AN: I am amazed by the response to this story. Thank you for all the reviews, and the feedback on Twitter. This one may actually be my favorite fic in my Headcanon Series so far…which surprises me since it starts off with so much angst…so I am happy you have been enjoying it too. Without further ado, here are the last two chapters. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 6 - Bones by Imagine Dragons
Kate was stoic and her team knew to steer clear of her when she got like that. It was rare. She tried her best to communicate better, to be more open about what she was thinking, but every once in a while on a hard case or in a hard moment, she fell back into old habits. As she sat in the break room, staring at the cup of coffee in front of her, she was stoic and Lucy gave her a sympathetic smile as she entered.
"Hey," she said and Kate clenched her jaw as she took in a depth breath.
"Jesse get checked out?"
"Yes and he's good. They already cleared him. His shoulder is a little achy, but he's okay, thanks to Maya." Kate shook her head in disbelief.
"I should've listened to her. We shouldn't have been there in the first place."
"We agreed it was a good lead."
"We agreed it was our only lead and that's exactly what Tate wanted us to think. He lured us there, Lucy."
"What else were we supposed to do? We had to try something."
"No, we needed to think harder, smarter, logically, not emotionally."
"Emotionally," challenged Lucy.
"Yes, the rah-rah speeches, talking about Kai, we get it, but that's how we get killed, not get Tate."
"So this is Jesse's fault?"
"No, it's my fault for letting myself get…" She took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair as she tried to calm down. Lucy crossed her arms.
"Is this about last night? What, now you regret it? You blame us for what happened today? That if we wouldn't have felt something for each other, we wouldn't have been in this situation?"
"I don't want to do this right now."
"I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from and you're pushing me away, again."
"And I'm trying to keep us all alive, not worry about emotions and relationships right now," exclaimed Kate. She immediately regretted it and Lucy gave her a curt nod.
"Good to see some things never change, Whistler." Kate sighed as Lucy walked out of the breakroom, leaving her alone again. She pushed her coffee mug away and placed her face in her hands. She heard the door open again and knew she wouldn't be enthused no matter who it was at that point. Jane sat down beside her and placed a sandwich in front of her.
"Eat," said Jane and Kate crossed her arms as she sat back in her chair.
"I'm not hungry."
"I didn't ask. I said eat. You eat. I'll talk." Kate slowly nodded and grabbed the sandwich as her stomach betrayed her with a growl.
"This one's on me, not you. I knew Jesse was upset about Kai. I knew it seemed too good to be true, but I wanted it to be. You don't get to punish yourself for this."
"I get why we rushed, but this guy is two steps ahead of us at all times. We cut off his supply chain and think we took out the threat of explosives and weapons? He has a bunker with more. We go after the bunker? He lures us there and takes it out himself. We aren't in control here, Jane."
"I know and we'll deal with that, but you don't get to punish yourself for it, or her." Kate stared down at her sandwich as Jane walked away, letting her sit with the words for a moment. The moment was short-lived when Maya and Carlos walked into the breakroom, whispering harshly to each other. Kate tossed her sandwich on the table and wiped off her hands as she waited for them to stop bickering about who would speak. They both sat down and Carlos cleared his throat.
"We're concerned," he announced and jumped when Maya slapped his shoulder.
"This is why I do the talking," whispered Maya.
"Fine, then do the talking."
"No, you said you…"
"Someone speak," demanded Kate.
"We're concerned," said Maya and Carlos scoffed.
"I just said that," he scolded.
"Concerned about what," asked Kate and Maya sighed.
"The chain of command," she confessed. Kate looked over at Carlos and he nodded as well.
"I understand that and cases like this are hard when you have two teams trying to work together, but we are just here to help. It's Tennant's case. It's an NCIS case," reminded Kate.
"It's a case Tennant called us for help with and yet we're just following whatever they were doing before," said Maya.
"That's not true. We all agreed about Mapa and let you take the lead with that one. Everyone is tired and this case is quite frankly, shitty, but we'll figure it out." Carlos glanced over at Maya and she nodded. Kate was surprised when he left the breakroom, leaving just her and Maya.
"I told you before that something was off."
"Maya, you also didn't know what."
"Well, now I do. It's you." Kate was taken aback by the words.
"Excuse me?"
