Chapter 8 - Confrontation

Kate had driven them to Gibbs' house in his car. McGee and Abby hitched a ride with Ducky back to NCIS to finish up some work. Once they were inside the house, Gibbs laid down on the couch with Trisha. It took Trisha about three minutes before she fell asleep with Gibbs' arms wrapped around her. Gibbs was asleep in five minutes.

Kate was in the process of walking into the kitchen when there was a knock on the front door. She looked through the peephole to find Tony standing on the front porch grasping a teddy bear in one hand. He looked incredibly nervous and fidgety.

Kate opened the door wide enough for her to slip through and onto the front porch. She quietly shut the door behind her so Gibbs and Trisha wouldn't wake up. "DiNozzo! What are you doing here?" she asked in a hushed tone.

Tony scratched his head and looked around the neighborhood. "Well, I…" He took a deep breath, trying to work up the nerve to actually tell Kate why he was there. "Look, I feel like shit, ok? I realize that I made one hell of a mistake, and it's my fault that Trisha got hurt. God, if I would have known about her parents, I would have never thought about doing that file switch. I came to apologize," he said quickly, all in one breath.

Kate just raised her eyebrows and stared back at Tony. She smelled alcohol on his breath.

"Look, I even brought her a get well bear," he said, holding up the stuffed animal. "So… can I come in?" Tony asked.

She shook her head. "Tony, you've been drinking. I really don't think it's a good idea for you to come in right now," Kate told him. "With the way Gibbs has been acting… especially the explicit death threats he's promised more than once… I don't think he'd be able to look at you without trying to kill you." She stared back at Tony and waited for him to say something.

"Well, I'll never know unless I try!" he said with a smile.

Kate glanced back at the door, contemplating whether to let him in or not. She turned back around, "I don't even know if Trisha wants to see you right now. She doesn't feel so great. Besides, she's sleeping."

"Yea, I just want to talk to her for a couple minutes. She can go back to sleeping then," Tony replied.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Ok, DiNozzo, let me put it in a different way, one you can understand. You're not coming in, for your sake and mine!"

Tony grew impatient. "Oh come on, Kate! How am I supposed to make things right if you won't even let me see the kid? Wait, are you trying to keep me from apologizing?"

Kate pulled a face in disbelief. "What? No! I'm saying you should give it a little more time before you show up and try to win Trisha back with a stuffed animal!"

"Ok, I'll have you know it took me fifteen minutes to actually pick out this particular bear!" he yelled as he waved around the teddy in Kate's face.

Kate shoved the bear in Tony's hand away from her head. "Wow, a whole fifteen minutes! I'm impressed!"

"Why don't you just let me in?" he yelled, enraged that Kate was standing her ground.

Kate started yelling back in exasperation. "What part of get the hell out of here don't you get, DiNozzo?"

Back inside, Trisha was actually in the middle of a very good dream. Her, Gibbs, and Kate were all on a beach somewhere; riding the ocean waves with boogie boards. She could hear the waves crashing, a light breeze flowing, seagulls calling, and… wait, some guy yelling like a lunatic? What the…?

She slowly awoke from her dream and blinked a few times. Interestingly enough, she could still hear a man's voice. She listened carefully and realized that there were both a man and a woman yelling. Oh no, are Kate and Gibbs fighting? she asked herself as she slowly tried to get up. Trisha met a restraint and smiled when she looked down to see a pair of arms wrapped around her. She leaned backwards into the embrace and looked upwards with the eye that wasn't completely swollen shut to see Gibbs' sleeping face. It took her another moment before she thought, Wait, if Gibbs is here then who the heck is doing the yelling? Trisha listened harder. When she recognized the angry voices, her heart skipped a beat.

"Gibbs!" she called as she started squirming in his arms. She turned around to face him and grabbed his maroon polo, then proceeded to shake him as hard as she could. "Gibbs, wake up!" Trisha yelled in his face.

Gibbs' eyes flew open and he grabbed Trisha's shoulders. "What? Trisha, what's wrong? Another bad dream, kiddo?"

Trisha shook her head and winced at the pain she caused herself. "No Gibbs, listen!" She paused until she heard more shouting. "I think Kate and Tony are fighting outside!"

