Over The Line
I hope to God, you feel the way I feel
Cause this could be amazing; something so super real
There’s something about you and you don’t even know it
I’m telling you now that you got me good
There’s something about you and I can’t ever show it
Damn it you now that you got me good
Now I’m not alone; with you I’m whole
I’ve got to let you know you got me good
It was going to be a very long day, Kate could feel it in her gut. She had woken that morning with a pounding headache, a deep, scratchy cough that lay at the back of her throat causing her larynx to shrink to the size of a peanut, and the even deeper realisation that she was ill.
Arriving at work, she realised the day was going to be made even longer if DiNozzo’s attitude towards the phonecall he had received was anything to go by. For once in Kate’s career at NCIS, it wasn’t one of his many girlfriends, it was in fact a young agent stationed at Norfolk, calling in a case. Tony had simply told him to do nothing, secure the area and wait for them to arrive. Tony’s day had only been made better by this young agent who sounded green and inexperienced and was only getting better when he spied his partner, only to tell her she looked like hell.
“A woman loves to hear that, Tony.”
“If you’re coming down with something, don’t sit next to me in the truck.”
“Oh, there’s an upside to having a cold.”
“You want to tell the doctor about it?”
The playful, suggestive raising of Tony’s eyebrows and the lascivious and equally suggestive tone of his voice made Kate either want to smack him silly or throw her own comment back at him, but wasn’t given the chance when Gibbs blew in, coffee cup in hand and questioned if his team were ready to go. Maybe, to possibly, actually do some work.
Kate looked around her desk, checking she had everything she’d need for their day trip out and the one hundred and ninety three mile drive as she walked towards Gibbs desk, informing him that Ducky and his assistant, Gerald, were already on their way to the crime scene.
The unthinkable happened, and no one knows how. One second, the styrofoam cup had been sitting on the desk, the next it was laying on the floor, it’s strong, dark contents spilling out over the grey carpeting. Gibbs towered over his desk, over Kate as she knelt down and tried, in a feeble attempt, to clean the mess up. His face was grim as he watched his morning brew fade into the carpet, and Kate grimacing remorsefully.
“Oh, God! Oh, god, I’m sorry. Uh…what do you put in your coffee?”
“Coffee.”
Yep. He was pissed. Her first thoughts that morning were that it was going to be a long day, made even longer by Tony. Now, as she knelt on the floor, smiling up at him apologetically, ready to buy him a fresh cup, she knew she’d made a huge mistake by thinking it would be a long day. Hell, this was going to be a long month.
“Okay. I’ll just go down the hall and get you another cup.”
“That’s…not coffee. I’ll meet you in the truck.”
As Gibbs walked out, Kate looked towards Tony for an explanation as to their boss’s behaviour. There were simply no words that could explain it; Gibbs without coffee was like…Gibbs without coffee. Tony’s words, however, described it perfectly; they were in unchartered waters.
The journey to Norfolk was silent, Gibbs remaining relatively quiet without his coffee while Kate and Tony, mainly Tony, tried not to further his bad mood. By the time they got to the naval base, they were greeted by Ducky and Gerald who were already processing the body. After discovering that their victim had fallen from a fifty gallon drum containing hydrofluoric acid, Ducky explained to the team the many uses for the corrosive solvent on a Naval Station; mainly cleaning metal. He also took the time to mention that they were lucky that he hadn’t been in the barrel longer, or else they would have no remains at all to work with.
Off side, the young agent who called in the case, Timothy McGee, looked as if he was ready to show the world what he had for breakfast, and his discomfort caused Gibbs to have Tony escort him away from the scene. Ducky continued his preliminary analysis of the victim and discovered a piece of skin still attached to the left forearm, coincidently with some skin discoloration. Kate voiced the possibility of a birthmark and Ducky told her he’d get a conclusive answer when he got him home.
Still trying to get in Gibbs’ good books after what had happened that morning, Kate also voiced the fact that the Armed Forces DNA Registry would be able to help them get a match this time; unlike the last time where there was no way JAG would sign off on what they called ‘a pile of dead skin’. However, this time they were backlogged and wouldn’t be able to process anything for at least the next forty eight hours.
Gibbs left his team to continue processing while he went to speak to the security guard at the main gate to try and get some more details. The protestors at the gate were of a huge cause of distress to both the guard and Gibbs and both knew if given the chance, there wouldn’t be any there if they were in charge.
It was late into the night before they were finally ready to head back to headquarters and make a start on the case. Tony, being Tony, took the opportunity of seniority and Gibbs’ absence to intimidate Agent McGee. According to Kate, he was hazing him.
“We have to keep the crime scene under guard until it’s released by Gibbs.”
“I’ll let security know.”
“Gibbs wants NCIS to remain in control.”
“So…I should stay here?”
“We’ll get you relieved as soon as we can.”
“Okay.”
