s sniper’s nest, three bullets, tyre tracks in Anacostia Park. Ari fired a shot across the river into our forensics lab.”
“Unusual for a sniper not to police his brass, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
Deep down, they both knew where this was going. Morrow was going to request that Gibbs pass the case over to another team, perhaps Balboa’s. Neither were happy at how things were heading, especially a personal vendetta against an agent or two. What Gibbs didn’t know, was that his wife’s reputation for being a hard ass seemed to precede her and she had instantly become a hit throughout all the agencies.
Speculation had first started after her original interactions with both NCIS and the FBI, and how she’d assisted the famous Agent Gibbs, hadn‘t been fooled by their games but how the FBI had. It had been since that day that Tobias Fornell had known he was up against someone who wouldn’t be discouraged, especially now she was paired with one of the most cursed about agents NCIS had to their name.
The FBI had gone by word by mouth, thanks to Fornell, and everyone from the DEA all the way up to the SecNav knew that Caitlin Todd wasn’t one to be messed with. Especially being on Special Agent Gibbs’ team. The Secret Service had also done their fair share of talking; of how disappointed they’d been to have lost a rising agent. And now, it seemed, the CIA had gotten wind of her.
In the past few hours, Morrow had received countless calls from agency directors, and even individual agents, wanting to put their name toward taking down whoever was going after Kate; she’d become quite a favourite among them.
To say Tom Morrow was proud of his young agent would be a major understatement.
“I’ve received calls from every director I know, promising to hunt down the sniper as if he’d come after one of their own. It seems Agent Todd is highly favoured in the circle of federal agents.”
“FBI might be the most help; Ari Haswari is their mole.”
“I endorsed your recommendation to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Special Agent Todd.”
Gibbs felt his heart stop when Tom told him. He knew Kate would most likely kill him for it, tell him she had done what anyone would have or that he was being biased. This was all probably true, but he felt she’d earned it and he was sure everyone else did; especially if the director was endorsing it.
“Thank you, sir.”
“I’d also consider having her see the in-house counsellor. At your discretion, of course.”
“Of course. But I don’t think that’s needed, sir, not yet.”
“Jethro, I’m leaving it in your hands. Maybe Special Agent Todd doesn’t feel the need, but what about Kate? You need to look at both sides of the coin.”
“I’m doing all I can, sir.”
“How is Kate?”
Gibbs was silent as he considered the question. If he could separate his Agent Caitlin Todd from his Katie Gibbs in his mind, he ,might have found the answer easily. If he could see the differences between his agent and his wife, he might have responded quicker.
Kate wasn’t being an agent; she was off the case which meant she had no professional opinion on what was happening, it was purely personal. Running with this thought, Gibbs realised Kate had been unnaturally quiet and, with the exception of her breakdown in autopsy, emotionless. He knew he’d have to fight with her to break her walls down; get her worked up enough that everything she was feeling was brought to the surface and expelled.
“Denying anything’s wrong. And being a little too glib for my liking. She’s going through the motions; so far we’ve have shock, anger, partial acceptance. We’ve just got to wait it out, wait for her to accept she was almost…”
Morrow caught Gibbs hesitation to finish his sentence, to accept himself Kate had almost been lost and decided to take their conversation down a different road.
“She’s a strong woman; has to be being married to you. I’ve put her down for six weeks medical leave, paid. I’ll add another week to that.”
“Appreciated, sir. By both of us.”
The silences between them were starting to become frequent and for lengthier times. Gibbs was considering the possibility that not only would he be killed for getting Kate awarded, but also for the length of time she’d be off work. Seven weeks was far too long for Kate to stay at home and do nothing, she was far too active for that, but she had to see it from their point of view. If she were to stay on at work, not only would she be stuck at a desk all day thanks to her knee, she wouldn’t get as far ahead with her paperwork thanks to her wrist. Either way, if she went to work or stayed at home, she’d have nothing to do. In seven weeks, Gibbs had a feeling he’d be requesting time off for himself to recover from Kate doing his head in.
“According to your after action report, no one actually saw the sniper who tried to kill Agent Todd.”
“Ari was on a rooftop six hundred meters away.”
“Extraordinary shot.”
“No, sir, not really.”
“You were a sniper with the Corps, weren’t you.”
“Two tours.”
“Vietnam?”
“I’m not that old, sir. Panama. Desert Storm.”
“Thought you were older.”
Gibbs was sorely wounded. He could never understand why people always thought he was older than he was, when in truth, he really wasn’t all that older than thirty-seven. And Kate didn’t seem all that bothered by that fact, that while she had just turned a mere thirty-one, he’d be hitting fifty-five in November.
He’d always blamed his hair and the fact he’d lost his colouring in his late thirties, much the same as his father had, people always assumed he was getting ready to take retirement, or already had. But again, Kate loved his hair; she loved running her hands through it, especially when they made love and always told him it was one of his more attractive and appealing qualities.
While the room was silenced by the events on screen, the successful end to a mission, both men wondered what this case would mean for them in the long run. In Morrow’s eyes, his agent could successfully kill Ari and in the process, create a bigger rift between them and the FBI than there already was. For Gibbs, it meant whether or not he got to go on peacefully with his life, and Kate, or be forever chasing the one that got away.
If it were the latter road he chose to follow, he stood to lose everything and everyone in his life and he couldn’t let that happen. Not again.
“Where was I?”
“Avoiding using Ari’s name and the word “sniper” in the same sentence, sir.”
“Your anger is understandable, Jethro. You almost lost a good agent. You want payback.”
“Don’t you, sir?”
“That’s a passion I can’t afford.”
Right from the start, Gibbs could see where this conversation was heading. How Tom Morrow lasted this long as agency director he’d never know. Of course, he was good at the political side of the job, keeping the peace between the agencies when rivalries flared up. But he’d never known the field. He’d never seen the cases on a first hand basis; he got to live them through photos and case files, all from the comfort of his office, seated in a high back leather chair. If he ever did seek payback for any agent killed or injured deliberately in the line of duty, he wouldn’t be running the show from behind the scenes.
“You honestly think it wasn’t Ari?”
“No, but there are those who do.”
Gibbs simply laughed, his suspicions being confirmed. Morrow did believe it to be Ari, but he was being damn political and determined to keep the peace between them and the FBI. Perhaps this was his way of telling Gibbs to let it go. He’d done this twice before and failed. He couldn’t even face the man himself, sending Tobias Fornell to do his dirty work instead.
It wasn’t going to happen this time either.
“Those who ran him? Those who thought they had the Holy Grail of moles? Those people covering their asses right now?”
“Make sure you cover yours when you bring him in.”
“Won’t be a problem, sir. I won’t be bringing him in.”
Morrow took a side glance at Gibbs to see if he could place the meaning of his words. He knew by the resolute gleam in his agents eyes, that he meant he wouldn’t be bringing him to be questioned, more likely shooting him in a dark alley and leaving him to die. His reasons were certainly justifiable. Morrow was quite happy to ignore the comment, as he had done when Gibbs offered his resignation, and allow him his revenge.
“Anyway, you’re not my problem anymore, Jethro.”
“You firing me, sir?”
“I’ve been offered a deputy director’s position at Homeland Security.”
“You’d leave NCIS, sir?”
“Well, the agency could use some younger blood.”
“Well, who’d be replacing you?”
Morrow remained silent as he stood and half smiled at Gibbs, who now seen a possible reason for all the ‘age’ talk. He had to know Gibbs was completely useless at politics.
“Not me.”
“Much as I like you, Jethro, I would not shoot NCIS in the head.”
Morrow turned and headed down the stairs, stopping at the second row of seating to inform someone who looked to be a young woman, “he’s your problem now”, before moving through the crowd of people congratulating each other on a job well done and leaving the room.
Gibbs followed his with his eyes, even more confused than he had been when he first stepped in. Turning to face his new boss, who was now standing at her full height, Gibbs got the second shock of the week.
“Hello, Jethro.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Being confined to the office was starting to get to Kate. She couldn’t move from Gibbs’ desk because it felt like she was in charge of something and because every time she did move, it sent waves of pain through her body, reminding her she wasn’t superhuman, as much as she’d like to be. She had some Tylenol, but that, like her sketchpad, was at her desk which meant she could neither dull the pain or draw.
