A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!
Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!
Again a huge thank you to Kate for her fantastic ideas and inspiration!
Gibbs dropped the phone and stumbled back to his room. He didn't really feel like going into work today, he knew Ducky was right. He needed rest, but he'd never admit it if anybody asked. Heading to the shower, he started thinking of his case, he was sure Lt Patterson was guilty; it was written all over his files. Gibbs turned on the water and let it run over his body. He started thinking of Kate and thought of her conversation with Abby before she left. He smiled, knowing that they had spoken about more than Kate had said. He leaned his head back under the shower head, closing his eyes and letting his hair get wet. Gibbs smiled as he recalled when they had been pushed together on that submarine. The smell of her hair, the touch of her body. Kate had stayed on top of him longer than she needed to, but he hadn't minded. Absently, he turned the hot water up, steam coming from the shower. Then he recalled their time together on Air Force One, there had been something there, it had made him offer her a job at NCIS. Since then, it had grown, neither of them had taken much notice of it…until now. Gibbs opened his eyes and found the black dots were back. He felt dizzy and light-headed. Damn this stupid bet with DiNozzo, but he was going to get through it, he was going to win this goddamn bet. Gibbs turned off the hot-water and got out of the shower. He grabbed his towel and headed towards his bedroom. When the room began spinning, Gibbs stopped and put his hand on the wall to steady himself. Now the room was spinning out of control. Gibbs silently cursed as the darkness obscured his vision once again and felt himself hit the ground.
Kate knocked on Gibbs' door. She had pulled the short straw and had gone to keep Gibbs company. Well, pulling the short straw wasn't entirely the truth, Tony and Ducky had coerced her to go. Not that she minded at all, she just put up the fight so that it didn't seem like she jumped at the idea to spend more time with her boss. She knocked again on his door and again there was no reply. She wondered if he'd taken a cab to work and they'd missed each other, she looked at the time. Nah, it had only been forty minutes after he'd called. She frowned, it was possible. She got out her cell and rang the office, Tony answered on the third tone.
"DiNozzo" He said
"Tony, Kate. Is Gibbs there?" She asked
"Uh, no. He's supposed to be with you, that's why you went to his place" Tony answered
"Yeah, I know Tony. He's not answering his door" she said
"Well break in, he couldn't have left" Tony responded
"I can't break in DiNozzo, this is Gibbs. He'd kill me. Besides, his door's locked," Kate said, turning the handle of the door, which opened "Or not. I'll call you later" Kate flipped her phone closed and walked inside.
She looked around, "Gibbs!" she called, no answer
Strange, she thought. If he was here, she was sure he would say something. She walked down into his basement and looked at his boat. Well, at least she could now say she'd been in his basement and seen his boat. She smiled to herself and took a few more steps down the stairs, but stopped when she heard a noise. The noise came from upstairs, it had kind of sounded like a weak cough. She frowned and went back up the stairs and decided to see his bedroom. As she walked to Gibbs' bedroom, she noticed the bathroom door was open. Then she saw his body, he was laying half-way between his bathroom and his bedroom. "Gibbs!" she called, running over. He didn't answer; she swore and checked his pulse, which was a bit fast. "Dammit Gibbs!" she cursed
"Hey" she heard him crackle. Gibbs slowly opened his eyes, then closed them again as the light hit them.
"Hey, yourself. You had us all worried" Kate replied
"By that, do you mean, everybody, or you?" Gibbs asked, his voice slightly above a whisper
"By that, I mean everybody and me" Kate replied
"I'm fine" Gibbs whispered, slightly opening his eyes
"You trying to convince me, or yourself?" Kate asked, "We should get you to bed" she said after noticing that he was only wearing a towel
"Mmmm" he acknowledged, closing his eyes again
"Gibbs. Wake up" Kate told him, tugging at his arm
Gibbs sighed and looked at Kate. Kate helped Gibbs get to his feet and supported him as they walked slowly to his bedroom. "You here to take me to work?" he asked as he sat on the bed
"You're not going to work, Gibbs" Kate answered, pulling the covers over him as he lay down
"That's what you think, Katie" Gibbs replied, before falling asleep
Kate smiled and watched him close his eyes. She listened as his breathing became regular and knew he'd fallen asleep. Kate walked out of his room as phoned Ducky
"Hi Ducky, its Kate" she said into her cell
"Ah, Caitlin, how is young Jethro?"
"Sleeping. I found him passed out in the hallway between his bedroom and the bathroom. He woke up and I got him into bed" Kate smiled as she thought of the two levels that comment could be taken
"Good work Caitlin. How does he look?"
"Not good. His face was covered in sweat, he was pale and shivering."
"I see. You know, this reminds me of a case we had about three years ago, we found a corporal who was…"
"Ducky!" Kate said, exasperated
"Ah, sorry Caitlin. You take good care of Jethro now, ok?"
"Ok, thanks Duck"
Kate closed the phone and looked through the door at her boss. He still didn't look good. She decided to get a cup of coffee and get the breakfast that she'd forgotten to have this morning, then come back and see how he was doing.
Tony walked into the interrogation room and put the large folders down. He sat down in the chair with a small huff and began sorting out the folders. He had just come from interrogation with Lt Patterson, the man had seemed pissed. The Lt had told Tony that he had proposed to Srg Dowling two months ago and was furious when Tony said she'd been seeing another man at the time. Tony had decided to give the man time to cool down before interviewing him again. He inwardly sighed and finally looked up at Srg Dowling as if noticing her for the first time.
"So, how long did you and Lt Mitchell date for?" he asked
"Just over eight months. We've been through this" Srg Dowling replied, exasperated already. Tony had kept her waiting for an hour and a half
"Yes, but we decided we wanted to go through it again, just to spite you" Tony said, giving a charming smile. "Now, you told Special Agents Gibbs and Todd that this wasn't a serious relationship?"
"That's correct" she replied
"So, what do you consider as a serious relationship Sergeant?" he asked. When she didn't answer, Tony stood up and walked to the mirror "You're relationship with Lt Patterson, do you consider that serious? How long have you two been dating?"
"14 months. This is none of your business" she replied
"I'm making it my business!" Tony said, facing her giving a glare that would have made Gibbs proud. "You didn't answer my question"
"Yes, we are in a serious relationship, I love James" she answered
"So why were you sleeping with Lt Mitchell?"
"I wasn't"
"We have evidence suggesting you were"
"You mean his 'diaries'? He was writing a book"
"You knew about that?" Tony asked, slightly raising his eyebrow
"Yes, he based one of the characters on me. That's why we met so often. We weren't sleeping together, we weren't dating. Sure, he was hot and we did have a fling in Norfolk, but he doesn't like women anymore"
Tony crossed his arms, frowning "Lt Mitchell was gay?"
"Yes, he was even seeing somebody on the ship. Some guy called Tony" she said
Tony went back to the table and picked up the folders. He walked out of interrogation and into observation to find McGee laughing hard.
Tony slapped him over the back of his head and said, "McGeek! I want you to pull the file of everybody on that ship named Anthony!" and stormed out, saying something about needing coffee
That's it for chapter 9... I hope you like it! Please review, pretty please!