Thanks to jtbwriter for the input on one key part of this chapter. Seriously, I appreciate you! And, for everyone else…I found this chapter difficult to write, so don't be too harsh, 'k? Thanks.

Gibbs and Kate pulled into the marina parking lot and found the Jackson family already waiting for them. Gibbs held out his hand as he approached Allison's husband. "It's good to see you again, Commander Jackson. I'm glad it's under better circumstances this time."

Commander Jackson smiled. "Likewise. And please, call me John."

Gibbs nodded. "Jethro," he responded.

Gibbs reintroduced himself to Allison, as well, and then bent over with his hands on his knees to say hello to Hannah, whom he was meeting for the first time. "Good morning, Hannah," he said with a smile. "My name is Jethro. Are you excited about going on the boat?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Hannah exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and down. Gibbs grinned and stood up, taking Kate's hand in his. The cooler with food and drinks was loaded onto the boat, the group boarded with their belongings, and soon they were on their way.

As they ran downriver, Gibbs found himself thoroughly enjoying the antics of Hannah, who was excited to have fresh blood in her captive audience. She made faces, sang songs, and danced around the helm as Kate drove. A few minutes later, Kate slowed and asked Hannah with a grin if she wanted to ride on the tube. Hannah jumped up and down with glee, and so a few moments later, she was lying on her belly, nestled between her mom and dad on the tube behind the boat.

John waved to signal Kate that they were ready, and Kate accelerated. Gibbs was sitting next to her with his chair swiveled around to face the stern. He watched the little family tubing and asked Kate, "How is she doing? Will she have any long-term trauma, do you think?"

Kate answered without looking at him, her eyes on the river ahead. "Allison brought her in to see me yesterday for a follow-up. Her urinary tract infection is cleared up, and her genital area is pretty much healed, so physically, she'll be fine. I asked Ally about Hannah's emotional state, and she said that Hannah really seems to be okay. They had a hard time trying to decide how to explain Duke's death to her, but when they finally did tell her, she didn't really react that much, so they're not sure whether she really understands. I think Allison's going to have her do a few sessions with a child psychologist, just to make sure there's not something deeper going on, emotionally, but if I had to guess, I'd say she's young enough that she'll eventually forget all about it."

Gibbs nodded. "Good," he said. "And John? How's he dealing with all of this?"

Kate frowned. "That one's a little tougher. He's not so much mourning Duke's death as he is the realization that his brother isn't the person that John thought he was. He's having a hard time reconciling his grief over losing his brother with the fact that his brother sexually abused his daughter. Hannah is John's little princess, so this has been torture for him. I think he'll be all right, though."

The Jacksons remained with them until early afternoon, when Kate took them back to the marina so they could get to a birthday party that Hannah was attending. Goodbyes were said and soon Gibbs and Kate were back on the water looking for a good spot to stop and take a swim. Finding a nice inlet with plenty of shade and no other boats, they threw out anchor and prepared to get in the water. Kate removed her cover-up, revealing a pale lavender bikini that made Gibbs' teeth sweat. This one was a bit skimpier than the previous weekend's edition, and Gibbs inspected it appreciatively. As he pulled his shirt off, he stepped forward, took her face in his hands, and pressed his lips to hers in a blazing kiss that left her gripping his waist and breathing heavily. When he finally broke the kiss, he kissed along her jaw line to her neck, and with his lips just below her left ear, he whispered, "You are incredibly beautiful." She closed her eyes and allowed her head to roll back as he kissed her neck. He continued, between kisses, "This is happening so fast…but I can't help it. I've never connected with someone so quickly before. I can't stop thinking about you…and I don't want to." He pulled back and looked into her eyes. They were smoldering with unconcealed desire. She clenched his sides as she breathed, "I'm glad it's not just me. I don't think you've left my mind since you first walked into my office." He sighed with pleasure and pressed his lips to hers once again. She broke the kiss a moment later and said, "C'mon. Let's get in the water…I could use some cooling off," she said wryly.

She ran her hands down his chest and then stepped away from him, diving smoothly into the water. Gibbs followed and they spent the next half hour swimming before Kate decided that she wanted a drink. "You think your stomach can handle a beer?" she asked.

He considered. "I'll give it a shot. We'll see."

She climbed up the swim ladder, Gibbs on her heels, and dug two beers out of the cooler. They sat on the long seat on the back of the boat, drinking in silence for a moment, and Gibbs suddenly realized that Kate looked nervous. Really nervous. He didn't voice his observation, instead choosing to wait until she was ready to share whatever was on her mind. A few more moments passed, and she took a deep breath and lowered her beer.

