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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4- Scotch
Gibbs walked into the bullpen at 7:30 am the following morning, right after dropping Abby off at the lab. He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed the person sitting at one of the desks. She looked up when he approached and he noted that she had a forced smile on her face. "What in this world are you doing here, Agent Todd?" He snapped at her and wondered why a small part of him was glad to see her.
The look in her eyes gave away that she was surprised by his reaction, but she recovered quickly. "Investigating." Kate replied and continued to read through a file that lay open on her desk. She looked up again when he snatched the file from her desk. A quick glance told him that she had pulled out Dinozzo´s report on the attack.
"You are on sick leave for the next five days so you better get yourself back home or I will have to take you there personally." He threatened and stored the file back in the cabinet. The moment his face was hidden from her, he let his mask slip for a second and smiled, but when he turned back towards her, he had rid his features of any and all emotions again.
Kate stood leaned against her desk now, arms crossed in front of her chest. "I´m not going until someone tells me what happened." She insisted and winced when he took a hold of her shoulder to force her towards the elevator. He let go immediately and there was something like concern in his eyes for a moment. She could see a certain amount of pain in there as well and noted that he held his left shoulder in a slightly defensive position.
He sighed and leaned against Tony´s desk, his blue eyes searching for something behind her. "You´re just going to get yourself hurt if you start working too soon, Kate. I won´t let that happen." He told her in a command like tone and watched for any reaction.
"Well, looks like it´s the same for you, Gibbs." She said and walked up to him until their faces were just inches apart. She felt his breath on her face for a moment before she put her hand on his shoulder, causing him to bite his lip. "You´re going to dislocate your shoulder again if you keep this up." With that she turned on her heel and walked out of the bullpen.
When Dinozzo and McGee came in, Gibbs was still standing in the middle of the room with a puzzled expression on his face. He had let the chance to talk to her pass without taking it up. It would have been so easy. If he had reached out for her, everything would have changed, but he hadn´t done so. He looked at his agents and returned to his desk. For the rest of the day, he snapped at them more than usually, but they put it on the fact that they were still one agent short at the moment.
Abby had gone to her apartment for the night. Many people wondered how she could live in such a tiny place, but nobody actually knew that she wasn´t living there most of the time. She was worried about Gibbs lately. He had changed in his behavior, not noticable for anyone, but she had known him long enough to see it. After fixing something to eat, she tried to call him, but he didn´t answer the phone. She tried his cell, but he didn´t answer that either. It wasn´t like him. It was not his anniversary with any of the three wifes, so he had no reason to ignore calls. Plus he had her number on his caller ID, which made it seem even stranger.
After a while, she took her coat and drove over to his house. The TV was running in the basement, but there wasn´t the usual sound of the sander. She was about to go downstairs when she heard a car stop in front of the house. Seeing Kate get out, she ran upstairs and disappeared through the curtain. Nobody had ever seen her at his house and he always parked a block away to make sure her car wasn´t seen around. Either one of them would be transferred if anyone found out, at least that´s what Gibbs kept telling her.
The front door opened with a creak and Kate stuck her head in. "Gibbs?" She called and wondered why the lights were on. He didn´t seem to be home until she heard glass shattering in the basement. Carefully, Kate walked in and pulled her gun out. She had tried to call him a couple of times, but he hadn´t answered her calls. She looked down into the basement and put her gun away. The picture broke her heart into millions of pieces. Gibbs sat below the skeleton of his boat, a cup in his hands. A bottle lay shattered on the floor and some golden liquid slowly crept across the floor.
When she walked down the stairs, his head shot up and she noted the look of pain in his eyes. "Whatcha doin here, Katie?" He asked and she noted that his speech was slurred. Kate had seen him drink half a bottle of scotch without any sign of being drunk afterwards, so she figured it had been a lot more today to get him so messed up.
It scared her to see him like this. He was not the strong special agent she knew from work right now, he was vulnerable like a small child. She sat down in front of him and took the cup from his hands. He didn´t try to stop her and just looked at her for a while. "What´s wrong, Gibbs?" She finally asked and he gave a short laugh.
"Nothin´s wrong, Katie, nothin´ at all." He said and grinned a bit. It was obvious that he was lying to her. She kept her eyes locked on him until he took a deep breath. "My life´s a freakin´ hell. Can´t get anything right." He said and looked down at his hands that were covered in sawdust.
Kate put her hand on his arm. "You´re drunk, Gibbs. You should go to bed." She tried to reason, but he didn´t move. It hurt her to see him like this and she was not prepared for the story he was about to tell her.