Surprise Propositions
Maybe you think you’re not right for me
That you’ll never be everything I need
Well I’ll tell you straight from my heart
You are, you are
If you don’t think that you’ve the pedigree
That you’re not someone who can talk to me
Well I’ll tell you straight from my heart
You are, you are
The past eight weeks had been blissful compared to what they had been subjected to recently. Gibbs’ shoulder was healing nicely, and he’d also been proven right about Kate’s tattoo not being a rose. They remained professional at work, in order to keep their friends off the scent of their blossoming relationship and to prevent being split up.
Kate had considered the fact that while in Gitmo a few months ago, Gibbs had told her romance between agents never works and had brought the subject up one evening over dinner. He’d given her his trademark smirk and calmly explained that what was happening between them was not a romance, but was a relationship. Relationships between agents, when approached correctly, could work; they just had to apply themselves wholeheartedly to it. Kate could only smile and drink her wine.
They spent all the time they could together when they had the chance without work rearing it’s ugly head to spoil their fun, whether it was working on the boat in Gibbs’ basement, leisurely strolls through D.C. at twilight or simply kicking back and watching a movie on Gibbs’ recently acquired television which was situated in his now thoroughly lived in living room.
Since Kate had become his companion, in both love and work, he’d spent relatively less time in his basement, preferring to spend it in the arms of his lover, finding various ways in which to make her squirm under his touch and kissing her till she was breathless.
Kate had taken the eight weeks in her stride and had practically moved into Gibbs’ place. She stayed with him most nights, half her clothes were in his wardrobe and the small amount of literature that had resided in his bookcase was over ridden by her copious and varying array of novels. If Gibbs had any problems with almost the entirety of her apartment slowly arriving at his, he said nothing, instead loving that Kate was so comfortable in his home.
Their current case had involved a Seal escaped from Leavenworth seeking revenge for the murder of his wife and her lover of which he had been accused. The two days that the case had run over had been weird for Kate.
First, there had been her strange but it’s happening conversation with Tony. Why the man had half the thoughts he did and how in the hell he’d gotten into NCIS remained to be seen.
*~*~*~*~*~*
“It’s three o’clock in the morning, you hear a strange noise in your house. What do you do?”
“I slide a pistol from under my pillow and I go after the guy.”
The way she said it sounded like it was the most normal thing in the world. To some people, like federal government employees yes, but the majority of civilians it wasn’t the most common thing in the world.
“I’m talking about real people, Kate. Why do they always feel the need to go and look?”
“It’s called human nature, Tony.”
“Ah, let me guess. You’re that person in a horror movie that decides since all your friends are dead, you really need to go check out that demonic breathing noise down in the basement.”
“Well, that beats being the girl who twists her ankle and gets everybody else killed.”
Tony had definitely watched one too many horror movies in his life, if he had the basic scenario in which Kate would kill herself mapped out. She thought she’d managed to ease past the slip up about her gun, but clearly she was mistaken.
“You sleep with a gun every night?”
“Well that depends.”
“On what?”
“On who I’m sleeping with.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
That had been followed with her equally strange, and no doubt embarrassing conversation which followed after she’d bumped into Gibbs.
*~*~*~*~*~*
“Um, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Tony just asked me what I would do if a man came into my bedroom and I said it depends.”
There was laughter in his eyes as she made her attempts at explaining, and his lips were slowly turning into a smile, which he knew would piss her off.
“I mean, it doesn’t depend on the man. Tony, could you help me out here, please?”
“She sleeps with a gun, boss.”
“Is that true?”
Over the years, Gibbs had developed an art of concealing his amusement, especially at his agent’s expense. He raised an eyebrow and remained ever so slightly stoical, perhaps betraying some shock. This was, of course, merely for the fact Tony was standing over Kate’s shoulder, waiting for some sort of repercussion to come of Kate’s personal home safety technique.
“Sort of. Sometimes. Yes.”
“Good girl!”
*~*~*~*~*~*
He damn well knew it was true since he’d watched her place her beloved sig sauer there whenever and if ever they stayed at her place. The smile that had played on his lips, that all knowing smile, caused her to stumble over her words before settling on a confident yes before his response of a smirk and a ‘good girl’. He knew how much she hated that. She had practically not spoken to him all day unless it was about the case.
He’d made amends in the car ride however, promising in extreme detail how he planned on making it up to her when the case was closed. She was slowly coming round to his way of thinking by the time they had arrived at their destination, the residence of Mr and Mrs Donaldson who had gained custody of their grandchild after the murder of his mother, and then Gibbs had told her she was on protection detail in case Curtin showed up to take his son.
*~*~*~*~*~*
“Is that a nice way of saying babysit?”
“Hey, you’re catching on.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
She spent the night playing solitaire, imagining all the things she was going to do with Gibbs that weekend. However, her night had been interrupted by their person of interest showing up at the house and tying her to a chair. This was so reminiscent of autopsy that it made Kate’s reaction time slightly slower than what it should have been in a case like this. Now that the case had taken a different turn, and all she wanted to do was go home and sleep but knew that wasn’t a possibility as long as Curtin was still free.
Tonight, however, had definitely been the strangest. Tony had proven himself to be quite intelligent when it came to pressing matters, and as it turned out, it was he who eventually cracked the case. But this only led to more distress for Kate. She wasn’t entirely oppressed to going undercover, but she preferred to do it fully clothed.
Walking from the elevator earlier, with Tony by her side, she ran over the previous night’s events when Curtin had shown up and couldn’t help but play out different scenarios in her head. Since autopsy, she frequently checked her actions subconsciously, always wondering if she’d taken a different path, or chosen a different method of attack everything she done would eventually lead to a different outcome, whether it be better or worse than what had already happened.
Now as she stood in the squad room, having another one of those strange but it’s happening conversations with Tony, she could barely contain her excitement at finally being able to spend the whole night with her love. Again today, she’d barely spoken a word to him, not that she had really seen much of him anyway. There was a moment in the evidence garage where they had somehow got on to the topic of boats and he’d smiled at her enigmatically, as he always did when he talked of his pride and joy, when she questioned him about the boat they were currently building together. It was the eyes and smile that had kept her going all day.
