Prints found on a dead sailor has lead to a quiet little town to interview a 17 year old boy. Gibbs and Kate walk up the pathway. Kate still recovering from a blast her and Tony got caught in a week ago.
Gibbs knocks on the door and they wait for an answer. He looks down at Kate’s hands, which some of her fingers have dressings on them.
“ You ok?” he asked softly.
“ Yeah I’m fine” she said with a gentle smile. The door opened and a middle-aged women opened the door.
“ Oh my god you found him” she said with tears running down her face.
“ Where from NCIS. We need to speak with your son” Gibbs told her.
“ Well he’s…he’s missing. We haven’t seen him in 4 days” she told them wiping her nose with a tissue.
“ Do you mind if we came in and asked you a few questions?” Kate asked her. She nodded her head and led them into the lounge room.
“ Why does NCIS need to talk to Jason?” she asked.
“ We found his prints on the clothes of a Navy sailor yesterday” Gibbs said watching her reaction.
“ You said he was missing. When was the last time you saw him?” Kate asked.
“ He and Terry had a fight and he ran out of the house. He hasn’t even called” she told them.
“ What was the fight about?” Gibbs asked.
“ Terry wanted him to go to colleague and Jason wants to join the marines, like his father was”.
“ So Terry isn’t Jason’s father?” Kate asked.
“ No, his father died 5 years ago. Please can you find him” she pleaded.
“ We will do our best Mrs Orrick” Kate said as Gibbs and her got up to leave.
“ What are you thinking?” Kate asked Gibbs on the way out to the car.
“ A lost boy at the wrong place at the wrong time” he told her. Kate winced as she sat back in the car seat. Her back had been deeply cut from the explosion, she still had stitches in and it still hurt a lot.
“ Kate” Gibbs started.
“ I’m fine, really. I just need to be more careful” she told him as she put her seat belt on.
Kate went down to see what Abby was doing.
“ Hey did you find that kid?” Abby asked when she saw Kate.
“ No, he’s missing. His mother hasn’t seen him in 4 days” Kate told her.
“ What does Gibbs think?”.
“ Simple wrong place at the wrong time. He wanted to join the marines”.
“ Makes sense. If he wanted to join the marines, why would he kill one” Abby agreed. Kate sat down on one of Abby’s desk chairs, but she had to sit forward to no hurt herself.
“ Aren’t you afraid of the scare it will leave?” Abby asked.
“ Yes and no. It will be covered most of the time, but when its not covered, only the person who likes me for me and not my skin imperfections will see it” she told Abby with a smile.
“ And who would that special person be?” Abby asked, half knowing who it was already.
“ Someone who still matters to me and doesn’t know it” she said with a little laugh.
“ Kate, he still cares about you to” Abby said seriously. Kate just laughed, thinking Abby was trying to make her feel better.
“ I’m serious. Gibbs tells me everything. When you and Tony got hurt, he blamed himself” Abby told Kate as she came and sat down next to her.
“ Because he sent us in there” Kate said.
“ No. He said if he had been there, you wouldn’t of gotten hurt”. Kate thought about it for a minute.
“ He would of gotten hurt, worse then me” Kate said. Abby nodded.
“ See he does still care about you” Abby said, putting her hand on top of Kate’s. Kate smiled the got up off her chair.
“ I better go Thankyou, you always make me feel better Ab’s” she said giving her a light hug, care full not to bump the stitches.
“ That’s what I’m here for” Abby said with a smile.
“ And don’t worry, he will be back” Abby called after her.
Gibbs, Tony and McGee were all at their desks when Kate walked into the squad room. Tony was changing the bandages on his burned hand. Kate sat down at her desk a bit to hard.
“ Geeze” she said as she sat straight back up. Gibbs looked up.
“ You ok?” he asked with a concerned look on his face.
“ Yeah I’m fine” she said trying to smile. Gibbs got up from his desk and stood in front of Kate’s.
“ You can go home if you need to” he said softly.
“ No I’m fine. I want to find this boy before I go home” she told him. Gibbs nodded and went back to his desk.
“ You know boss, if we didn’t go into that warehouse, I wouldn’t have burns and Kate wouldn’t have gotten cut up” Tony said as he finished bandaging his hand.
“ Tony!” Kate said surprised at his little outburst. Gibbs held his tongue, but got up form his desk and went for the elevator.
“ Tony, you pissed him off so much he couldn’t even yell at you. If you want someone to blame, blame the terrorists that planted the bomb” Kate said annoyed, then got up and went after Gibbs. She was to late, but she got on the next elevator and went to the ground floor. She ran out of the building and saw Gibbs heading for his car.
“ Gibbs” she called out. Gibbs stopped and turned around and waited for Kate to catch up to him.
“ Gibbs, tony didn’t mean what he said. He was just blowing off steam” Kate said.
“ He’s right. You could have been killed” he told her.
“ It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know there was a bomb in there, no one did. Would you stop blaming yourself” Kate pleaded. Gibbs just looked at her. She knew no matter what she said Gibbs would blame himself.
“ Gibbs you should know I trust you with my life. I don’t care that you sent us in there, I care that you visited me while I was in hospital and I care about finding Jason. Your our boss, without you we are lost, no matter what Tony says” Kate said. She didn’t want to have to do that but if it would get Gibbs back upstairs. He stood there starring at her. He could see it in her eyes that she meant every word. He didn’t say anything, just headed back inside the building, Kate following. They stepped into the elevator together. Gibbs turns to Kate.
“ I am sorry for what happened” he said.
“ The bomb wasn’t your fault Gibbs. Stop apologizing” she said.
“ For hurting you”.
“ Gibbs you didn’t…oh” Kate now understood what he was talking about.
“ Jethro, you don’t have to apologize. It was a year ago. You walked out and I dealt with it. When you came back I was angry but I was just so relived to see your face” she told him. She felt crying and flying into his arms but held herself together. The elevator doors opened and Kate stepped out. Gibbs felt like kicking himself for being such an idiot. He just wanted to make things right, but this case was just to distracting.
Author's Chapter Notes:
A boy is missing. Can Kate and Gibbs make things right again.