A/N: This one has been a long time coming - I think you will see why I wanted to get it just right, and I hope you'll find it worth the wait.


7. KATE

Kate wasn't completely used to the vagaries of Oahu traffic yet, so they ended up reaching the restaurant rather early. They ordered drinks at the bar, then leaned against it side by side.

The awkward feeling Kate had managed to squash so many times today had returned full force, and now she couldn't seem to push it back into its box. Telling herself time and again this was just friendship, and it was best for them both if it stayed that way, was no longer working. At all.

She could feel Gibbs' eyes on her, and it was an effort not to turn away. Meeting his gaze head on seemed impossible. She was afraid of what he might see.

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and she knew she was turning pink again. The casual intimacy they'd fallen into was... nice. Really nice. She just hadn't quite gotten used to it yet. It kept making her feel things she had no right to feel.

"You okay, Katie?" The rumble in his voice was also making her feel things. She could almost curse him for being able to do this to her with no effort whatsoever. Almost.

She nodded. "I'm fine, I just-" She smiled and looked around, up, down, anywhere to distract herself, in the hope she would stop blushing already.

The bar was festooned with holly and mistletoe - she wondered idly whether it was real, if either plant even grew here on Oahu, whether it had to be imported, or...

Mistletoe. She glanced up again, a crazy idea forming in her head. A reason, an excuse, for something she'd unsuccessfully tried to convince herself she didn't want. The fluttering of nerves and excitement as she thought about it wasn't confined to her solar plexus. It seemed like out of nowhere her whole body was buzzing.

She nudged Gibbs' shoulder with her own and pointed upwards, grinning in what she hoped was a fairly casual, jokey way.

"Mistletoe." She gave him a challenging look, cocked an eyebrow.

He looked up, then raised an eyebrow of his own, and his mouth twitched as if he was repressing a smirk. "So it is."

At least she could blame it on something, instead of just giving in to temptation and kissing him senseless for no apparent reason, something she'd been growing increasingly concerned she might do.

And hey, mistletoe kisses didn't actually mean anything. Right? It wasn't as if she was abandoning all the carefully thought through and very logical reasons why she shouldn't do this; she was just bowing to tradition.

Even in her head, the excuse sounded absurdly slender, wouldn't stand up to the slightest scrutiny, but it seemed better than no excuse at all.

Gibbs took a long, slow sip of his beer, then set it down and turned towards her, favouring her with all his attention, his expression inscrutable, his focus unnerving. And oh, exciting. He brushed her hair back behind her shoulder, moved his hand to cup her face.

She forced herself to breathe evenly as he gazed down at her. She couldn't do much about her racing heartbeat or the colour in her cheeks, but she could at least refrain from actually panting, and so hopefully salvage a smidgen of self-respect.

Maybe.

He was looking at her... speculatively. Eyes narrowing a little, searching her face for something - she wasn't sure what.

"Well?"

He really did smirk now, and she cursed herself for breaking first.

"Well what?" Yes, he looked very amused. Damn him.

She tried out a few versions of 'so are you gonna kiss me or not?' in her head, and nixed them all. His eyes crinkled as he grinned again, and she wondered if she was that transparent. God, I hope not. It would be humiliating. Especially if he didn't take the hint and just do it already.

Kate bit her lip, nerves getting the better of her, and with his thumb he nudged her teeth away then soothed over the bite. She couldn't figure out what was going on in his head - if he was deciding whether or not he should kiss her, debating how he would kiss her, or simply trying to drive her out of her mind with sheer anticipation.

He was certainly managing the latter, whether it was intentional or not.

"Giiiibbs." It came out sounding a whole lot more petulant than she'd intended, but it seemed he was finally taking the hint as he bent his head down, even if he was grinning as he did so.

It was the lightest of kisses, just a brush of his lips against hers, but he didn't move away afterwards, his breath washing over her face, his mouth still hovering over hers, his thumb skating over her cheekbone.

She swallowed hard. It felt like an invitation, one she badly wanted to accept. A glance up into his eyes, seeking confirmation, made her gulp. It didn't take a trained profiler to recognise that kind of hunger.

Even with a terrified voice in the back of her head screaming this was a bad idea, a really, really terrible idea, she couldn't seem to help herself. Without allowing herself another moment to overthink it, she leaned into him, one hand on his chest as she reached up the last quarter inch to softly kiss him back.

She hadn't intended for it to escalate, had just wanted... more. A little more. But his arm slid about her waist, instinctively she tilted her head, and he growled as she let him in. Suddenly, unexpectedly, it wasn't a silly challenge at all any more but a real, fervent kiss. She whimpered into his mouth, her fingers grasping at his shirt, overwhelmed by the heat and need of it.

Oh God. She was going to melt. She'd forgotten what this was like - or maybe she'd never known in the first place, never been kissed this way before. She clung on more tightly, wanting more, wanting to climb inside the feeling and never leave.

In the midst of the confusion and elation she noticed the taste of coffee still on his tongue, the smooth firmness of his lips, and how his hand was calloused but infinitely gentle against her cheek. His other hand came to rest on her spine, tugging her close, and he held her steady as she rose up on her toes so she could pull herself still closer. Her fingers slipped into his hair, wordlessly begging him to keep going.

His kisses turned tender, languid, his mouth soft and delicious, achingly seductive on hers. All conflicting emotions were pushed to one side as she willingly sank into the moment.

She had no idea how long they were kissing, only that when he finally pulled away, she was nowhere even close to done. She leaned into his chest for a moment, feeling lightheaded and giddy.

She hadn't expected... she hadn't been prepared. And God help her, but she wanted to do that again and again.

When she glanced up, she was both relieved and gratified to find his eyes looked just as dazed and unfocused as hers felt. For a few moments they simply stood and stared at one another, then Kate forced herself to check her watch for the time and swallowed back a curse when she realised it was gone 7pm.

She took a few deeps breaths, glanced up at him, then away again. The expression on his face was not one calculated to leave her thinking straight. She felt like someone had reached into her head and scrambled her brain.

"I guess... we should go find the others..."

It was tempting to add, 'Or we could just go home and make out, whaddya think?', but she didn't want to let her friends down, she did want Gibbs to meet the team properly, and... and she couldn't actually think of a third reason when Gibbs was looking at her like he wanted to swallow her whole. She forced herself to take a deep, calming breath.

"Uh-huh," he said, but his voice was low and rough, and he didn't move.

The idea of grabbing his hand and making a dash for the door was becoming highly appealing, and when she heard familiar voices hollering her name, she had to close her eyes for a second and press her lips together not to swear. When she opened them again, Gibbs gave her a wry smile and shrugged a shoulder.

Reluctantly, she turned to greet her teammates, trying not to think too hard about Gibbs' hand, which had made its way to the small of her back and was resting a fraction lower than was strictly 'just friends' territory. His thumb stroked ever so lightly through the thin cotton of her top, and it was way too distracting for her peace of mind.

Introductions and hellos were made in a blur, and Kate could only hope she looked and sounded a lot more composed than she felt. No one commented on it, for which she was grateful, although the look Will gave her made her think he, at least, had noticed how flustered she was.

She stifled a sigh as they reached their table, reminded herself she liked these people and wanted to spend an evening with them. It didn't help matters much when, as he pulled out the chair for her to sit down, Gibbs leaned over and whispered a promise in her ear: "Later."

Heat flooded her cheeks, and she looked down at her menu, wishing she could tamp down that particular reaction. She should have suggested a make out session while she'd had the chance.

This, she thought with a sigh, is going to be a really, really long evening.