In From the Cold

Songfic

Rated PG

Song: I Wanna Feel Something

Artist: Trace Adkins

Album: Dangerous Man

If you're tellin me I'm not on fire

You're just preachin to the choir

I've gotten dull as old barbed wire from livin

He watched her work, fingers coaxing information from a machine he had no desire to understand. Three years they had worked together. His Probie was staring at her, unsure if her clothing was a joke or if it was the real her. Wishing he could work up amusement, he shouted, "Probie!" and watched the younger man smile at her as he ran to catch up.

Last night I watched the evening news

It was the same ol' nothin new

It should have cut me right in two

But it didn't

I don't know why it didn't

Armed with the proof he needed, he entered interrogation leaving the Probie on the other side of the glass. Placing the photo on the table in front of him, he stared at his suspect. The man looked into his eyes and flinched visibly before looking away. He knew what the suspect had seen. Ice. No mercy. A coldness that was soul deep. It was what drove his second ex-wife away and what scared his latest Probie, making him jump at every barked order. Getting the confession he was after, he wondered briefly how long this Probie would last. He'd only had one agent stay with him longer than six months and he'd transferred right before the Director had stuck him with this one.

Handing him the paperwork to complete, he took his coffee cup and left the office. He was two blocks away when he spotted her. Black skirt barely decent, knee highs just showing above her boots and the silver on her collar catching the sunlight that dared peak around the parasol she held to shield her skin. Two men stepped into her space, yet she walked on. It wasn't until her arm was grabbed by one of them that he felt it. Rage, white hot and instant, swept through him.

But I wanna feel somethin

Somethin that's a real somethin

That moves me, that proves to me I'm still alive

I wanna heart that beats and bleeds

A heart that's bustin at the seams

I wanna care, I wanna cry, I wanna scream

I just wanna feel somethin

Not bothering with a warning, he ran towards them, fist meeting the face of the man on the left while he grabbed the wrist of the man who dared grab her arm. Twisting the man's arm up, he put his hand under the man's elbow. Before he could pull the arm back down and hear the satisfying snap of bone, she was there. Parasol forgotten on the ground as she calmed him, reminded him to use the law and not violence. The men were arrested, charged with assault and forgotten about. He went home sank back into the cold that had been his world for so long.

If you're tellin me that's just how it is

I don't buy it cause once I was kissed

By a red-headed girl with cherry lips

On her porch when I was sixteen

And I felt it somewhere in my soul and time stood still and I couldn't let go

I cant tell you cause I don't know how I got so cold

When did I get so cold

Six months went by. His Probie had learned that was her real self and he flirted. At first, it barely registered. Then slowly, as weeks passed by, it began to bother him. He introduced Probie to Rule #12 and by the look on the younger man's face the message was received.

Time passed once again and this time it was her flirting that caught his attention. Not just with the Probie but with all men. It seemed to be her way. He looked back and realized that he had let things go with her, given her liberties he didn't extend to his agents and he wondered to himself why that was. Even on her birthdays he brought her gifts, tokens to show that he knew what day it was for her. Self-examination never sat well with him and he found himself barking at her nearly all the time. At one point she turned to him, tears in her eyes. Handing him the remote for the plasma, she walked off. He blinked, staring at the spot on his hand where her skin brushed his. Tossing the remote to the Probie, he walked after her. Entering the ladies room, there were muffled screams as female agents ran to get out of his way. They were alone.

She was doing her best to ignore him, trying to undo the damage his harsh words had done to her make-up. Taking a paper towel from the dispenser, he wet it and turned her toward him. As he wiped her tears and cleaned away the mascara, it finally came to him why her flirting with others bothered him so much. She was different with other men than she was with him. She flirted but not to the extent that she flirted with the Probie or others. Hell, she even flirted with Ducky differently. Looking into her eyes, he was caught by what he saw there. Heartache yes, but something else. Her breath hitched as she looked at him in wonder. He wanted to ask her what she saw but was distracted by the lush lips that parted as she exhaled. Forgetting his rules and the world he kept himself in, he leaned down slightly, meeting those lips, brushing them softly before pressing against them. When the kiss was over, she took a fresh towel and wiped the lipstick from his lips, fingers lingering in contact with his mouth. Helping her tidy up her lips, he dipped back for one small kiss.

I hate that I'm jaded and I make you cry

But still you stick around me, only God knows why

Damn it all to hell, I'm done

Cause I don't like what I've become

So come here, baby

Come here, baby

Walking out of the restroom together, she asked him, "Gibbs, when are you going to stop calling Tony 'Probie'?"

He laughed and the warmth from her smile filled him, reaching the darkest corners of his soul and filling them with light.

I just wanna feel somethin

Somethin that's a real somethin

That moves me, that proves to me I'm still alive

Run my fingers through your fingers, across your face and through your hair

And close my eyes and breathe you in like air

I just wanna feel somethin

-Calalily06-