A new oneshot, not connected to any of my other stories. Hope you like it.
There are references to 01x07 Sub Rosa, 01x13 One Shot, One Kill, 01x22 A Weak Link and 01x23 Reveille. Just saying, though those don´t really count as spoilers anymore...
It had happened fast. They had fallen for each other, head over heels and neither of them had allowed himself to explore those forbidden, and what would be categorized as unprofessional, feelings. Both of them had experienced it on their own that rule number twelve had a valid right to exist, and that romances between agents or co-workers never worked. Despite their efforts to push the growing attraction for the other away, they could not suppress it completely. Sometimes their control faltered and that was when she had caught him staring at her. Of course he had thought that nobody was looking, while she had to admit that she had been jealous a few times, when he was flirting with another woman. Both knew it was more than that.
She had found herself enjoying the lingering looks he gave her too much, losing herself in his cerulean eyes when she had the chance, and it felt just too good, when he was protective of and caring for her. For him it was not really different. He had admired her ability to stand up to him from the very beginning and the tingling in his gut, when she was close to him, felt good, though he knew that it was inappropriate for more than one reason. In the vicinity of Caitlin Todd, even Leroy Jethro Gibbs could not muster his usual self-discipline and once he got his hands on her, he knew that he could not take them off again - ever. It had been like that during the emergency blow, or when he had checked the ribbons on her uniform during the sniper case and when she had tried on the climbing gear. He knew he would not be able to stop himself, once they started, once one of them lost control over their desires.
It took them almost a year of dancing around each other and a second appearance of a certain terrorist to finally act on their feelings and set aside all their professional objections.
When she finally came home after her joyride to the terrorist's farm, she had spent two hours soaking in the bathtub and when she was dozing off in front of the TV afterwards, the brunette just jerked awake, because she heard some slight scratching on her apartment´s door. Toni sleepily raised her head as well and before Kate grabbed her gun, she told the dog to stay in her basket, since she did not need a frenetically barking dog in case this was really a burglar out there. The female agent moved slowly towards the hall and quickly took cover behind the doorframe, steadily aiming at the door. When the door finally swung open silently, she unhooked the Sig's safety hatch and corrected her stance once again, ready to make the shot.
"Gibbs?" She asked confusedly and frowned at the older man, putting her gun away and relaxing visibly. "What are you doing here and why didn't you knock? Hell, I could have shot you."
The silver-haired man just stared at her intensely and closed the door, before he walked over to where she was still standing. He never broke eye-contact and when he invaded her personal space, his blue eyes dropped to her split lip, ablaze with emotion. She was not sure what he was up to, but she trusted him more than anyone else, leaning into his touch when he tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. His calloused hand came up to rest on her cheek, while his thumb carefully moved over to her injury, softly caressing it.
When his blue eyes found her brown ones again, she put her smaller hand on his and his other hand appeared on her waist, pulling her into him. She was still confused why he was here, but se did not feel the need to ask him about it and ruin this moment, after all something like this had only happened in her dreams, until now. For a moment they just held each other, until she pulled back slightly to look into his eyes again.
"It's okay, Gibbs..." She whispered softly and he nodded slightly in understanding, before he leaned in gently brushing his lips to hers, still careful not to hurt her.
From that night on there had been more meetings like this one. At first there had been only very little talking, but after a few weeks they got used to being around each other outside from work as well. After a few months they even spent their free weekends together and though they never defined what they shared, it felt quite domestic and rather exclusive - for both of them. They only agreed to keep it secret, since at work nobody needed to know about their relationship or whatever it was. That practically ruled out any kind of what could be considered as real dates, except for the occasional jog or workout at the gym.
Almost a year had passed that way and both were still happy with it. The only thing, which bothered Kate was that she could not shut up DiNozzo. The day before her brother called her only to tell her that he was in town for a few days and she agreed to meet him for dinner. Of course Tony heard it and pestered her with questions and his usual assumptions. She was quite glad when they could leave at 1700 and was really looking forward to a weekend off and away from her nosy partner. Meeting her oldest brother had been nice and they had moved to a bar after dinner, so it was already past midnight, when she finally unlocked her apartment's door. Toni briefly greeted her and the brunette raised an eyebrow, when she found familiar boots in front of the cabinet in the hall. For a moment she listened into the silence, before she heard light snores coming from the living room. She quickly padded over and smiled at the sight of Gibbs lying face down on her sofa in his red hooded sweater and a pair of old faded jeans, his silver hair tousled slightly. The small Terrier hopped on the sofa as well, curling into a ball next to the supervisory agent's feet. Caitlin went over and bent down, giving her boss a soft kiss. He cracked open one eye and she gave him a soft smile.
"Had a good time with your brother?" He asked his voice still thick with sleep and she nodded, watching him get up slowly. She quickly went into the bathroom and when she entered her bedroom, he was already in bed, slightly snoring again. Kate climbed in as well, scooting close to him, knowing that there was no better place on earth than right here. Though they had fights - somtimes very bad fights, since both were extremely stubborn - and some people, including the members of her family, would call their relationship-thing unconventional, but she did not care about it one bit, because she was happy.