Covert Operations
Tell me what do you think you see
You stand there in your corner looking out on me; you think I'm so predictable
Tell me what you think I am, looks can be deceiving better guess again
Tell me what you see when you look at me
Kate had barely slept the last week, the events of the previous case haunting her dreams. She knew if she had taken just one more step forward she wouldn’t be alive now, but she was thankful to Suzanne McNeill because she had taught her a valuable lesson; never believe what you’re told. Double check. Gibbs had taught her this within the first half hour of knowing him, but she hadn’t quite understood it’s meaning until she was able to apply to life.
The dust cloud from the explosion had left Kate with a nasty cough, which after a few days turned into a mild throat infection. She wasn’t exactly in the best of moods to go to work, seeing as she could hardly talk, but had assured Gibbs she was fine and ready to come back. The case she and the team were currently assigned to allowed for more than one opportunity to spar with DiNozzo and flirt outrageously with Gibbs.
Sitting in the car now, she remembers how Tony had dived in front of the rising tide, resulting in a little pain his way. It wasn’t her fault the water was cold, or the way Gibbs had casually and humorously mentioned his slight problem to her. His replacement outfit, however, was one of the funniest things she’d seen in a while; one of Ducky’s overalls, which was a tad too small for Tony.
Back at the office, Kate had taken the time to harass Tony over his dietary habits, while he had been consuming a nutrition bar at the time. That was one of the more stranger conversations she’d had with him. She’d take to calling every strange conversation with Tony the ‘strange but it’s happening’.
*~*~*~*~*~*
“It’s okay. I got it, Tony. Don’t you worry. Wouldn’t want to disturb your lunch.”
“You got me thinking, Kate. Maybe I should improve my diet.”
“When are you going to start?”
“What do you call this?”
“Bad things masquerading as something good for you?”
“This is a nutrition bar. It says so on the label.”
“Did you read the label? The little one with the ingredients not just the big one with the pretty colours?”
“Oh, sarcasm is so not healthy, Kate.”
“Neither is that. Let’s see…we’ve got here…High fructose corn syrup, basically sugar; uh…high maltose corn syrup, another sugar; sugar, sugar; fractionated palm kernel oil. That sounds yummy! And contains less than two percent natural flavour. That would make it, ninety eight percent artificial flavour.”
“What are you saying?”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Laughing silently as she considers the fact that she’s sucking on a lollipop, she returns her attention back to the PDA in her hands and continues reviewing the information. Currently, this was exactly what she needed while being sat in a parked car in the middle of a Georgetown street waiting for their person of interest to show up, with Gibbs by her side.
Gibbs was leaning back in his seat, drinking his coffee from the Styrofoam cup which seemed permanently attached to his hand and lips. He was desperate for a distraction from Kate and her lollipop, but found his distraction was not the best he could have come up with.
His head was filled with the images of the previous case, where Kate was sat on an ambulance gurney, broken. The physical pain they were both feeling due to the explosion was nothing compared to what the young female was feeling emotionally. He’d intended on voicing his concerns over Kate’s attachment to Suzanne McNeill but had gotten distracted along the way. It was becoming a regular occurrence where Kate was involved. In the beginning he was going to tell her what a bad idea it was, taking the woman into her custody, into her home, but knew that Kate being the woman she was, would say her actions were in the best interests of the case or something to that effect and most likely end up on the gurney anyway. It had taken him a while to clear that image from his head, but he was sure it hadn’t evaporated as easily as he’d hoped. Not only had his agent taken that woman into her house, but she’d whole heartedly trusted her.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Kate sat alone on the gurney, a woollen blanket thrown round her shoulders as the EMT’s dressed her wounds. Her eyes weren’t focusing on anything specific, just the black tarmac below her feet. She knew that Tony and Gibbs were standing a few feet away, but she couldn’t bear to look at them, feeling somewhat embarrassed and unworthy of Tony’s sympathetic looks and what she supposed would be looks of shame and disappointment from her superior.
Gibbs couldn’t feel anything but hurt. Not for himself and the damage caused from the explosion, but for Kate. He couldn’t bear to see his young, slightly inexperienced agent completely shattered like this. It was like a piece of his heart was breaking every time a new bandage was placed on the wounded woman. How she had received worse injuries than either he or Tony scared him. They’d all roughly been standing close together, and yet it was Kate who had the grazed forehead and the cut forearm which was currently being stitched and bandaged. His gaze eventually drifted to his feet until his attention was caught by Tony.
“We ought to do something, Boss.”
“Have you ever made a mistake, Tony?”
