So Close By Ardin

Disclaimer: I don't own Gibbs, Kate, Abby or any of the rest of them. I also don't own Jon McLaughlin's music.

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You're in my arms

And all the world is calm

The music playing on for only two

So close together

And when I'm with you

So close to feeling alive

He walks over to her slowly, his steps measured and confident. His eyes show a slight concern that his steps don't and only those that knew him well would recognize the worried set of his mouth and the determined knit of his brows. She looks up as he stops just in front of her, the smallest of grins twisting his mouth at her stunned expression. She regains her composure quite quickly though and smiles back at him. He raises his hand from his side, offering it, palm up, to her.

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When she thinks back on how they ended up where they were, Kate realizes that she can say with certainty, while only minimally feeling like she's making excuses, that this is all the Director's fault. It was, after all his idea to change the annual awards presentation into a fullout, no holds barred ball. Complete with frilly dresses, men in tuxedos and dancing. Of course with that realization comes the necessity of admitting that at first she was quite happy about the idea.

She'd always enjoyed getting dressed up every once in a while and this seemed to be the perfect excuse to get all decked out for an evening. She also appeared to be one of the only people in the office who felt that way about the event. Abby and a few of the other women, plus Ted from accounting, had looked forward to the night's festivities with as much enthusaism as Kate, but the rest of NCIS's Washington DC branch were not as excited. From the little that she heard as office scuttlebutt, Kate was able to discern that the rest of the teams were so upset by the idea - especially since Morrow had made it mandatory - that the Director had spent the entire week in "meetings" with those agents who felt they might stand a chance of changing his mind. None had succeeded. Even Gibbs, who'd spent a good hour and a half speaking with the other man, had made no progress in getting out of the 1st annual NCIS Awards Ball.

She suspected, though she wasn't prepared to admit it to herself, that much of her enthusiasm stemmed from the idea of seeing a certain silver-haired Special Agent in a tux. As she'd shopped for a dress, found the perfect matching shoes, and had her hair done much of her thought process was on what she felt that he would like. Nothing would ever come of such speculation, she knew; he was her boss, absolutely obsessed with his work, and romantically damaged. There could never be anything more then the office flirtation between them, he'd made that perfectly clear on more than one occasion, but it didn't stop her mind from running wild at the idea of being held in his arms as they twirled around a dance floor.

She'd had to shake herself out of such daydreams on more than one occasion since the Tuesday that she had found the Ball invitation in her e-mail's inbox. 'You can't live the fairytale' she told herself, 'there is no such things as charming princes, wicked step-mothers, or happily ever afters.' And yet, her mind kept creating the images and Abby was totally not helping.

The young goth had been making suggestions ever since the party had been announced; very pointed suggestions that Kate should take advantage of the opportunity the Ball presented and take advantage of Gibbs. Kate had never regreted the moment of weakness that had led to her telling the lab tech of her attraction to the older agent more then she did those last couple of weeks. Every chance Abby got, was one more time that Kate heard about how much the goth thought Kate had changed there enigmatic boss over the three years they had worked together. Over all Kate found these comments to be annoying and, occasionally, highly embarressing.

However, despite the embaressment factor, Abby's comments fueled many of Kate's hopes for the evening. So it was with high hopes that she showered and made herself ready for the evening at the Paradiso Hotel, where the event was taking place. As her taxi travelled the night streets of DC, she made a promise to herself that no matter what "opportunities" - as Abby had put it - the night might bring, she wouldn't do anything foolish. She already knew that Gibbs would never allow anything real to happen between them, so there was no point in doing something stupid that would just make working together more difficult.

And with that decision firmly made, she entered the hotel lobby and made her way to the ballroom, pausing only briefly at the top of the stairs to scan the crowd.

TBC

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A/N: Part 1 of 5. Please read and review to let me know if you want more or not.