Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

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1- Hangover

It was the day after Christmas Eve. Snow was falling, covering everything with a soft white blanket. Children were out in the street, playing happily with their Christmas gifts. It was almost idyllic this very morning, except for the police car tearing into the calm neighborhood at high speed, screeching to a stop in front of a house near the end of that street. A few neighbors shot questioning looks at each other, but then returned to their duties. They didn´t know what would soon shake up this peaceful holiday season.

Three men got out of the car, two of them being police officers who drew their guns out as they approached the house. The third man stayed at the car, his face lined with concern. He felt deeply troubled about this situation, but evidence was pointing straight at the man living in this house. Tom Morrow sighed as he watched the two officers doing their job. He knew that investigations would begin soon and he also knew that this would be a tough case for one of his teams at NCIS.

Gibbs woke from the sound of the doorbell and cringed when the bright light of the sun hit his eyes. His head seemed to explode and he groaned as he tried to get up. His limbs were heavy and he could hardly remember what he had done last night to give him such a hangover. He rarely drank anything except for a few glasses of scotch when he worked on his boat. He didn´t remember drinking anything alcoholic at all during the party and wondered why he felt like crap this morning.

Someone was now banging on his door and he started to be really annoyed by that. "Just a minute." He called and opened his eyes completely. He was still wearing the same clothes as the evening before and wondered about the stains that seemed to be just about everywhere. Stains on his shirt, on the cover, even on his pillow. His brain was too dazed to come to any conclusion yet, something that rarely ever happened. He almost fell down the stairs and pulled open the front door, wincing slightly when the bright sun shone directly into his face. It temporarily blinded him and didn´t give him the chance to see who was out there.

"Mr. Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" A voice asked, but Gibbs couldn´t see the face as he still had bright spots from the light dancing in front of his eyes. He tried to blink, but couldn´t see more than two shadows on his front porch.

"Yes, that would be me." He replied after a moment and found himself handcuffed a few seconds later. He hadn´t seen it coming and the splitting headache slowed his reflexes quite a bit today. He was thrown against the wall next to his front door and his head seemed to explode. He groaned in pain and felt one of the men running his hands down his body. They were searching him for weapons, that much he realized.

"I arrest you for the attempted murder of Miss Caitlin Todd. Everything you say or do can and will be used against you. You will be taken over by NCIS agents, until then you are in our custody." The officer said as he held him against the front door. He quickly searched him for weapons, knowing that he carried a Sig Sauer as an NCIS agent, but found none. "Jim, secure the house, those NCIS people should be here soon. Mr. Morrow insisted on sending one of his teams to make sure we´re doing our job correctly." He called at his colleague, who nodded.

"What the..." Gibbs managed as he was dragged down his porch. He didn´t really get to object or anything before he was shoved into the police car. He noticed Director Morrow standing next to the car. Hejust looked at him, a sad and concerned look on his face. Gibbs tried to remember the night before, but it was just a blank in his head. He remembered driving to the office for their Christmas party, but he didn´t remember much after that.

Morrow got into the front seat of the car without even looking at him. Gibbs tried to ask what was going on, but there was no reply from either of the two men. His head finally cleared enough that he took a closer look at his shirt and felt nausea dwelling up for a short moment. Those stains were red, like blood. After a 15 minute drive he was handed over to two men wearing navy uniforms and brought to a changing room on the second floor of the NCIS headquarters.

A guard handed him an orange jumpsuit and ordered him to take off his clothes. He did what he was told to do, still too shocked to really understand what was going on. He felt weak and dizzy for some reason, but didn´t pay much attention to it just yet. After 10 minutes he was taken into an interrogation room and shoved into the chair. Gibbs stared at the table and tried to shift into a more comfortable position. His shoulders hurt from being handcuffed again and he tried to process the information he had gotten so far. The words of the officer echoed in his mind and he cringed. He would never hurt anyone he worked with, especially not Kate. This had to be some sick joke.