When Tony had finally stopped in his diabolical one sided conversation, their attention was drawn to the opening elevator doors and the attractive red head that walked out. The attractive red head who seemed to play a part in Gibbs’ life. Kate had seen her a few times, dropping him off and picking him up from crime scenes, but she had never questioned who she was or of what, if any, relation she was to Gibbs.
It’s not that she was jealous. Much. She knew herself to be intelligent and that she was fairly attractive. She also knew that her self confidence could do with a bit of a raise, but as long as she heard ‘you’re so beautiful’ falling regularly from Gibbs’ lips, it would happen on it’s own.
She had hoped that the opening elevator doors had only attracted her attention, but her hopes were shattered when both McGee and Tony spotted her, and also spotted Gibbs walking towards her, presumably coming from interrogation. Kate felt the green ball of envy bouncing in her chest and she silently wondered if after all this time she was just the other woman.
There was no denying Gibbs’ attraction to fiery red heads, and this woman was clearly a red head. If red heads were his type, then why had he fallen for a fiery brunette instead? She continued to watch the scene before her, as the red head handed over a pair of glasses, Gibbs’ seemingly platonic kiss on her cheek and retrieval of the glasses. Gibbs had surprised her a few weeks earlier, after her second suggestion of him needing glasses. He’d gone for an eye test and had actually gotten himself a prescription.
She vaguely heard McGee asking who the redhead was, and Tony telling him to ask him himself, but her mind was so overworked and exhausted that at this moment, she couldn’t really care less who she was, although the green ball that was still bouncing said otherwise.
Gibbs strode back to his desk, glasses in hand and pretended not to notice the questioning stares he was receiving from his team, the most dominant being from Kate. He knew he’d have to explain to her one day who the red head was and why she occasionally showed up unexpected. In fact, he’d have to do a lot of explaining to her if the questions bouncing in her eyes were anything to go by. He had yet to tell her about Shannon, and although he already knew about her father, she was yet to tell him. They were still taking things slow, because they’d both been hurt badly in the past and they hoped to break the chain that was associated with them and relationships. Maybe tonight was the night for everything to happen.
“She dropped off my glasses.”
This seemed to be a satisfying excuse for both Tony and McGee, but he could still feel Kate’s gaze lingering on him, despite the fact that she was pretending to read a report over Tony’s shoulder. Definitely a lot of explaining tonight.
“Boss?”
“Yeah, McGee.”
“It was really nice working with you again.”
“Same here, McGee.”
McGee nodded his thanks and headed toward the elevator before turning back to Gibbs and dropping Kate and Tony in the deep end by telling him they had something they’d been wanting to ask him. This was his way of getting revenge for all the cruel jokes Tony had been pulling on him lately, but he didn’t really want Kate to get in trouble. He liked Kate, she looked out for him and defended him when Tony was too harsh on him. He liked that about her.
As he walked away, Gibbs stood from his desk and lowered his glasses. Both his subordinates had guilty faces, but it was Tony more than Kate, seeing as she would be on the receiving end of a full explanation tonight. She hoped so anyway. Neither could actually think what to say to their boss, knowing full well that his all knowing thing he had going would see right through any lie they attempted to tell.
“Uh, when do you want the reports, boss?”
“Tomorrow. Go home, guys. It’s late.”
Tony didn’t need telling twice as he grabbed his bag and bolted for the elevator, most likely he had a buxom blonde waiting for him in a bar somewhere in D.C. Kate, on the other hand, moved round so she was leaning against Tony’s desk, her arms folded over her chest, waiting for some form of explanation. He pretended to read over the report before him, feeling Kate’s eyes bore into his neck, knowing full well that if he intended to stick around in the office for a few extra hours, she would wait and go over any paper work that needed doing.
Kate was slowly growing tired of the silence and when she’d eventually had enough, she stalked to his desk and waited for his attention. She wouldn’t say anything at work, waiting until she was at home, but would wait for him to finish what he was pretending to do to avoid any hard conversations with her.
“Something on your mind, Agent Todd?”
“Not at all, Agent Gibbs. I was just wondering, if per chance, you were going home any time soon?”
“As soon as I’m finished here. Why?”
“I missed you.”
She leaned down on his desk, drawing his attention as she’d hoped, and gave him her most pleading and wanting look. While he had an irresistible charm that drew her to him, she had her own feminine wiles that he couldn’t resist and if manipulation was what it took to get her man home, then she would use it. After all, she learned from the best.
“Really?”
“More than you know.”
She smiled briefly, mischief glowing in her eyes, before moving away to her desk and grabbing her bag. Walking towards the elevator, she knew he’d follow her if her gut was accurate. Sure enough, when the elevator arrived on their floor, she heard his computer powering down and his footsteps drawing closer to her. He made it over just in time to squeeze through the rapidly closing doors.
Kate was leaning against the back wall taking a brief rest after everything she’d accomplished that night, and was also clearly enjoying the significant torture that Gibbs was suffering not knowing what she was up to.
The sight before him was purely sadistic on Kate’s behalf, and he’d always thought that red heads were evil. Kate had definitely dyed. He couldn’t believe she was acting like this for him while they were still at work.
It was his idea to send her to decoy, a slight differential of undercover work. She’d taken the idea well, at the time, before she’d seen what she would have to wear. She and Mrs Foley were of the same height, same colourings and overall same build. Admittedly, their tastes were slightly different, where Kate would prefer to wear an oversized t-shirt and boxer shorts to bed, Mrs Foley wore something a little more revealing.
Knowing that Tony would most likely see her in this outfit, if she could even call it that, flustered her slightly as she changed from her work clothes into the extremely revealing red silk negligee. It stopped mid-thigh and that was way more leg than Kate ever considered showing her sex obsessed co-worker. It had been bad enough that he’d seen something to this effect while they were in Gitmo, but she had seen so much more of Tony. That had been a classic moment in her mind and some part of her wished to get to know Tony on a much more personal basis after that.
