A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I wish I did, but I don't!
Author's Notes: Thanks for all the reviews... a few more wouldn't go unnoticed though! Please! Oh, and a huge thank you to Kate for all her brilliant work!
Kate slowly opened her eyes, the bright light making her close them again. Her head was thumping. She tried to recall what had happened, but found her memory to be patchy; Gibbs getting frustrated with a young man with pimples, Gibbs picking at his food, why did all of her memories seem to have Gibbs in them? She tried to open her eyes again, resorting to squinting. For a few seconds, Kate was disorientated, where was she? She quickly realised where she was, in some kind of hospital, the smell gave it away.
"Hey, welcome back" Gibbs said softly, getting up from his chair
"Hi… What happened?" Kate croaked, trying to sit up, but laying back down when she started seeing stars
"You don't remember? You were hit when you tried to stop a fight. Tony is questioning the sailors now; they have a lot to answer for. Nobody hits one of my agents and gets away with it." Gibbs said looking at the wall with an emotion in his eyes that Kate had never seen him express before, but before she could identify it, it was gone. "The doctors took some head scans and said you have a severe concussion and want to keep you in overnight for observation."
"What? But…" Kate tried to think, she rubbed her eyes "How long was I out?"
"A few hours. Its just after 7 now, Tony and I took turns interviewing the friends and colleagues of the dead marine. We didn't want you to wake up and be alone" Gibbs replied, sighing
Kate attempted a smile "I'll be fine Gibbs"
"I know you will." He said straightening up; he pointed to the door "I'll tell Tony you woke, you should get some rest" Gibbs briefly touched her hand before walking out
Kate closed her eyes with a sigh. Gibbs had been worried about her, maybe it was a side-effect of the coffee, or lack there of… She dismissed the thought, maybe she was overreacting, perhaps he was just worried because one of his special agents had been injured. Their relationship was purely professional, he didn't have those kinds of feelings for her, he couldn't, and neither did she, or did she? Before Kate could work out her feelings her boss, Tony walked in.
"Oooh ouch Kate. You really have to watch where you walk, make sure there are no fists you may bump into" Tony said
"What! I just got punched Tony. You can't 'anticipate' that" Kate replied, recalling when Gibbs was teaching McGee a few pointers about being a field agent
"Yeah, I know, sorry. I don't really know how to act in hospitals, they creep me out" Tony said, checking out the nurse that had just walked in and had inserted something into Kate's IV, then left.
"I know the feeling" Kate agreed, then changed the subject, "So did you two find any leads on the marine?". At the confused expression on Tony's face, Kate continued "Gibbs said you guys took turns interviewing everybody who knew the marine"
"No. That would take all day, I did as many of them as I could, and Gibbs did a few as well, but..." his voice trailed off "Kate. When you hit the table, I called out to Gibbs, he kept pressure on your head wound till we got here. The doctors didn't let him in whilst they stitched up your head, he was driving me crazy, so I told him to start interviewing people"
"And he did what you told him?" Kate asked, skeptically
"Well, he refused to, shouted at me for a while. Then he left, when he came back, he'd interviewed several people. By that time you were out and in a normal room, he's barely left the room since" Tony explained. "Although that may be partly because he fell asleep for a while, but…" He left the sentence hanging there, then remembered something "Oh yeah, and he still hasn't had any coffee yet"
"Well maybe somebody is drugging him. How long has it been now?" She paused and tried to calculate the time, but it made her headache worse
"11, almost 12 hours" Tony replied
"See, that's very uncharacteristic of him, and falling asleep… I don't know, I never really saw him as the type of person who sleeps much. Yeah, that's what it …must be, somebody's drugged him, yeah." Kate said
"Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" Tony asked, grinning broadly
"Um,…I was referring to…" Kate started feeling really sleepy, it was hard to keep her eyes open. She tried to brush it off, she looked at Tony, but couldn't focus on him
"Kate? You feeling tired?" Tony asked
"Yeah, all of a sudden. I …" She interrupted herself with a yawn
"Don't worry, it's all the drugs they gave you, they said this would probably happen" Tony told her. Kate just nodded and closed her eyes. "I'll see ya later, ok?" Tony walked out of the room
Kate opened her eyes, but the room was dark. She felt a presence in the room, just lingering, she waited for her eyes to adjust, but it didn't get any clearer.
"Hello?" She asked, sitting up
"Kate? It's Gibbs, I'm here" He replied
"What time is it?"
"Almost two. How are you feeling?"
"Better. What are you still doing here?"
"Our flight was grounded due to bad weather, so we had to stay here. Tony left about an hour ago, we finished the interviews, didn't turn up anything"
"Oh" Kate said, "I thought you finished the interviews before"
Gibbs paused, "I lied. I needed to know that you would be okay". Kate heard Gibbs get up, then felt his hand brush her cheek "You should get some sleep"
"So should you" Kate replied, hearing him smile
"Nah, I'm tough. And sleeps overrated anyway" He said, and added under his breath "I can think of better ways to fill my time"
But Kate didn't hear, she'd fallen asleep again.
When Kate woke, Gibbs was gone and the chair was empty. She yawned, then stretched and sat back, looking at the wall with sleepy eyes.
"Morning Kate" Tony said as he walked in and plonked himself down on the seat, putting his head in his hands
"Morning Tony" Kate answered, "What's up? Didn't sleep?"
"Well, yes and no. Gibbs is driving me insane. He's really cranky and is yelling at everybody" Tony said looking at her
"Really? What time is it?" She asked
"Time for breakfast" Gibbs replied, walking in with a take-out tray, putting it in front of Kate
"Aww, where's mine?" Tony asked
Gibbs just glared at him, then turned to Kate "The doctors said they want to keep you in here a bit longer before they discharge you"
"To hell with that. I'm not staying here!" Kate told him
"It wasn't a question, Agent Todd!" Gibbs said
"I wasn't asking, Agent Gibbs!" Kate replied
"Kate, he's right, you should stay here until you're cleared." Tony interrupted, "Besides, the chopper won't be leaving until midday anyway. The weather still has to clear and the chopper checked for take-off." Tony continued, watching their reactions, "So, it's settled. Now kiss and make-up"
Kate rolled her eyes, Gibbs slapped Tony over the back of his head and walked out, neither Kate or Tony seeing the grin on his face.
Thats it for chapter 3... I hope you like it! Reviews please!