The Female of the Species
"NO!!!!" the scream woke Kate Todd from her sleep.
Not that she had been asleep for long. The Team were away in Hawaii having just wrapped up a case involving embezzlement of Government funds. Tomorrow they would be flying back to DC. Tony had decided to spend their last night sampling the local nightlife, Gibbs and Kate after filing all their paperwork had declined his offer, both having splitting headaches from staring at their laptop screens all day.
Grabbing her gun from beneath her pillow, Kate got out of bed and cracked open the door.
"Stop, no!!" she could hear Gibbs' voice command.
Kate edged down the corridor to Gibbs' room, her gun at the ready, although how someone had got into the house she could not understand.
Cautiously she opened Gibbs bedroom door and swung inside, her gun sweeping the room. She fully expected to see Gibbs being held hostage by some drug-crazed intruder. Instead she found Gibbs alone in bed, but clearly in the middle of a nightmare.
"Put the gun down" Gibbs ordered.
Kate did as she was told, but then realised that Gibbs wasn't awake, he was still asleep. She crossed to the bed.
"Gibbs" she said, gently shaking him.
"I said, put it down." came the answer.
"Gibbs!" Kate called, louder. Still no response. Kate sighed, somewhere she recalled that it wasn't good to wake someone from their nightmares, you should just let them get on with it, but how could she sleep knowing that Gibbs was locked in his own private hell?
She turned back to the door, suddenly she felt an arm across her throat. She grabbed hold of the arm.
"Gibbs, it's me Kate" she said, trying to free his grip. "Gibbs!" The grip tightened. Kate managed to bend her head and bit down on Gibbs' arm hard. He let go.
Kate made a run for the door, nightmares were one thing, but this was something else entirely.
Gibbs grabbed her wrist.
"Gibbs don't you're hurting me!" Kate said, trying to break free, but his grip was too tight.
"Thought you could escape me?" Gibbs asked, his voice had a cruel mocking tone to it.
"Gibbs, wake up, it's me Kate."
"You kill my buddy, walk away laughing and think that's okay?" Gibbs continued, "Well, I'm telling you mister this is payback time".
Gibbs roughly pushed Kate up against the wall, his hands closing around her throat. Kate put her arms up trying to force his hands away from her throat, but he was too strong too expert. Kate stared into his eyes, they were staring unfocused, he was still in the midst of his own private hell of a dream.
"Gibbs!" Kate screamed "Jethro!!!!!"
Suddenly, as if coming out of trance, Gibbs shook his head, his eyes coming back into focus.
"Kate?" he said, hoarsely. He looked in bewilderment at his hands around Kate's throat, he released them immediately.
"Oh God, what have I done?" he asked.
Kate swallowed hard, glad that she still was able to. Silence engulfed the room, all that could be heard was the rapid breathing of the two agents.
"Gibbs are you okay?" Kate asked. He was visibly shaking. "Jethro?"
"I'm, I'm…" Gibbs ran his hands through his hair.
"It's alright. I'm alright" Kate rubbed her neck, she hoped that she wouldn't bruise, that would take a lot of explaining.
Gibbs sat down on the side of the bed. Kate sat down next to him and put her arm around his shoulders to comfort him. His T-Shirt was soaked with sweat.
"Gibbs, take your shirt off, you'll catch a chill" she advised.
Gibbs did as he was told, shivering slightly as the cool night air caught his damp skin.
"Kate, tell me it isn't true." Gibbs whispered. "Tell me I didn't just try to kill you."
Kate was silent, what could she say? A cheery ‘well yes Boss you did just try to strangle me but hey it's okay' didn't seem appropriate at that moment.
Gibbs buried his face in his hands, "Oh God, no" he whispered, "Please no."
"Gibbs, what happened?" Kate said.
Gibbs took a ragged breath, trying to keep his emotions under control.
"It was in the middle of Desert Storm," he started, "I was part of a ground team sent in to flush out insurgents. There was an ambush."
"They killed your buddy?" Kate asked, she recalled Gibbs saying something along those lines.
Gibbs nodded, "I tried to save him" he looked down at his hands, in his minds eye he could still see them covered in blood, his best friends blood, as he fought desperately to save him. "But I couldn't."
"But you tried, you were there for him" Kate soothed. "Then what happened"
"The next day, we caught up with them, got them cornered in a small village. I tracked down the one I had seen kill my buddy. He had a distinctive headdress."
"You went after him and killed him, because he killed your friend." Kate said.
"Yes" Gibbs said, he started shaking.
"Jethro?"
"We fought, hand to hand, he had a knife, got me in the side. I managed to pin him to the wall and …and…"
"Strangled him." Kate finished the sentence for him.
"Her" Gibbs whispered. "Kate it was a woman. I didn't know, she had this full headdress, I only found out when I pulled it off of the body."
"So you killed a woman Gibbs. She killed your best friend. It's nothing to be ashamed of." Kate said "She was trying to kill you."
Gibbs nodded "Doesn't make it any easier" he said, his hand went to the scar on his left side.
"Jethro, you were protecting yourself, you were doing your duty."
"But does that make it right?"
"Nothings right in war" Kate said, "You need to get some sleep."
"Stay with me?" Gibbs asked. "Please."
Kate nodded.
It was very late when Tony finally arrived back at the house, after sampling the varied nightlife of Hawaii. As he walked down the corridor to his room, he could sense something was wrong. Kate's bedroom door was wide open. He glanced inside. The bed was empty.
"Kate." he called, softly. No answer.
He continued on down the corridor, she could be in the bathroom, for all he knew, no need to make a big deal out of it. He frowned when he saw the door to Gibbs' room open. Gibbs never slept with his door open, he was a guy who liked privacy. God only knew how he had managed to sleep in a dorm full of marines. He looked in and stopped in his tracks.
Kate and Gibbs in bed together. Now that would take some explaining in the morning.
Tony grinned, he was going to enjoy the next day.
Story Notes:
Not my characters, don't own them just borrowing - can't I just keep Gibbs for a little while????I'd give him back honest!LOL
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs has a nightmare
Chapter End Notes:
Not my characters, don't own them just borrowing - can't I just keep Gibbs for a little while????I'd give him back honest!LOL