A:N This is a repost because some people pointed out to me that Gibbs has been an Agent for 19 years. I know about that and I wanted to explain why I chose for nine. I thought that the nineteen years meant his time as an Agent and his time in the marine. That how I understood it from the character bios. My apologies for that mistake. Thank you for pointing it out for me. It's such a big mistake that I decided to repost this chapter. Also about Suzanne MacNeill, I didn't know you could read the casefiles on CBS. I also didn't know I had written her name wrong. Thank you for pointing that out to me. So here's the repost because I hate that there are big mistakes in a chapter. Thanks again for pointing it all out to me. I appreciate it.

Chapter five

Emily looked from Gibbs to Kate. There was something there between them. Kate had never told her much about her boss. When she did talk about him, there was a sparkle in her eyes. He seemed protective over her. Every once in a while looking at her to make sure she was all right. She wanted to know more. She stood up, asking Kate to come with her to the kitchen.

"He seems interesting." Emily started the conversation, hoping it would eventually lead to Kate talking about her boss.

"That's one word to describe him."

"Come on, tell me about him. Why is he here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I found him standing at the doorstep this afternoon. He surprised me." Kate paused a moment before continuing. "I tried to get him to leave but he won't go."

"He's probably worried about you."

"Gibbs doesn't worry. He's not like that. He just wants to make sure he doesn't loose an agent."

"I don't believe that. He's here. He's flown from Washington to Virginia to go after you. Don't tell me he's not worried. Did you tell him you might quit?" Emily wasn't fooled. She'd only known Jethro Gibbs for a short time, but she'd seen enough to know the man was worried about Kate. Frankly she was glad he was here. She was worried too and now there would be someone to look out for her.

"No, but he's a smart man. He knows I'm having doubts." Kate really didn't want to talk about Gibbs and his reasons to being here.

"Did you talk to him about everything?"

"No, I told him I needed to think first."

"And?"

"And he asked me why I couldn't think and talk to him at the same time. You know I came here to be away from everything. He's here now and I can't get away from him."

"Maybe it's for the best. Talk to him. He probably knows what you're going through. It's not going to hurt you to talk to him. Unless there's more going on..."

"More?" Kate said as she paced around the kitchen.

"Do you have feelings for him?" Emily took a risk by asking Kate about her feelings for her boss. From what she'd seen she wouldn't be surprised if Kate had more than professional feelings for her boss.

"Don't even go there, okay?" Kate pointed at her sister-in-law.

But Emily wasn't going to give up that easily. "Come on, you can tell me."

"Even if, and that's a big if, I have feelings for him, he's my boss. That's all you need to know. Besides he has some redheaded woman hanging around him every once in a while. Who knows, she could be his girlfriend."

"Do I detect a little jealousy there, Kate?"

"No. Look, can we drop the subject? I really don't want to talk about it. Got enough on my mind as it is already."

"Okay. Let's go back. It's time we leave for the restaurant. You ride with Gibbs. The kids will ride with us."

They drove to the restaurant in Kate's rental car. The ride was made in silence. It seems that neither Gibbs nor Kate wanted to talk. The silence wasn't uncomfortable though.

AT THE restaurant they were seated at a round table. Kate was sitting next to Maddy and Gibbs. On the other side of Gibbs was Emily. The other tow seats were occupied by Jason and Billy with Billy next to Emily.

"So, Jethro, tell me about yourself." Emily had taken her seat next to Jethro on purpose. Hopefully she would be able to get him to talk.

"What do you wanna know?"

"How long have you been a NCIS Agent?"

"Nineteen years."

"And you were in the marine's before this?"

"Yes."

"How long will you be staying?"

Gibbs looked at Kate who was talking to Maddy and Jason, as he answered. "As long as it takes."

In those few words Emily knew how much Jethro cared for Kate. "She's got a lot on her mind. It's not going to be easy."

Jethro looked at Kate's sister-in-law. "I know but I'll do whatever it takes."

"Don't push her, okay or she's going to shut you out."

He nodded his agreement. Kate was stubborn. Yet he knew her well enough to know when to push her and when not.

Despite her doubts, dinner had been a nice occasion. She was now back with Gibbs at the cabin. They had said goodbye to Billy, Emily and the kids at the restaurant. For the first time that day they were alone. Kate didn't know what Gibbs would do. She didn't want to be pushed, hopefully he understood that. She looked at her watch, dinner had taken much longer than expected. She was tired. She'd hardly slept the past couple of days. Because of the nightmares she usually stayed awake. Every night she had almost the same dream. She first saw Susan's face then the bomb dropped. Next thing she saw was Tony's dead body and Gibbs was wounded. Every time he told her it was her fault Tony was dead. That she didn't deserve to be a Special Agent. Usually she woke up after that and couldn't go back to sleep. She would wander around the house till the morning came.

"Go to sleep, Kate. You look exhausted."

"Let me show you where you can sleep." She showed him Billy's old room which was next to hers. Strange that they would be sleeping so close together. Maybe with the knowledge of Gibbs next to her in the other room, the dreams would stay away.

Right before Kate stepped away from him he stopped her with his hand on her arm. "Try to get some sleep, Kate. I can see you've hardly slept these last couple of days. What's happening in those dreams isn't real. We're all alive, nobody got hurt." He knew about the dreams that haunted her. He knew what she was going through because he'd been there before. His hand slid from her arm to her hand. He softly squeezed it before letting go. "Goodnight, Kate."