It was 1994 and a young Caitlin Todd was riding with her friends to Panama City.
"Kate. I can't believe that Mark let you use his car!" Kate was driving a 1973 Mustang.
"I can. It only took one night for him to become putty in my hands." They each laughed as Kate mimicked her statement with her hand, the other on the steering wheel. "Besides, he won't need it for anything. He lives on campus. He only used it to take me out and…well other things."
"Oh great. And you made me sit back here. Thanks." A groggy young woman stretched as she set up from her nap.
Kate looked in the rearview mirror, "Well Marcy, Stacy isn't any safer than you are."
Stacy nudged Kate's shoulder; who laughed pleased with herself. "God Kate. Is there any guy you haven't been with, and in that case, any place. I'm worried just sitting down on a public bench these days." Kate stopped laughing.
"I don't have sex that often."
The car became silent, and then broken by the two passengers who were uncontrollably laughing.
"Assholes." She muttered under her breath. "Well, do you two want to stop and get some food or are you worried I might have had sex there?"
Marcy leaned forward in her seat, resting her elbows on the backrest of Kate and Stacy's seats. "I think it's worth the risk."
The girls pulled up into a small diner. They were only an hour away from Panama City, but they were hungry and willing to wait longer if that meant filling their stomachs.
After finishing their food Kate pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "I'm going outside."
"Kate, what happened to quitting?"
"It's still an option." She smirked as she headed out the front. She got use to her friends hating the smoke, so she would be polite and move herself away from the group. It was a bad habit an ex boyfriend got her into.
She sat on the hood of the car when a group of men pulled up. They were about forty, but she found them all so attractive. She had always been interested in older men. The men walked in, all but one. A man opened the door of the driver side and stepped out. He was the most attractive of them all. Kate leaned back on her elbows, the almost cliché model pose, and winked at him. "Hey there handsome."
The man smirked and walked towards her, leaning one hand against the car. "Hello there Miss…"
She put her hand out, "Kate, Kate Todd. And you?"
He took her hand gracefully. "Jethro Gibbs."
"Jethro." He smirked even more as it seductively rolled off her tongue. "Do you live around here?"
"Nope. A few of us are heading down to Panama City."
"That's where I am going." She set up and moved her legs to his sides so that each leg entrapped her new friend from any direction but backwards.
"Is that right?" He placed his hands on the hood, each one beside her hips, as he leaned in closer. She could see his attempt to intimidate her, but she only pushed forward.
"Yep." She stared deep into his blue eyes, while he stared back into her soft green eyes.
"Kate, you ready to go?" She heard Stacy's voice call out, but didn't blink once.
"Give me a sec." She brought her voice back to a whisper. "Maybe I'll see you there?"
"I'd like to make that a guarantee. Do you have a pen?"
Her hand reached into his front pocket, still without breaking contact, and pulled one out. "No, but you do." She waved it in front of his face.
He grabbed her hand and used it as a canvas. "This is where I am staying. I'd love to continue this stare."
She took the pen and his hand to do the same for him. "Just in case." She winked.
"I think your friends are ready to go." He leaned back allowing her to stand.
He walked to the door of the restaurant. "I hope to see you again Katie." And he was gone.
"Who was that!?" Marcy walked to her in astonishment.
"His name was Jethro. Come on. We've got to get going."
"That's it. You're not going to tell us what he said?"
"Not at all Stace."
She started the car and they began their last hour to Panama. It was about 10:30 at night when they checked into their hotels. Stacy and Marcy collapsed onto their beds.
"What are you two doing? Change clothes, we're going out."
"Kate, we just got here."
"Yea, can't we go out tomorrow, get some rest today?"
"No. It's spring break, it's not time for rest, it is time for partying!"
No one could say no to Kate, so they got dressed.
Their night was filled with laughter, alcohol, and lots of attention. Kate handled her liquor rather well, but was still affected. Alcohol just made her ten times rebellious and flirty. She made out with several men that night, did quite a few body shots, but when her friends were finally ready to go back to the hotel, as the city began to settle down, slightly, Kate felt more alive and curious. Jethro was still on her mind.
She took her friends back to the hotel, and then went in search of the hotel were Jethro was staying. After almost an hour of drunken searching, she found it. She managed to find the elevator and then his hotel room. Her knock was friendly, making a tune, and she heard a muffled voice.
"Open up Jethro." Even drunk, she could still sound sexy.
The door swung open and he rubbed his eyes. "Kate? What are you doing here?"
