A/N: Okay so it's a day late and probably a dollar short, but it's here all the same. I hope all of you like it and I'll work on the rest of it as time permits. I want to warn you all right now though that nothing will be posted between the 9th and the 18th, though I will be busy writing. I'm going on holiday - spring break - and have no intention of being anywhere near a computer during that time. I will probably have one more chapter done before then.

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Chapter One: Complex Insanity – Monday

It took Gibbs almost an hour to make the normally speedy trip to the Navy Yard. Every turn in the road seemed to offer itself as an opportunity to avoid the inevitable and unenviable task of showing up at work. On multiple occasions during the morning's journey he cursed having to go in to the office after having worked the entire weekend. Normally he appreciated the fact, the constant work keeping him from thinking to much about the past. Now all he really wanted was to curl back up in bed and avoid reality for awhile.

He ignored the usually efficient and speedy highway system around DC all together, preferring the slow, winding back roads of the suburbs. A part of him hoped that the circuitous route would allow him the ability to get lost, to spend the entire day anywhere but in her presence; her brown eyes and distinctly Kate smell driving him crazy with the images of the previous night.

Her skin was smooth under his rough, calloused hands as he pushed her gently onto the bed; her breath catching as he bent over her, weight supported by strong arms on either side of her head. His slightly parted lips hovered just above hers, his breath billowing gently against her face. Clear blue locked with chocolate brown, questioning: Are you sure? The nod of her head as her hands clasped around his neck pulling him down to her.

With some difficulty he shook himself out of the memories of the previous night. He was never going to survive the day if he couldn't even make the drive to work without being distracted by what had happened, even if that drive did end up taking the better part of the day as he could only hope it would.

Even in the daze that had surrounded him since he'd woken, his subconscious had still managed to steer him safely to DC Beans, the fact that he had never gone there via back roads before apparently being overridden by a desperate need for coffee. He didn't question how that worked, instead he carefully parked the car and wandered in to the coffee house, thankful for yet another way to avoid NCIS headquarters.

By the time he actually strode into the bullpen he was an hour and a half late and already counting down the six hours left until he could leave again. He had every intention of acting as normally as possible; as far as his team was concerned nothing had changed. Only Kate knew the truth and he suspected she would not be letting on any more than he would. His intentions were blown completely, however, by his late arrival.

As he made his way out of the elevator and toward his desk, the customary "Morning, boss." of Tony and McGee went unsaid, while Kate's cursory greeting of "Gibbs." to acknowledge his presence just confirmed his suspicions that she planned to return to the status quo that had previously existed. He cut off any questions about his late entrance with his usual barrage of orders.

"Tony, start tracking Ari's movement over the last forty-eight hours. I want to know every time he ate, slept, and took a leak."

"Already on it, boss. The FBI sent us everything they had last night, but it has more holes than Swiss cheese and its taking a lot just to find the little stuff, we kinda killed everyone that might have a clue…" His voice trailed off at Gibbs' glare and he turned back to his desk to continue the search. Turning to McGee, the older man tried to keep his voice level and hard even as images of Kate's bullet riddled vest the previous night flooded his mind. Damn straight we killed them all.

"How's the work on the missile control system going? Do we have anything on it yet?"

McGee's voice shook slightly as he informed Gibbs about the progress, or lack thereof, that had been made. "Abby and I have been working on it, but those bullets you put in did a lot of damage."

"Well, what are you doing up here, go help Abby figure it out." His volume had risen above its usual dull roar and momentum throughout the rest of the bullpen stalled momentarily until Gibbs' stare pushed people back to their tasks.

He was dreading the inevitable turn to Kate, having avoided to that point even looking at her, when her voice sounded in anticipation of his next request.

"The body is already down in autopsy, Ducky is waiting. He thought you would probably want to be down there for it." Her voice sounded as though she spoke to her desk rather than him, but he still didn't look to confirm that. He gave a slight nod and was grateful for yet another reason to avoid her as he headed down to see Ducky.

Despite the inherent satisfaction of watching Ducky reduce Haswari to his component parts, Gibbs couldn't turn his mind completely to the autopsy occurring before him. Part of him knew that this hour away from the bullpen, from her, was no more than an avoidance tactic which would, in the long run, not be enough to put everything behind them. He wondered, as he watched Ducky weigh Ari's liver, if there was anything in the world that could put everything behind them and if that's even what he truly wanted.

The foray into autopsy was enough to keep him out of the bullpen for almost two hours and a side trip to Abby's lab to check on her progress with the missile control assembly ate up another twenty minutes. By the time he did make it back up to his desk, it was late enough that he could reasonably take off for an hour's lunch. He was so much in his own world that he missed the shocked look on Tony's face at the unusual behavior. It had become his custom over the years to eat at his desk, rarely leaving the building for more than the ten minutes it took to run to the corner deli for a sandwich.

By the time he arrived back from a slow, though completely unrelaxing, meal, Kate had disappeared down to Abby's lab where she seemed to be content to stay for the remainder of the afternoon. Apparently she was just as happy as he was to stay far away from each other. And he made sure of it by leaving early for the first time since he'd joined NCIS nineteen years earlier.

Crashing heavily on the couch in his living room that night, Gibbs cursed a God he'd long since stopped believing in for the events of the previous days. Despite his best efforts to keep himself busy and to keep his thoughts away from Kate, he had failed miserably. Every single thing he'd done all day had reminded him of her. And he cursed himself equally hard for going against his own rules and falling in love with her.

He wasn't even sure when exactly it had happened. There had certainly been an attraction, even lust, when he'd shaken her hand on Air Force One and plenty of other memories stood out as strengthening that initial interest, but he couldn't pinpoint the moment – if there was one – when he'd finally fallen in love with her.

Attempting, yet again, to shake off all thoughts of Kate, he settled himself more comfortably on the couch and tried to sleep, promising himself as he drifted into a fitful night's rest that he was capable of going back to how things had been before; back to normality.

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TBC