*~*~*~*~*~*
…She’d been enjoying her dream, which as all her recent dreams had done recently, involved Gibbs. She heard a screaming in the distance and was woken when she heard Tony screaming out again.
“Halt!“
Grabbing the gun from under her pillow she dove out her room and into Tony’s, along side Gibbs.
The pair rushed in, guns raised expecting to see an intruder, but were instead greeted with the sight on a large green iguana on Tony’s pillow. With the potential threat over, their guns were lowered and they turned their heads to look at Tony, possibly to chastise him for causing such a scene.
The scene was yet to be caused for when Gibbs and Kate looked at Tony, one was irritated and the other was delightfully amused. Tony grabbed the chair beside him to cover his dignity, Gibbs complaining and stating he needed coffee while Kate remained, taking in Tony in his full glory. Giving him a seductive pout, she winked flirtatiously at him before following Gibbs, leaving Tony to pick up the dignity that had fallen to the floor and shattered before his friends and colleagues.
He wouldn’t have minded so much if it were just Kate to witness it, but having his boss there?..
*~*~*~*~*~*
Curtin had approached her as they thought he would, and the team ended the case on a high; Curtin being returned to Leavenworth. While Tony had led Curtin out of the room, Gibbs had taken a moment to really take a look at Kate, who merely rolled her eyes and growled in his general direction. He liked what he saw and knew he’d be seeing a lot more of it when they got home, and at the time as she sashayed past him, putting a little more swing in her hips, he had thought that he’d seen everything she was willing to offer in a sexual context while at work and so openly in front of a colleague who could return at any moment.
As he stood in the elevator looking at her, he realised a few more buttons of her shirt had remained undone revealing to him a hint of pink lace and just enough of her cleavage to send his already spinning mind into overdrive as his imagination kicked in and made his heart beat ten times faster. They’d divulged their fantasies to each other a few nights ago, so perhaps Kate was using this information to her advantage.
Kate took a step forward, her fingers idly running over the top buttonhole of her shirt and watched Gibbs’ pupils dilate with her actions. Her seemingly innocent actions. She’d never quite witnessed this, though she’d read of it happening, and had never quite expected the effect it had on her. Her own heartbeat increased and her breathing became shallow as the all too familiar and welcome images danced through her head. Attempting to find sleep tonight without each and every one of those thoughts being played out to their full advantage would be no easy task and also a severe waste of time and energy.
Closing her eyes for the briefest second, she felt herself sway on her feet before Gibbs arms wrapped around her waist from behind. He lowered his head to her neck and began kissing his way over her jaw and back again; he was going to manipulate her the way he knew how to find out what kind of mischief she was up to. And what it meant for him in the long term.
“Does this have something to do with the Catholic schoolgirl uniform I found in the back of my closet the other day?”
Kate stepped back to lean against his chest as she stifled a laugh. She had hoped Gibbs hadn’t found that yet as she was going to reveal it as a birthday present for him in a few months time. He knew her background, and had known she’d attended catholic school for twelve years, but he hadn’t realised that she had kept her uniform.
“Nope.”
Gibbs switched sides as Kate seemed to enjoy the attention she was getting, which there had been a lack of recently what with their recent cases. The childish part of him strongly considered marking his territory just under her ear but decided against it when a thought came to him.
“The saucy little outfit you were wearing tonight?”
Kate’s giggling suggested that her decoy outfit had nothing to do with tonight, nor had it anything to do with whatever else she had running through her mind. Gibbs head fell forward to her left shoulder as Kate’s fell back to his right; he was clearly giving up in his guessing game, too soon Kate had noticed, and pulled her closer into him, his hands caressing her stomach.
“Baby, you’re just gonna have to wait. I may be up to something, I may be up to nothing.”
As the elevator ride drew to a close, Kate redone a button on her shirt to retain some dignity and the pair resumed their professional masks before stepping out into the hall. They were skilled in starting a conversation, acting as if they were discussing something deep regarding a case and keeping up the front that they were nothing more than boss and subordinate.
Pausing in their faked conversation to say their goodnights to the security guard, George, they walked out to the car park heading in different directions towards their cars. They had been apart for less than a minute before Gibbs decided it had been long enough and called Kate.
“Your place or mine?”
“Yours, Jethro. You do have the bigger bed. I’ll follow you.”
Giving him a taste of his own medicine, Kate hung up before Gibbs had a chance to respond and waited for him to leave the car park before starting her own engine and following in the same direction.
It had occurred to Kate, that some aspects of their relationship, to her, felt like she was a mistress. She sometimes felt like she was cheating on someone, although there was no one in her life to cheat on. There wasn’t anyone sincerely significant in their lives apart from each other, but still, Kate couldn’t shake the feeling that she was cheating on someone in her life.
Kate’s arrival in Gibbs’ driveway occurred five minutes after he’d walked into the house, where he began pacing the hardwood floors. He knew she was up to something, there was definitely a spark in her eyes that suggested it to him, but there was also a spark of something similar to jealousy. If it was jealousy, and she wasn’t going to play nice tonight then he could take the blame for it for not explaining exactly who the red head was. But explaining who she was would mean explaining about Shannon, and Gibbs wasn’t entirely sure he was up to that level of commitment yet. His deliberations were stopped, as much as his heart almost did, when he heard the front door opening and his Katie walking in, her heels clicking melodically across the floor.
Gibbs sauntered out to the hall and grabbed Kate by the waist before she had a chance to shed her coat. He pushed her against the nearest wall without even trying to seduce her first and began probing her for information as to her plans.
She was used to Gibbs foregoing the pleasantries when they’d gone without a touch for more than two days, but this was pure want and perhaps a little bit of need, and it was gratifying to know he wanted her this badly when he began tracing her lips with his tongue to which she willingly parted her lips.
Kate pulled out when her lungs began burning from lack of oxygen, and she leaned back against the wall. Her arms were laying limp by her side and she moved them so they were laying loosely on Gibbs’ hips. There was an uncharacteristic glow in his eyes that was unnerving to Kate, and as she tried questioning him with her eyes he moved his hands under her shirt. She could feel her resistance for him slowly slide and she knew he was trying to distract her from what he was thinking.
