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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6- Memories

Tony put his hands on her shoulders when he noticed the look in her eyes. "It´s best for him like this, Kate. Don´t cry." He told her and forced her back towards the parking lot. "I promise that I will come and take you to him when the time is right. Maybe you can think of some special places we could take him. Witten knows what he´s doing, so we have to trust him."

"I guess we have to." She replied and looked back to the hospital that slowly disappeared behind other buildings. Something deep down inside her wanted to jump out of the car and just run back, but her rational self knew that it wouldn´t be good. "I just don´t want him to hurt, Tony." Admitting this cost her a lot, but she also knew that it was impossible to hide it any longer. Nobody knew of those evenings she had spent at Gibbs´ house, all those talks they had shared. Nobody knew about their friendship -yet.

Tony simply smiled. "I know. Hey, we noticed what was going on between the two of you. I mean, we´re seasoned investigators, Kate. It was so obvious that he´s more than just your boss." He said and grinned when the look on her face changed to horror. "Don´t worry, except for us, nobody will ever know about it. You know I love you as a friend and I just want you to be happy. Gibbs was happy when he had you around and that was good for all of us, so no big deal."

Kate wasn´t sure if she should be happy or hit him. "Thanks, Tony." She simply said as she got out in front of her apartment. She watched him drive off before walking inside. Her furniture had been brought back and she started to sort out her belongings. It would take days, if not weeks to get everything back into place. It still seemed unreal to be back in Washington as if nothing had happened. Kate made a mental note never to go into protective custody again. It was not worth the pain it caused to those left behind.

Back at Bethesda, Ducky was waiting outside the main entrance. Gibbs was with him, dressed in a pair of jeans, a black shirt and a dark jacket. He seemed lost somehow and just stared into thin air, not even flinching when Tony parked the car right in front of him. "Hello, Anthony. I was just telling Jethro that we are going to take a little trip to his house today." Ducky said and opened the door to let Gibbs into the car.

The drive was rather quiet and Tony kept checking the rear mirror to see if there was any reaction from his boss, but there was none. His blue eyes seemed dull and unfocussed, like he was dreaming with open eyes all the time, not comprehending what was going on around him. They got to his house and walked inside. There was a lot of dust on the furniture, after all nobody had lived here for half a year now. Both men just stood and waited what Gibbs would do.

He stood in the hallway for a short moment, then walked towards the basement door and opened it. The smell of sawdust and paint flooded the room. Gibbs walked down the stairs, his friends following him. The boat was still far from being done. He ran his fingers over the wooden skeleton and for a short moment, his eyes seemed to sparkle a bit for the briefest moment. He returned to the ground floor after a few moments, carefully locking the door behind him again. He seemed to be oblivious of the presence of two other people in his house and walked to the fireplace. There was only one picture above it, a very small one that was hardly noticable between the books at the first look.

Tony took a step closer and his eyes widened in surprise. "Ducky, look at that picture." He said in a low voice and pointed at the frame Gibbs was now holding in his hands. "That´s Kate." He said and Gibbs spun around at the sound of her name. His blue eyes were sparkling. Yet, it was gone after a few moments again and he put the picture back down.

Ducky watched his friend closely. There were signs that he knew what was going on. Signs that didn´t make any sense considering the state he had been on for so many months. Sometimes it even seemed like he just didn´t want to talk or do something, like he had chosen this way for himself. "We should head back now." He suggested after a few more minutes of all three just standing around and turned towards the door.

The drive back to Bethesda was as silent as the first one had been, but none of them thought much about it. They checked Gibbs back in and took him to his room, waiting for him to put his jacket away. Taking care of his clothes was one of the things he still did himself and it was one of the things that had Ducky puzzled most of all. He had seen people suffering from PSD before, but none had been so accurate about something. "Jethro, there is something you need to know." The doctor started and caught a surprised look from Tony. "Ari has been shot, Jethro. He is dead." Both men looked at Gibbs, who was sitting in front of the window again, staring out. Both stood more to his side, but his face was visible for them.

A second later, something happened that none had expected. A tiny smile played on Gibbs´ lips and he nodded. It actually looked like he had understood. Tony was surprised and felt his mouth hanging open for a few moments. It was just a small gesture, but it felt like a big improvement. "Serves him right." Gibbs suddenly said, his voice strict and clear as ever. He turned his head to face both of them and they noticed at once that there was a fire burning behind those ice blue eyes again.