A/N- Thanks for the lovely reviews, for all the followers of Forget Not Yet, the final chapter will be up by Sunday night I promise!
Kate was shaking with excitement as she hurried through her house frantically packing personal knick knacks into her large suitcase. She'd already packed enough clothes to last her two months, rolling them up to create more room, next she'd packed a long book to read on the plane and her toiletries. Now, with her passport in her handbag she was scouring her house, searching for anything she was absolutely certain she wouldn't be able to do without. She threw a smile at Ari as he passed by her, talking on his cell phone in fiery Hebrew, his words coming thick and fast. He ducked to press a kiss to her hair and kept walking. Reaching her bedroom once again she cast an investigative eye over the now messy room, racking her brain to ensure she hadn't forgotten anything.
"Ah ha!" she cried as she dove into her wardrobe and pushed aside the numerous shoes she had collected throughout the years, pushing them aside she found the item in question.
When she was fifteen she saved her pocket money for two months to buy a treasure chest. She could only afford a small one but ever since she had brought it home brimming with excitement, she had kept her most special mementos hidden away in the wood and velvet box. Opening it now she quickly spotted what she was looking for,
"Caitlin?" Ari had come into the room and was looking down at her curiously, in explanation she held up the leather bracelet with the pendant hanging off,
"A miracle medallion of Glastonbury" she announced, slipping it onto her wrist, "My best friend in high school brought it back from England for me; it's a good luck charm that I always wear when I travel"
Ari grinned and picked up the pendant, fingering the topaz on the one side and turning it over to view the cross on the other, "Why not?"
Kate knew Ari had almost no loyalty or adherence to Islam. What parts of his religion he did abide by were more often than not simply the results of childhood conditioning. Unlike a lot of potential atheists however, he did respect her faith, even when she demonstrated superstitions that even her brothers would tease her for. Like wearing a lucky charm when she travelled,
"So..." she tugged her bracelet back and slipped her hands into the pockets of her jacket,
"Did you get us a flight?"
He gave her the smile that always reminded her of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland,
"That depends..."
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "On?"
"On whether you can be ready to fly in three and a half hours" he teased tenderly, cupping her face as she threw him a disparaging look,
"You know I have some friends in airport security who would just love to give a suspicious looking traveller a physical exam" she threatened,
He laughed and followed her out to the living room, picking up her bags while Tony jumped into her arms, "With your beauty Caitlin, it is not America's security they'll have in mind"
He ducked out of her reach before she could decide whether or not to smack him. Glaring at his back as he made his way to the front door, he studied the street outside,
"I have already called a taxi and told them to expect an animal and provided Tony receives a health check within three days of landing in Israel, my friends at Dulles and Tel Aviv will waive the required health certificate"
Kate nodded and set Tony down as she paced into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. As she drank she opened the fridge door and looked in dismay at the amount of food inside, all likely to sit there and rot.
"Leave it precious" Ari chastised as he came up behind her, "I can get an intern at the Israeli embassy to come past and clean it out"
She shook her head, not wanting some complete stranger to be in her home, going through her things...having an idea she hurried to her desk and found a used envelope and a red pen. She wrote a letter to her next door neighbour's fifteen year old daughter, explaining that she had gone away and could she please watch the house, water the plants and check her fridge, reaching for her wallet she drew out sixty dollars, more than enough to warrant a good job done and slipped out her front door. Quickly crossing the yards, she tucked the note under their door mat and jumped when she heard the blare of the taxi horn.
"Last chance to run Caitlin" Ari warned her as he appeared on her front lawn, carrying her bags and ushering a suddenly curious Tony with his foot. Kate stared around at the familiar world before her, having rarely studied it in the still darkness of a winter morning.
It was hauntingly beautiful.
But she was so very ready for much, much more.
She turned back to Ari and grinned widely,
"Put my bags in the trunk would you?"
Tony whined as she was placed into a cage, sniffing the space carefully and deciding that she didn't like it. Kate felt horribly guilty even as she saw the three digit price tag and reasoned that the only way her dog could fly better today was if she went first class.
At some point an animal lover of almost ridiculous proportions had created a method of transportation with anxious owners in mind. Tony would be travelling in the cage only until she reached the plane, at which point she and three cats, two canaries and another dog would be released into much larger holding pens with blue rugs and food and water bowls. Even Kate had laughed when the check-in attendant had handed her a menu and asked her to tick her dog's preferred food and, for a twenty dollar fee, offered to have her dog walked by the veterinary assistant/caretaker in the hundred metre space provided. Assuring her that it wasn't necessary, Kate had still walked away from the desk with a number provided so that she could use the plane phone to ring the caretaker and check up on her dog.
Ari was right behind her, having been met at the airport by a dazed, half asleep intern from the Israeli embassy who had handed him his hastily repacked suitcase and wished him a happy trip before staggering back out the door.
She was still shaking her head as she and Ari meandered through Dulles airport, tickets and passports in hand. Ari as it turned out was entitled to free airfares when he travelled during his downtime, provided they knew roughly which hemisphere he was headed to, the Mossad covered the costs of his getting there. Hence the reason Kate was going to travel business class for the first time in her life that wasn't work related. They reached the security check point and quietly joined the fast growing line of travellers. Looking around her curiously, Kate saw the general mixture of tired jetsetters, businessmen, the young women who insisted on wearing make-up, jewellery and their tightest, skimpiest clothes despite the knowledge that they would be ridiculously uncomfortable, and the backpackers. She looked down at her ensemble, black pants and green jacket, determined to be both warm and comfortable on the plane and when she landed in Tel Aviv, at the end of the twelve hour flight.