“What?”
“Just want to know what you’re up to, Katie.”
“Who says I’m up to anything?”
“You have a cheeky look about you tonight. You’re up to something, I know it.”
She wasn’t actually up to anything. She had been thinking in the past few hours and had decided that it was time to elaborate a bit more on her past. It had been bothering her for a few months that although Gibbs knew she was catholic, the case they had been working on at the time had caused him to consider her personal beliefs.
*~*~*~*~*~*
…“It’s called being thorough. Hunches do not hold up in court.”
“It’s not just a hunch. Two people stated that he wasn’t prone to suicide.”
“Why are you pushing this, Kate?”
“Because it makes sense. He’s Catholic.”
“Hmm. And so are you. You cannot let personal situations colour your judgment.”
“I don’t. but you hired me because of my knowledge and my experience. You’ve never seen how a suicide can tear up a Catholic family. They take it very seriously.”…
*~*~*~*~*~*
“Okay, I’ll tell you what I’m up to.”
Gibbs stepped back a little, drawing space between him and Kate who was still trying to level her breathing. The smug smile plastered on his lips at getting what he wanted soon faded when he realised Kate still had the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Leaning in for another kiss, which once again left them breathless, Kate pulled back and slipped free of Gibbs hold.
“On one condition.”
“Which is?”
“You have to catch me first!”
Kate used the space between them to her advantage as she took off down the hall towards the kitchen, leaving Gibbs to idly stroll after her. She was trying in vain to delay the inevitable. She knew she wanted to tell him, and why she wanted to tell him, but telling him this probably didn’t come without repercussions. Kate had blamed herself for long enough about it, and who was to say that Gibbs wouldn’t. She knew it was neither her nor her family’s fault that it had happened but Kate was the type of person that if something went majorly wrong in her life, she found a way of taking the blame.
Gibbs didn’t particularly mind these cat and mouse games with Kate. They’d both played them for long enough, but now when they played there was never any doubt that she would end up in his arms.
“You’re taking too long, Gunny!”
Using his former ranking so freely sent shivers down his spine as he jogged the last few steps into the kitchen. He found Kate on the opposite side of the table, jacket and heels discarded, shirt untucked, hair tousled. Her usually immaculate makeup was now delicately smudged which fitted well with her now bee-stung lips due to her recent extra curricular activities in the hall a moment ago. In Gibbs’ opinion, and maybe he was biased, she looked chaotically beautiful.
“I will catch you, Katie.”
“You sure?”
“Oh yeah.”
Kate made a daring move to run round the right side of the table, but Gibbs was quick to catch onto her scheme. He took a step towards her and as she changed direction to run towards the door, he outstretched his arms and caught her round the waist. Pulling her into him, he turned her round and sat her up on the counter.
Her arms rested loosely on his shoulders, her fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck as his hands ran the length of her thighs. Taking a step closer, effectively wedging himself between her knees, she wrapped her legs around him tightly, preventing him from moving without her.
“So, what is my little Katie up to tonight?”
“I wanna talk to you about something.”
“Something?”
“Yes. But can it wait until after dinner?”
“Sure.”
The resolute nod of her head and slightly scared smile suggested this was something extremely serious and sensitive. There wasn’t anything they couldn’t talk about, from past relationships to where they saw themselves in the future, but even Gibbs couldn’t bring himself to talk about his own serious and sensitive subject.
With the silent affirmation of his pledge to wait, Kate slid herself forward on the counter and pressed a kiss to Gibbs’ forehead before he helped her down and watched as she walked out the kitchen and headed upstairs for a shower and to get changed.
This was a worrying change in Kate’s behaviour, from playful to serious in a snap of the fingers. Gibbs ran a hand over his face trying to work out what she wanted to talk to him about but decided he wouldn’t over think the multitude of topics and made a start on getting them something to eat.
The tiles were cool against her back, a stark contrast to the hot water she was currently standing under. Why had she decided to enlighten him? To inform him of the biggest, darkest smudge of her personal life? The voice in her head recited it was because she trusted him, which she did. She proved that every day at work when they were faced with challenging situations and now she was planning on trusting him with a little more.
Kate was an extremely private person, a fact that Tony knew but paid no attention to. She preferred no one knowing about her dates, about her friends and family or anything from her past. But somehow, she was able to tell Gibbs anything, and he was able to get things from her willingly.
Upon first introductions to him six months ago, she explained to Gibbs after only a few hours of knowing him, though not in specific detail, of her relationship with Major Tim Kerry. By Monday, she also confronted him with the same topic and told him she ended the relationship.
At the time she cursed her ability and willingness to tell him this, after all, at the time, he was the enemy. Gibbs attitude to this information, and subsequent job offer proved to her that he was indeed trustworthy. Even if he did tell her as a parting shot that if she ever pulled that crap at NCIS, she wouldn’t have the chance to resign.
Opening up to him about this required a great feat of strength that she’s not sure she possessed, but it proved to her that if she was opening up to him in this way, she trusted Gibbs with more than she realised.
Allowing the water to meld with and wash away her tears for the last time, Kate stepped out and changed into her red silk pyjama bottoms and black tank top which had NCIS emblazoned in white across the front.
It had been a sort of welcome present from Abby, which had been received along with a bottle of wine, the showing of Abby’s tattoos, shared tales of acts of rebellion in their teenage years and the lifetime promise of friendship. It was during one of these rare nights off that Abby, in her wise way, persuaded a drunken Kate to get a tattoo, as part of their new friendship clause. The tattoo which caused a great amount of investigation from Tony after Kate had let slip she had one. Yet another of those strange but it’s happening conversations which occurred over the whole investigation.
*~*~*~*~*~*
“I don’t get the whole tattoo thing.”
“I’ll add that to the ever-growing list of things you don’t get.”
“Being stuck with a needle thousands of times for a piece of artwork. No, thank you.”
