Changes

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Sequel to "Hidden Enemy". While Kate still recovers from being attacked, she learns surprising news about her boss and her best friend. (And yes, this is going to be KIBBS!)

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2- Finding out

"Abby, don´t lie to me." Kate said and put her hand on her friend´s arm. "Why is everyone hiding something from me? I thought we always wanted to be open with each other. I just want to know what happened and why my boss treats me like I blew up his favorite Starbuck´s." She told her. At least from Abby, she had expected some explanation. "Just tell me, Abby, please."

The goth hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath. "You know, everyone thought he had stabbed you. Ari had put his fingerprints onto the knife and his skin under your nails." Abby said, looking at Kate, who looked taken aback. "He was drugged and kinda taken hostage. Ari wore his shirt when he stabbed you, later put it back on Gibbs when he placed him at his house. He used his car too, so a witness could identify it later. It was a frame-up, probably the best I´ve ever seen. I mean, there was only evidence against him at first. If Tony hadn´t insisted on checking everything down to molecular size, he would have gone to jail and you would be dead."

Kate swallowed hard. She had heard about her colleagues spending almost four days at the office to find the person who had attacked her, but she had thought that Gibbs had been with them. These news were completely new to her and she just stared at Abby, who seemed really uncomfortable to tell her about this. "All of it, Abby. I need to know what happened." She pleaded and felt a knot in her stomach. Those feelings she had tried to bottle up were about to break through again and she hated it when this happened.

Abby looked at her for a short moment. "Just promise me that you´re not telling anyone I told you. Gibbs will kill me for sure when he finds out." She said. "Morrow put us on that case because he wanted to make sure that everything was taken into account -and because he too didn´t think that Gibbs could have hurt you. We found Gibbs´ DNA under your nails, your blood on his shirt. He claimed to remember nothing about that specific night and passed out in interrogation. Ducky brought him to Bethesda for observation and we found residues of chloroform in his blood. Then there was tobacco in his car and his DNA on the passenger seat. It just seemed really odd all of the sudden."

"I just remember those shots and seeing Ari and Gibbs on the floor." Kate said as the memory of that first image came back to her. She had seen the pain in his eyes, but also something else she had never seen before. Something that made her feel safe just from looking at it for a few moments.

"There was a hair stuck to the inside of the shirt. I ran it and it brought up Ari immediately. Tony and Tim raced to the hospital and Morrow immediately cleared Gibbs. He came in just in time to keep Ari from killing you. Ari beat him pretty good and he ended up with a dislocated shoulder and a concussion, not speaking about the innumerable bruises. Some are still there." She finished the story and saw a single tear rolling down Kate´s face. "Oh, Kate..." She embraced her carefully.

"Thanks for telling me, Abby. At least now I know what I´m dealing with. You really spent four days at the office?" Kate then asked, trying to sound a bit more cheerful. She actually felt awful about it all, but knew how to hide it for the time being.

Abby smiled a bit. "I think we did. I don´t remember much about the last day and a half -major sleep deprivation. Tony almost wrecked his car when he drove back from the hospital on the third day. Tim was scared to death. We wanted to get this over with -having your best friend in hospital and your boss arrested is not really fun." She said and looked at her watch. "Sorry, I got to run now. If you need anything, just call me, okay?"

Kate got up as well and gave her a hug. "I will, thanks, Abby. Are you coming over tomorrow?" She asked and smiled when she saw the goth nod before walking out the front door. Kate watched until Abby disappeared out of sight and locked the door again. She simply slid down to the floor and started to cry bitterly. She now knew why her colleagues had not told her any details about the recent events and a part of her wished that she hadn´t asked about it.

After a few minutes, Kate got up and walked into the bathroom. Taking her shirt off, she examined the two wounds on her chest. Both seemed to heal nicely and the internal damage was causing her more trouble than those small exterior wounds. She knew that she would be sore for a while, but she was also determined to get back to her job soon. There was something she needed to get sorted out first.