The cold case files Gibbs had at his desk had been read, her emails, and his, had been checked. There had been nothing new, but Kate figured once everyone had time for the news to sink in, all their inboxes would be filled. She had called her mother, let her know what had happened and then spent fifteen minutes trying to calm the woman down. She left the telling of her siblings up to Brenda-Leigh, but was anticipating their phone calls, which had to come eventually.
To top it off, she couldn’t even take a five minute catnap. That chance had been thrown out the window when Tony returned with photographs of tyre tracks he was trying to match. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he’d done it silently, but this was Tony, and he didn’t do things by half. Every now and then, Kate caught some part of a lyric he was singing, or a tune he was humming; but it wasn’t as annoying as it should have been.
Honestly, Kate had been glad of the company, of someone familiar; it didn’t make her feel quite so vulnerable now that her friend, her armed friend was there, despite being surrounded by dozens of armed agents.
“One way, or another, I’m gonna find ya. I’m gonna getcha, getcha, getcha, getcha. One way, or another…”
“Tony, I like Blondie as much as the next person, but please. That song is doing my head in.”
“Sorry, I’ll be quiet.”
“You don’t need to be quiet, just change the song. It’s annoying hearing the same lines over and over again. Even if it is motivational.”
Tony’s hands hovered over the keyboard, ready to continue typing, but not being able to at the shock of Kate’s change in attitude. She was being calm and reasonable. Nice. If this had been any other day of the week, she’d have been yelling at him to shut up, he’d retort with something smart to get her riled up and they’d break out in a classic battle of words. This would only be ended by Gibbs intervening and telling them if they didn’t stop fighting and start working, they’d both be fired.
Maybe she was absorbing all the power that Gibbs’ desk contained; she’d sat there long enough that she almost looked like she belonged. The occasional high and mighty attitude she projected was starting to shine through, indicating that old Kate was making a comeback, and Tony could see the woman he called ’partner’ sitting there several years down the line when Gibbs eventually retired. It was in her posture, even with her injured leg propped up on the table, that at this moment Kate was surveying her future kingdom; he let her, and he would continue to do so for as long as she sat there. If only to keep the almost smile, which looked as though it could turn into a real smile with the right words, on her face.
“Hey, Tony?”
“Yes, Kate, dear?”
“I, um, I’ve been trying to say this since last night, but every time I tried I couldn’t; thought I’d give at a go now.”
“And what would that be, Katie?”
Kate laughed lightly, finding this harder than she thought, and dropped her head to look at her hands. Her arm was starting to itch where the cast was and it was becoming damn annoying. She wondered briefly if Tony’d let her borrow his letter opener for pure itch relief purposes.
She paid close attention to her fingers of her left hand, trying to work out why she felt so naked. The plaster stopped just above the knuckles, the uneven edge resting where her rings normally sat. That’s when it clicked.
When they were trussing her up like a Christmas turkey in the hospital, she was told her rings had to come off. This had fuelled the start of Kate’s anger as she started arguing with the doctor. Gibbs had pulled him off to the side when Kate had paused for breath, and explained the situation to him. He was very understanding to her mindset, and left Gibbs alone with her to gently persuade her to take the rings off. Kate watched him remove the chain from around his neck, which held his dog tags, and thread both rings onto it. He couldn’t understand why she was getting so worked up over something so small, and looking back now, neither could she.
“Kate, you’re zoning out on me.”
“Sorry, but can you blame me? Look, what I’m trying to say…is thank you.”
“Yeah, well…”
She’d made him uncomfortable and now he was trying to work out how to take her praise. It wasn’t anything he was used to, because being on Gibbs’ team meant you learnt for yourself when you done a good job and didn’t need to have anyone tell you so. Kate needed him to get used to it, and quickly, because over the coming weeks he’d be hearing it a lot; especially when her mother got a hold of his private extension number.
Despite wanting to take this conversation further, maybe explore what Tony was feeling in regards to her practically proclaiming him a hero, Kate’s eyes were slowly drawn away from him by a commotion on the stairs. Tony watched her with interest as she frowned, and turned in his seat to find out what she was watching.
Gibbs had obviously finished his meeting with Morrow and was standing on the stairs, facing a very attractive redhead, who he was having a very heated discussion with. Tony was suddenly feeling very nervous. Would he have to soothe Kate’s fears at this redhead being on the scene, and judging by her interaction with Gibbs, looked set to be here for a while.
Kate couldn’t see her face but could tell from the way she dressed and held herself, she was a woman of authority. Her tailored skirt suit fitted perfectly and she looked every inch the woman in charge. The suit would be designer, Kate guessed; far more expensive than anything she herself had ever worn or even glanced at while window shopping. Fiery red hair was done up in a neat, classy chignon at the base of her neck, and like the rest of her, looked to be professionally styled. If it weren’t for the angry frown Kate had a partial view of, she’d have almost looked like a delicate porcelain faced doll.
Kate’s curiosity peaked immensely, as it was known to do, when Gibbs took half a step up, further into the redhead’s personal space, and gave her half a smirk. The smirk that looked like half a smile and was only given to Kate alone when they were together sharing a private moment.
Jealousy suddenly overtook minor curiosity and Kate felt the shields go up.
Gibbs took a step to the side, allowing the woman to precede him and lead down into the squadroom. Parts of their conversation could be heard now as they got closer; her wanting to continue in private, him telling her they could talk on the way to his house. Kate’s house. She would play disinterested for as long as possible, but the last thing Kate needed were thoughts that her husband was having an affair. With the redhead. This is what cemented Kate’s instant dislike for the woman; she was a redhead, and everyone knew of her husband’s former fascination with them.
But if what Kate knew about redheads to be true, this woman would certainly be one to watch for the moment, judging by the way she was handling Gibbs and was obviously determined to get things her way. As they rounded the stairs, it was clear she was displeased with Gibbs reaction to her and what she wanted.
“Gibbs!”
“Hey, I got an injured agent, and a sniper on the loose. I do not have ten minutes to spare. Tony, where are we?”
“McGee and Abby are working firearms analysis. I’m matching tyre tracks to the vehicles.”
Tony paid far too much attention to the photo in his hands for Gibbs not to notice that he and Kate had been witness to his conversation, if he could call it that, with Jen. Where Tony was more discreet in his observations by slyly peering over the photo in his hands for a proper look at the woman beside him, Kate was far more obvious; she was openly eyeing the woman with an arched brow, trying to define whether she was of any threat to her marriage or not.
Kate sat a little straighter, grimacing at the pain in her knee, when the redhead looked in her direction and both women offered the other a tight, unsure smile. With no idea who she was, or how much she knew about her relationship with Gibbs, Kate vowed to keep quiet on everything from her marriage to her personal view on Ari’s attempt on her life. It was no one’s business but her own.
After checking in with Tony, and preventing himself from slapping the man upside the head for leering at Jen, Gibbs made his was to Kate under the guise of retrieving something from his desk. He crouched down, raiding his bottom drawer while Kate kept focused on the computer monitor. It wasn’t as private as they would have liked, but Gibbs kept his voice low enough for only Kate to hear.
“You’re stuck here for a while longer, I’m afraid.”
“It’s fine. The idea of being home alone wasn’t appealing anyway.”
“I could take you to Maureen’s.”
“No, she’ll only fuss.”
“And you don’t think we’ll fuss?”
“I like you fussing, and you know when to leave me alone.”
“Well, I’ll be back to fuss once I deal with Jen.”
“Jen? Know her already, do you?”
Upon hearing her husband was already on a first name basis with this redhead, Kate subtlety ran her eyes over the woman again, profiling her as she looked around the room. It was clear she was trying not to look too impatient as she waited for Gibbs, and that she was severely unimpressed with DiNozzo’s leering.
Kate felt a red haze descend as her jealousy rose. It seemed as though Jethro Gibbs had been keeping secrets from her and that wasn’t like him. She knew, in her gut, that he must’ve known her years ago, but whether it had been in a platonic or intimate basis remained to be seen. If ‘Jen’ had a predetermined game plan of recapturing her possible former lovers heart, Kate was going to fight tooth and nail for her man. Injuries or not.
“I’ll tell you later.”
“Does she know about us?”
“No, and I’d like to kept it that way for a while. You want anything from home?”
“Your red sweatshirt. The one with the hood. Oh, and feed the dog.”
“Okay. I’ll be back soon.”
