It was probably the third or fourth time that morning, that Special Agent Caitlin Todd checked her appearance in the mirror. Just like the previous times, she found nothing to criticize. The cover stick and the make-up managed to perfectly hide the dark rings under her eyes, and a light scarf around her neck helped to conceal the revealing red mark.

She put on her light perfume and ran her hands through her hair, then she made a weak attempt to smile at herself at the mirror. It failed and she sighed. Her theory of feeling better after a long shower had proven wrong. The hickey and the slight soreness she felt made her awfully aware of what she had done the night before. She couldn't really say that she regretted that it had happened; what she regretted was, that Leroy Jethro Gibbs was her boss, and that they couldn't have met under different circumstances. That way her life would have been way easier, instead of having turned into this complete mess that she had to deal with now.

Repeatedly, Kate made sure that there was no way for the scarf to shift its position and accidentally give away the secret it covered, then she took a deep breath. She had hardly slept more than four hours during the previous night, and while asleep she had been haunted by dreams that shifted between erotic and threatening.

All she longed for was to go home, take a long hot bath and ban the outer world away from her consciousness for at least twenty-four hours in order to come up with a plan to handle the situation.

Kate turned and looked at her bag, which was standing fully packed on her bed. After having closed it she sat down on the bed with a prolonged sigh. It would have been a lie to claim that she wanted to go down to the hall and have breakfast, for it meant to see Gibbs. And right now she still had no idea how to face him. What do you say to your boss with whom you had sex the night before, she asked herself bitterly, and then mused that this was probably a question which Tony would have an excellent answer to – right after asking her what the hell was matter with her to sleep with a man who was beyond fifty.

Resolutely, she got up, determined to face up to the situation. She took the key card for her room and left then, quickly making her way downstairs. Silently she prayed, that at least Tony or McGee would be there already, because worse than facing Gibbs was having to face him alone.

During countless moments, she had tried to recapitulate what exactly had caused the shift in their moods. How had the atmosphere turned from the light and cheerful banter, that they had exchanged before and during their intimate encounter, into a cold and awkward distance?

Checking for the last time whether the scarf was in place, Kate stepped outside the large glass doors on the terrace of the hotel where the breakfast buffet attracted the hotel guests. From the high point the hotel was placed on, they had a beautiful view of the ocean in the morning sun. A soft warm breeze played with the strands of her hair and she looked over the balustrade at the horizon. A few yachts were lying on the water and in the distance she could recognize a cruiser, which seemed to crawl along the water as if it had all the time in the world. She inhaled deeply, enjoying the feeling of peace for a short moment, then she turned around.

It took only a quick glance around for Kate to spot her colleagues, who were already heavily discussing. She arrived just in time to witness Tony slap McGee on the back of his head.

Thank God, Gibbs wasn't here yet – or anymore, she wasn't sure.

"Good morning," she addressed her colleagues more relaxed than she felt inside and sat down on a chair.

"Hey," Tony returned her greeting, a little bit too cheerful for her rather depressed mood, "could you please explain the difference between a tankini and a bikini to the probie?"

Kate shot him an annoyed look. She wasn't sure she would be able to take his jokes today.

"Whoa, somebody really slept of the wrong side of the bed," Dinozzo muttered to himself and took a bite of the apple he was eating while he observed her with obvious interest. Kate poured herself a cup of coffee and took a huge sip.

"And," Dinozzo continued, smiling mysteriously and winking at McGee, "somebody also had sex last night."

He almost fell backwards from jumping in his chair, when Kate choked and nearly spewed the coffee over the table. The woman coughed and then looked at him incredulously.

"Excuse me?"

Tony grinned and smiled at her triumphantly. "See, probie, that's the quality of a good investigator. Accuse and see how the accused will react."

"Tony, what makes you think..." Kate started angrily, both of them ignoring Timothy McGees attempts to answer to the comments they directed at them. It made him feel that he, although he was addressed, was not really part of the conversation.

"The scarf," Tony explained casually, taking another bite of his apple and leaning back coolly.

