Katie, you're a brave girl
Courage is something I'll need now
Because it's been a hell of a day
I've spent fading away
But we all fade sometimes

Kate had gone downstairs with a small bag five minutes after she had sent Ari out, avoiding her brothers as she made a bee line through the kitchen to her parents, explaining to them that she had to go back to Washington for a few days to be there for Abby. They hadn't asked her any questions like her brothers had (Who had also threatened to call April, the oldest sibling, to come talk to Kate), instead they asked if her friend was okay, and when she would be coming back.

She couldn't give a defiant answer to either of those questions, instead saying goodbye to her nieces, ignoring her brothers, who were still shouting questions, and walking out the front door.

Only to come face to face with Ari, who was casually leaning against one of the wooden columns on the front patio.

"I told you to leave" Kate snapped, walking past him. She stopped and looked out at the driveway. She didn't have a car.

Ari raised an eyebrow. "I will take you to the airport, and I will return to Washington with you"

Kate stared at him before sighing. "Only because I don't have a car" She said.

Ari smirked. "Alright" He said, putting a hand on her lower back and guiding her to the blue motorcycle he had parked between two of her brothers' cars. "You do not have any luggage" He stated.

"After I go see Abby, I'm coming back" She said, eyeing the bike next to her. "Blue. That's not like you"

"Yes, you see" He leaned down slightly. "I may not have acquired this legally"

Kate punched him in the arm. "Ari!"

Ari shrugged a shoulder, handing her the extra helmet that was in the seat compartment, replacing it with the shoulder bag she had grabbed on her way out. "The owner will not notice. It was parked in the long-term parking structure at the airport"

The sides of Kate's mouth twitched up, turning serious again when she remembered the reason she had sent Ari out in the first place.

"We have to talk" She said, internally scolding herself for how much of a cliché that sounded like.

Ari nodded. "Yes. But after you make sure your friend is alright"

Those words finally sent Kate into the reality of what had happened in the past twenty-five minutes. She swallowed and looked out to the street. She felt Ari's hand on her hip as he pressed his lips to her temple.

"Abby will be alright" Ari murmured, pulling back and sitting on the bike.

"What about your back?" Kate asked, putting her helmet on and sitting on the bike behind him, leaning back so she wouldn't touch his back. Ari's arms reached back and grabbed hers, wrapping them around his torso. She felt him tense up when she pressed against his injured back. "Ari..."

"It is not as bad now, Caitlin" He said. "Do not let go" Was the last thing he said before starting the bike and tearing out of the driveway.

"I hate that guy" Warren said as the three brothers stared out of the living room window, watching as Kate and her husband talked on the front deck. Nick, Warren's boyfriend, came up behind him and looked over his shoulder.

"You've never met him" Nick pointed out. Warren looked sideways and glared.

"That's the point" Drake said as the guy put a hand on Kate's back and walked downstairs. "We don't know who he is"

James sighed. "She'll tell us everything eventually" He said. "I mean...It took her over a year to tell us she joined the Secret Service"

"Family for Abigail Sciuto?" A doctor wearing dark blue scrubs asked as he walked into the waiting room, which was now scattered with the family and friends of the employees of NCIS.

McGee was the first to his feet, walking quickly to the doctor, followed closely by Tony, Ziva and Ducky. No-one knew where Gibbs was. He had come to the hospital when Abby was first brought in, but disappeared shortly after when he went for coffee an hour before hand.

"I'm her boyfriend" McGee said quickly, worry coursing through him. "Is she alright? The baby?"

"Miss. Sciuto is suffering from severe smoke inhalation, so we've put her on a ventilator to help her breathe" He said. "And the baby is fine for now, as long as Miss. Sciuto's condition doesn't deteriorate in the next 24 hours"

"Can I see her?" McGee asked. When the doctor gave him a nod, the Special Agent walked quickly past him and down the hall where they had taken wheeled her.

He froze in the doorway when he reached Abby's room. All he saw was how pale she looked, the way her pigtails were now crooked and the tube in her throat that was hooked up to the ventilator that was breathing for her beside her bed. There were two monitors that were showing both hers and their baby's heartbeat, both sounding steady.

He stepped into the room, moving towards the seat beside the hospital bed and settling himself down into it. He took Abby's right hand in his and squeezed, hoping that she knew he was there with her. His other hand reached into his pocket and fished around for the ring box he had grabbed out of his desk when the fire alarm at NCIS first sounded.

