Katya Chapter 4: Friends in difficult times

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

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Gibbs saw her eyes roll back and quickly caught her before she could hit the ground. He checked her vital signs and found them weak, but steady. He carefully lowered her onto the ground and took his phone out. "Ducky, I need you at McHugh´s old office, pronto." He said and hung up without letting Mallard ask any questions. A few moments later, the doctor came in. He closed the door quickly when he saw Kate lying unconscious in Gibbs´ arms.

"What happened, Jethro?" He asked and started getting into his medical routine. His eyes widened when he heard the whole story. "It is not surprising she´s got such a shock then. I will give her a little injection to let her sleep. You should arrange a transport to take her home, she will be asleep for at least 10 hours. Someone should stay with her." Ducky told him and took a syringe out.

Gibbs knew that he would have a ton of questions to answer later on, but right now he didn´t care about their puzzled looks as he carried Kate out to the parking lot. Nobody said a word and no one followed him. He got Kate settled in the back of his car and put a blanket over her. He had taken the keys from her desk and drove to the apartment building she lived in.

After putting her onto the couch, he looked around, realizing just how little he knew about her. Of course, they were colleagues and knew this and that about each other, like that she was a very gifted artist and could draw wonderful pictures. He didn´t know she was playing the piano, but there was one sitting right next to the TV. Gibbs let his fingers run over the dark wood and smiled as he pictured her sitting at the piano, a soft melody coming from the instrument.

"Stop it, Jethro." He scolded himself when he noticed his thoughts drifting off. "She´s one of your team, she´s not like Sarah or Gabrielle or Flora." His mind told him, but as he watched her sleep, he couldn´t help noticing how beautiful she was. He found some coffee in the kitchen and helped himself to a large cup. Afterwards he sat in an armchair, watching Kate. She was sleeping peacefully, but he knew that was only due to the meds Ducky had given her.

His phone started ringing and Gibbs walked into the kitchen to answer it. "Gibbs." He said and checked out the fridge in the meantime.

"This is Tony, uhm...there was a call for Kate from the hospital, but she forgot to take her cell phone. Can I talk to her?" Dinozzo asked.

"She´s sleeping right now and I don´t want to wake her up. I can tell her to call you back when she wakes up though. Or should she call the hospital right away?" He asked and reached for a box of pasta that stood on the top shelve.

"They just wanted to tell her that they found a donor for her dad, so maybe just tell her that. Tell her I hope she´s better soon. It´s awful to get sleep deprived and a flu on top of that. Ducky told me. Anyway, see you tomorrow, boss." Dinozzo hung up and Gibbs had to smile. Mallard was brilliant, not only as a doctor, but also when it came to keeping secrets. Kate wouldn´t want anyone to know what was going on.

Jethro put the pasta back and returned to the livingroom. The blanket had fallen to the floor and he carefully put it back over her body. Instead of returning to the armchair, he sat down on the couch next to Kate and pulled a strand of hair out of her face. She smiled slightly and he smiled back, though she didn´t see it. As it was getting darker outside and he decided to close the curtains. Walking through the apartment, he noted how clean and tidy everything looked. Kate´s desk was a mess most times, but as it seemed, she preferred to keep things simple in her private life.

He was looking at some paintings on the wall, when a sound startled him. He walked back to the couch and saw that she had opened her eyes. She seemed disoriented and looked at him. "Gibbs...what..." Kate started, but her voice cracked. He handed her a glass of water and sat down across from her.

"How do you feel?" He asked after she had sat up. Her movements were a bit uncoordinated, but Ducky had warned him this might happen.

"My head hurts...what happened?" She asked and looked at him. For a moment, he wondered if he should tell her right away, but then decided to let her rest for the night before bringing the topic up again.

"That can wait until tomorrow. Ducky gave you an injection after you collapsed at the office. Just take it easy for now." He took the glass from her and put the blanket back over her shoulders.

The look on her face was now confused. "I collapsed? I mean...I don´t remember anything." Kate said and felt helpless. She had never experienced something like this before. She remembered going to work and joining Gibbs in an empty office for a talk, but after that, she had a complete blank. Her heart was beating like mad and she started feeling dizzy again.

Jethro noted how the color drained from her face again and forced her back down onto the couch. He pulled the blanket over her body and their eyes met for a moment. "We can talk about that tomorrow, but for now, you need to sleep. That´s an order, Special Agent Todd." His eyes told her that he accepted no objection.

Kate sighed and closed her eyes. She felt much better lying down, but she wouldn´t admit it -especially not in front of Gibbs. "Yes, Sir." She replied and opened her eyes again for a moment. "Can I go to the bedroom though?"

He nodded and watched her sit up. At first, she seemed to stand stable, but a moment later her knees gave way and she fell back onto the couch. Gibbs smiled. "Ducky told me that´s normal. It´s just a side-effect of the meds he gave you." He said and lifted her up a second later. She tried to object, but he didn´t even take notice of it. Over in the bedroom, he put her onto the bed and walked back to the door. "I´ll sleep on the couch for tonight, just in case you need something. Good night, Kate."