Changes
Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything
Summary: Sequel to "Hidden Enemy". While Kate still recovers from being attacked, she learns surprising news about her boss and her best friend. (And yes, this is going to be KIBBS!)
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1- Home
"Tony, I´m not invalid!" Kate complained and tried to grab her bag from Dinozzo. She winced when a sharp pain shot through her left shoulder and bit her lip. It had been almost two weeks since Ari had almost killed her. Until now, her colleagues had been evading her questions on what had happened during those days she had been unconscious. Especially Gibbs had been rather distant lately. He had visited her once for a few minutes to tell her that he wanted her to take the time she needed.
Being hurt in the line of duty was one thing, being attacked at night by a mad man was something different. Abby had been with her a lot and so had Tony, but Kate had secretly hoped that her boss would finally drop his shield and talk to her about what had happened. She was a trained profiler and could sense that he was hiding something from her. And she knew it wasn´t about the recent events.
"Ducky said no strenous activities and carrying heavy bags definetely is strenous. Abby said she´ll bring you some food over tonight. I need to be at work in about twenty minutes or Gibbs will kill me for taking too long for lunch." He told her and put her bag into the bedroom.
Kate looked at him in disbelief. "He doesn´t know you´ve been taking me home?" She asked incredulous and saw the grin on her face. "Tony!"
He raised his hands in defeat. "Hey, he´s been even worse than his usual self lately and we´re not sure what we did to piss him off so royally this time. If you got any idea, spill it." He said and got a soft cover from her bed which he put onto the couch. "Are you going to sit down or do I have to handcuff you to the couch?"
She sighed and sat down on the couch, pulling the cover over her a bit. "Happy now, Dinozzo?" She snapped at him and watched a grin speading over his face.
"Sure am. I´m outta here, see you later." He grabbed his coat and disappeared through the front door a moment later. She heard his car starting down in the street and sighed. It was quiet now and Kate got up again to lock the front door, making sure the deadbolt was in place too. It was barely noon and there was nothing on TV except for some stupid talk show.
Nestling into the cover, she tried to keep her mind off the recent events. The night Ari had suddenly appeared next to her car with that knife had embedded itself deeply in her memory. She would still shoot up at night from that memory, sometimes screaming. Ducky had told her that the shock would take time to fade, but she wasn´t sure if it ever would. The sound of her cell phone startled her and she picked it up. The caller ID told her it was her boss. "Yes?" She said as she accepted the call.
"Where are you?" Gibbs asked, sounding either angry or extremely breathless as he was spacing out the words quite a bit.
"Hello to you too, Gibbs." Kate replied and rolled her eyes. She had tried to teach him some basic manners ever since he had offered her the job on his team, but even after two years, it didn´t seem to make the least impression on him. "And just for your information, I´m at home, taking the rest Ducky has prescribed to me."
There was no answer and the line went dead a second later. Checking the clock at the wall, Kate realized that she had been sitting on her couch for over an hour after Tony had left. She didn´t remember doing anything during that time and wondered how far her thoughts had taken her away. She half expected Gibbs to arrive soon and give her some lecture, but nothing happened. At 6 pm, there was a soft knock at the door. "Who´s there?" Kate asked as she shut off the TV and put the cover onto an armchair.
"It´s me." Abby answered and shifted the heavy bags she was carrying. She had gotten enough groceries to get through at least two weeks without another tour to the store. She almost fell into the apartment when the door was suddenly opened. "Ooops..." She caught her balance just in time to keep the bags from tumbling to the floor and looked into Kate´s surprised face.
"Abby, hi." Her friend greeted her and let her in, locking the door again a moment later. "Who else is coming for dinner?" Kate asked then and followed the goth into the kitchen.
"Nobody I know about. I´m just making sure you don´t have to go out for anything while you´re on sick leave." Abby replied and tossed some packs into the freezer. When she was done, she grabbed two cans of soda and slumped onto the couch. "How are you doing, Kate?" She then asked and studied the woman who now sat on the other side of the couch.
Kate ran her hand through her hair and put her can of soda onto the table. "I guess I´m okay. Ducky said it will take time to deal with this." She replied and tried to smile a bit. "I got a weird call from Gibbs this afternoon. What´s been eating him lately?" She asked and noted that there was something in Abby´s eyes for a moment. It was gone too quickly to identify it though.
"No clue, I guess he´s still pissed about being arrested and put into hospital for three days in a row." Abby replied just a tiny bit too quickly. She looked out of the window, adding to Kate´s suspicion. She was a trained profiler and could easily tell that her friend was hiding something.
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Note: Thanks to all who have read and reviewed the prequel "Hidden Enemy". I´m glad I managed to get you set up for this little story here -it´s not what you might expect, so feel free to comment.