He pulled out the engagement ring and slipped it onto her right ring finger. He knew she didn't want to get married yet, but when she woke up he would tell her that it could just be a promise ring, rather than an engagement.

Outside the room, the rest of the Team stood watching the scene in the room. Ducky started to talk about an old friend who was caught up in a forest fire and suffered smoke inhalation in the late 1980's. Ziva's phone rang loudly behind the Medical Examiner, earning her many glares from the Nurses and Doctors that were sitting at the nearby Nurse's station.

"You're supposed to turn that off" Tony said to her. "Or put it on silent, like everyone does" He mock-whispered.

Ziva waved a hand in front of Tony's face as she pulled out her ringing cell phone. Tony managed to glance at the screen and see the words 'Director David' flash up before Ziva answered with a string of Hebrew and walking away back down the hall.

During the entire flight back to Washington Kate and Ari sat in silence. Ari had taken out a book in a language that Kate couldn't identify and began reading. He had given Kate a book that she had mentioned she wanted to read the last time he was with her; but it laid abandoned on the pull-down table in front of her.

When they touched down in Washington in the late afternoon, Ari's hand never left her lower back; something she was thankful for. When she told him that she would be able to find her own way to Bethesda he shook his head, saying that he would accompany her until she was sure that Abby was alright. She didn't refuse. Mostly because she didn't have the energy to argue with him anymore.

They got to the hospital as the sun began to sink behind the buildings and street lights began flicking on. It had only clicked in Kate's head that Ari would not be accepted well walking into the hospital and facing Gibbs when the taxi pulled into the Bethesda Naval Hospital parking lot, so Ari decided to stay outside and find some coffee for the two of them.

"Kate?" A voice said from behind her as she reached the front nurse's station. She turned around to find Jimmy Palmer standing behind her holding two Styrofoam cups, a tea-tag hanging out of one of them.

"Hello Palmer" She said tiredly. "How's Abby?"

"Oh...She's on a ventilator. But she and the baby are still alive" He said, fidgeting with the cups.

"Baby?" Kate asked, her eyes widening.

Palmer's eyes widened even more than hers. "Oh! You didn't know!...Ah, Doctor Mallard wanted some tea...so..." He trailed off. "But Abby's in room 322. Everyone's there"

What is this?, Kate thought, Information over load day?.

She followed the young M.E. to the third floor and down a series of hallways until she saw Tony, Ziva and Ducky sitting in some chairs outside a room. Ziva spotted her first, standing and walking to her before asking quietly;

"Have you heard from Ari?"

Kate nodded. "He's outside. He came to Indiana last night"

Kate barely finished her sentence before Ziva whooshed past her in a blur of brown hair and black clothes. Tony approached Kate a moment later with a confused look on his face.

"What was that all about?" He asked.

Kate rolled her eyes. "What's this DiNozzo? No hello?"

"Hello, Kate" He said in a winy voice, as if his mother had told him to do so.

"Where's Gibbs?" She asked, looking into the room beside them and seeing McGee asleep with his head on Abby's arm.

Tony shrugged. "He disappeared when Abby was brought in" He said. "I even tried calling Director Sheppard a couple of times"

"Why would Director Sheppard know?" Kate asked, her eyebrows creasing together in confusion.

Tony raised an eyebrow and gave her a look. She gaped at him as he nodded.

"Well, I can only take a shot in the dark at what the Boss does when he disappears into Director Sheppard's office during the day"

An hour later, Tony and Kate watched as Ziva walked back towards them with an irritated look on her face.

"I am sorry, Tony" Ziva said stopping a few feet away from the two sitting Agents. "But I must leave, give Abby and McGee my best"

Tony practically jumped to his feet. "What do you mean leave?"

Ziva put a hand on his chest and gave him a soft smile. "Do not worry. It only means I need to go home, to the apartment"

Kate almost gagged at the relieved look on Tony's face, an opinion which she voiced to the Senior Field Agent once he had turned around to find where the scoffing noise had come from.

Ziva smirked, something Kate always found unnerving that it was almost identical to Ari's. "Kate, Ari is outside. He is asking for you"

Oops, Kate thought. She completely forgot she had left Ari outside. She was distracted by her short visit into Abby's room once McGee had woken up and gone in search for coffee that didn't come from the hospital cafeteria. She nodded at Ziva before saying that she would be back and setting off towards the line of elevators down the hall.