Kate smiled slightly and nodded. The hand that had sneaked it’s way onto her thigh somewhere during their talk, to make up for the fact he couldn’t kiss her, was gradually inching higher and if it continued it would make for a very embarrassing situation. Kate caught Gibbs’ hand, stalling his progress, and raised her eyebrow.
Gibbs smirked and took her silent warning for what it was, but acknowledged the glimmer in her eye that promised they’d continue this later in a more private setting. As he stood, his knee protested after having been kneeling for so long, and he idly wondered if Kate’s knee would do the same in the future.
“No one is to leave the building. DiNozzo, keep working on those tyre tracks. McGee’s on protection detail with Abby. I’ll say it again; no one leaves the building.”
Turning back to Kate, he carefully moved her leg off his desk so he could help her stand up. The padding in the seat wasn’t all that great and he figured not only would her back be sore, but her backside must have been numb having been sitting for so long.
Jen watched Gibbs’ interactions with his agents with a suspicious eye. More specifically, his interactions with the young brunette he currently had his arms around as he helped her walk. She could see he was protective of her, and the way she leant into him meant she trusted him not to let her fall or get further injured as he guided her around the desk. She hadn’t seen this side of Jethro Gibbs in six years, when she had been the ultimate cause of it. It was a nice surprise to see he was still capable of this amount of care and attention. Affection, maybe? After everything that had happened, especially between them, Jen thought the next time she laid eyes upon the man, he’d be a jaded, older marine. Apparently not.
It was when the light bounced off the golden band that adorned Gibbs’ ring finger, that Jen realised where the change in her former lover had come from; she could only pray to God that he didn’t divorce again, for the sake of her sanity and his teams.
“Katie, you’re in charge. I’ll be back in an hour.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Soft green eyes followed the retreating form of the fiery red head who was leaving with the man he called boss. To go to his house. Alone. To have privacy. Tony knew there was no way Gibbs would ever cheat on Kate, not in a million years. But if anything, Gibbs had warned him redheads were dangerous, sly and cunning. And pretty handy with sports equipment.
When the legs he was watching finally vanished, Tony sat still, his eyes fixed on the elevator doors, almost willing his semi-fantasy woman to return to him. She could almost have been his perfect woman, had that particular person not already be sat opposite him.
Kate leant against her desk and adjusted the sling which was digging into her shoulder and neck. She was ready to get rid of it, because she didn’t really need it other than to support the weight of her cast. She would much rather have both arms wrapped around Gibbs instead of just one, while the other lay cradled and useless between them. This, Kate felt, fully justified the reasons why she struggled out of the sweatshirt, t-shirt and pulled the sling over her head.
Extending her arm to relieve the stiffness in her elbow, Kate watched DiNozzo practically drooling on his desk. It seemed strange that she’d reverted to calling him ‘DiNozzo’ in her mind, instead of Tony. She supposed it was because he found fantasizing over Jen far more interesting than trawling through images of tyre tracks; at least from his point of view. She was more than a little disgusted, that instead of tracking down her would be killer, he was sat there daydreaming.
“Your mother should’ve washed your mind out with soap.”
Tony turned his head so fast he almost gave himself whiplash. He’d been so taken by ‘Mystery Woman’ that he hadn’t noticed Kate had stripped down and was now wearing less than she normally did in the gym. He’d never seen her in that top, or anything like it before. It wasn’t anything he’d ever imagine her wearing, let alone buying, but it looked good on her.
It was tight. Black and tight. It barely reached the middle of her ribcage and that, along with the joggers that sat low on her hips, left her entire stomach bare for all to see.
There was enough material on her to be suitable enough for a top to work out in at the gym, and keep her suitably covered. He screwed his eyes up to try and see the straps, and noticed they were hooked on to the rest of the top. He had dated enough women to know a little about fashion, and figured this was one of those multiway tops, with detachable straps. There wasn’t enough to prevent him having a very clear view of everything. He knew she probably knew this. It would be a typical Kate thing to do wear something like this just to screw with his mind, and shatter any pre-determined ideas he had of her. Just like the wet t-shirt photo.
Tony praised the day he found the Holy Grail of photos; that his innocent little Catholic Katie wasn’t as innocent as she wanted people to believe. He liked this wild child side Kate had, it was as if she had an evil twin who came out to play every so often.
When his eyes eventually began roving, he realised why she was probably wearing such a small top; the large purple, almost black bruise that covered her left side would be that reason. Tony knew what it was like to have injured ribs, and any kind of pressure on them hurt like hell, even clothes. But a bruise that size scared him, because he had helped increase it’s size, twice. His eyes moved up again and he spotted the same kind of bruise that was slowly spreading over her breast plate. This was Ari’s doing. All in all, she’d come away from that rooftop a very lucky woman.
“You see an attractive woman, and your only thought is Nooner.”
“Was not.”
“Was, too. I’ve always known what you were thinking, Tony.”
Instead of responding, because he knew she was right, Tony let his eyes wander again. He couldn’t help it; this was his thing when faced with a gorgeous woman who was half naked, and it wasn’t every day he had that pleasure directly in front of him. He was going to remember every single detail, because he knew this would be the closest he ever got. The wet t-shirt picture and the fact he shared a bathroom with her while she was naked in the shower were nothing compared to this. He didn’t bother being discreet, because Kate needed normality and not treated as if she were a victim.
“What? What are you up to?”
Exactly the reaction he was looking for, if he wasn‘t mistaken. He continued to ogle, noting for the first time the freckle to the left of her navel, the scar on the right. He was actually trying to see if the infamous tattoo was visible, but he couldn’t see any ink at all. Still, that didn’t stop him imaging where and what it was. Hadn’t actually stopped since he found out about it.
There was a gleam in Tony’s eyes that told Kate all she needed to know; he was fantasizing, which was nothing new, but he was fantasizing about her. Then again, this was nothing new either; Kate had just grown used to enough that when he did it, she never noticed. Until now.
“I don’t believe you! You’re having a sexual fantasy about me?!”
“Can’t help it; have you seen what you’re wearing? Or not wearing.”
“Tony!”
“You know, I’ve often pictured you naked. Looking good, Katie girl.”
Kate bit her lip to stop herself laughing as Tony licked his lips and got a dreamy look in his eye, as if he were picturing her now. She knew exactly what he was doing, because she’d done it herself. It was easy to not feel like a victim when your partner was making an ass of himself.
She was ready with a scathing remark on her lips, but only got as far as growling low in her throat when she noticed the woman standing off to the side, smiling amusedly at their antics.
“Can we help you?”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Gibbs had driven at his usual speed, wanting nothing more than to change, discuss whatever it was that Jen wanted and get back to the office. He couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that the woman who was once his partner was now his boss. She had been a good agent and a great partner, but that was six years ago and obviously a lot of things had changed. He was one of them.
He ushered her up the steps and through the front door where they were greeted with the small, yappy canine Kate just had to name Tony, pushed her past the living room and straight down the hall to the basement door. He wanted to keep his marriage to Kate on the quiet for now, at least until he had figured out of Jen had an agenda or not; the wedding photo on the wall in the living room would be huge giveaway to who his bride had been. He knew she knew, because he’d seen her glance at his ring, but what he hoped she didn’t know was whom he’d married.
He waited in the hall until he was sure she wouldn’t leave the basement while he was gone, and quickly ran upstairs to change. All the while being followed by Tony. He smiled when he entered the bedroom, Kate’s perfume hitting him, and went about his business. He didn’t want to take too long away from Jen because the longer he was gone, the more time she had to snoop in his private area. He wouldn’t put it past her to do something like that; she was a trained investigator after all, it was in her nature to search for the clues.
On his way out the bedroom, he stopped by the chest of drawers, rooting through them till he found the red sweatshirt, with the hood, that Kate had requested. It had been a Christmas present from Carol a couple of years earlier and he had worn it a maximum of five times before Kate stole it and declared it hers. Gibbs didn’t mind. Red looked much better on her than it did on him.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Jen wandered round the basement, admiring the quality of workmanship that had gone into the boat from as many angles as she could find in the room. If this was the boat she had watched him build six years ago, he hadn’t made much progress in that time. She assumed the reason for that was the fact he had remarried, and had no real reason to seek distraction in timber like he once used to.
