Gibbs dropped his customary kiss on her cheek as he slid into the passenger seat of her convertible. "Hey, Vanessa."
"It's V to you, and you know it." She smiled, eyeing him as she pulled away from the curb. "What's going on? You said two weeks ago you weren't sure if you'd have time, and then suddenly you call me on Friday and nothing I say will deter you."
He shook his head, doing his best to keep from breaking into a grin. "Why does anything have to be going on?"
She did have a nice smile, but the red curls didn't do quite as much for him as they used to. "Because that's the only time you ask to see me. Otherwise it's touch and go, 'don't plan on it,' 'ask me the night of, because I can't say in advance whether or not I'll have a case.' I know you, Jethro."
"'Course you do."
"So spill." She turned a corner, sharply—she could have taken driving lessons from DiNozzo—and he sighed and relaxed into the seat.
"Kate got her cast off yesterday."
She waited a moment, then prompted, a little loudly and obviously over-enunciating: "Wow, that sure sounds like a problem."
"She's not staying with me anymore."
They came to a screeching halt at a red light, and she glanced at him with a low whistle. "I'm not coming home with you, not matter how much you beg. I'm pretty sure William would have an issue with that."
He returned her glance, slightly crossly, though he tamed his scowl. "I wasn't asking."
She grinned as she stepped on the gas again. "I know. But you don't want to go home and be alone again, am I right? It feels empty."
"Yes." He let a little more of his displeasure seep into the words he gritted through his teeth.
A little of the teasing left her tone. "Why didn't you just tell her she didn't have to leave?"
He shifted his jaw. "Haven't exactly been together that long. She seemed to want to go home."
"And you thought you'd be okay with it."
"Yeah." There was nothing really funny, but he attempted a laugh anyway.
"I'm gonna guess you want to head straight to the bourbon when we get to the bar, but get something to eat first."
"Yes, mother."
She lifted one hand from the wheel slightly to nudge him with her elbow.
The buildings streaked by unnoticed for several seconds, slowly morphing into countryside, before Vanessa spoke again, quietly. "She's really thrown you for a loop, hasn't she?"
"You could say that." He propped his elbow on the door. "She doesn't just take things sitting down, not even orders half the time, and she can be annoying as hell. But I can't stay pissed at her and she doesn't seem to mind me that much."
"High praise," she laughed. "You know, you were practically glowing when I picked you up from the airport that night. You were grinning like the cat that ate the canary."
"You gonna bring that up every time I mention her name? I just saved the president; I had every damn right to be a little proud of myself." She would see through his grumbling, he knew, but he couldn't not protest, either.
"You're full of it. That wasn't pride."
"Worth a shot." He lifted a shoulder.
"You want her, Gibbs, show her. You never had any problems with that before. Or was it because you used to be able to squint a little and playact it was Shannon?"
"Don't bring out your amateur psychologist shit again." He hid none of his anger this time.
"Sorry, that was too far." She lifted one hand from the wheel, palm flat, as she glanced at him. "Really, I'm sorry." He knew her well enough to know the apology was genuine.
He turned to watch the scenery, the fringes of Maryland suburbia. Her sigh was barely audible among the wind and the tires on the road.
"You don't think you should want her, is that it? Or maybe you don't think she wants you the same way?"
He tasted both admissions rolling over his tongue, and didn't open his lips.
"Don't tell me you're scared. C'mon, you've never backed down from anything. Or is it because it's working okay now and you don't want to rock the boat? Nothing ever stays the same." Her tone was gentle. "You know that."
"How's Maria?" Vanessa and her husband had adopted an adorable little girl from Venezuela two years ago. It was an overt attempt to change the subject.
Vanessa didn't try to push further. "She's doing well. She's already starting to read, and she's been bugging us about getting a pet iguana."
"Nothing furry?" He glanced at her.
She tilted her head. "William's allergic."
"Ah."