"I've been thinking about my birthday, and, um…I know what I want." Gibbs raised his eyebrows and looked at her expectantly. She sucked in a lungful of air and when she spoke again, her voice was shaking. "I want you to stay the night with me." He locked eyes with her and nodded, making clear that he understood the part of her request that she left unspoken. She gulped down some more of her beer. "But…there's something else I need you to know." She paused, swallowing hard again, and Gibbs took a long drink from his beer, wondering what had her wound up so tightly. She took another deep breath, and he saw that her hands were shaking. "I'm, uh….I'm actually a virgin."

Gibbs froze, bottle at his lips. He blinked once, hard. Slowly, he lowered the bottle from his lips and swallowed the beer in his mouth, thankful he hadn't choked. He stared at her and said in a low voice, "You're… a virgin."

She looked at him, both nervous and amused by his reaction. "I am."

It took him a moment to come up with a response. Finally, he said, "How is that even possible? You are…beautiful, intelligent, intriguing…" he trailed off, bewildered. "And you want…me…"

Kate sighed. Sharing this information with him had taken all of her courage, and she was worried about his reaction. "Look," she said. "I just haven't dated all that much—I mean, when have I had the time? Let's see," she started ticking things off on her fingers. "In high school, I got up at four a.m. and was in the gym until eight, when I left to go to school for a few hours. I was back in the gym by 2 o'clock, and stayed until six, when I went home, wolfed down some dinner, did homework, and crashed so that I could do it all over again the next day. College was the same, except longer hours in the gym and a demanding Ivy League course load. Then came medical school." She rolled her eyes. "Right," she snorted. Then there was my residency—eighty hour workweeks, and then when that was over, trying to establish my practice." She shrugged. "I mean…sure, I've dated here and there, but besides the time factor, until now I've really never found anyone that I cared to see more than once or twice." She paused, searching for a way to explain it. "And the more time that passed, as I realized I was an anomaly amongst people my age, sure, it bothered me a little bit, but it seemed stupid to sleep with somebody I didn't care about just for the sake of losing my virginity. I just…" she paused, looking down. "I just never have found someone that I felt was worthy enough to have that part of me…" she looked him in the eye now, "until I met you."

Gibbs was speechless.

She looked at him apprehensively. "Please say something, J. You have no idea how hard it was to tell you that."

At her words, Gibbs' face relaxed from its frozen look of surprise, and he moved toward her on the seat. He took her face in his hands and kissed her slowly, then said, "You are amazing, and brave, and probably the sexiest woman alive. I have no idea why you care for me, but I am so glad you do."

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Kate watched Gibbs carefully as he drove back to her house from the marina. He seemed deep in thought. She felt a like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders now that she had told him what she needed to, but she wondered what was going through his mind now. She had a feeling that her admission had rattled him more than he had let on. "J," she began, "Are you still thinking about our conversation from earlier?"

He looked over at her. "Yes," he said candidly.

"What are you thinking?" she asked earnestly.

"I'm thinking that I suddenly feel a lot of pressure where I didn't feel any before," he said.

Kate was surprised. "Why is that?" she questioned.

He laughed. "Kate, you've never slept with anybody before, and I get to be the first one? That's a hell of a lot of expectation to live up to," he said, sounding both amused and tense.

Kate couldn't help but laugh. "Wait, wait. You're the one that's worried about expectations? That's a little backward, don't you think? How many women have you slept with?" she asked rhetorically.

Gibbs paused. "More than I care to remember," he said, shaking his head.

"Then perhaps you can see where I might conceivably be the one who should be nervous about expectations?" she said playfully. "Seriously, J, I have no idea what it is that I have to live up to as far as your sexual experiences are concerned. I, on the other hand, have no expectations, so you can relax. Besides…I thought men generally enjoyed the idea of bedding a virgin…?" she trailed off, unsure.

"Sure," he said in a low voice, nodding. "Most probably do. I, on the other hand, am already slightly insecure about our age difference. Quite honestly, I wonder what you see in me as it is, and the thought of being your…well…your first lover is a little intimidating," he said, smiling his crooked smile. He turned serious then. "Plus," he said quietly, "I'm worried about hurting you."

"Worried about hurting me?" Kate said. "Why?" She paused and then continued before he could answer. "J, I'm sorry, but it can't hurt that much. I've heard a lot of stories from other women about the pain of childbirth, but I don't think I've ever heard a single story about the excruciating pain of losing one's virginity. I'm sure it's uncomfortable for a moment, but it can't be that bad. Besides," she snorted, "when it comes to pain…I've, uh…I've got a tolerance," she finished teasingly, pointing to the long, white scar on her knee.

He looked at the scar and shook his head. "I still don't want to hurt you," he said in a low voice.

Kate laughed. "There's something you need to see that I think will put your mind at ease."

