Authors Note: Ok, so this chapter jumps ahead by a few episodes...it takes place during One Shot, One Kill, I am rewriting my favorite episodes, I guess you could say. lol Also, please check out my newest Tiva oneshot. It's called What Can I Say?
Reviews are love, leave some.
Krystle
Kate smiles, she can easily get used to seeing Jethro move around in her kitchen. He finds everything he needs with ease and smiles at her while he mixes the batter for the waffles. This has become a usual breakfast for the couple. Kate can't resist Jethro's waffles, and he loves her home made lasagna so it's a win-win situation for the pair.
Kate walks over to him and slips an arm around his waist, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
He smiles and kisses her temple, "You can make some coffee."
Holding back a chuckle, Kate replies, "Of course, you have to have your coffee."
Gibbs smirks, "It's a must."
~*~
Standing in the bullpen later that day, Kate is decked out in a Marines uniform, various badges and medals for her shirt waiting to be pinned. Gibbs stands in front of her, adjusting her outfit; Kate is smiling the whole time his hands move about her person, and mentally curses their being at work.
"Welcome to the Marines, Kate," he says, adjusting her collar.
Tony is watching his boss and his partner from his desk and asks in a shocked voice, "Kate's gonna be your C.O.?"
Gibbs answers, "That's the plan."
"I didn't realize Kate knew so much about being a Marine," Tony says, trying to figure out why Kate gets to go under cover and he doesn't.
Trying to hold back a laugh, Gibbs replies, "Kate doesn't know squat about being in the Marines. She doesn't have to."
Turning her head slightly, to Tony, though she'd rather focus on Jethro and his roaming hands, she explains, "I won't be interacting with the recruits, Tony. I'll just be there to focus on how they interact with Gibbs. One of them might be our sniper."
"You're not the only one around here who knows how to profile," Tony says in a haughty tone, and rises from his desk and swipes a file from Kate's.
Kate chuckles, and turns back to Gibbs, giving him a small wink, "Maybe. But with that haircut, you wouldn't pass for a ROTC student."
Jethro smiles at Kate's comment, "The vest is going to hardly even show underneath this. You need your ribbons," she smiles at him with a nod, and walks back over to her desk to finish getting ready. Gibbs directs his attention to Tony, "What did we hear back from the FBI?"
"Besides Agent Freeman's extreme dislike for you?" Tony asks, looking up from the file, noticing Gibbs' not so amused look, "Uh… they'll cooperate, but he's not too keen on the visible part."
"Our shooter isn't a moron," Gibbs begins, grabbing some things off his desk and sneaking looks over at Kate discreetly enough so Tony won't notice, "If he doesn't see police and FBI presence in the neighborhood, he's going to think something's wrong."
"I have a problem with that part too, Boss," Tony starts, looking back and forth between Kate and Gibbs, "What's the point of setting a trap if he knows about it?"
Kate slips into profiling mode and answers before Gibbs, "Part of a sniper's mission is to infiltrate enemy territory. Our guy wants to prove himself, validate his skills. He's not going to pass up an opportunity like this."
"What if he succeeds?" Tony asks, worry for his Boss in his voice
"He won't," Gibbs says, standing and walks out of the bullpen, feeling Kate's eyes on his retreating back.
Shaking his head at his boss's certainty, Tony turns to Kate, "Don't take this the wrong way, but… you actually make that look good."
Kate smiles, "Thanks. Have you tried yours on yet?"
"Tried what?" Tony asks, not looking up from what he's doing.
Trying to keep a straight face, Kate replies, "Gibbs said you'd be in uniform too." Just wait till you see what it is!
Tony looks up, "He did?"
Kate smiles at Tony, "Mm-hmm." Abby is going to have so much fun with this.
~*~
"What are you doing? Giving away free X-boxes in there? That's the tenth kid this morning," Tony says into the mic.
Kate eyes Gibbs, and answers Tony, "He's really good at this. I'm even thinking of signing up."
"What about potential snipers?" Tony asks
"You'll be the first to know," Kate answers, slightly annoyed with Tony's voice in her head.
"No, Gibbs will," he says, pulling a sandwich out of a Ziploc bag. "Just tell me he's still wearing his vest." Tony asks, into the mic, watching Gibbs and Kate from a parked car a few feet away.
