Resilience

Rating: T

Disclaimer: see Chapter 1 for the truth! ;-)

Author's Note: Thanks to Loz and Annie-M! You guys rock!

And thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far- it is great getting feedback, good or bad! I'd love some more reviews though! Please!

This chapter is not as long as previous chapters- just a little reprieve for you all!


Part 9

Gibbs sat in the bullpen drinking the cup of coffee that Abby had given him. McGee was sitting at his own desk, fumbling about with some of the cables at the back of his computer. "McGee," Gibbs said as he set the coffee down on his desk, his eyes never leaving the computer screen in front of him, "go down to the lab and help Abby." McGee froze in his chair momentarily before looking over at his boss.

"Ah, with what, sir?" he asked timidly.

"A computer simulation I want her to develop. Your computer skills may be of some assistance." Gibbs turned his head and looked at his probationary field agent. He managed to hold back a smirk as he saw McGee's face light up at the small amount of praise he'd received.

"On it, Boss," McGee said as he stood up in his chair and straightened his tie. He put the cable back in its place and walked out of the bullpen. To the trained eye, a small spring was evident in his step.


A comfortable silence had enveloped Kate and Tony on the rooftop. "We better head back down before Gibbs comes up here and shoots us," Kate joked. Tony relaxed when he saw Kate's face break out into a grin, but he noticed that her eyes were not showing the same emotion. The barrier that Kate had always put between her emotions and her job had come back up.

"You might want to head to the ladies first to freshen up," he replied. Her mascara had run due to the tears she had shed earlier. Kate gave him a puzzled look. He reached out his right hand and placed it lightly on her cheek, wiping the tear tracks with his thumb. "Your mascara has run." She dipped her head in embarrassment and Tony withdrew his hand quickly. He stepped aside and let her pass him as Kate made her way over to the door to the stairs. Tony studied her once her back was facing him and he noticed how she gave her head a small, barely noticeable shake and pushed her shoulders back to create the confident way in which she always carried herself. As she opened the door, she turned back to Tony.

"Coming?" She quipped, wriggling her eyebrows at him suggestively. Tony rolled his eyes and made his way over to her and together they walked down the stairs, neither saying anything, but both knowing that Kate's uncharacteristic outburst would never be spoken of.

Gibbs heard the stairwell door open and, without moving his head, he discreetly looked up to see Kate and Tony emerging together. Tony held the door open for Kate and she accepted his gesture with a simple nod of her head. They parted ways when the door closed; Tony walking to his desk and Kate walking off in the general direction of the restroom, Gibbs presumed. He noticed Tony's placid demeanour and hoped that nothing inappropriate had happened between them up on the rooftop; he did not need either of them distracted during this case. He felt Tony's eyes on him, almost expecting him to say something. Instead, he continued to leaf through the documents in front of him. Tony shrugged his shoulders and began to do the same.

A few moments later, Kate entered the bullpen looking refreshed and composed. The earlier distress that Tony had witnessed on the rooftop was no longer visible. She walked confidently over to Gibbs and stood on the other side of his desk. "Sorry about before, Gibbs," she said quietly, but with conviction. He gazed up at her.

"Was it you who told me a few hours ago to never say you're sorry?" Kate nodded. She knew that that was as close as an acceptance as she was going to get from Gibbs, so she turned around and walked back to her desk, offering Tony a small smile as she sat down. Gibbs looked over at Tony for a moment to gauge the other man's reaction to Kate's calm appearance. When Tony looked neither concerned nor surprised, he went back to leafing through Ducky's autopsy report.

At this stage, Gibbs was the only one, apart from Abby, who had read Ducky's report. The medical examiner had taken it upon himself to write a detailed report on the findings of his autopsies. In typical 'Ducky-style', the report was thorough and…long. Not only did it contain information on every bruise and mark left by the attacker (which, apart from the slit throat, bruising from the handcuffs and the obvious signs of rape, was minimal), it also contained specific measurements and the order in which everything happened. Ducky had spent the entire morning writing it out for Gibbs, knowing that it could come in useful for them all. He had a feeling that Gibbs would put it to good use.

Gibbs had read the eleven page document twice over. He was reading through the first page for the third time when his phone rang. "Yeah, Gibbs," he said gruffly.

"It's ready, Gibbs," Abby said down the line. "I made the program you want."

"I'm on my way." He closed his phone and stood up. "You two," he said, pointing between Kate and Tony, "stay here." He strode past them and walked straight to the elevator.


He entered Abby's lab to find her staring intently at McGee, who, in turn, was staring just as hard at Abby. "Show me what you've got, Abs," Gibbs said, breaking the concentration between the two of them.

