4/?

Abby studied Gibbs for a few minutes. He was just sitting on his bed, unmoving. The room was filled with Kate, her things, her pictures – and Abby was nervous to go in. But she took a deep breath and spoke.

"I knew," Abby said.

Gibbs looked at her. "About what?"

"Well, not that it was you, but about a week before she died…I mean…"

"Abs…"

"Kate came to talk to me. She said she thought she was pregnant, and she was nervous about telling the father."

"What did you tell her?"

"I asked her if she wanted it. And she said very much. And then I told her that's all that matters." Abby smiled at Gibbs. "I'm happy for you, Gibbs."

Gibbs smiled back and patted the bed next to him. Abby walked in and sat next to him.

"We'll get her back, Gibbs. Besides, she's tough. She'll hang in there until we get her back."

"Boss!" McGee appeared in the doorway. "He's calling again."


"Hello again, Agent Gibbs. How are you?"

"Let me talk to Kate."

"Unfortunately Caitlyn is sleeping right now," Ari replied, glancing over at the woman who was sound asleep on the bed. "You have a beautiful wife, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs' hand tightened on the phone. "Ari…"

Kate stirred in her sleep, her eyes blinking into wakefulness. When she realised where she was, her hand covered her abdomen, and she shrank back on the mattress, her eyes fearfully looking at Ari. The man noticed she had awoken and flashed her a quick smile, before returning to the phone.

"Your wife has awoken from her beauty sleep. She is devastatingly beautiful. How on earth did she end up with you? I have been watching you both, Agent Gibbs. Watching you hide your relationship. Watching your wife as the child grows in her belly. Does your team know, Agent Gibbs? Does your team know that you make love to Caitlin almost every night? Yes, I've been watching you every night. Watching as you touch her and taste her and push yourself inside her. I watched as you brought her off again and again and she screamed your name."

Gibbs' fist slammed down on the desk, startling the rest of the team. "Stop your games, Ari. What do you want?"

"Oh at first it was just to torture you but…but now that she is here, I wonder if I should enjoy Caitlin just as you have been."

The team watched in concern as Gibbs started breathing heavily.

"If you touch her…I will kill you. When you took her, I was just going to shoot you – nice and quick and clean. But if you touch her, it'll be slow. Real slow. Until you're begging me to just kill you."

Ari laughed. "Do you mean like how Caitlin begs you to bring her pleasure?"

Click.

Gibbs looked at the phone in front of him then at McGee. "Where is he, McGee! I want to know where he is NOW!"


Kate shuffled further back on the bed. "I didn't think rape was your style, Ari."

He laughed. "Oh, it's not. If we're going to make love, you're going to be willing and wanting it."

"Never going to happen."

"Yes, but Gibbs doesn't know my policy about making love with women. Right now, I bet he is torturing himself from the inside out because he doesn't know what's going to happen to you." Ari sat down on the chair across from the bed. "How do you feel, Caitlyn?"

"More than ready to kill you."

"You shouldn't say such things in front of the baby. They can hear things from the womb you know."

Kate turned away from him, her eyes staring at the wall behind her. "You're going to kill me, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not." Ari rose from the chair and went to get her some water. "I'm going to kill Gibbs."


"We need to go and get her. Now."

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Tony, Ducky, Abby and McGee watched in surprise as Ziva and Gibbs stared each other down. The standoff had begun as soon as Ari had hung up on Gibbs, and the intensity was increasing as they argued.

"We have three safehouses. We hit them all, take Ari out and get Kate the hell out of there."

"Ari is no fool. He will be waiting for you." Ziva glared at Gibbs. "You think he won't kill both you and Kate the minute he sees you? You need to THINK, Gibbs! Go in with a plan, not just burst in there."

Abby knew she was the only one brave enough to break the deadlock and she piped up. "We're all going, Gibbs. So we need a plan, unless you want to get us all killed."

That was enough to keep him quiet. His mind still racing over Kate and Ari's words, he bit his lip and stared at the blueprints for the Mossad safehouses. "Alright. What's the plan?"


Kate knew her husband was coming when she heard shouts and shots echoing around the room. Two shots hit Ari – one from Gibbs' gun and one from Ziva's.

Gibbs walked over to look at the the dead man. He shot him again, and was tempted to empty his clip, but then he heard it.

"Jethro."

He turned around and saw Kate on a bed in the corner. He was by her side instantly.

"Katie. It's okay, I'm here."

She kissed him and he held her tightly to his body.

"Are you okay? Is the baby alright? Did he…"

"No." Kate pressed a finger to his lips. "He did that just to torture you. And the baby is fine. I'm just a little woozy. He gave me something to make me sleep."

Gibbs tenderly lifted her in his arms. "Come on. Let's get you to the hospital."

Gibbs ignored the protest of the EMT's and held Kate tight in his arms as he carried her out to the waiting ambulance. Even with their child growing inside of her, she was still light, and he looked down at her, her head resting against his shoulder and her eyes unfocused with exhaustion.

"Stay with me," she murmured, as they neared the ambulance.

He kissed her on the forehead. "I won't leave you. I'm right here."

"Love you."

"Love you back."

The ambulance crew shut the doors after she was settled on the gurney and Gibbs stayed holding her hand, kissing it tenderly.

"How many months pregnant are you, ma'am?"

"Six." Kate and Gibbs answered together and he smiled at her.

"Okay. Shouldn't be too long before we get to the hospital."

Behind them, alone in the warehouse, Tony put his arms around Ziva as she stared at her brother.