a/n: Sequel to: Damselfly and Dragonfly.

Story Summary: Shelby returns after his tour to Gibbs and Kate

Firefly: Prologue

The first month that Shelby was gone overseas, the air was so tense around Gibbs and Kate that a butter-knife wasn't even needed to cut through it. Everyone could feel it, and even Tony had cut down on his sarcastic remarks and movie references. Things had changed drastically since the revealing of Shelby and Kate's relationship-specifically between the two Agents.

They barely spoke with each other, and instead glared across their desk-tops at each other. Neither seemed willing to give an inch until mid the second month into their knew relationship. DiNozzo and McGee were out in the field tailing a lead. And Gibbs and Kate were partnered up, closing in on the killer of a Coreman.

They went into his house with their guns drawn; Gibbs in the front, Kate in the back, Tony and Tim on their way in the form of back up. Gibbs cleared downstairs and Kate went up.

Gibbs had just finished clearing down stairs when he heard a shout from upstairs; Kate. Gibbs found the urge to rush up the stairs when he heard the banging of footsteps, gunshots and the thump of something or someone landing on the floor above his head. He slowly made his way up the stairs. He peeked over the edge, keeping from sight. He couldn't see Kate, but he sure could see the killer. His back was to him as he fired his weapon through the wall and into the other room where Gibbs assumed Kate had dived for cover. He couldn't hear her return cover fire and just hoped that she wasn't hit and staying under cover.

"Hey!" Gibbs yelled.

The guy stopped shooting and just turned to him when Gibbs fired through the railing. His head jerked back and fell to the floor, blood leaking from his cheek.

Gibbs went the rest of the way up the stairs and to the downed body. He kicked the killer's gun away before he entered the washroom. The tiles that covered the small room were all shattered and the floor was covered in dust and shards. The mirror above the sink was shot-up and so was the small window.

"Kate," He said. "It's clear." He couldn't see her and waited for an answer.

And it was a moment before he got it, one long, dread filled moment.

"Gibbs?" Kate groaned and sat up in the tub. Gibbs looked at her with a raised brow; her dark hair was powered white, and there was a layer of it on her skin and her clothing, small cuts from porcelain shards bleed pink. She cleared her throat, "I assume by the lack of gunfire that you killed the bastard?"

"Yup." He nodded.

Kate looked away for a moment, quiet, before she looked back at her Partner. "Thanks."

Gibbs looked back at her. "...Never turn your back on your Partner."

They looked gazes, and something shifted back to what it was before this triangle mess. But it wasn't just something old returned, something new and solid was built into it. Their dynamic improved.

"Gibbs! Kate!" Tony's voice reached their ears from downstairs.

"Looks like backup's arrived." Kate said dryly.

"Up here, DiNozzo!" Gibbs smiled as he stepped to the tub and held out a helping hand. DiNozzo and McGee came stomping up the stairs. Kate took his hand and he pulled her up. She tucked her Sig. back in the holster and Tony popped his head in the doorway.

"Looks like you got him, boss."

"And you're as late as always, DiNozzo." Gibbs said.

Tony frowned. "This can't possibly be my fault, boss!" He protested.

"Wrong again, Tony." Kate stepped from the tub, and wiped at her face with the cleanest part of her sleeve. "You always insist on driving, yet do so like an elderly woman."

"Call it in, Tony." Gibbs ordered before Tony could speak again. He and Kate passed the Senior Agent in the doorway.

They were outside when Ducky, and ambulance, and Forensic Team arrived. Gibbs looked Kate up and down before he spoke.

"You should get that checked out, Kate."

"It's just a few cuts, Gibbs." Kate returned.

"I wasn't talking about those, I was talking about this." And he pucked at the upper part of her jacket sleeve.

Kate looked down at her arm and her brows shot up her forehead as she grasped her arm. "How could I have not noticed that?" She asked. On her arm her sleeve was torn, both her jacket and the shirt sleeve underneath, her tender flesh was torn by a bullet that had taken her unawares.

"Adrenaline, Kate. It courses through you blood even before an actual gun fight. Helps you ignore the pain until it wears off, and then you're in trouble."

Kate didn't like the sound of that, she knew it was coming soon, too, because she could feel her heart rate slowing, and a slow burn in her arm. She didn't protest much to going and seeing a paramedic now.

