A Different Kind of Silence By: Ardin
Spoilers: Huge ones for "Call of Silence," anything else up to that point in the series is fair game.
Disclaimer: You guys all know how these go...poor college student, don't own any of it, wish I did, yadda, yadda.
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The bullpen was finally quiet. After the events of the last couple of days, Tony and McGee had both left at the first available opportunity. Gibbs was out to dinner with Corporal Yost. Only Kate remained at the office at 2100 that Sunday. She had vaguely considered going home, but knew that the memories of the early interrogation would not allow her to sleep. So instead she sat at her desk, gazing, unseeing, at her computer's screen saver as she replayed in her head the events of the last few days.
"You don't win the Medal of Honor, Kate. You're awarded it for conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty."
"I think it was him or me."
"Marine Burial Detail present as requested Special Agent Gibbs." "Thank you, Colonel. Now we're ready"
"Bellows death makes Yost the last surviving Marine from his unit on Iwo."
"Wade loved Goodman. Me? Arty Shaw any day. You dance?"
"Or you could just look him up under Medal of Honor recipients."
The memory brought Kate back to the present. Something in Gibbs' voice when he'd spoken about the Medal of Honor made her wonder. She brought her computer back to life and brought up the Google homepage. She glanced around her quickly, for some reason nervous about doing the search. Seeing no one she typed in: "Medal of Honor." The first listings were unhelpful descriptions of the Medal itself, but the third was a Wikipedia article that gave her a direct link to a list of recipients.
No ranks, no divisions, not even a mention of which force they served in. Just names. She scrolled down the page, through the list, her eyes skimming quickly over names she'd never seen before. Near the bottom of the page she stopped, having found a name she did recognize: Ernest Yost. She smiled, thinking of the sweet old man. She scrolled slowly back up the page, this time reading each name carefully. The names of heroes.
Her breath caught as she read one name. She couldn't believe it and she reread the listing another four or five times before her brain truly registered what she was seeing: Leroy Jethro Gibbs. The name seemed to jump off the page at her and yet she still couldn't believe it.
Her boss, the self-proclaimed bastard of NCIS, one of the top agents to ever work in the field, was also a hero. It had never before occurred to her that the man that she had spent the last year and a half trying to ignore her growing feelings for was a hero. She briefly considered pulling up Gibbs' SRB, but knew that, even as untech-friendly as Gibbs was, he'd easily find out about her search for his file.
She closed the internet window and shut down the computer. She was going to put the whole thing out of her mind. He obviously didn't want anyone to know, she was sure she would have recalled even the slightest mention of it. Soldiers that they interviewed didn't salute him. Commander Ryan hadn't said anything. And thinking back she was quite sure that the few times that he'd posed as a Marine he hadn't worn the Medal of Honor ribbon.
Sighing, she stood and collected her things, now absolutely certain that she wouldn't be able to sleep that night. As had happened only too frequently during the last year or so, her thoughts would be consumed by the gruff, blue-eyed man who constantly surprised her.
She was sifting through paperwork, trying to figure out what, if anything, she should take home when the elevator dinged behind her. She recognized his soft, confident foot falls immediately. Telling herself that nothing had changed, that he was still the same man, she took a breath and turned to him as he rounded the corner into the bullpen.
"Gibbs. How's Yost doing?" Despite her best efforts her voice was slightly shaky, something he caught quickly. He turned to her from where he'd been hunched over his desk, clear blue eyes taking in her nervousness. He shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the stack of files he'd been sorting through just seconds before.
"He's doing better. He went through hell, Kate. That will always be with him, but he's doing better." Finally finding the file he'd been searching for he grabbed it and rotated back to face her. "Heading home?"
Still unsure of her ability to speak she nodded. Again he noticed her nerves, but shrugged them off as the after effects of a long couple of days. Raising a hand he gestured for her to precede him to the elevator. Once inside, with the doors closed, he was just about to hit a floor button when he felt her eyes staring at him. Concerned and unnerved by behavior that hadn't been there just hours before he hit the ground button. Seconds after they started moving he hit the emergency stop and turned to where she stood, scrunched in the far corner, still staring at him.
"Kate? What?" He hadn't meant to sound so irritated and felt a swift wave of guilt as she jumped slightly at his tone. He consciously forced himself to relax his stance and very slowly took a step toward her. "What's wrong, Kate? You keep looking at me like I've grown an extra head." As though to assure himself that he hadn't done exactly that, he rubbed a hand across the side of his neck. His moment of comedy was instantly rewarded by a small grin and a noticeable relaxing of her posture. He took another small step towards her; he now stood in the dead center of the small box. "Are you okay? What happened?"
She pursed her lips for a moment, and her eyes seemed to question his. "Nothing's happened, Gibbs." His name came out with a slight edge that she knew he'd notice. She tried again. "It's just been a long couple of days. I'll be fine." She looked away from his face as she lied, knowing without a doubt that he would catch the fib and hoping beyond hope that he would let it slide this one time.
Her words startled Gibbs, who couldn't remember a time when she had so blatantly lied to him. If he was honest with himself, her straight forward, no nonsense, speak her mind tendency was one of the major things that he was attracted to. He had no problem admitting, at least to himself, that she was beautiful, intelligent, and good at her job, but it was the refusal to let anyone walk over her that had really caught, and held, his attention. Her lie now confused and angered him. He took a step closer, closing the distance so that she would have enough room to slip away if she felt truly threatened, but close enough that she was forced to look up into his eyes.
"You're lying to me." He ground out, holding her gaze fiercely. "I want to know why and I want to know the truth." She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it. Still staring into his eyes, she wet her lips and tried again.
"You—" She broke off, unable to find the proper words.
"I what?" He asked gently while wracking his brains for the horrible something that she seemed convinced of. He couldn't think of anything immediately and before he could dig deeper into his memory, he heard her mumble something, only just audible, as she dropped her gaze to his chest.
"You were awarded the Medal of Honor."
He swore vehemently to himself and took a self-conscious step backward, putting distance between them. His behavior seemed to make her more confident and she straightened against the wall. Before she could speak, he did, speaking to the floor and his shoes. "Have you told anyone?"
She waited long moments for him to look back up at her and then answered. "No. Why haven't you? Why are you so upset that I found out?"
He shook his head and turned away from her. She waited several long minutes. Scrubbing a hand through his short, silver hair he spun back to her.
Speaking with the quiet strength that was a Gibbs trademark he answered her. "Because it's part of the past and just like the rest of my past it's need to know. And no one needs to know."
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A/N: That's it for now. I might write more if people request it, I have a couple of ideas what will happen next. This was my first attempt at NCIS Fiction and I hope it is well recieved. And if I add chapters the story is likely to gain KIBBS shippiness.