Kate watched the scene, disgusted by the way he was treating their younger fellow agent. Even when she had started, she hadn’t been subjected to that frat boy mentality, just the occasional sexist joke or remark and the sharing of flirtatious banter with Gibbs. As they walked away from him and back to their requisitioned vehicles, Tony caught the glare, which he was familiar with, that Kate was sending him.
“Why are you making him stay here?”
“Because I can.”
“That is a complete abuse of authority.”
“Lighten up. He’s new. He expects to be abused; it goes with the territory.”
“This isn’t pledge week at Sigma Chi, Tony.”
“I’ll bet you were a lot of fun in college.”
“I was a lot of fun in college.”
“Really?”
Tony couldn’t quite believe that this straight laced woman was confirming his thoughts that perhaps she had a funky side when she was younger; obviously having lost it now. Perhaps one day, he thought, he’d find out what she was like at college.
They made an early start the next morning; heading straight to Agent McGee’s office to conference with Ducky and Abby via webcam. The good doctor was able to tell them that cause of death was a blunt force injury causing a fracture to the rear of the skull. It was miraculous, after being in acid that the facial bone structure was intact; meaning that Abby would be able to do a facial reconstruction with the photographs that had been taken.
With a little help from Abby, the forearm discoloration once thought to be a birthmark had been digitally enhanced. From Kate’s point of view, it looked like a Rorschach test and with a little more tweaking, the image cleared showing that it was part of a tattoo that was blurred by the acid. Gibbs concluded that their victim was a submariner due to the simple reason the remains of the tattoo were that of a dolphin tail.
While Ducky explained the origins of tattooing in the background to no one in particular, Gibbs set about getting the name of the sub their victim may have been stationed on.
“How many subs in port?”
“Um…I’m copied on the daily movement report.”
McGee’s filing system was less than desirable and it took him a while to find the wanted document; it may have been more if it hadn’t been for Gibbs’ growing impatience.
“Um…three Los Angeles class attack subs in port at the moment. Another in dry dock. There were five, but the Philadelphia left at zero six hundred.”
“Get me the copies of the ship’s alpha rosters.”
“I’m on it.”
While McGee went to acquire the alpha rosters, Kate, Tony and Gibbs headed out of the closet space called an office to the dock to discuss their case more.
“What if the body was put into acid not only to dispose of it, but…?”
“But to make certain that it couldn’t be identified.”
Feeling slightly put out by Kate being able to finish Gibbs’ sentences, Tony decided to throw in his own evaluation of the case.
“Maybe the murderer didn’t want us to know the submariner was dead.”
“Maybe.”
McGee came running up at this point with the alpha rosters and told Gibbs that everyone on the sub crews were accounted for, including the Philadelphia.
“A submariner’s dead, but none are missing. And the dead man’s identity was removed. Someone took his place on one of those subs.”
“An impostor?”
“Let’s pay a visit to the Submarine Squadron Commander.”
After a warning from McGee about the difficulty of Captain Veitch, followed by him receiving a stare down from Gibbs, Kate and Tony found themselves watching as their boss told this hard ass what was happening and what he wanted to happen.
The Commander wasn’t too happy at being told a member of his crew had been killed and his murderer had taken his place. He also wasn’t too thrilled about possibly having to call back the Philadelphia just under the suspicion of one person’s gut. In saying that, Gibbs decided that he and Kate would head out to the sub to continue with their investigation.
When McGee had said difficult, neither Kate nor Tony had expected this. Gibbs had. He had been fully aware before he made the decision that the Commander wouldn’t take kindly to Kate, simply because she was female and to him, all females were an inconvenience and Gibbs caught the more than obvious glares he was sending to his female agent.
“Well, the presence of a woman on board a submarine is a tremendous inconvenience. You know that.”
“I do.”
“Don’t you have another agent that you can take with you?”
“I do. Kate, step out.”
Kate looked from Gibbs, to the Commander and back again while Tony fixed his tie and waited expectantly. The glass ceiling was prevailing again. How dare that man be so pig headed and sexist? How could Gibbs send her from the office without offering her a chance to voice her opinion? She stormed out the room, deeply regretting she hadn’t shot him when she had the chance on air force one.
“I’m glad you understand.”
“I don’t.”
“Excuse me?”
Since the moment he’d heard the Commanders reaction to Kate being deployed to the sub, Gibbs had been building up to this. The man had no right to treat Kate like that, and Gibbs was going to make him regret doing so.
“Don’t tell me how to run an investigation. Yeah, I’ve got other agents who can do the job, but none as well as Special Agent Todd. Formerly she was attached to the President’s Secret Service detail. Trained as a profiler.”
“I don’t care what she was trained for. She’s a woman! And females cannot be deployed on a submarine!”
Kate stood outside the office, waiting for her chance to explode at Gibbs. Pacing back and forth, she mentally argued with herself about how to approach him. She could just remain calm and level headed about it, speak to him professionally. Or she could act like how she felt; rejected for having breasts. The second the main door opened, she began her rant.
