A/N:whispers: sorry for the wait! Thanks for hangin' in there :) read and enjoy...

--- 6 ---

By the end of Day 8, of what Abby had begun calling Operation Recuperation, Kate had long ago returned to sleeping on the sofa, without so much as a word between them regarding the one night exception of Kate's determined couch-rules. The insinuated rumor of Kate's poor cooking skills had also been successfully disposed of, much to Gibbs' surprise and grateful delight.

He had been the perfect patient, with a few snarky indiscretions that Kate chose to ignore, but by Day 14, the prisoner had begun to get restless...

Kate sat cross-legged next to Gibbs on the couch, her elbow against the arm of the sofa with her cheek lazily pressed into her palm. She watched as the channels on the television fluidly flashed across the screen in dizzying rapid fire, accompanied by the gently timed clicking of the remote in Gibbs' hand.

She looked from beneath a heavy brow of annoyance, oscillating from the TV to Gibbs, to the TV and back to Gibbs. She firmly pressed her lips together as the channels seemed to go by a little faster; she pressed her tongue to the inside of her cheek before he seemed to settle on a channel… temporarily. Gibbs sighed and flipped down through 20-some-odd channels in a matter of second before Kate reached over and hastily snatched the remote from his startled hand. Still leaning towards him, she held the remote out of his reach, glaring at him with slightly widened eyes, deadpanning:

"I'm gonna start having seizures, Gibbs.."

His hands dropped down into his lap after he finally processed Kate's actions. Frowning and pausing for another moment, he reached around her for the remote with a grunt— giving up with a slight wince of pain when she got up from the couch. Gibbs slumped back down into the sofa cushions in childish defeat.

Recognizing the extent of his restlessness, Kate set the remote on top of the television as she turned to face him, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She cocked her head at the sight of his downcast, melancholy face.

"You can't leave the apartment until you start physical therapy, Gibbs." Kate spoke in a soft but direct tone— she sighed when she saw him roll his eyes, "Or at least until you see a doctor..?" she said, mildly exasperated at his constant medical defiance. His physical therapy appointments had been scheduled to start the previous week, and he continued to cancel them when Kate wasn't watching. By the time Kate had managed to get the doctor's office back on the line, Gibbs' appointment had already been filled— every single time. It had steadily become a ridiculously incensed game of cat and mouse. Kate couldn't logically determine whether or not she was the cat.

His face was plastered with an expression of disbelief as Gibbs roared slightly: "I'm recovering... from gun shot wounds!"

Kate pursed her lips and moved her hands to her hips, dipping one hip down and putting most of her weight on one foot in a stance of insolence. She opened her mouth to say something as Gibbs glared her into silence. She widened her eyes and scoffed as she shook her head, throwing up her hands and raising her voice, "You're not going to be doing sprints and lunges, Gibbs! It's a freaking consultation for God's-sake!"

He slowly folded his arms across his chest with a rough grumble, blankly looking down to his foot that rested on the coffee table. The scowl on his face gradually subsided into a look of careful consideration; the frown lines around his mouth eased a bit when he looked up to Kate, who stood silently in front of him, waiting for his uproar or his concession. Her expression had gone from stubborn agitation, to quiet concern— she took a step closer.

Gibbs held her stare and sighed, "A consultation?" Kate nodded softly as she took another step towards the couch, her arms falling down to her sides from their defensive posture across her chest. She slid next to him on the couch; never taking her eyes away from his face, she contemplated putting an innocent hand on his shoulder. She kept them securely in her lap. As Kate began to get lost in her mental list of Do's and Don'ts when it came to Gibbs, he bobbed his head in affirmation: silently agreeing to the physical therapy consultation.

Kate smiled and nodded in question, "Yeah…?"