"Well, thanks to Ducky's oh-so-long report, I've managed to create a program which possibly re-enacts the attack," Abby said, typing furiously on her keyboard. "And, I've tried to make the size of the attacker as accurate as possible."

"Let me see it," Gibbs said. He leant over Abby's shoulder and squinted at the screen.

"Gibbs! You really need some glasses! I'll put it on the plasma for you!" Gibbs stepped back and stood in front of the large screen. "Oh, and I tried not to make it graphic, but Gibbs, you had me simulate a rape." Gibbs nodded, keeping his back to Abby. McGee hadn't said anything at this point; he had just stood back and watched the interaction between his boss and Abby. He was always amazed at how Abby managed to answer Gibbs' questions before he even asked them and he also wondered how she was not intimidated by the tall, muscly ex-marine. He looked over at the plasma and saw the program he'd helped to create appear.

Not one of them moved a muscle whilst they watched the simulation that lasted for roughly twenty minutes. Gibbs was very impressed with the program; he just hoped it was fairly close to what had actually happened.

"Ok, I want this simulation ready to go again when I get back. Abs, McGee, I don't want to see either of you in here." Abby looked over at McGee and back to Gibbs.

"Anything you say, Gibbs," Abby said, as she reset the program to restart. "Just push this button here when you're all set to go, and it will play." Gibbs nodded again in acknowledgement and walked out of the lab. "This is seriously hinky, McGee," she said, once she was sure Gibbs was out of earshot. "Kate's not going to seriously go undercover is she?"

"I have no idea," McGee replied. He wasn't really sure what was happening with the case; sure, he was part of the team, but he sometimes felt like he was left out of the loop. The fact that he had had to babysit the Petty Officers that morning was an example of that. "But we better get out of here before he gets back!"

"Scared of Gibbs, McGee?"

"No, of course not!" McGee retorted, backing away from Abby. "Where do you suggest we go?"

"Bullpen? Autopsy? Breakroom?" the gothic lab technician suggested.

"Bullpen, but let's take the stairs," he replied, eager to avoid clashing with his superior.


Tony and Kate followed Gibbs down to Abby's lab and were surprised when they were not greeted by the usual loud music or their hyperactive lab rat. "Plasma," Gibbs said plainly. He waited until Kate and Tony were standing directly in front of it. "It's graphic, but it might be useful." Gibbs pressed the 'enter' key on Abby's keyboard.

Instead of watching the screen, he watched Kate's body language closely.

After several minutes, he noticed her breathing become more rapid, but observed her quickly attempt to regain composure. He noticed that her hands were clasped behind her back and her knuckles had turned white.

Tony's reaction was not quite as obvious, but from his angle, he noticed Tony clench his jaw tightly, his way of keeping himself under control, stopping himself from putting his fist through the wall.

When the simulation ended, Tony turned around to face Gibbs, but Kate's eyes remained fixed on the screen in front of her, now displaying only a dead body. Gibbs spoke before Tony. "The point of that was for you to see what is believed to have happened to both of the Petty Officers." Kate turned around to face Gibbs. "Abby made it from the autopsy results and report that Ducky wrote."

"Ducky wrote a report?" Kate asked. "Why haven't I read it?" Gibbs reached over and grabbed Abby's copy off the bench and handed it to her.

"Read it, thoroughly." Gibbs ordered. "Then watch that again. Let me know when you're done." He left Kate and Tony alone in the lab to do as he had asked.

"What a bastard," Tony said, walking over to Abby's computer, "I can't believe he got her to do that. He got her to create a simulation." He slammed his fist down on the bench.

"He must have had a purpose though, Tony," Kate said calmly, "He's Gibbs." She flicked through the document quickly before turning it back to the first page to read it properly. She sauntered slowly over to Tony where he began reading over her shoulder.

Kate took her time reading Ducky's autopsy report; she was continually distracted by vivid images entering her mind and she found herself reading several sections over and over again until she felt that she had understood it well enough. Tony had read it somewhat faster, but waited patiently for Kate to turn the pages.

She closed the report without saying a word and reached over to Abby's keyboard so that she could watch the simulation again. Tony's hand grabbed her wrist just before she pressed 'enter'. He didn't say anything to her; he merely lowered her hand down to her side. Slowly, he moved his hand down from her wrist to her and hand and entwined his fingers with hers. Kate looked up at Tony and stared into his deep green eyes. He was trying to protect her, but she didn't understand why.


Ok, so that's Chapter 9. Please review…even if you just write one word! The more reviews I get, the sooner I will post Chapter 10!