Disclaimer: I don't own these character... well, I own Hayley. I don't own the below mentioned dances. And don't the writers know, it's costumary to wait until the end of the third season to kill off my fav character?
A/N (Original):
So, I know those great lines you think of after you hang up, or once you've been left standing open-mouthed at that bh you can't stand has just pulled one over on you? Well, a few months ago, my "charming" physics partner rang me one arvo and since I didn't think of this at the time, the fic grew from there.A/N (Extra): So I figured we all needed some cheering up after the event, so I finished this. It's been sitting around, half written for a while, and Jessica and Edgar have been starving because I haven't had any big procrastinating that needed to be done. So they're happy, (although Edgar isn't speaking to Jessica and Jessica isn't speaking to Edgar because of their differing opinions on where this was to go, as you will find out later) and we're hoping you're happy. We now give you: "Surprises"
SPOILERS: Absolutely NONE! I'm in denial of the event, and I'm in Aust so it hasn't happened yet...
"What are you doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"I rang you five minutes ago, and you don't answer. So I ring you back again, and you answer, all out of breath. What is a bloke to think?" Kate bit back a grin.
"Worried that I'm cheating on you? Or just upset I didn't invite you to join us?" He spat out his coffee, all down his new shirt and all over the paperwork in front of him… 'She didn't just...' he began to think, but his thoughts were cut off by a voice in the background… a female voice… asking whether she was coming back, and who was it on the other end.
His mind moved to that place where it shouldn't and he barely heard her say she had to go, and would see him tomorrow.
"Who was that?" She was asked again, after hanging up the phone and returning to the other room.
"Just my boss." Kate replied, placing the phone back on the table.
"The hot one?"
"Yeah, that one!" Kate smiled at her 'friend', and stripped off her jacket.
"Shall we continue?" Came a third voice, and all heads in the room snapped to attention, ready to commence where they had left off.
A week later, around about the same time, she had been lucky enough not to have her time taken up by a case and so spent her evening the way she had the previous week.
"You're going down girl!" She threatened Hayley, her confidant and friend, as well as competition.
Ten minutes later, Kate lay gasping on the floor.
"What was that you said? Something about me going down?" Hayley stood over the slightly older woman. "I don't seem to be the one lying on the floor in pain."
Kate's phone began to ring. Glancing at her phone, Kate began to get up, but Hayley beat her to it.
"Kate's phone."
"Who's that?" Came a surprised male voice at the other end of the call.
"Who's asking?"
"Where's Kate?"
"She's passed out on the floor." Hearing the stunned silence at the other end, Hayley smiled. She decided to have some fun of her own. "I'll get her to ring you back when she's conscious, if she's up to it." She replied, shortly before hanging up.
"Remind me to never challenge you again." Kate's voice came weakly from the floor.
"There's a reason for that trophy in my living room."
"Which one?" Kate asked sarcastically, knowing that Hayley was definitely an over achiever. Much like herself. One reason they were friends. It's nice to beat the crap out of an over achiever once in a while. Does a wonderful thing for the ego. "Who was on the phone?"
"Caller ID said Gibbs." Hayley waited for the phrase to kick in. And got the response she expected.
"WHAT?" Kate miraculously recovered her breath, and use of her limbs. "You just had that conversation with my boss?" At Hayley's confirmative nod, she ran towards the table at the end of the room. "Fuck! This is not good!" She muttered, rushing into her jacket, not bothering to remove the sweaty top as she normally would. "Fuckity fuck fuck fuck!" She swore under her breath, amusing Hayley to no end.
Kate was halfway out the door when Hayley called out to her, chucking her car keys at her. "You may need these!"
"See you when I see you." Kate threw back, heading for the door.
"Do me a favour and ask him out?" Hayley's words stopped Kate in her tracks. "Yes, ask him out. Stop worrying about protocol. It's never worried you in the past, why let it now?"
Unable to think of a response for one of her oldest friends, Kate headed out the door, slightly less agitated and more thoughtful than she had been in the first place.
When she ran into the office, she found all the desks empty. Which was strange.
She then realised she was in the wrong building… (A/N: so, sorry, no that's not the right line. Edgar and Emsta want to apologise for this, it was Jessica's input and thus entirely her fault…. So, on with the real story.)
She then realised she hadn't found out why he rang. "Shit!"
"I beg your pardon Agent Todd." The cool comment came from the dark stairs. A closer inspection revealed her silver haired boss sitting calmly on the third stair from the bottom, his hair a glow from the moonlight that streamed from across the room. "What are you doing here? Don't you have somewhere else you're supposed to be?" His voice turned as icy as the light streaming across his hair. "Someone you're supposed to be with?"
The ludicrous statement got her mad, for some reason. "Not that it's any of your business…"
He rose to her eye level, the rage in his voice barely concealed and contained. "It is my business when someone answers your cell. What if there was an emergency here?"