She walked round the boat once more before coming to a stop at the workbench and pulling the stool out from underneath. She took her time alone to reflect on what she’d seen in the office; on how Gibbs responded so differently to his agents. Having not had the chance to read over their personnel files, or be introduced, Jen was working purely on speculation. It was easy to narrow down who was the favourite on the team, who had the brains and who had the brawn; she figured the brunette Gibbs had his arms around, ’Katie‘, to be a mixture of all three, but mainly the favourite. ‘DiNozzo’ looked to be the brawn behind the operations, so that meant there was an agent missing - the brains. She decided the first thing she’d do would be to gain access to the files of the agents who worked for Gibbs, and to learn more about them. To find out if there was anything she should know and keep her eye out for. A shadow at the basement door caught Jen’s attention and she voiced her first thoughts upon arriving downstairs.
“Is this the same boat you were building six years ago?”
Gibbs came down the stairs quickly, the red sweat shirt in his hands and stepped into the room. He could remember working on a boat in this same basement while Jen watched him from the steps. It had been before Paris, they were simply co-workers at the time and she’d come over to talk about a case. In fact, she was very much like Kate in the sense she knew and understood the reasons behind his boat building obsession and that she didn’t shy away from doing hard work for a masterpiece.
“Nope.”
“What happened to it?”
She was also persistent, like Kate.
“Burned her.”
“Why would you…you named it after an ex-wife, didn’t you?”
Gibbs glared half heartedly at Jen through the ribs of the boat while she smirked back. She knew she’d named it after an ex, Jen was there when he was building the damn thing. She had been his rock, been there when the divorce had finalised and then, like Diane and the others, she’d upped and left him.
“Which one?”
“You know damn well, ‘which one’.”
He looked at her again after he’d turned off the lights in the boat, and found himself seeing her for perhaps the first time since she’d got back. She had aged well, gracefully. There were a few more lines and a bit more weight, but it all looked good on her. It suited her.
“Why didn’t you change the name?”
“It wouldn’t matter; every time I went out on her, I’d think of Diane.”
“You could’ve sold it.”
“And watch some other guy sail off on her?”
“You didn’t care who sailed off on Diane!”
It was clear she was enjoying this, even if it was at his expense. If he’d been meeting her again under different circumstances, when his and his teams lives weren’t in danger he’d have happily bantered with her. But he’d taken her here under the cover of discussing work, serious problems, not his past failed relationships.
“Leroy Jethro Gibbs…you, are a strange man.”
“Me? Hah!”
*~*~*~*~*~*
The woman currently sat in McGee’s chair caused Kate’s guards to rise. There was something about her, specifically her eyes, that made Kate’s skin crawl because she seemed hauntingly familiar. If she hadn’t known any better, she’d say it was Ari in drag, but even he wasn’t that good. Maybe with the help of the CIA, but he was a wanted man now and not even they could save him.
They hadn’t learned a lot about her, other than her name was Ziva David and she was a Mossad Officer who had recently flown in and she was hell bent on speaking with Gibbs, no one else. When Kate had originally tried to pass herself off as the Gibbs in question, Miss David had merely chuckled and stated she wanted to speak to her male counterpart. Kate realised then they were dealing with someone who had obviously been keeping tabs on them for some reason, and she was desperate to know why.
From the corner of her eye, she could see Tony was intrigued by the newcomer who knew more about them than she cared to let on, but he was also watching her with a suspicious eye. She couldn’t really fault him for finding her, or Jen, attractive or for acting like a dog on heat recently; poor guy hadn’t been very fortunate with the ladies, not even when he played his “I’m sick and poorly” card.
Even he had failed at getting information from Ziva, playing the “I’m the senior field agent - I command all” card for all it was worth, which wasn’t a lot, but it looked as though he’d had enough of Ziva’s attitude and was ready to have another go.
“Miss David, you can sit there and slouch provocatively for another half hour if you’d like, or you can tell me what you need, and maybe I can help.”
“You can’t help me because I’m here to stop Special Agent Gibbs from killing a Mossad officer.”
As had happened two nights previous, the colour drained from Kate’s face completely, and if it weren’t for the fact she was holding onto the desk with a death grip, she would’ve collapsed. She tried her hardest to keep any hint of fear from her face, but something must’ve shown for Tony to be out his chair and by her side in a flash. It didn’t take her long to find her voice and when she did, she felt the warm weight of Tony’s hand on her lower back, as a silent testament of him backing her up whatever, and she instinctively slid closer to him.
“Ari Haswari?”
“Yes.”
While every part of her being was shaking with fear, anger and hatred, Kate somehow managed to keep her voice calm and level, her tone cold and full of the same hatred that had her shaking, and told Ziva exactly what she thought.
“I’d wish you luck, but I want the bastard dead too.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
By the time Gibbs returned with Jen, fifteen minutes earlier than anticipated, Kate had pulled her chair up next to Tony’s so he could still do his job. When the pain in her knee and ribs finally became unbearable, Tony got her the Tylenol from her desk, which she swallowed dry, and offered her a massage. Her pain was laid bare when she allowed him to take her right leg in his hands and rub some feeling back into her calf. Neither were entirely comfortable at having Ziva in the office with them, but they couldn’t exactly kick her out with no reason.
They didn’t say much, other than Tony asking Kate how her knee felt and Kate responding. She could feel Ziva’s eyes on her as she was sitting with her back to her, this going against everything she’d ever been taught, but knew Tony was the master of diverting his eyes and was watching her every move.
When Ziva sees the flame hair behind the black trench coat worn by the man she knows to be Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, she is out the chair and on her feet faster than Kate has time to recognise the grim look on Gibbs face that spells trouble for them.
In between Ziva departing her seat and Gibbs heading to his desk, Kate and Tony slowly untangled themselves and followed Gibbs over, knowing he had information for them and vice versa. Theirs seemed slightly more important than his, because while he would only be introducing the red head, they were introducing the woman determined to stop him getting his revenge. There had been a silent declaration between the two, that Tony be the one to tell Gibbs, as he was senior agent and would be more comfortable in explaining the presence of the olive skinned female.
Gibbs could see the hesitation in his agent’s eyes as all three of them eyed up the two women standing by Kate’s desk, quietly conversing over something or other. He knew Kate would have no problem speaking her mind, although she held her tongue, but Tony seemed to be a different matter. He was waiting it out, seeing how long it would take before Gibbs became curious and asked about the woman who had been sitting with them before he offered up the information willingly. For once in his life, or at least the part he had known Tony, he was going to play into his expectations and ask first.
“Ziva David, Mossad. She’s here to stop you from whacking Ari. Yours?”
“Director Jenny Shepard. Same mission.”
“Which agency?”
“Ours.”
Tony shared a look with Kate as Gibbs handed her the requested red sweatshirt. Kate was far more interested in Jenny Shepard now than she was in Ziva David. Peering past Tony, she looked her over again, wondering what it was Gibbs had seen in her or if he even seen past the red hair; assuming of course, her initial thoughts of a love affair were correct.
Jen was anxious to get the introduction to Gibbs team over and done with, to at least remove the heavy air of tension that had settled on them. She expected nothing short of fireworks once Gibbs was introduced to Ziva and learned of her mission in the States, but perhaps his agents would be more receptive to the idea that Ari Haswari was not their culprit.
She knew Ziva would’ve explained, perhaps not in detail, her presence and given them a vague idea of who she was and why she was here to the two agents and they would run to tell Gibbs what they knew immediately. From what she could tell when she returned to the office, they were neither thrilled nor displeased with the idea Ziva had given them; but working with Gibbs meant you learnt to school your features to prevent the opposition knowing what you really thought. It was a skill she had picked up quickly.
She wasn’t expecting an entirely warm welcome from them once they learned that she too was there to stop their boss’s actions, and also that she was their new official boss. Not every battle could be won.
Ending her conversation with Ziva, and seeing Gibbs had also ended his with “Katie” and “DiNozzo”, Jen led Ziva over to his desk, ready to get the formalities out of the way and move onto more pressing issues. Like how to stop Gibbs killing an innocent man. All three had their eyes on them; “DiNozzo” was leering again, “Katie” was showing some interest in them, but Jen picked out the underlying jealousy and insecurity. Gibbs was his typical self, not giving anything away and was no doubt, not willing to accept what they told him.
“Special Agent Gibbs, Ziva David, Mossad.”
“Ziva. Director Shepard has spoken often of you.”