The weakened voice of his boss shook Tony to the core. This was one of the many thing’s he’d hoped he’d never have to witness; his boss showing a weakness. Yes, Tony too felt pain for Kate, but obviously not in the same immense waves that Gibbs was. He knew Gibbs liked, maybe even loved Kate, he knew the signs because so did he.
“According to you or me?”
“You.”
“Yeah.”
There was a small exchange between the two men as they stood by the ambulance, in which they discovered they both simply wanted to wrap their arms around Kate and tell her that it wasn’t her fault and that it’d all be okay. If not tonight then eventually it would all piece together and become easier to manage. The guilt would leave her body and soul, and the explosion she’d found herself caught in was not due to karma, it was simply bad luck.
“Could anyone make you feel better?”
“No.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Shaking his head slightly to remove this image once again, his memory rewound further and took him back to his and Kate's expedition on the submarine in which they found themselves pressed rather embarrassingly, though snugly, together as the effects of the submarine's emergency blow took hold.
In the few months of working with Katie Todd, he had found various excuses to touch her back, or arm just as she had done; drawn out touches when handing over a report, or simply having her pressed beneath him when a bomb went off or an emergency blow occurred. Gibbs couldn't believe that he was falling in love with a woman he had originally accused of double homicide.
Being in the cramped bathroom with her, feeling her fists pummel his chest, her small, soft, warm body pressed against his tightly as he tried to remove the emotional distress of which he had caused her.
Gibbs quickly came to realise, that although the short answers he was giving Kate seemed to satisfy her to some extent, he would eventually have to pay attention to her and what she was saying. Miss Todd had already proven herself to be quite a satisfying distraction, merely by sitting at the desk next to his in the office and this fact was more than justified by Gibbs' inability to focus on anything other than the tantalizing woman sitting mere inches from him.
Kate, in the meantime, seemed relatively undisturbed by Gibbs' lack of attention as she was busy focusing every inch of her own attention to the Palm Pilot she held in her hands and sticking the blackcurrant lollipop between her lips as a way of suppressing her moans as she too recalled varying incidents in which she had been thrust into Gibbs' arms, found herself beneath his body or simply found a reason to touch him a moment longer than necessary. There were several incidents she recalled fondly, but none so much as the submarine incident, or the bikini incident.
It had been a few long trying days being stuck in a room with both Tony and Gibbs. With a little luck, Gibbs had sent Tony to the Naval Exchange in Puerto Rico to follow up a lead, which he did, and had also found time to do a little souvenir shopping for his colleagues.
While he had bought Gibbs an introductory guide to MMORPG’s, in Spanish, he’d come back with something a little more daring for Kate. His excuse was that it was Puerto Rican but that hadn’t stopped her from abandoning it aboard the ship.
Shocked simply hadn’t been the word when she’d opened the bag and pulled out a pink and black sun hat, followed by matching bikini briefs. She remembers every word clearly to this day.
*~*~*~*~*~*
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
The lascivious smile Tony wore proved he was deadly serious with his offering.
“It’s a bikini. Two piece.”
“A bottom, and a hat?”
“Puerto Rican.”
Raising her eyebrows disbelievingly at Tony, she felt Gibbs eye up the material and then her body and couldn’t stop the shiver running up her spine. Her attention was soon pulled from Tony when she heard Gibbs in her ear, his tone somewhat different to what she normally accustomed to him.
“Any chance you’re going to try that on?”
“You first.”
She threw the material at her boss, who at this moment was turning her legs to jelly and laughed as he continued to inspect it.
“Trust me, it’s not going to fit.”
“Pigs. I work with pigs.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
The simple fact that Gibbs had asked her if she were going to try on the small black and pink coloured material had nearly driven her mad. At the time, she had passed it off as being cooped up with him in such a small room for several days. Now the more she thought about it, the more she regretted not telling him that she would be trying it on and that he was welcome to come by for a personal viewing. Although if that had happened, she wasn't so sure she'd be able to contain herself as she sat beside him now. It was hard enough already.
It was during Kate's fourth recollection of being pressed against him and held in his arms that she decided is was best for both of them if she were to drag them back to the present.
"Jeremy Wirth...twenty-three...current address, thirty-five B Maple, Georgetown. Graduated MIT at twenty."
She held up the Palm Pilot for Gibbs to read the information for himself and she noticed that he was still clearly distracted by something, although he was paying attention to her.
"I'm impressed."
Although slightly put out by his lack of enthusiasm for the case and lack of interest, Kate decided to press on.
"Been with the agency six months...working as a satellite analyst. That's all we got."
The sudden silence in the sedan pulled Gibbs from his fantasy of sharing an elevator with Kate under extremely hinky and or kinky circumstances. Kate's position in the silence was explained by the lollipop being back in her mouth and the slight reddening of her cheeks. She too was having hinky thoughts; the type of thoughts a good catholic girl like she shouldn't have. Under any circumstances. Although, and Kate definitely felt the burning of her cheeks for this as she laughed internally, she'd never done it on an autopsy slab before.
