Thank you, faithful readers. Trying to get back into writing regularly. I feel like it's the same mantra, but it's very true… my work life is taking over my free time. Hoping things calm down, or at least that I can keep carving out time to write. Enjoy.
Kate grumbled sleepily and curled, body shifting from something trying to drag it out of sleep. As she turned, she caught his familiar scent in the pillow, breathing it in and snuggling closer into the comfort.
His lips clung to hers, moving slowly, taking full lingering kisses and pulling back only long enough for her to catch gasps of oxygen as her body gradually gave way to a pleasant tiredness. One callused hand stroked slowly from her hip to the small of her back, the other running the nape of her neck, lifting the tresses to let the room's air cool her.
Kate was the first to pull back this time, smiling drowsily at his grunt of protest. As he shifted, her leg tightened a little, keeping them still. "Wanna stay like this for now," she murmured into the crook of his neck. She felt, rather than heard his agreement, those lips now dropping a kiss to the top of her head, arms banding around to help her relax comfortably against him.
Her husband's hand finally slid over her hip again, brushing against the gentle curve pressing ever so slightly against his stomach. "Love you both."
"We love you, too," she answered, taking a deep breath and taking a moment to tuck this into memory.
Something pressed against her again, and Kate instinctively moved a second time, a shifting of covers and something else dragging her finally from sleep. Blinking in the low light of the room, only a little morning light barely filtering through the half-closed curtains, Kate spied a small guest kneeling beside her.
"Kay-kay," Natalie whispered, lightly poking one little finger against Kate's side.
"Heeeyyy," she murmured, rubbing her eyes and pulling the covers closer for a minute before she realized that she was wearing the oversized NIS shirt. L.J. had started to pull it off, when she reminded him, between kisses, of their guests. "I swear, the door's locked," he had teased with a little tap to the exact spot on her butt where her tattoo still remained. Vaguely she remembered that he had wrangled her into it before slipping out of bed a while ago. She had protested tiredly, but now realized she would have to make it up to him.
Natalie was still her footie pajamas—an outrageous pair of back ones with white skulls with pink bows. Kate had been a little aghast when she saw what Abby had found, not wanting to offend the goth but not sure how the three year old would feel. Natalie, however, had fallen in love with them immediately and insisted on an early bath so she could put them on. It was clear, however, that Natalie's grandmother wasn't sure what to think.
"Need you awaked up," the little girl protested, poking at Kate again, a little firmer, though not enough to hurt.
A quick yawn, and Kate was awake enough to realize that Gibbs was not in here. As she pushed herself into sitting, she also realized that whatever Natalie had to say was going to have to wait just a few minutes. "I'm awake," she answered, patting the bed beside her to coax the little girl away from the edge. "Can you sit here a minute, and I'll be right back?"
The dark head nodded, and she let Kate pull the covers around her. With a gentle ruffle to the bed-head the girl was sporting, Kate turned to the adjoining bathroom. A few minutes later, she returned in a pair of flannel pajama pants she'd unearthed from the hamper and her robe.
Natalie looked a little drowsy, but also very serious. One finger was tracing the idle pattern of a wrinkle in the bedspread.
"What's wrong, Nat?" she asked gently, climbing in and fluffing up a few pillows for back support.
The little girl crawled into her lap and burrowed in. "Wanna stay with you."
Kate swallowed hard, not sure if it was easier or harder that this kid was getting straight to the point. It was eerily like her husband. "Your grandma is a very nice lady. I know you don't really remember her, but she loves you a lot."
"But… innnastayhere," came the protest, muffled into the soft fabric of Kate's robe.
Her fingers stroked through the tangled hair, careful not to pull. "I'm sorry," she whispered, feeling her own tears slide down her cheek. She bit back the word she wanted to say. The ones that had been in her husband's eyes the night before when he climbed into bed.
Kate set down the books she was reading and pulled back the corner of the covers in invitation. "Long day," she murmured, giving his hand a sympathetic squeeze.
The morning had started with a reunion, once everyone woke up. They had attempted brunch, with Natalie pointedly asking to sit by Kate and Gibbs and watching Lori warily. After that, she'd gone with their protection detail to NCIS to get some work done and to leave Natalie in the care of Abby and Tony while Gibbs and Lori returned to the hospital to begin the process of completing a lot of paperwork and to get a dismal update on Angela's status: critical.
"I wish it was easier," Kate had sighed when he climbed in beside her and stretched out on his back with a grunt. "I wish…" The words had trailed off, and his tired eyes lifting up to meet hers. And she knew. He wished at least as much as she did… but they couldn't.
Red-rimmed eyes lifted from the robe, and Natalie sniffled. "I'll be good," she promised solemnly, then pleading.
Kate caught her thin shoulders and made sure she had eye contact. "Nat, you are a very good girl. But you still have family that loves you. Your grandma and some aunts and uncles that live near her. You wouldn't ever get to see them and know them and let them love you if you stayed here."
Natalie sniffled, her bottom lip poking out stubbornly. "She… she smells funny."
The agent's mouth twitched as she tried not to smile at the comment. It was reaching, and the girl was trying for anything right now. "It's not nice to say that about someone. Her perfume is lavender, and it's a very nice smell."
"She doesn't telled the story right," Natalie whispered.
Lori had attempted bed time last night. Kate, after a consultation with Rachel, felt it was best to start letting Lori assume the more direct parenting role. She was the legal guardian, after all. Natalie had thrown a fit, refusing either of the books she had wanted to hear over and over the night before. After an exhausting forty minutes, Natalie had fallen to sleep, exhausted by her own tantrum. Lori had seen herself to bed shortly after.
"You have to help big people sometimes," Kate explained gently, tucking a wild lock of hair behind Natalie's ears. "Help her learn which stories. Hey," she carefully slid a finger under the stubborn chin and urged it up a bit. "Remember with Abby?"
She shook her head, confused.
"At first you didn't like Abby. You wanted to go out front when she wanted to go out back, and you didn't think her snowman was right. You wouldn't talk to her or play with her. But then you got to know her, and you like her a lot."
"Uh-huh," Natalie agreed with a sniffle. "We maded break…break… panacakes and she gotted me this," she poked at her pajamas.
"It's like that, honey. Sometimes you need to give someone a little more time, be nice to them and give them a chance before you decide you don't like it. And when you go with your grandma, if you ever need to talk, she has my number, and she'll let us talk, okay?"
Natalie's lips pressed into a thin line, but she didn't push the point further for now, and Kate took it as a truce for the moment. It didn't take too much coaxing to get out of bed and make their way to the kitchen to find some breakfast.
It took extra time to get out the door, Lori managing to coax Natalie into picking out clothes and pack up a little bag of activities before the women headed out for the Navy Yard with Gibbs to follow later. Lori's attempts at small talk with her granddaughter fell flat, but Kate tried to give an encouraging smile. She sighed to herself. They had a long way to go.