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Gibbs and Kate walked in her front door and deposited their bags on the floor. Kate went to her entertainment center, located a DVD, and tossed it to Gibbs. "Let's have a look at this, shall we?" she said, her voice full of mirth.

Gibbs looked at the disc. The case had a picture of a young—probably teenage—Kate in a leotard, and was titled "Kate's Greatest Hits." He raised his eyebrows.

Kate laughed. "My brother put this together for me a few years ago. We have video of all my competitions, of course, but there's quite a bit of video from practices, too." Her eyes twinkled. "Will decided awhile back that he would present me with a collage of all my greatest wipeouts." She winked at him. "It's a classic. Wanna see?"

Gibbs grinned in spite of himself. "Sure."

Kate laughed again and inserted the DVD.

Gibbs watched, intrigued, as the title came on the screen. A moment passed, and Gibbs smiled as the Surfaris' greatest hit, "Wipeout," began to play and he got his first glimpse of a very young Kate—"I was ten there," she said with a grin—missing a landing on the vault. "Ouch," he said, wincing, as he watched her under-rotate right onto her belly on the mat behind the vault.

The video montage continued, showing footage of Kate wiping out on every apparatus, at every age. He watched her mature from a gangly ten-year-old to a more experienced sixteen-year-old to an athlete competing at the collegiate level, and he was amazed at the level of discipline she displayed. He observed her reaction as she landed the tumbling run that cost her her ACL as a thirteen-year-old; he watched as she missed a simple back handspring on the balance beam as a college freshman; that mistake resulted in a dislocated left shoulder, she whispered in his ear as he watched. The Kate he saw on-screen was stoic, reacting minimally to what he was sure must be excruciating pain. She grinned by side when he winced as he watched her miss a release move on the bars, slamming her face into the high bar ("Broken nose," she murmured.). The carnage continued for another minute or so before the video—blessedly—came to a close with a series of clips of Kate executing perfect dismounts from the bars, beam, and vault, and landing a perfect tumbling run on the floor. As the screen went black, Kate turned to Gibbs and smirked. "See? I think you can relax. I'm fairly impervious to pain at this point."

Gibbs had a pained look on his face. "Yeah. Apparently," he muttered.

She leaned toward him. "Seriously," she whispered in his ear. "Stop worrying." She punctuated her statement with a sensuous kiss to his neck, making him shiver. "And by the way," she murmured, as she continued kissing his neck and throat as he tangled his hands in her hair, "I didn't mean to give you the impression that I'm completely inexperienced sexually. I'm not." At this, he pulled back and looked at her. She continued, "I only said I was a virgin, not that I was a total prude when it comes to the, ah, pleasures of the flesh," she said, laughing lightly.

Gibbs studied her. "I suppose that makes me feel a little better," he said in a low voice before he claimed her lips with his own.

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The next few days passed quickly, and Gibbs made the final arrangements for Kate's gift, and on Wednesday, the one night they both had free that week, he cooked dinner for her at his house. After they ate, they moved to the living room and as Gibbs sank down on the couch, he saw Kate looking once again at the picture of Shannon and Kelly. Her next words shocked him.

"Tell me about her," Kate requested quietly. "What was Shannon like?"

Gibbs was speechless for a moment. Kate picked up the picture and moved to the couch with it, settling herself against the arm of the couch with her feet resting on his left thigh. She studied the picture for a moment more and then looked up at him. "Or am I overstepping my bounds?" she asked when she didn't get a response.

"No," he said quietly. "I was just surprised. I don't think another woman has ever asked me that question before." He paused again and then smiled wistfully. "She was a lot like you in some ways, and not at all in others. She was sort of an old soul for being so young when we met, and she saw things very clearly. She loved life. And she was strong." He shook his head fondly at the memory of her. "But she was also feisty and had to have the last word in an argument," he grinned. "Sometimes she didn't fight fair, but she could always admit later that she had been wrong. She—" Here, he paused, as if unsure whether he should continue, then plunged ahead. "She was a passionate lover and an incredible mother. Kelly adored her." He stopped before he became emotional.

Kate nodded. She ran her finger along the picture. "She was beautiful," she said appreciatively. "…And the red hair? Is that just a coincidence, or…?"

Gibbs smiled, understanding the question. "No. I like red."

"And Kelly?" she murmured. "What was your little girl like?"

Gibbs swallowed hard and then shook his head. "I can't," he said in a tight voice. "Not unless you want to see a grown man cry this evening," he whispered.

Kate nodded. "It's okay," she breathed. "Sorry."

Gibbs shook his head. "Don't apologize," he said in a low voice. "I'm glad you want to know about them." He took her right foot in his hands and began massaging gently, pleased when her head lolled back in pleasure. Kate, for her part, placed the picture of Shannon and Kelly to the side and surrendered herself to his strong hands.