Demons of the past

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Just why is Gibbs never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it and start to dig. What they find is more than they were ready to get...

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6- Dinner and a picture

"So it´sactually true? You´re really building a boat down there? How do you plan toget it out?" She asked and put her coat away.

He smiled. "Actually, I haven´t thought about that yet. It´s far from being done, so there´s some time left to think about it. What do you want to drink?" He walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "I got water, orange juice, milk or coffee of course. Oh, and there´s some wine somewhere around as well."

"Water is fine, I don´t think I could take any wine tonight." She said and sat down on the couch. She had´t expected his house to be like this. It actually looked warm and friendly -two words nobody who worked with him would associate with Gibbs. He handed her a glass and was gone again. She scanned the books standing on a shelf. It surprised her that she had read most of them. "Did you read all of those?" She asked when he returned, noting that he had changed into jeans and a simple grey shirt.

"Sure did. Each and every one. Surprised?" He took a bottle of wine out of the shelf next to the fireplace and sat down in an armchair, helping himself to a glass of wine.

Kate watched him closely for a moment. "To be honest, yes, a bit." She admitted and smiled. She was even more startled when he gestured her to follow him and opened basement door. "You´re showing me your basement?"

"You don´t want to see it?" He asked, but went down the stairs anyway, hearing her steps close behind him. The boat barely fitted into the basement. She could smell sawdust and grinned when she noted the many scotch bottles lined up on a cupboard. "Don´t look too closely, it´s not easy to sand a boat after four cups of scotch." He said and ran his hand over the wood. After a few moments, he guided her back upstairs and sat down on the couch. "Just don´t tell anyone you´ve seen her, okay? I don´t need Dinozzo breaking into my basement."

"He wouldn´t." She said and he looked at her. "Do you really think he´s the same guy he tries to portray at work? All of us are different once we get home." For some strange reason, the headache wasn´t bothering her anymore. At first she had put it on the distraction, but then she noted that it was gone.

"Sure about that?"

"Definetely, well okay, Tony is not that much different, he´s actually more of a teenager when we get off work, but that´s the exception. I mean, where didthat other Gibbs go, the onewho isbarking at us all the time? Did you leave your second b at the office?" She asked and he laughed about that statement.

"No, it´s hanging at the front door. It´s bothering me around here, so I just leave it at the door." He walked back into the kitchen to look after the food. "I think we can eat. Would you mind to set the table? Plates are in that low cupboard over there." He called overand she got up.

"Wow, I had no idea that you can cook." Kate said after finishing her plate. After working with him for such a long time, she had not expected to see so many different sides on him. Let alone being invited for dinner at his house, of course.

"There´s a lot you don´t know about me. Actually, I like it that way. Work is one thing, but I like to keep my private life...well, private." He told her and put the plates into the sink.

She looked at him, her arms crossed in front of her chest. "If you do, why did you take me to your place and even show me your boat? You told us that the boat is your ultimate privacy." She asked and eyed him suspiciously. She knew that he wasn´t trying to seduce her -he wouldn´t have managed to get her here if she had seen that coming in the first place.

"I...well, I guess I just cared for some company tonight. Shocked?" He asked, sounding a bit hurt all of the sudden. Another thing she had never expected to hear from him.

"I´m sorry, Gibbs. I mean, thanks for dinner and all. I just didn´t expect it." She said and watched his expression softening again.

He smiled at her. "Ducky keeps telling me I have two completely opposite sides, but I never really cared, I guess.That doesn´t mean that I don´t have a normal life aside from being a special agent. I just don´t like to mixthem up too much. Abby has been here before. She saw the boat. And Ducky as well." He told her and she was surprised. "I´ve known Abby for a long time, longer than you think."

"Okay, that´s news to me, but you don´t have to tell me." She said immediately, not wanting to invade into his privacy any more than she had already done, but he simply smiled.

"Kate, we´ve been working together for almost two years now. If you don´t want to talk, it´s okay. Just tell me. I´m just trying to be a bit nicer, I think." He said and it sounded very honest to her, though she could sense his uncertainty.

