A/N: I finally got fed up with my computer flight models and wrote this chapter as a break from my school work. I'm profoundly sorry that it has taken me so long to get this to all of you fine folk, and apologize in advance that it may be awhile before you get any other updates from me. I'm graduating this semester and so life is hectic at best.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Three: Complex Insanity – Wednesday

"So much for this getting easier." His words broke the silence that otherwise filled his dark kitchen. He was painfully aware that talking to himself seemed to be becoming a habit, but couldn't bring himself to care all that much as he pulled the freezer door open. With more force than necessary he grabbed a frozen pizza from a shelf and slammed the door shut again. Shoving the medium pepperoni in the oven and setting the timer, he leaned back against a counter and closed his eyes.

He had barely slept at all the previous two nights and he had finally reached a stage where he was just too tired to fight the memories and images that filled his mind. Snapshots from earlier in the day intermixed themselves with scenes from that night with Kate in a horrible, headache inducing flash of thought.

The day had actually started off considerably better than Tuesday's quasi-normal. He found it increasingly easier to be in the same room as Kate and had actually managed to get himself to a mental position where she was Agent Todd at any time he was speaking to her and Katie only when he allowed his thoughts to drift. This he considered a decent victory as much of the tension the previous days had been caused by his inability to separate the two. Or at least that's what he continued to tell himself.

As long as he didn't let his thoughts drift he was fine. And while no case had presented itself to ensure that was true, he had found it simple enough to bury his mind in paperwork and follow-up to the previous days shoplift gone bad.

By lunch he had been feeling quite pleased with everything and was beginning to allow himself the pleasure of believing that he stood a chance of getting a good night's sleep. This was, of course, the point at which the smoothness of the morning vanished in the face of twenty minutes and an elevator ride.

--------------------

It was the first time he'd been in an elevator alone with her since Ari had died and as a wave of her perfume blew over him, his thoughts centered firmly of his long held fantasy of making love to her in the small space. His hand had flipped the emergency stop and the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"Why did you leave?" He'd meant the words to caring and honestly open, but anger that he didn't even know he'd been feeling until that moment was clearly evident instead. For a moment he wished he could take them back, reverse time just long enough to stop himself from asking. The thought passed quickly though as his anger rose at her response.

"How could I have stayed?" Her tone matched his angry one despite the fact that he could see in her eyes that she wasn't truly angry. Yet. His next words served to change that pretty damn quickly.

"You do remember that you were the one who showed up at my house, right?" He had, by this point turned to face her; only a foot remaining between them as he glared down at her. "That you were the one who started all of it. If you didn't know how you could stay why did you show up in the first place?" She didn't answer his questions, choosing instead to throw one of her own at him.

"And you do remember that you were the one that originally wanted to stop right?" Her voice was condescending and anger flashed threw him even as her words brought a specific image to his mind's eye.

Hands firm on her hips; holding her away from his body even as his heart screamed at him to pull her in and never let go. Voice telling her that she should leave; that she would regret coming to his home.

"The irony of the situation is not lost on me Kate." His tone was harsh and abrasive and he saw a potent flash of anger in her eyes. He seriously considered just pushing her against the wall of the steel box he had oh-so foolishly trapped them in; considered trying to use his body and the angry tension that filled the air to convince her that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. But he didn't. If their one night together had shown him anything it was that he didn't just want her body, he wanted HER. He knew that she had to come to him on her terms, not his. So he stayed where he was, glaring back at her with the same fierce expression her face held.

Ignoring the shot of desire that flashed through him he responded to her earlier question. "Is that why you didn't stay? Because I had tried to keep you from doing something I didn't think you actually wanted?" He was yelling by that point, and he wondered briefly if agents outside the steel box could hear him. Her volume matched his as she continued to ignore the heart of the subject.

"Why the hell do you care why I didn't stay?" Her hand reached past him and flipped the switch that put the elevator back in motion. He ignored their resumed journey as he focused on her words. "You got laid and didn't have to deal with the consequences the next morning; every man's dream."

Any retort he may have wanted to offer was stopped by the elevator's untimely arrival at their floor. Kate shot him one last glare before stomping off into the bullpen and he followed her at a more sedate pace, suddenly aware of just how poorly he had handled that situation. He'd meant to tell her just how much it had hurt waking to find that she wasn't there or explain how hard the last few days had been, but his anger had clouded all reason. Anger which continued to consume him.

--------------------

The rest of the day had been spent shooting angry glances at each other or completely ignoring that they were in fact in the same room. After spending a few minutes gazing from one of them to the other, Tony had shrugged off the situation. Kate had, on occasion, in the past disagreed with Gibbs on one thing or another and the younger agent made the assumption that much the same had happened.

Gibbs was profoundly glad that Tony seemed to be unconcerned and that McGee seemed completely oblivious because it meant that he wouldn't have to answer any difficult questions. Kate left the office as soon as it was reasonable to do so and Gibbs had stayed at his desk until long after everyone else had gone; not moving until the sentences of the report in front of him blurred to incomprehensible blobs of ink.

The ding of the oven timer informed him that the pizza was done and he pulled it out, burning himself slightly on the pan's edge. Ignoring the pain, he cut off a few slices and plodded to his couch. Anger still coursed through him from their earlier 'discussion', but it's effect was somewhat dulled by a mix of his guilt at having brought it up in the first place and a bizarre sense of happiness that at least she didn't deny that that night had actually happened.

Setting his plate on the end table he kicked off his shoes, hoisted his feet onto the coffee table and promptly fell asleep. His body, finally succumbing to three days with out sleep, relaxed into dreamless unconsciousness; head lolling on the back of the couch, arms crossed loosely across his chest, legs crossed at the ankle. Even in sleep, the scowl that had been dominant since they'd stepped off the elevator almost twelve hours earlier was still present.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TBC