"It's fashion!" Kate explained and the male agent laughed amused.

"Oh yeah! It is indeed! But not in Spain when it's beyond one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. That, my dear Katie, is a typically female way to hide a hickey."

One of these days she would shred those damned porn magazines of his and feed him with them. There she had been, thinking that the scarf was a safe way to hide the hickey from her colleagues and instead it had betrayed her right away. Well – most likely it would have worked if Tony hadn't been present, for McGee looked as if he didn't understand one single word.

"Katie, Katie," Tony said, while shaking his head with a lascivious grin on his face, "who is he?" He folded his arms and his position made clear that he enjoyed the situation. Finally he had caught his female co-worker in a compromising situation and he wouldn't let it go.

"He's nobody Tony," Kate answered, for she realized that any kind of denial was futile. Damage control was the better tactic here.

"Does Gibbs know?"

"Know what?"

"That you went to the bar yesterday after he had ordered us to go to sleep?" Tony guessed, the grin still present on his face.

"Tony, I didn't go to the bar. Stop your tactic of guessed and seeing how I react!" Kate snapped angrily, then shook her head, the lady inside her offended at his accusation. "What, you think I'd go to the bar and just sleep with the next best man?" Like practically throwing yourself at your boss was less slutty, her conscience reminded her; a thought which she hurried to suppress.

"I don't know... it's a hot image though!" The man grinned and closed his eyes, making clear that he was picturing his female co-worker in that situation. When he laughed dirtily a few seconds later, Kate smacked him hard. Then she sighed and shook her head, incredulous about his indiscretion, while taking another sip of coffee.

"Well, where did you meet him then?" Tony continued, ignoring her murderous glare. "And what's his name?"

Kate rolled her eyes, then she smiled at him sufficiently, knowing that he wouldn't believe her anyway. "Gibbs... I slept with Gibbs last night."

As expected, Tony broke out in amused laughter, and smacked McGee's arm. "Did you hear that probie? Nice try, Katie, but if you needed it that badly, why didn't you come to me first?" He stopped laughing and his face became curious again. "Seriously, where did you meet him?"

If the situation hadn't been anything but amusing, she would have broken out in whole-hearted laughter. But at that moment she didn't feel like laughing at all. She just wanted Dinozzo to shut up.

"Listen, I don't know his name," she exclaimed angrily and sighed, deciding that agreeing with Tony would end this discussion faster than contradicting him would do, "we met in the bar and I got drunk... that's it. Can we drop it now?"

"Drop it? No way...!" Tony laughed and then looked up. "Hey, Gibbs, Kate hooked up with a stranger in the bar last night, and I'm not even allowed to visit the pool! That's unfair!"

Kate tensed and looked up. Her boss approached the table slowly, in his hand a large cup containing strong coffee which he had gotten from the hotel café. It was not as strong as he normally had his coffee, but it was better than the coffee-like broth which the hotel offered to their guests during breakfast.

Nothing in his appearance betrayed what had happened between him and Kate the night before.

For a moment, Kate let her eyes wander over his body. He looked more casually dressed than usual, most likely due to the heat. The first two buttons of his shirt were undone, allowing a perfect view of his tanned neck and his chest with the soft silver hair curling on it.

All her hope that her attraction to him would fade now that she had slept with him, vanished at that instant, because she had to admit to herself that he was the most sexy man she had ever seen.

She scanned his face, but his expression didn't signal that anything was different from usual. He took the seat next to her and sipped at his coffee, while he shot Tony an annoyed glance.

The young man grinned. "I am telling the truth, Kate confessed! She picked up a guy in the bar, whom she doesn't even know the name of and..."

"Tony!" Kate warned and was close to kicking his leg hard under the table. Then she looked at Gibbs. "He's lying, Gibbs! I didn't..."

His eyes held hers and for a split second, a hint of amusement crossed his features, then his expression returned to indifferent as usual. The young woman wondered what was going on with her.

Of course he knew that it was a lie.