The next month it wasn't glaring so much. The tension was almost but gone. Near death experiences like that tend to do that to a pair. It was slow, but that was how everything got going.

They both wrote letters to Shelby each week, and got three letters returned to them at the end of each month from Shelby; one for Gibbs, one for Kate, and one that they were both supposed to read together. They honoured Shelby's request, not matter their feelings towards each other at the time of the reading.

By the fifth month they had arranged to have a meal together as Shelby latest letter had suggested once again, and they had finally given into the man's request, what harm could it do anyhow? It was awkward to say the least.

It was a week into the sixth month that Gibbs got called up to MTAC.

"Special Agent Gibbs, I'm Colonel Aaron Hanks. I lead the until of Marines down here in Israel. I'm privy to tell you our mission down here, that's classified, sir. But I did put in this request to call you out of respect, Gibbs... to inform you that as of 6 days ago, Petty Officer Shelby Jackson Gibbs has been classified as MIA."

"You've waited 6 days to inform me?!" Gibbs demanded loudly. He was too pissed to even let it sink in properly.

Hank breathed heavy, feeling shame. "It wasn't official until four days ago, Gibbs. He was on a mission when he failed to report in on the scheduled time. We've been searching since he failed the first check-in time. I was unable to get airtime until now."

"Tell me what you have, I want to know everything! Colonel." Gibbs said.

"I can't tell you the circumstance in which the PO went Missing, Gibbs. That's all classified."

"Then un-classify it, Colonel!" The older man ordered. "My son has gone missing under your watch, I want him found, Hanks. And so help you God if my son is dead."

"He's one of our own, Gibbs. We'll stop at nothing to find him, don't you worry about that."

"For your sake, I hope that's enough, Colonel Hanks." Gibbs voice was low and dangerous.

Hanks nodded, his face grim as he signed off and gave Gibbs static. The security room was quiet as Gibbs didn't move. This news starting to sink in fully. He was angry, angry as he had been when he was told of Shannon and Kelly; he had been at war himself. But this was different, his son was not dead, he knew that in his gut and most certainly in his heart. If he lost Shelby he would have nothing left. Not even his father could mend the blackness it would leave. Hell would come and pay the Earth a visit if anything happened to Shelby.

Hanks wouldn't tell him what his son was up to, so he'd make the Director. After he got as much information as he could, he would inform Kate because she was the only one. Afterwards, people better get on board or out of the way because Gibbs was taking no prisoners.

He meeting with the Director seemed fruitless at the moment, but would pay up in full later in the day. Now, it was Kate.

When Gibbs came down the stairs, Kate need only look at the man to know that something was deadly wrong. It was nothing to do with the case, this was something different. Some silent message passed between their locked gazes as he past her to the elevator, she stood and followed, Tony looking after them in confusion.

Kate stepped into the elevator with Gibbs and when the doors closed, he flipped the emergency switched and it stopped, the lights going dim. Kate looked up at him, his hard expression was cast in dark shadows.

"Gibbs?" She asked, concerned and fearful.

Gibbs looked back at her. "Shelby's missing." He stated bluntly. As much as he wanted to cushion the blow for the woman, it would get them nowhere. Now was not the time to beat around the bush.

Kate gasped, "What? Are you-"

"Of course I'm sure! I just got down talking to his unit leader." Gibbs told her, "He's been missing for the last 6 days, Kate."

"What! And they've waited this long to inform us?" Her heart was hammering, her brain was wild. She wanted to scream and cry, the emotion wanted to drag her to the floor, but she fought it. It'd been 6 months since she'd seen Shelby's face. Now, he was missing. Gibbs was holding it together and she knew that she had to as well, for the three of them. "What are we going to do, Gibbs?"

"I've spoken with the Director, he's getting Shelby's mission declassified." Gibbs said. "It'll be a few hours before we hear anything."

"We have to wait? I can't wait over something like this, Gibbs!" She protested.

"Well, find a way, Kate." He growled. "God knows I'm trying."

"What if he's-"

Gibbs smacked her on the back of the head before she could finish that line of thought. It was a rare occasion when he did this to her, but this occasion warranted it. She sucked in a breath, the action forcing her anxiety down.

"I never want to hear you say that, Kate, or even think it. Shelby's not. You would feel it, I would feel it. As he tells me often; he's not kid. He strong. And smart. If we can't find a way to him-he'll find a way to us."

end of prologue-

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