Chapter 12

Ok folks, sorry for the delay. Real life has been hectic for me and my beta. Hope to post more soon. Enjoy.

Sitting in the commissary facing Gibbs, with Sam still watching them from her position just outside, Jack had decided that enough was enough. He firmly believed that he had done enough to be able to sleep in Sam's bed and not on the pull-out bed, if that could even be classed as a bed. Well, it wasn't his fault that Gibbs was refusing to make a decision, and it definitely wasn't his fault if that decision didn't satisfy his fiancée, who was a straight-down-the-line scientist hiding a completely sappy romantic within. No, not his fault at all.

He was out of ideas. How on earth – or any planet or moon you cared to name – was he going to get Gibbs to talk things over with Kate? First, though, Gibbs really needed to sort out how he felt, and Jack had no idea how he was going to get him to do that! Daniel had somehow managed to get him to talk things over with Sam, but Gibbs was proving to be even more stubborn than he'd been himself, something he didn't think would have been possible. But with Gibbs' refusal to admit how he felt about Kate – and Jack wondered if the man even knew himself how he really felt about her, or if he was just being stubbornly obtuse, given his last useless answer – Jack decided that Gibbs most likely wanted to end this particular conversation nearly as much as he himself did. But really, what were they going to do with him? He wondered what Sam would say if they left without having accomplished anything. Maybe he should get Daniel to talk to him. Yeah, like that would go down well. Jack sighed and looked at Gibbs, stumped, wondering what he could possibly do or say to help them sort things out.

Outside the commissary, where Sam was keeping a watchful eye on her General, Abby arrived, surprising Sam when she spoke to her.

"Ah, Colonel..." Abby began, getting Sam's attention before continuing. "Is it ok to call you that? Or maybe it should be something more personal - Samantha, Sam..."

"Abby, you know that Colonel's fine, or Sam, like you used last night. What can I do for you?"

Abby began to pace. "Well, I've been thinking, and I know what Gibbs would say, but I'm not him. Well, you and I got on so well when we were working together and I think it's a shame to end things in such a bad way. And, well... I know I overreacted but, well, under the circumstances..."

It was late and Sam had a headache, so she stepped in front of Abby and put her hand on her arm to get her attention. Abby stopped abruptly and looked at the older woman.

"Abby, I'm confused. What's wrong?"

"Oh, right. Well, I wanted to apologise for before, you know, in the observation room when I snapped. Gibbs thinks apologies are a sign of weakness, and they can be, but they can also be nice to receive." She smiled sheepishly at Sam and tilted her head to one side, shrugging slightly.

"It's ok, Abby. I've been in enough situations like this one, when your friends are in danger, to know that at times you can feel totally helpless, and then you just lash out at whoever's closest."

"I know you have. That's why I want to apologise."

"How do you know?"

"Been talking to Vala. You know, she's quite an interesting lady." Abby started speaking faster and faster, becoming more and more animated, her eyes wide with excitement. "Did you know she's actually from outer space? She offered to set me up with a few of her old friends. Anyway, she told me some of the adventures you guys have had. Did you really blow up a sun? And Daniel, has he really died multiple times? It must have been an amazing, wild ride."

"It has and yes, they're both true."

"Wow." Abby just stood there, looking at Sam, before she looked around her as if just coming out of a dream. "So, have you seen Gibbs? I went to see Kate and he wasn't there."

Sam blinked at Abby's abrupt change of topic and took a moment before replying. "He's talking to General O'Neill in the commissary." Sam indicated with her thumb over her shoulder.

"Oh, well, I'll catch him later." Abby spotted Gibbs in the commissary and was content, knowing that General O'Neill was looking after him.

She turned back to Sam. "You know, I was thinking that we really haven't shown you our best teamwork here. We're usually much better than this. I mean, I know we caught the baddy but Kate got shot, McGee got knocked out, Gibbs... well, Gibbs is all over the place... I'm sure even you can see that. No, I didn't mean that like it sounded... stupid Abby. I meant, you haven't really known him and it takes a long time to get past the gruff exterior. And then Vala said Kate spent ages asking you if you were having an affair with the General. I mean, that really isn't like us. Sure, we ask questions and sometimes get a little hurt, but we've really been off our game this week. Maybe it's just finding out about all of this. You deal with it every day, but wow... It's amazing."

