"A Broken Man (Chapters 11 & 12)"
Chapter Eleven (The Next Move..."I never said it was a GREAT idea") ---
Gibbs rolled his wheelchair into the living room, and searched the room with his eyes--quickly. There, he spotted the telephone on the far side, on its base on the sofa's side table. He wheeled himself over to it, and picked it up.
But then he remembered that Kate did not have an apartment of her own anymore she had sold it so she could move in with him. "So where would she go then?" he wondered to himself silently. He knew that Kate and Abby were real good friends, maybe she would've gone to stay with Abby. It was well worth a try.
Gibbs dialed Abby's phone number as quickly as he could, and then held the receiver to his ear and listened for someone to answer. He heard it ring at least three times before anything actually happened.
"Hey," came a cheerful voice over the line."
"Abby, its me Gi-" he started to say, quickly.
"You found me--well sort of--anyway I, Abby Scuito, am not in at the moment but if you leave your info I will get back to you A.S.A.P. TTYL."
To Gibbs' utter dismay he'd gotten a hold of Abby's answering machine. "Damn." he growled, frustrated. He quickly hung up the phone, and then re-dialed the number hoping perhaps that she was just in another room and did not hear the phone ring. But again, he only got the answering machine--nothing else.
Kate sat curled up on Abby's sofa--she was alone. Abby had left to attend church--without her, but just as well she supposed. She had the Television turned on, not to watch anything, but to drown out her thoughts and etc. Suddenly the telephone rang again for the 5th time in just the last half hour--it was beginning to really annoy her. She knew who it was that was calling, and he was the last person that she wanted to talk to right now.
"Ughhhh!" Kate blew, angrily, as she stood and crossed the room to where Abby's telephone lay ringing. She picked it up and held it where she could read the Caller ID. "Gibbs," she said, quietly, reading his name off of the ID.
A part of her wanted to answer the phone. A part of her wanted to talk to him, but there was another part of her that just did not think she could stand the pain she knew she would feel if she heard his voice again--especially while knowing that she would be leaving NCIS as soon as she possibly could.
She set the phone back down on its base, and tears began to well up in her eyes as she stood there looking down at the phone. She put a hand over her mouth to stifle a small sob that threatened to escape from within her.
"Hey. Abby, if you get this I need to talk to Kate--I mean if she's with you. If she's not then don't worry about it." Gibbs spoke nervously into the receiver of his telephone relaying what he knew was a really stupid sounding message onto Abby's answering machine--finally. "Unless of course you know where she's staying--then I would really like it if you could tell me cause I really need to talk to her. Okay, um, bye."
"God that sounded pathetic, and nothing like me at all." he thought to himself all the while kicking himself for his stupidity.
The next 3 hours or so were spent, by Gibbs, sitting by the phone waiting. It was close to Eleven O'clock, at least, when he decided to try again.
Abby strolled into the living room of her apartment, and set her purse down on the coffee table that sat in front of the sofa. On the way to the kitchen she stopped to check her telephone messages.
Kate entered from the bedroom a few minutes later still wrapped up in the pink bathrobe she had been wearing earlier that morning.
Abby stood by the telephone listening to her messages, and when Kate walked in she was just placing the phone back onto its base. "Did you know Gibbs called?" Abby asked, seeing her friend enter the room.
Kate nodded at her friend from where she stood. "Yeah. He called at least 6 times that I remember." she informed Abby.
"Oh. So did you talk to him then?" Abby asked next, as she opened up the refrigerator door and peeked her head inside.
"He called, but we didn't talk." Kate said, with an air of anger in her voice. "He probably thinks he can just apologize, and make everything all better." Kate spat, as she sat down at the tiny breakfast table in the center of the kitchen.
"Well, her mood has definitely changed." Abby thought to herself. "Or--and I'm just, ya know, throwing this out there--maybe he just wants to talk." Abby said, sympathetically, as she set several different ingredients down onto the table in front of Kate. "Tofu wrap?" she offered.
"What, So you're on his side now!?" Kate replied, in shock at her friend.
"Oh no, no not at all--I mean-" Abby stammered, trying not to worsen things more than necessary. Abby finally took a seat across from her friend, quietly, and looked her in the eye(s). "Kate I know you're hurting right now, and Gibbs is the last person that you want to talk to or even see for that matter. I truly and genuinely understand that." Abby said, quietly.
"Then why are you defending him?" Kate demanded, shooting Abby a dirty look across the table.
"Kate, I'm not defending what he did or what he said, but Gibbs is a good man; and I know that he loves you very much." Abby continued. "Right now he probably feels terrible about what happened between the two of you, and he just wants to talk things over."
"Abby I don't care what he wants. Okay." Kate vented. "He hurt me," she fumed angrily, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "And as far as I'm concerned he can just-"
A few feet away the telephone began to ring, quite loudly. Abby held up a finger to Kate. "Sorry. Just hold that thought one second." Abby said, as she stood up and moved over to where the phone was located. "Hello. Abby Scuito's residence--this is Abby speak-" she said, answering the phone.
"Oh Hi Gibbs," Abby said cheerfully, at hearing her silver-haired boss' voice coming through from the other end of the line. "Yeah Kate's here. You wanna talk to her? Okay."
Abby walked back into the kitchen and handed the phone to Kate. "Its for you," Abby said relinquishing the telephone to her friend.
"So I noticed." Kate replied plainly as she accepted the phone from Abby. "Hello." she said unhappily.
"Kate-" came Gibbs' voice over the phone.
"Goodbye Gibbs." Kate said quickly, and then hung up the phone rather rudely.
"Kate!" Abby scolded Kate, very unimpressed with the way that her brunette friend had handled that particular situation.
"Kate wai-" Gibbs tried, but it was too late and she had already hung up on him.
Chapter Twelve (Long Gone) ---
It took several days and several trips for Abby to successfully gather up all of Kate's things from Gibbs' house. She and Gibbs swapped idle chit-chat while Abby packed up and moved Kate's things out to her hearse--which waited just outside for her. The conversations usually revolved around how Kate was doing, and had she said anything about him.
Abby usually had very little in the way of updates about Kate's mood and Kate's plans, and such things of that nature.
"This is really it--isn't it?" Gibbs asked Abby quietly, as she shoved the last of Kate's things into the back of her Hearse at the end of the fifth day. "She's really leaving."
"I don't know what to tell you Gibbs," Abby said quietly, from across the room, standing by the front door, the signs of the setting sun visible through the windows on either side of it. "I thought all she needed was a little time, but-" Abby tried, but she just could not think of anything to say.
Gibbs picked up a framed photograph of him and Kate off of the coffee table, and studied it closely. "I guess--I guess she's probably better off without me anyway." Gibbs said somberly. After a moment or two he set the photograph back down where he'd gotten it from. "Has she said anything about where she'll go?" Gibbs asked, quietly.
"Los Angeles." Abby replied, biting down on her lip hard. "She requested a transfer two days ago and it was accepted." Abby informed Gibbs.
"Oh. Good." Was all he could say at that point. "Tell her I said good luck, will ya?"
"I will." Abby replied, with a slight nod at her silver-haired boss.
.........To Be Continued.........
Author's Chapter Notes:
The story continues as Kate starts to make arrangements to leave NCIS...can Gibbs win her back before its too late...