Slow Burn 3

"Coffee?" Gibbs asked, sneaking up on Anne, who was hard at work at her work station in building C. Anne jumped out of her skin, startled as Gibbs had seemingly appeared out of no where. She looked up at him and she batted those beautiful long eye lashes. He wordlessly handed over a cup from coffee tray he held, from the 24hr diner on base. It was 2000 hours and he suspected that she may have been staying late, for another conference call home.

"Thanks," she whispered, as not to disturb her colleague. A short, middle aged bald man who was sleeping at the desk opposite hers. "Let's not disturb George, he's just dozed off." Gibbs followed her silently into their break room and they settled into the leather sofa.

"How's your little Katelyn going?" He asked, he'd spent a few minutes in the elevator, recalling her name to ensure it was right. He remembered exactly what she looked like, right down to the same hair as her mother, that impish grin and cherubic face. "Tell me her latest adventure."

Anne laughed at that question. Katelyn was always up to something or in to something. "Mum took her to Bell's Beach for the weekend. Think like Mecca for surfing enthusiasts. It's the place the Rip Curl Pro is held every year." Gibbs rolled his eyes at her playfully. "It's the longest running surfing competition in the world. Anyhow, she had a go at surfing. She was loving it, that is until a stray wave knocked her off her board. After that, not so much. Looks like it's back to swimming competitively. "

"She's a water babe, that's great." He commented, finishing his coffee. "Tim has loved the water since his very first bath. Once he got in, we couldn't get him out. Once Tim was in a swim competition when I was stationed at Camp Pendleton and he'd won his final, but refused to get out of the water to get his medal. He begged me to put a pool in our backyard, he was ten," he continued, setting his cup on the table in front of them. "I planned to, but … that wasn't a good year for us. That's the year I lost Shannon and Kelly."

"That's painful. Tim told me about them. He loves them both very much."

"Shannon was Tim's mum in every way that mattered. She loved Tim, just as much as she loved Kell." Gibbs said with a small, wistful smile.

"Sounds like an amazing woman, wish I could have known her." Anne replied, placing her hand on his forearm and unconsciously rubbing her thumb in comforting circle.

"Can I take you to dinner on Friday night?" Gibbs asked Anne.

"I wish I could," she said sadly, "I'm meeting Tim to discuss our collaboration. But I'm free on Saturday."

"It's a date!" Gibbs jested, playfully. "Here's my card, call me if something pops up."

"Thanks," she muttered, taking the offered card with true familiar NCIS insignia printed on it. "I'd offer you a card of mine but if you know where I work, know where my workstation is, I'm sure you can find my number."

"Or ya know, just get it from Tim." He offered.

Gibbs returned to the bullpen, ready to start work in his report. He liked working like this, the bullpen had quietened down. His team were rushing through the last of their reports, knowing they only had to get through tomorrow before they had a whole weekend off. Honestly, he was looking forward to the whole weekend off. He was working Saturday, had a dinner date with Anne and on Sunday he was having some football and beers time with his son.


Friday came and the team were finishing up their paperwork when a call came in for a new case. Before he could answer, he looked at the clock and dismissed them all, knowing each one of them were as tired as he felt. They hadn't had a day off in three and a half weeks. "Danwright," Gibbs told the caller "my team have already left for the evening. It's after 1800 and Director Vance doesn't want us above the yard 'til Monday morning 0700."

"Could you recall them?" The dispatch operator asked, "your team could have this solved quickly and salvage their weekend by this time tomorrow."

"We have other teams on duty here, my team are off rotation and probably on beer number two at the bar by now." He told the pushy dispatch operator. "You've been told before not to assign cases to teams out of rotation, do I need to file another formal complaint?"

"No sir, I'll have agent Jackson's team take it." Gibbs disconnected the call, frustrated at the man. He didn't like Hallam Danwright, he was the reason why the MCRT agents kept burning out. Six out the last sixteen cases he'd assigned to the MCRT team could have been handled by the other MCRT team, either ICRT team, the after hours call-out team or even a case agent. Both Director Vance and the two MCRT team leaders have had words with him about his dispatch skills. They moved him off assigning cases and into staff dispatch for ninety days and while in that position, he sat on the request for a bus to be called for Tony for forty minutes before issuing the call. Luckily for Tony, his injury wasn't life threatening. IA were in still in the middle of their investigation, but Gibbs knew he'd get away with it. The man was Teflon because of who his father is.

Gibbs had already copped a dressing down and formal reprimand for not following protocol from IA because after asking for an eta for the bus and being told one hadn't been called yet, he bypassed dispatch and called 911 himself.


