Her Weakness Chapter 4

Kate woke up feeling well rested. It seemed so long since she slept through the night. She rolled over in her bed expecting to find Ari but he wasn't there. She looked around the bedroom but he wasn't in the room. Again she felt his absence with disappointment. He may still be in the apartment.

As she pulled herself up in the sitting position, she felt stiff, the kind of stiffness that comes from sleeping too long. She looked at the clock and realized that she had been asleep for 11 hours. The last time she slept that long was in college. Then it occurred to her that she didn't even remember getting into bed last night. When she stood up, she felt the pain of her stiffness even more. When she made it to the bedroom door she opened it and looked out. Ari wasn't here.

She wondered what to do now. She could read or watch TV and that was about it. She would have liked to take advantage of her sick leave by shopping or sightseeing but she didn't have the strength. She wouldn't admit it to herself but she also didn't want to leave in case Ari comes back. During her 80 hour work week she always wished she had more time to herself. Now that she had time, she couldn't even leave her apartment. The irony of it made her laugh out loud.

She decided to eat the leftovers from last night and made a mental note to start stocking her fridge with more than just leftovers. Then she took a shower to kill more time. She took her time blow drying her hair but eventually she was back to not knowing what to do. Having limited options she started watching TV. She flipped through the channels not finding anything interesting.

She kept wondering about Ari. She knew he could take care of himself but not knowing where he was or what he was doing made her nervous. If he was in the public, there was a chance Gibbs could find him. She wondered exactly what his mission was. All she knew was he was working with the FBI and most likely Fornell. He said there was no danger in this mission or maybe no danger in what he was doing yesterday. She couldn't remember. None of his missions that she knew about seemed un-dangerous. He was always in trouble. After Kate realized this, she started getting worried. She started to have thoughts of Ari's cover being blown resulting in his death. The thoughts made her sick.

She didn't know when she started caring about him. They had done nothing together that traditional couples do. They haven't been seen in public together, been on a date, or even had sex. But he has captured her twice! Yet she felt something for him. And he clearly felt something for her but she didn't know if it was feelings like hers or just lust. She hoped it was both. He obviously desired her.

Her cell ringing interrupted her. She ran to pick it up hoping it was Ari. No such luck. It was Gibbs checking on her again. This was getting ridiculous! She quickly told him that she was fine and to stop checking up on her. She couldn't hang up on him fast enough. But before she did she realized she had to ask him one question.

"So… um…" she wasn't quite sure how to ask him "do you have any cases?"

"No, slow day."

"No new threats or anything?" It came out without her wanting to. She wanted to hurt herself for saying it! Gibbs was going to know something is wrong.

"Do you know something I don't?"

"No I just am really bored and I can come into work if there is some kind of emergency." She hoped she covered herself.

"No Kate we are fine here and all we need is for you to get the rest you need." He was so caring.

She hung up and decided that she couldn't stay in the apartment any longer. She went out to the store and bought enough food to last her these 2 weeks off. She came home and put everything away.

Ari was still not here and now Kate was pissed. 'Where is he and why didn't he leave a note? Does he want me to be worrying?' Kate looking around the apartment to see if she missed something but there was nothing. There wasn't even any indication that he was ever here. She had been up for 3 hours and had no idea when he left. 3 hours is a lot of time for someone to get killed.

After Kate stomped around for a while she started to feel tired again. This sickness was taking too much out of her. She took her medication and before she fell asleep she tried to convince herself that she didn't want him to come back and if something does happen to him, he deserved it.

TBC