“It’s more than just artwork, Tony.”
“On a woman, maybe.”
“What?”
“You know, on a woman? It means she’s up for anything.”
“Abby’s got tattoos.”
Tony just laughed and had no comment for Abby’s insatiable need for an inked body.
“Well, what about me? You think I’m up for anything?”
“You don’t have a tat.”
“And if I did, that would just blow your theory to hell now, wouldn’t it?”
“Okay, say for a minute I believe you’ve got one. Where is it?”
“Nowhere you will ever see.”
She thought that would be the end to the conversation, that she’d thrown a nuclear bomb at the topic. It wasn’t until later while they were trying to find the owner of a foot, that Tony brought it up again.
“Is it on your butt?”
“I told you, I was kidding.”
“You only said you were kidding because you were embarrassed you told me.”
“I don’t have a tattoo.”
“It’s a butterfly, isn’t it? You seem like a butterfly kind of girl.”
“Yeah, it’s a butterfly. On my hip.”
She’d given in relatively easy for Tony to believe what she was telling him. She really was a bad liar at times.
“It’s not a butterfly, is it?”
Again she thought it was over with. It wasn’t until later when they were driving back from Harmony that Kate made a mention of Tony having a soft heart for Doctor Chalmers and Tony’s crazy mind instantly came up with the idea that Kate’s tattoo was a heart.
“We’re back on that again.”
“I just can’t imagine you getting a tattoo, that’s all.”
“I was drunk.”
“I can’t imagine you drunk either. So if it‘s not a heart…”
“It’s a rose. On my butt. Can we move on now?”
“Sure.”
“So are we done with this then?”
“We are done…Kate, what cheek is it on?”
The conversation finally came to a close, as did the case, and again Tony brought up the rose tattoo. Gibbs, in his all knowing way, claimed that it wasn’t a rose, but Kate never denied the fact that it wasn’t. She was just more angered at the fact he knew.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Throwing her black silk robe over her shoulders, she left the bedroom and headed downstairs where she could smell the distinct scent of shrimp noodles from her favourite Chinese restaurant. As she passed the hall mirror, Kate chuckled ironically as she realised that her nightwear, which consisted mainly of black, portrayed the change her mood had swiftly taken in the past few minutes.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Kate remained quite subdued during dinner, which was an unusual sight to behold. She never really was one to hold back, constantly expressing herself through her hands when she spoke, and was forever speaking her mind, especially when something was bothering her. She seemed quite happy to postpone their upcoming conversation for the meantime, and Gibbs went along with this, wanting to wait until she came to him. He himself was deep in thought, having thought about it long and hard while Kate was upstairs. He knew he loved her, and he was positive she loved him for she told him often enough, so taking these next few steps in their relationship would prove to him just as much to her, how big a part of his life she was becoming. Tonight was the night, depending on what she told him first, that he was going to tell her about Shannon.
They kept with their silence as they cleaned up, made coffee and moved into the living room. She smiled lightly when she moved into Gibbs’ arms on the sofa and he began kissing her neck and stroking her hair. She snuggled closer and his arms tightened around her waist. The strength and security he was providing her with was enough of an incentive to start their conversation.
“Do you remember that case a few months ago, when Tony bought me that bikini?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you remember the conversation we had in the boiler room?”
“Of course.”
She took a steadying breath, moving closer to Gibbs and tentatively drawing lazy patterns on his chest. Broaching this subject with Gibbs, with anyone, was a new experience and she wasn’t quite sure how she should go about it.
“Five years ago, my dad died.”
“I know. It’s in your file.”
“Yeah. He had been diagnosed with cancer the year before, he got treated and we thought he was in remission.”
She paused, trying to find the words. Memories came flooding back to her, as they often did when she allowed them, and she smiled solemnly against Gibbs’ neck. He kissed her head and pushed her hair back from her face as his way of silently telling her to continue.
“Things were fine and then we learned that it was back, at least twice as bad as before. He made a pact that it wouldn’t beat him, that he’d fight it.”
“What happened?”
She stopped again, still not sure why she was telling him this, but it was like a great weight was being lifted from her chest the more she spoke about it. Instead of blocking out the memories and pushing them away, she found it was easier to deal with the sight of her father knowing Gibbs had his arms around her.
“I found him on the back porch. A half empty bottle of McCallen eighteen on the table, pistol on his lap. The strange thing is, he never owned a gun. Probably wouldn’t know where to buy one. And yet, he hadn’t the courage to go through with it. The pill bottle had fallen on the floor, and it was empty. There were maybe, like, two pills left.”
“Kate…”
“That’s why I was so sure Seaman McDonald’s death wasn’t a suicide. Because I know what it’s like. And it didn‘t hurt that I was proved right, either.”
She chuckled slightly, trying to inject a little humour to deflect the sorrow and had no more words in her. The memories evaporated into nothing and the warmth in her soul grew stronger. She turned her head and pressed a soft kiss against the healing wound the intruder had inflicted on him and slipped her hand between the buttons on his shirt, running it over his chest.
“For months afterwards, I blamed myself. I kept thinking that if only I had been around more, showed him more support, then he wouldn’t have done it. Even to this day I still feel guilty, because while he was suffering, I was training to be an SS agent, you know. I was here in D.C while my father was falling deeper into a pit of depression. He’d known for a week before he bit the bullet, so to speak. It took a lot of time, and a lot of hits against the punch bag; I know it wasn‘t my fault.”
She closed her eyes as Gibbs pulled her closer, and rested her head on his chest, just next to his heart. He rested his cheek against her forehead, raising her free hand to his lips to kiss her knuckles.
“Why’d you tell me this?”
She chuckled again, this time more like her old self and pulled back to look Gibbs in the eye, to show that she meant what she was saying with no doubt in her heart, body, soul or mind.
“Because I trust and love you. Implicitly.”
Gibbs now knew that he wasn’t the only person who had been affected terribly by the death of a loved one, in his case two, and hoped that they’d be able to provide each other with some of the love they’d lost in their lives. Telling her about Shannon and Kelly would have to wait for a while because tonight was enough for painful revelations.