When Abby finally stopped to draw breath Sam realised that she was almost on the floor, laughing. Boy, could the woman cram big things into small sentences. It was hard keeping up with her as she jumped from one thing to another without a break.

"Thanks, Abby, I really needed that. And about your team's performance, don't worry, you should read some of our early mission reports. We were totally clueless."

Abby tilted her head to one side, now totally serious. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Shoot."

Abby did a dramatic look around her to check if anyone was listening. "Are you having an affair with the General? 'Cause he's hot," she said in a whisper.

Sam went a lovely shade of pink; she wasn't used to this type of conversation from someone on base. The closest she had come was Vala, and that was only when they weren't on duty.

"Uh... well... no affair..."

"But?"

"Well... we are together..."

"I knew it! I knew Kate was right. Just wait until I tell Tony! He totally ignored Kate. Huh, some investigator he is." She was about to move away when Sam grabbed her arm.

"Wait, Abby. This isn't something you can shout about around the base."

"Oh, I get it. It's a secret and all. Wait... is it allowed?"

Sam sighed and resigned herself to telling at least some of the story about her personal life. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about Jack, it was just that they really didn't know anyone who didn't know the story and so she wasn't used to talking about it.

"Look, General O'Neill was my CO. He got transferred, so did I, so we were no longer in the same chain of command, and then we started dating." Sam decided to leave the cabin details exactly where they belonged, between her, Jack and their two best friends. She was pretty sure the President hadn't even been told that little gem of information.

"Ok. So, why is it a secret?"

"Because Jack is important in D.C. and I'm important here. The President decided it was best not to complicate things."

"Wow! You actually had to run the plans for your love life past the President?" Abby's voice had risen by an octave.

"Yeah. Well, Jack did. I'm very glad not to have been involved in that conversation." Sam chuckled.

Abby was about to launch into another round of questions when the PA system clicked on.

"NCIS team to the infirmary, stat."

"Kate!" Abby cried and ran off.

Before Sam had a chance to follow her, Gibbs and Jack barrelled through the doorway, almost knocking her down.

"Come on, Gunny, this way's the fastest!" Jack yelled, and grabbed Sam by the arm. The three ran off together.

The beeping increased in volume as Ducky got closer to the infirmary. He could distinguish the alarm buzzer from the beeping of her heart beat but that wasn't sounding good, either. He rounded the final corner to see Abby, Jethro, General O'Neill and Colonel Carter coming towards him from the other direction.

"Ducky, what is it?" Abby cried out as she ran up to him, ahead of the three behind her.

"I only just got here, Abby. Let me find out," he tried to placate her.

"Do it, Ducky!" Gibbs ordered, clearly trying to stop himself from running into the room.

A young woman came out into the hallway and they all rushed over to her. It didn't bode well that her hands were covered in blood.

"Agent Gibbs, I need to ask you something about Agent Todd."

"Is she ok, Doc?" Jack jumped in.

"No, Sir, she's haemorrhaging. Agent Gibbs, I need to know if Agent Todd made any kind of living will. We're doing our best but we're about to step over the boundary of 'any extraordinary means' and I need to know if she wanted that."

"She never said," Gibbs said quietly. He'd been around enough hospital scenes to know that what was being discussed meant that Kate was close to death. He was suddenly filled with dread.

"As far as I know, Doctor, she made no such will," Ducky interjected.

"Very good, we'll continue then. Please wait out here. We'll do the best we can."

"May I observe?" Ducky asked. "I'm a doctor. Then I can report her condition to the others."

"Ok. You'll find some spare scrubs just inside," the doctor said, pushing open the door and rushing back in. Ducky held the door open as he looked at Gibbs, then entered the infirmary, the door swinging shut behind him.

Before any of them had a chance to move, Tony shuffled out of the infirmary, almost bumping into Gibbs.

"What the hell happened, DiNozzo?" Gibbs demanded.

Tony just looked at Gibbs, not able to say anything for a moment. He was looking as white as a sheet and Abby rushed to hug him. "Oh, Tony."

He hugged Abby back before looking back at Gibbs. "I don't know, Boss. I was doing my report, talking to her, you know, keeping her in touch with what was going on. Then the machines went nuts and she was choking and there was blood... everywhere." Tony stopped talking and was staring straight ahead.

