One short moment
Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything
Summary: Sequel to "Demons of the past", about a month after Gibbs tells the team about his son, Kate gets a call at work. When she disappears, her colleagues start to wonder…
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4- Decision
With the first tear falling down her face, Kate started to speak, actually it was more like a whisper, but at least, she found words to express her feelings now. "Emily fell into the pool when she was four years old. They didn´t know how long she had been under water." She said and leaned against his shoulder. She didn´t actually think about who was with her at this moment. The sound of his heartbeat calmed her down somehow. "She...she wasn´t breathing, but they got her back. She´s been in coma ever since, hasn´t woken up at all. Brenner´s is one of the best facilities in the country and Ally used to live close to it too..." She pulled herself up a bit until she could look into his blue eyes.
For a moment, there was silence while Gibbs tried to process the information she had given him. "So, when your sister died, you took over the task to care for her?" He asked and watched a smile creeping over her face. This reaction surprised him a bit, but he wasn´t prepared for what came next.
"Emily is not my niece, Gibbs." Kate looked into his blue eyes and hesitated for a moment. "She´s my daughter." These simple words changed everything. "She´s been like this for five years. She would have turned 10 in September, you know. She´s my little angel... " Kate whispered and he noted that exhaustion was finally starting to take its toll on her. Gibbs was actually lost for words at this. He knew that she needed to rest right now, so he simply lead her back to Emily´s room where she fell asleep on the spare bed a few moments later, still sobbing softly.
About an hour later a nurse stuck her head in. "Oh, she´s finally asleep, that´s good." She said and went in to check some of the IVs over ther girl´s bed. "She´s been here every weekend for as long as I work here -and that´ll be almost four years next summer. Terrible thing this is. I doubt I could take it as well if it was my daughter lying there." She added and left again. Gibbs remained between the two beds, unmoving and still completely lost for words. He didn´t know what to make of the whole situation. He knew what it meant to lose a child, but this here didn´t even come close to his demons.
At some point, he must have dozed off because he was woken by a soft voice calling his name. "Jethro?" He shot up and looked into Kate´s brown eyes hovering above him. It startled him that she was using his first name again -eventhough he didn´t mind, those occasions were rare.
"What time is it?" He asked and got up, trying hard to keep his face straight. The muscles in his back screamed in pain as he tried to stretch. Hospital chairs were not designed to sleep in them, that was for sure. She did look a bit better, but there were still dark circles under her eyes.
She checked her watch. "Barely 8 am, why?" She asked, then looked at him. Realization dawned on her face. "You didn´t tell anyone when you came here, did you?" Kate asked and smiled a bit. "Now there´s two of the team missing, Tony must be going through hell right now."
"Or he already started to put his magazines and posters up around my desk. I need to go and call him up. Will you be okay for a few minutes?" He asked and she just nodded. Out in the hallway, he got his cell out and dialed Dinozzo´s number at NCIS.
"Dinozzo." came the prompt answer and he could hear McGee and Abby talking about something in the background.
"Tell Abby she should be working on that DNA, Dinozzo. I want some results when I´m back." Gibbs said and noted that the talking subsided immediately.
"Where are you, boss? You had us worried. Morrow already sent your picture to the local Starbuck´s stores for identification. The one at the corner said they´ll be out of business if you´re away for more than two days in a row." Tony said, sounding rather cheerful.
Gibbs sighed. Normally, he would have had some remark to fire at his agent, but today, he didn´t feel like it. "I´ll be gone until tomorrow or maybe a day longer. You can leave me a message on my voice mail, because I have my cell turned off. Is Ducky around by any chance?" He then asked as he had heard the elevator opening in the background.
"Actually, no. He´s been down in autopsy since he got here. Shall I tellhim anything?" Dinozzo asked, but Gibbs denied and put the phone away as he saw Kate coming towards him. She had pulled her hair into a ponytail, which made her look even more worn out actually.
"Do you mind going out for some breakfast? I´m starving." Kate asked when she reached him. "I pay." She added immediately, but he shook his head.
"No, you´re not. I´m paying. You look like you could really use some food. When was the last time you ate?" He asked as he pulled her towards the changing room. He was glad to get rid of the gown for a while.
"I don´t know." She told him, which was probably true. "Probably breakfast yesterday or something like that." The strain in her voice was still there, but not as obvious as the night before, which was probably a good thing.
Gibbs asked a nurse for the closest place to have decent coffee and found a Starbuck´s just two blocks from the hospital.He ordered two large coffee and a variety of sandwiches as he wasn´t sure which one she would eat. Inspite of sleeping a few hours last night, she seemed to be exhausted, but he tried not to let her notice how worried he was. "Thank you for telling me about Emily." He finally said as they sat at a table in a far corner of the store.
Kate looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. "I should have told you earlier...When you told me about Leroy, I wanted to tell you, but then you had your personal demons to face at that time. You really didn´t need mine there as well." She said and for the first time, she didn´t try to hold back her tears anymore. A few tears ran down her face and left small pools of liquid on the table. "I need to let her go. I tried to hold her back, hoping that she would wake up, but she won´t." She said, her voice barely audible now. It took her much to make this decision -she had dreaded this moment for five years now, but today she felt that she could finally take that last step.