AN: Please note that my English may be slightly wrong in places, but I hope you will be able to understand it.
Jimmy Palmer sat silently in the stillness of the autopsy room. He, and the rest of NCIS had learnt that Special Agent Kate Todd had just been shot and killed about a day ago. They had all taken it very hard. True, that he may not have known Kate as well as the others did, but he still knew her fairly well. She was one of the only people, besides Dr. Mallard, had ever really talked to him, and he was pretty sure that the others barely even noticed him. Agent Gibbs scared him to death. He wasn't sure if it was his cold eyes, his attitude or the fact that he reminded him a lot of his father, but either way, he tried not to be around him too much if he could help it, and he was sure Gibbs did the same. As for Tony Dinozzo, Jimmy knew that he often made fun of him, calling him the 'autopsy gremlin', but other then that, nothing. McGee didn't seam to have a problem with him, but he very rarely ever journeyed down into the autopsy room ever since he walked in when he and Dr. Mallard were working on their Meet Puzzle. He knew for certain that Abby had been a bit cautious around him ever since the glue incident, and he couldn't really blame her. Jimmy sighed, and slumped back into his seat. He was alone in the cold room, as Dr. Mallard had gone home by this point. He couldn't help but look over at the autopsy table were Kate had been laid not a few hours ago. Even though he had been there when the autopsy was preformed, it still didn't feel like she was completely gone. Another small sigh escaped his lips.
"Oh, come on Jimmy, don't be so down!" came a cheerful voice from his right side. Palmer quickly twisted around to find a smiling Kate standing next to him, a smile on her face. She was wearing simple white pumps, skinny jeans, a small pink top and for some reason, a brown wool poncho. For a few moments, all he could do was blink up at her, him mouth open. Then it hit him. This wasn't her. Well, not the real her at least. Just the simple memory of her. He must have gotten less sleep then he thought.
"You okay?" she asked, the smile shrinking, but never leaving her face.
"Y-yeah… I guess…" he muttered. He wasn't sure why he was talking to someone who wasn't even there, but it felt… right somehow.
"Everything shows on your face Jimmy, always has. Come on, what's the matter?" she asked, not letting up.
'Maybe the fact that I'm talking to a ghost or something!?'He though, but instead he said, "I guess… I'm just going to miss you."
"You know I'm not the only person who works here. You should try talking to the others more often." Kate suggested. Jimmy gave her a look. "Okay, so maybe there not the easiest people to talk to, but they are really nice when you get to know them. And you can be a really good talker once you get going, I should know!"
"Oh, yeah…" Palmer blushed slightly before he looked her up and down once again. Then it hit him. "So that's why you're dressed like that."
"Yeah, you remember!" she said happily, her grin growing. "It was that day that we had to wait at the buss stop together in the pouring rain, and the buss was 15 minuets late!"
He remembered that day really clearly now.
.: 2 Months Ago :.
Even though the weatherman had said it would be worm and sunny that day, it was raining very heavily. Thankfully, Palmer had brought his small, blue umbrella with him like he did every day out of habit, so he would stay dry. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Kate. Her car had refused to start due to all the rain and was forced to stand unsheltered by the buss stop, the only thing that was half acting as a jacket was the wool poncho that she had over her shoulders. Palmer looked over to Kate, then the umbrella. Then Kate. Then the umbrella again. He began to feel guilt growing at the pit of his stomach. He knew it wasn't his fault she was like that, but he couldn't help feeling bad, as he stood dry under the umbrella and Kate was getting wetter by the second. Finely he gave in. He outstretched his arm toward Kate, clearly offering it to her. Kate looked up at him, her eyes wide.
"Oh, Its okay Palmer, I'm fine, don't get yourself wet!" she said, a little taken back that he would do something like that. She barely knew the man!
"You'll catch another cold if you don't get out of the rain. B-besides, Agent Gibbs would probably kill me if he found out I didn't help you." He said, looking down at the ground, blushing. It wasn't as if he had a crush on her or something, he just didn't want her to get sick again, and he was just trying to be friendly. Smiling nervously, she took the wooden handle from him and held the umbrella over her head, shielding her from the rain. As the uncomfortable silence surrounded them, Kate finely decided to say something.
"So… do you like the rain?" As soon as she said it, she realised how stupid it must have sounded, but waited for him to answer.
"Its o-okay, I guess… I used to kind like storms when I was a little kid." He answered, not quite sure why she had asked something like that.
