CHAPTER 5:

FLASHBACK

Wednesday 3:50pm – Lab

"Abs, I just can't believe that you and Tony took this to Gibbs so quickly."

"I'm sorry Kate. We were just worried about you."

"I know but I would have told Gibbs about it myself. He makes it seem like I was going to hide it from him." Kate said exasperatedly to Abby.

"You know, this kind of reminds me of this guy I was seeing in college. When we stopped dating, he became obsessed with me. Leaving me notes taped to my door, calling in the radio stations and dedicating Metallica's 'Master of Puppets', coincidentally running into me at the clubs. Finally I had enough and put a stop to it."

"Really? What did you do?"

"Oh, I asked one of the med students to take a picture of a body they were performing an autopsy on. Then I taped it to his door with a message to call me for dinner and signed it 'Love ya, Abby'. After that he stopped calling." Abby ended her story with an evil smile.

4:25pm – Bull Pen

McGee and Kate were the only ones in the Bull Pen when Kate received a call on her desk phone from a livid Andrew Sommers.

Before Kate could reply, Andrew hung up. Sitting at her desk, slightly shaken by the antagonism of Andrew's call, Kate was still holding the phone when McGee came over.

"Kate, you okay?" Concerned, McGee called her name again. "Kate?" He reached over, took the phone from Kate's limp hand and hung up.

Blinking a few times, Kate looked up McGee with apprehension in her eyes.

"I'm calling Gibbs." When Kate didn't immediately reply to protest, he realized just how upset Kate was by that phone call.

Moving away from Kate's desk as to not be overheard, McGee called Gibbs on his cell. He and Tony were out in the field, heading back to office from interviewing a victim's relative.

"What McGee?"

McGee winced at the irate tone of Gibbs' voice, knowing that what he was about to tell him would make him even more incensed. "Ah, Boss, I think we have a situation here. Sommers just called Kate again. I don't know what he said but he was screaming on the phone. Kate is kinda in shock right now."

"That bastard," Gibbs growled. "Did you have Abby tap her phones in case Sommers called again?"

"Yes, Boss. Abby should have in-coming phone call recordings at her lab."

"Keep her there, McGee. We'll be there in 10 minutes."

11 Minutes later – Bull Pen:

Tony followed behind Gibbs as they – actually Gibbs – stormed out of the elevator and into the Bull Pen. "Where's Kate?" Gibbs demanded.

"She's in Abby's lab, Boss."

Tony smirked when Gibbs tossed his cell phone to McGee and instructed sharply to "do something with it" before walking to the rear elevator to head to the Lab. McGee caught the cell phone and stared at it confused. "What happened? I just spoke with him 10 minutes ago."

"Yeah, well, a cell phone has no chance against a steering wheel," Tony glibly replied on the way to his own desk.

With it being close to closing time, McGee had to scramble to replace Gibbs damaged phone with a new one.

Still taken aback by what happened in the car, Tony recalled how the cell phone got damaged in the first place.

McGee had called Gibbs to let him know about Kate's recent call from Sommers. Gibbs had hung up and slammed the cell phone several times against the steering wheel.

Once Tony heard Gibbs announce that they will 'be there in 10 minutes', he knew that his life was about to end. As it was, with the way Gibbs drove, they were already 15 minutes away from the office, which would have taken a normal driver at least 25 minutes. So at those said words, Tony, wide-eyed, braced himself – one hand clutched on the seat belt and the other braced against the passenger window.

A few minutes later – Lab:

'Caitlin, you bitch! You reported me! How could you? I apologized didn't I for grabbing at you? But you just want the attention. This is your fault!'

Kate stood staring at the plasma screen. The recording was amplified over the speakers and despite the fact that there were no visual display, she stared at the voice analyzer lines going up and down.

'Caitlin, you bitch! You reported me! How could you? I apologized didn't I for grabbing at you? But you just want the attention. This is your fault!'

Kate pressed the replay button on the remote again.

'Caitlin, you bitch! You reported me! How could you? I apologized didn't I for grabbing at you? But you just want the attention. This is your fault!'

Again she pressed it.

Abby was hovering near the door, chewing at her lips, unsure of what to do. As Gibbs walked into the lab, she grabbed Gibbs' arm. "Gibbs, she's been like that for the past 15 minutes - just playing the recording over and over again."

Gibbs patted Abby's hand and said, "I'll take of it." Leaving Abby by the door, Gibbs approached Kate from the side. "Kate."

'Caitlin, you bitch!'

"Kate."

'You reported me! How could you? I apologized didn't I for grabbing at you?'

Gibbs called sharply, "Agent Todd."

'But you just want the attention.'

Kate pressed the pause button. Still staring at the plasma screen, she addressed Gibbs. "He said that I wanted the attention."

'This is your fault!'

Kate turned her head to look at Gibbs. "He said it was my fault."

Gibbs cringed at the bleakness of Kate's face and voice.

INTERVIEW – FBI BUILDING

"He said I wanted the attention. That it was my fault."

"And did you want the attention?"

Kate looked questioningly at the interviewer, not quite understanding what he was asking.

The interviewer raised an eyebrow, "Was it your fault?"

In the Observation Room, there were immediate reactions from the NCIS agents of "What!" "Boss!" "Fornell!"

