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4
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Kate soon drifted into a restless sleep, which only positive point was having Gibbs as a pillow. Turning her head, she rested her cheek on his shoulder, almost burying her face into the side of his neck. Each soft breath against his skin made him hum warmly. Not only did he not mind, but part of him found the thought of getting used to this very appealing-- well, without the pain or handcuffs. At least, not without it being on their own terms... Gibbs frowned and mentally swore at himself. In this position, that train of thought could get him into nothing but trouble. He set his gaze on the ceiling and began silently reciting the NATO phonetic alphabet, backwards.
Gibbs got to his third 'Lima' when he felt, rather than heard Kate's stomach growl. She shifted and slowly began to wake, as Gibbs' stomach surprisingly responded in kind. Kate looked up to him with tired eyes and a wary smile.
"Guess they haven't gotten the No-Breakfast-Mortal-Danger memo." She shied softly. He nodded in agreement with a small twitch of a smirk.
"I guess not."
Kate's eyes suddenly brightened as she looked expectantly down at her chest. Gibbs' brow furrowed deeply.
"...Problem?" He quirked.
"My chest holster.." Kate said excitedly. When she saw his incredibly hopeful look, she frowned a bit, "My gun is definitely gone, Gibbs, I don't feel it.. but in my emergency pocket..." Gibbs' optimistic face returned as he waited for her to finish. "I think I have a granola bar." She whispered enthusiastically.
His face crumpled into a look of agitated disbelief. "That's what you have in your emergency pocket..? A GRANOLA bar?"
Kate huffed and rolled her eyes, "Are you going to criticize my survival techniques or are you gonna help me get it..??"
Gibbs hesitated and sighed, "Exactly which of my tied hands did you want me to use, Kate.."
"Hold on.." she grunted. She then began entrancing motions with her bicep, trying with all her delicate ingenuity to edge the holster out from underneath her upper arm just inside her jacket. Gibbs wet his lips and had to close his eyes at this-- it was just simply too much for one man to take.
"Gibbs? You okay?" He opened his eyes to see her worried stare. Afraid of what would come out of his mouth, he could only nod. Kate slowly nodded back, "Okay.. well, now I need your help.." she said sheepishly. She had managed to get the holster to stick out of her NCIS coat, but had no more leverage to do much more. "Could you... ah.. well...?" Her face grew red while her eyes could hardly keep Gibbs' stare. He cleared his throat and shifted his shoulders.
As he leaned down, he looked up to her with raised eyebrows and murmured, "Now, I'm just doing what I'm told here, Katie.."
Kate's heart was racing, but she decided to try and diffuse the tense situation and muttered, "Better you than Dinozzo... Just get my granola bar, Gibbs..?" She whined softly.
He said a prayer and leaned back towards her, his neck craning, trying to reach her holster with his teeth. Managing to grab it, he gave the leather holder an experimental tug. Kate had to force herself to inhale and exhale at regular intervals, otherwise she imagined she would quite simply stop breathing. She kept her eyes above his head while his cheek brushed against her breast. Kate gave a shuddered breath, but Gibbs didn't skip a beat, and continued on his retrieval mission. A snap and a muttered curse later produced an impressed grunt of triumph. Gibbs straightened up, the edge of the power bar in his mouth; he suggestively wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Tony hears nothing of this, understand?" Kate said seriously.
Gibbs gave her a smirk and a small wink. But his smile waned.
"How do we open this?" He mumbled around the bar's wrapper.
Kate sat and thought, then leaned to him and grabbed the other edge of the plastic with her teeth. After a few tries, she carefully tore at the edges until the end of the granola was unobstructed. She smiled widely.
Slowly she pulled the granola bar free of its wrapper with her teeth as Gibbs spit the plastic to the floor. Kate prompted him to bite off half; he bent his face towards hers, watching her eyes as he took a piece of the offered snack as Kate held the other end of the bar securely in her mouth. They ate in silence, finding it incredibly awkward to eat such a thing without use of their hands.
When they were finished, Gibbs tilted his head to one side in amusement, "Better?" Kate mirrored his position and smiled a bit.
"Much."
He nodded and leaned back in the chair with a sigh. Kate paused, opening her mouth to speak, but stopped and pressed her lips together. Gibbs' gave a small squint of his eyes as he gazed at her carefully.
"What is it, Kate?"
Her eyes were focused on something happening on the floor behind him, and a sense of alarm flashed over her face.
"There's... water.." She said with confusion and anxiety.
Gibbs' brow creased and he tried to twist his upper body around in order to see, but it was no use. However, the movement made him notice a small pipe on the opposite wall, close to the floor. A quick flow of water was accumulating on the ground, and edging its way towards them. Their small cell was filling up with water.
