"Cass said you wanted me down here."
She just nodded her head nearly turning in response, focus still trained on the two-way mirror as she watched Gibbs interrogate the suspect his team had hauled in. She'd blocked McGee from following into the room behind her, caught the oddly whipped look he'd given her before awkwardly shrugging it off. Poor kid, like dealing with Gibbs aiming a whole mess of gruffness in his direction and absorbing most of DiNozzo's mischief wasn't bad enough, now she was unapologetically locking him out of rooms he'd usually be welcomed into.
She had no doubt he'd end up in Forensics, panting after Abby.
Abby seemed to be enjoying the panting, though - she wasn't about to step in the middle of that flirtation.
"Just watching." She murmured, lifting her fingers off her crossed arms long enough to wave toward the window.
"Mmm." Danny was obviously smirking through the noise and she was familiar enough with his tones and humor to hear it hum between them. She patiently ignored it because, well, otherwise he was usually an impenetrable rock of strength to her. "Bern's on the line in MTAC. Got some intel he thinks you'll wanna hear."
"So hear it, Danny." She felt her throat rasp a flick of annoyance, waving it off as she watched Gibbs stand and stalk his long legs and sturdy body along the back of the other man. "Log it. File it. I'll review it later."
"You're stayin' down here?" She could feel Snyder's dark eyes rove over her as he lit his tone with a cheeky little tease. "Is there some sort of kink at play here?"
Possibly. Interrogation Mode Gibbs is... downright sinful.
And I'll happily burn in hell.
He just couldn't help himself from hedging that line between adorably playful and gratingly obnoxious. Reminded her a bit of DiNozzo, actually... just shorter, more English Professor than Italian couture, and just marginally less attractive.
Kate just good-naturedly rolled her eyes from him and shook it off, waving toward the glass. "Do you see who's in that room?"
"Your... Gibbs."
My Gibbs. Uh huh.
You're goddamn right.
A smile flirted at her lips but she managed to tame it down, shaking her head at the exceptional save the other agent had just barely managed as he'd cheekily grinned at her. "The other one."
Danny turned fully facing the mirror, head pitched to an angle as he squinted a scrutinizing look at the man Gibbs was questioning, his jaw hardening down as his dark eyes thinned even farther. "Mahmoud."
"Yes, it is. Although, not by that name." Kate lifted the file she'd left to the table beside her and handed it off, balancing a quick glance at him as he took the file and flipped it open to review it. "I don't want him leaving this building. We do not lose him, Danny."
Seriousness had taken over his entire body as he nodded tacit agreement, reading over the paperwork beside her as one hand dug into his thick dark hair and scrubbed against his scalp. "He know you've got priority eyes on the guy he's interrogating right now?"
"System flagged the alias at the gate when the MCRT brought him in. Nancy paged me," she responded softly, watching the concern twitch over him, studying how deftly he became a consummate professional regardless of his earlier devilry. "I haven't spoken to Gibbs yet."
"Katie..." Danny let his hand lean flat to the two-way mirror, his head swinging back and forth on a certainty of some sort, one he didn't necessarily want to set between them as he let the folder slag to his side. "If Mahmoud is stateside - "
"Then, likely, so is Saurel." Kate nodded the sullen agreement in his direction before glancing back to the mirror, watching Gibbs' shoulders stay stretched broad and strong as he lifted his head into one of Mahmoud's replies. "This is a windfall, Daniel. One we're not missing out on."
Her agent nodded once, pressing off the glass and lifting his empty hand in her direction, "Want me to call Shepard?"
"Cassie's on it and I've notified the Director. I want you to talk to Bern. See if he's got anything on current events, huh?"
"On it." Danny nodded tightly as he swung away from her and toward the door. "You are gonna tell him, yeah? I mean, he's sitting with a - "
Murderer. Terrorist. Arsonist. Jihadist.
"Yeah." She sighed out the quiet interruption, blinking appreciation into the wincing and sympathetic glance Snyder gave her as he reached for the door handle. "I know."
Her place smelled like... cookies. Warm and recently pulled from the oven (and, he was pretty sure, peanut butter?) cookies. And while such an innocently homey scent was damn welcoming, made his stomach claw up into his throat with unrealized hunger, he still wasn't sure how she was going to react to him not only missing dinner plans but ignoring the single call she'd made to his cell while he'd been working. Probably poorly.
She didn't generally call to chat when she knew he was working something around in his head, stewing and chewing on things. She usually gave him distance. Unfortunately the distance (and that single phoned aberration from the norm) had his hackles up even amid the warmly enveloping smell of baked goods. And coffee. And something strongly sweet, like icing.
"I was working." he explained it wearily as he stepped into the kitchen, the sound of the oven thunking closed having drawn him in her direction.