"You're indecisive and are doubting yourself, but not for the reasons you seem to think."
"And what reasons are those, since you know me so well?"
"No one cares that you and Lucy are back together." Kate swallowed hard and crossed her arms.
"We aren't. We're complicated, but that isn't an issue right now."
"Yes, it is. Not for us or Tennant's team or even her, but it is one for you. You aren't doubting yourself because your instincts have changed and that's not why we're concerned. Jesse's call wasn't the right call, but none of us are perfect with this kind of stuff, we can't be."
"Then what's the issue?"
"You don't trust yourself when you're with her and you need to. The problem is you think you can't be you when you are with her. You're so afraid of slipping back into whatever you thought you were before, that you've told yourself you can't have both. We don't care that you and Lucy are together. In fact, it would be kind of nice to see you happy. We just need you to know you can be happy and still be our kickass boss. So, be that please because I really don't want to almost get blown up again. So um…yeah…that was…well, that's our concern." Kate nodded as she swallowed hard.
"I will keep that in mind."
"Good," said Maya.
"Okay." Kate tilted her head in confusion when Maya remained seated.
"Is there anything else," asked Kate.
"Are you going to eat the rest of that? I'm totally stress-eating right now."
"Get out."
"Got it," said Maya as she quickly got out of dodge. Kate took in a deep breath and thought about what her agents and Jane said. She looked back down at her sandwich and picked it back up to take a bite. It had been a long few days and she needed a moment to herself.
Lucy slammed the door to the locker and tossed the spare shirt on the bench before unbuttoning the one Kate let her borrow. She wanted to yell at herself for getting caught up again, for thinking things could be different after everything they had been through. While Cara was the catalyst, their relationship had issues well before that particular brunette opened that door. She felt like she was right back in a vicious cycle with Kate, one step forward, ten steps back, and both hurting in the process.
"Can we please talk," called the voice behind her that she had a feeling would make an appearance at some point. She shook her head and tossed Kate's shirt back to her.
"You can have that back."
"Lucy, I'm sorry."
"Nope, not doing this again."
"I was wrong and scared and I still am," confessed Kate and Lucy sighed when she looked up to see tears in Kate's eyes. Lucy put on her shirt as Kate stared down at her hands. Lucy glanced over at her.
"What are you scared about?"
"That I'm in love with you and have to make tough calls that could endanger you. That there's a delusional sniper on the loose trying to kill us, everyone we care about, and may eventually branch out to terrorizing the rest of the world if we don't stop him. That I'm going to make the same mistakes with you or realize that even though I can't move on, it isn't enough, and none of that even covers the very real fact that you live here and I live in New York, so yeah, I melted down a bit. I would love to say it was simply because we almost got shot with a Gatling gun…and then almost blown up…but I'm terrified of all the different ways I could lose you."
"Kate, you don't think I'm scared too? I've spent months thinking of all the ways you've hurt me." Kate looked down and Lucy took in a deep breath.
"But also all the ways I've hurt you," she admitted. Kate was surprised by the confession and Lucy walked over to her as she continued.
"I know you're upset about what happened and I get it. You feel responsible and it doesn't matter how many of us tell you it was a team effort and failure, you'll still feel like you could've done more. I love that about you, but Kate, our relationship can't be the first thing you try to scrap the moment something at work goes wrong. Our jobs are going to have risks whether we're together or not. The question is, are we worth that risk to you? We're worth it to me, but only if you can be all in this time." She sighed in relief when Kate cupped her cheek. Lucy leaned into her touch and hooked her finger into one of Kate's belt loops to pull her closer to her. Kate gazed adoringly at her.
"We've always been worth it to me. I'm sorry I ever made you think otherwise. I just…Lucy, if something happened to you because of me…if I lost you…I couldn't…" She couldn't say the words as a tear streamed down her cheek and Lucy nodded.
"I know. You have to trust that I know that and that I feel that way too. I can't lose you either, Kate." Lucy smiled when Kate tenderly kissed her.
"I love you, Lucy."
"I love you too."
"So, does that mean you forgive me," she asked hopefully and giggled when Lucy grabbed the shirt out of her hand.
"I'm changing back into this one. I like it more," confessed Lucy and Kate beamed with happiness.
"I like it when you wear my clothes too."
"Good, now let's figure out this damn case because it's giving me a headache."