When they reached the front of the queue, she automatically pulled two trays down and tossed her handbag into one while Ari dropped his backpack into another. She removed her necklace and stepped thoughtlessly through the metal detectors, her face going red with embarrassment as the alarms went off.
The guard stationed at the luggage belt looked up immediately and ran his eyes over her,
"Your bracelet ma'm" he suggested wearily and she remembered the pendant dangling from her wrist. "No" she disagreed, "that can't be...oh wait!"
Digging her hand into her pocket, she withdrew her badge, tossing it onto the table before ducking back through the metal detectors, this time silently. "Sorry" she whispered to the guard as he inspected the identification, "It's a habit"
"What's NCIS?" he demanded and she smothered the annoyance, after two years she was used to the question,
"Naval Criminal Investigative Service"
"Ah huh"
The guard became distracted as the alarms on the luggage screen started going off, he stopped the belt and checked the picture, his complexion paling noticeably at the imagery he saw,
"I have licenses for that and a diplomatic passport that enables me to carry arms" Ari intoned uninterestedly as he stepped through the detectors without trouble. He handed his passport to the guard who turned away to ring his superiors, Kate stepped to the side and tried to ignore the curious stares of the travellers around them, some of whom were looking at Ari's dark skin with unconcealed distrust.
After another five minutes, in which the guard learnt that Israeli diplomatic passports were indeed legitimate in United States Territory and Kate learnt that though nobody knew what NCIS stood for, everyone apparently knew what a Mossad Kidon officer was, they were in International departures, wandering through the duty free shops and debating whether or not to have breakfast. They had an hour to kill until the plane started to board, and though Ari's connections could waive regular requirements and get them on early, she didn't really see the point. Settling down in the chairs of the waiting lounge while Ari continued to browse through the bookstore, Kate sat her book across her lap and started reading, not even realising until a few minutes later that it was her phone ringing. Reaching for it just as it stopped, she cursed under her breath and checked the screen. The missed call was from Tony and barely a few seconds later a message followed,
'Gibbs wnts us wrk 7 ur nt hme nauti gal!'
Jumping as though she'd been shocked, Kate turned off her phone and hurled it into her bag. Searching frantically, she saw Ari leaving the bookstore, holding a thin orange tome in his hand,
"Hey" she stood up and kissed him quickly on the lips, "My turn"
She dove quickly into the crowds, looking back over her shoulder to see him sinking down onto the seats, opening his book with nonchalance.
There was a bank of computers two lounges away from her gate. She threw herself at an empty one and fed some notes into the machine without looking. It came to life and told her she had five hours of use, which meant she had handed over more than fifty dollars; she'd have to find an A.T.M in Tel Aviv. She accessed the internet and waited impatiently for it to load, when she reached her email however, her fingers paused over the keys. She held them there for a few heartbeats before remembering the funny looks people had been giving her all day, the judgemental glares Ari had received for standing next to a woman with a bruised face,
Gibbs,
I resign from NCIS; I know that this is unprofessional, that I should give you proper notice but...
Kate hesitated, what should she say? But you nearly broke my nose last night for catching me inflagrante delicato with your enemy and there is so little professionalism at MCRT that this actually seems appropriate?
No reason to add any more fuel to the fire.
...I think we can both agree that this is for the best.
Sincerely
Caitlin Todd
She sent the email before even bothering to spell-check and crossed her fingers as she made her way back towards Ari. Their plane was boarding in five minutes and took off in twenty; Gibbs checked his email so rarely that she was certain that she and Ari would be halfway over the Pacific Ocean before he realised that rather than just taking a sick day, she had left.
Surely he wouldn't be able to stop her.
Surely she didn't want him to?
Sudden doubt wracked her and she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Her career was in tatters, her friends would hate her by lunchtime but did that really justify flying halfway around the world with a man she hadn't been on a real date with yet?
The crowds parted and she was able to see Ari at the lounge, sitting where she had left him, only he had been joined by a young boy who was standing before him, staring up at him and they were talking.
Curious, Kate approached and heard the young boy ask Ari why his skin was so dark,
"I live in the desert and spend a lot of time in the sun, also I am Arab and we are a dark skinned race" Ari replied, his voice not changing as people's were wont to do when speaking to children.
"Why?" the boy asked, his fingers in his mouth,
"Because as a race we tend to have high concentrations of melanin"
"Why?"
Kate stood back and watched as Ari stopped to consider this question, "Generally people with ancestors from warmer regions who are exposed to higher levels of ultraviolet radiation have darker skin; presumably we evolved in such a manner so as to better enable us to survive the climate"
"Why is your voice different from mine?"
Kate smirked at the sudden change the line of questioning had taken but suddenly a red headed woman appeared at her side, looking frantic,
"Oh thank-god, Patrick what have I told you about running off?"
The boy looked at her bewildered, "I walked off I didn't run"
Apologising the mother grabbed her son and dragged him away as he began to repeat the answers Ari had given him. Being released from the interview, Ari stood as the announcement to board reached the lounge. He stretched and held his hand out to Caitlin as she approached,
"Ready?" he asked her casually and she responded by cradling his face in her hand and kissing him tenderly, channelling her emotions into the kiss as around them people scurried to be first in line. She stepped away and took his hand, holding it as they went through the large doors and walked down the hallway until a polite young stewardess guided them to their seats.
Ari automatically gave her the window seat; he was a much more seasoned flyer and had seen the approach to Israel a thousand times. Kate kissed him again and turned to see the sun just beginning to rise.
Funny how a few minutes ago she could have doubted that she wanted this.
A/N- tell me what you think and yes Tony's travel isn't that far from fact, jetspets australia offers some of the services I mentioned and I don't doubt there are similar methods of transportation for animals out there.