Epilogue

"I'm out." Gibbs said and unloaded his gun only to reload it after a few seconds in swift motions.

"Me, too." The female agent replied loudly, starting to shout mere seconds later while she was sprinting towards her boss. "Shooter!"


In a split decision Kate jumped and dived through the air. Just in time to take the bullet which was meant to hit her gray-haired boss. Both male agents jumped to life and tried to take aim at the invisible shooter.

"Kate? Are you okay?" Tony´s concerned voice was heard as soon as they were assured that nobody was shooting at them for the moment. She opened her eyes and recognized her boss and co-worker hurrying over to see how she is doing or if she was seriously injured.

"Ow! I just got shot at point blank range, DiNozzo. What do you think?" The brunette answered his question, groaning loudly as soon as she moved only the slightest bit.

"You're not going to be going to Pilates class tomorrow?" The Italian replied jokingly and helped his female fellow agent stand up again, smiling at her in a reassuring way.

"Protection detail is over." Jethro jumped into the conversation, looking straight into Caitlin´s dark brown eyes.

"You did good." Tony spoke up again and Caitlin couldn´t help but crack a smile at her partner´s honest compliment.

"For once, DiNozzo is right." The silver-haired man confirmed the Italian´s statement and his deep blue eyes were twinkling friendly, but at the same time showed that he was relieved that she was okay.

"Wow. I thought I'd die before I ever-" She couldn´t end the sentence because a gunshot rang out, hitting her right on the forehead. It seemed to take hours until she hit the ground, dead. Gibbs and DiNozzo instinctively aimed at the direction were the bullet came from, trying to make out the sniper´s nest and flush him before he would move on to shooting them too.

Gibbs awoke with a start and inhaled deeply, staring up at the ceiling in an attempt to calm himself when he heard her voice from the other side of the bed. "What´s wrong?"

He sighed and turned around, facing Kate who was looking up at him with tired but at the same time concerned brown eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second before he trusted himself enough to speak, without revealing how much that dream actually bothered him. "I´m fine. Go back to sleep, Katie."

"Sure and I´m Santa Claus." She replied dryly and he grinned slightly. Gibbs forgot how well she knew him and how she always demanded the truth from him. This moment didn´t differ from others so he told her what was really bothering him.

"I just had a nightmare…" The gray-haired man just said and saw that she still wasn´t satisfied with that answer. Though she wanted to know about what he dreamt Caitlin knew that he would tell her and she didn´t need to ask. Instead of speaking up again she moved towards him and cuddled up against his chest, feeling his arms come to rest around her. "I saw you on the rooftop… And then the bastard pulled the trigger."

"But he didn´t kill me for real." The brunette stated confidently and felt her boyfriend´s nod. "I´m here with you, Jethro, and I´m not going to leave anytime soon."

"That´s good to know." He whispered and kissed the top of her head. The younger woman snuggled as close to him as humanly possible and slowly her breath evened out, the sign for Gibbs that she drifted off to sleep again. The older investigator was more than just glad that she was here with him, he knew that he wouldn´t be able to forgive himself if he let her go again, ever.

"You should really sleep now, Gibbs." The brunette mumbled and opened one eye to look up at her boyfriend. He just chuckled lowly and nodded.

"Sure thing, Katie."

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So much for Nemesis. I decided to post both the last Chapter and the Epilogue so this is completed. I hope you liked reading the story as much as I liked writing it. Take care, HR.