Kate shot Gibbs an undisguised look of jealousy, still obviously wanting to know how well exactly the two knew each other in the past. He let it slide, knowing Kate wasn’t easily provoked by other women, but also knew he was heading into dangerous territory where these two were concerned.
“Really?”
Jen, knowing full well how much she’d told Ziva and knowing where she was taking this, took them down the road of the operation that had been in progress in MTAC earlier when Gibbs had walked in. Ziva suddenly became modest, which wasn’t in her nature, stating she’d only acquired the intel for the op.
When Ziva stepped away to answer her satellite phone, Jen moved into her place and noticed for the first time Kate had slipped on the red sweatshirt Gibbs had left his house with, and was leaning against the desk casually, next to Gibbs. She would’ve checked the other woman’s hand for a ring, but Kate had kept her left arm under the sweatshirt, and if she had been wearing rings, it wouldn’t have been proof of anything. She didn’t necessarily have to be married to Gibbs, despite what their body language said. And if Ziva knew anything of a relationship between them, she hadn’t said anything and Jen doubted she would have anyway since she knew the full extent of her previous partnership; she tended to use that term lightly.
The only real problem, aside from the fact Gibbs seemed not to care for Ziva’s presence, was the fact that the man beside her seemed to have a hard time understanding she was the new director of NCIS. His eyes were running over her, and she could see Gibbs was ready to hit him and that Kate was rolling her eyes. She could simply smirk and walk away, letting him think what he wanted, or she could do her first thing as boss and let it be known that she was indeed the new boss.
“Yes, I really am the new NCIS director.”
Giving her a lopsided smile, embarrassed at being caught checking her out, Tony agreed with her a nodded his head slightly. This time Jen did smirk, satisfied she’d got her point across and walked away, leaving them to their own devices.
“Wow.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Once Jen had turned away, Gibbs was on his feet, arms around Kate. He wanted nothing more than to take her away from here, lay her on a beach somewhere and never let her out of his sight. He knew for the moment, Kate was safer here than she would be anywhere else, like at home where she’d be alone and unguarded. There was every chance Ari would come after her again, or push his luck and go for Jen or Abby. His heart was beating at a steady rate knowing that three of the women he cared for were within his reach and for the most part, safe from danger.
“Did you feed the dog?”
“Yep. She was running round the back yard last time I checked.”
“Okay. I’m going to go see Abby, see how she is. I don’t think she’ll take being shot at as well as the rest of us.”
“McGee’s down there.”
Kate chuckled and ran her hand over Gibbs’ arm, pulling herself up to her full height and kissing his cheek. It was easy to see why he’d been divorced three times if he didn’t understand the bond a girl had with her friends. She knew that Abby wouldn’t open up to McGee in the way that Kate opened up to Tony or Gibbs. Kate was one of the few in the building who wasn’t afraid of Abby’s outlandish style or music, she accepted it was a part of who Abby was. Neither were afraid to voice their thoughts with the other, confide in each other. It was the best friendship Kate had had in a while, since her job move. She may have been a favourite among her friends when she was Secret Service, but she hardly ever heard from them now. It seemed she wasn’t as important to them as she once had been, and was now waiting to be inundated with phone calls from them; but for the moment, the team, her family was Kate’s priority and a little thing like an assassin wasn’t going to stand in her way to help them through this and Abby’s lab was calling her.
“And you really think Abby will talk to him about how she’s feeling? McGee’s a great agent, but he doesn’t exactly know how to deal with crying women. And a crying Abby is something else.”
Gibbs was willing to agree with this, but was distracted by Tony, who was still standing at his desk gawping after Jen. Mumbling something in Kate’s ear, he passed her and rounded his desk to go after Jen and smacked Tony over the back of the head hard.
“Ow. Good to have you back, Boss.”
Neither one seen the smirk on Gibbs lips as he walked away, passing Ziva and catching snippets of her conversation which were spoken in Hebrew. His gut was still churning and he knew Ari was still in the area, he just had to work out a way of luring him out of hiding. Perhaps Miss David would be of some use, but he doubted she’d turn against one of her own.
Tony turned to face Kate, grin in place as if proud of his accomplishment of being slapped. He probably was proud, seeing as he’d been trying to get the man to do it since last night, and he was made to feel wanted again. Just like so many other things, Kate couldn’t hold it against him if he wanted to piss her husband off; she’d been worried at his reaction to things last night, and how he was being so un-Gibbs like, it was nice to see another little piece of normalcy sliding into place.
Kate hobbled round the desk the best she could, although in hindsight it was probably a better idea to have asked Tony to retrieve her crutch before attempting to walk without it. She could feel the swelling in her knee had decreased immensely, but the dull ache the painkillers couldn’t quite stop was still there and was gradually becoming sharper. Noticing her increasing discomfort, Tony laid his hand on Kate’s shoulder, stopping her where she was and pushed her firmly down to rest against the desk again. He moved away to get her crutch and the bottle of Tylenol sitting on his desk.
“Maybe you should go see Ducky again?”
“Maybe. It’s not so bad, as long as I keep off it. Or don’t move at all.”
“Want me to carry you down to Abby?”
“No, you should stay here and match those tracks. Besides, I think Gibbs might be a little too, slap-happy, today.”
Smiling, although it looked halfway between a smirk and a grimace, Tony turned away from her and went back to work, leaving Kate to chuckle at her own little joke. Despite everything, Kate was determined to paint a happy face on disaster, and was going to start by making sure Abby was okay.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Kate hadn’t long left for Abby’s when Gibbs returned to the floor, followed by Jen and Ziva. Gibbs went to his desk, while Ziva took up her former position in front of him and Jen leant against Kate’s desk. He was still unsure about Ziva, though he didn’t let it show, and was now feeling she perhaps knew a little bit too much about him for it to be comfortable.
“Miss David, whose get cut off it Ari is not a Mossad mole, but a terrorist?”
“Mine, I suppose, since I’m his control officer.”
“Ah, they promote control officers young in Mossad.”
“They have to. The good ones are dead at your age.”
Gibbs looked up at Ziva and chuckled. She had proven him right by being forward with her statement. Not even Jen knew his exact age, and he’d only told Kate in the strictest confidence and made her swear not to plan anything for his birthday, unless it was to stay in bed all day. She had forthrightly admitted to knowing more than she should about them, and this thrilled Gibbs to the deepest recesses of his infamous gut.
He asked her if she knew how he located Ari, and she told him it was through the GPS fix he’d got from Ari’s encrypted cell phone, all thanks to Fornell. Apparently, Ziva claimed, Ari wanted them to know the terrorists location so they could stop the missile. If he’d had to do it himself, he’d have blown his cover. Gibbs wasn’t believing this for a second, because Ari wasn’t aware of the assets available to Gibbs at the time, although Ziva pushed him, wanting to know which man had hung up first. To Gibbs, there was no definite proof of who hung up first, as he’d ended simultaneously with the first note of the dial tone from the other end. It may have been Ari, it may have been him. The only true way to know would be to access the phone records and Gibbs wasn’t going to prove her right by doing so, because he knew he’d hung up at the same time as Ari.
“Ari knows a fix takes only nineteen seconds. When Sharon visited Bush, Ari’s Hamas cell kidnapped Agent Todd. Why didn’t he kill her instead of freeing her to warn the Secret Service?”
“Why don’t you arrange a meet and he can tell me?”
They were pushing each other, which was somewhere along the lines of what Jen had expected, but now they were pushing too far. In all honesty, Kate seemed to be at the epicentre of this and perhaps she should be brought in on this conversation so she could share her thoughts on why Ari had not killed her when he kidnapped her, but the woman wasn‘t around for her opinion to be asked.
In the time she’d stepped away from Gibbs until the time she’d returned, Jen had acquired the agents personnel files and also the reports from each encounter they’d had with Ari Haswari.
She’d paid special attention to Agent Todd’s file, learning upon first glance that she was “Katie”, and glanced down the file to her marital status and emergency contact. From this she learned the young brunette was indeed married, though the file never stated to whom, and that her emergency contact was Agent DiNozzo. She thought it odd that a co-worker be the first person called should she be injured instead of her husband, or partner, but passed it over.
The next document that caught her attention was the after action report that had been filled out after Kate had been kidnapped and the profiler‘s evaluation of the man. Everything she’d read in the past half hour became a distant memory when she heard Ziva slam her hands on the desk, arguing heatedly with Gibbs. This was more what she expected when she introduced the two; they were as bad as each other, neither one willing to back down from what they believed.
