A/N: No message, just get on with the chapter. I own nothing to do with NCIS.

Chapter 21:

In the theatre, the sound of gunshots die down. McGee and Tony shout through the earpieces for gibbs to answer. "BOSS! Boss, what's going on! We heard shots! Talk to me Gibbs!"

"I'm Ok, Dinozzo." Gibbs whispers, causing relief to flood through the NCIS agents. Gibbs stands slowly from where he'd dived for cover at the sound of the shots. He barely acknowledges the splinter he'd got in his finger from the wooden crate he'd crouched behind. Better than a bullet.

Slowly looking around the dark room, he speaks into his earpiece. "Move in."

At this command, the NCIS agents move forward to clear the theatre.

"ARI!" Gibbs shouts, his words echoing ominously off the walls. No response comes. Why would he fire two shots, missing me even though I was an easy target, then run off?

"Dinozzo, was I alone in this theatre? No one else came in after me?" Gibbs asks, suddenly feeling something's not right in his gut.

"Not that I saw, boss. Although it was pretty hard to see anything with the crap street lighting." Tony's voice replies through the earwig. He hadn't seen anyone, but that doesn't mean they weren't there.

"No agents followed me in? Not you or McGee…or Kate?" Gibbs asks, with the realisation that he hadn't heard Kate's voice over the comms.

"Err…" Tony's voice trails off.

"DINOZZO!" Gibbs shouts into the mic.

"She ran off once Ari said about….their err…relationship. She didn't listen when I told her to come back-"
"Where did she go Dinozzo?!" Gibbs' heart rate was increasing again.

"I, I don't know! She ran into the dark, I couldn't see her!"

"McGee, trace her phone!"

"On it, boss." A nervous McGee replies. Returning to the NCIS truck he rapidly types into the computers. "Says she's in the theatre, with you…..but no one's gone in yet!"

Gibbs and Tony's blood runs cold. Kate was inside. Shots were fired. And she hadn't said anything.

"KATE!" Gibbs roars, running aimlessly around the stage. "KATE! ANSWER ME!"

Alternative POV

Kate can see Ari, bent over the viewfinder of the sniper gun that's pointed at Gibbs. Responding to Gibbs' questioning at why Ari brought him there, he replies, "To eliminate my greatest threat, you. Goodbye, Agent Gibbs."

People say that before you die, time slows down. Each second lengthens and you are forced to live your last breath in painfully slowed time, seeing the angel of death getting nearer.

However, this angel was different. Beautiful, young, yet still all dressed in black. Appearing out of the shadows, out of nowhere. She raises her arms slowly, or at lighting speed in time with the living. Her hazel eyes lock onto that of the man who has taken his last breath. Never before had Ari truly contemplated the simplicity that was the ability to kill. To move a finger and take a life. The angel pauses, allowing the man to twist around in shock. And also allowing an easy target in the darkness.

Their eyes lock for the briefest of moments, the angel and the devil. Sorrow fills both as 2 bangs break the slowed motion. 2 bullets break the man's heart, if it had not have already broken at the sound.

Time is rumoured to slow down when you die. Drag out the pain and the agony. But no one ever talks about how time slows after death, for the living.

Kate lowers her gun and watches as Ari, still with the shocked, sorrowful expression, fall back onto the scaffolding floor. The sound masked by that of the echoing gun shots.

Kate didn't know if they were in her head or in realist. She didn't care. She didn't even notice herself holstering her gun.

Time ticked by, but she stood still, her eyes fixated on Ari's dead ones. She had once thought she could live for eternity if only she looked into his eyes. She was wrong. His eyes only held sadness, grey and lifeless; and she had caused it.

Sounds could be heard through her earwig. Gibbs and others at NCIS, but they, too, barely register.

Kate steps forward, holding the banister for support as her heart threatened to break with every step she got closer to him.

Knowing what she would find, but doing it anyway, she kneels down next to Ari's crumpled body. Forcing herself to look away from his face she checks for a pulse. He was indeed medically dead. Ari was gone. Kate felt her heart lighten and pain at the thought. How? How can I feel polar opposites for him?!

She closes her eyes and stands up to move away from the corpse. The visual senses blackout seems to strengthen those remaining and Kate realises the voices in her ear. She heard her own name mentioned. Then the whole theatre was filed with her name; shouted over and over again.

Opening her eyes, Kate stumbles to the edge of the scaffolding to look down at the source. Gibbs, He had been so close to death. She had seen Ari tense, about to pull the trigger. She couldn't lose Gibbs. She needed him. Until that moment, she hadn't realised how much.

"I'm here." A croaky voice replies to Gibbs' shouts. She reaches into her pocket, knowing Gibbs can't see her – or Ari, and brings out her mobile so the LED screen can guide Gibbs to her. "I'm here Gibbs."

A/N: Alright so slightly shorter than my normal chapters so sorry about that. If you go back to some of my earlier chapters you will be able to see some of the 'foreshadowing' moments to the events in this/next chapters. I would love to hear what you thing, as always, so REVIEW! I went a little philosophical in this chapter but I love doing that type of fiction writing, it always makes me feel good for some reason. Oh well, anyway next chapter will be up soon I promise!

There will be more Tony in future chapters too, and KIBBS.

Claire :D

(Yep that's my name and yep I made up a character in an earlier chapter with the same first name as me because I'm vain)