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!
Btw, I will be heading off to New Zealand tomorrow, but don't worry, I'll try to update my fic as much as possible.
And of course, again a gigantic thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!
"Okay, talk to me" Gibbs said as the doors of autopsy closed behind them
"You're the one who wanted to talk, Gibbs, not me" Kate responded
"What I meant by talking, was to have a conversation. You can't have a conversation with only one person talking" Gibbs stated
"Except for Ducky" Kate said lightly
Gibbs smirked, "Yeah, well he's the exception to the rule" Gibbs paused and looked at Kate thoughtfully, "So, what's on your mind, Todd?"
The hard look returned to Kate's eyes, "My arrogant, egotistical, frustrating, bastard of a boss" Kate replied
For a second, Gibbs looked slightly surprised, but regained his composure, "Why?"
Kate rolled her eyes, "Take a guess. What does your gut tell you?"
He let out a breath and hoisted himself onto one of the autopsy tables, "Ducky and Tony think you were worried about me, on the ship"
"We all were" Kate responded, "And then we saw you have a cardiac arrest, we saw you almost die. No prizes for figuring out why we were worried"
"You didn't need to be" he said
"And that's the other thing, you act like it was nothing, like you're invincible and nothing will ever hurt you. Bloody hell, Gibbs," Kate said, walking around to stand in-front of him, "We had every right to be worried"
He gave her a small smile and brushed the back of his hand against her cheek, "They said, that you cried for me", it was more of a question than a statement
"Yeah" she replied, returning the small smile and putting her hand over his
"So, you didn't answer my question before, where did you disappear to when we got back?" he asked, lowering his hand
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kate responded, teasingly
"Yeah, actually I would" Gibbs said
Before Kate had the chance to respond, her cell rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen, giving a 'hmmph'.
"You gonna answer that?" Gibbs asked
"No, it's a message, Gibbs" Kate replied.
Gibbs frowned, but didn't say anything, instead watched as Kate flipped open the phone and read it. Kate raised her eyebrows, looking surprised, then narrowed her eyes and flipped the phone closed. Gibbs looked at her expectantly, "A lead on the case?"
Kate rolled her eyes, "No, it's from Shane. He wants to take me to dinner tomorrow night at 'The Goldsmith'"
Gibbs grumbled, "Didn't he take the hint. What's wrong with this guy? He stupid?"
Kate looked at Gibbs, shocked, her mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide, she recovered and stated matter-of-factly, "No, he's not stupid, actually quite smart, he's an engineer"
"Doesn't mean he can't be less than intelligent, Kate." Gibbs replied and lost himself in thought, "What time did he want to meet you?"
"Around eight. Why?" she asked, her eyes narrowing
"Right, we're gonna teach him a lesson. I'll get us in there at seven thirty" Gibbs finally replied
"Ah, Gibbs, I said the 'Goldsmith', you have to book at least three months in advance, it's one of the city's most…" Kate said
"Not a problem, Kate, let me handle it" Gibbs replied, "I'll let you go home early and then pick you up at seven"
"You want to take me to dinner, Gibbs?" Kate asked, "Are we gonna class this as a date?"
Gibbs frowned and slid off the table, "Uh, no, not a date. Think of it as," he paused, trying to choose the right words. He was about to continue when he remembered his conversation back on the ship with Tony and Ducky, "Ah, actually, you can class it as whatever you like"
Kate raised an eyebrow, "What about rule 12?"
"Whoa, hang on a second honey, rule 12 refers to romances between agents, this is just a date" Gibbs replied, keeping a straight face
Kate raised her other eyebrow, "So it is a date?"
Gibbs sighed and looked at the ground, uncomfortable with the situation, "I guess" he looked back at Kate, "But we need to be straight about why we are going on this date. I don't want that creep harassing you; I want him to back-off. Stop stalking you"
"Stalking me? Gibbs, he's not stalking me", Gibbs simply shrugged but kept the blunt look on his face.
They stood facing each other in silence for a while, before Gibbs suggested that they should go back to the bullpen and do some work. They moved to the elevator and waited for it to come down.
Kate smirked and turned to Gibbs, "Honey?"
"What!" Gibbs asked, turning to her surprised
"You called me honey, just before" Kate explained
The elevator dinged and they stepped in and faced each other, "I didn't call you honey" he said ridiculously
"Yes you did. When I asked about rule 12" Kate responded
"No I didn't" he said, turning to face the doors and watching as the numbers went up
"Yeah, you did. Don't you remember?" she asked. Gibbs shook his head, "Gibbs, you're memory is failing, you're getting old"
Gibbs turned around and raised an eye-brow at her before turning back to the doors, "My memory is fine, and I didn't call you honey"
The doors of the elevator opened and they walked out, "Did" Kate responded
"Didn't"
"Did"
"Didn't" Gibbs said as they entered the bull-pen. McGee and Abby were at McGee's desk, typing frantically. Tony was nowhere to be seen
"Did" Kate whispered into his ear
Gibbs narrowed his eyes at her, his mouth in a straight line, but his eyes were smiling, "Don't you have work to do?"
