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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3- Toby
When Abby returned tothe house that night, she heard the TV in the basement. With a sigh, she walked down the stairs and watched him sand the boat for a moment. "You´re supposed to take it easy, Jethro." She told him and he looked at her, wiping the dust from his face. After a moment, he returned his gaze to the wood and continued to sand it.
Abby walked down until she stood next to him. "You´re going to be sore tomorrow if you don´t give your shoulder a rest." She said and put her hand on his. He stopped again and put the sander down on the utility table. He took a sip from a half empty scotch bottle and just looked at her. "Let´s go upstairs. You need to hit the shower and I´ll fix us something to eat."
Gibbs shook his head. "I´m not hungry." He replied and felt her hand on his arm. She tightened her grip and forced him to look at her. "What?"
"You can´t keep this up. You´re just going to hurt yourself. You´ve been hiding down here for two weeks now." She told him and met his ice blue eyes. They were hard and cold, like they had been for a while now. With a sigh, she turned around and walked back up the stairs. He was such a stubborn bastard sometimes. When she reached the top stair, she turned around again. "Someone once told me that we can´t change the things life brings up to us and that we have to accept those paths." Abby told him and disappeared into the kitchen.
Gibbs smiled a bit at her words. He knew that she was right, but somehow he wasn´t sure if he was brave enough to face this yet. He had been thinking about it for a long time, but the fear was still stronger. Most people would have wondered if they had heard this from him. After all, he had the reputation that nothing could ever scare him. Switching the light off, he walked upstairs and went straight into the shower. His shoulder hurt again and he could almost hear Ducky telling him off for not resting enough. He didn´t feel like sitting around all day long right now -being on desk duty was enough rest to his mind.
Abby was in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled like pasta. She didn´t turn around when he walked in. "Tomato sauce or just oil for you?" She asked and put pasta on two plates. From the corner of her eye she saw him grab a can of beer from the fridge. "Okay, tomato it is." She put the plate down in front of him and got her own a moment later. "You really need a girl, Jethro." She then said as she shoved the first bit of pasta into her mouth.
He looked at her, almost dropping the fork. "Abbs..." He growled at her, but she simply smiled at him. She had never been scared to tell him straight away what she was thinking.
"I know, you´ve tried three times and it never worked, but who said that the right one isn´t out there? Maybe she´s closer than you think." She said and grinned when he dropped half of his pasta from his fork. His eyes gave him away for a short moment. "Eat up or it will get cold." Abby added quickly before he could say anything.
Gibbs put their plates into the sink after theyhad finished and followed her into the livingroom. "It´s getting late." He said when he saw her switching through the TV channels. Abby turned around and looked at him, but she didn´t say anything.
"It´s not even 11 pm!" She protested after a moment and watched how he switched the TV off. "Why are you always doing that?" She told him and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Abby knew that she had no chance, but she still tried to stare him down. She had managed once, but that was only because he had been running a fever of almost 102° at that time.
"Breakfast is at 6:30 am tomorrow -and there won´t be pancakes if you sleep in, Abbs." He told her and watched her walk upstairs. She gave him a death glare and turned left, disappearing through the black curtain. He smiled a bit and decided to retire as well. "You know, Toby, if I had known what I would get myself into, I wouldn´t have made that promise." He said silently as he looked at a picture hanging on the wall.
From his bedroom, he heard some music coming from the other end of the hallway. He didn´t mind and just closed his eyes. It was getting late and the moon was shining in. His cell phone suddenly started to ring and he almost jumped out of his skin. Without checking the caller ID, he flipped it open. "Gibbs."
"Did I wake you up?" A voice asked and he felt his heart skip a beat. He had counted on almost anyone to call him at such a time, but not her. Especially not after the recent events. They had not talked about it yet and he dreaded that moment somehow.
"No, you didn´t." He replied and tried to think of something to say to her, but his mind seemed blank.
There was a short silence. "Are you mad at me?" He heard Kate ask after a moment and noted that she sounded confused somehow.
"No." Gibbs felt pretty stupid about such a short answer, but he didn´t know what to say.
"Okay, sorry for calling so late. Bye." She hung up again and he just heard the busy signal echoing from the phone. He just stared at the phone for a moment before putting it back on the nightstand. Her words were still echoing in his mind.