Tony and Ziva had already dispersed for the weekend and Tim found himself waiting on the sidewalk out the front of his father's favourite diner, waiting to meet Anne for a working dinner. Both agreeing after the week they've had, neither had the energy to do something too fancy or formal.

"Hey Tim," Anne called out as she got out of the cab.

"Hey Anne," Tim called back, rushing to help her she had her purse, her laptop bag, go bag and two duffle bags. "Let me take those." He took her go bag and the two duffles. "We can lock these in my car, I'll drive you home after dinner."

"Thanks Tim." Anne said, kissing her friend's cheek. "You're a lifesaver. That beat up pile of junk is back in the shop."

"Told you, let me take a look at it." Tim said, putting the bags in the trunk of his Porsche.

They sat down in the booth that Tim liked the best in the far back corner of the diner and Elaine was immediately there with coffee. "Hey Tim, no Jethro tonight?" She asked, pouring the black coffee into Tim's mug

"He'll probably grab a take out order. It's been a long week." Tim said, nodding a thank you for the coffee. "This is Anne. Anne this is Elaine and she makes the best coffee and food in the tri-state area."

"Lovely to meet you." Anne smiled at the older woman.

"Oh darling," Elaine gushed. "Your Australian, I love Australia. Our son Eric lives there, in Karratha, Western Australia. He works in one of the mines there."

"Wow, very hot in Karratha. I'm from Melbourne." Anne explained. "Very different. I've been to Karratha, where else have you visited?" She asked curiously, she loved meeting Americans that had been to her homeland.

"We spent two days in Sydney we went to the opera house and saw the bridge. We wanted to go down to that famous beach , but the weather was too cold for a beach day."

"You should go to Bondi next time, in summer, it's worth the experience alone. Or come to my neck of the woods, if you love beaches, I'm from Victoria and we have some of the most beautiful beaches, including world famous Bells Beach. We have The Great Ocean Road, which is dedicated to our ww1 diggers killed in action and spans the scenic coast line for 240 kilometres, err that's … 149 miles. It's beautiful, there's so much to stop and do. We have ski fields and world class wineries too."

"Sounds like my kind of place, I'll have to suss it out next time I'm in Australia." Elaine handed her a menu, asking Tim if he wants his usual and he nodded to the affirmative.

"I'll have the roast of the day with gravy." Anne requested and Elaine promised she'd be back with their order soon.

"You didn't order?" Anne noted, as Elaine walked away.

"Yeah I did, Elaine knows what I want." Tim laughed.

"Ahh, you come here a lot then. Not much of a cook?" She asked.

"Actually, I love to cook. But with the hours we keep, I don't always have the energy." Tim answered honestly. "Elaine's meals are filling and nutritious. Beats any take out you can eat. Plus Dad and Elaine have been friends for years, longer than I've been alive."

"Wow, so she's a good person to interrogate about the Gibbs family then," she joked.

Tim and Anne were busy, their dinner plates long emptied and taken away, both their laptops open and both hastily typing away. Gibbs looked up from his spot at the counter. He'd been here an hour now and they'd been busy working away. He didn't realise that Gemcity's 'business dinner' was a simple diner meal. He studied the duo and couldn't see anything of a sexual attraction between them. He had been worried, Anne was only nine years older than his son, it was possible that his son could have liked her too. He'd never pursue a woman his son also liked. But he couldn't see anything, but a warm friendship and he was relieved.

He hadn't planned on spying on the two of them, he was almost out the door when Vance called him upstairs to discuss the situation with Danwright and then he lost track of time when he was tidying his desk. A last minute stop to drop off some forms, found him helping Balboa tie two cases together before he finally left for the evening. No longer in the mood for a fireplace steak, he stopped by the diner and found them. Not wanting to break their working rhythm, he didn't interrupt them. "She seems good for him." Elaine said, referring to Anne and Gibbs eyebrows shot off his face. "Or not." She laughed at the older man.

"It's ok Elaine. She would be a good match for him, if they liked each other like that."

"So you like her then?" She prodded, trying to gauge the situation. "That's good Jethro, but we need to find a girl for your son. He's too good of a guy to end up alone."

"Yeah been thinking about that too." Gibbs confessed, stabbing his pie with his fork for good measure. "Tim wanted me to meet her, he thinks we'd be good. Don't want to get hurt again."

"Haven't you heard, love hurts?" She jested, pouring herself a cup and refilling Jethro's mug. "Won't know until you put yourself out there."

"I guess." Gibbs surmised, knowing it wasn't too late to cancel the date yet.

"So she's Tim's friend, what are they working on?" Elaine asked Gibbs and he thought briefly she'd make a good interrogator.

"Gemcity's always working on something." Gibbs quipped, finishing his pie and coffee, kissing her cheek and dropping money on the counter for his food before heading home for his basement.