He was sitting on a bench just to the left of the main doors of the hospital, two coffees in hand. He silently held one up to her when she tiredly sat down beside him and took it gratefully. It was still hot, meaning Ari had anticipated she would be a while inside. He knew her too well.

"How is your friend?" He asked, turning on the seat to fact her.

She frowned. "She hasn't woken up yet. But the doctor said she should hopefully wake up soon"

Ari nodded and rested his free arm along the back of the bench, his hand resting on the back of her shoulder. He took a sip from the cup in his hand and waited patiently for Kate to say what she had on her mind.

She finally gave him a sad smile. "We were never going to have a long relationship, were we?"

Ari shook his head. "No" He said, his hands moving to play with the ends of her hair. "Although, I had never expected to be with anyone longer then I have been with you"

"I just expected Gibbs to shoot you" She said with a shrug, sipping her coffee to hide a smile.

Ari smirked. "Yes. I have not ruled that out yet, he still does not seem to like me very much"

Kate laughed, almost chocking on the sip of coffee she was trying to swallow. "I didn't notice" She said sarcastically.

Ari turned around to throw his empty coffee cup into the trash can was screwed into the ground beside the bench before standing up, brushing some dirt off his sleeve as Kate joined him, holding her coffee with both hands.

Ari tilted his head down slightly to look at her, after all, he was at least a foot taller than her. But she didn't look back at him, instead staring down at the cup in her hands.

"Caitlin"

His voice snapped her out of whatever she was thinking about, making her finally look at him. She looked up at him with that sad smile expression across her face, which made Ari's gut clench with all those stupid things that he always ignored in his life.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, using a hand to brush her hair away from her face, tucking the long brown strands behind her ear. His other hand landed on her hip as he moved his head back slightly to look at her, keeping his hands exactly where they were.

"You must believe me when I say that nothing happened with that woman" He murmured as Kate put her free hand on his chest.

She sighed. "To be honest-"

"You are never honest. Why would start now?" He said with a smirk.

She poked him hard in the chest. "Shut up. But really, our relationship has been doomed from the start"

Ari couldn't help but let out a low chuckle. "Now, I believe I told you very early on that it was a bad idea"

Kate rolled her eyes and began to step back, but Ari's arm was suddenly around her waist, and his lips were against hers.

It felt different, but she couldn't figure it out at first. It was different to the many kisses the two had shared over the last few years. It clicked in her head when they pulled away from each other that it was more than likely their last. And she had been concentrating on what it was rather than the kiss itself.

Ari stepped back and gave her a rare smile.

"Goodbye, Caitlin"

Do not cry, Kate thought angrily.

She moved to slip the rings on her finger off when Ari suddenly stopped her.

"No" He said quietly. "Keep them"

"Today sucks" She deadpanned angrily, turning around to forcefully throw her empty cup into the trash can.

Ari chuckled at her. "Yes, it does"

"You should go" She said in the voice she used whenever she was interrogating a suspect, crossing her arms over her chest.

Ari nodded and turned without a word. Kate watched after him until she saw the blue motorcycle disappear out of the hospital parking lot.

Her chest hurt. All she wanted to do right at that moment was go home, find some alcohol and drink until she passed out. Which wasn't going to be the best course of action, but it was better than crying.

A hand gently touched her shoulder, making her whip around with a surprised noise flying out of her mouth, only to find Gibbs standing there with a coffee in his hand.

"Oh, sorry Gibbs" She said with a frown.

He stared at her which an expression that told her he had witnessed her whole interaction with Ari.

Fantastic, She thought bitterly.

"Well Gibbs, now you can stop being pissed off at me" She snapped. "You should be happy now he's out of your life-"

"Kate" He said a little loudly, stopping her before a full-blown rant began. "Go home. Get some sleep. You need it"

Kate stared at her Boss for a few moments, not really sure what to make of that. Although, she was pretty sure that was going to be the closest thing to Gibbs being nice to her about the whole situation. She smiled slightly.

"Ring me if anything happens to Abby" She said.

Gibbs nodded and handed her the keys to his truck. She took them gratefully and began her search for the vehicle.

When she got home she found most of Ari's things gone, except for a few of his clothes which were still waiting to be washed.

She also found a half empty bottle of scotch. It was empty by the morning.

One more chapter.

Reviews are awesome, you know that. So, be awesome.

xoxElle