"Well, I was out, thought I'd drop by." She walked passed him into his room.
"It's almost six in the morning." He closed the door still half asleep.
"So. Why aren't you out partying Jethro?"
He turned on the light. "Well, if you haven't noticed, I'm not on spring break. I'm here for work."
"Really now. What do you do?"
"I work for NCIS."
"What is that?" She laughed as she lay on his bed.
He sat down at the end of the bed near her feet. "It's a government agency. Naval Criminal…"
"I got it, I got it." She sat up behind him and rubbed her hands on his shoulders, than brought them to one point over his chest. "So Jethro Gibbs, how about you tell me something about yourself."
"Shouldn't you go back to your hotel? I'm sure your friends will be worried if they don't know where you are."
"They'll just assume I'm out with some guy." She leaned her body against his, leaning her mouth to his ear. "Don't you want to talk to me Jethro?"
"Well, yea."
"That's what I want to hear." She kissed his neck.
"Listen Kate. I'm way too old for you. How old are you, 18?"
"21." She kissed his neck again.
He stood up. "I'm 43 Kate. I'm more than twice your age."
"Well, think about this. When I'm 41, you'll only be 63, not that big of a deal anymore."
"Kate. You are drunk. No, scratch that, you are wasted."
"Don't worry about me, just have some fun." She walked to him and kissed his lips. He pulled her close and made the kiss stronger, more passionate. He helped her fall back onto his bed, his body hovering on top still kissing her. Her hands reached down to his boxers, beginning to pull them down, when he leaned up and grabbed both her hands, holding them above her head into the bed.
"No Kate. Will you meet me later today?" She nodded. "At 5:00, I will take you to dinner. I want to get to know the sober Kate Todd, not the drunk party one, which by the way, both are very sexy from what I've seen."
She smiled, leaned up, and whispered into his ears. "Pick me up at my hotel?"
He kissed her, took her hand, and escorted her to the door. "I'll see you later."
She couldn't believe she had just been rejected, but most importantly, she couldn't believe that she wasn't that disappointed. She would see this man at 5:00, just about eleven hours from now.
She drove back to her hotel, which only took ten minutes now that she knew where she was, and fumbled into her room to see two passed out roommates. She fell into her bed, which she managed to have her own due to paying for the gas to get there and getting a vehicle for them to take. All she could think of was the Jethro Gibbs she had met. How handsome, and, fuck handsome, sexy he was. She couldn't wait to see him again. Before she could continue to daydream about the sexy man, she was sent into her real dreams.
Gibbs walked into the bathroom after doing his morning run. He figured he might as well begin to get ready for his day. Honestly, Kate just made the day start about thirty minutes earlier than usual. He stripped down out of his running apparel and turned the knob for his shower. After careful consideration, he turned the hot off, and turned the cold on himself. He needed it.
This beautiful brunette was brought into his life by some kind of fate; he was going to make sure he made something out of it all, not by ruining it before getting to know her. He knew he could still have his chance later.
It was around noon when a knock on the door woke up the sleeping Caitlin. She turned to look at her clock. "Oh god." She groaned and threw her blankets over her head. "Who the hell is here?"
"Sorry Kate. It's Daniel. I met him last night; we're going to have lunch. I'm sorry for waking you."
"Bye Stacey."
"Bye Kate." She laughed as she left the room. First closing the curtains to the window, which got a nice reply from Kate.
"I love you." Her voice was pathetic due to her love for complete darkness.
"I love you too Kate."
She couldn't fall back asleep though; her mind was awake and thinking of Jethro. She wondered what he was doing.
She would have never guessed him to be interrogating Naval Officers until they confessed to exposing government secrets and selling weaponry to terrorist cells. Kate couldn't even pretend she knew what NCIS was, much less what they did. She just figured it to be some military thing.
Kate just got out of the shower when she heard a knock on the door. She wrapped her body in the small towel and answered the door. Gibbs stood staring at her. Her body was soaked and water dripped off her hair down her body. The sight was one a mere man couldn't handle.
She watched him gulp, not knowing what to say, so she began the conversation. "Did you change your mind about this morning?" Her smirk was brave and confident.
"No, but I'm beginning to." She laughed as she stepped back to let him in. "I just got off work, thought I'd come by. I see you're not ready if you want me to leave it's fine."
"No. Please stay; I just need a minute. Where are we going by the way?"
"Just a local restaurant I hear is nice."