Gibbs' eyes went to Dinozzo and again he took a mouthful of his coffee.

"Is all of our equipment packed?" he asked with the usual annoyance in his tone, without reacting to Tony's accusation.

"Yes, boss... all packed and ready," McGee affirmed and for a short moment, silence set in.

Then Tony, unable to let it go, leaned over to Kate. "Hey, does he know your name?"

"Who?" the woman asked confused.

"Your mysterious lover? Or did you seriously just have a passionate, meaningless one-night stand? I wonder what Brian has to say about that... I remember him calling two days before we left. Aren't you two still in a relationship or something like that?" The man grinned and it was obvious that he had fun teasing the young woman. His grin vanished instantly, when Gibbs put his cup down and pinned him with his eyes.

"Dinozzo, you want to swim back to DC?" he asked friendly, and McGee automatically ducked his head. Friendly Gibbs was more dangerous than grumpy Gibbs, he himself had experienced that.

"No, boss... but..." Dinozzo started defensively, gesticulating at Kate.

"Then stop going on her nerves... and mine!" he emphasized and Tony nodded humbly, and then sat back in his chair, pouting.

Kate gave Gibbs a furtive look, amazed at his behavior. He had actually defended her – he had never done that before. Although she was a very self-dependent woman, it would have been a lie to say that she didn't feel flattered by him stepping up for her. An odd feeling of warmth started to grow in her stomach.

"Well, didn't you want to ask Gibbs something, McGee?" Tony finally broke the silence after two minutes.

"What? Me?..." the young agent looked at his colleague with big, questioning eyes, then some kind of realization obviously dawned on him and he shook his head. "No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!" Tony emphasized with a growl and kicked his leg under the table, which caused McGee to grimace in pain.

"Well... boss, we thought that since... um... obviously the equipment is packed and... and... and... we still have like four hours before our flight goes... if we... um... could use the rest of the time for like... um..."

"Using the swimming pool, boss," Tony stepped in, fearing that the four hours would have passed before McGee had finally finished his sentence. The prospect that the stuttered explanations of the probie didn't help to improve Gibbs' mood added to his decision.

Gibbs looked from McGee to Tony, the former one obviously embarrassed and not really eager to go to the pool and the latter one grinning stupidly.

"For God's sake go!" he finally barked, knowing that once Tony was at the pool, he wouldn't annoy him anymore – at least not for the next four hours. Tony jumped up like a school boy, pulling McGee off his chair.

"Come on probie, hurry up! Every minute is worth a hot Spain chick in a sexy bikini!"

"Tony, I don't really..." McGee started and his tone implicated that he was not really fond of spending the next hours at the swimming pool, but Tony didn't even let him finish.

"Shut up and follow me. I will teach you a worthy lesson in hitting on women."

"Hey!" Kate yelled after them when, instead of hurrying inside to change in their rooms, they hurried straightly for the pool area. "Didn't you forget something?" She pointed at their clothing. "Like changing?"

Tony gave a triumphant laugh. "We're already wearing our trunks underneath! I know you would let us go, boss..." Then he hurried to turn and get away from Gibbs before the man could change his mind again.

Kate had to suppress an amused smile and when she looked at Gibbs, she noticed that he was hiding a soft laugh, although he would never show that to Dinozzo. It was incredible how inventive the young man could become where women were concerned.

She took another sip of her coffee, suddenly realizing that now she was stuck alone with Gibbs, and a conversation about last night hung inevitably in the air between them. Yet, he didn't seem eager to start it, considering that he concentrated on drinking his coffee and stared into some Spanish newspaper that was lying on the table. She was sure that he could neither understand the language, nor read a word with his eyesight, but decided not to comment on that.

From the corner of her eye, she observed him while she pretended to be looking at the ocean in front of her. His skin looked more tanned than it looked in the office they were normally working in and she shifted uncomfortably when she realized that her body responded to the thoughts that were inevitably crossing her mind: memories of the night before.