Kate stretched her legs out and groaned as the tension was released from her muscles after having her knees pulled into her chest for so long.
“Mmm. I don’t know about you, but I could sleep for a month.”
“I could go for that, Katie.”
As she was about to stand, Gibbs caught Kate under the knees and took her into his arms. If she could be really honest, the girly part of her loved being carried like this, it’s one of her secret pleasures. She likes the feeling of being carried in Gibbs’ strong arms and the feeling of being held tightly in them and being cherished and sheltered and cared for. She calls it her fairytale princess lift, and Gibbs does it more often than she would have associated him with before she started dating him.
“Prince Charming tonight, huh?”
“Well…you are my princess.”
“Princess Katie? I like that.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Kate cursed at the loud, discordant buzzing of the digital alarm clock on the nightstand. She should have really considered turning it off the night before, knowing that this was her weekend off. The mid-morning sun shone through the front windows which overlooked the front yard, spreading the light into beams around the room. Kate groped blindly in a sleep like haze for the clock with one hand as the other pushed her up into a sitting position on the bed. Finally, she managed to cease the antagonizing buzz and placed the clock back in its original position.
As her eyes adjusted to the light, she focused them on her surroundings. They moved to the chair in the corner of the room, just by the bathroom door, which was covered in her shirts and pants, a freshly pressed suit on a hanger over the door of the wardrobe. The dresser had several framed sketches of hers on top, along with varying bottles of perfume and creams. The bedroom which once had the aroma of sawdust, which she found extremely sexy, now had the distinct floral and spicy aroma of her perfumes. She hadn’t quite realised just how much she had taken over Gibbs’ house, but found she was strangely proud of it.
Kate had never opened herself up to a man as much as she had to Gibbs. Never allowed them to keep a change of clothes at her apartment. Never allowed herself to believe the endearments of love that fell from their lips; normally in the throes of passion. Never fully trusted them and occasionally considered running background checks. Never allowed herself to become so emotionally attached to one man, as it normally ended in a harsh break up anyway.
Not that in recent years she’d actually had the chance at a real love life. Her commitment to her job was something that the rare man who found his way into her life, and bed, couldn’t understand; always believing that her supposed late working hours were the excuse and result of having an affair with someone she worked with.
It’s not that she was promiscuous, much. She enjoyed the game of casual sex, but it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. The majority of the time she was left disappointed with whom she had chosen to try and pursue a relationship with. She had very high standards when it came to the men she dated, although some of her past relations she couldn’t actually bear thinking about.
She considered and reconsidered every eventuality of taking the next step with who she was dating, and if what she considered she didn’t like, she simply didn’t sleep with them. That part of her was kept for someone who actually thought about and respected her and considered her needs and the fact that she kept a hectic work life which would always come before one or more dates.
The last man she allowed in her bed, Tim, had no choice but to accept the conditions of their affair, seeing as the majority of the time they were working on the same shift. Occasionally, they would find themselves in the same country, but always made sure never to mix pleasure with business, especially when it involved the protection of the president. That had been why she ended it with him. She had slowly began reanalysing things and decided that the president’s life was far more important than her own sex life.
After him there been a scarce amount of dates her way, before Marcy introduced her to Phillip Burns. He was a highly respected surgeon, a friend of Marcy’s friends sister’s cousin. They arranged, in between their chaotic work schedules, a date but he’d had to cancel due to work. From then there had been no one until March.
She’d been relatively flighty with any men she encountered, almost the same in college during her freshman and sophomore years, although that was a more free time for her, being a female version of DiNozzo. Moving from one guy to the next in the blink of an eye, constantly looking for some fun.
By the time she was a senior she’d grown out of it, having expelled her bad girl side in an abundance of ways. One of those ways occurred during her junior year involving three pitchers, two of water, one of tequila, Spring Break in Panama City, and the drunken idea to participate in a wet t-shirt contest. In her bleary eyed hangover condition the next morning she discovered she’d won the contest and had been labelled Miss Wet T-Shirt Ninety Four.
She became more guarded the older she got, protecting her heart from men she knew would break it into smithereens in an instant. Of the few guys she’d had serious intentions with, they told her everything she wanted to hear just so they could get what they wanted from her, before leaving her alone and trying to find super strength glue to mend her heart.
Now she was fast approaching her thirties and possibly looking for a man to settle down and spend eternity with. She knew she’d eventually like to settle down, once she’d gotten over the first initial thrill of owning a Sig Sauer and a Smith and Wesson, have kids and eventually leave whatever agency she was with.
Her biological clock was going to start ticking soon and she wanted to make sure that the man she was with when it did was reliable and wouldn’t walk out on her when the stick turned blue. Gibbs, with all his hard ass Marine tendencies, was possibly this man.
With Gibbs, it was almost as if they were on the same level of emotion and understanding and this was of great comfort to her. If six months down the line she discovered that things weren’t working out the way they had both hoped, she knew it would take her more than a week to recover from the possible heartbreak she was setting herself up for. She didn’t dwell on the possibilities that lay ahead of them for long, preferring to work on the present; taking one day at a time and not talking about the future.
She knew Gibbs, being the extremely early riser that he was, was probably downstairs on his fourth coffee by now. And knowing the length of time it took her to wake up in the mornings, would make it to at least his eighth by the time she made it into the kitchen.
She put her bare feet onto the soft carpet, stood up and stretched; one hand reaching behind her head to her opposite shoulder, and the other pushing up the hem of her cotton tank top to above her bellybutton and pulling it down again. She was finally on her way to becoming a regular human being after a night basked in warmth and restful sleep.
Kate made her way to the en suite, the changing texture of soft blue carpet to cold white tiles giving an added wake up call, and decided to forgo her morning shower in exchange for seeing Gibbs sooner.
Lukewarm water fell into her cupped hands, and then rolled down her face before dripping into the round porcelain sink. Patting her face dry, she grabbed the amber coloured toothbrush which had recently taken up residence in the holder next to Gibbs’ marine green one.