"Great." She smiled as she leaned down. She thought as she headed to the bathroom to finish drying her hair. "So, Jethro, what do you do exactly"
"Ah." He laughed. "Let me not bore you already. Something else." He walked to the bathroom and leaned against the doorframe admiring the body that was still glistening with water.
"Do you have a gun?" She asked bluntly.
Puzzled to where she was going, he nodded, "Yea. I'm a federal agent."
"It already sounds hot to me."
He laughed as he walked back to the main room and lay on her bed. He was beginning to feel the early morning wake up hitting him. Maybe he should have gone home to rest he thought. Oh well, 'you're a marine, you'll be fine'.
Only twenty minutes passed until she was ready to go. She was angelic in his eyes. She wore a light blue dress that tied behind her neck and just covered enough of her thighs to be decent, but Jethro loved it.
"Wow."
His simple reaction was enough to make Kate blush. This response actually befuddled her. Had she really just blushed to something so simple? 'Kate. Be the sexy, seductress that you are, not some shy school girl.'
"You ready?" He stood still admiring her appearance.
He took her to a nice but not ridiculously fancy restaurant that had an outside deck with a view of the sunset. Kate was in awe at the view as she watched the sun dance with the waves of the blue ocean.
"I take this silence as you liking where I've taken you?" He sat across the small table watching her eyes explore the view.
Smiling without looking away from the picturesque scene, she reached for his hand over the table. "Jethro, this is beautiful."
Kate had been on many dates and been taken to a large number of nice places, but this place was beyond anything some horny young guy had ever done for her. But then again, Jethro was not a young guy; he was a grown man.
They spent the night laughing and talking and sharing. He paid the bill and they went for a shoeless walk on the beach. Their only light was that of the moon and the occasional lamppost that marked the entrance to the beach from parking lots.
As they talked, she found his hand had slipped into hers, so she squeezed it back and let her thumb rub over his knuckles softly.
"What about you?" He questioned her playfully. "I honestly don't see how I've never ran into you before."
She laughed with him. "Yea, I don't see how I missed you at all those raves I've gone too. I can totally see you twirling glow sticks."
They came to a small cliff at the edge of the beach; a tall white and black lighthouse hovered over them as they sat down on a large rock, still hand in hand.
"I must be ruining your spring break. You should be out having fun."
Her hand left his as she began to look into his eyes. She could see the doubt in his eyes that anything good could happen with a young energetic and lively 21 year old; nothing that would be mutually meaningful anyway. Nothing she would want in return, but the hand that had been warmed by his hand, cradled his opposite cheek as she leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth.
"If I was bored Jethro," A playful sneer made her voice too adorable for him to concentrate very well on anything other than her lips. "I would have left this date a long time ago." Leaving another kiss on the corner of his mouth, slightly nearing a full kiss, but still teasing. "And I think I'm still here." And before she could decide whether to taunt his lips with another corner peck or to fully indulge in what she could already tell tasted like coffee and mint, he pressed forward and took her lips with his. His hand held the small of her back to stable her and pull her closer to him.
The kiss was more than what she had expected and better than anything she had had before. The warm tongue was foreign to her mouth, but she had no intention of rejecting it, but letting it have more access as she leaned her head back.
Strong hands traveled up and down her back as she arched with each kiss he planted on her neck throwing her hips closer to him.
She couldn't take it anymore. "Hotel?" She gasped.
"No." Her eyes opened and gave him a questioning, pleading look. "No point in waiting that long." He picked her up and carried her the few feet to the sand and lay her down.
Kate hadn't expected his response but loved it all the more as her knees bent and her legs began to wrap around him. He untied her dress and pulled the strings down exposing her breast. He kissed the uncovered skin as he continued to pull the dress down. Her skin felt so soft and silky on his lips and he wanted to feel her skin against his forever. Finally, she kicked the dress off her feet and could feel his arousal begging for release.
She bit his lip as her hands fell down to his buckle and hastily pushed his pants down. He followed Kate's moves and kicked them off as well. He sat up hastily to pull the shirt of his body and leaned back down to Kate.
"You are so beautiful." He whispered into her lips. "So beautiful." His tongue once again made its way to hers to mingle.
Kate remembered hearing the sound of the water washing on the shore as Gibbs sent her into passionate oblivion over and over again.
He fell beside her, his arms flimsy and tired and his breath uneven and fast. They lay beside each other panting, gazing into the stars. His hand snaked down to hers and laced fingers.
After they regained slight composure, he leans over her again and kisses her forehead. "Come on. I think it is about time I take you home." He stood and helped Kate to her feet helping her back into her dress.
