Shattered
Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything
Summary: Twilight left them shattered. When Ari is killed 6 months later, the team learns surprising news, but will those news come soon enough to keep one of them from breaking?
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5- Back at NCIS
The following morning, Kate had an appointment with Director Morrow very early. Tony came along and decided to get some paperwork done while she was up in the office. It was not quite 8 am when she came out again, her gun back in the holster and her badge on her belt again. "Everything okay, Kate?" He asked and she nodded, looking a bit uncertain, but much more confident than the day before.
"Seems like it. There will be a debriefing for everyone involved on Wednesday. He said I should go and tell everyone the short version for now. I need to get my desk sorted out and tell Ducky." Kate said and walked back to her desk. Her hand brushed over the gun and she smiled a bit. She had missed her old life a lot, but even now it seemed unreal to her. At least unreal the way it was right now.
McGee came in a few minutes later and smiled at both of them. "Morning, Tony. Morning, Kate." He said and smiled. Having her back felt really good, eventhough it was more than just a bit surprising. "Are you going to tell Ducky?" He asked and watched Kate picking up her phone.
"Sure am. I have to ask him about Gibbs. I didn´t think he would take it so hard and the sooner we get it sorted out the better." Kate replied and dialed the number of the morgue. Deep inside she felt awful about the picture of her boss being held in 7 West. She had been to that place before during investigation and it hadn´t been a place to spend more than just a few hours.
"Mallard." A voice answered the call and she felt her heart beating like mad. He sounded just like always and somehow the picture of the old man with his strange hat pacing the morgue sprung to her mind.
"Hi, Ducky. Could you come up here for a moment?" She just asked and smiled when she heard the phone drop onto the floor. Steps echoed and she heard a door opening. "Okay, I guess he´s coming." She put the phone back down and looked at the elevator, but it didn´t move. Instead, the door to the staircase was thrown open and Ducky came rushing in. She had hardly ever seen him taking the stairs, let alone running in at such a speed.
He stopped a few feet in front of her, confusion plainly on his face. "My...How is this possible? Caitlin, I believe you need to explain this miracle to me, dear." He said and gave her a long hug. "When I saw you last, you were most certainly dead."
She smiled and told him the same story her three co-workers had heard the night before. "So, that´s all there is. Ducky, what about Gibbs? How will he react when he sees me?" She finally asked and noted the look in his eyes.
Ducky seemed concerned. "I do not know what impact this will have on Jethro. As I said before, he has completely withdrawn from his surroundings, he doesn´t even react to Anthony or me visiting him. He has never cried after the events on the rooftop and he surely has not spoken about anything. It is possible that he is holding back those feelings and therefore refuses to interact with anyone around. It might be an attempt to keep himself from hurting even more. I believe that he cared deeply about you, Caitlin, possibly more than he was ready to admit." He explained and Kate had a hard time to keep her face straight. Ducky probably had no idea how true his guess was.
Kate smiled a bit. "I know he did. There´s still rule 12, but if all of this hadn´t happened, maybe..." She said and met smiling faces. "Sorry, that doesn´t belong here." She quickly added, but saw a grin spreading over Tony´s face immediately.
"Hey, Gibbs is a good guy. He deserves to be happy -and his mood was a lot better when you were around. Don´t think we never noticed." Dinozzo said and leaned against his desk. Everyone on the team had noticed the special connection between their boss and Kate for a long time.
"I believe we should head to Bethesda. I can´t say how he will react, if at all, but it´s worth a try. Commander Witten is the head of 7 West, so we will need to talk to him about this." Ducky said and they trooped out to the parking lot. McGee and Abby stayed behind, making sure that the reports were filed on time.
"Jethro has withdrawn completely, he doesn´t even touch coffee anymore. Maybe we should bring him some, because if this works, he will surely want a cup of Starbuck´s homeblend." Ducky said while Tony drove towards the hospital. "We need to talk to Cmdr. Witten, he´s the resident of 7 West. He will be able to help us find the right time and place to tell Jethro the whole story."
Half an hour later they left Witten´s office. The mood had dropped significantly. Witten did not want Kate to see Gibbs for the time being. "I don´t think it would improve his condition if he finds himself face to face with the person whose death has landed him here. If you are to tell him, you should do so gently. I would recommend that you take him out to some places that hold specific memories for him, like his house, the office, maybe even that rooftop everything started at. See how he reacts to those triggers and we will see how to deal with the rest afterwards." The commander said and left them again.
Kate felt close to crying again. "Why can´t I just go and tell him?" She asked and looked into Ducky´s eyes. He looked rather sad too, but there was also a warmth that made her feel better immediately.
"He is right there, Caitlin. Jethro would probably think you are just a hallucination and draw back even more. We have to find a way to get tohim first. He has withdrawn so extensively that we are not even sure if he notices anything around him at all. Anthony, please take Caitlin home for now. I shall talk to Jethro in the meantime. Come back afterwards and we will take him out for a while." Ducky said and walked to a plain wooden door half way up the hallway.