DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NCIS OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!

WAKING KATE

Ch 2

Rising from a groggy sleep Kate tensed as the words from the doctor came back to her. Almost in despair she opened her yes and stared at the ceiling above her. The lights were dim and her window showed a darkening sky beyond. She'd slept the daylight away.

A noise to her left caught her attention, so she turned her head to see find the source. She smiled despite her worries. Dozing in a chair his head laid back and his legs stretched out in front crossed at the ankles sat her boss, or former boss.

His eyes snapped open and focused on hers. He sleepily returned her smile.

"Gibbs," she spoke quietly.

"Kate," he sat up and stretched forward putting his elbows on his knees. "It's good to see you."

She nodded. "My thoughts exactly. Have you been her long?"

He glanced at his watch and ran a hand down his face. "A few hours," he said noncommittally.

"Huh?" she smirked thinking he may have been there longer, depending on when the hospital had called him.

"Tony and Tim were by. They'll be back soon," he offered wanting her to know that the time she'd spent comatose hadn't made her forgotten among her teammates.

"It'll be good to see them," she noticed the lead agent's hair had gotten whiter. Time didn't stand still for everyone. She began to wonder how much her partners had changed, as well as herself. How many on coming wrinkles or gray hairs had she missed coming on.

A silence hung between them. Each lost in thoughts of what had happened seven years ago and for Gibbs, everything since.

Just as it was becoming uncomfortable the door opened and Tony entered sporting a grin Kate couldn't help but chuckle at. "Same old DiNozzo. Maybe not everything has changed."

"Katie," he went to her side and kissed her cheek. "'Bout time you decided to quit being such a slacker," he teased.

"Well you did always tell me I needed more beauty sleep," she shot back.

"Hey, it worked. You're looking lovely," he smiled.

"Right!" she scoffed. "Death's pallor must be all the rage these days."

"No, Kate. Tony's right," Tim spoke from the door. "You look like an angel."

"Guess I was as close as I'd care to come to becoming one," she gave her teammate a genuine smile. Was he still her teammate?

"So Gibbs," Kate began, not sure how to voice what needed to be asked.

He swallowed. It wasn't going to be easy to explain everything that had happened. The pain they'd all shared and the waiting for her to return to them and holding her spot on the team until they were practically ordered to fill it.

How Ziva had come to mean as much to them as she had. Not a replacement, but an important addition to their team all the same.

Kate saw how they all avoided making eye contact. Guilt? She was a smart investigator and realized that they would've found another agent to take her place. Too much time had transpired to keep it open.

"Hey. It's okay," she let them off the hook. "Who'd you get to take my spot? Promote someone from the secretary pool?" She figured they'd find a woman, someone who could balance out all that macho testosterone.

"No," Gibbs replied. "Not an internal promotion."

"Really?" Kate smiled. "You didn't grab another secret service agent did you?" she kidded.

All the men shook their heads, a few smiles trying to be hidden as well. Now she was curious.

Tony took the lead to answer, "Her name is Ziva David, former Mossad officer."

Kate would've been knocked over if she wasn't already lying in bed. "How?" she wondered what precipitated that action.

"Ah, it's a long story Kate," Gibbs groaned never one to want to ramble on.

"Should I ring Ducky?" she coughed a spurt of laughter, then wondered if the beloved M.E. was still among them.

"He's a little busy with our most recent guest," Tim tried to match her mirth, fake as it was. He knew her mind was spinning trying to right her world that she now found spiraling even more out of control.

Tony again went for the straight answer, "She's Ari's half-sister."

Now Kate's eyes flashed with anger. Of all the people to take her place the relative of a terrorist!

"Hold on. She's not like him," Tony quickly tried to calm her wrath.

"It wasn't easy Kate," Tim spoke softly. She turned to see him. Always a gentle soul, Kate trusted what he'd have to say. "We were a mess for awhile after you were shot and ended up here," he flicked his arm out around the room.

"The doctors weren't sure they could remove the bullet from your brain. Or even if they did if you'd survive. And if you survived, if you'd even be functional. It was almost like you died," his eyes misted and Kate could feel the pain he was remembering.

"The director got reassigned and the new director had worked with Ziva. She basically ordered Gibbs to put her with the team. It took time, but we began to trust her," he shrugged. "She fit in and she had contacts that sometimes came in handy."

"We almost lost her once, too," Tony said in a tone softer than she remembered him ever using. "Her own father, the director of Mossad, sent her on a suicide mission and left her for dead. We rescued her," he looked Kate in the eye trying to express to her how much he wished they could've brought her back from wherever the coma had taken her.

"When we brought her home, things changed," Tim picked up the thread. "She'd changed, too. She turned away from Mossad and her father. Eventually she became a U.S. citizen." Here Tim smiled and Kate knew that whoever this Ziva woman was she had won them all over. "She's now a full fledged NCIS Special Agent."

Kate absorbed it all. "Guess I'm out of a job, huh?" she chortled, choking a sob at the same time.

"I've spoken with the director. You'll be welcomed you back once you're medically cleared," Gibbs assured her.

"She'll keep her pal Ziva on your team though," she didn't want to sound snippy, but it came out that way. Certainly it wasn't the other woman's fault that she'd spent the past seven years recovering from her brother's bullet.

"Oh she's not Vance's pal," Tony told her, but stopped short of trying to explain about Jenny.

"No," Time knew his partner wouldn't want to talk about their fallen director. "It was Director Jenny Shepard who brought Ziva to NCIS. She was killed a few years back; in the line of duty."

Kate felt a loss among the men. A stab of pain pinched between Gibbs' eyes and Kate wondered what was behind it. She nodded slightly not demanding anything more. She was getting tired and didn't think she could listen to any more.

They all noticed the fatigue coming over her. "We'll let you get some more rest," Tony patted her arm.

"We'll come see you tomorrow. Abby's anxious to see you," Tim stepped over to give her a gentle kiss on the cheek.

Kate smiled at the picture of Abby in her mind. She looked forward to seeing her friend again too. Each man bid his farewell and she watched them leave. Gibbs paused at the door and looked back.

"I'm really glad you came back to us Kate," he told her, a sad smile on his face that she couldn't quite interpret.

Her mind digested what information they'd shared. She'd missed out on a time working under a female director. She grinned trying to picture Gibbs taking orders from a woman. From the reaction he'd expressed about her death, she must've been someone that was close to him, as close as anyone could get to him.

As she closed her eyes to sleep she held onto the face of her team members. They were all okay. That was the important thing. All the rest she could live with.