He walked her to her door and was more of a gentleman than any of her dates, and she had just had sex with him, too. A thought that was still circling around in her mind, leaving her filled with an assorted group of feelings, all contradicting, but not too loud to disrupt the one feeling that controlled her body: lust. When they reached the door, she turned around, looked up into his eyes, and smiled.
"Well, tonight was." She could only smile to herself and laugh a little. Those blue eyes of his were captivating.
"I want to see you again if you can." His face was as serious as usual.
"Nothing would make me happier."
"Tomorrow?" He questioned shyly.
Her facial reaction was not what he had hoped. She grimaced. "Tomorrow I had plans with the girls." Then her face lit up suddenly and Gibbs couldn't help but smile.
"What?"
"We had plans to go to this club tomorrow night. We all assume no one will be going home alone. You should meet me there. That way I'm not getting hit on by young, hormonal drunks." She laughed knowing that a 'young hormonal drunk' was exactly what she was to Jethro.
He couldn't help but laugh.
"Yea. Isn't that just so annoying." He leaned in and kissed the corner of her mouth. "Good night Katie Girl."
"Good night Jet." She jokingly gave him his new nickname, but from Kate, he didn't mind, and it was settled. 'Katie Girl and Jet'.
She opened the door and he walked off to head home himself. Kate just grinned foolishly and skipped to her bed and dove in. "AH!!" Her cry muffled by pillows and blankets.
"Kate, you okay?" One of her sleepy roommates woke.
"Oh. Sorry Stacy. Long night." She smiled.
"Do you need to talk about it honey?" Her face became serious as she reached for the light switch.
"Oh, not at all Stace. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow." She laughed. "Good night."
Her heart raced as she got ready to go out. She put on her cutest outfit, cute meaning sexy and hopefully not being worn very long, and turned to Stacy and Marcy and smiled.
"You two ready?"
"Yep." The each nodded and followed her out the door.
"So. I'm meeting someone when we get there, so you two are your own wingman's tonight."
"Wait. Who are you meeting Miss Todd?"
"Not that it's any of your business Stacy, I'm meeting Jethro; the guy I went out with last night that I met at that diner."
"Aw! This is too cute Marcy. I think our Kate it falling in love." She turned to face the woman in the back seat who stared bewildered at Kate.
"I think I have to agree with you Stace. Kate, are you sick or something baby?" She let her hand rest on her forehead pretending to check for a temperature.
"Fuck you both." She laughed.
Gibbs was sexy as ever and she had a blast all night. They danced, talked, laughed, and of course, made out. Everything was going great until an announcement was made about an annual wet t-shirt contest. Marcy and Stacy ran to Kate.
"Oh my God, Kate. You should totally enter. Come on!" They pulled her, and Kate having been drinking all night, didn't see a reason to deny some entertainment.
After she won and had her photo taken, she searched for Jethro.
"Stacy, where did Jethro go?"
"I think I saw him go outside." Marcy jumped in. "Congrats Kate. Now, can you go and get that guys number for me? He's one of the guys that was pouring water on you." She laughed and then Kate somehow sobered up.
She darted outside and saw Gibbs walking to his car.
"Jethro!" She called as she ran to him. "Where are you going?"
"Kate." He sighed and turned to him. "I have to get back. I have an early flight back to D.C. in the morning." He looked at his watch. "Which leaves me four hours until my flight."
"Well, weren't you going to at least say good bye?"
"I tried, but you were busy having water poured on you by about five half naked guys."
"Jethro, that wasn't a big deal. I was just having some fun."
"Look. I really need to get back to-"
"Am I ever going to see you again?" Reality was setting in for Kate and she realized that somehow, she had gone from having a great night to feeling completely rejected.
"Probably not Katie. Listen, you are so young and-"
"Stop using that as an excuse! I have only known you a couple days but I know damn well that your age has no affect on how either one of us feels about the other."
"Stop interrupting me." He said in almost a whisper. He could feel his heart breaking, but he couldn't help but feel it was only right to get as far away from her as fast as possible. He could see how strong and energetic she is, and he couldn't hold her back. She needed to live her life, and he would be too jealous to watch her live it.
"Just tell me that I can see you again."
"I can't promise anything."
"Fuck you Jethro Gibbs." She began to storm off.
"Kate."
"What?" She yelled and turned to face him to only be met by his lips and a strong embrace. She felt light headed and was oxygen deprived.
"I will never forget you Katie Girl." She stood motionless as he got in his car and drove off. Her eyes watching the red lights slowly become distant, then invisible.
