Tropical Nightmare- Chapter 14: Family (Gibbs´ POV)

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

Summary: Tony and Kate are sent to Argentina for an undercover mission, but they have to take a detour.They are bound to find out that atropical island can be a real nightmare -at least if you´re on your own out there...

Additional note: I usually don´t write 1st-person narrator, but it seemed to fit rather well for this little story as the POV changes with each chapter.Also, the use of present-tense is wanted here, eventhough it may seem a bit odd. I hope it´s still readable.

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It´s simply amazing how much the team has grown together. I haven´t seen Tony like this ever -usually, he is a show-off with a big mouth and a lot of talent for his work. He manages to set Kate off with just as much as two or three words, which I think is amazing. It takes me a lot more to get her to that point. I know there´s something special between them. To me, Kate is like a familymember I have to look after, a younger sister maybe, but to Tony she seems to be more, much more if I´m not mistaken.

I don´t know what it will be like when they´re back at work after these events. I hope they come back, especially Kate. It´s not easy for a senior agent to admit that, but she´s the soul of the team. I have to smile as I think about that in greater detail. It´s really like some kind of family. If one would consider me as the man in the house, I suppose Kate is the female counterpart to that. Ducky is the wise guy, Tony is a teenager and Abby, well, Abby is Abby. There´s no way to describe her any different from that. For some reason, I haven´t had the chance or the mood to think about them like this before. I guess I was too involved with the work or with being the boss. It´s strange that such a terrible thing had to happen before I got to that point.

"Want to stop at the gas station or would you prefer a convenience store?" I ask Tony, who is still staring at the note. I feel myself smile. It´s been a nice gesture of them to put his stuff back together. They asked me to help, but I have something different planned to show them how much I value them -and how relieved I am to have them back.

"Uhm...convenience would be better, I don´t think the gas station is offering razors and toothbrushes, let alone a decent shirt or something like that." He replies and I pull up to the 24-hour-store right next to the housing area. I decide to wait in the car while Tony goes to get his stuff. This way, I have a little more time to think about everything. "Want a coffee, boss?" He calls from the entrance and I give him a nod. It´s never too late for a caffein boost.

I lean back and look up to the roof of the car. Before we left the hospital, I have talked to one of the doctors, who take care of Kate. I asked him about a transfer to Bethesda, but he said that her condition doesn´t allow that yet. I remember when I got shot on an assignment or rather say, I remember what Ducky told me about it later on. He told me that they got me back home without problems, eventhough from what I understood, they regarded me as critical. I wonder just how seriously she has been hurt if they are not risking to transport her.

The door on the other side of the car opens and two bags fly onto the backseat. Tony jumps back into the car and hands me a large cup of coffee. "They only got regular, no extra-strong. Sorry, boss." He tells me and puts his seatbelt back on.

"Never apologize, remember, Dinozzo?" I tell him and suddenly I can literally see how he tenses up. "I´m sorry, Tony. Bad habits don´t vanish from a day outside the office." I tell him and he grins.

"Now it´s you apologizing. I should note that day in my calendar." He says and I pull onto the road again. The apartment is tiny, just a small kitchen that stretches almost to the porch, a couch and a TV-set near the dining table seem to serve as livingroom. There are three doors, first one is a bathroom, the other two are bedrooms. "Wow, and I thought my place is small." Tony says and walks into the bathroom. "That´s even smaller than Abby´s."

I raise an eyebrow at his remark and wonder how well the rest of the team knows each other. I´ve never been to any of their places, except for Kate´s apartment that is, but that´s a different story. I´ve heard about Abby´s place. They say it´s so small you couldn´t fit my desk in it. I wonder if it´s really so small or if it´s a hint that my desk is too big. I´m the boss after all, but sometimes, I wonder what the use of those six monitors is supposed to be. I use two, three at the most and only when there´s lots going on.

I sit down on the couch and finish the coffee from the store. For a moment, I ponder to turn on the TV, but a glance at my watch tells me that it´s way too late already. When I look around, I notice that Tony is watching me. "How are you doing, Tony?" I ask and he seemes to wake up from his daydream. He sits down on the other side of the couch and turns the cup in his hands.

"I´m just a bit confused, I guess. Seems like yesterday that we got on that plane, but it´s been more than two months. It was summer when we left and now the leaves have turned red and yellow already. Kate loves the indian fall, did you know that? She told me so when we were out there." His voice trails off and I realize he´s lost in his memories. "The island was beautiful, palmtrees everywhere, an endless beach. With a decent hotel, those months could have been wonderful."

I just listen to him. He talks about their camp and how they collected the parcels, how he felt bad for using other people´s belongings. He tells me about the first days with nothing but fish, coconut and bananas. I can´t imagine how that would be for me -no coffee and not even a decent steak. I catch myself thinking how much they have endured and how miraculous it is to have them back here. He tells me how Kate got hurt, how he had no idea if she had managed to activate the chip before falling. I figure that they were really lucky.

A while later, we both go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be another day, a better one, I hope. As I lie in the creaking bed, I wonder how my life would be without these people. I can´t imagine it. To my mind, they are my family and they will always be. I have been married three times, but I have never felt as safe and happy as I do now within the team. I would never tell anyone -they would call me mental for sure, but that´s how it is. Family is not just blood relations, it´s about trust and friendship more than anything else.