"Why would they use someone so green on such a covert assignment?"
"Too bad we don’t have a photo."
"Don’t need one. He’ll fit the profile."
Kate remained silent for a moment and sucked on her sweet thoughtfully before coming to a conclusion.
"I think geeky, right?"
"Well yeah, Kate, something like that."
"Ha!"
This side to Jethro Gibbs was a rarity. He never smiled, nor laughed and when he did it was usually with an air of sarcasm. Only Kate and Abby were privy to this softer side of Gibbs and Kate felt flattered that she was one of the few allowed to see it; that she was one of the few that had some shared interests with him.
"Have you ever seen Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor?"
"Yes."
"That’s a geek I could get covert with."
"Kate, I would not get my hopes up. Check it out."
Gibbs could feel in his gut that there was an underlying message somewhere in Kate's comment but he couldn't bring himself to justify his actions towards her; or the fact that when she was near he simply couldn't concentrate. There were no doubts in his mind that she too felt the same, judging by her attitude towards him and some of her comments, but he couldn't risk her getting burned, or himself for that matter.
Kate was a woman who knew what she wanted and was determined to get it at any cost. How could he be absolutely sure that he was what she wanted? Her mere presence made him giddy with excitement, just knowing he'd get to spend the whole day with her. He looked forward to arriving at work in the mornings, waiting for her arrival and he wondered if she felt the same.
He was always thrilled when she came up with an answer or an idea and smiled triumphantly. That smile was worth more than words or actions. It was that smile, which caused a dimple in her cheek, which made her eyes sparkle like diamonds, which could melt any man's heart, any woman's heart, made Gibbs come to the realisation that Kate would break his heart in an instant if he discovered that she didn't feel the way he did about her.
It was at this moment he decided, that in order to save themselves from possible future harm of broken relationships, he must re-evaluate his convictions and add a new rule. Thus, rule twelve was created. He'd previously told Kate on a case in Gitmo that relationships between agents never worked. For a second, he'd seen the pain in her eyes until she counteracted his comment by asking if he were speaking from personal experience. For a lack of answer, she left him to his work, feeling somewhat downtrodden by that lack of openness. It made him more determined to stick to his initial instinct; keep her at arms length.
Kate Todd was a person who was designed for men like him to look and not touch. She had a fragile beauty surrounding her and he didn’t want to break that. As much as he wanted her, he couldn’t take the risk of damaging her. His previous partner came to mind and the reasons why it didn’t work with her. It was thanks to that woman that he invented an extra rule to his long list; rule number twelve. It hadn’t worked out with her, despite spending months together, and so he created never date a co-worker because it was a really, really bad idea to get involved with anyone who came close to resembling a co-worker. Kate Todd was no exception.
He watched as she exited the car and headed towards Jeremy Wirth with sheer determination. She was a feisty one, he had to admit. She showed a keen interest in his love life, or lack there of, and was always overly interested in what he thought of her. They shared the occasional hidden smirk over Tony, and more than the occasional flirtatious remark. She never chastised him for taking her coffee and drinking more than considered to be a mouthful without her permission. She only responded with the horrified look of disgust and a sarcastic comment, so in return, he never chastised her for commenting on his failed marriages, or his obsession with coffee, or anything else.
He simply allowed himself to partake in the game they were playing and every now and then, he found he was losing.
Losing didn't come easily to Jethro Gibbs. Not closing a case was one thing, but losing in a game of flirtation and charm, which simply came so easily to him, was one of the worst things he could lose. Depending on who he lost out to, he thought.
He vaguely remembered his previous partner again. She was feisty. Tenacious. A red head. He lost out to her on a few occasions but that had felt different some how compared to the game he played now.
But Kate was different. Kate was a whole different ball game completely. He pondered a moment and realised that despite the fact she never had the colouring, she definitely encapsulated what had attracted him to his previous wives and one night stands.
They were fiery, determined. Kate was fiery and determined. Kate was everything he’d looked for in his previous relationships but he had discovered a little too late that he didn’t particularly like the women he married. They never had any common ground, or values. Kate did and he liked Kate.
The fire that burned in her soul that created this being, was the very thing he’d been looking for since Shannon. A woman with understanding, beliefs, fire, morals and standards. A woman who knew what she did and didn’t like; self-respect, dominancy, self-worth; who knew when to speak and when to hold her tongue; who knew what he was saying, when he hadn’t spoken a word.
A woman who wouldn’t back down under his stare and who pushed until she found the answer she’d been searching for to the questions she‘d asked about his life.