"Me too."
"I hate to admit it, but this guy's good and that worries me. We have two teams coming at him and he's still ahead of us. It's ridiculous," said Lucy as she changed back into Kate's button-up shirt. Kate thought for a moment and her eyes widened when realization dawned on her.
"Or it's calculated."
"What?"
"I think I might know what we've been missing," she called over her shoulder before jogging out of the locker room. Lucy finished changing and was hot on her trail. She sighed in relief when she entered the bullpen to see Kate happily hugging a woman that the rest of her team seemed to be happy to see as well.
"Let me guess, Zeinab," questioned Lucy and Kate smiled as she nodded.
"Zeinab Kader, this is…"
"NCIS Special Agent Lucy Tara, I think your reputation may just precede you at this point," teased Zeinab as the rest of Tennant's team walked over to greet her.
"Should I take that as a compliment," asked Lucy. Zeinab, Maya, and Carlos all glanced at each other before nodding.
"Yes," they said in unison and Kate rolled her eyes at them.
"Okay, well I hate to cut the reunion short, but what are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I left you in charge in New York…and yet, you're here," reminded Kate as she noticed the way Zeinab glanced over at Maya.
"I made a judgment call, but don't worry. I went through the proper channels…well, besides you…technically," admitted Zeinab and Kate arched an eyebrow at her.
"We'll circle back to that later, but since you're here and I'm guessing at the request of your team members, how about we get to work? I think I have a new lead for us," said Kate.
"A new lead," questioned Jane.
"More like a hunch," said Kate as she jogged up the stairs to the war room. Her team quickly followed her, but Jesse frowned in confusion.
"Did Whistler just say she had a hunch," questioned Jesse, but Ernie waved him off.
"No one cares about that, are you and Whistler finally back on," asked Ernie and Lucy playfully rolled her eyes at him.
"Focus, Ernie," giggled Lucy as she jogged up the stairs.
"Just so we're all clear, anything other than a no to that question is a yes to me," said Ernie as he followed Jane and Jesse to the war room as well. As soon as they entered, Kate locked down the room and Carlos pulled Tate's case onto the screen. Kate walked over to Jane and pulled her aside.
"I need you to trust me and let me take the lead on this," whispered Kate.
"You think you figured it out, don't you?"
"Not completely and you know I mean no disrespect, but I need my team to focus in the way that I get them to focus. I'm not saying it's better or anything just…"
"It's different and your team. I get it. Take the lead," said Jane and Kate sighed in relief.
"Thank you."
"I asked for your help. The least I can do is let you give it." Kate walked over to Carlos, Maya, and Zeinab, who were sitting together.
"You're right. I have been doubting myself, but that's over now, so let's try this again, shall we? Carlos, we're resetting. Think of it like the Godfrey case. We've missed something. Maya's right and I think I know what. You called Tate a true believer, correct?" Maya nodded in agreement.
"Right, he thinks he can save the world by destroying it, by molding it into what he sees fit," said Maya.
"Lucy said that it's ridiculous how far ahead Tate has been when you consider the amount of people on this case, unless we've been wrong about that."
"Wait, you think there's another player involved, someone we're missing? But where," asked Jesse as he sat down by Lucy. Kate glanced over at Carlos as he, Zeinab, and Maya whispered back and forth to one another. Ernie watched them curiously.
"It's like they're a hive mind or something," said Ernie.
"We've worked a lot of cases together in a short amount of time. It was bound to happen. Jane, when you first called me, you mentioned Right Guard, why," asked Kate.
"Everett had a flyer in his glove compartment, but it was a dead end," reminded Jane, but Zeinab shook her heard.
"Boss, we have a theory, well…a working theory," informed Zeinab. Carlos placed documents about the organization on the screen.
"What if Tate was working with Right Guard and Everett was trying to figure that out too," asked Zeinab.
"He'd have a team of people behind him working against us while we're working against him," said Kate.
"Which is why I couldn't get the motives to fit, what if there were two shooters, one who killed Everett and one who shot Kai," asked Maya. Lucy frowned in confusion.
"But who then and doesn't that mean we're back at square one," asked Lucy and Ernie started typing furiously on his computer as well.
"Not necessarily, it would just change the way we looked at this," added Ernie and Jane slowly nodded.
