A/N: Title taken from West Wing.

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As the minute hand of the squadroom clock came dangerously close to 5 PM, the feverish milling of agents slowly became a vacant white noise. Kate held her thumbnail to her lips, absently rubbing the smooth, red nail polish across her bottom lip. She stared at her computer screen, watching the languid screensaver with no particular interest— but still she stared, intently focused on the wandering 4:55 PM that moved aimlessly about the blackened screen.

She could hear Tony shuffling about the bullpen; he started his anxious almost-time-to-go dance about twenty to five everyday they didn't have something or someone outrageous to conquer. Kate could always count on Tony to act like clockwork. Her lip twitched into a quick, sad smirk as she stared into her monitor, twirling a pen between her fingers. Her smile faded when she remembered her phone call at lunch. Her eyes dropped as her head fell slightly; her chin to her chest, her throat feeling treacherously tight as she watched the steady movement of the black pen in her hand.

"Todd.." she chimed, answering her phone. She blinked several times before she looked up from the briefing on her desk to a vacant spot on Tony's wall. "What?—Are you sur— yeah, but it might not—" She looked down to her desk while she pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut as to stave away the pain that began to ache behind them. She whispered into the phone when Gibbs stepped off the elevator, "I don't understand…"

Tony was perched on the edge of Gibbs' desk with his head strangely cocked in Kate's direction. His impeccable investigating genius led him to realize something was slightly amiss with his usually snarky partner, but she had continuously ignored his attempts at conversation. Or harassment. He was just about to voice his concern when Gibbs spoke:

"Was there something specific that you wanted, Dinozzo?" came the subdued, throaty tone of annoyance, along with the unspoken warning of "Remove Ass from Desk." Tony cleared his throat and promptly stood solidly on the floor, then walked to the side of Gibbs' desk.

"Is she acting.. a little weird to you?" Tony asked quietly, crossing his arms in front of his chest and nodding his head over to a semi-catatonic Kate.

Gibbs lifted his eyes to his other agent, watching her briefly under speculatively raised eyebrows. He looked back down to the file in his hands and flipped the page. "What's weird to you.." Gibbs mumbled.

"She.. she's quiet. She hasn't eaten.. hasn't talked to me since lunch.." He whispered incredulously.

Gibbs looked to him and raised a skeptic eyebrow.

"Yeah ok…" Tony looked down, almost defeated in the fact that 'Kate not wanting to talk to him' wasn't exactly unusual. Tony suddenly perked up and smiled, pointing a finger of "a-ha!" into the air, "She hasn't called me an idiot, all day."

Gibbs sighed and put down the file, finally looking up to Dinozzo from his chair. "And what did you want me to do about it, Tony?"

Tony sighed and began to say something when his eyes happened to wander by the clock and notice the time. Breaking into a grin he gently slapped Gibbs on the shoulder. "Tell her it's time to go." Tony raised his eyebrows in "whoops" fashion. Gibbs furrowed his brow and widened his eyes with Tony's slap on the back, looking up to him in disbelief. He reached up a hand, but before Gibbs could slap the back of the younger agent's head, Tony leapt away and danced towards his desk. Hardly stopping to shut down his computer, he grabbed his coat and headed for the elevator. Tony bowed to his colleagues in the middle of the bullpen before racing between the closing elevator doors.

Gibbs gently grumbled and shook his head, about to pick up the file on his desk when his eyes drifted over to Kate. Unmoving and unaware, she sat in her chair, leaning forward with her elbows on the desk and her hand by her mouth, gazing at the computer screen. Gibbs took note of her empty stare and the gentle biting of her thumbnail before he called to her:

"Kate... Kate." When she didn't answer, he slowly got up from his chair and strolled over to her desk, hands deep in his pockets. He slid one fist out of his trouser pocket and softly rapt his knuckles against her desk to get her attention, "… Kate?"

Kate's eyes finally fluttered from her haze and shot up to his face. "Mmm? Yeah, Gibbs?"

He considered her thoughtfully before he nodded over to the clock. "Time to go.." he said softly, continuing to watch her intently.

Kate looked over to the clock, and then looked down, bobbing her head in the affirmative and moving around random papers about her desk. "Just have a couple more things to do, Gibbs." She looked up to him and smiled softly before looking back down to a file they had closed a week ago.

His eyebrows twitched in worry before he took a few steps inside her cubicle, leaning against her desk with his hands bracing him from behind.

"You haven't been doing much of anything for the past three hours now, Kate." His voice was soft and rough, but knit with concern, not admonishment. When Kate looked down and away from him, he ducked his head down enough to catch her eye. "What's wrong?"

Kate looked up to him with her mouth slightly open, slightly moving as if on the verge of speech, while her eyes wavered on the verge of tears. She quickly closed her mouth, firmly pressing her lips together and shaking her head. Her tiny hand brushed against his as she reached for her purse, but his strong fingers wrapped around her wrist. Her nostrils flared as her dark eyes slightly widened, looking to him in her vain attempt to stave off the tears that welled in her eyes.

"Hey…" Gibbs murmured in confusion, raising a hand to her shoulder while a single tear slid down her reddening cheek. She looked down and inhaled softly but sharply, quietly choking back a sob. Kate closed her eyes and slowly lifted her head. Her lips twitched when she felt his warm, weathered palm cup her cheek, wiping away the tear with his thumb.

Her hand covered his, gently running her fingertips over the back of his hand, wrapping around his wrist and giving him a squeeze. Kate swallowed as she brought both their hands to their sides, letting go of him after a long moment. She reached around his body, taking her purse and shrugging on her winter coat. She looked to him. Looked at him as he watched her. She ran her hand from his shoulder to his elbow, before lightly squeezing his forearm. She licked her lips, forcing a faint smile to accompany her low, shaky voice, "See you tomorrow, Gibbs."

Before Gibbs could recover a decent train of thought, the elevator doors whooshed close with Kate behind them.