In her rational mind, she had tried to convince herself that, now that she had slept with Gibbs, her fascination was gone due to the fact that she had tasted the forbidden fruit, metaphorically spoken. The contrary was the case.

She realized that having to transfer wouldn't be that bad – if she had this man in her life. Having been so lost in her thoughts, she didn't even realize that she had been openly staring at him for quite some time.

He felt her eyes resting on him and looked up, his ice-blue eyes melting with hers. She wanted to say something to him, but everything she could come up with were banal phrases like "Did you sleep well". And those just didn't sound right to say to this man after last night. Therefore she just returned his look thoughtfully, before finally turning her eyes back on the ocean.

"Who is Brian?" Gibbs broke the silence all of a sudden, his voice having a somewhat dangerous undertone. Kate wished to kill Tony at that very moment for his inability to keep his mouth shut. Brian – she had completely forgotten about him. Since he had kissed her on a date two weeks ago, she hadn't called him anymore, but unfortunately, Brian hadn't gotten the message. Tony had been there a few days ago when her cell phone rang, and being the spy he was, he had grabbed the phone before she had.

"Brian is nobody," she explained, her voice firm, when his eyes pierced her almost accusingly. "It's the truth!" she explained, not caring for the fact that he was obviously making a claim on her although he had absolutely no right to – at least not as long as they hadn't talked about last night and how to proceed from here.

But she wanted to make sure that he understood that she was free for him to have – if he wanted her – which was why she decided on answering his question more detailed. "He took me out on a date two weeks ago, but I broke up with him and he didn't quite understand that I was serious and not just playing hard-to-get. Dinozzo stole my phone when he called. You know how he is! That's it."

Obviously satisfied with her explanation, he lowered his eyes to the newspaper again. Anger started to build up inside her. So he had the right to make a claim on her but she didn't? No way.

"Who is the redhead?" she asked, unable to hide the jealousy from her voice. Before she made a fool out of herself by practically throwing herself at him, she wanted to make sure that he was worth the risk. If he was just a man who had looked for a one night stand with a young woman to prove something to himself, she could as well kick his ass and move on to the next man without considerations.

"What redhead?" he asked and looked up, the undertone in her voice having caught his interest.

"The one with the fancy car. She waited for you when you offered me the job. And she was in the office several times. Did you think I wouldn't notice?" She cleared her throat when amusement crossed his features. So much for adding to his already oversized ego, she thought, angry at herself for the revelation that she had been paying attentions to the women he met. "Dinozzo told me that she still meets you on a regular basis." She hurried to continue in a subtle accusation – just the tone he had used before.

Gibbs held her eyes in this indefinable way, but she wasn't willing to back up. Instead, she leaned forward, underlining her request for an answer.

"Did Dinozzo say who she was?" Gibbs simply asked and Kate shook her head.

"No," she replied, feeling almost foolish to rely on information that was based on rumors that she had heard from Tony Dinozzo, "but he assumed that you and her..."

Gibbs chuckled softly. "He assumed? Assumptions, Kate. Always double check! And for your question, she's a friend. Nothing more."

Satisfied she leaned back in her chair, nipping at her coffee. "Double check is what I just did!" she commented dryly, her voice not giving away any hint on what she felt inside. Her eyes were fixed on the ocean again. Gibbs didn't cease to look at her, an almost invisible smile playing around the corner of his mouth.

She had obviously regained her courage. After she had left last night, he had spent endless hours reproaching himself for having given in to his desires – and for having let her leave. Ruining the friendship they had built up over the last one and a half year had been the last thing that he had wanted to do, but when he had considered the way she had fled the room he could only assume that she would avoid him from now on. Her reaction now, though, made him hope for the contrary. Usually it bothered him when a woman started to become possessive about him, but when he had heard the streak of jealousy in the young woman's voice, he had been strangely pleased.

His eyes moved over her beautiful face and her soft brown hair, which shimmered slightly red in the morning sunlight. Then his eyes fell on her neck.

