Silence ripped through the air between them.

Recovering quickly from the icy tone that had sent chills shuddering down her spine, Kate tilted her chin defiantly. She wasn't Tony and she wasn't Tim. She wasn't about to quail under a steaming stare from some irascibly stubborn old man. She had once protected the President of the United States. She was quite literally the best of the best. She didn't need this maddening and downright chauvinistic bullshit, and frankly, she wasn't going to swallow it. She could feel his gaze boring into her soul with an acidic burn as she resolutely stared right over his head. The cogs in his mind were whirring, and she wasn't about to interrupt the mighty Gibbs' train of thought. He didn't have anything to say that she wanted to hear.

Sweat coated the breadth of Gibbs' palms.

He'd had cocky agents, and he'd had reckless agents. He'd had cheeky agents, and he'd had disobedient agents. But he'd never had a singularly cocky, reckless, cheeky and disobedient agent. Looking at his handpicked recruit as she stubbornly avoided his gaze, it was only his sheer will power that prevented him from strangling her. She was the most maddening damned agent he'd ever had under his command. He thought he'd been through the worst of it with Stan, and then along came Tony who blew Burley right out of the water. And now, it would seem that fate had seen fit to blow DiNozzo right out of the stratosphere with the addition of Todd.

He felt his teeth grind crunchily together.

"I need a yes or no answer to a simple question," he eventually growled, "You think you can manage that?"

A waterfall of scathing remarks coursed to her lips, but something in the look in his eyes had her swallowing them back. Offering a curt jerk of her head, she studied him closely as he opened his mouth with a grim expression.

"You want to keep working for me?"

Her dark eyes grew wide at the blunt as all hell inquiry. He offered nothing. No elaborations, no guidance, nothing. He merely watched her silently, his head tilted in what appeared as simple curiosity. Her pulse quickened. His question held the dulcet undertones of a certain threat. Images of her hasty resignation from her pride and joy Presidential detail swam before her eyes. She had jumped before she could be pushed back then, and the thoughts of making the same decision so soon made her gut clench.

"Are you firing me?"

Gibbs' gaze turned positively glacial as he sighed a thoroughly exasperated breath.

"Just what part of a yes or no answer is particularly taxing for you? I was led to believe you were intelligent, surely you can handle it?"

The familiar scowl splashed across her fortunate face. "If you expect me to beg your forgiveness in order to keep my job, you can forget it," she hissed, "I'm not a walkover. I did what I thought was best. I did what I was trained to do. So if you're asking me do I want to keep working for you as a federal agent, then yes, I do. If you're asking me do I want to keep working for you as a statistic to bump the agencies gender equality figures, then no, I do not."

Fresh anger sparked in Gibbs like a splintering pile of sun kissed kindling.

"You've got one hell of a smart mouth and I've had just about as much as I'm going to take of it."

He strode out from behind his desk, and without glancing at his most infuriating of charges, he thrust his chin to the staircase.

"With me."

He didn't break his gate as he stormed up the stairs, two at a time, nor did he spare a glance to check her compliance. For a moment Kate stood stunned. The anger she could instantly tell was at molten levels was one thing, but there'd been another look in Gibbs' eyes she couldn't quite decipher. Feeling somewhat lost even with her profiling abilities, she took in his retreating back in stupefied silence. Such was her inactivity that he had reached the upper level balcony as she remained in the spot where he had left her. When he glanced down and saw her staring at him silently, Gibbs wondered briefly just how well he'd adjust to life in prison.

Might be ok, they had woodwork shops in most places. He'd adjust.

"TODD."

Maybe not. Maybe he'd just kill her and have done with it. Seemed to be where his subconscious had taken him, because he hadn't meant to shout. Intentions lacking or not, it seemed to do the trick. Kate visibly jerked at his raised tones, before slowly following him up the stairs. Breathing in deeply, Gibbs continued on his trail, grateful the halls and communal areas were clear. He really didn't need any more mutterings about his infamously "different" team and his handling thereof. He could hear her trailing behind him, and didn't need to turn to know she was scowling at his back. He shook his head slowly as he stormed along.

She would be the death of him.

Landing eventually at the door that he'd only had cause to usher the boys through, he stopped still. She nearly crashed into back such was his abrupt halting. Throwing open the door to the conference room that was for all intents and purposes abandoned, he pointed into the darkened space, using his free hand to flicker on the sluggish lights. She followed his arm with a confused expression, before turning back to him with the first strains of hesitance.

"In," he said simply, in a deathly tone that would instantly have alerted Tony, Tim or even Abby to extreme danger. Kate however stood firm and shook her head as she assessed the clearly disused room once more. Squaring her shoulders, she took one step away from the room and another step away from her enraged boss. Looking Gibbs directly in the eye with a flash of her own anger, she shook head once more, with a resounding firmness.

"Why?"

The team-lead's eyes bulged with ire at the continued disobedience.

"Because I damned well said so, that's why."

Kate just shrugged lightly.

"I need more of an incentive to camp out in an abandoned room than "because I say so" Agent Gibbs. What's wrong with saying whatever you want to say to me in the bullpen?"

Silence sprang up between them once more as Gibbs glared with homicidal rage at his stubborn agent.

"Trust me," he insisted quietly, in his most dangerous and velvety tone, "You don't want an audience for what I want to say to you, Agent Todd."

…

TBC

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A/N: So I was just going to have this as a short story, but I didn't realise how enjoyable writing Kate/Gibbs would be. Willing to make a longer story out of it if you'd all like? Lemme know J

-Inks

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