Gibbs shook out the rucksack, frowning. His old one was probably still where he left it last May in Zahko and this one was too new and stiff for his preference. He landed a few punches to the bottom panel before packing in his shaving kit and reaching into the laundry basket.
A sudden, urgent knocking at the door had him dropping the shirt in his hand and moving to entryway. He winced when he realized who was on the porch and her likely motive for the determined banging.
Affixing a smile, he pulled open the door, "Kell…"
"Were you going to tell me?" She cut him off.
He sighed, "Come on in."
When she hesitated he gestured to himself, barefoot and in an undershirt, "It's 30 degrees out; I'm closing the door whether you come in or not."
Her eyebrow quirked up as she looked him over. With a huff she crossed her arms and stepped in, her eyes involuntarily scanning the living room and drifting to the stairs.
"Want a beer?" He asked casually, closing the door and moving past her.
"Uh..okay…" She took a few more steps in, the anger blown out of her sails as she surveyed the house. She tilted her head at the pillow on the couch, "Tony was serious…."
"Not often." Gibbs retorted, returning from the fridge flipping off the lid and passing over the bottle.
She rolled her eyes, gesturing to the pillow, "He mentioned you sleep on the couch."
He shrugged.
She frowned, "It's different than I remember."
He raised his eyebrows and looked around the rooms himself, "Haven't changed much." He gestured with his chin, "Mantle is new...-ish."
"No..." She shook her head, "It's just so..." She winced, "Empty?"
He rolled his eyes, "I'm a widower and three times divorcee. What do you expect from me?" He leaned against the archway between the living room and dining room, "Outside of this past summer I spend most of my time at work or downstairs." He took a sip from his own beer, "The basement is still probably pretty familiar if you want to go down."
Kelly's eyes flicked to the basement door but she didn't move. "Why this summer?"
He shrugged and moved back to the laundry on the table, folding the shirt he had discarded, "Medical leave."
"The knee?" She tilted her head.
He nodded, not looking up, "Yeah."
"I didn't realize it was that recent." She frowned, stepping closer.
Gibbs rolled his left shoulder and cleared his throat, "It was." He glanced at her, "I didn't feel compelled to do much decorating with the time off."
She snorted, "Suppose you wouldn't." She looked around the space again, her eyes landing on the rucksack and supplies laid out on the table. Her shoulders straightened and she lifted her chin, "You found Fulkroad?"
"Technically DiNozzo did."
Her eyes tightened, "I'm not laughing."
"Neither am I." He put down the shirt and turned to face her. "It happened fast. Just yesterday the guy we're holding told us Fulkroad is working on behalf of Afghan poppy growers."
She held up her hands, "So you knew yesterday?"
"No..." He tilted his head, "If you recall, I spent most of yesterday with you. They tried calling but I ignored it because we were talking."
She relaxed a fraction but her shoulders remained taught, "So what happened?"
"We don't make a habit of taking murderous drug dealers at their word." Gibbs shrugged, "The team spent the night collaborating his story."
She tilted her head, waiting.
Gibbs sighed. "Fulkroad went UA from the Cole when it was in Yemen." He explained, picking at the label on his beer bottle.
"After the bombing?" Kelly's eyebrows arched.
He nodded.
"And he ended up in Parwan?" She pressed.
"Bishop and Mcgee zeroed in on where they think he's living." Gibbs confirmed, "Got the transport locked in just an hour ago."
She nodded slowly, "So I go back to my first question; were you going to tell me?"
He snorted, smiling before shaking his head and taking a sip of his beer.
"What?" She frowned, crossing her arms.
"Nothing." He continued to smirk.
She narrowed her eyes, "I want to come."
"There's a surprise." He rolled his eyes, moving an empty microwave dish from the table to the kitchen trash. "The answer is no."
She dropped her arms, "Why not?"
He tilted his head, leaning back against the sink, crossing his ankles, "Do I really need to list all the reasons?"
"What?" She followed him, "I'm familiar with the region, can handle myself in the field and I have a vested interest."
"Which is exactly why you shouldn't go!" He gestured.
"Oh, so you'll be sitting this one out too?" She crossed her arms, sending him a challenging glare.
His eyes narrowed, tension pulsing.
She sighed, relaxing her stance and stepping closer, "My former unit is deployed over there; my old CO. I can help you secure a helicopter."
"So can I." He volleyed back without hesitation.
She frowned, pinching her lips, "I have flown missions from Kunduz to Jalalabad."
Gibbs lifted his chin, eyes flicking over her, "Just yesterday you were telling me how you didn't think you could deploy with Jack at home."
"This is different." She shook her head.
He huffed "How?"
"It's not deployment." She shrugged.
"It's still a warzone." He gestured with open palms.
She rolled her eyes, "For a day, not a tour."
He shook his head, "Length doesn't matter. It just takes a moment for things to go FUBAR."
"I'll be with you."
Gibbs froze, staring at her.
Kelly shrugged, "I know nothing bad will happen."
"You can't know that." He found his voice, "I can't promise to protect you."
She took a deep breath, "Please don't make me sit on the sidelines for this. Fulkroad is the reason for everything." She gestured to the rooms behind her, "He's why there are no pictures on the wall or flowers on the table. He's why I had no one to go to father-daughter dances with or walk me down the aisle." She swallowed, "He took everything from us and you know I'm more than qualified to hold my own over there."
Gibbs leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling and taking a deep inhale through his nose, "Ahh Kelly…" He rolled his head at her, "I just got you back; how am I supposed to enable putting you in danger?"
She shrugged, "Because I'm a Marine and you're a Marine?"