“Ziva, assure your deputy director that even though Ari Haswari is a suspect, no action will be taken unless we have evidentiary proof.”
She waited patiently for one or the other to back down and give their consent, stepping between Ziva and the desk. As was typical behaviour for both parties, neither one were showing signs of backing down and so it was left to Jen to turn the patented Gibbs glare on Ziva until she nodded and stepped back slightly. Turning to Gibbs, she gave him the same glare, which he returned in her direction.
“Proof before action.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
When she stepped out the elevator, Kate heard the distant sound of gunfire which had her both reaching for her weapon, which wasn’t there, and frozen in place at the same time. Reaching for the gun meant she released her grip on the crutch and she fell back against the elevator doors, and she realised the sounds were coming from the ballistics lab next to Abby’s office. Shaking off her momentary hesitation, she pushed forwarded and headed into Abby’s lab, where she could see McGee sitting at the office table looking decidedly bored.
Entering the office, Kate could see that McGee wasn’t just bored, he was daydreaming, and hadn’t noticed her arrival for which she was grateful. It was bad enough everyone was treading softly around her, it would’ve done her no good if someone had seen her standing by the elevator frozen in place. She wasn’t going to let one little crime scene mishap rule her life or make her change careers. She wasn’t going to be a woman who flinched every time she heard a gunshot, because she was determined to reach her goals, fulfil several of her ambitions and that meant staying in this line of work.
Now she was standing in front of McGee, she chuckled at the sight of his spaced out appearance and the fact he’d yet to notice her. It was entertaining to watch the thoughts appear on the young man’s face, but was taken aback when it was clear his thoughts had gone down another avenue and he began speaking to himself.
“You’re my sweet superhero, Kate.”
Whatever McGee was thinking, because Kate couldn’t entirely read it, it was certainly entertaining. Even more so when Abby stepped out of the ballistics lab and up to Kate, offering her a supportive shoulder so she could take her weight off the crutch. Neither could help laughing at McGee’s mystified expression, but became silent when his line of sight switched to them. It was clear he was looking past them, or that they hadn’t even penetrated his conscious at all.
“Oh my God, I’m becoming Tony.”
Kate was ready to shake him from his stupor as she now knew what McGee was thinking, but Abby held her back, whispering about wanting to see exactly what he was thinking. As much as she wanted to push Abby away and slap McGee for whatever he was thinking about her, it was the first real entertaining thing she’d seen for three days and perhaps a little part of her wanted to see how it played out.
McGee leaned back in his chair, his eyes going wide and jaw dropping. Whatever he was visualising it had certainly taken the wind out of him. The image, which Kate was glad she couldn’t see, had to have been created through sheer admiration for her, and she couldn’t find it in her to chastise the poor guy. This was the second major event McGee had been in that would have caused his heart to leap into his throat and his stomach to drop. It was surprising he hadn’t had to run off to the bathroom when they’d returned to the office; Kate certainly wouldn’t blame him if he did.
“Oh, wow!”
Only when they realised McGee’s eyes were growing wider and his cheeks were getting redder did Kate push Abby forward to stall his fantasy before it went any further. It was embarrassing enough that she could hardly walk and the rest of it, but now her male colleagues were having disturbing fantasies about her. She didn’t doubt for one second this was a first time occurrence, she knew Tony fantasised fairly regularly as he’d just admitted it to her, but McGee was like her little brother. That was just wrong.
“Wow what?”
McGee literally jumped in his chair as Abby burst into his dreams and his fantasy Kate vanished from sight, only to be replaced by a slightly disgruntled Kate standing just behind Abby. How would he ever be able to talk his way out of this one? He couldn’t exactly say ‘Oh, I was just visualising Kate dressed as a dominatrix in leather; complete with iron collar, cop hat and whip. Not to forget the fishnet stockings.’, could he? He’d rather face a pack of ravenous wolves, namely Gibbs, than tell them that.
“Um, I, um, I-I, um…”
“McGee, stop ‘ah-umming’ and spit it out.”
Kate’s tone of voice matched with his previous image of her, lethal and disciplinary, and he had to shake the chills off just to be able to answer them clearly. Even then, he still stuttered and refused to look Kate in the eye knowing she’d see through the subtle lie.
“I was, uh, thinking about Kate.”
Abby smiled slightly, admitting she’d been thinking about Kate too, and Kate couldn’t understand when she’d suddenly become the agencies perfect fantasy girl. Hell, if even her best friend was imagining her now, it didn’t speak well for the rest of the people in the building. Abby turned and gave Kate the once over, before smiling secretly to herself and nodding her head. Kate didn’t even want to think about what Abby had her in, knowing her dress sense it could be anything from leather and chains to lace and silk. Anything was possible today it seemed.
“What is it with everyone fantasizing about seeing me naked, or dressed up in latex today?”
Kate shook her head trying to find the answer to her own question, following Abby into the lab who was still smiling to herself and leaving McGee to follow behind them. He wasn’t paying much attention to where he was going, far more interested in the vision that had reappeared, and ended up walking directly into Kate, who in turn fell against Abby.
Turning simultaneously, both bemused by McGee’s lack of attention and the way he was still drawn to whatever he was seeing in that room. Kate smirked and made her way to the chair she’d sat in before, leaving Abby to deal with McGee the best way she knew how; a hard slap up the back of his head.
“Ow! Abby!”
“That’s for thinking naughty thoughts, McGee.”
Walking to her computer and leaving McGee to stand at the door and blush, Abby inputted the data from the bullets she’d just fired and began comparing them to what had been retrieved from the park and her lab. There wasn’t much she could tell Gibbs other than the fact she had two definite possible matches. As much as she was loathe to admit it, Ari was pretty nifty with a gun, and was methodical in his cleanup. But he seemed to be making it too easy for them. The bullets he was using, and the fact Abby was able to narrow down the make of model to just two made her think something hinky was heading their way, and she didn’t like it.
“Abby…you’ve never imagined me…y’know?”
“Not naked or anything, but yeah. I got a pretty funky image of you earlier; the Goth look would totally suit you, by the way.”
“I think I’ll leave that to you, Abbs.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Gibbs gut had never proved him wrong. In all the years he’d been listening to it, his senses had never once let him down, and today, they were proving him right again. Jen had dragged Ziva away to MTAC to contact Mossad’s deputy director, so he dragged DiNozzo off to the elevators. It was really an excuse to get in a really hard head slap for the way he’d been leering over Jen, but it seemed DiNozzo wanted one anyway, if his comment about Ziva not being his type was anything to go by.
“She’s been in contact. That’s the only way she could know I hung up on him.”
He waited for DiNozzo’s reaction to his admittance, but received nothing more than a furrowed brow and Tony telling him he didn’t want to make him pissed. He backtracked, saying it was weird when he was being nice, but not that he wasn’t nice and eventually settled for asking the forbidden question. Ultimately, he was questioning Gibbs’ gut, and experience had taught him never to do that, but Tony needed to see this from every angle.
“What if Ziva’s right and Ari knew you traced the call? Maybe he wasn’t the sniper.”
“She is right. Ari wanted me to raid that warehouse; he set me up and it almost cost Kate her life.”
Tony knew when to push it with Gibbs and when to cut the crap and this was one of those times to just keep quiet. It seemed to him that the guilt was eating him up. This was yet another side to Gibbs he’d never seen and one that scared him. Everything could be blamed on Ari; Gibbs just got target fixation and didn’t see the downsides to going after him, that was all starting to come into play now. The fact that Kate would be off duty for however many weeks was really nothing compared to the fact that they’d all been well and truly thoroughly played.
Since Gibbs had met with Ari at the coffee shop he knew they were playing games with each other, that Ari had accepted his challenge and had almost won it. Perhaps they had been underestimating Ari this whole time, and perhaps he did have the same resources.
His team were also raising valid points; why didn’t he kill Kate at the farmhouse? Is he a mole or a terrorist? Why go after Kate in the first place? What would it take to kill the bastard? For the moment, Gibbs didn’t care, he was going to do whatever it took the play the game, and to do that he’d need Tony on Ziva’s tail because Gibbs was adamant she had been in contact with Ari and he wanted to know what she knew. If Ziva led Tony to Ari, it was better for them, because then they could ‘question him’. Tony seemed willing to believe that all they were gonna do was tail Ziva, find Ari and bring him in, but knew on a deeper level that they were speaking unrealistically. What he didn’t hear as Gibbs left the elevator, was that he’d be bringing him in to autopsy.