“What is this, Victorian England? The men with their cigars and brandy, while the ladies sip tea in another room? I’m more qualified for this investigation than Tony.”
If she had been focusing, she would have seen the sparkle in Gibbs’ eyes and Tony’s pout. Neither of which seemed to register in her mind as she ranted on at the man in front of her.
“To replace me because I shave my legs and not my face is unconscionable and certainly not in the best interest of the case.”
“Are you claustrophobic?”
“No.”
“Good!”
Whether she had been claustrophobic or not didn’t seem pertinent to what had just happened. Kate couldn’t quite work out what was happening until Gibbs was walking away from them.
“I’m going?”
She turned and smiled proudly at Tony, who throughout her rant had been growing more like his old self. He simply could not resist in telling her not to forget to wax. Glaring at him slightly as he walked away, she continued smiling. Nothing Tony said to her could wipe the grin from her face, especially when she realised she’d be in the confines of a submarine with the man who had been haunting her dreams for two months.
After a quick journey home to pack a few items, Kate and Gibbs were soon on their way to join the Philadelphia. Kate quickly expressed her excitement towards diving on a nuclear sub than she ever was flying onboard Air Force One. A quick stop on the Enterprise and a helo ride later, Kate found herself travelling across choppy waters; with no submarine in sight. The second she questioned its whereabouts, it surfaced.
Once aboard, the duo were welcomed albeit a little icily, by Commander Peters and his X.O., Lieutenant Commander Akron. After being shown to their makeshift office in the wardroom, they set about working the case with Peters wanting to know more about what was going on.
“I’ve quarantined the five men as requested. They said you’d fill me. Fill me in, Special Agent Gibbs.”
“One of those men may not be who he says he is.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“A body was found at Norfolk. It was made unidentifiable, possibly on purpose. We have a good reason to believe that he was a submariner.”
“Fifteen of your crew are new. Four have been eliminated by dental x-rays. Six can be ruled out because of ethnic origin or body type.”
“So that’s it? Your conclusions are based on suppositions?”
“Strong suppositions.”
Peters was quick off the mark to express, in great detail, his discontent with the turmoil his crew were facing. Stating he had interviewed every man when they boarded and examined their personnel files before they even left the dock and set foot on board. Naturally, Gibbs wanted that same opportunity and wasn’t about to let Peters stand in his way to get it.
With the boat about to commence an Anti Submarine Warfare exercise with the Augusta, a bottle of Stoli riding on who won, Peters wanted his five men back at their duty stations immediately. With both sides complying with the other, Peters left the two unwanted agents to their work and headed back to the con to do his own, and to tell the COB to keep the five men from talking for security purposes by order of Gibbs.
With the skipper gone, Kate was confused by the variety of acronyms she’d just heard and looked to Gibbs for help.
“COB. Chief of the Boat.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Back at HQ, Abby was making progress in creating the victims face. She thought he was turning out to be a Hugh Grant type, while Ducky was leaning towards Cary Grant. Ducky had mainly come upstairs to check on Abby’s progress with the stomach contents he’d sent up for analysis.
“Well, there’s good news and bad news.”
“I hate it when you play this game, Abby. All right, let’s get it over with.”
“His last meal was a Big Mac and fries.”
“Probably half the base had that for lunch. I was hoping you’d come up with something a little more exotic. Tandoori perhaps. And the good news?”
“I know what’s in the special sauce.”
No closer in finding out the victim’s identity, Ducky headed out and left Abby building the face on their mystery man.
While they had been talking about food and film stars, Kate and Gibbs had interviewed all five men and they also were no closer in finding the impostor. Looking over their notes, they began discussing what they had learned from their various candidates.
“Petty Officer Thompson was lying about graduating high school at nineteen.”
“He paused and looked to his left. Usually means the response is fabricated. If he would have looked to his right he’d be recalling a-.”
“Memory.”
Kate looked up from the folder, impressed with this sudden revelation on Gibbs behalf. Ever so slowly, she was learning more about this enigmatic man she’d grown to admire and eventually fall for over the months she’d known him.
“You’ve had profile training.”
“What I’ve had is about a thousand interviews. After a while you start picking up on things.”
“Why would Thompson lie about his age?”
“I don’t know. Why did Seaman Riggs lie about being married? Why did Petty Officer Drew lie about a year in college?”
“Well, maybe Riggs is secretly married and Drew never finished a full year.”
“Everybody has something to lie about…which means we have nothing.”
Leaving Kate to go over the transcripts, Gibbs headed to the con to see the skipper. Peters was less than happy that these agents were yet to complete their interviews and weren’t about to leave his boat.
“I’m concerned about the safety of your boat, Skipper.”
“Your concern will be noted. XO, have the COB return the men to duty.”
“Aye-aye, Skipper.”
“How could someone harm this boat from the inside?”
