A/N: Thank you for all the reviews.. they mean a lot and help me along ;) Now, without further ado, the completion of this particular story. Is it calling for a sequel? ;)...

--- 7 ---

Kate lounged back against the arm of the sofa, her feet neatly tucked underneath her as she ran a small, loose piece of hair between her thumb and index finger. She normally didn't mind rainy days— but today went beyond rainy. It had slowly become cold, dark, and rather miserable outside. She vacantly focused her eyes on the tiny streams of rain that trickled and meandered down the large window pane in her living room.

Despite her dislike of the day's foul weather, Gibbs was expected at the doctor's office within the hour. She lifted her hips and maneuvered her body to unearth her legs from beneath her, stretching them out along the couch and flexing her calf muscles. As much as Kate tormented him about the severe necessity of Gibbs' seeing the doctor, part of her didn't want to take him. Taking him meant having a consultation. It meant getting the ball rolling on physical therapy. It meant Gibbs would be going home. She frowned at her misguided sense of logic. Stop it… Gibbs needs to get better, she chastised herself internally.

Kate sighed and dropped her face into her hands before slowly raking them back through her hair. Her face picked up when she heard the faint, melodic thuds of the crutches down the hallway. She swung her legs off the couch and stood as Gibbs entered the main room.

"Ready?" her voice was soft and excessively perky, but he didn't notice her vocal façade. He grumbled what Kate understood to be a "yeah," as he looked around the room.

A soft rumble came from the back of his throat as he spoke: "Listen, Kate.. about this appointment—"

"No. No, no, no. No. Don't even start, Gibbs." She snatched up her purse from the arm chair, digging through it for her car keys. Finally slinging the purse over her shoulder, she grabbed his coat and made a gesture for him to put down the crutches so he could put on the jacket. When he responded by looking to the coat and then looking up to her in silence, she shook his coat at him with sharp emphasis before she spoke with a throaty tone: "You're going."

He growled something to the effect of "Oh for God's-sake, Kate" and reached for his coat, hastily slipping his arms into the sleeves. With his jacket successfully in place, he held out his arms from his sides and raised his eyebrows, taking his "you happy now?" stance. Kate smiled faintly and walked to the apartment door, patiently holding it open for him. He huffed loudly as he made his way past her.
---

The weather grew worse as the wind picked up on the way to the doctor. The rain pounded dangerously against the windshield as Kate went fast enough to keep Gibbs' erratic backseat-driver-need-for-speed at bay, but slow enough not to crash and wreck the car. She looked over at him periodically, watching him for split seconds at a time as he watched the rain sliding against the passenger window.

Kate looked back to the road ahead, barely making out the lanes of traffic through the buckets of rain, squinting in narrowed concentration. She wet her lips unconsciously.

"Why don't you want this appointment, Gibbs..?" Despite the light and airy tone of her voice, when he turned his head to look at her, he could see that her voice did little to belie the concern and sincerity behind her question.

"Why do you keep kissing me?" He quickly mimicked her light tone.

"Why don't you want this appointment…" she immediately countered.

"Why do you keep kissing me…"

"I asked you first." She said as she looked over to him before diverting her attention back to the cars in front of her.

He stared at her for several beats before he, too, turned his focus to the cars ahead of them. A sedated silence enveloped the car as both of them retreated back into their heads. Gibbs leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms in front of his chest and dropping his gaze down to the dashboard.

"I'm…" He started to speak, but his voice trailed off.

Kate peered at him and then back to the road, waiting for him. "You're... what, Gibbs?"

"I'm... scared." He mumbled reluctantly, just loud enough for Kate to hear him. When she didn't respond, he snuck a glance over to her, becoming unsure if she had in fact heard him. She did. Kate alternated her gaze back and forth between Gibbs and the road. She didn't gasp, she didn't laugh, she didn't tell him he was being ridiculous. Everything he had mentally anticipated, so far hadn't happened. Gibbs waited for whatever it was Kate was about to throw to him— he was surprised when Kate slowed the car, pulling off to the side of the road.

Gibbs gradually became uncomfortable in the seconds of silence that tugged at his self-conscious mind. He watched as her fingers flexed and softly rubbed along the steering wheel.

"Why are you—what are you scared of, Gibbs?" her voice was soft and caring, breaking effortlessly into the silence that was beginning to overwhelm him. Like a soft stitch of mental velvet, she remarkably began to smooth his apprehension. She unbuckled her safety belt and turned in her seat to face him when he didn't readily answer. "Gibbs..?"

He swallowed as his voice became gruff, trying to aggressively mask his worry, "What if… I can't do it." He looked to her, dropping his voice a few decibels. "What happens to me then, Kate.."

Her lips parted slightly, letting out a shallow exhale as she looked at him thoughtfully, painfully. "Gibbs…"

"I can't be that guy, Kate… I can't be that guy stuck at a desk with a cane…" his slight roar seemed to echo.

She blinked a few times and considered his burst of emotion; processing the inner thoughts he had just preciously divulged to her. Kate reached across the gap between them and laid her hand over his, causing him to glance to her face. Her soft smile vaguely calmed the rough tide of hidden torment and fear that threatened to swell in leaps and bounds. He watched as a tiny portion of her tongue unconsciously peeked from between her lips, wetting them out of nervous habit while she regarded the words inside of her head before they leapt from her mouth.

"I kiss you.. because I'm afraid you'll be able to do it." Her words were syrupy and cryptic, making his brow furrow in confusion. She bowed her head slightly, her hair falling around her face and creating a soft wall of russet brown that hid her eyes from him. She repeated her sentence softly, almost entirely to herself.

Gibbs gently grunted and extended his hand towards her, cupping her chin between his thumb and forefinger and lifted her face to see her eyes. He silently requested an elaboration. She let out a breath through her nose as she looked to his mouth instead of his eyes.

"After a few more of these doctor visits, you can go home, Gibbs." She snuck her eyes back up to his. She murmured quietly with a slightly saddened emphasis: "You can go home."

His lips twitched as he briefly considered her words. "Don't you want me out of your hair?" he cocked his head when she didn't directly respond, "Ya can't have much of a social life with me around, Katie." His voice was deep and slightly amused as his lips tugged into a weak smirk.

She quickly bit back the words, "You are my social life." Her eyes dropped away from his face, breaking her silence, "Gibbs.."

He took his hand away from her chin as he cupped her face with his palms; leaning towards her, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. Kate tightly shut her eyes in a vain attempt to rein in her emotionally trampled horses as a sense of rejection washed through her. She danced around the subject, but she knew he knew what she was driving at.

Before Kate could bring her hand up to his chest to softly push herself away, Gibbs pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth, gently rubbing the rough pad of his thumb across her cheek. His warm mouth softly moved over hers, increasing the pressure against her lips as he grew bolder. Keeping her eyes closed, her eyebrows rose in a delight that thoroughly surprised her. Her hands rose up, resting on his forearms; she parted her lips slightly, appreciatively kissing his bottom lip with a delicate slowness.

They reluctantly parted, separating in a jaded haze that followed unexpected first kisses. Gibbs' hands fell from her cheeks down to the sides of her neck, delicately rubbing his thumbs against the soft skin behind her ears. Kate visibly swallowed.

"You don't have to be scared, Gibbs." She murmured slightly as her voice began to regain its normal strength.

His warm, gravelly tone and the words that spilled from his mouth made her smile:

"Neither do you."