A woman, that despite the harsh reality in the cold light of day, still smiled and battled on as if she was fighting her own personal war.
A woman who was determined to save the lost souls of the world; determined to save him, and he knew that’s what she was secretly trying to do to him.
To pull him from his dark loneliness and scotch into a world of sunshine and sparkles. Of laughter and smiles. Take him somewhere he belonged; into a world where no matter what challenges it threw at you, you’d still find the strength to stand up and keep on fighting.
Some may describe Kate as being tempestuous, or stuck up. The word bitch had arisen from some jealous colleagues once before. Occasionally, yes, she could be stubborn, wouldn’t listen to reason and fought back; but these were the very characteristics that made Caitlin Todd who she was. Made her the agent she was. Without them, she would surely become misanthropic, surly. She would fall into the world where late nights, no sleep and no relationships replaced fun and laughter and late nights with friends.
A flaw which he so easily saw in himself and was determined not to let this smart, brilliant, attractive woman acquire.
His thoughts had crept upon him again as he stood in the doorway talking to Jeremy Wirth with Kate by his side. He stood close, like he always did, but not so close to make her uncomfortable, or in some cases overly comfortable with his presence as he continued talking to Jeremy about what he was watching on the satellite.
"You play ball with me, I can square it with Rober."
"You can do that?"
"With the exception of finding a decent barber, Gibbs can do pretty much anything he says he can."
Gibbs looked towards Kate for a moment before looking to the side. He, personally, didn't think there was anything wrong with his hair. It wasn't too long, or too short. It was...indescribable. Very much like Gibbs himself. There was nothing about Gibbs that could possibly be described as completely normal; he was a man of more questions than answers. But he had picked up on the flirtatious banter she was throwing his way earlier in the car and decided to throw it back.
"I was watching…not watching… I wasn’t watching the guy in the wetsuit. I was watching something else and happened to notice activity at the edge of the screen."
"What kind of something else would this be?"
"A person."
"Female person?"
"Yeah."
"Kind of a babe female person?"
"Really hot. I stumbled across her by accident. She was polar tanning."
The confused look on Gibbs face was enough to start Kate laughing as she explained to him exactly what polar tanning was. She tried her hardest to suppress her laugh, but that expression was just too much.
"Nude winter sunbathing."
Hearing this, Gibbs' mind slowly drifted into forbidden Kate territory as he pictured her naked on a beach in the middle of winter. He was sure it hadn't shown on his face, but it had definitely shown in his voice and he knew Kate had picked up on the slight change as he spoke.
"Must get cold."
"Oh, she was Sir."
Kate had indeed picked up on the change in Gibbs' voice and decided once again, it was time to pull them all from gutterville, something which she had plenty of experience in as of recent.
"And you think that’s an appropriate use for a billion dollar satellite, Jeremy?"
"I got a little off track with my priorities."
"That happens with hot babes sometimes. So you didn’t see who attacked Commander Egan?"
This surprising comment shocked Kate completely. It had obviously been directed at her, but for what reason she was unsure. Could it have been simple payback for the barber comment? Or had he caught the flirting ball and thrown it back her way? She pushed this strange, yet very nice comment to the back of her mind and tried once again to get out of gutterville and forbidden Gibbs territory.
After a few more minutes talking to Wirth and a trip to CIA headquarters in Langley, Kate and Gibbs found themselves yet again in a comfortable silence that served them both well.
Kate was working on her Palm Pilot again, making out a list of times with Gibbs that seemed to slightly bother her. At the top of her list she had the fact he accused her of murder, twice. A few numbers down was a scenario that really freaked her out. Tony had spilt Gibbs' coffee on many occasions and had received a sharp slap to the back of his head followed by low grumbling on Gibbs' behalf.
Kate had spilt it once and he hadn't said a word. He had merely looked down at her while she smiled up apologetically and offered to get him a new one. The next day however, she found herself outside a building, practically yelling at Gibbs and telling him the reasons why it was unconscionable for her not to be assigned the case simply because she was a woman. Had she been in a calm state of mind, she would have noticed the twinkle in his eyes as he smirked at her while she listed the reasons she should go.
It was while sitting in the car on the journey back to headquarters that it suddenly hit her. He wanted her on that submarine since they'd learned about the case. He hadn't been too pissed off with his lack off coffee the previous morning and had been thoroughly amused at Kate's reaction the next day. Yes, he had definitely wanted her there with him in the small cabin room. Perhaps it was for her profiling skills and her perfectionism. Or perhaps, on some deeper level, he had wanted her there for another reason.
Author's Chapter Notes:
While camped out waiting for their suspect, Gibbs and Kate come to a conclusion