“We’re vulnerable to any number of things. Chlorine introduced to the re-circulated air could be fatal to the crew. Salt water in the battery compartment could cause an explosion. The missiles and torpedoes are obvious dangers. I could go on, but what’s the point?”
“The point is one of those men may be an intruder.”
“I don’t believe that to be the case. I trust every man on this crew. I’ll make arrangements to get you back to the carrier.”
“We’ll leave, Skipper, when we’re done; not before.”
Gibbs turned on his heel and walked back to the wardroom where Kate, instead of reading their reports, had been day dreaming. Something which was becoming a frequent habit whenever Gibbs was around. So that was basically all day, every day.
There were times when she’d see them pressed up against each other in the elevator after he’d pulled the emergency brake. In the past week alone, she’d had to give herself several slaps on the wrist for thinking naughty thoughts instead of working. There was just something captivating about Gibbs; whether it was his hair, or his smirks or those eyes.
The more she thought about it, the more she recalled the many ways he’d look at her, and only she would catch those looks reserved for only two people on his team; the other being Abby. His eyes would sparkle and tease while his face showed no emotion. Deep blue pools that gave away everything he tried to hide; Kate occasionally caught a few glimpses into those mesmerizing eyes and found herself looking into the very soul of the man who seemed to not care about his team, only his work. It was definitely the eyes; no doubt about it.
By the time Gibbs had arrived back in the wardroom, she’d pulled herself from her dreams and had set about matching the fingerprints they’d recently acquired to that of the fingerprints in the service records she’d obtained and the Augusta had been found; so the sub was currently on its way to ‘attack’ it.
“Gibbs, the fingerprints we took match those in their service records. If there’s an impostor, it’s not one of the five we interviewed.”
“It has to be.
“What if he’s on another boat?”
“This is the one that makes sense. The killer didn’t just dump the body; he removed identifying features in case it was found. If it were found he knew it’d take between twenty-four and forty eight hours for AFDIL to make a DNA match.”
“Whatever he was planning to do, it was going to be in that time frame.”
“In that time frame, the Philadelphia was the only boat going out. Where’d you get the records?”
“Personnel office at Norfolk.”
“What if someone altered the service records before we or Commander Peters got it?”
“Meaning the impostor worked in the personnel office.”
“Or has an accomplice.”
Just as the Philadelphia was closing in on the Augusta, Gibbs and Kate burst into the con demanding to make an emergency call to NCIS headquarters.
“No can do, Agent Gibbs. I’m about to win a bottle of Stoli. WEPS, get me a firing solution.”
“Your bottle of vodka is going to have to wait, Skipper. I need to talk to headquarters now!”
“We’d have to break contact and go to periscope depth.”
“Whatever it takes.”
“I am not terminating this exercise so you can have a chat with the folks back home.”
“Let me give this to you straight, Skipper. There’s a threat on this boat. It’s a real threat; it’s not a game.”
“X.O.”
“Sir.”
“Make your depth one five zero feet. Sonar, see if you can hang on to her. Take us up to periscope depth.”
The X.O. complied and took the sub up to periscope depth while Peters told Gibbs he was giving him two minutes.
Two minutes was more time than Gibbs needed to call Tony at Norfolk and explain to him what was happening. Being predictable, Gibbs hung up before he got a response from Tony who then informed Ducky of what was going on before he and McGee went to the personnel office to investigate.
Back in D.C., Ducky had hung up with Tony and made his way once again up to the lab where the punky goth was sitting in her chair still trying to get an identity.
“I have good news and bad news, Abby.”
“Ah, I hate payback!”
“Which first?”
“Bad.”
“No DNA matches on our victim. The AFDIL computers are still down.”
“Okay. Good.”
“I know why Hugh Grant didn’t match any of the photos.”
Ducky paused for a defining moment to make his explanation seem somewhat more impressive than what it could possibly be.
“Okay, you got your pay back. Tell me why.”
“Gibbs thinks one of the service records was altered.”
Abby sunk back in her chair feeling slightly worthless. She’d just spent the better half of the day creating a face for their mystery man only to discover that there was an alteration to the paperwork that may possibly belong to him.
“So all of this was a waste of time?”
“Au contraire. All we have to do is get photos of those five crew members from an independent source.”
“That’ll take longer than a DNA match.”
“I have photographs of every cricket team I ever played on from second form all the way through to the upper sixth. You see in our last year, we made the division finals. Grant you I was only on the reserve.”
Although Abby was one of the few on Gibbs’ team that seemed to tolerate and enjoy listening to Ducky’s tales of boyhood and fascinating analogies of his time abroad and various cases, she wanted to press on with the case so that Gibbs and Kate could come home sooner.
“I just know that there’s a point here somewhere.”
“All the ships have a crew photograph.”
“Yes.”
It was a minute or two before she caught on to what Ducky was telling her and this got her more hyper than any Caf-Pow could ever get her.
“Yes! Yes! I’ll download crew photos from websites of the five suspect’s previous deployments!”