*~*~*~*~*~*
There was no music, there was no over energetic goth to greet him, there was however a vast quantity of rifles on the table in front of him. He eyed them all, his training telling him their model, make and range. McGee was hovering over his shoulder, Abby was explaining what she’d found and Kate was sound asleep at Abby’s desk.
He was listening to what Abby was telling him, catching snippets of information, but in the back of his mind Gibbs couldn’t help but play out the scenario in which he finally got to kill Ari. Abby rounded the table, pointing and naming the various weapons laid before them and he interrupted her before she had a chance to continue, and picked up the M3-A1 sniper rifle. The weight was familiar, and it felt good having it in his hands again after so many years, and he couldn’t resist aiming at the wall for old times sake.
“It looks sweet the way you hold that, Boss.”
Gibbs kept his attention focused on the weapon in his hands, his eye staring at the white wall opposite him through the scope. If he gave in to his instincts to wallop McGee one over the head, Gibbs feared he wouldn’t stop. He supposed he couldn’t really find fault with him, it was an impressive weapon, but this may have been the one that almost killed Kate.
“Sweet?”
Abby knew the tone of voice, and she lowered her head only to watch at McGee’s impending demise through her eyelashes and bangs. Gibbs wasn’t interested in what ‘sweet’ meant, he wanted to know why McGee thought so; why was he so impressed by one of the many weapons that could have potentially ended his friends life.
“Uh, yeah, it’s a, uh, expression, it means-”
“Yeah, I know what it means, McGee. You think Ari looked sweet when he took a shot at Kate?”
“Of course not, Boss.”
Replacing the rifle back in the stand, Gibbs waited for Abby to jump in like she usually did to break the tension. She was quick when it came to working out the drama between all of them when it happened, and was even quicker to do so now; pointing out the two weapons that, in her opinion, took the lead. Gibbs was set to agree, turning to the monitor the check the test rounds Abby had fired off, and noting that there were more gouging in the rounds Abby had fired than there were in the ones they recovered from the two scenes.
“He was hand loading and moly-coating.”
“You are so good.”
McGee turned to Abby, questioning the terms they were using, and again Gibbs shut them out as he moved to the plasma to focus more on the evidence than what Abby was saying. It didn’t interested him to learn what he already knew, and what he knew was that this was definitely personal.
“McGee, run a trace on Tango and Bravo 51 sales, last six weeks, tri-state area. Check the Bravo first.”
McGee practically ran, having already had enough of Gibbs’ anger directed at him, leaving Abby to watch Gibbs with a careful eye. He moved slowly past the door leading into Abby’s office, not wanting to activate the sensors that would open it, and watched Kate sleeping. She’d been taking intermittent naps throughout the day, all the remaining adrenaline finally wearing off, and was surprisingly calm compared to what he’d been expecting from her.
“Any prints on the brass?”
It’s not his usual behaviour, Abby knows this and she watches him for a few more minutes before turning back to the computer monitor. She’s worried about how this will really affect them, because she knows at the moment they are all running on coffee and adrenaline mixed with guilt over being unable to protect Kate better and hate for the man that put them all in this position. She herself is running on Caf-Pow and good forensic work which is how she normally operates anyway, but the past few days have seen a lack of caffeine rushes, so now she’s relying on good forensic work and working through the little amount of excessive sugar she still has in her system. When it comes to self-delusion, no team does it better than hers.
“No. Is your gut telling you something?”
“Yeah. I need coffee.”
Brushing her aside like that won’t work, they both know it, but he tries it anyway. He tries to make his escape before she can question what he knows, but she’s quicker than him today, and she knows it must be something big if he’s trying to keep it from her. This may be his way of keeping them all safe, but not once has Gibbs ever shut her out and Abby wants him to know that no matter what he tells her, she’s strong enough to take it.
“No, Gibbs. Come on. This isn’t just another investigation. Todd is your agent, but Kate is my friend and your wife, so can you stop it with the John Wayne stare and tell me what your gut says.”
He badly wants to tell her what he knows, that they are being targeted because Gibbs has seriously pissed Ari off. They’re being targeted because Ari wants to get a point across. They’re being targeted because Ari hates him, and by going after the people he cares most about will hurt Gibbs more than shooting another hole in his shoulder would. But he can’t tell her that, because Abby would go into panic mode and her body would shut down. She wouldn’t be able to cope knowing the entire truth, so he settles for asking what he doesn’t believe. She responds with a few suggestions, and she certainly has him pegged; but she hit’s the nail on the head when she mentions coincidences.
“As a marine sniper, I used hand loaded Lapua.308, boat tail, full metal jacket, moly-coated bullets.”
“Gibbs…”
“Know what a sniper calls a Bravo 51?”
“No.”
Gibbs pauses, and looks into Abby’s office where Kate is just starting to wake up. He doesn’t know how long she’s been sleeping, but he has a feeling it’s been less than an hour and knows the next time he sees her she’ll be sleeping again.
“A Kate.”
And because there’s nothing she can say to that he walks out.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Almost twenty-four hours had passed since everyone, including Ducky, had arrived in the building, which was nothing unusual. What was unusual, was the fact that Ducky had no need to show up for work in the first place, let alone hang around. But he’d stayed for them to perhaps offer advice, or even just a shoulder to cry on.
Kate had just left, after asking if he could give her knee one more look. She hadn’t had a chance to get it seen to again after Abby’s lab had been shot through and now it was really bothering her again, even with pain relief. Ducky was thankful for the company, having decided to stay downstairs out of the way. It was more so that he didn’t encounter Gibbs, because he knew what kind of mood he was in.
He remembered the case, the killer and the final victim. He remembered the lengths Gibbs went to make sure he got his man; too far and too focused on his suspect that it cost him his marriage. Ducky certainly hoped that after only one year of wanting this son of a bitch dead, it would happen, and then no one would have to suffer anymore. Specifically Kate. She’d already confided in him once, the previous year before she was kidnapped, the Gibbs had become a terror to live with because he was so focused on catching Ari and she was terrified she was losing him.
Now that he was alone again, having wished Kate goodnight, Ducky set about clearing up again and putting the ice pack Kate had used back in the freezer for use tomorrow. He’d try to prolong his stay in the building for as long as possible, but in the end he’d resign himself to going home to deal with his mother and her corgis. That was until the phone rang and gave him an excuse to hang around for a few minutes longer.
At first he didn’t recognise the voice, the tone or accent, but it certainly struck a chord in the deepest recesses of his memory. At first he considered it to be a passing associate, but he couldn’t quite recall a man in his profession who spoke in riddles.
A man who spoke in riddles rather than naming himself. A man who keeps his identity a secret, knowing that this group of people would eventually work out he was on the phone to their elderly doctor if he were to raise the alarm, and they would put a trace on the call. He has no proof if Dr. Mallard is indeed along, but the man has never once lied to him, so he trusts his word. He knows they all know who he is down to his first word, and why he’s here and what he wants. He also knows, that every single one of them want his head on a silver platter and will each be equally happy to provide his body to the good doctor with whom he his conversing so he will get his wish to weigh his liver. Two of those people, however, want nothing more than to shoot him in the head like the mangy dog he is, and put an end to his life and the games he chose to play with them.
When Ducky finally gathered his thoughts and got his memory in order, Ari found it quite amusing to be called by his alternate name, especially by a well spoken man such as Donald Mallard. He’d been called countless things over the years, some which were true and others that were not, but he’d never been called a ‘bastard’ so many times before in his life since he encountered these people. First by Caitlin, who seemed incapable of calling him anything else, and then the rest of them followed suit and it became almost a pet name of sorts. Despite it never having been said with loving affection, which he knows Caitlin is capable of, it is a show that they like having him around if he has his own name. Ari never once thought he’d like being called a bastard as much as he did when it came to these people, but more specifically, the sound of it falling from Caitlin’s lips.
“What do you want?”
“A professional courtesy. One doctor to another.”
“Yes, well, I’d be willing to provide a free autopsy.”
