Title: The Seven Year Itch
Author: MindyH
Chapter: 6
A/N: Thanks for the feedback everyone. I really appreciate it and don't know what else to say except to keep saying thank you. It's so much more fun when people go along on the ride with you.
Where was Gibbs? She didn't feel right going ahead until he was there. She peered through her binoculars at the grey shack, overgrown with ivy and hidden by shifting shadows. They'd waited too long already and her team was starting to get restless.
Where the hell was he?
They'd spent the remainder of the previous night and most of the morning attempting to track the man who they had been scheduled to interview the next day. They'd put all their personal issues and inclinations aside, both feeling guilty for having let them take precedence over their work in the first place, furiously guzzling coffee until sunrise and battling the alcohol in their systems which they knew they should not have indulged in.
Kate had left Gibbs slumped at his desk at six am, still trying to find a solid lead and headed to her own office to change her clothes and check her email. It was in one message that she'd received that she found their desired lead – an old holiday home, belonging to the dead mother of their suspect.
Her first call had been to Gibbs and he should've been here long ago. Something was holding her back until he arrived.
From a distance, she heard his voice and felt her body relax as she turned to see him, flashing his badge to one of her agents.
"Where the hell have you been?" she called to him sharply, as he approached through the long grass.
Gibbs sidled up to her, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Thanks for the call," was all he replied, taking a look at the house their suspect had barricaded himself inside of.
"This guy's a psycho, Gibbs," she sighed, edgily and shook her head: "I could use all the backup I can get."
"You got it," he replied with a nod, jabbing a thumb to their right: "I brought my team."
Kate peered past him at a young man and woman standing off to the side, fixing their bulletproof vests. The woman looked youngest, very slim and very pretty, with sharp, intelligent eyes.
"Who's the redhead?" she asked lightly, directly her gaze back to the house.
"Findlay," Gibbs answered, stealing her binoculars and taking a peek: "Probie."
Kate nodded and glared at the younger woman suspiciously as she pulled her bright red ponytail tighter: "She got a first name?" she asked curiously.
"Yep," replied Gibbs, handing her back the binoculars. He leaned closer, looking down at her and adding smoothly: "I don't use it though."
"Well, at least she's smart enough to wear a vest," she retorted, turning to face him and shoving a spare vest against his chest. "Put it on, Gibbs," she ordered: "or you don't get to play with the big boys."
Gibbs grimaced but took the vest from her, his hand closing over hers very briefly. It was only when she was walking away that she heard him mutter defiantly:
"Such a smartass."
"I heard that," she threw over her shoulder, without turning back.