While Abby excitedly began searching for the various crew photos, Ducky was inspecting his body in the reflection of the door, possibly remembering his figure from his youth.
“You should have seen me in my whites. I was rather handsome even if I do say so myself.”
Tony and McGee were also making progress down at the Norfolk personnel office; having gained an address of a possible suspect.
Joshua Fox worked at Norfolk for just over a year and had recently transferred into personnel a month ago. Being told he’d quit two days ago, Tony was somewhat impressed with McGee’s quick thinking and even went as far as nearly complimenting him on it. Taking the roster, the two headed out in the direction of Fox’s home.
Something about Petty Officer Thompson wasn’t sitting right with Gibbs’ gut and it was
bothering him. He knew he’d have to have a strategic plan if he wanted to speak to him without the COB and Skipper knowing. As he began to formulate the plan in his mind, he considered getting Kate involved and that’s exactly what he was going to do; but first he’d need water.
Gibbs returned to the wardroom with copious amounts of bottled water; none of this seemed to faze Kate in the slightest as she was still reading over the transcripts from Norfolk trying to deduce which of the five men it could be. As he placed the bottle in front of her, she appreciated the gesture as she took a sip and continued reading. She lost her appreciation for the gesture, however, when she finished one bottle and another was placed in front of her again and again.
Draining her fifth bottle, she continued reading the documents when Gibbs opened another bottle and placed it once again in front of her.
“Drink.”
“What’s with all the water?”
“Oh, you’ve got to hydrate on a submarine.”
“All you’ve had me doing is hydrating.”
“Drink it.”
Rolling her eye, Kate took the open bottle and began drinking. Placing the bottle back on the table, Gibbs watched her intently before he questioned her.
“So, how’s your bladder?”
“What?!”
Practically feeling the daggers flying from Kate’s eyes, he figured he better give her an explanation for his behaviour before she seriously hurt him.
“The COB’s at the end of the passageway trying to keep an eye on us. You’ve got to distract him. You’re gonna need help working the toilet.”
“Gibbs…”
“Trust me, Kate. On a submarine, it’s a very complicated mechanism.”
“Is that why you’ve been shoving water down my throat for the past hour?”
“I want to check out Petty Officer Thompson.”
“Yeah, well you don’t have to drown me. You could just ask.”
Gibbs pulled her from the chair and pushed her towards the door. As he opened it, he spied the COB at the end of the corridor and decided to see how far he could take his behaviour.
“Hydrating’s good for you. Go on, unhydrate.”
Pushing Kate in to the hall, she regarded his comment for a moment before turning back to him, a slight blush creeping over her cheeks.
“I’ve never heard it called that before.”
“Go on!”
Gibbs stood in the doorway and watched as Kate headed down the corridor towards the COB. Try as he might, he couldn’t pull his eyes away from the delicate sway of her hips, or how the grey pants clung perfectly to her shape.
Once he was sure the COB was paying full attention to her, Gibbs snuck out the room and headed down to the torpedo room to speak to Thompson; where he discovered he’d spent a year in juvenile detention.
It wasn’t long before the COB caught on to the fact that Gibbs was no longer in the wardroom and after leaving Kate back, went in search of him. Finding him in the torpedo room, the COB escorted Gibbs back to the makeshift office. Kate was filing through reports when Gibbs returned with the COB in tow.
“Busted.”
Kate bit her tongue to prevent her laughing as the COB stormed in, not too happy about what had just happened down below.
“I didn’t appreciate that little stunt.”
“Ah, cut us a little slack. No harm no foul.”
As Gibbs smirked, his eyes sparkled signalling Kate that he was enjoying this and she couldn’t help but smirk back. Quickly however, she recovered herself as the COB glared in her direction.
“No, Sir. The Skipper’s cooperated with you every step of the way.”
“Chief of the Boat knows the crew better than the Skipper. Are you bothered by any of the men we questioned?”
“You’ve only been out one day, Agent Gibbs. I make it a practice not making snap judgments.”
“It could be something little. Seemingly inconsequential.”
“Do you get a strange vibration about any of them?”
“No, but if I do get any vibrations, it’ll come to you through the Skipper.”
As the COB left, Kate felt her cheeks rise as she smiled at Gibbs before raising a questioning eyebrow in his direction.
“Do people react that way because we’re NCIS or do you just have that affect on them?”
“I’d like to think it’s me.”
Abby had made little progress in identifying their corpse. None of the images she had away the clue that would point her in the wrong direction.
“Absent a miracle, we’ll just have to wait for the DNA report.”
She immediately dashed back to her computer and began searching through the rest of the images until she found the one she desired.
Tony and McGee on the other hand, had arrived at Fox’s home and after discovering they had no way in unless they got a warrant from the local sheriff, Tony decided it was time to relive his youth and played football; breaking the window and letting himself in which McGee wasn’t to sure about. The place was practically deserted bar a few store bought items of junk. They were about to give up when Tony spied a suspicious looking box in the wall of which McGee informed him it was a DSL line which ran from the jack in the wall to behind the bookcase where, after sliding the bookcase away, they discovered an office hidden behind a door.