"Okay, so back to the start, that's the approach right," asked Jane.
"Right," said Kate.
"What do Right Guard, the Kuni Gang, and Tate have in common," asked Jane and Carlos tapped Ernie excitedly on the shoulder.
"Land, the blueprints, you said it technically wasn't in Kuni Territory, right," asked Carlos and Ernie nodded.
"Right."
"What if that's part of the issue? The leader of Right Guard is Laura Maxwell. She petitioned the courts six years ago asking for a land grant that fell under what was at one point the Company's territory. Maxwell wanted the land, but for years, there was one organized crime group buying up all that land and real estate. Maxwell's argument was that the government needed to step in and take back that land because it was being used for illegal activities," explained Carlos.
"What happened with the case," asked Lucy.
"Nothing, they couldn't prove it, so when the Kuni Gang took over the Company's territory, it became their land," said Jane.
"Until we just busted them for human trafficking and possession of illegal weapons, it was a setup," said Kate.
"And we took the bait because it got them off the street," added Jesse. Maya sighed in relief.
"I think I figured it out now. It's Maxwell too. Tate's a true believer, but their relationship is transactional. He gets access to her group and he helps her get access to that land," said Maya.
"Maxwell wants to take over Kuni Territory, but for what," asked Lucy and Kate nodded her understanding.
"The same reason she started an anti-government organization in the first place, for control, power. She gets the land and he gets the resources he needs. Right Guard has branched out into a militia group. He essentially has an army at his disposal," said Kate and Zeinab groaned.
"If that's true, we have to find them now. Delta Force, highly trained, weaponized, and with a militia group to train as well? With the right resources, he could carry out multiple domestic terror events at once," warned Zeinab.
"Not if we get his partner, Ernie found something," said Carlos. Jane and Kate looked up at the screen as Ernie showed traffic camera footage.
"Tate's great at covering his tracks, but his partner? Not so much. Look at where she was headed the day Kai was shot. There aren't cameras on the road past a certain point, but it's enough to connect her," explained Ernie.
"Not to mention it fits the profile. Everett was executed, one shot to the back of the head, precision, efficiency. Kai was shot in the leg. You're right, boss. It wasn't about a warped moral code. It was about skill. Tate didn't shoot Kai," said Maya.
"But he tried to help Maxwell clean it up and carry out their plans anyways. Ernie, Carlos, get us everything you know about Laura Maxwell. She's helped Tate remain steps ahead of us this whole time, but maybe now she'll be the reason we can return the favor," suggested Jane and Kate nodded in agreement.
"Maya, Zeinab, work with Jesse and Lucy to try to figure out where Tate could be and what he could be planning," instructed Kate.
"Got it, boss," said Zeinab with a nod. Jane patted Kate on the shoulder and gave an impressed nod.
"I should go make some calls too and check in on Kai," said Jane. Kate sighed in relief as she watched her team work alongside Jane's. She wasn't sure what they would find next, but felt like they were finally on the right track.
After hours of research and finally finding evidence they could work with, Lucy found herself on a very unexpected stakeout with Maya. The rest of the team was tracking down Tate, but their focus was on his partner. Maya held out a bag of candy to her.
"Jelly bean," she offered and Lucy hid her smile as she arched an eyebrow at her.
"Kate told me not to take the bait. I brought my own snacks, but thanks." Maya shook with mirth as she popped a jelly bean into her mouth.
"Well played, boss, well played, indeed," she conceded and Lucy shook her head with a smile.
"That's still going to take some time to get used to."
"What, jelly beans?"
"Kate being essentially SAC for your team."
"It doesn't seem like your team respects her authority."
"That's not completely true. We just were used to trying to work around it. When she was with the DIA, it got contentious every once in a while."
"So, not respecting her authority."
"You know how it is with the DIA. They're hard asses. Look at what we had to go through just to get intel that we probably should've had from the beginning for this case."
"Fair, but I guess it's like Carlos always tells us. People always forget not to shoot the messenger. You think that affected her at all?"
"What do you mean?"
"Her against your entire team? It's clear you all have each other's backs. I respect that, even makes me want to work with you, but having all of you coming at her at once, knowing you want to work around her orders and decisions? Based on my time with her, I could see that really draining her."
"I guess I didn't really think of it like that. It's clear now though that she has a good team. You all work great together, obviously."
