Katya- Chapter 7: Dobro sam

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything!

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Only 10 hours later, Kate stood in front of the airport in Washington. It was after midnight and the airport was deserted. She shivered and pulled her jacket closer around her body. Her car was locked up in the garage of the airport -it would open again the following morning around 5 am. Kate sat down on a bench, right in front of the terminal and looked up to the sky. Snow was falling slowly and covered everything with a soft, white blanket. As she sat there, the tears finally started to fall. She felt relieved somehow, inspite of the cold and the long flight. For a moment, she considered calling Gibbs, but then she realized just how late it was.

The wind was icy and cut through her jacket like it wasn´t even there. Kate shivered and pulled her cell phone out. She flipped through the entries and tried to decide whom she should throw out of bed. Tony was probably clubbing anyway -it was Saturday night. With a slight smile, she wondered whether McGee was sound asleep in his bed, snuggled tightly against a stuffed bear. For some reason, she saw him as a little brother and the picture just stuck on her mind. Abby was probably out at one of her cemetery sessions, she always did that on weekends. It left only Gibbs then, but Kate had no idea if she should really dare to call him.

While she was still considering her options, her cell phone suddenly started ringing. Caller ID told her it was Gibbs, much to her surprise. "Yes?" She answered the call and wondered why he called her.

"It´s kinda cold sitting on that bench, isn´t it?" He said and she could hear a slight smile in his voice. Kate jumped up and spun around, looking at the road that lead to the terminal. She didn´t know why she hadn´t seen the Sedan earlier, but now she recognized the car and started to wonder how he had known.

The headlights flashed on and the car drove up until it came to a stop in front of her. "What were you trying to decide? Whether to throw me out of bed or freeze to death?" He asked and smiled at her when he got out to open the trunk for her. There was this different side of him again.

"What happened to the second b?" Kate asked as she sat down on the passenger seat. He handed her a cup of fresh coffee before he helped himself to a sip from his own cup. The coffee warmed her hands and she was glad to have escaped from the frosty bench in front of the airport terminal.

"I have a special place right at the front door where I put that every night. If I need to go out again, I can always take the backdoor and leave that b where it´s hanging. I guess it´s just something that´s a work-thing for me." He replied and put the cup back into the cupholder that was attached to the dashboard. Gibbs smiled and drove towards the freeway ramp that lead into the city center.

Kate finally recovered from the surprise and looked at him. "How did you know?" She asked and could see one of his I-know-everything-smiles on his face.

"Let´s just say I have certain connections. Besides, I was wondering why the GPRS chip in your cell phone was suddenly travelling across the atlantic ocean at quite some speed." He smiled and pulled over to the exit lane.

For a second, she wasn´t sure if she was glad or if she wanted to hit him. "You bugged me? Gibbs!" She crossed her arms in front of her body and looked out of the window. For a few minutes, there was silence between them.

Gibbs pulled up into the driveway of the apartment building and stopped the car. "What do you expect? I can´t just let you fly somewhere you´ve never been. Besides, Croatia is not really the safest place, even so many years after the actual war ended." He said and got out to get her bag from the trunk. When she started to walk towards the entrance, he caught her arm and made her look at him. "How are you feeling, Kate?"

She smiled at him. "Dobro sam, Gibbs. I´m fine now."

End