With her morning routine coming to a close, after almost an hour, Kate left the bathroom and made her way downstairs, grabbing the black robe on the way. Despite her attempts at a refreshing and zesty wake up call, she was still half asleep when she reached the kitchen. Tony had once made a comment about the walking dead after a red eye to Colombia, and had promptly been slapped upside the head by Gibbs and elbowed in the ribs by Kate. There was no such mention of the walking dead after that.
By twelve, Gibbs was standing by the coffee machine anticipating her arrival. When he heard her groan in the hall by means of a good morning, he simply picked the mug up and held it out to her. She took the mug carefully and squeezed herself between Gibbs and the counter just to murmur ‘thank you’ and ‘coffee’ against his lips.
Separating, Kate licked her lips and tasted the residue from the coffee that Gibbs had been drinking before she came in. She silently and groggily made her way to the table and picked up the morning paper, which seemed pretty redundant as she was now in the afternoon, while Gibbs took his own mug and joined her. They sat in companionable silence, each enjoying the beginnings of their day off together, and each hoping there wouldn’t be an overload of cases and have to be called in.
It was almost an hour before Gibbs chose to breach the silence after watching Kate drink another cup of coffee. He loved watching her when she wasn’t aware or at least when he thought she wasn‘t aware.
The way her eyebrows rose up when she found something amusing or shocking, the way they creased together when she was angry or confused. The way she nibbled on her bottom lip when she was deep in thought, or worried that she’d overstepped the boundaries which he always seemed to stretch for her. When she was really pissed, she would stick her chin out and pout a little, and Gibbs, quite frankly, found it adorable.
He loved things about her that she wasn’t even aware of herself, like how she expressed herself through her hands and the way her eyes became enflamed when she was talking passionately about something, the way she rubbed the spot just under her left ear with her thumb when she was stressed or tired.
Things that happened when she slept. Whether it was because of what happened during the day or if it were her dreams he would never know, but Gibbs could count the number of times Kate muttered random words and phrases in her sleep on both hands twice.
She’d given him a reason last night for why she was so hardened when it came to certain subjects and felt she deserved to know his. He had almost given up on love after Shannon, and had tried and failed three times to recreate the life he had with her with other women. He wasn’t going to do that this time. He wasn’t going to try and pretend Kate was someone she wasn’t. What he felt for Shannon still boiled in his belly, and though he had actually given up on finding someone who could evoke those same feelings with the same amount of strength, he eventually found it in Kate Todd.
He didn’t believe in the afterlife much or in reincarnation, but if he had to trust what his gut said and what he was witnessing and participating in, he’d say without a doubt, Caitlin Todd was the reincarnation of Shannon Marie Gibbs.
“You were right when you said I had four wives.”
Kate looked up from the paper, a little stunned. When it came to her haphazard guess at the amount of times Gibbs had been married, he’d claimed she was wrong and said he only had three. To actually find she’d been right all along was a little shocking.
“I was?”
“Yes. Shannon. A red head. I married her in eighty-two, our daughter, Kelly, was born in eight-four.”
Gibbs silently slid a worn photo across the table and Kate picked it up gently. She smiled at the image before her; a young girl, Kelly, on a bike with a bright smile, while Gibbs and Shannon stood behind her making sure she didn’t fall off. She could tell that these were happier times for Gibbs, as his face didn’t hold quite as much worry or tension. And he was laughing at the camera. Kate was slowly beginning to understand why Gibbs tended to shy away from commitment, and basically why he was the way he was.
“She’s gorgeous; they both are. Kelly looks like you.”
“I agree. It was Shannon’s eyes, she had the most amazing eyes. Bright green. They always looked best when she was smiling or when she was angry. Especially when she was angry, there was this eruption of fireworks and it was so fascinating to watch. Just like yours. The anger makes the fire in your soul burn and it shows through your eyes. That‘s why I love pissing you off.”
Kate smiled, still stunned with what she was hearing, and reached across the table to link her hand with Gibbs’, who seemed to be struggling slightly to tell her this. It was expected, of course, as Kate thought seeing it was his first divorce which had involved a child. Squeezing his fingers, letting him know she was there for him, he continued telling her what his heart had kept bottled up for the past thirteen years.
“I was in Desert Storm. I never found any of this out till I got back, but, Shannon witnessed the shooting of a Marine. She identified the killer as a Mexican drug dealer working at Camp Pendleton, Pedro Hernandez. She and Kelly were assigned an NIS protection agent, but a sniper shot him while he was driving the van they were in. He died instantly.”
Gibbs stopped, very much like Kate had the night before, as he remembered sitting with his own gun and was very tempted to use it. He looked across the table to find that not only was Kate feeling the pain of what he was telling her, but that she understood what he had felt and was still feeling. He beckoned her, hesitantly, to come to him and she went willingly into his open arms, sitting sideways on his lap.
Kate knew what was coming next; she could see it in his eyes and the way he held onto her. She knew the real reason behind his hard ass ways and wanted badly to soothe his aching heart. If he’d let her and she’d let him then who knows how far they could go together.
“Shannon and Kelly were…both killed in the crash. Kelly would‘ve been eight that year.”
His voice quietened and wavered towards the end as his head fell to Kate’s shoulder. She would hold him for as long as he needed holding and wait for as long as he needed the silence.
He was close enough to her for a compassionate gesture which came in the form of running her hands through his hair, keeping him close to her. She paused in her ministrations when she felt a tear soak through her robe. Moving so his head rested more comfortably on her shoulder, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I’m guessing you got him.”
“What makes you think I went after him?”
Her brow creased and she sighed at his feeble attempts of putting her off the scent and she moved her hands to his temples and moved him back to look at her. Her expression softened when she seen his eyes were glazed with tears, and it scared her to think that he was capable of such strong emotions. She smiled softly at him, her hands running through his hair again before coming to rest on his cheeks.
“Because this was your family, and your family is important to you Jethro. I believe that both then and now, you pursue anyone who causes or even suggests harm to your family, and you will go to hell and back to make sure you get revenge for it.”
“You know me too well.”