Things had been... strained for a week or so. Tightened up and more tensed than ever before. Yeah, he had no doubt that her homecoming from Lisbon and everything that had trickled out between them after had something to do with that, but... now it was chafing on him. Correction: now it was starting to actually piss him off (or, in actuality, terrify him). That she was being slightly distant from him even while packing her apartment into uniform and clearly identified boxes. Each one had a mini catalog of contents Sharpied onto the side and they were neatly lining the entry way of her apartment, blocking the spot of wall he liked to push her up against best.
"Yeah?" Her back was straight, so very straight as she turned to the counter and kept him from seeing her face. "So was I."
"Kate - "
"Abran Mahmoud is in federal custody per order of the Office of Naval Intelligence. If you or your team try to remove him from custody, I will report you. In the event that you need to interrogate him again, I authorize it and you'll need an intelligence officer present." The strength in her body seemed to flex through all her lithe and lovely muscles as she turned on him, her face taking on a sharpness that he hadn't necessarily seen so accusatory since they'd met. "I need current copies of your case files to be sure that any involvement he has in what you're investigating doesn't - "
"Excuse me?"Gibbs dropped his keys hard to the island counter, letting his palms both flatten out along the little space that was left considering the rows of hardening cookies and wax paper.
He'd expected that using the graveled and hushed down tone on her would make her loosen a little, maybe. All it did was stack her shoulders higher as she panned him a dubious look and rolled her eyes at the intentional attempt at intimidation.
Sweet hell, good girl... She's got ya pegged, Gunny.
"Last thing we need is your team screwing a CI agent inadvertently." Her tone was shrewd and obviously taking no unnecessary shit from his side of the room. Guh. Sexy Katie. "Secondly - "
"Secondly?"Gibbs snorted wryly as he let his shoulder blades tighter together, leaning farther over the island to study down the stretch of her as she turned away from his scrutiny.
"When you're working, I don't call you for stupid reasons." One of the wooden spoons took a clattering spill into the sink basin nearest her and he watched as she reached for another, brow arched as he silently studied how low her jeans were slung on her hips. "I call you for legitimate reasons. Not because I need to be sweet talked or coddled or told I'm pretty or - "
"You are sorta pretty." He interrupted softly, letting his tone wash wistful as he lifted his glance up the back of the tank she was wearing to where she'd tied her hair back.
The back of her neck looked damn delicious when it flinched tight.
Her head turned to the left, annoyance obvious in her profile. "Sorta?"
"Exceptionally." He corrected as he pressed off the edge of the island, slowly curving around it even as she kept her head turned half toward his advance. "Mahmoud?"
"Abran Mahmoud is mine, Jethro." The slap of the spoon setting against the counter matched the turn of her into his leaning, her jaw nudging up as she purposefully pressed into his space. "He's mine."
Damn. Grit and fury and strength were delicious on her.
Especially when she was also sort of adorably speckled with flour and clearly had no idea.
He gambled a chance and lifted his fingers along her ribs, watching her eyes widen barely perceptibly as he stroked up against the tight and warm cotton of her tank, teasing fingertips under it. "So after I released him?"
Kate shrugged even as she preened into the touches that had seemed stilted days before and suddenly had an unmitigated heat to them. "I had Yates detain him."
He leaned an unbidden smile toward her jaw, angling his mouth down under it as he kissed along the flex and angle of her head. "Legally?"
"Yes, legally," she hissed her head sharply sideways into his leaning. "What the hell do you think I am?"
"Gorgeous," he grinned it down the front of her. Her shirt was doused with flour and damp in places and he was enjoying blatantly staring down her curving breasts as she inhaled slowly. "Absolutely stunning."
"Asshole." Kate jammed her shoulder up into his chest but the secretive little smile that delved a dimple into her cheek had him gamely tugging her up tighter as she let her eyes drift closed. "You're not cute."
"You have flour right," his voice had thrummed quiet, the words shearing off by the rove of his lips and tongue along the underside of her jaw, "mmmm."
A similarly appreciative sound moaned up from her lungs and he let his fingers span up farther under fabric, grinning wildly into the tipping of her head as he licked against her throat and then breathed against it. The flex of his palm against her ribs just barely preceded how sure his other hand was in grabbing against the front of her shirt, turning her into the kisses and nips he dragged down her throat. Her fingers were quick and light against the sides of his head and he laughed his lips along her collarbone as she groaned a sigh and then slung her arms dramatically onto his shoulders.
The sudden and sure lift against her hips brought her roughly onto the counter, one of his arms knocking against dishes and utensils as he wedged her up onto the ledge. Her body relaxed forward as she laughed and he felt a week's worth of cautious and concerned stress loosen out of his lungs.
"Jackass."
You say it with an indecent sorta love, though, sweetheart.
Something had needed to break between them, he decided.
Because softly side-stepping each other was not normal for either of them.
"Beautiful." The word went chastely pressed onto her lips before he raised his head into studying her face, enjoying the tentative smile she was giving him.
"I'm a big girl, Gibbs." One hand hand cradled along the back of his head and he leaned back into the lulling back and forth draw of her fingers along his scalp. "If I call you it's because I need to speak to you."