Gibbs looked over to her, noticing that she was insufferably close. He shifted his eyes away from her momentarily before bringing them back up to her beautiful face. "Not today." He gruffly blurted out, running his hands nervously down his upper thighs to just above his knees. Kate shook her head in agreement:

"No, Gibbs... not today.." Her smile softly widened after he nodded and looked away from her, down to his hands that rested carefully on his knees. While normally the idea of Gibbs having a weakness theoretically frightened her, the candid vulnerability that washed across his face surged a certain amount of affection in Kate that she couldn't quite hold down. Her eyes darted around his head, neck, and shoulders as she closed the insignificant gap between them, quickly kissing his cheek before pressing a slow, chaste kiss to the side of his mouth.

The gears in Kate's head finally caught up to the gears in Kate's heart as her head realized what exactly she had just done. She straightened up and softly cleared her throat before Gibbs turned his upper body to face her. Wetting her lips as she tore herself from the couch and headed for the kitchen, she croaked softly, "I'll call the doctor in the morning." She took a second to look at him, half of her inwardly cringed at his look of pained confusion, while the other half of her gloated in her fantastic ability to catch him off-guard. She nodded, "I'll just … go start dinner." He silently stared at her retreating backside as she walked away from him and disappeared into the kitchen.
----

Dinner was unsurprisingly silent. Neither one of them knew whether to be grateful or anxiously self-conscious. They continued a new game of cat and mouse, vigilantly sneaking glances at the other after every other mouthful of chicken parmesan in a vain attempt to psychologically assess the other— careful not to get caught, either. But eventually, they caught each other. Gibbs held Kate's stare, a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth, the fork still slightly between his lips; Kate gulped down the bite of chicken she had been chewing as she also held Gibbs' eyes, reaching for her ginger ale. She was the one to break the eye contact, looking down and taking a drink, flushing away the dry awkwardness she felt on the tip of her tongue.

Her fork dove back into the spaghetti left on her plate. "When's your birthday…" she asked suddenly before placing the fork between her lips. She looked up to him casually.

"Why?" he asked, rough but sincerely curious. He was glad that Kate was the one to break the silence—he was sure if it had been he, he would have, no doubt, said something stupid. He looked up to her from the dwindling amount of food on his plate, cocking his head slightly as if to see her better, deeper. Part of him wanted to see her squirm and fidget under his curious stare, but the other part of him knew that they had surpassed that portion of their relationship. ... Relationship?

Kate nodded as she looked back down to her food, idly pushing about pieces of breaded chicken. "Mine's next week… Abby's is next month. And I just realized…" she paused as she looked up to him thoughtfully, "I know everyone's birthday, but yours." She took another drink to occupy her fidgeting hands.

He returned her gaze considerately, lazily working over her words in his head before he nodded, looking back down to his last forkful of spaghetti. "Today." He chimed casually, as if it were the most obvious, natural answer in the world.

Kate's eyes widened slightly as her eyebrows perked up in an awe-filled surprise, a small piece of hair falling into her eyes. "Today… seriously?"

Gibbs vaguely bobbed his head with his face downcast, looking to her underneath his eyebrows. He reached over for her ginger ale, having finished his own drink, when Kate's fingers clasped around his wrist. Gibbs looked up to her with slightly raised eyebrows, mumbling as he finished chewing the last bite of his dinner, "What..?"

"What?" Kate asked in disbelief, "You weren't going to say anything?"

Gibbs turned the corners of his lips downward in honest consideration of her question; he shrugged, "I wasn't planning on it, no."

She didn't know whether to be hurt or amused. She filled her tone with the warm mirth that never failed to make his eyes smile. There was no reason to make him feel guilty on his birthday. Kate smiled lightly with raised eyebrows, "You were just going to let the day go by without saying anything… anything?"

Gibbs huffed a short chuckle, "What's the difference?"

"I... I would have gotten you something.. a card.. a—"

"A tie?" Gibbs interrupted her rambling thought as he mocked her with a wicked grin of amusement. Kate tried not to smirk too much as she cocked a single eyebrow.