"I didn´t mean to hurt you, I´m sorry. It´s just...this is so completely from outer space to me. I always thought you would have all kinds of military stuff at your place, from the way you are at work. Gee, I mean, I´m a profiler. I thought I had you figured out and then I have to realize that you´re a completely different person than I thought." She said and wondered how she could have been so wrong about him all that time.

He smirked. "You´re the best profiler I know. It doesn´t have anything to do with your abilities in that field.I simply learned to hide certain information from other people. Uhm...I need to make a call really quickly, it just takes a few minutes, okay? You can turn on the TV, if you want to." He offered and left the room.

Kate looked around for a moment before reaching for the remote control that sat on the table. She didn´t think about him being her boss anymore. She smiled a bit when she caught herself considering him as a friend. She started watching the news and didn´t notice how she fell asleep during that.

When Gibbs returned from the other room, he felt himself smile. Kate had fallen asleep in the large armchair. He turned the TV off and placed a blanket over her. "Good night, Kate." He told her softly and turned the lights out before going to bed as well. It was late enough and the alarmclock would wake him at 6 am anyway.

The night seemed really short somehow. When he woke up from the sound of the alarmclock, he had forgotten about his guest and almost jumped out of his skin when he noticed a figure sleeping in the armchair. After a second, he remembered and smiled. He took a shower and got dressed for work before waking her up. "Kate?" He carefully shook her and she bolted up a second later. He felt himself smile when she looked around with wide eyes, clearly shocked.

"What the...what time is it?" She asked and rubbed her eyes.

"It´s almost 6:30 am. You fell asleep when I was on the phone last night. I didn´t want to wake you up." He said and walked back into the kitchen, getting two cups of coffee onto the table and some eggs into a pan.

Kate still sat in the armchair and tried to tell herself that she was dreaming. "Okay, don´t panik. He´s just kidding you. You fell asleep a few minutes ago, it´s okay." She told herself, but when she turned and looked out of the window, she realized it wasn´t a dream or a joke. Looking completely mortified, she walked into the kitchen.

He looked at her, still smiling. "What´s wrong?" He was in the middle of setting the table and put two plates with bacon and eggs next to a box of Capt´n Crunch.

"Please tell me this is a dream..." She muttered and took a sip from the coffee. "I must be dreaming."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but you´re wide awake." He said and started to eat. "Eat up or the eggs will be cold."

She did as she was told, but still felt bad for falling asleep at his house. "I didn´t want to bother you this morning too." She said as she finished her plate. "Thanks though."

"Hey, no problem really. Ducky keeps telling me off for not having a proper breakfast, he can´t do that today. I even got a witness." He put their plates away. "We need to leave in about 10 minutes. The bathroom is the third door on the left, towels are in the right cupboard." He told her and finished to pack his stuff together.

When she took a towel from the cupboard to wash her face, Kate noted the pictures on the wall. She recognized Gibbs on most of them and a red-head, who must have been one of his ex-wives. Searching for a brush, she opened a drawer and saw another picture in there. It showed Gibbs, the red-head and a boy of about five years. Judging from how it looked, it was about 10-15 years old. Noticing that it was not her business, Kate shut the drawer again and headed out into the hallway. "I look like crap." She stated while she tried to pull her hair into a ponytail in front of a mirror.

"No you don´t." He told her and took her coat from the hanger. They got into the car and drove to the office. Kate had already decided not to mention that night to anyone, though the photography was making her wonder. Gibbs had never said anything about one of his ex-wives having children. And his file didn´t give anything like that away either.

When they walked in, nobody else was there yet. It was 7:50 am, so they had another 10 minutes. "I´ll go see Ducky for a moment." She told him and returned into the elevator after putting her purse and coat behind her desk.

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Thanks to everyone who reviewed this so far. Eventhough it might look like it, it´s not going to end up as a relationship-fic or something. I know it´s kinda implied here and there, but it´s not as it seems.