"Damn it!" Fornell pressed the button for the interviewer's earpiece to call a halt to those lines of questioning.

Gibbs pounded on his fists on his side of the one-way mirror and growled promisingly, "I am going to rip your throat out when I get my hands on you!"

The two FBI agents standing by the door had taken a few steps forward to restrain Gibbs. However, Tony and McGee, angry on Kate's behalf and the threat towards their boss, had moved to block the FBI agents from reaching Gibbs.

Fornell yelled "Enough!" at the Interviewer and to everyone in the Observation Room.

Meanwhile in the Debriefing Room, the interviewer had jerked his head to the rattling one-way mirror, startled by the vehemence of the threat coming through his ear-piece and the pounding coming from the other side.

Despite the severity of the situation, Kate raised her own eyebrow at the interviewer and gave him an amused smile. "Whatever Special Agent Gibbs said to you - believe it. He usually does what he threatens."

"I…I apologize Agent Todd," the interviewer hastily said. "I didn't mean to imply anything."

"It's okay." Kate said.

The interviewer wasn't sure if Agent Todd was addressing his apology or reassuring the other NCIS agents in the Observation Room.

She turned to the one-way mirror and said loudly, "Guys, its okay. I'm okay."

Observation Room – FBI Building

Dr. "Ducky" Mallard stood at the doorway of the Observation Room and took in the scene before him.

Jethro had FBI Agent Fornell's lapels gripped with both hands, while Fornell had his own hands on Jethro's wrists attempting to get his coat released.

Anthony's face was two inches away from the other FBI agent's face, encouraging him, more like goading him, to "Go ahead. Try it."

Timothy, surprisingly, hand one hand on a FBI agent's chest, holding him back.

Having heard Caitlin's voice of reassurance, he glanced at the opposite room and noticed that she was staring directly into the mirror.

Ducky naturally, and correctly, assumed that the scuffling had stemmed from words said either about or to Caitlin.

"Uh, excuse me, gentlemen."

When that didn't draw anyone's attention, Ducky called out louder, his British accent more pronounced, "Agents! May I have your attention, please!"

Heads turned to the doorway to find Ducky standing there with one handon the door knob and the other holding his medical bag.

"I hope I'm not interrupting Agent Gibbs, Agent Fornell." He said to them with a slight tone of reprimand tinting his voice. "If you had been paying attention, Caitlin just said she's 'okay'."

Jethro, after giving Fornell one last shake, released Fornell's coat. Anthony narrowed his eyes warningly at the FBI agent before stepping back to stand next to Gibbs. Timothy, unable to resist a slight push at his FBI agent, also moved to stand on Gibbs other side. All three eyed Kate critically, making sure she was indeed 'okay'.

Fornell straightened his suit and asked suspiciously, "Dr. Mallard, what are you doing here?"

"Special Agent Gibbs called me, Agent Fornell. I am to examine Agent Todd."

Fornell glared at Jethro and advised him, "Agent Todd had already been seen by the medics at the scene."

"Yeah, well that was a few hours ago Fornell. Let Dr. Mallard in." He instructed demandingly.

Fornell shook his head and then signaled to one of the FBI agents, who had returned to their post in front of the door, to escort Ducky next door.

The FBI agent led Ducky to the Debriefing Room, opened the door and said to the interviewer, "Agent, there's a doctor here to examine Agent Todd. Would you step out for a few moments, please."

The interviewer, looking somewhat relieved to be taking a break, addressed Kate. "Agent Todd, I'll be back in a few minutes."

Ducky entered the room and shut the door. "Hello Caitlin."

"Hi Ducky." Tears filled her eyes as Ducky reached out and patted her shoulder lightly.

"Come, my dear. Let me examine you."

Ducky positioned Kate so her back was to the one-way mirror, allowing some type of privacy. He then pulled the now vacated chair over and sat facing her.

While Ducky examined the cuts on Kate's face, he gently asked, "How are you holding up? I heard you had quite an experience this morning."

Kate winced at the prodding to her face and with voice lowered said, "It was…difficult." She leaned in towards Ducky and whispered, "I've never been so scared, Ducky. I thought he was going to kill me. Then Tony showed up and I thought 'This is it. We're going to die'."

"Lift up your blouse, Caitlin." Ducky winced at the sight of the bruises that had already formed on her ribs and lower back. After having applied fresh antiseptic on the various cuts on Kate's face and body, he patted her hand gently. "You're almost done here, my dear. I'll instruct Jethro to bring you to my office when you're finished. I want to x-ray your ribs as a pre-caution."

"Thank you Ducky. I'm glad you came by."

Ducky stood up, gathered his medical bag and hesitated before opening the door. He looked over his shoulder and said softly, "Caitlin, physically you'll be fine. As for your mental state, I suggest you don't let this get to you in the way of Haswari."

When Kate didn't say anything, Ducky murmured, "I'll see you later, my dear."

The interviewer entered the Debriefing Room as Ducky exited. He returned his chair back to its original position, cleared his throat and asked, "Shall we continue?"

TBC

Message: Hello readers! For the next chapter, I'll be changing the rating to "T". All reviews and e-mails are welcomed. I hope you've enjoyed the story so far.