One short moment
Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything
Summary: Sequel to "Demons of the past". About a month after Gibbs tells the team about his son, Kate gets a call. She disappears and her friends start to wonder why.
-------------------------------
1- The Call
Kate was finishing up her report on a recent case when she noticed Gibbs coming in. He had taken half of the day off, not telling anyone why, but she had known immediately. It had been a month since the team had learned about his son and the tragic events that had occurred 12 years ago. He had told her that he still needed time to get over it and she knew that he was taking this time right now.
Gibbs didn´t talk about feelings and emotions, but all knew that they were there. It didn´t matter how often he denied having such a thing as a heart, they still knew he was pretending. Somehow, it had brought them closer together. She smiled a bit when she realized how much their team resembled a family of some kind. Her thoughts were interrupted, when the phone on her desk started to ring. "Todd, NCIS." She answered, noticing that the call was not coming from within the office.
"Miss Caitlin Todd?" A voice asked and she really wondered what this call was about. She didn´t recognize who it was, but for some reason felt a cold chill running down her back. It was kind of an instinct. Usually, it meant nothing good.
"Yes." She replied and turned around to hide her face from her co-workers as she continued to listen. Whatever this was about, it was to be private and she wanted to keep it that way. "She is...but I...no, it´s not...it can´t be..." She started, but her voice broke. Kate sat at her desk, staring into thin air, but she didn´t even listen anymore. "I´m on my way." She simply said and dropped the phone. She caught Tony looking in her direction. Without thinking about it for more than a second, she gathered her belongings and bolted out of the bullpen.
Tony and McGee looked at each other and then at their boss. Gibbs had looked up from his computer when Kate ran past his desk. There was a look of confusion on his face and he raised an eyebrow, which was a sign that he was surprised. "Kate!" He called after her, but she didn´t turn around. Frowning, he walked into the elevator. "I need coffee..." He muttered and saw both agents grinning at this.
When the doors closed, he tried to gather his thoughts. Something was wrong, that much was for sure. He knew Kate well enough to note that she would normally never behave like this. She would have told him if there was anything wrong with her family, so that possibility ruled out already. That phone call must have had something to do with her strange behavior.
When the elevator reached the exit, he changed his mind and punched another button. The doors closed again and reopened a few seconds later to reveal the lab. "Abbs, can you trace the last call that was made to Kate´s phone?" He asked as he walked in, having to shout because the music was rather loud.
Only when he reached the stereo and shut the music off, Abby spun around. "Hello to you too, my wonderful wizard." She greeted him, receiving a raised eyebrow as an answer. "Terrestrial or cell?"
"Terrestrial." He answered and leaned against the desk. Sometimes he wondered how she could hear anything with her music playing, but decided not to ask her about it. Kate´s behavior was really bothering him right now.
"What you need it for, boss-man? Jealous?" Abby asked in her cheerful manner and was a bit surprised, when he shot a gaze at her that could burn through five inches of steel. "Wow...easy, I was just joking, okay?" She raised her hands in defeat before turning back to the computer. "Says Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I need a couple of minutes to trace it to some address."
"When you got it, call me." Gibbs said and headed back into the elevator. Both McGee and Dinozzo looked at him when he walked back into the bullpen. "Dinozzo, does Kate have any relatives in North Carolina?" He asked and watched as the younger agent turned towards his computer.
"Doesn´t say so in her file. Family is located in Iowa, that´s way off. Why North Carolina, boss?" Tony asked after checking her file.
Gibbs sat down at his desk and thought about it all. "McGee, I need to know if there is any link between Kate and Winston-Salem in North Carolina. Check with the Secret Service if you have to. Dinozzo, try to get a hold of her and let me know when you get her. I don´t care how you manage that, just do it. I don´t care if you go through her stuff either." With that, he walked back into the elevator.
Tim watched him go, a very puzzled look on her face. "Tony, am I going mental or did he just sound worried?"
Dinozzo had leaned back on his chair and was struggling to regain his composture as the last comment from Gibbs had surprised him. Usually, he told Tony off for bugging into the privacy of his fellow agents. "Bambino, if you are, I am as well. Damn, I mean, Gibbs just asked me to go through her desk...Either something is really screwed up or they put drugs into his coffee."
Walking back into the lab, Gibbs found Abby waving a piece of paper at him. "Traced the call back to Wake Forest University Medical Center. Phone there is registered to a certain Terry Garner. I checked her out. She´s a neurosurgeon at Brenner Children´s Hospital, which is located on-site." She said and looked at him to explain what this was about, but didn´t get an answer. She handed him the printout with all information and smiled. "Printed it all out for you."
Gibbs smiled back and took it from her. "Good thinking, Abbs." He returned to the elevator and looked over the information. He sat back down at his desk and stared at the monitor for a moment. He didn´t want them to notice how worried he was. It was not like Kate to just bolt out, no matter how urgent it was. He tried calling her on her cell, but it was turned off. He tried her apartment as well, but only got the answering machine.