Title: Cabin Fever

Author: MindyH

Chapter: 6 Truce

We run fairly regularly, mostly in the mornings, out to a look-out which I knew of from previous trips. There's about three miles of decent track, nice and flat, very pretty and completely to ourselves. We jog at a pace that is comfortable for both of us and achieve a loose rhythm where we're stepping and breathing in unison, Kate's arm brushing mine on the occasional down-step.

At the end, we take some time to stretch and catch our breath and enjoy the view before heading back. Unfortunately I tend to think when I jog and I've been working through something in my mind that's worried me ever since I realized that my feelings for my co-worker were much more than platonic. It's a problem for which I see no possible solution.

Kate lies beside me on a large rock, eyes closed, soaking up the sun, and before I know it, my thoughts have materialized into speech:

"Does it bother you that I'm twenty-one years older than you?"

Kate turns to look at me and I turn to look out at the mountains. She sits up, propping her arms on her knees. Maybe it's the fact that she looks about twelve years old in her running shorts and ponytail. Maybe it's the fact that every time I run or workout or fight, I discover that my body is slowly deteriorating and simply not what it once was. Maybe it's the fact that if I marry this woman which I have seriously considered doing, I might make her a very young widow.

When I glance at Kate, she is looking at me seriously, considering my question. There is a vague flicker of surprise in her eyes, and a gentle tilt to her head.

"Not in the least," she says lightly and gets to her feet. She glances at me briefly and dusts of her ass, walking a few feet to the cliff ledge, looking out over the open countryside and taking a deep breath in.

I wonder if she means it, if she's truly considered all the ramifications. I have, at length – I made excuses out of them for two years. They plague me less now, but they still plague me. Nobody could accuse me of looking on the bright side of life.

I get up off the rock and join Kate at the ledge, feeling my joints protest as I do. I put my hands on my hips and sigh as the wind brushes up the cliff and over our perspiring bodies.

"Does it bother you?" Kate asks after a long silence.

I turn and look at her. "Only if it bothers you," I hedge guardedly.

She faces me, pointing out: "Which it doesn't."

I nod: "Like you said."

"Like I meant," she adds, cocking her head suspiciously.

I look away again. I turn and begin walking back the way we came. Kate follows, traipsing by my side until I up the pace. I'm not sure what I thought I could achieve by bringing up the topic. I rebuke myself privately; it's not like either of us can change our birth dates.

"C'mon," I say to Kate and smack her ass: "Race you back."

I hear her gasp, but I'm off too fast to see her expression. I start running at a moderate speed down the dirt track, grinning to myself as I hear her catching up to me. Then all of a sudden, her arms fly around my neck from behind, pulling herself up, and she's on me, hanging onto my body in a piggy-back position.

"Kate!" I yell and quit running.

But before I can disentangle her, her mouth comes down and she bites me -- actually bites me, sinking her teeth into the flesh joining my neck and shoulder, before disengaging and jumping to the ground.

I round on her to retaliate, but she's ducked around the other side and is already off, her ass and her ponytail bobbing jauntily as she sprints away from me.

"Oh," I laugh determinedly. "You are mine," I vow under my breath and race after her.

She turns as I gain on her, giggling and holding her hands up in mock surrender. But I show no mercy, bending and putting my shoulder to her abdomen, and chucking her swiftly over my shoulder as she shrieks in protest. I reduce my speed unable to run with her kicking, screaming, giggling body slung over mine, while she swats my back continually and calls me a Neanderthal.

"Truce!" she finally yells and goes still: "Truce."

I stop abruptly and carefully lower her to her feet. The blood has rushed to her face and her eyes are wet with laughter and her hair is falling out.

She giggles once and then stifles it. "Truce," she repeats gravely and holds out her hand.

I look at her red face and then look at her offered hand, and then I look at her face again. I seize her hand and pull, tugging her into me as my lips descend to hers for a hot kiss. Her surprised yelp is muffled as she allows me to draw her up against my body and devour her insistently. She lets me control the kiss, opening up her mouth and tipping back her head, giving me full access. I moan deeply and breathe through my nose as I explore her briefly, holding her body in place with one hand on her head and one on her tiny ass.

When I'm done, I release her and she settles back on her feet, breathless and blushing.

"Truce," I nod as coolly as possible.

She nods slowly in agreement, licking her lips and assessing me with a frank eye. After a long pause, she sighs, places her hands on her hips and comments:

"I know it bothers you."

Her voice is slightly knowing, slightly probing and I turn sharply, starting to walk along the dirt track again toward home. Kate positions herself at my elbow, matching my tempo and tilting her head up curiously. She obviously doesn't need an answer, because when I don't admit it she questions, more carefully:

"Why does it bother you?"

I want to know if she notices people looking at us askance when we're together in public. I want to ask her if she's told her family about us, what her mother and sister said and whether I'm going to get funny looks from her brothers or father. I want to know what's going to happen at work and what she'll tell Abby or Tony when they ask her why she's with their grumpy old boss, of all people. I want to know if she feels like she has to defend herself or me -- and if she does, what she'll say. I want to know, out of all the men she could've had, why she picked me.

I clear my throat and look straight ahead: "It just looks wrong," I mumble, halfheartedly.

I see her nod in my peripheral vision and then she lifts my arm, ducks her head underneath and holds it around her shoulders.

"Does it feel wrong?" she asks, soft and sincere, so that I look down at her. She gazes up at me, clear and confident, and I stop walking, holding her eyes.

She's right, of course. It shouldn't matter how it looks from the outside. It shouldn't matter what others may say or think. All that matters is this.

"No," I admit honestly, my eyes drifting over her face.

If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that I did everything within my power to stop myself falling in love with Caitlin Todd, falling into a relationship with her, possibly ruining her career, ruining her life even. But Caitlin Todd doesn't need my protection and she doesn't want my renunciation. Because another thing I'm sure of is that I didn't succeed; I am in love with her, and it does feel right. That's what matters.

"No," I say again and exhale calmly.

She blinks up at me languidly, her mouth twitching gently upwards in the corners. She squeezes my hand on her shoulder and looks at me warmly.

Maybe someday it won't bother me so much and I won't have to be constantly reminded. When I look in the mirror and see grey hair and creases, or when I go for a run and feel my muscles giving way, it helps to know that the reason Kate is with this old grump of a man, is because for some strange reason, she loves him. I doubt it almost daily so it's lucky that she's around to remind me. I don't know how to thank her for that.

Kate smiles and shrugs. "You're welcome, Gibbs," she says lightly.

I lift my eyebrows in surprise but before I can open my mouth, she smacks my ass and takes off suddenly.

"Last one home makes lunch!" she yells to me, jogging backwards as I pick up my old feet start after her.

"Hey!--" I yell back, as she's about to turn and speed up: "You're MINE, Katie!"