"Maybe I wouldn't have yelled before, at you… so loud," she added.

He smiled. When she realized she still had a hold of his wrist, she gently pushed his hand away. A tiny, warm smile fluttered across her face as she propped her elbow on the kitchen table and plopped her chin into the palm of her hand, looking at him thoughtfully.

Gibbs looked to her after he finished her soda and set the can down. He furrowed his brow, "What?"

She smiled and got up from her chair and began to clear the table with one hand. On her way to the sink, Kate patted her hand on Gibbs' shoulder, squeezing gently. "Happy birthday, Gibbs."
---

The rest of the night was variably uneventful. Kate didn't bring up the nagging audacity of Gibbs' birthday silence, figuring there must be a logical reason for it. She supposed she shouldn't bitch at him on his birthday. With the next day not being his birthday, perhaps, she thought, she would nag to him then.

As their routine had formed, after the 11 o'clock news, it was off to their separate corners of the apartment. Kate had to help Gibbs less and less as he got well accustomed to maneuvering the crutches in just about any situation. But she helped him tonight. She turned down the blankets while he brushed his teeth and changed his clothes. She got him his medicine and made sure all of his books were within reach of the bed. He didn't say a word about her helping him. He smiled on the inside as they each simply nodded their Good Nights.
---

Gibbs couldn't sleep. He lay in bed, wearily reading chapter after chapter ever since Kate had disappeared from the bedroom a couple hours earlier. There was something tugging at the corner of his brain that he couldn't set his finger on. He sighed as he turned another page.

There was a light knock on the slightly opened bedroom door. Gibbs looked up from the book, peering over his reading glasses.

Kate stood in the doorway, her hands behind her back, her chocolate hair falling down in loose curls over her shoulders. "I saw the light on…" she trailed softly.

"What's the matter, Kate?" Gibbs kept his glasses on, but placed the book down on the bed, sitting up completely and giving her his full attention.

"Well.. I just.." she started softly, shrugging and bringing her hands from behind her back. She sheltered a single cupcake with a lit candle cupped in the palms of her hands. Gibbs took off his reading glasses and tossed them onto the bed, he looked to her in an adorable sense of awe.

He nodded to the cupcake in her hand as she came along side the bed. "What's that…" he asked, soft and husky; unaware as to why they were whispering, but not caring much at all.

She perched herself on the edge of the bed, holding her offering between them. She nodded and looked to him, "I figured you should at least have some cake." Kate smiled softly at the gentle expression that graced his features, a Gibbs-expression that she rarely saw. The corner of his mouth tugged upwards as he looked to her.

"You gonna sing?" he chimed in amusement.

"What? Well I —"

"Well you lit the candle.. Ya gotta sing…" he said decisively through grinning lips. His eyes twinkled with the tiny flame of the candle.

Kate began to protest but stopped and wet her lips in thought. She sighed, gently clearing her throat and closing her eyes. She softly sang the melody, opening her eyes in the middle of her song to see Gibbs' attention still intently focused upon her.

Haaappy birthday to you.. Happy birthday to yoou… happy birthday dear Giibbss… haappy birthday, to yooou...

She chuckled embarrassedly at the finish and held up the cupcake to Gibbs, patiently waiting for him to blow out the candle. Kate smiled broadly when he did. She took the candle from the frosting and tossed it into the wastebasket, placing the cupcake on the bedside table. She brazenly leaned over, cupping her hands along the firm lines of his jaw and pressed her warm lips against his cheek. The steady current of emotion that went between them did not go unnoticed by Gibbs, who pressed a kiss to her cheek in turn. He carefully gathered her small form into a warm, firm hug, gently pressing his cheek to hers and lowly murmuring softly into her hair: "Thanks, Kate..."

He felt her grin against the side of his face, her hands traveling up his back as she strengthened the embrace. "Anytime, Gibbs.." she whispered quietly, "Anytime."