Almost ten years later, Kate can't help but think of that man. The same man that somehow swept her off her feet in just a matter of days and then left her. She wanted so badly to hate him for leaving her feeling so foolish, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. He inspired her to work harder and prove herself.
She's made herself a great, successful life. She is working for the Secret Service to protect the president. She put her fun, carpe diem life aside to prove herself to someone she would never see again.
Now she stands over a dead body next to a man who introduced himself as Fornell. She doesn't like him. He undermines her and then has the audacity to check her out so obviously. Her patience is becoming less and less, but the M.E. had finally arrived. She can't help but smile at the sweet old man who is called Ducky. Unusual, but only adds to the sweetness. Her heart stops as the next man enters the plane. She tries to keep her cool, there is no way that is who she thinks it is. There is no way that he is falling back into her life.
Gibbs can't help but laugh inwardly knowing what his team is planning on pulling once on board Air Force One, but his pride ends immediately as his eyes set on the beautiful brunette. It can't be possible for him to be setting his eyes on her.
The moment his plan is set into action, the moment everyone leaves the plane except for her, she slaps his face. This sends the M.E. and the other agent into shock. Ducky and DiNozzo, though reluctantly, left to give them space.
"Jethro Gibbs." She says as she puts a sly smile on.
"Katie Todd."
Before she could speak, he pulled her in and left the most passionate kiss on her lips, their arms wrapping around each other.
She broke away from the kiss.
"You know, you're a bastard."
"So I've heard."
"Why did you leave?"
"I thought it was best to let you live your life, Katie."
"Well I guess I should thank you then. I've had a great life because I never saw you again." She watched as his face dropped, his eyes darken with sadness and then fall to the floor.
"I'm sorry." He whispered cowardly slowly bringing his eyes back to hers. "I was stupid and I should have never left. You just look like you'd have more fun if I weren't there to hold you back. I didn't want to take the part of your life that would be the best for you." He sighed but his body became more confident. "I regret it each day of my life, Katie. I'm so sorry."
"Jethro, you…I don't know if I can ever forgive you for-"
Before she could even take in what had happened, he pulled her in close and kissed her again, strong and loving. Tongues dueled and Gibbs' hands cupped her face. Finally, their lips broke apart, their eyes still closed, and their foreheads still touched. He whispered gruffly against her lips.
"The worst mistake I ever made was walking out of that bar without you, and I don't intend on leaving this plane the same way. I refuse to let you out of my life ever again."
An agonizing silence built and Gibbs opened his eyes, but before he could speak, her finger landed on his lips.
"You know, you're a bastard."
"You know, I'm not used to you wearing such unrevealing clothing."
Gibbs sat back in his chair staring at his computer screen. Tony and Kate just ran off to the elevators. Gibbs had never seen the photo before; he had the privilege of actually watching it. 'NCIS Employee of the Month'. 'Nice touch DiNozzo.' He thought as he clicked on the next email. Another photo, this one from Kate. His laugh echoed through the empty bullpen.
Shortly afterwards, he walked into his house to find Kate lying on the couch watching television. She turned her face so she could see him and smiled innocently and slightly embarrassed.
"Hi baby. I hate that photo, and Tony. Have I mentioned that one lately?"
Gibbs chuckled and placed his keys on the table. "You know, the photo has nothing on actually being there." He leaned down to give her a quick kiss, but she grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him down.
"So, what did you think of Abby's artwork?" She giggled after breaking away from another kiss.
"Hmm." His mouth landed on her neck and bit lightly. "It looks pretty real to me. I'd believe it."
"Maybe we'll make some posters." She gasped as his teeth nibbled near her collarbone.
"I'd much rather make some posters of the other photo." She playfully slapped his chest and he sat up, straddling her waist. "I'm so glad I found you again."
"Jethro, AFO was almost two years ago."
"I know, but for nine years I was without you, two years is nothing on that." He leaned down to capture her lips quickly.
"I'm sure we can make up for the lost time."
"I think we can, too. Hey, do you know what today is?"
"Friday."
He smiled and kissed her nose.
"I met you today, exactly eleven years ago, at that diner. You were so sexy back then…" She raised an eyebrow, and Gibbs got the reaction he wanted, "I just have to take what I can get now." She hit him more forcefully, but still playfully, on his chest.
"Well, if you want, I can go." She pretended to try to get off the couch, but he only pinned her down.
"You're not going anywhere until I get my nine years worth, Katie Jane Gibbs."