"Yep." She nodded, slowly. "At least she's not asking for a snake or a tarantula."
He snorted a half-laugh. "Yeah, at least you've got that going for you. She hasn't started going on about horses, either." He'd give anything to hear Kelly stumbling over her words from excitement again, though.
"Fingers crossed."
He leaned into the headrest, savoring the lull in the conversation for several moments. "What's brought you down here this time around? Did one of the company's plants blow up again?"
"I'm an engineer, not a safety inspector!" She laughed. "No, actually I'm here overseeing the implementation of a new manufacturing process we recently acquired the patent for. For car door handles, actually…"
He closed his eyes, allowing the corners of his mouth to slant upwards at the feeling of the wind in his hair.
She continued talking, and he knew she knew he wasn't listening, and neither of them really gave a damn.
You're allowed to want her now, y'know. He set about planning, as if it were an interrogation.
Still, she had never been all that amenable to just going along with his plans.
He cornered her the next evening, literally, blocked her exit from behind her desk, when the light in the bullpen was low and most of the cubicles were empty.
"Plans tonight?"
She tilted her head, and arched an eyebrow as she looked up at him. "Not yet. Is that an offer?"
"Yeah. Come home with me."
The soft, pleased smile that spread over her face made him suck in a breath.
"If you can give me fifteen minutes, I'm almost done here, and the rest will wait until morning."
"I'll go ahead and get dinner started." Since they weren't working together anymore, and could be called out independently, they never took one car. He missed it sometimes, being able to watch her relax in the passenger seat and feel her idle smile warming him.
He had just tossed the steaks into the pan when he heard the door open. "That was fast."
"I realized I didn't need all of the fifteen minutes I thought I would." She waltzed into the kitchen on sock-clad feet, and insinuated herself between him and the counter to kiss him, nipping briefly at his bottom lip. He just barely stifled a sound in the back of his throat, and she let out a muted giggle. He wrinkled his nose.
"You still have clothes here, right?" He already knew the answer.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's still some clean stuff in the drawer you lent me use of. And if not, I have a change of clothes in my car." She unbuttoned the topmost button of her blouse and rolled her shoulders as she spoke. "Did you start any vegetables with that?"
"There's some broccoli in the fridge, if I remember right."
She checked, and then crouched to retrieve the steamer from his cupboard. "You remember correctly."
"Good."
He waited a beat for her to set the water on to boil, watching, and then made sure his tone was purposely nonchalant as he remarked, "Kinda nice."
"What is?" The wooden cutting board clanked dully on the counter as she set it down.
"This." He gestured vaguely as he speared one of the steaks, and flipped it.
"Dinner? The company? Yes." She rinsed the head of broccoli, holding it under running water over the sink.
He swallowed, and flipped the other steak before he spoke again, the marinade sizzling quietly. "You don't have to go back to staying at your apartment if you don't want to, Katie."
She glanced at him, setting the head of broccoli down on the cutting board, and rested her wrist on the counter. "What do you mean?"
He lifted a shoulder. "You could keep on staying here. If you wanted. It's not like we didn't spend the night together most of the time before, anyways."
He turned his attention deliberately to the meat, sliding it around in the pan a bit, just for something else to focus on besides the way she drew in a sharp breath beside him.
"Are you—asking me if I want to move in? Here?" He could hear every breathless hitch in her voice. When he finally gave in and looked at her, her lips slightly parted, her eyes wide, he fought the urge to kiss her, and took a step back instead, to give her space.
"Sure, that sounds about right."
He watched as she took it in, the momentary lift in her eyebrows, the way her gaze flicked past him, distant, as she processed, the beginnings of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth when she looked back at him. Sliding her hands up onto his shoulders and linking her fingers behind his neck, she bit her lip. "Give me a few days to think about it, before I tell you yes or no for sure?"
It might kill him, waiting, but he still nodded. "Of course."
She stood on tiptoe and tilted his head down to her to kiss him, with a lot of tongue.