Kate mentally sighs. She had fought with him for an hour about wearing it, but he wouldn't budge. She knew he was right on it showing, but the thinking he could get shot unnerved her. Nothing is going to happen to him, Kate. Not as long as you have anything to say about it.
She eyes Jethro in his old uniform, and the vest he has at his feet, "He said it was visible under his shirt."
"I knew it. If that sniper doesn't kill him I will. What a stupid idiotic thing," Tony exclaims, biting into his sandwich.
Kate mutters, "Oh, I get the first whack at him."
~*~
"You realize we have an office in Richmond? Why drive all the way down here to see a recruiter?" Gibbs asks the young man sitting in front of him, quickly glancing at Kate, who lightly nods at him.
The young man shrugs, "Well, I was watching the news and I thought I'd check it out."
"The sniper doesn't scare you?" Gibbs asks, maintaining eye contact with the squeamish kid.
"Well, I figure he's shooting recruiters, not recruits, right?"
"So you'd drive all the way here to see if I get shot or not?"
"If I could get a signature," a delivery man asks, breaking Kate away from the conversation that Gibbs and the young kid are having.
"No problem," she says, looking up, slightly annoyed, and signs the clip board.
The delivery man nods at Kate, "See you later."
"Good luck to you," Gibbs says, extending his hand to the young man.
"Thanks," he says, shaking Gibbs hand.
Kate huffs to herself, I missed the last of their conversation, damn it!
~*~
Kate listens to Tony argue back and forth with the FBI on the earwig, and turns when Gibbs asks, "What do you think, Kate?"
"That you have at least one more day as a human target?" Kate says, sarcasm dripping in her voice, trying to hide how scared she is that he may be killed or shot at.
"Hello," Gibbs says, to the young man who just entered, "Gunnery Sergeant Alvin Thomas. How can I help you there, son?"
The young guy fidgets, "Yeah, I don't know. I've been thinking about it a little I guess. You got some pamphlets or something?"
"Right here," he says, showing the young kid the assorted pamphlets, "The Marines offer a wide variety of choices. What kinds of things interest you? Sit down."
The kid shakes his head, "Not sitting around in an office like this."
Gibbs chuckles and sits on the corner of the desk, "Can't say that I blame you. Are you interested in something more active?"
The young man nods, "Yeah."
"You seem like a combat arms kind of guy to me. Artillery? Combat engineers? Infantry?" Gibbs looks over at Kate, and then turns back to the kid, "Sniper teams?"
"Yeah, I don't know. Like I said, I'm not really sure," he says, still a little on the squirmy side, "I just… maybe I should come back."
Gibbs nods, "I'll be here."
After the kid leaves, Kate says, "Tony the kid who just left: Six four, blond hair, black jacket and jeans. Early twenties, we think he might be our man."
Walking over to get a drink of water, Gibbs picks up a white feather that was sitting on the water catcher, "He was already here."
Kate looks over at Gibbs, and gets more scared for his life than she was before, "Forget the kid, Tony! The sniper is the water delivery guy! I repeat! The sniper is…"
It's true that time seems to move slowly when something scary happens, and as the bullet from the snipers rifle gets lodged in the glass of the Recruiting center, Kate is positive her heart hit the floor.
She takes the mic off of her and pulls out her earwig and rushes over to Gibbs, crying into his chest, "That was too close, Jethro!"
He nods, holding Kate close to him. He listens to Abby tell Tony and the FBI where the shooter is, and he says, "Go get him, Tony." Dewiring himself, Gibbs looks down at Kate, "I'm fine, Katie."
She looks up at him with tear streaked cheeks, and shakes her head, "You could have been killed, Jethro! I can't lose you, not now that I've just got you."
Jethro leans down and kisses Kate, when they break the kiss a few moments later, he wipes the tears from her eyes, "You're not gonna lose me, Katie."
She nods and buries he head in his chest once more, listening to the thumping of his heart. In the logical part of her mind she knows that it is too soon to feel the way she does about him, but its the part of her mind that believes in fairytales, and happily ever after, gives her the courage to look into his eyes. When her coffee colored eyes meet his ice blue eyes, she smiles at him, and whispers just loud enough for him to hear, "I love you, Jethro Gibbs."
Jethro smiles at her, and kisses her lips softly, "I love you, too, Caitlin Todd."