"Okay."
The squinted and scant glance of disbelief she gave him in response brought a chuckle up his throat, a nodding dipping him closer.
"Okay, all right?" he graciously breathed it closer to her.
"You don't ignore Ducky or Abby when they call with information." Kate admonished quietly, watching his eyes slide shut as she rubbed her fingers in circling patterns to the sides of his head and up along his temples. "I deserve the same respect that - "
"Katya," the groan that wrapped up the nickname settled low like his shoulders as he laxed his body forward into the leaning of hers, his head tipping into the continued stroke of gentled fingertips. "I get it. How was I supposed to know I had one of your targets in custody?"
Her thumbs both wiped simultaneously at the shadows under closed eyes. "By answering your goddamn phone."
He smiled impishly at her response long before he finally cracked one eye open, fiddling with the fabric of her shirt as he seemed to check her actual level of annoyance. He found more caution and worry in her eyes than actual anger. "Roger that, Secret Service. Bake sale coming up?"
"I bake when I'm mad." She looked nearly sadly childish at the admittance, her shoulders hitching a shrug as she glanced down over his hands as he curled the fabric up her stomach. Her hair was loose enough in the way it was tied back that some strands had messily trailed the sides of her face, making her seem even more delicately gentle in her pout.
"Been mad awhile, huh?"
Her fingers wrapped his wrist but loosely. Still, the stall caught him up and forced his fingers to flare out flat and unthreatening against her stomach. "More... confused."
Gibbs swallowed as he searched down over her pausing hand, watching her rub her thumb on his wrist before she tucked his hand tighter. He nodded a guilty admittance, "I know."
"Concerned."
He shook his head minutely into the wide worry and innocence in her eyes as she finally lifted her head and matched his watching with some reserve of resilience. "You shouldn't be."
Kate nodded once, that little shrugging lifting her shoulders again as she kept his hand captive against her skin. "Questioning things."
"Like?"
She snorted a sound that seemed lost. It was a familiar female sound. And especially to him. "Like whether this is a good idea."
He couldn't look at her, not at those ridiculously expressive eyes. So he swiped his thumb against her stomach instead. "A specific this or this in general?"
"The moving." The way she admitted it sounded like she hated the taste of the words.
"Listen, you don't have to if you're not ready, Kate. I'm not - "
She grabbed against the way he'd started to pull away, her face crestfallen as she shook her head hard and loosened her hair a little more. "I want to."
"Then stop questioning it." Gibbs ordered deftly, his head minutely angling into the directive. "I want you to."
One of her brows came up wryly, head cocked. "That simple, huh?"
"Yeah, it is."
Or should be. To normal people.
We're far from normal Katya...
"There's a lemon chiffon in the fridge that is not allowed to stay in this apartment for more than the next eight hours," her voice already had a slim margin of forgiveness and he lifted his head into it, watching how intently she was trying to recover something gentle. How calmly she had drawn oxygen deep into her lungs and searched over him and come up with the sum of something worth more than patience. Like virtue, maybe.
"Why?"
She mocked a thoughtful glance, humming thoughtfully as she pursed her lips up and then blinked innocently at him. "Because I'll eat it."
He couldn't save himself from grinning into the silly little smile she followed it up with.
She was the end of him when she was like this.
Absolute end. He couldn't stand (a chance against) her when she was being so... cute.
She was irrepressibly fucking cute sometimes.
It was... the absolute end of him.
"Duck loves lemon," he hushed out, leaning taller up over her and forcing her head to lift into the way he crowded her. His voice had culled low, eyes tamping down over every inch of her face before settling on her lips.
"Yeah?" Kate unintentionally smiled into the hard swallow that visibly worked down his throat.
"Yup." It was a sharp and unchecked agreement. "And you."
Kate lifted her fingers into his hovering, touching against his bottom lip and feeling her smile dip more to one side as she watched him nip against a fingertip. "He does seem to have a certain affection for me."
"As do I," the whisper cradled into her hand as he lowered his mouth down her fingers.
"Love lemon?"
Gibbs kissed sharply against her skin before lifting hooded but still bright eyes, the gleam in them both sensual and prowling. "Abran Mahmoud?"
"Is mine," Kate minced closer to his mouth, keeping her tone as tightly wound as his had been. "Keep your hands off him."
He slowly angled a full smile into her hand and kissed soundly into the crease of her palm. "But the cookies are free game, right?"
"I suppose." Her tone had gone arched but there was an obvious humor in the twitch a near smile tugged along her lips.
"I missed dinner." Gibbs let his lips rub her wrist right before his tongue swiped at it, his body suddenly leaning away from hers as he loosened his grasp and turned reaching for one of the cookies.
"Really?" She watched him with amusement as he stuffed one into his mouth and nodded as he chewed, a groan of pleasure rumbling up off him as he nabbed another. "Hadn't noticed."