She tried again. "Even though it's none of your business, Hayley and I had finished what we were doing, and I thought there you were calling us in."
In a voice she didn't think he had in him, he muttered under his breath: "I'm sure you did."
There are many events in Caitlin Todd's life that make her proud of herself. The moment that just occurred is now one of them.
Her first instinct had been to slap him. Her second was to punch him. Her third, to shoot him, like she had predicted. She got as far as raising her hand from its place on her side, and in the split second it took for her to decide which, she realised something else.
"You're jealous."
"Why would I be jealous?" He stated, mentally backing away from the conversation, knowing the look that had passed through her eyes before her statement meant nothing but bad news. He'd seen it enough times, one of them before he got his skull bashed with a golf club.
She frowned. "Hayley and I are just friends."
"Sure…. friends." If it was anyone else, the way he said the second word would be described as spat.
"You ARE jealous!" She smiled. Briefly. Then she frowned again. This conversation wasn't supposed to go this way.
"I'm not jealous." Even to his ears, that sounded terribly weak. Leroy Jethro Gibbs does not do weak. He does not do jealous. And he most definitely does not do denial, but he's been getting so good at the last one at the moment that he's thinking about changing that mantra. However, that would mean changing his ways. Since his days as a gunny, he does not change himself for the good of others.
She looked at him in an expression that appeared to be one of his and he crumbled. "Okay, maybe I am."
She moved closer to him and he physically backed away. "Good. I wouldn't like to think that I'm in this alone." (A/N: We'd like to apologise for stealing that line… not sure what fic it's from but I'm sure it's a Beka fic).
Another moment Caitlin Todd is proud of is the one that followed. The one that saw her finally kissing the man of her dreams… well, her recent ones at least. It had been a while since anyone anywhere remotely close to her age had been anywhere near her brain or heart. And one L.J. Gibbs was getting closer and closer to that vital organ.
"So, what were you doing?"
Dancing."
"Dancing does not take that much out of you."
"A full tulloch does."
"Tulloch?"
"So do high-cutting competitions." She grinned at his confused face. "And Broadswords… and 3 & 1 Swords… various four minute choreographies, cake walk…"
He cut her off by kissing her. On his own. Without her prompting. 'He's learning', Kate thought to herself before he cut it short.
"What are you on about?"
"You asked what I was doing, and I told you."
"Actually, you didn't."
"Yes I did."
"No you didn't."
"Did."
"Didn't."
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
They broke down at the childish moment. He was glad to see her smiling, and she was glad he laughed.
When Kate had recovered enough to speak, she thought that she should put him out of his misery. "It's dancing terms. Dances. That's what I've been doing, I've started dancing again." He looked over at her, expectant. "Hayley and I used to compete against each other and train together. I didn't realise how much I missed it until I started here and Hayley mentioned that she was teaching again."
"Dancing? Somehow I can't see you in a tutu."
She laughed again. "Why does everyone always assume that?" She shook her head, amused at the common response from such an uncommon man. "How about I throw one more dance term at you: Highland Fling."
"You're a Highland Dancer?"
"One of the best in the country at my prime." She frowned at him. "Wait, Mr 'I-know-about-your-tattoo-from-your-profile' didn't know that I danced?"
Her only answer from him was another mind-blowing kiss as the doors of the lift closed.
As they reached the car park, her phone rang. When he reached to shut it up, Kate slapped his hand away and answered it herself.
"Hello?"
"Do I assume that you're out of action for the next week or do I have to break out the chocolate and alcohol and butcher's paper?"
Kate was puzzled. "Butcher's paper?"
"Yeah to plot our revenge… Duh!"
She glanced at the inquisitive man beside her. "No, I think we go for the first option. Thanks Hays."
"Invite me to the wedding?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here."
"Of course not." Hayley smiled at her end of the phone. "But just so you know, as bridesmaid, I get choice as to the colour and style of my dress."
Kate smiled. "I'll think about it." She said calmly into the phone before closing it and smiling at the man next to her. "My place or yours?"
"Mine. More room than your puny apartment."
"Sure, if you say so." Kate dropped a small kiss on his lips before walking around the car to the driver seat. "But mine has more toys."
Needless to say, Caitlin Todd now holds the record for number of times someone has left Jethro Gibbs speechless.
A/N3: These comments have to do with those who reviewed When...- i usually try to write something to everyone but some of you get the same so, to Sarai, nikkinor, Sammie28, Lucks trick Yes, it was sad, but not as sad as the EVENT and I loved the praise!
the-Bookworm-Princess: Abby's kid? I had decided on McGee but now leaning towards either Ducky or Tony
Navy Babe: I thought that the line bout not giving her the world was about the most romantic that could happen and deff the most that Gibbs would get to.
Sapphiresteel: I thought that was a nice touch, and I suspect I may have got the idea from some other fic... not sure though...
jtbwriter: well, that's what you get for reading Fics at work. And the tip bout tissues, thanks for it!