She smiled ruefully and giggled in the same manner. She happily stayed where she was, concern still etched on her face. He openly allowed her to read his eyes, and it didn’t take her long to see the pain and his own concern for her in them.
Recently, they’d perfected their ability to silently converse with their eyes, through a mixture of eyebrow raising and twitching. When Gibbs asked if she was okay through creasing his brows, Kate’s eyes smiled, telling him she was fine. It was a process that had taken them only weeks to grow into and it was better knowing Tony didn’t know what was being said between them about him.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For trusting me. I won’t tell anyone.”
“I know. And to answer your question about last night; she‘s Shannon‘s sister.”
Kate suddenly felt guilty and embarrassed about her misconception and her jealousy, and Gibbs let her know that it was fine by kissing her nose. There was an inscrutable expression on his face before he broke out in a smirk. For the second time in as many days, he caught her under the knees and stood from the chair with her, carrying her in her beloved princess lift.
He moved them through to the living room and set her down on the sofa. He disappeared and came back a moment later with his hands behind his back. He came and crouched down before her and for a moment her heart stopped. He must’ve seen the shock on her face because he simply laughed and revealed three DVD’s for her.
Kate exhaled the breath she didn’t know she was holding and bowed her head, embarrassed. Choosing her film, Air Force One, she moved over so Gibbs could join her before curling into his side. They were both content to have the film on as distraction while they reminisced about their first meeting.
They stayed where they were all day, one or the other moving for coffee or to get a different film. It wasn’t until the credits were rolling on Bounce, which Kate had said Gibbs should see after she mentioned it to him on their fifth case together, that either spoke for the first time in almost seven hours.
“Move in.”
“In case you haven’t noticed over the past eight weeks, Jethro, I already have.”
“Not completely. You don’t have all your clothes here yet.”
“Well, what do you suggest I do with my furniture?”
Gibbs thought about this for a while, trying to work out if he had enough space in his house to accommodate all her belongings. Deciding that he did, he voiced his opinion.
“Well, your couch is comfier than mine. And half the rooms upstairs are empty. There you go, your beds can make up two spare rooms.”
“Okay…”
Kate watched Gibbs and saw he was deadly serious about his decision to move her in. There were a million and one things she would have to do before she could even step one foot back into Gibbs’ house.
First she’d have to inform her landlord she was moving, pay any final bills. Not to mention changing her information at work, her medical records. Telling her mother she was moving in with her boyfriend and the fact that she had a boyfriend, that she was in a serious relationship, would have to be her first priority.
“You’re serious.”
“The most serious I have been in a long time, Katie.”
In lieu of answering, Kate moved so her knees were resting either side of Gibbs’ hips and smiled, revealing the seductive temptress she coolly hid beneath her mask of professionalism at work. It reassured Gibbs greatly to know that she only reserved this smile for him but was well aware that he, as well as many others at work, had seen a multitude of her smiles and he loved them all.
His first encounter with her revealed to him the ’I don’t think so’ and the ’I know you’re lying’ smiles. In passing, he’d also witnessed the ’I get what you’re saying’ but had missed the nostalgic ’you called me Katie’ smile as he walked away from her on AFO. He’d also seen the ’I done good’, ’I don’t believe you’, ’don’t mess with me today’, and ’I got one on Tony’ smiles in great abundance since her arrival at NCIS.
Naturally he had his favourites, like ‘you’re a bastard’ and ‘I know more than you think’ but no smile compared to the one she was showing him; it was the smile that simply said ‘I want you now’. Gibbs, despite not being known as a gentleman, was not one to keep a lady waiting.
It was close to midnight by the time they finally made it upstairs to bed, after Gibbs had thoroughly and amorously ravished Kate several times. There were enough brain cells left between them to make the transition upstairs smoothly, and a few more that actually led them to bed.
Almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, Kate was fast asleep, but she was able to remain awake long enough to feel Gibbs crawl in beside her and pull the covers over them. His arm came to lay over her waist and he pulled her into him, her back laying against his chest.
She turned so that his right hand was across her back and his left arm was under her neck. Moving closer, she buried her head slightly in his neck and slid a leg between his, feeling his heartbeat in his chest bouncing off her own. There was enough strength left in her to ask a question that she had been keen to know the answer to since he’d asked her to move in.
“When do you want me in by?”
He groaned into the soft brunette hair that was laying just below his chin, deep and contemplatively, he considered the days and considered the possibility they may have a case thrown their way in the next week or so. It would be nice to have her permanently in his bed by tomorrow evening, but there was too much to do and it couldn’t all be done in twenty four hours.
If they took the advantage and the presumption of getting off work at a reasonable time, they could get quite a lot done over the next few days. As it were, he settled for the perfect day. Friday.
“End of the week.”
By Sunday morning, both Kate and Gibbs felt connected to each other more than before because now they understood each other. They’d spoken about things that had haunted their hearts, which now felt lighter and ready for what the other could offer.
Kate was more awake and coherent than the previous morning and decided it was high time she started a new morning routine. She’d spent the last half hour watching Gibbs as he slept, her hand running through his hair which was just begging to be touched. He looked so sexy and rugged when he was unshaven with mussed hair.
In her new ritualistic ministrations, Kate had failed to notice the ice blue eyes watching her, or feel the fingers that were flexing slowly against her back. The coffee pot was calling her name loudly from downstairs and she made a move to leave the bed to the bathroom to freshen up a little, but the strong arm that pulled her back and held her down firmly against the mattress had other ideas.
Fingers began passing over her skin, lips trailing delicate kisses down her neck, ribcage and over her stomach. She watched him leave his mark on her hip just as his eyes came up to meet hers; smiling eyes.
“Now you can get up.”
“You are a tease, Jethro Gibbs.”
“But you love it.”
She smiled back at him, arching her back as her hands pushed their way under the pillows behind her head, and released a contented purr as she felt her vertebrae click and the crack as her shoulders relaxed into their sockets. This was definitely the way to start every morning.
Author's Chapter Notes:
After her stint undercover, Kate makes a few decisions regarding her relationship