"It wasn't that way at first. That first month was rough. We each volunteered for the task force, but Kate hand-picked us. Truth is, I never expected to be picked. I was trying to be the team player without actually having to do the work. I figured I would volunteer, the leaders of the task forces would see my credentials and work and move on, but she didn't."
"Why does that surprise you? You're obviously an integral part of her team and they all look to you."
"Like I said, it wasn't always that way. I um…when I was a rookie, I got caught in the crossfire of a really bad case. My team was betrayed by one of our own. I was shot by the very person who was supposed to be training me and…let's just say things like that, being betrayed by the person who is supposed to have your back the most? It sticks with you well after the case is closed and the traitor rots in hell. I moved around from team to team, case to case, did a lot of work away from the field after that. This team was the first to make me want to stay. Kate's the only boss I've ever had who understood and didn't push or pry. The woman's a vault most of the time, but I think that makes her respect people's boundaries."
"She definitely knows how to keep her feelings to herself."
"She knows how to not verbalize them, but her non-verbals are all over the place. I knew the moment we got on that plane that this case was different. I'm glad we met you, even under these circumstances. I'm glad she has you in her life again. It also brought me some clarity."
"Meeting me brought you clarity?"
"Watching you and the boss do your little tango around each other and hearing what went down between you two reminded me of the important stuff. As soon as all this is over, I'm asking Kader on a date." Lucy's jaw dropped.
"Wow, glad we could be of help, I think?"
"I mean you can only watch idiots in love for so long before you realize you too are an idiot in love."
"Thanks for that."
"Sure." Lucy shook her head in amusement.
"Well, as a fellow idiot in love, I hope it works out."
"It will."
"Wow, I wish I had your confidence when Kate and I first started off."
"There are a lot of things I doubt in life. My chemistry with Zeinab is not one…or the predictability of human behavior, there's Maxwell." Lucy spotted the woman getting out of her vehicle in front of a salon and took the lead as she and Maya cautiously approached her.
"Laura Maxwell, NCIS, I need you to come with us," announced Lucy and she groaned when Maxwell took off running. Lucy and Maya sprinted after her and managed to catch up before she could turn the corner of the block. Lucy tackled her to the ground and handcuffed her before pulling her back to her feet. As they headed over to the car with Maxwell apprehended, Maya kept her eyes trained on their surroundings. She saw a car peel out of a nearby parking lot and nodded in its direction. Lucy nodded in agreement as Maya pulled out her phone to send a text message.
Kate and Jane were waiting in their car outside of the location Ernie and Carlos pinged. They were parked on the side of a road by the mountain range where a small cabin was shrouded by trees. Kate checked her phone when it buzzed and sighed in relief.
"They apprehended Maxwell. Tate is probably being alerted by her clan as we speak," informed Kate.
"Well, that didn't take long," said Jane as she nodded toward where Tate was rushing out the side door of the cabin. Jesse tackled him to the ground and punched him as the two men fought for dominance.
"Neither did that," mumbled Kate as she and Jane sprinted over to assist Jesse.
"NCIS, get on the ground," demanded Jane as she pointed her weapon at him and Kate kept hers trained on the man as well. Tate chuckled as he slowly put his hands up with a smile. He noticed the red dot the moment it appeared on his chest and smirked as he looked toward the trees.
"You people will never understand. You never could. You should be thanking me."
"For killing a Marine," challenged Jane and he smirked.
"That was a casualty of war. I more than made up for it by handing the Kuni's to you on a silver platter."
"Don't make a move, Tate," warned Jane as she saw his hand inching toward his gun.
"I'm willing to die for my cause and what a glorious way to go. Are you," taunted Tate. Kate sighed in relief when Tate was suddenly on the ground as Jesse shot him with a Taser from behind. Jane and Kate kept their guns pointed at him as Jesse finally got to do what he wanted to since Kai was shot. He placed the handcuffs on Tate and smirked.
"We know you are. That's why you aren't dying today, asshole," informed Jesse. The sound of sirens and backup approaching made Jane sigh in relief and Kate glanced over into the distance where Zeinab was still surveying the area through the scope of her rifle. Kate gave her a nod and sighed in relief as well. It had been one of their tougher cases, but they had two suspects finally in hand.
