Disclaimer: As usual I own nothing... wishing I did but anyway...

A/N: A friend of mine was getting married when I had started this fic. A day before her wedding I asked her if she was sure this was the guy she was willing to spend the rest of her life with. She did not answer immediately and I knew there was doubt in her mind... But eventually she did say yes, and so far they've been happy. Needless to say, my overactive imagination started once again and this was born.


Knight in Armour

"Kate, come on, it's almost time to go. You still need to get the rest of your stuff from upstairs," Tony urged and reminded the brunette agent who was still enclosed in her best friend's tight grip. Kate and Abby had been best friends ever since Kate had joined NCIS just a little less than two years ago. Retreating and trying to untangle herself from the Goth girl's embrace Kate convinced Abby to let her go.

"Come on, Abby, it's not like I'm moving to another country or even another state. I'm just leaving NCIS to pursue something else. I'll still be around whenever you need to talk and besides I'm just a phone call away," Kate finally convinced her. "Yeah I guess you're right," Abby replied, but still feeling depressed because her best friend and partner in crime was leaving.

No matter how much each of her colleagues had tried to convince her to stay Kate had already made up her mind to leave. There was no way she was going to be convinced to do otherwise, because that would simply mean she'd have to go through all the agony of saying bye again and she was not ready to do that. As it was, the first time was proving to be bad enough, she hadn't expected them to react the way they did and even though she felt the guilt building up, she firmly stood by her decision.

Tony had tried everything he knew possible to make her stay, but it did not help. At first, he threatened to tell their ever-grumpy boss, but Kate had pointed out that she had already given him her resignation letter. However, she did not mention that she was doubtful if Gibbs had even read it, since he was so occupied with some cold case he did not want the rest of the team helping him with.

Then Tony had tried blackmailing her with the wet T-shirt contest picture, claiming he would put it up on the NCIS website and would label it "NCIS's Sexiest Agent of the Century" making it available for everyone to download. The response he received to that was she was leaving so it didn't matter anyway. There was nothing in his power that he could do to make her stay.

McGee had tried as well. He had not resorted to the drastic measures Tony had, but he had tried and still Kate did not budge. There was absolutely no way she was going to reconsider her decision, especially since it had taken her months of debating, deliberating and countless nights of falling asleep crying until she had finally made up her mind.

Bracing herself for the last leg of her journey, Kate heaved a deep breath in and started toward the elevator, with her three friends in tow. The ride up to their floor was done in silence as each of them pondered how their team was now falling apart. As the doors swished open at their floor level, Kate looked straight in the direction of her desk, and the one of her boss.

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that her boss was still not back from MTAC and she hoped he would stay there until she was gone. It would be much easier for her if he was not there when she left, but she knew she at least owed him an explanation for her sudden departure.

She was almost home free and on her way out when she heard him call her back to the bullpen and to her desk. "I don't remember giving you permission to leave, Agent Todd," he said gruffly and Kate immediately felt guilty. She focused on the carpet in front of her and forced herself not to make eye contact with him.

"It's been a long day, Gibbs, just let her go," Tony said when he saw Kate had no intention of standing up for herself. In fact, she looked much worse in the two minutes that Gibbs had recalled her than she had the entire day. It was as if all the fight had already left her body and mind.

"There's nothing left to do here anyway since we've finished all the paperwork and clearly you don't need help on the case you're currently working on," Tony said, coming to Kate's rescue. Knowing he was going to try to fight a losing battle with his senior agent, Gibbs conceded defeat and said, "So I guess I'll see you on Monday, then. Have a good weekend, guys and Kate, if there's anything wrong or missing in your report you will have to redo them all." Abby, Tony and McGee turned to look at Kate – flabbergasted. Gibbs still did not know she was leaving from the looks on their faces, and it did not seem like they wanted to be there when she did eventually tell him.

Seeing the expression on the Goth girl's face Kate decided she would give it one last try, "Gibbs, could I have a word with you?" At the sound of the question, the other three immediately grabbed their stuff and made their way out of the bullpen and Kate and Gibbs's presence at rocket speed. "Give me a few minutes, Kate. I need to show this to the people in MTAC. This is a really important case I'm working on! I'll be out in a few minutes," he replied, smiling, at her.

When a few minutes had turned into half an hour Kate debated on whether to leave or not. Still, she gave him a few more minutes, knowing it must have been a really important case since he had spent the better part of the previous two weeks holed up in MTAC and the Director's office. However, when two hours later, he still did not show any sign of returning to the bullpen she decided it was enough. She was tired of waiting, so she scribbled a note saying it was late and she needed to leave just to let him know.

As she placed the note on the top of the pile of papers on his desk, she noticed the blue envelope peeking out from under the stack of files. She had placed the envelope on his desk exactly two weeks before and it still looked like it was untouched. She sighed tiredly, walked around his desk, coming to his chair and flopped down tiredly into it. She picked up the envelope, removed the card from it, and read it once again. Then the doubt of whether to leave it there or take it back with her made an appearance in her mind

It had taken her weeks of mental preparation to just place it on his desk two weeks before and he still hadn't looked at it so there was no harm in leaving it there for just one more day, she convinced herself. Placing the card back into its covering and leaving at the top of the pile of papers she stood up, made her way behind his chair and pushed it neatly under his desk.

She ran her fingers over his coat, which was hanging on the back of his chair, and tried to memorize the smell that accompanied it. Then she gathered her stuff and made her way out of the bullpen, the parking lot, the NCIS building and finally and most importantly out of one Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs's life.


So that's it for chapter 1. Not sure how long it's going to be as I'm kinda lost with ideas.

Not going to say much except read and review... should I continue or not???

Enough reviews and I might start working in the second chapter this weekend... After the Rugby World Cup final which my team is going to win. Yeah the cup is going to come back to South Africa. And for those of you who don't know what rugby is - it's the male version of American Football.

Thanks

Hellraiser