The office was a shrine to saving whales and after typing away at the computer, McGee came up with the answers as to what Fox was doing.
“Sarin gas. He’s planning to introduce it into a submarine’s air conditioning system. Doesn’t say how.”
“It wouldn’t take a lot, would it?”
Tony got on the phone a called in an Emergency Action Message to the Philadelphia so that his team and the sub crew were warned about what was happening and could hopefully prevent it.
When the message came in, Peters ordered the air conditioning to be shut down and torn apart, an emergency blow to be put into effect and wanted Kate and Gibbs up in con immediately.
As Kate was tidying up the table, an emergency horn sounded and she went flying as the boat tipped. Blindly reaching out, she fell into Gibbs’ body as he crashed against the wall, one hand on his chest the other grasping on to his shoulder while his wrapped around her waist holding her closer than necessary.
“What’s happening?”
“Emergency blow.”
Kate’s lips came dangerously close to his as she pulled herself up to stop sliding down his body, her thigh ending up securely trapped between his. He could feel her warm breath on his neck and was finding it harder to contain the urges that he’d been feeling for her since September. This was now November, and although nothing untoward had happened in the past two months, he felt his resolve breaking while she was pressed this close to his body; very much like she had been on the plane.
Gibbs hadn’t realised just how well her petite frame fitted against his; how good it felt to have her in his arms again. He had lost countless nights, thinking about this woman who was a multitude of characters.
Flirtatious, tenacious, strong, independent. She was definitely picky and headstrong. A perfectionist in every way. Her makeup was always immaculate and there was never a hair out of place. He couldn’t help but notice these small details; how could he not when she haunted his dreams every night.
She didn’t even have to try and be sexy, she just was. Whether she was wearing an NCIS windbreaker, with her hair pulled into a loose bun under her cap or those fitted shirts that despite the fact they were quite loose, they were also just tight enough to show her feminine curves.
Or skirts. Knee length that bared more than enough leg to make any man weak at the knees. Strong and powerful legs that could break your neck with one solid kick were the same slim, smooth legs that mesmerized him every time she walked past.
In the office, he could try and distract himself from her by looking over paperwork, or going out for coffee. In here there was nothing to pull his attention away from the scent of her Escada perfume, or that he was close enough to see into her eyes.
Eyes that at first glance were hazel, but when the light hit them just right they changed to amber. And if you looked really closely around the iris, the colour was pure honey. But when ever Kate looked into the sun, they looked green. Either way, they were always sparkling like diamonds. He could imagine himself holding her like this and looking into those eyes plenty more times, hopefully.
In this moment, Gibbs felt everything around him, everything he thought he knew about this enchanting woman change. He could damn well try his best to see her as nothing more than a friend and an agent, but he knew it would be futile.
While Gibbs tried to distract himself from the situation, Kate focused all her attention on the wall behind them instead of his neck which her lips were now millimetres from touching. Sawdust and coffee warped her mind as she tried so hard not to think of him working on his boat at night, in jeans and a white shirt. That image was new, but very much welcomed. Just like Gibbs, Kate couldn’t help but notice things about him; stop herself from feeling his well defined muscles through his outer jacket, or running her fingers over his hair at the nape of his neck.
She too had lost countless nights, but now actually being caught like this… his heart pounding in his chest responding to hers; their breathing shallow and evenly matched, his body heat surrounding her in a warm cocoon.
She felt his fingers flex against her back having recently moved from her waist. Kate‘s breathing halted momentarily as she felt herself, against her own free will, move instinctively closer to Gibbs’ chest seeking the safety that she had once previously found in the confines of his arms.
There was a definite charm surrounding him and Kate could feel herself being pulled deeper and deeper into the invisible net in which she found herself caught in. She’d lost count of the mornings she’d woken with a huge smile after a nightly visit from Gibbs in her sleep, which generally resulted in an ice cold shower before work.
Damn the fact that at this moment in time, she was miles away from shore and in the middle of the ocean. They both knew that they would both need more than a cold shower after this.
Finding themselves in this new, and precarious position which was definitely crossing the line between boss and subordinate, the COB burst through the door; pulling himself through the opening only to fall back against the door as it closed.
“Skipper wants you. Hang on a moment.”
Kate fought to catch her breathe as the boat righted itself, unnatural images flashing through her mind of which she had become accustomed to recently. Although it was now safe to let go of him, Kate found that she couldn’t quite unclench her fists from his shoulders and it was clear he was having the same difficulty letting go of her waist. His hands felt so good wrapped around her and she prayed the moment to last a few minutes longer just so she could remain pressed against his body.
Being held so safely in his arms, Kate could feel the iron barrier she had surrounded her heart with too many years ago, slowly begin to collapse. The reason for the barrier was due to the fact that she’d had her heart broken too many times before and didn’t want to risk it another time in fear it would end her. But Gibbs made her safe, made her feel warm in a way she hadn’t felt before.
