Giving Up

Kate Todd was moving as quickly as she could. She had every intention of having her bags in the car and being out of the driveway before HE got home. She would have made it too if only she hadn't had to stop and search for half of her favorite pair of tennis shoes. How it wound up so far under the bed she would never know but she cursed it when she finally got to the front door and Jethro was pulling into the driveway. She had left him a note on the table and maybe she could have just gotten in the car and driven away but she didn't. Why? Who knows, maybe she wanted to have a fight; maybe she wanted some yelling and accusing and hurting. If so, she certainly got what she wanted.

Jethro saw her bags in the car and her clothes hanging in the back seat. He also saw the look on her face when she stormed out the front door and stalked to her car.

"Kate? What's going on? You're leaving?"

"No wonder you win all those awards for investigating. Yes, I'm leaving. There's a note on the kitchen table. I suggest you read it." She spat those words at him with so much vehemence he was stopped in his tracks.

"I don't want to read a damn note. Talk to me. What's going on?"

"I'm leaving. It's all in the note. I don't want to talk to you. I'm sick of trying to talk to you."

Kate turned around and started for the driver's side of her car. Jethro reached out and grasped her wrist to stop her. He was so shocked by her behavior he really had no idea what to do next.

"Dammit Kate, tell me what's going on. Why are you leaving?"

"Let go of me Jethro."

He let go of her wrist but he stepped in front of her to block her path to the car. For a few moments they just stood there, toe to toe, glaring at each other. He searched her face for some explanation but all he saw was anger and her determination to get past him. He had never seen her look at him in quite this way before and it scared him.

"Kate, please tell me what's wrong. Come in the house and talk to me."

"No, I'm through talking to you and I'm not going back in that house. Ever. Now, get out of my way."

Jethro snapped and grabbed her forcefully by her arms. He knew he was probably hurting her but at this point he didn't really care. He had to stop her and somehow make her tell him what was happening. He would much rather have had this conversation in the privacy of the house but if she wanted to do it in the driveway then so be it.

"Let go of me right now. Jethro, you're hurting me. Let. Go. Of. Me."

Forgetting for just a second that she had been trained to protect the President of the United States, he loosened his hold on her just a little bit. It was too much. As she felt him relax just that little bit, her knee came up and connected very painfully with his groin. When he dropped his hands and bent over to catch his breath, she brought her knee up again, making another painful connection, this time to his right cheekbone and eye.

Kate was momentarily stunned by her actions. She had never so much as slapped Jethro and she had certainly never physically hurt him on purpose. He was a very tough man and it almost scared her when he didn't immediately fight back. She stood rooted to her spot for a moment as she watched him try to catch his breath. By the time he was able to stand up and focus on her she was getting in the car. He was obviously in considerable pain and she hoped for a moment that she hadn't broken his cheekbone. All she wanted to do was leave. Why did he have to be so damned difficult?

Jethro was too stunned by Kate attacking him to do anything. He had never hit a woman in his life and he had no intention of defending himself by hitting Kate. By the time he could finally manage to form a coherent thought she was sitting in the car watching him. Did she think he was going to retaliate? She knew better. Or at least he thought she did. He wasn't sure of anything at the moment except that the woman he had been living with for months, the woman he loved, was acting like a crazy person and he was very nearly in need of some medical attention. He blinked several times to clear his eyes of the tears that either her leaving or her knee had caused.

"Shit, Katie, are you trying to kill me? What in the hell is going on? What did I do?"

From the safety of the car and knowing Jethro was not going to fight back Kate looked at him and almost cried. She knew in her soul that she should talk to him but her heart and her brain said 'go'. Talking had not worked and now she needed to get away and try and figure out what to do next.

"Jethro, I think you know very well what is going on. If you don't, well, that's an answer in itself. Please don't look for me, don't call me. I need some time away from you. I'm sorry about kicking you. I never meant to hurt you, Jethro, not just now; not ever. Goodbye."

Then she was gone. Jethro was glad his driveway was relatively private; he would have hated to have his neighbors see Kate beat the crap out of him. Not to mention seeing and hearing their verbal exchange. Feeling his cheekbone and eye beginning to swell he trudged into the house and rummaged around until he found an ice pack. He was sitting at the kitchen table staring at Kate's note; as yet unread, when he heard the front door open and close. Afraid to hope but doing it anyway he stepped into the hallway praying she had come back and this was all a very bad dream. Instead he found his friend Dr. Mallard standing there looking very concerned.

Still holding the ice pack to his face, he inquired, "Hey, Duck, what are you doing here?"

Ducky reached up and pulled Jethro's hand away from his face and examined the blossoming bruise he saw there. Sighing he said, "Kate called and said you'd been hurt. She asked me to check on you and since I was nearby I came on over. What happened Jethro? Were you attacked?"

Jethro turned and went back to the kitchen and slumped down at the table. "Kate called? That's rich considering she's the one who did the damage."

"She what? Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Let's just say I never knew I needed to wear a cup for protection from her. I'm alright Duck. Physically at least. I guess it could have been worse; she could have shot me like she threatened to do back on Air Force One."

"Start at the beginning my friend. That is unless you don't want to tell me what's going on. And let me look at that eye again."

Ducky tilted Jethro's head toward the light and gently probed around on his cheekbone. Then he examined the eye more closely before putting the ice pack back in place.

"Nothing seems to be broken but you are going to have one very impressive shiner. Now, what do you want to tell me?"

Jethro told Ducky exactly what had happened when he came home. The entire time he was talking he fingered the still unopened note. He knew he would have to read it eventually but for some reason he wasn't anxious to do so. He told himself he should go ahead because if he didn't he wasn't going to know what he'd done wrong. And he was sure it was something he'd done. It wasn't something he'd forgotten to do or some date he'd forgotten; those kinds of things didn't bother Kate. No, he'd done something to totally, maybe irrevocably piss her off and hurt her. That was it; he'd done something that hurt her. The problem was, for the life of him he couldn't think what it was.

"Well, Jethro you will have to read the note if you want to know why she left."

"I know."

"Would you like me to leave and give you some privacy?"

"Not really."

While Jethro and Ducky sat at the kitchen table Kate drove to her friend's condo and unloaded her belongings. As she took the last bag into the house and closed the door her phone beeped at her. She saw it was her friend Donna so she answered.

"Hey Kate whatcha doin' right now? You want to grab something to eat or are you with your man tonight.?"

"I'm just getting settled at Linda's right now. I'm staying at her condo for a couple of weeks while she's traveling with the First Lady."

"What happened to you staying with Jethro, I thought you were living with him."

"I was until about 30 minutes ago. Look, it's a long story and I don't really want to get into it right now. I just need a hot bath and some time to figure things out. I'll call you in a day or two."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'll call I promise."

An hour later Kate had soaked in a nice hot bubble bath, eaten a light supper and was relaxing on the couch mindlessly watching television. She had no idea what she was seeing but it didn't matter because all she could think about was Jethro and what had happened earlier. She didn't have any tears left; she had used them all up two days ago when she decided she needed to end their relationship. Now all she had left was an empty feeling in her stomach and a nagging ache in her head. It had all been too fast and too good and she should have known it wouldn't last. But damn, she hated to admit she'd been wrong about him.

TBC