A/N: Chapter 2. Hope you like it. I'm really busy with school and life this week, so I may or may not get to write and publish a new chapter. Don't worry if I don't. I'm not abandoning this. The whole 'in and out of character' thing goes as I said in chapter one's a/n. Again, reviews are awesome.
Disclaimer: Same as chapter one.
Spoilers: Not yet.
Thursday night and Friday most of their time had been spent in bed. They were reliving memories and making new ones-very good ones.
Friday afternoon, after a long hot shower, Katie and Jethro began their day. She decided later that afternoon that she would run out and do a few errands. That way, her weekend could be spent at home in peace and quiet. She didn't want to do much of anything over the weekend.
He spent his time alone wondering about his plan. He wanted it to be special for both of them, but he wanted it to showcase his feelings and him. He looked at the basement door and a smile grew on his face from ear to ear. He knew just what he would do.
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X
"Wanna go out to dinner tonight, Katie?"
"Sure. Sounds good to me. Where to though? Will I need to dress up?"
"Nah. Figured I'd go all romantic on you today and take you to our bar."
"Our bar?" Kate asked. Over the past couple of years they bar had went from being called by its original name to 'their' bar because of how important and vital it was in their relationship. Most people would gather from that idea as they were a bunch of alcoholics who regularly frequented the place, but they knew and understood its meaning. "Really? Sounds exciting. Maybe I'll meet that handsome guy again. You know who I'm talking about right? The one that I told you that should probably, maybe, more than likely worry about?"
"Ha hah. Very funny- you have a great sense of humor, but if you get to find him do I get to look for that pretty little brunette?"
"HA. Yeah, I know. People tell me that a lot, and sure. It sounds fair to me. I'm just gonna go jump in the shower again to freshen up a bit. Care to join me, handsome?"
"Don't need to ask me twice."
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X
They arrived at the bar around five, just in time for happy hour. They ordered their drinks and food- two bourbons and a plate of fries- and sat back in the booth they were in. Gibbs hand relaxed over Kate's casually and very naturally. It looked as if it had been created just for that sole purpose. People who saw them in their booth could see the love and tenderness they had for each other, just by looking at how they touched and looked into each other's eyes.
Kate noticed that Jethro seemed to be very eager about something, but she wasn't sure what. He wasn't one to show emotions on his face, never was and no matter what Kate did he never would be. He was still that hard ass marine who refused to show how he was feeling, and Kate was secretly happy about that- she didn't want to cause him to change who he was for her. She loved him for what he was, all of it. His eyes however, held minute traces of eagerness no matter how he may have tried to remain the cold, expressionless and professional Gibbs.
"Thanks for this, by the way," Kate told him.
"It's nothing, but you're welcome."
"What are you up to?" Kate asked him cautiously. '
"Me? I'm not at anything. Why do you ask?"
"Your eyes. Some may lie but your eyes do not lie to me, Jethro. You're very eager about something."
"Nah, just to get home with you. Figure I should steal you away before that 'good looking guy' I believe you called him, comes to steal you away from me."
She started to laugh. "Steal away, hon. I'm in the mood for boat work and Jethro, and I know for a fact you're in the mood for the same stuff."
"Sounds good. Let's go," Gibbs said and ushered her out of the bar.
X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X
When they pulled into the driveway Kate went upstairs to change, came into the kitchen to grab a few beers and then headed into the basement. Gibbs was already down there and she could hear him getting rid of the rough parts on the skeleton as she opened the door. Kate handed him a beer and leaned on the work bench to watch him.
After she had drank half her bottle she ducked between him and the sand block to help. Together they sanded two pieces of wood in silence. The silence and the mysterious Jethro was driving her nuts, so she decided it was time to pry.
"What's on your mind? You've been really quiet."
"Sorry, Katie. Just been thinking."
"About what?"
"Me. You. Us. Stuff."
"Thanks for clearing that one up for me," she drawled sarcastically.
Gibbs chuckled and took a swig of his beer to finish off the bottle before he said anything. "I've just been thinking of these past two years. Memories and whatever. Been thinking about how closed off I was, how I still am sometimes."
Kate snorted. "Sometimes is putting it mildly. It's easier breaking into Fort Knox."
Gibbs gave that look he usually gave Tony and smirked that smirk that was reserved for his work face before he kept going. "Yeah, you're probably right. And then I was thinking of you, and how important you are, how you seem to make me open up, get rid of the walls I built up and love me. You stay with me. I don't know many people to put up with my bullshit. And I don't know if I ever found it easy to talk like this before I met you."
"Well I love you and I wanna be with you. I'm obviously going to stay, and you're a different
person outside the office. There is more to you than barking out orders and catching bastards. People just don't always see that so it's hard for you to open up, especially when you're job consists of so much dishonesty and how you've been hurt in the past. I think you just needed to find someone who wouldn't back down from that stare of yours and let you open up in your own time, like how I don't p ry into your thoughts unless I feel it's absolutely necessary. And luckily, that person who fit that criteria just happened to be me."
He smiled and said, "Luckily."
He leaned down to her height and kissed her lips, exploring everything he knew was already there. Finally, when the need to breathe became a necessity, they pulled away. He looked toward his work bench and back to his boat, then to Kate.
"Hey Katie, mind unscrewing that bottle over there on the work bench with my cell in it?"
"Sure. It didn't ring though."
"I know."
Kate went over and unscrewed the bottle. It was then that she noticed there was something besides the cell phone and screws in it. "Jethro, what else is in here?"
"What do you mean?"
Kate dumped the contents of the glass jar into the palm of her hand that was held over the bench top. Screws spilled out of her hand, but a cell phone and small box landed into it.
"Open it."
She did as she was told and her breath caught as she lifted the lid. Looking up at her was a simple but elegant gold band with a diamond sparkling from its center.
"Jethro," she breathed in a hushed voice, "is this-"
"Marry me," was all he said and she threw her arms around his neck.
