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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6- Learning the truth
Striding out into the parking lot, he headed directly for the truck, face rid of all emotions, trying to look at least a bit angry. Somehow, he was glad that they cared so much about each other for taking the risk of losing their job because of such a stunt. "DINOZZO!" Gibbs yelled and waited for a moment. "Out of that truck. RIGHT NOW!"
Three figures tumbled out of the truck, looking exhausted and blinking against the bright light. "Uhm, hi, boss." Dinozzo tried and ducked immediately when he noticed the look on Gibbs´ face. "We´re screwed." He muttered under his breath so that only Abby and McGee could hear him.
"Why in this world are you in the back of Ducky´s truck? And don´t dare to tell me you were cleaning and he accidentially took you along." Gibbs said, his voice being much calmer by now. "I´m waiting!" He tapped his food on the ground impatiently and had to hide the smile that was creeping up on him. He was proud to have such a wonderful team, but they had to bleed before they eventually learned that.
"Ducky almost bolted out of the building after he talked to you...where´s Kate?" Abby asked, stepping a bit forward. She had never been afraid to face him, no matter how bad the day was. It was something that he really liked about her. She was the only one who dared to standup to him in a situation like this. That was one of the reasons he had gotten her onto the team in the first place.
Gibbs pointed at a bench that stood in front of the hospital. "Sit! All three of you!If you move as much as an inch from that bench, I will tie your shoelaces to the rear endof the truck and have you run back to Washington. Got that?" He snapped at them and watched them race each other for that bench. After a moment, he walked to his car and grinned widely. Glancing back, he saw all three sitting on the bench, looking mortified. "They deserve that much." He told himself and drove to the motel.
Kate was still asleep, stirring as he sat down next to her. "Kate, wake up." He said softly and put his hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and he noticed that she looked a bit better now. "We need to go."
She sat up and just looked at him for a moment. "I had the strangest dream...Emily was playing hide and seek with some boy...he looked a lot like yours." She said and noted a slightly surprised look on his face.
"He´ll take care of her." Gibbs replied and had to fight back some tears again. He knew what she was going through now and what she would go through during the following days. It wouldn´t be easy, but knowing Kate, he felt that she could do it. Without thinking much about it, he pulled her into a hug and felt her arms around him for a few seconds. They shared the pain of losing a child, which formed a special bond in this moment.
While Kate went straight for the car, he paid for the room and picked up some coffee for both of them. It was just a five minute drive and he knew that he had to tell her before she actually saw the forensic truck or the three people still sitting on a bench. "Ducky´s here. He´ll bring her home and take care of all arrangements. I hope you´re okay with that." He said as he pulled off the main road and drove into the parking lot.
She smiled a bit. "It´s fine." She told him and looked out again, her jaw dropping as she recognized three people sitting on a bench. "You told them?"
He shook his head. "Nope -they´ve been hiding in the back of the truck. Kinda like blind passengers. They´re just worried about you." Gibbs smiled a bit when he saw their heads shooting up as he parked the car. "I´ll leave it to you to tell them. I think they got my message on this." He said with a mischievous sparkle in his blue eyes.
Kate got out and stood close to the car for a moment. Her hair was tangled and barely held up in the ponytail and the dark circles under her eyes told the rest of the story. Abby jumped up and ran over to hug her. "You´re okay, I´m so glad." She said and looked concerned as she noticed how tired her friend looked. "What´s wrong, Kate?"
Dinozzo and McGee came up as well now, hugging Kate one after the other. "You really scared me, Kate." Tony admitted and tried to read her eyes, but they were not giving her away. Hearing this from him really surprised her, but she was grateful that he seemed to grow up a bit, at least for a few moments.
They walked into the hospital and sat down in a waiting area. Kate looked at her hands for a few seconds and felt a reassuring touch on her back. Tony sat next to her, worry in his eyes. "I...it´s not easy to talk about this...I...Emily was in a coma for almost five years. She had taken a turn to worse a few days ago, that was the call I got. She...she died today." She started and watched their questioning looks. "Emily is...was...my daughter."
Abby just stared at her friend, eyes wide and jaw dropped through the floor. Without a word, she came over and hugged Kate tight. They talked about almost everything and she was just shocked to learn about this. For a short second, she remembered something of her own past, but put it away. She didn´t need her demons to come out and haunt her. Everyone had those personal demons and Abby knew that she would have to face hers some time, but right now that time hadn´t come yet. "I´m sorry, Kate."
They talked for a while and Kate realized how much these people meant to her. They had risked their health and jobs riding in the back of Ducky´s truck. They had come here to see her without knowing what was going on. She could see that they were still shocked as they returned to the parking lot an hour later and started the drive back to Washington. McGee and Abby were going with Ducky while Tony got into the back of Gibbs´ car with Kate. She fell asleep after a few minutes, her head resting against his shoulder.