Influence

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Kate is dating and starts to change. When she takes a drastic step, the rest of the team starts to wonder. A series of murder turns up and they find themselves in the middle of a nightmare…

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1- His name is Rick...

Special Agent Gibbs walked into the bullpen, a cup of coffee in his hand, and looked around. His three agents were at their desk, it was just another morning. He frowned slightly when he noticed the ashen look on Kate´s face. She had looked tired and worn for almost a week now, but every time he had tried to talk to her, she would just tell him that it was personal. He didn´t like the change in her behavior, but he knew well enough not to dig into her personal belongings. At least as long as they didn´t interfere with her job, which they slowly did. "Agent Todd, I´d like a word with you." He called at her and noticed how her head shot up at the sound of her name.

He strode towards the elevator and waited for her to follow him. When the doors had closed, he hit the emergency stop and looked at her. "What is going on with you lately?" He asked and noted that her eyes didn´t give her away. She had been trained to hide her feelings if necessary and it really enraged him that she was so good at it.

"I already told you that´s personal." She replied and he noted that the strain also lay in her voice. "I´m doing my job and I don´t think you have any right to complain." That was something new. Gibbs was surprised by her reaction and caught himself staring at her for a moment. She had never raised her voice in front of him, except for interrogation of course.

He tried to look into her eyes, but she avoided him. "Kate, you look awful and that has me worried." He finally said and she looked up again. He couldn´t tell what she was thinking, her eyes were still not giving her away. "In our job, anyone of us could get killed when we walk out that door. I´m not going to let you endanger your life or the life of anyone else on the team."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared back at him. "Fine then." She flipped the emergency stop off again and stormed out after the doors opened. For the rest of the day, she just did her job, but never even said as much as a word to him, except when it was about the case or absolutely necessary. At 5 pm sharp she packed her belongings and headed out of the office, again without a single word.

"Wow...what´s been eating her lately?" Tony asked and looked at his boss for an explanation. It startled him to notice that even Gibbs seemed rather clueless. "Since she started dating that guy, she´s really weird." He added and grinned when the older man shot a questioning look at him. "Gee, boss. You didn´t know?"

"No, Dinozzo, I didn´t know. So, will you tell me what you know or do I have to beat it out of you?" Gibbs asked and looked at his agent. He hadn´t known about any dates or some man in Kate´s life. Usually, she would have told him -she had told him a couple of times before, mostly when things hadn´t worked out.

Tony leaned back, obviously enjoying his superior position here. "You want me to spill confidential information about a co-worker? Wow...that´ll be expensive." He said and a grin crept over his face. Yes, he would mark this day red in his calendar.

"How about you will still have a job tomorrow?" Gibbs offered with a grim look on his face and pulled out a pen to take notes. Whatever was going on, it had an influence on Kate and he didn´t like it. Maybe it was just a gut feeling. Abby would call him jealous if he told her, maybe even Ducky would, but Gibbs knew that it wasn´t like that. Kate was one of his agents, a friend maybe, but never more.

Tony raised his hands. "All right. I don´t know much. I cornered her after overhearing her talking on the phone one day. His name is Rick and he´s working in administration over at the base in Norfolk. They´ve been dating for about two months now, I think it´s going rather well. She´s never dated a guy that long. That´s all I know, boss. I mean, she´s different, yes, but who knows if it isn´t for good?" He said and tossed a piece of paper into the trashcan.

Gibbs got up and sighed. "She looks like she hasn´t slept for at least two days, she snaps at almost everyone around, she is gone at 5 pm sharp, no matter how much work there is and Abby said she´s not been over at her place for as long as two months. Anything there ring a bell, Dinozzo?"

"Well, that does sound a bit odd, but hey, she might have met the man of her dreams and spends a lot of time with him -especially nights. You´ve been married three times, boss. I´m sure you remember that part, don´t you?" Tony asked and grinned widely. Still, he had to admit that her recent behavior startled him quite a bit.