"By the way... sorry for that," he suddenly stated and hinted at her scarf which he assumed to be the reason for the comments which she had been forced to endure from Dinozzo.

"What?" Kate asked, stunned that he had apologized and confused because at first she didn't understand why. Then she realized that he referred to the hickey. "Oh... that. Is it that obvious?"

"You're wearing a scarf when it's like one hundred degrees out here..." he started, but was interrupted by her low growl which caused him to smirk slightly.

Kate nipped at her coffee, making a mental note to never ever cover a hickey with a scarf again.

"Don't feel sorry," she then murmured, "I'm just as much to blame as you. I could have stopped you."

"Why didn't you?" he asked and her head turned to look at him. Her eyes burned into his and she sighed softly, her chin resting on her hand.

"Because at that moment we were both enjoying what we were doing," she replied and then looked away. "Gibbs we need to talk about it."

Without answering, he leaned back in his chair not ceasing to look at her as she continued.

"Quite frankly, I am not willing to leave your team. The chance to work at NCIS has been the best thing that has happened to me in my whole life. I am not willing to give that up – and I am not willing to transfer to another team. I know what you think about relationships between agents." She sighed, finally looking at him to get any kind of reaction from him. Disapproval, agreement, anything – but he remained neutral. "But technically last night would not qualify to fall under rule number twelve since we don't actually have a relationship, and I think we can both move on without it affecting our professionalism. What do you say?"

His eyes narrowed slightly, then he simply shook his head. "No."

"What?" Kate's voice didn't hide the upcoming panic. "Gibbs, I can be absolutely professional and I really want to remain a member of your team."

He sighed and turned his head away from her. Didn't she understand that he was not referring to her remaining part of his team? He would never even think of letting her leave, she was just too good for that. But he wasn't willing to let her get away with her feelings just that easily either. If he didn't know better, he would say that she tried to run out on him. Last night she had done it physically, and now she was trying to do so emotionally. And there was no way he was going to allow that. He himself was a master on hiding emotions and he knew that it didn't do any good – at least not when people you cared for where concerned.

"Kate, I want to keep you in my team!"

She had just been about to open her mouth and continue arguing with him, but this statement put her off and turned her arguments into a soft, surprised "Oh" sound. He chuckled slightly and folded his arms.

"You thought I would throw you out of my team?"

"Well... I... you said when you hired me that if I pulled something like that at NCIS, I wouldn't get a chance to resign." She defended herself, suddenly feeling incredibly stupid. "Anyway, I'm glad we talked about it."

"We didn't actually," he responded, intending on making clear to her that she was assuming falsely if she thought that things were settled between them and they would move on as if nothing had happened. With a determined expression on his face, he lifted from his chair. "And we will not do that here with dozens of strangers sitting around us."

"Gibbs," she started to contradict, but he left the table and crossed the terrace without even looking back at her. Kate shook her head in disbelief. "Great," she muttered and emptied her cup of coffee before folding her arms and looking at the wide ocean again. She had absolutely no idea what to expect from him. He had just practically told her that he would not throw her out of his team, but that he didn't tolerate relationships between agents either. And yet he said that things between them weren't completely settled.

They were as far as she was concerned.

She was an emotionally strong woman. Sure, she liked Gibbs, and yes, she still couldn't stop looking him up and down without picturing the hottest scenes before her inner eye – especially now that she had a detailed memory to refer to. But she had been able to live with that for the past months, she would be able to continue doing so.

During the previous night, she had thought a lot about her past – about Gibbs' past – and she knew that most likely he wasn't eager to add a fourth ex-wife to his collection, therefore she had accepted the fact that she couldn't expect to have a serious relationship with him. She had ignored the pain deep in her heart when she had made that clear to herself. Instead she pretended that she was alright with it; that it was better that way.

'Who do you think you are kidding?' a tiny voice deep inside her whispered, but she suppressed it. In her training she had learned to control her feelings, to sacrifice her own personal luck to her country. This was not much of a difference. It was all about learning to deal with and bury feelings deep inside... no matter what the cost.

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