If she’d been braver, let her subconscious taken over, maybe she would have found the courage to turn his head towards hers and just kiss him. She felt they’d crossed the boundaries a long time ago and he certainly didn’t treat her like his subordinate for the most part.
The moment for courage slowly fleeted away and Kate pulled back ever so slightly, just to give them inches of space and to look in his eyes for a sign that she wasn’t the only one who had felt the sudden change in their relationship.
For maybe about the fifth time in her life, Caitlin Todd found herself speechless and could only say the first word that came to mind, the word that she imagined telling him all the time in her dreams.
“Wow…”
“Yep…That’s what they all tell me.”
Catching the meaning of his words, she gave him a light tap against the chest as he smirked before walking away. Kate could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she followed him out the room, taking a step back to face the COB who was struggling to contain his laughter. Glaring at him, she continued on her journey after Gibbs.
The Skipper was less than pleased with the current situation; the possibility of his crew being exposed to Sarin gas in the confines of the sub. When Gibbs and Kate arrived Petty Officer Drew had escaped to the head, his position being taken over by Martin. The Skipper was pushing to find the impostor while the X.O. broke out the emergency breathing gear.
“Any idea who the hell he is?”
“We’re working on it.”
At that, another message came through on the low frequency receiver telling the crew who the culprit was.
“Where is Petty Officer Drew?”
“He had to visit the head, Sir.”
The four ran from the con to crew berthing where they discovered Drew had suffocated himself with a plastic bag.
With the body having been removed from berthing, Kate and Gibbs headed topside to inform Tony of what had been discovered.
“Hey, we matched the prints you faxed. Former Petty Officer Second, Sean Travis.”
“Sonar operator.”
“That’s right. Spent a couple tours on attack subs before he was dishonourably discharged.”
“Was he hooked up with the protestors outside the gates?”
“FBI’s checking that. But they think he and Joshua Fox were part of some small three or four man cell of radical eco-whale freaks.”
“Did you get Fox and the rest of them?”
“Not yet. What’s going on down there?”
“We’re on the surface.”
Gibbs slammed down his headset and looked out to the horizon as Kate watched him, continuing her conversation with Tony back in Norfolk.
Engineering continued searching through the air conditioning system and were yet to find the canister of Sarin gas but as long as it remained sealed the crew would be fine. Being fifteen knots faster under water than on the surface, the submarine headed back under, leaving the air conditioning off.
“It’s going to get hot in here.”
“Ah, we’re used to taking heat.”
Gibbs smirked and headed back to the wardroom with Kate in tow.
Abby was reclining in her chair, idly flicking through Computer Forensics Monthly magazine feeling extremely pleased with herself when Tony came in and played with her pigtails. After discussing Agent McGee, Abby came to the conclusion that the canister was bi and was turned on either by hot or cold.
“This one digs cold. When the temperature drops below five degrees centigrade, the trigger releases whatever’s in the canister. What is in the canister?”
“Sarin gas.”
“Nasty.”
“Hmm. So what’s cold enough to trigger it on a sub?”
“Fridge, freezer, air conditioner.”
Gibbs paced the floor with his coffee, absorbed in his own thoughts. With the air conditioning turned off, the entire cabin had become an illegal sweat shop and Gibbs was finding it hard to concentrate on anything other than Kate.
Normally the heat didn’t affect him, but he had stripped down to his polo shirt in between refills of coffee. Kate had also found the heat unbearable and had removed her royal blue sweater leaving her sitting in only her grey pants and crisp white shirt.
She discovered that seeing Gibbs in his shirt, with just a glimpse of his silver chest hair over the collar, was a refreshing distraction from the heat and as she ran her palm absently over her collar bone, she felt her heart rate increase by the second. The things this man could do to her mind and body even just by being present sent a chill down her spine.
He was close to breaking his mental stall when he was disturbed by Kate‘s quiet voice; which hadn‘t sounded the same since the impromptu emergency blow.
“How can you drink coffee when it’s a hundred degrees?”
“Helps me think.”
The profiler in Kate could tell there was something wrong with Gibbs and she knew it had to do with not finding the canister of Sarin gas. His shoulders were tensed, and he wasn’t as relaxed as he normally would have been after five or six coffees.
“What’s bugging you?”
“Travis not releasing the Sarin.”
“He never got the chance. He was quarantined or on duty until the air conditioning system was shut down.”
“What was his backup plan? He would have had one.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“This whack job knew he was going to die as soon as he released the gas. Why commit suicide before he could do it?”
“He knew we were onto him. I mean, like you said, he was a whacko.”
A knock at the door prevented Gibbs from responding to Kate’s comment and upon receiving Gibbs’ clearance to enter, the Steward brought in a trolley of ice cream. Reciting the list of flavours available to them, Kate rhetorically questioned whether they had enough.