"Jack, come on, let's leave them together..." Sam started.

Gibbs quickly looked at Jack. "No, stay. You know the people here. You can get some information for us," he said forcibly.

"Ok, let's just get ourselves a seat." Jack guided the group to the chairs at the end of the corridor and they all sat down.

As soon as Gibbs sat down, however, he got up and started to pace. He couldn't just sit there while Kate was hurt, while Kate was possibly dying. Oh, he couldn't do this. He'd arrived home from Kuwait knowing that Shannon was dead. Both she and his beautiful little girl had already been buried. He had already begun to deal with it and plan his revenge, almost before he visited the grave. That had been hard enough, but he didn't think he could be here, waiting while Kate's life was hanging in the balance. He suddenly stopped walking. Wait a minute, had he just compared his feelings for Shannon, his first wife and the love of his life, with those he had for Kate? In every other relationship that he'd been in since Shannon's death, he'd deliberately shut down any feelings he'd had whenever they'd started to deepen, even when he'd married them. He knew it was wrong but he couldn't seem to stop it at the time. But this, this was different.

Suddenly the door opened and Ducky appeared. Gibbs immediately rushed over to him.

"Ducky, what is it?"

"Uh... Jethro, she's stable at the moment." Ducky looked around at the others before looking back at Gibbs and lowering his voice. "Jethro, we need to speak alone."

Ducky took Gibbs' arm and guided him away from the others.

"Jethro, Kate had some complications with her lungs. The bullet nicked one and caused some breathing trouble."

"DiNozzo said there was a lot of blood."

"Yes, it built up in the lung and she was coughing it up." Ducky tried to explain without too much medical jargon.

"But she is going to be ok?"

Ducky took a deep breath. "Yes, Caitlin and her child should be fine, although both will need strict monitoring."

"Good." Gibbs was about to walk away when it hit him. "Ducky, what did you just say?"

"You heard, Jethro. Agent Todd is around 5 weeks pregnant."

"Should you be telling me this?" Ducky was usually so strict when it came to patient confidentiality.

"Well, I'm assuming that I'm talking to the baby's father. Would I be correct?"

It was like a curtain had come down over Gibbs' face, removing all emotion from it. "I really don't know, Ducky. You'd have to ask Agent Todd," Gibbs said curtly, then walked past him to speak to the others.

"What's going on, Boss?" McGee asked from his wheelchair he wheeled himself as quickly as possible down the hall from his room. He'd heard the commotion and had wanted to know what was happening.

"Kate's doing ok, just a problem with her lungs."

"Can we see her, please?" Abby asked, mainly directing her question at Ducky.

"Not yet, my dear. She's asleep now and will be for quite a while. Why don't you all go and get some sleep. You'll be able to see her in the morning once she's woken up." Ducky knew they may not want to leave but he also needed to give Gibbs time with Kate alone.

Abby and Tony reluctantly left, returning Tim to his room and then walking towards the elevator. Abby looked back at the others just once, with worry etched on her face, before the doors closed on them.

Jack and Sam stood as the three left. Jack looked at Gibbs and paused, not sure what to say. "We'll see you tomorrow." Gibbs just nodded in reply.

Sam very gently laid her hand on Gibbs arm. "She'll be fine. We have the best medical staff here."

"I know. Thanks."

Jack and Sam turned and walked down the corridor, planning on grabbing their briefcases and going home. Gibbs turned to leave as well.

"Jethro," Ducky said quietly, waiting for Sam and Jack to be out of earshot before continuing. "Do you not wish to see her, talk to her?"

"Tell me something, Ducky. Would she have known?"

"Possibly. Some women know almost immediately. For others it takes months before they realise they're pregnant."

"No, would she have known there was a chance?"

"I expect so, if she wasn't on any permanent form of contraception."

"That's all I need to know," Gibbs said, and quickly walked off.

"Jethro, you're being very unreasonable. She may not have thought anything of it!" Ducky called down the corridor as Gibbs passed Jack and Sam.

"Gunny, listen to the man. You're throwing everything away."

"No, Sir, I did that 5 weeks ago."

"Oh, dear," Ducky said from behind Jack.

"You said it, Doctor, although I was going to say, Oh, Crap."