At the office the next morning Tony told Gibbs that he had found Sinclair. He had talked to

him but Sinclair had insisted on meeting Gibbs before he would give away any information.

Gibbs called Kate who was seeing Abby in the lab and told her to join them. He didn't want

her to have to face VanHusen. When Kate stepped out of the elevator, her and Gibbs' eyes

met for a second. She saw him asking if she was alright and signalled that she was ok. Just

looking at him brought back the memories of the last night. She had felt loved and protected

in his embrace.

"Ok, protected." She corrected herself. "Don't put too much into that."

He had done nothing but to just hold her. And even though she had been in love with him for

quite a while, she'd never thought he'd be so caring and sympathetic. She was just glad he

didn't know how she saw him.

When they were on their way, Gibbs got a call from Abby. She had found two more women

that might have left the service because of VanHusen.

Gibbs called Megan. He thought that it might be a good idea to let her talk to them and try to

convince them to testify.

They met Sinclair in a small café. Tony introduced them.

"Mr. Sinclair, this is my boss, special agent Gibbs. And this is special agent Todd."

"Nice to meet you all. I'm special agent Michael Sinclair, FBI."

Gibbs recovered first.

"You were seen in a Navy uniform."

"I work undercover. I can't tell you too much as you will surely understand, but the plans

al Teherani carried had been provided by us. We had a deal to let him go if he led us to the next

link of the chain. I don't know what went wrong yet, but I sure know nobody should have

seen me at the site. There's no case. Not for you anyway. My boss is talking to your director

as we speak."

Gibbs looked angry.

"No wonder the bad guys keep us busy. We spend far too much time on problems caused by

our agencies not communicating the way they should."

"Agreed. I got to go. I need to find that leak. Sorry this occupied your time."

After Sinclair had left, Gibbs, Kate and Tony sat silent for a while.

Tony was the first to speak.

"What do we do about VanHusen?"

Gibbs and Kate had filled him in on their ride after he had already gotten pieces of

information by listening to Gibbs talking to Abby and Megan. He didn't know about last night

though, but sensed that something had changed between Kate and their boss.

"He'll leave as soon as it's official that we don't have a case. I had really hoped to get more

testimonies," Gibbs voiced his thoughts.

"Maybe we can arrange for him to have an accident?" Tony ventured.

"Not good enough," Gibbs stated grimly. "I want him to see the disdain and disgust in

people's eyes when they look at him."

Tony looked at Kate. She was quiet, too quiet.

"Can we set him up somehow?" he asked.

Gibbs thought about that.

"I don't think so. It would mean that Kate would have to serve as bait. It's not an option."

Kate took a deep breath.

"I want to do it, Gibbs. I'll feel perfectly safe knowing you and Tony are around. And I need

to put this to an end this time. I'm not going to run away again."

"I don't know, Kate…"

Gibbs remembered her the way she was the last evening. All scared and exhausted. Deep

inside he knew she had to do it to restore her self-esteem, to win back control over this part of

her life.

"Okay, we'll do it."

They planned everything and called Abby to prepare certain things.

Kate was nervous, when they came back to the headquarters. Gibbs and Tony would go in

first, not using the main entry, so that VanHusen wouldn't knew they were already there.

Before they parted, Gibbs gave Kate a look that made her shiver.

"Are you sure, you want to do this?"

"Yes, I am."

"You're truly a brave lady, Miss Todd."

When she had entered the bureau, she went to the corner that held the coffee machine as they

had planned. It didn't take long before VanHusen showed up.

"My, am I lucky! The case has been called off, and just as I think my chance is over, I finally

get to meet you alone."

He moved in real close to her.

"You've been avoiding me, Caitlin."

He pressed her against the wall and grabbed her hair. Just as he wanted to force a kiss onto

her he felt the barrel of a gun pressed against his head from behind.

"Gotcha!" Gibbs' voice was liquid steel.

VanHusen didn't move.

"Agent Gibbs. That's your testimony against mine. And I got friends in all the right places."

"Give me a list. I'll invite them to the show."

He grabbed VanHusen and turned him around, still pointing his gun at him.

"We got Kate and Tony," -Tony appeared in VanHusen's visual field, "...Megan Carter and myself

to testify. We got two more women that I think will talk once they're convinced you're out of

business. And we got a video…"

Tony motioned to the small lens that sat in a corner under the ceiling and smiled at VanHusen.

"Abby will probably never be nominated for an Oscar, but I'm sure it's good enough to put

you away for many years," he said, his voice not hidinghis satisfaction

"Tony, cuff Mr. VanHusen and take him out from under my eyes before I do something I

might regret later."

Tony did what Gibbs had asked for.

When they had left, Gibbs looked at Kate.

"Glad it's over?" he asked with a low voice.

Kate didn't look too happy.

"Yeah. It's good to know he won't do that to anyone again."

Gibbs moved a little closer.

"What's wrong?"

Kate couldn't help it.

"You don't have a reason to stay with me anymore…."

Gibbs reached out and gently touched her cheek. He couldn't believe he was that lucky. But

he had to make sure.

"And you want me to stay with you?"

As an answer Kate just looked at him. She looked at him the way a woman looks at the man

she trusts and loves.

He made the last step to close the distance between them and encircled her with his arms.

"I love you too, Katie."

That's how Tony found them when he came back. He stopped in his tracks, then he smiled

and turned to leave. On his way to the elevator he met Abby. He took her arm and made her

step right back into the lift.

"Abbs, we shouldn't be here right now. I'll explain over a cup off Caff Pow, Ok?"

Abby flashed a smile.

"Does that mean they...?"

"Yep!"

"That's good...really good!"

X

The End