As Kate walked back to her desk, she could have sworn she heard Gibbs mutter under his breath, didn't. She smiled and sat down. They worked in silence for some time; the only sound in the bull-pen was that of typing and occasional techno-babble from Abby and McGee.
"Shit!" Abby and McGee said in unison, Abby hit the desk and glared at McGee. Causing Gibbs and Kate looked up from their desks
"You let him get away!" she accused him
"What? I let him get away? What were you doing?" McGee asked
Abby grumbled, "Are you blaming me? McGeek?"
"Is there a problem?" Gibbs asked, looking over his desk at them
"No!" they snapped in unison again. Gibbs narrowed his eyes and got up.
"Well, I didn't let him get away" McGee accused Abby
"You didn't let who get away with what?" Gibbs asked
"Ah, nothing boss" McGee replied.
Gibbs narrowed his eyes at the younger man, "Why are you doing nothing?" he looked at Abby, "Abs, what's going on?"
"McGeek let the hacker get away" she told him, tightly
"No I didn't" McGee replied, "I was…"
"Don't wanna hear it McGee" Gibbs interrupted, "What hacker? And why wasn't I told?"
"There's a guy hacking into the system ever since the power-outage, you weren't told cause you were in no condition" Abby replied
"Find him" Gibbs responded, before walking back to his desk
"Oh, don't worry boss-man, I will" Abby replied, glaring at McGee before stalking off
"Ah, what about me, boss?" McGee asked
"Find Brown" Gibbs replied, not looking up
The three agents worked in relative silence for a while, occasionally asking each other questions to do with the case. They heard the elevator ding and watched as Tony got out, followed closely by Ducky.
"Where have you been?" Gibbs asked
Ducky looked at Gibbs, grimly and shook his head.
"I needed some personal time, boss" Tony muttered, heading to his desk
Gibbs nodded and looked back to Ducky.
"I'm going to the hospital to see how PO Burns is doing" Ducky told him
"Ok" Gibbs replied as Ducky left the bullpen
Gibbs' cell rang; he sighed and picked it up.
"Gibbs" he barked into the cell
The agents looked over at Gibbs and watched his face, trying to figure out what the phone call was about, hoping it wasn't another body.
"Yes, I'm over 21" Gibbs said into the cell, frowning. The three agents began chuckling, wondering what the conversation was about
"Do you mean currently?" Gibbs asked, "No…I've been divorced three times, who is this?... No kids, don't want 'em. Who is this? No, who is this?" Gibbs looked at McGee and gave him the signal to trace the call.
"No, don't want to move. I'm quite happy where I am" Gibbs opened his mouth to respond, but instead closed it and hung up
"Damn tele-marketing people!" he grumbled
"You want me to continue the trace, boss?" McGee asked
"Yeah, you could find out what country they're really calling from. What did he sound like he was, boss?" Tony asked
"What?" Gibbs asked
"Did he sound Indian, Chinese?" Tony asked
"Indian" Gibbs replied, looking over his desk at Tony, "And he, was a she, Tony"
"Oh" Tony said, "You still gonna do the trace?"
"Nope. Not interested where they call from or why." Gibbs replied, muttering under his breath "Just wish they'd leave me alone" then said a bit louder, "Alright, back to work everybody"
Gibbs cell rang again, making the agents turn back to Gibbs. He narrowed his eyes, "Gibbs!" he snapped, snatching open the offending object.
Tony and Kate watched as Gibbs' expression turned from angry, to confused, then to slightly amused. He flipped the phone closed and turned to his agents, still smirking.
"You want to tell us what's so funny?" Tony asked, in spite of himself
Gibbs gave a small smile, "That was a 'Captain Spiggs' from the local PD. Apparently somebody reported me missing"
"Who?" Kate asked, frowning
Gibbs' smile broadened " 'Liv Jones" he replied smugly, "Manager of our local star-bucks"
Kate looked at Tony in disbelief, then back to Gibbs. "They reported you missing?" McGee asked
"You should really go over there and tell them you're okay, boss, or at least that you're still alive," Tony said, knowing Gibbs wouldn't be able to resist buying a coffee, "..Barely"
Gibbs swatted Tony's head. "He's right, Gibbs. They're concerned; it's not like you to not come in for a week"
"6 and a half days, Kate" Tony corrected
"Whatever. I'll come with you, I need a coffee." Kate said
That's it for chapter 24... I hope you like it! Please review, please!