A/N: I had problems concentrating during this chapter. So please be gentle, if there are any discrepancies in the flow.


They were sitting in their black Dodge, speeding towards Cumberland. Gibbs circled around the other vehicles in his usual impatient way. Tony and Ziva were sitting in the back seat, whilst Kate rode shotgun, trying to keep herself from staring at her boss too obviously. She still wasn't sure, why he had acted that nicely at Saturday and felt a little strange around him. Tony was moaning about him starving. "Shut up, Tony." Ziva was starting to get pissed. "But I had no lunch yet. I will die because of hunger." "You don't even know what real hunger is, Tony. And nobody dies of hunger 'cause of skipping one meal; especially not with that kind of reserve." She pointed at Tony's stomach. Tony took a deep breath to fight back, but Kate's cell interrupted them. She pulled it out and, noticing it was McGee, put it on speakerphone. "Gibbs is listening, Tim." She indicated. "Boss, I did the research on the PFC. He was born and raised in Baltimore and joined the Corps 6 years ago, aged 18 after his parents died in a car accident. He is stationed at Quantico, but has some days off until Friday. There are no wife or kids. He seems to be an unobtrusive loner. The worst I could find was a small bunch of parking tickets a few years back." "You talked to his CO yet?" Gibbs didn't seem pleased. "Yes, boss. No complaining. He called Robinson a decent, obeying marine, with too less ambition to go places." "So you have nothing?!" "Maybe I should go down there, look through his place and talk to his comrades to find out about his vacation plans." "Take Dorneget with you."

###

They had remained in silence until Gibbs pulled up in front of the hospital. "DiNozzo, David, get out. I want every little piece of information the doctors have. If he's conscious again, question him. After that, you can go for lunch."

Help! Kate fought the urgent compulsion to jump off the car, whilst Gibbs joined the traffic again. He directed the Dodge towards Bel Air; his eyes sparkling as he cast a glance at Kate. "Am I that terrible?" He asked, no longer hiding his amusement.

"What do you mean?" Kate acted unknowing.

"You're avoiding me. And just now you thought about running after Tony and Ziva." Once again he had seen through her.

"I'm not avoiding you." she lied.

"Sure!" He got serious again: "Whatever I've done to give you the creeps, it was not my intention. I don't like seeing you run away from me all the time, although it gives me the lovely sight of your back."

Kate gaped. "That was sexist." She protested, trying to elude further discussion of her behavior. Gibbs shrugged and went silent again.

###

They had questioned the old lady, who had found Robinson on her doorstep. She had told them nothing more, than that the young man had begged for help and collapsed, so she had called an ambulance. In order to find out where the PFC had come from, they showed his picture, which McGee had send to Kate's PDA, around; but nobody in the close neighborhood had seen him. Walking back to their car, Gibbs got a call. Kate watched him, listening attentive to the caller. He may not be the talking kinda guy, but he definitively is a great listener. Impatient sometimes, yes. But he's there if you need someone. She thought, reminded of her situation last weekend by her own meditations.

"Ok. Go, feed DiNozzo." Gibbs ended his call. "Robinson is still in a coma. He was hypothermic and dehydrated, has a concussion and bruises and cuts, indicating that he was bound and beaten." He updated Kate.

"How does someone, injured that much, get to the end of a road at daylight, not being seen by anyone?" Kate pronounced the obvious question.

"He came from the other side." Gibbs pointed towards the trees, where the street ended. "Pick up Ziva and Tony and bring them here." He tossed her the car keys, already on his way to search the edge of the woods for signs of the marine's starting point.

###

By the time the three of them came back, Gibbs had found a trace. Reaching him, Kate handed him a burrito and a coffee. Answering his questioning look she spoke. "I'm sure you haven't eaten anything the whole day long. Even you can't live on caffeine." Sipping at the coffee, he motioned with the food towards her. "I had mine in the car." Kate turned around and followed Ziva and Tony deeper into the woods.

###

At the end of the path, Robinson had taken to find help, they got to a shack. Clearing the scene, they found the cabin deserted, containing primary some dusty furniture. The torn leftovers of bonds at a chair and some empty water bottles showed that they had found their site of crime.

###

It was nearly midnight when they finally arrived back at the Navy Yard. McGee, who had informed them earlier, that Robinson hadn't told anyone about his vacation plans, was still working on the PFC's notebook, but hadn't got past his password yet. "This guy seems to be paranoid. Who has a security system like that on his private computer?" He cursed. "A geek like you…?" Tony tried to tease him, but Gibbs interrupted them. "Go home, sleep. Be here 0600 tomorrow. All of you." "I only bring this to Abby." Kate lifted the box, filled with evidence from the shack, and went downstairs.

###

As every possible hour loud music welcomed Kate the moment she left the elevator. Entering the lab, she smiled at the sight of her bouncing friend.

"Hey, Abby." she tried to drown the noise.

"Kate!" A smile appeared on the black-haired woman's face. Quickly she turned the stereo down.

"I brought you some stuff to proceed." Kate dropped the box on the work table.

"Great!" Abby already dug through the bagged evidence. "So what is it, you haven't told me about the night at Gibbs'?"

"How… What do you mean, Abby?" Kate felt uncomfortable. She had given her friend only the same amount of information, she had revealed to her sister.

"Don't fool me. Something happened there. Gibbs was here this morning and asked about you. He said, you're avoiding him."

"Oh! Um... That was nothing. We talked about it. Everything is fine."

"Maybe..." Abby watched Kate closely, trying to figure out if she was telling the truth. "But I will not let you go until you told me EVERYTHING that led to this avoiding-thing."

Knowing, she had no chance against Abby, Kate sighed and began to tell her best friend the whole story.

###

TBC...


A/N: I love you all. But I will love you more if you give me a little review to push my ego... :)