"You used to like them?"
"Y-Yeah, well… kinda … I used to like the way the lighting split down the sky and almost touched the ground…b-but I hated the thunder," he blushed, slightly embarrassed to admit it. "I used to hide under my bed something like that trying to look out of my window to watch but never leaving my hiding place."
Kate desperately tried not to, but couldn't help but laugh at the though to a young Jimmy hiding under his bed. Palmer blushed a bright shade of red before dropping his gaze to the ground.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she apologized franticly, though she was still chuckling and almost dropped the umbrella. Once she had managed to control herself, she decided to tell Jimmy something about her in return. "When… when I was about 5 years old, I was scared to death of… of Santa Clause…" this time it was he turn to blush and Palmers turn to try and stop himself from laughing out loud.
"S…Santa? R-really?"
"Well… It was just creepy! I mean, It's a fat, old guy with a beard coming into houses in the middle of the night and leaving presents for little kids, Its just kinda disturbing that's all!" she said defensively, though still blushing. It kept going like that for the next 15 minuets, Jimmy and Kate swapping stories. By the end, Kate knew that Palmer used to sleep with a stuffed seal, hated frogs, or anything from the amphibious family for that matter, and enjoyed anything that had to do with the Japanese cultured and Palmer had learned that Kate hated the feel of wooden Popsicle sticks, had once drank a gallon of milk all at once for a dare and used to steal her grandmothers knitting wool for reasons that she couldn't remember. They had to get on different busses, but it seem that they took a silent vow not to mention any of the things that they had talked about to anyone.
.: Preasent Day :.
"Yeah, I remember. And you never did give me back that umbrella." Said Palmer, a small smile on his face.
"See? You can talk for ages when you want to. Your still talk to me, and lets face it Jimmy, I'm dead," she laughed, leaning on the autopsy table. "So? What's stopping you?"
"Well… Its just that…"
"What?"
"Well… Agent Gibbs-"
"Oh, don't let him scare you. He is actually kid of nice. You know, once you put aside his temper. And he's never really seen you in action either, at least not with your strong qualities!"
"Okay… but Tim and Tony-"
"-Hardly know you! They've never had a conversation with you Palmer. And its not like they hate you or anything so give them a try."
"But, Abby-"
"Abby!? She's the easiest person to get along with in the world! And you really like her, and don't even bother denying it! Try bringing her a Calf-Pow or something, it always works for Gibbs."
Palmer sighed for the third time that day. Even when she was dead, Palmer knew he couldn't win a fight with Kate. "Okay… I-I guess I could give it a go…"
"There you go!" Kate was grinning once again, happy that she finally got him to crack. He may look like a push over, but Palmer could be really stubborn when he wanted to. Suddenly, her eyes became very serious, though she was still smiling. "Listen, Palmer… I need you to do one more thing for me."
"Oh…o-okay, what is it?"
"I need you to be strong for me, kay? I know your going to miss me, but… its just that everyone is going through a really hard time, so… try to be brave for me… you've been though this kind of thing before, but Tony and Tim and Abby and probably not even Ducky has. Gibbs has, but he sometimes lets his emotions gets the best of him… so be strong for me, yeah?"
Palmer was really taken back. He hadn't expected her to ask that. And how did she even know that he'd been through it? But then again, she was just a figment of his imagination, so it was probably just his memories getting mumbled up.
"Yeah… I promise…" He said, a weak smile on his face.
"Good. I'd better go…" Suddenly, Palmer noticed that she had begun to fade rapidly, like something out of a cheesy film. "Oh, and you can find your umbrella in my top draw!" she called as the last bits of her body began to fade.
Jimmy Palmer once again sat silently in the stillness of the autopsy room. He couldn't help but stare at the spot when Agent Todd had been standing just a few seconds ago. Palmer quickly shook his head and quickly walked over to the sinks to splash some water on his face. He really must be sleep deprived, to be hallucinating like that. Relishing that it was well past his shift, Palmer quickly grappled his jacket and head upstairs. Hw was quick to notice that it was raining very heavily outside, due to the sound of it bashing on the glass window. His eyes quickly scanned over the bullpen. No one was there. He looked over at Kate's desk. Curiosity and the desire not to get wet got the better of him, as he walked towards it. As soon as he opened the top draw he was a small, blue umbrella with a wooden handle pleased next to a small stack of stationary items. He couldn't help but smile was he picked it up and head towards the bus stop.
AN: I hoped you liked my story, please review!