Gibbs' blue eyes get wider as he realized that Tony, the person who was responsible for showing those photos to Trisha, was outside his house. To top it off, he was furiously yelling at his Katie. Gibbs slid out from behind Trisha and ran over to the front door. Rage pulsed through his entire body. As he was about to open the door, he heard Tony yell, "If you don't move I'll break the damn door down myself!"

Out on the porch, DiNozzo pushed Kate aside, lowered his shoulder, and hurled himself at the front door… at the exact same time Gibbs yanked it open. Tony's shoulder hit his boss square in the chest, sending Gibbs flying backwards with a good amount of force.

Gibbs grunted as his back hit the wall with a loud thud. He felt all the oxygen in his lungs escape as he slid down the wall and onto the floor. He sat there in a daze, gasping for air.

Tony, on the other hand, instantly scrambled to his feet. He stared at Gibbs with a look of complete and utter shock before his senses came about him. Well… almost. I just kicked the crap out of an ex-Marine! Tony thought triumphantly. He turned his head and saw Trisha standing there, her face holding a look of alarm. Tony took a step towards her. "Well, hey there, Trish," he smiled. He took another step, swaying slightly.

In response, Trisha took a step back. "That's far enough, you stay away from me!" she yelled. She knew a drunk when she saw one. When he didn't listen, Trisha retreated until her back was pushed up against the wall. She was cornered and had no where else to go. "Gibbs," she cried, "help me!"

Tony smiled and laughed a bit. "Sorry, he can't help you right now. Looks like it's just you and…" He was cut off when he felt someone violently grab the shoulder of his jacket and found himself being spun around. Then, as if in extreme slow motion, Tony watched a fist sail towards his face and hit him square in the nose. He fell to the ground in agony and put his hands up to catch the blood that was presently flowing. The next thing he knew he was flying through the air and onto a sidewalk.

After disposing of DiNozzo, Gibbs walked back inside of his house out of breath. He slammed the front door shut and locked it before making his way to Kate and Trisha, who were sitting on the couch. Gibbs knelt down in front of them. He put a hand on both Trisha and Kate's shoulders and gently drew them into a hug. "He's gone now. Everything's ok," he said reassuringly. "Are either of you hurt?"

"I'm fine, Gibbs," Kate told him. "I can't believe Tony just did that…"

Gibbs nodded and turned to Trisha. "How about you, kiddo?"

Trisha smirked at him. "Well, I dunno, Gibbs. How do I look?"

He shook his head and smiled back at her. Gibbs thought for a moment before he said, "I'll tell you what. Let's move the television into my bedroom, and we can get all cozy and watch a movie. What do ya say?" he asked as he looked back and forth between Kate and Trish.

Kate was about to agree when she noticed the cuts on Gibbs' knuckles from where his fist had connected with Tony's face.. "Jethro," Kate said softly as she took his hand, "you're bleeding."

Gibbs glanced down at his hand. "Oh, they're just scratches. Don't worry about it." He removed his hand from Kate's and gently stroked her cheek. The next thing he knew Kate had grabbed him and crashed her lips into his. Not like he was complaining, though.

Trisha tilted her head to the side and tried to look elsewhere to avoid the fact that Gibbs and Kate were making out right next to her. However, when Kate began kissing her way down the front of Gibbs' neck, causing Gibbs to let out a moan, Trisha decided she had seen more than enough. She sighed as she stood up and began to walk away. To her surprise, she felt two hands grab her and pull her backwards. "Hey!" she called out.

Trisha found herself pressed between Gibbs and Kate with each of them kissing a side of her face. "Ok, ok! Hey, knock it off!" she giggled as they started making a 'smooching' noise.

Gibbs stood up and hoisted Trisha into the air. "Come on, let's go snuggle!" he said in a silly tone.

"Aw Gibbs, that's so cute that you can kick the crap out of a guy and then want to spoon five minutes later!" Trisha laughed. She looked at Kate, "You really have the whole deal in this guy!" she exclaimed.

Kate chuckled and stood up, wrapping her arms around Gibbs' waist. She stood on her tip toes and kissed a spot right below his ear. "Oh, don't I know it," she whispered against his skin.

Gibbs put his arm around Kate's shoulder and began to walk to the bedroom. "So," he said, "what movie are we watching?" He stopped a moment and exclaimed, "And no chick flicks!"