His eyes narrowed, "That doesn't work for everything."
"Did it work for this?" She smiled.
He huffed, "I still need to see if I can get permission."
Kelly smirked, leaning back against the stove, "To hear others tell it, you can pretty much make anything happen."
Gibbs rolled his eyes, taking another swing of his beer. "Don't listen to DiNozzo."
"Why not?" She frowned, "He and I talked before I came over here. He really thinks highly of you."
"Yeah..." He muttered, "I've tried warning him off about that."
Kelly frowned, tilting her head, "You got something against people looking up to you?"
Gibbs stared at her but she stared back expectantly until he relented with a sigh, "Tony is at an age where he needs to be more judicious about who he chooses to emulate before he finds himself pushing 60 with nothing to show for anything but a good-looking resume."
Kelly blinked, mouth opening but no words coming out as she tried to process the meaning behind his words.
After a long beat, she shook her head, whispering, "What happened to you?"
Gibbs looked down.
Her jaw tensed, "We're going to fix this. We're going to get Fulkroad and then..." She blew out a breath, staring at him.
He pulled a smile on and looked back at her, ignoring her concern, "Want to see something?"
Her eyes followed him as he turned to open the cabinet to the right of the sink, pointing to something inside.
"Come here." He gestured for her to come closer, to stand in front of him. He didn't step back, looking at the carved initials over her shoulder, "You remember that?"
"Yes..." She breathed, eyes widening, her mouth hanging open, "You were so angry."
"I was afraid." He replied.
Kelly spun around, needing to tilt her chin up to see his eyes.
He looked down to her, "You stole my knife. Could have cut yourself." He gestured to the counter, "Could have fallen when you climbed up there." He smiled, nodding, "Yeah, I was angry."
"I'm not a little girl anymore." She took a deep breath, "I'm trained. I've been to war. I won't get hurt if I come with you."
"You could." He didn't move.
"I won't." She looked at him seriously.
Gibbs sighed.
"Colonel Levin gave me the rest of the week off." She pushed, "I didn't even ask for it."
"Really now?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow.
She nodded, "He stopped short of making it an order but he strongly suggested I use the time to find answers and work on rebuilding something with you."
A smile began to grow on his lips, "Levin is just trying to butter me up so I'll give him a chance to win back the money he lost the last time I agreed to join his poker game."
"Maybe." She shrugged, "But it still sounds like good advice to me."
"Afghanistan..." He sighed, looking to the cabinet again, grimacing. "Plane leaves at 2130 from Dover. That gives you a few hours to grab your gear." He tilted his head, "Not to mention tell Jeremy."
He grinned at her wince, "Yeah. Make sure he knows how hard I tried to convince you to stay."
She sighed and looked back over her shoulder, "I can't believe you never replaced the cabinet."
"Reminded me of you every time I needed a plate." He shrugged.
She turned back to him but was interrupted from answering by the front door banging open and closed, "What the hell, Gibbs?!"
Tobias Fornell came around the corner, two sandwich bags in his hand, "First you cancel on Emily Saturday night and today you cancel on me?" He dropped the sandwiches on the table, shoving the rucksack aside and peeling off his scarf and jacket, "I knew this would happen once you started up again. You get all focused on a case and then suddenly it's months before we see you."
The FBI agent paused as he realized they were not alone. His eyes flicked to the young woman then to Gibbs in his t-shirt, eyebrows rising at their proximity.
Gibbs smirked and stepped back from Kelly, "Will ya relax Tobias? Eventually someone will kill someone and force us to fight over jurisdiction." He shrugged, "Patience."
Fornell was not listening. Dropping his jacket on top of Gibbs' laundry basket he stepped up to Kelly, "Excuse my entrance…" He grinned, looking her over and reaching out a hand, "Senior FBI Agent Tobias Fornell."
"Captain Kelly Howell, US Marine Corps." She accepted the handshake, grinning.
He glanced at Gibbs and then looked back to her. "Could you excuse us for just a minute? Jethro, Can I talk to you? Over there?"
Gibbs bounced his eyebrows to Kelly and followed Fornell to the front of the living room, "Tobias…"
"What are you doing?" Fornell leaned in with a tight whisper.
Gibbs brow furrowed, "What?"
Fornell held up a hand, "Hey, Jethro, I mean, at our age good for you...but are you out of your mind?" He gestured to the kitchen, "You're old enough to be that girl's father."
"Hey, first of all," Gibbs held up a finger, "Watch it with the 'our age' talk, old man."
"Is that what this is?" Tobias tilted his head, "Some late onset, midlife crisis?"
Gibbs rolled his eyes, "How many ways you going to find to call me old, Tobias?"
"Jethro, can you focus?" Fornell snapped.
"Yes," Gibbs relented with a nod and a smirk, "I am old enough to be that girl's father."
"So?!" Fornell gestured.
Gibbs stepped back, shaking his head and shrugging "So nothing, that's it."
He gestured to Kelly to join them as he picked up a rectangular wooden box from the coffee table. He flipped it open and held it out to Fornell.
Kelly tilted her head, watching as Fornell's eyes flicked from Gibbs to the box. Gibbs' attention remained on her as Fornell narrowed his eyes and cautiously reached inside, pulling out a handful of photographs.
His eyebrows rose as he realized what they were. He took a moment to look over the previously unseen images of a younger Gibbs with his first wife and daughter.
"Okay, so?" Looking back to Gibbs, his eyes drifted to the woman over his shoulder. His eyes widened and he looked back to the picture and then back to his old friend who was smiling.
"Jumping fried pickles…."