Chapter 10 - Cool

Kate walked back to the bedroom to find Trisha zonked out on Gibbs' chest. He was just laying there staring at the ceiling; a giant smile spread across his face. She stood there in the doorway, leaning against the frame, arms folded across her chest, just watching and not saying anything. Kate marveled at the way that this little girl had gotten him to open up so much in such a short amount of time. Deep down, Kate had known that Gibbs had always had a caring side, but she thought she would have been the one to bring it out. She watched as Trisha moved a little and Gibbs automatically started moving his hands in small circles on her back, as if he didn't even have to think about the comforting gesture.

Gibbs turned his head and saw her standing there. "Katie," he whispered and patted a spot next to him on the bed. "Come on over here."

Kate smiled and pushed away from the door frame, but first she picked up a DVD and put it into the player before going to Gibbs. She waited until the menu came onto the TV screen, then chose the 'Play' option. Kate then slowly crawled onto the bed and snuggled into Gibbs' side, resting her head on his shoulder.

He wrapped his arm around her and rested his hand on Kate's side. He felt her link her fingers with his. When some sappy music started playing from the TV, Gibbs groaned. "Kaaaaaaaate," he said slowly, "this isn't what I think it is… is it?"

She turned her head and lightly kissed Gibbs' neck. "Don't judge 'The Notebook' until you've seen it, Jethro. And besides, I know you're not going to wake up Trisha so you can change a movie," she mused.

"Well, looks like someone's got me all figured out," Gibbs said as he planted a kiss on the top of Kate's head. "So do you think…"

Kate cut him off, "Shhh! Not now Gibbs, the movie's starting!" When she heard Gibbs sigh, she put her hand on the side of his chest that Trisha wasn't sleeping on and ran her hand in random directions. She smiled when she felt his arm tighten around her and draw her closer to his body.

Trisha woke up about half an hour into the movie. She stretched her body a little bit and rolled off of Gibbs carefully so she wouldn't wake him or Kate up. She got a blanket from the bottom of the bed and covered both of them up, but in the process she accidentally brushed Gibbs' shoulder with her hand. She froze as he moved on the bed, but Gibbs just turned on his side and faced Kate. Trisha giggled as Gibbs actually snuggled into Kate's body. She gave Gibbs a peck on the cheek and ran her hand through his hair before she walked out of the bedroom.

Trisha walked through the living room and into the kitchen, intent to get some of that lemonade that Kate had made. She poured herself a glass and was about to find something to do to keep her occupied when she looked out the window and saw Tony, who was pretty much in the same spot where Gibbs had thrown him. Except now, instead of laying face first on the sidewalk, he was sitting Indian-style by the curb with his back resting against a tree. He had his head resting in his hands.

Trisha felt a pang of guilt when she saw the teddy bear laying next to him in the grass. She figured that the bear was probably for her and Tony had come by the house to make amends with her and Gibbs. Trisha went to the bathroom and got a hand towel, then put it in the sink and got it warm with hot water. On the way out of the bathroom, she grabbed another hand towel and went to the refrigerator. She got some ice cubes from the freezer and wrapped them in the other towel, creating an ice pack.

Once she was on the front porch and had quietly closed the front door behind her, Trisha cautiously made her way down the steps and towards Tony. She stopped halfway across the lawn and studied DiNozzo for a minute; she didn't want to go near him if he was still inebriated. Trisha tilted her head to the side. She could see the dried blood on his hands and shirt. "Tony?" she asked quietly.

He opened his eyes and slowly looked at her. "Hey, kid," Tony responded. He put his head back in his hands and looked at the ground in front of him.

Trisha took a few more cautions steps towards his broken figure. "Tony, are you still, um… are you still…"

"Drunk?" he finished her question for her. "No, I'm not. I sobered up pretty quickly after Gibbs nailed me." Tony still couldn't look her in the face. "I screwed up pretty bad, didn't I?" he asked quietly.

"Yea. Yea, you did," she answered as she knelt down in front of him. "But we all make mistakes, Tony." She paused for a moment before she said, "Come on, DiNozzo. Let me get you cleaned up a little bit." Trisha removed his hands from his face and began to wipe the dried blood away with the warm towel. She noticed that the area beneath both of Tony's eyes was starting to darken. "Oooh, you're gonna have two nice shiners tomorrow," she said as she smiled at him. "Here, gimme your hands," she instructed.

Tony complied and held them out, palms up. "You don't have to, you know," he told Trisha as he watched her clean the blood from his fingers.

She shrugged and put the towel with the ice cubes in it into his clean hand. "Hold that on your nose for a little. Maybe it'll help keep the swelling down." Next she moved to his other hand and wiped the blood off the best she could. Trisha moved the ice pack from Tony's nose to look at it for a moment. She took her thumb and forefinger and gingerly felt it. "I don't think it's broken, Tony. You should probably still get it looked at, just to make sure, though." When he looked at her funny, Trisha rolled her eyes. "Three of the families I lived with at one point or another were in the medical business. One was a paramedic, one was an ER doctor, and one was a heart doctor. I spent a lot of time around that kind of crap," she explained. "I just sorta picked stuff up along the way."

Tony smirked, "Gibbs sure was right when he said that you're different."

Trisha put her eyebrows together and looked to the left and right. "Thanks… I think."

He looked back to the ground and picked up the teddy bear that was next to him. Tony held it out towards Trisha. "Here," he said, "this is for you. It seems kind of a dumb idea now…" He paused, thinking about how to start his apology. "Trisha," he sighed as he looked at her, "I'm so sorry. I never meant for you to see those pictures. I had no idea about your parents. If I would have known, I never would have done anything like that. You gotta believe me…"

She nodded and looked at the ground. "I know, Tony, I know."

Tony glanced back at the house and saw Gibbs and Kate standing on the front porch. Kate had a firm grasp on Gibbs' arm with one hand, while the other was pressing against his chest, as if holding him back. Tony turned his attention back to Trisha. "Gibbs and Kate really care about you, ya know. I mean right now, you have a guy over there who's ready to come over here and rip my throat out. Now that's love," he told her as he nodded his head in Gibbs' direction.

A smile crossed Trisha's face. "I know. And I don't doubt that Gibbs would actually do it, either."

A minute passed before Tony asked, "So, do you hate me?"

Trisha shook her head. "No, I don't hate you. Let's just forget about it, ok? God knows I've been trying to do it for eight years," she muttered.

"Can I get a hug?" Tony asked as he spread his arms out and smiled.

"Yea, what the heck. C'mere, DiNozzo," Trisha giggled as she wrapped her arms around Tony.

Tony patted her back and let her go. "So we're cool then?"

"Yea, we're cool," she responded. "I don't know how cool you are with Gibbs and Kate, though. I mean, you shoved Kate and you really tackled Gibbs!"

Tony sighed heavily as he stood up. "Thanks for reminding me. But I'm kind of lucky, in a way. Gibbs could have easily killed me, but instead he just punched me… hard…"

Trisha took Tony's hand and pulled him towards the house. "Come on, DiNozzo. You gotta make things right with them," she said.

Tony began walking towards Gibbs' house. "Yea, just stay in front of me. Gibbs looks like he's going to wreck me," he whispered to Trisha. He stopped when Trisha let go of his hand and walked to Gibbs, who had come off the front porch. Gibbs reached down and picked her up.

"Hey, Boss," Tony greeted nervously.