Ari doesn’t doubt what he’s being told and he has reason to believe he’d be alive throughout the entire procedure. He pictures himself chained to a table while Dr. Mallard stands over him with a maniacal grin on his face and a carving knife in hand. When he moves his eyes, he sees the entire team standing round him, each with their own weapon of choice and the same grin on their faces. When he shivers, he hopes Gerald doesn’t notice. It’s one thing to think about the possibilities, it’s another to know that it will happen. He needs to get this conversation back on track, or risk losing his chance.
“Dr. Mallard, I want to prove that I didn’t attempt to kill Caitlin.”
He does love the sound of her name when he says it and has tried to say it often enough in her presence and anyone else who cares to listen when he speaks about the dark haired beauty.
“By taking Gerald hostage?”
“Gerald is free to go if you listen to my side of this tragedy.”
“I’m listening.”
Both are wary of the other but for entirely different reasons. Ducky fears that he will either shoot Gerald again, or perhaps himself if he gets the chance to do so. He’s also worried that what he is told, will affect his judgement and he will have no choice but to accept that Ari wasn’t the shooter. Ari, on the other hand, has already pictured his demise at the hands of NCIS, now he’s just worried that Ducky has said the word and they have been tracing this call and are ready and waiting for him. He isn’t paranoid, much, but he knows when he has to make a getaway.
“It’s a long story, and I don’t want to have someone trace this call.”
“Well, no one is here but me.”
As odd as it seems, Ari finds he trusts the old man’s word and tells him that he is to meet him alone and once he does, Gerald is free to go; Gerald on the other hand has every reason to believe that it’s a trap, and does his best to warn his former mentor. As much as he complained about having to listen to Ducky’s stories, he misses the old man and the team.
“Learn to trust, Gerald. I may have shot you in the shoulder, but I’ve never lied to you. Doctor?”
The more Ducky thinks about it, the more he remembers being held hostage by Ari, he knows he is telling the truth. Ari never once lied to them, and was very forthcoming about his own fear of butterflies when they were speaking of Abby’s fear of autopsy. Without a second thought for what he is letting himself in for, Ducky gives Ari his word, and agrees to exchange places with Gerald.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The squadroom had taken on the same appearance as it had the previous night; all the desks were empty and the lights were off aside from the two lone agents who were sat side by side at separate desks, both lost in thought.
Kate had come back to the squadroom practically rattling with the amount of tablets she’d had pumped into her courtesy of Ducky. She couldn’t actually remember what she’d been given, but knew she felt no pain, and inside the front pocket of her sweatshirt in a small pill box were three tablets, to be taken when the pain got too much, of extra strong painkillers. He rarely gave them out with the exception of extreme cases, and her injuries certainly justified their use. He’d warned her, though, that their strength may make her feel as though she’d be able to carry out the simplest of tasks, but that they were simply masking the pain. Kate wouldn’t use them until absolutely necessary, but was grateful that she had something more than Tylenol. Sitting at her desk, feeling her eyes closing on her, she watched Gibbs at his desk. He was too deep in his thoughts to be disturbed, but she would attempt it anyway.
“Re-evaluating your convictions? How many times have you told me ‘there’s no such thing as coincidence’?”
There was no response. It was as bad as when they’d first got back and she’d blown up in his face. She didn’t want that again, and she was too tired to summon the energy to even be angry. The nauseous feeling she’d had was coming back, and it struck her that she hadn’t eaten in quite a while, but even the thought of food was stomach turning. She clearly wasn’t getting through to him verbally, so she’d have to try some other way.
She got up on her feet, newly decorated and trusty crutch by her side and made her way to Gibbs desk. It seemed, that one of the times she’d been asleep, and while Abby had been bored, she’d taken it upon herself to make the metal stick less clinical and now it was covered in band stickers and home made NCIS decals.
Nudging Gibbs’ knees until he moved the chair back far enough so she could slip in beside him and sit between two of the six computers. She slid herself back far enough so that she was sitting comfortably, and propped her right foot up on the armrest of the chair when Gibbs turned to face her. He moved her leg and slid his chair closer so that he was between her knees.
“If you let him get to you this much, then he’s won.”
To give Kate her credit, she was trying her damnedest to stay positive and keep his spirits up. She didn’t know that simply being there was enough for him. Gibbs had already visualised everything going differently several times already, and he still couldn’t quite understand how he’d ever be able to actually find the words to thank Tony for what he’d done for them. Not just for himself and Kate, but for the entire team; he understood, like Abby, that Kate was something special to all of them. He put his hand on her thigh, as he had done earlier, as a sign of him understanding what she was telling him; he was getting too worked up on this again and needed to take a step back.
Knowing he was getting too far into her space while they were at work, Gibbs slid away from Kate but left his hand on her thigh to let her know he wasn’t shutting down on her. It seemed he’d chosen the right time, because Jen was walking towards them looking serious. If she said anything, they could pass it off as teammate support and nothing else because they still didn’t want her to know just yet.
“Jethro. I know it’s been a difficult day, for all of us.”
Realising where Kate was sitting and the position of Gibbs’ hand, Jen knew she’d been right when she thought they were married, but refrained from saying anything. It wasn’t any of her business if they had decided to break the rules Gibbs had established for himself, but really did hope that they didn’t divorce; he needed happiness in his life and it seemed Kate had been good for him.
“That’s what my DI used to say. Never believed him.”
Gibbs felt his hand been squeezed, and squeezed Kate’s thigh in response. They both looked to Jen, knowing their secret was out, but she didn’t seem all that offended at having not been told. Jen smiled back, and turned to leave the building till Gibbs called her back.
“You going to dinner with CBS?”
“I am.”
“Don’t do that interview. Please.”
Kate bit back a gasp, but felt her eyes widen. She’d only ever heard him say please once, and that was so he could gain access aboard Air Force One with her. He rarely said it these days, but he was trying and that was the main thing. Turning slightly to look at Jen, it seemed she had the same expression on her face and Kate wondered if Gibbs had ever pleaded with her before to get her to do something for him. It wasn’t exactly easy to say no to the man when he turned on the charm.
Jen looked Gibbs over, wondering why the hell he kept pushing this. He’d told her he figured Ari was going after the people in his life, women first but that didn’t seem enough of a reason. She’d known him for long enough to know that he never said thank you, frowned upon saying sorry and rarely said please unless it was something that was really important to him. She watched Kate tighten her grip on his hand and that cemented her decision.
“I’ll see if I can delay it a few days.”
“Good.”
“Good night Jethro, Kate.”
“Night.”
Jen turned away from the couple, leaving them to discuss whatever it was they had been before she’d interrupted. She didn’t have to wait long for the elevator to arrive, and was ready to go home and pour herself a large drink to get over the day from hell. It had certainly surpassed expectations. When the doors opened, she was pleased to see that she wouldn’t be travelling down alone.
“Ducky! How nice to see you again!”
“And you. Congratulations.”
Jen hadn’t seen Ducky for quite some time, and she was surprised to see that he hadn’t changed one bit. She was sure that he’d be telling the team all about their escapades in later days when she was more settled, and she couldn’t wait to see their faces upon hearing just a handful of the things they’d gotten up to.
“Going home?”
“Uh, yeah.”
With Tony out tailing Ziva and McGee down in Abby’s, Gibbs was ready to take Kate home so she could at least get a shower and something to eat, and maybe get a good night’s sleep. For some reason, his gut had started working again after several hours of being dormant and he couldn’t for the life of him work it out. Abby was protected, Tony was capable of defending himself, he was with Kate and Jen had an escort home. He could hear parts of Jen’s conversation floating over from the open elevator doors and that’s when it hit him.
“Ducky.”
Without giving Kate an explanation, he was out his chair and running towards the elevator which was now descending to the ground floor. He should’ve realised earlier that if Ari couldn’t get to the women in his life, he’d go after the one person who he trusted with his life and knew him better than anyone. Why didn’t he think of this? How the hell could he have been so blind?
“Jethro?”
He turned back to face Kate, and he could see the worry in her eyes for him just as she could see the anger in his at Ari. Without a word spoken, she could understand his silent declaration that if one hair on that man’s head was out of place, Ari would have to face more than having hell to pay.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs has a meeting with Tom Morrow and meets a face from his past
Chapter End Notes:
Split these two chapters into 4, therefore 17 + 18 = Kill Ari Part 1, 19 + 20 = Kill Ari Part 2