“There’s about forty gallons more in the galley, Ma’am. Might as well eat it before it melts.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Had to make room in the freezer for the body.”
“Nice…”
“It’s the only place to preserve it, Ma’am. SOP on a sub.”
The steward left and Gibbs removed a bowl of ice cream from the trolley. Kate watched amused as Gibbs took a mouthful before he came to a realisation.
“What?”
“Anyone who’s served on a sub knows that. Travis didn’t commit suicide to give up. Suicide was his backup plan.”
Gibbs ran out the room straight into the COB and asked where the freezer was, not giving an explanation for wanting to know.
“Loading door right here, Sir. Right there.”
“The bastard booby-trapped himself. Once he knew that he couldn’t get in the cooling system, he went to his backup plan before we could arrest him.”
“The Sarin gas canister was designed to be triggered by cold. Travis knew that if he died, you’d put him in the freezer.”
“You mean he swallowed the canister?”
“Yeah.”
“If his core temperature gets to the trigger temperature, the gas will be released.”
Gibbs dragged the black PVC bag from the freezer and it fell with a thud to the floor. The cold air circulated throughout the room as Gibbs unzipped the bag, revealing the dead body which had turned ghastly blue and white due to it’s time in the freezer. Revealing more, they discovered the swollen abdomen and came to a startling conclusion.
“It already has!”
“When it leaks out, we’re gonna die!”
“I’ll get the Skipper to do another emergency blo--”
“There’s no time for that! Kate, go fill in the Skipper. Come on! There’s one way to get this guy off this boat in a hurry. Go! Move it!”
Kate ran to the con while Gibbs zipped up the bag and with the help the of the COB, they began the emergency evacuation down to the torpedo room. It didn’t take long for them to arrive below deck and after removing Evans from tube one where he was doing maintenance, they loaded in the body and began the process of firing.
With the prospect of almost passing out, Gibbs began heading back to the ward room where there were still trays of ice cream and coffee that were beckoning his return.
“COB, I don’t have to tell you what the most important thing is now, do I?”
“Get the ice cream back in the freezer.”
“Exactly.”
Once they got back to the office, neither Kate nor Gibbs could erase the images of being pressed against each other or held in each others arms from their heads. Kate was pretty sure that if the COB hadn't been in the room, Gibbs would have bent her backwards over the table and had his wicked way with her. Yet more thoughts in extremely forbidden territory danced through her mind at the simple idea of being in the same small room with him for more than twelve hours.
She realised a little too late, as she stood at the partition watching Tony and McGee, that Gibbs' musky coffee scent she could still smell and the heat radiating through his clothes onto her skin she could still feel were not a part of her over-Gibbsed, under sexed, erotically charged imagination; he was standing directly behind her.
Gibbs watched as Tony walked Agent Timothy McGee to the elevator before approaching Kate. Standing behind her, he waited as she took in his presence and both seemed to appreciate the closeness of their bodies.
While his right hand held his never ending container of coffee, his left hand came dangerously close to either cupping her backside, grazing her inner thigh or both. With her acceptance of his arrival, he decided to see how far he could push it before she eventually snapped as he began swinging his hand closer and closer to her tush.
For a moment, he removed his hand so he could lean against the partition and watch the exchange between his senior field agent and the probationer. Instantly he regretted his action as Kate tensed ever so slightly with the sudden loss of contact that she’d been so near in receiving and she focused her attention on why Tony was standing by the elevator, his face contorted as if he’d just been dumped.
"I wonder what he said to make Tony speechless."
"He told him he got a tat on his ass."
Surprise was one of the things Kate felt apart from the loss of Gibbs' presence. It no longer bothered her that she didn't feel uncomfortable when he stood that close to her. The other thing she felt was the ever so subtle grazing of her rear as Gibbs walked away, leaving her standing speechless at the partition.
By this point during the day, and after everything that had already occurred on the submarine, there were so many emotions and thoughts running through Kate's head and body, that she was ready to turn and run after him, possibly bruising her thighs as he pushed her against his desk. That had been the second time that day she'd imagined being thrown down on a desk. Either she was extremely horny, or extremely attracted to her much older, strikingly handsome boss. She also pondered if he had this effect over every woman he encountered or if it was just her.
If Kate had been brutally honest; truthfully, gut-wrenchingly honest with herself, she may have found she'd never felt this way about a guy before. With Tim, perhaps it had just been a sexual thing because she had found it far too easy to break up with him, just a day after she'd met Gibbs.
It would also be at this point she'd remember once being told that being truly in love with a person and wanting to spend the rest of her life with them would feel like the flu. Was it a simple coincidental fact that on the exact day she encountered Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, she'd fallen ill with the flu?
What she did know for a fact, however, was no matter what had or hadn't happened between them since they'd first met in September; she was falling way over her head and heart in love with this man.
Author's Chapter Notes:
When Kate and Gibbs go aboard a submarine as part of an investigation, things heat up between them