Chapter 4: A Sad Story In The Conference Room
Gibbs was waiting for her at the elevator, holding it open. Kate joined him inside the elevator, and then it started to move up. After they had been moving for several seconds, Gibbs flipped the emergency switch. The lights went out and the elevator came to an abrupt halt, sending both agents for a tumble. Gibbs easily caught himself before he was thrown to the ground. He was used to the sudden halt. He had experienced it hundreds of times with Fornell and other people over the years when he needed to confer with them in private.
Kate, on the other hand, wasn't used to the sudden stop, and lost her balance, falling backwards. The fact that she couldn't see a thing in the darkness didn't help matters either. She fell back, swinging her arms to try to regain her balance. Just when she thought she was going to bang her head against the elevator wall, a pair of strong hands caught her around the waist, bringing her closer to him until she was leaning back into him, his arms wrapped around her, holding her tight.
Kate's heat was pounding. She was so close to him. She was so nervous from being so close to him, anxious because of the reason they were together in a stopped elevator, and she was cold too. Gibbs shirt had obviously been soaked, and the wetness was seeping into her now.
Finally Gibbs whispered into Kate's ear, his rough cheek rubbing against her ear. The touch left Kate tingling.
"Why Katie?"
Kate was taken aback. Gibbs no longer sounded infuriated. He sounded...curious. The thought seemed preposterous to Kate, but that's what the tone of his voice sounded like.
"Honestly Gibbs, I don't know why. I didn't think that you'd get so upset. And I knew nobody had ever played a practical joke on you before. I wanted to be the first." Kate looked at her shoes; she was afraid that her eyes would betray her feelings is she looked into his. "Are you still angry?" she asked, focusing her eyes on the outline of her left Saucony sneaker.
"I was."
"You aren't anymore?" Kate finally looked at him long enough to shoot him a questioning glance.
"Nope."
"Why not?" Gibbs held Kate's full attention now. No matter how much she tried to resist, his eyes sucked her in like whirlpools, drowning her in their depth.
"Because...no one's ever done it before, like you said. You took a chance. Everyone else thinks that I'm such a bastard that they'd either be dead or fired if they pulled a stunt like that. But not you Katie. You believed in me, and that's something that not too many people do."
"But...it was Abby's idea, not mine, She talked me into it. I almost didn't do it."
"But you did do it. Abby's like a daughter to me. She practically is my daughter. Her dad died when she was six. He was a cop, and his partner betrayed him. The partner was in with a bad crowd, drug dealers. Abby's father had a successful drug bust, busting his partner's dealers. Her dad had no idea what his partner, who he trusted with his life, was involved with that." Gibbs let out a great, shaky sigh. Kate could tell that this was extremely hard for him. "It cost the partner thousands. To get revenge, he and the few that had managed to not get arrested set Abby's house on fire one night." Now Gibbs voice was changing from sadness to rage. He wasn't yelling, but the tone of his voice was a loud whisper that was more scary than if he had been screaming at the top of his lungs. "Her father was killed saving Abby, her sisters, and her mother from the fire. The mother, Gloria, and all of Abby's sisters suffered extensive damage from the flames, and they were all left permanently deaf."
"How did Abby get out with no injuries?"
"She didn't. She was just luckier than the others." Gibbs voice was more controlled and calmer now, but his face was still contorted with pure hatred. "Why do you think she has all of those tattoos?" Gibbs paused, then went on with the horrible tale. "Abby grew up without a dad. I was volunteering at the police station at the time, and the chief asked me if I wanted to work on the case of the arson. I didn't really know much about the case, but I wanted to help out their family, so I agreed. So I was around her family a lot. After the case was completed, sometimes I'd swing by just to visit. I taught Abby everything I knew. I took her fishing, sailing on a boat that I had made with my father when I was a kid, and let her help me with the boat that I was building at the time. I had always wanted a daughter. As Abby grew up, she decided that she wanted to be in law enforcement, but Metro P.D. said she couldn't because of the damage done to her lungs the night of the fire. It wasn't that bad, but their rules are really strict. She became interested in forensic science and grew to love it. She went to college as that as her major, and got her master's degree. She passed with honors. And...well, here we are today."
It was a lot for Kate to process. That explained so much. Kate's heart ached for the little girl whose whole life changed simply because her dad did his job in bringing slime to justice. "Poor Abby," Kate said softly. She had a hard time imagining the peppy, effervescent Abby as a little girl, being carried in her father's arms, covered in dust and debris, their home going up in flames behind them. She didn't want to think about it. Kate tried in vain to blink away tears. She could tell Gibbs was choked up too, trying to control his own emotions. They held onto one another for what seemes like an eternity, needing the comfort that only the other could provide.
Finally Kate came up with a very good point, Pointing to her soaking wet shirt she said, "Gibbs, we must have been in here for close to an hour. What are we going to tell Abby, Tony, and all of those guys? Not to mention the people that have needed to use the elevator for the past hour?"
TBC
