3

It was another typical night for Caitlin Todd.

She undressed herself and put on her nightclothes. Then she went to bed sleeping for almost two hours. When she woke up her breathing was quick, her veins sending adrenaline trough her whole body and she was covered in sweat. She got up slowly, going into the bathroom. Taking a shower she tried to wash away the remains of the nightmare she had had – but failed badly. When after her shower, standing in front of her mirror, she dried her body she wiped away the traces of tears on her cheeks, she didn't know she had been crying. Dressed in some new pants and a fresh shirt (she had put a reserve on her bathroom shelf because she was used to this routine) she went on by changing the dirty, still wet linen. After a quick glance at the clock on her nightstand and painfully realizing it was still in the middle of the night she turned on the light in her living-room and sat on the couch. By the time she switched on her TV today's nightmare was almost gone but she new she couldn't go back to bed. Twice trying taught her either she wasn´t able to sleep again or she would wake up an hour later repeating exactly the same actions she had done just now.

Her uninterested zapping through the late night/ early morning TV program was interrupted by her alarm showing her it was 6 a.m. Kate got up from the couch stretching her hurting bones. In her bedroom she turned off the alarm and changed into her work clothes. Then she went on to have breakfast (she wasn't really hungry since days but compared to the situation of a long day at work she had to eat something) before driving to work trying not to show anyone her lack of sleep.

At NCIS headquarters she got into the elevator training her smile she had to put on one floor above. The second the elevator doors shut a young woman slid through the closing metal plates. Normally Kate would now have started her own daily play but recognizing the woman Kate didn't even try.

"I know you hate me!" Ziva didn't expect Kate to say something about it. It was just something she wanted her colleague to know. Ziva wasn't a friend of faked compliments and that stuff and when Kate didn't like her she shouldn't pretend she does.

"What makes you think so?" Kate only said that because it was the typical answer to this kind of statements. She never hid the coldness in her voice.

"In case you forgot. He still was my brother, Caitlin!"

"If he really told you anything how dare you to call me Caitlin!" Kate's voice changed from cold and out of emotion to hateful and angry. She was now almost shouting at Ziva.

The time Kate finished her sentence Ziva had pressed the emergency button causing the elevator to stand still.

"You think it isn't hard for me? Do you honestly believe it was easy to kill my own brother?"

"You did it!" Now Kate was shouting. The tears came down her cheeks like water in a waterfall. She hated to be seen crying; she even never let her best friend see her cry. But she just couldn't hold back the pain any longer as she was stating the obvious. Ziva had killed Ari. No matter how she felt now; she did it!

Ziva had no clue what to say. She never imagined how much her half-brother meant to Kate but now she was showing Ziva how wrong the Israeli would've been if she had ever tried to describe Kate's feelings. She couldn't blame Kate. Ziva knew just too well how she had hurt the other woman. She had killed Ari. No matter how she felt now; she did it!

She lifted her head only to see this described as strong woman cry.

Next thing she knew Ziva's back crashed into the wall. Two feminine hands on the left and right side of her body. Soft lips kissing her. Kate's hips touching Ziva's. Just as quick Kate started to kiss Ziva as quick she pulled away looking embarrassed and facing the floor. Mumbling some excuses she pressed the emergency button for them to arrive on the next floor.

"I ever wondered if it was just my imagination or if I really had the same eyes as him" with that Ziva left the elevator and went over to her desk. After a few seconds of putting herself together Kate's done the same.

*falling in love with a vampire* *falling in love with a vampire*

Ziva David tried to clear her mind. Caitlin Todd had just kissed her with no particular reason. What was strange is that somehow Ziva enjoyed it. It didn't last longer than five seconds; it was just lips on lips but she enjoyed it. She loved the feeling of Kate's warm body near her's. Damn she enjoyed it but she didn't know this woman for more than a week. Besides she had never fallen for a girl.

But the more confusing thing for her was why the young brunet had done it. Only seconds before this incident Kate hated her. She was shouting at Ziva and told her in her own way that she would never forgive her. And then she kissed the Israeli.

There weren't many things Ari had told Ziva but she knew about the reason Ari had been still alive to meet his sister that one day.

"Have you ever asked her why she didn't stab you at your first meeting?"

"I haven't! But she told me anyway"

Ziva was looking at her brother with question marks all over her face and in her eyes.

"There was kindness in my eyes. She never told me more about it but she said that´s the reason I survived."

It wasn't that Ziva hadn't known there were some things she and Ari had in common but until today she couldn´t tell if her eyes belonged to that. Now she knew her eyes could look as kind as his. And that was all it took for Kate to forget the hate she was feeling for Ziva.

Ziva knew this kind of sympathy wasn't real. It just laid itself over all the bad feelings and shot them down. Deep inside all of this was still there. Kate just saw something in Ziva that reminded her of her dead lover. And by pushing the hate aside she tried to hold on to him with Ziva.

"I don't know but isn't she acting strange?" Ziva asked Tony nodding lightly into Kate's direction.

"How would you be if you had been taken hostage, kidnapped and almost shot by the same guy? When her mind is available for getting the news of his death trough she will be back to normal"

"You ever thought that there was more behind her than just being afraid?" Tony was looking at her suspiciously. He never would've guessed what she wanted to say but something in this question made him think about it.

"Don't get me wrong! I know how women react to him. I'm just curious."

Tony lowered his voice so he was sure Kate couldn't hear a single word because her desk was across his'.

"I asked her about this ´Stockholm syndrome thing´ after this day in the autopsy but she pushed it aside. I asked her a second time but, well, if looks could kill – I would be dead now!"

*falling in love with a vampire* *falling in love with a vampire*