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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5- Secrets

Gibbs looked at her again, his eyes moist with tears now. It was something she had never seen from him and for some reason it scared her a bit. "Only one thing I got right in my life. Promised Toby I´d take care of her and I did." He said and wiped a tear away, leaving a streak of sawdust on his cheek. Kate resisted the urge to wipe the dirt away and just listened to him. He was drunk and probably wouldn´t remember any of this in the morning. It seemed like these memories had been bottled up for a very long time. "Toby´s been my best pal in corps. Made me godfather to his daughter -beautiful family he had. Wife was run over by some drunk. Toby caught a bullet -that bullet was intended for me, ya know?"

Kate still had her hand on his arm. She could feel him shaking a bit and wasn´t sure if it was from the alcohol or because he was upset. She wanted to hug him and show him that she cared, but she couldn´t move. She was too shocked right now.

He coughed a bit and ran his hand through his hair in come uncoordinated movement, leaving more sawdust there. "She was five when I took her. Grew up fine, even with some bastard like me raisin´ her." His hand fumbled something out of his pocket, but she couldn´t see it yet. "She´s my life, always been. I tried to give her a family, but always failed. Haven´t been a good example for her. It´s a miracle she turned out so well..." His voice broke and more tears trickled down his face. "Just want to be happy, just want someone who can take that bastard I am." He muttered and she noted that his voice was becoming fainter. He shifted until he was stretched out on the floor more or less. His eyes closed by themselves and a soft snore told her that he had fallen asleep.

Something clattered onto the floor and she picked it up. It was a small locket that held two pictures. One was of a young couple and a young child. The second one was the picture of the woman, who was very familiar to her. "He told you?" A soft voice came from the stairs and Kate shot up in surprise. Abby was sitting on top of the stairs, looking at her. "Let´s get him to bed, it´s too cold down here." She then said and walked down to the basement, her eyes wet with tears.

Kate figured that she had been there for a while, but didn´t ask anything yet and handed her the locket. Together they managed to drag him upstairs and into his bedroom. She noticed the black curtain that sealed off half of the upper level. "He´s a good guy with a big heart somewhere below that hard shell." Abby said silently as she pulled the cover over his body and returned to the hallway.

Both sat down in the livingroom a few minutes later. Kate was still shocked and didn´t quite understand all of it. "Gibbs is your godfather?" She asked after a while and Abby nodded. They had been friends for a while, but she had never known about this. It had never turned up in any file and she wondered if there was anyone who had known about it.

"When my dad died, I had no living relatives. My parents had made sure that I would be turned over to his care if anything happened to them. This was their house, too. Jethro took me in and raised me like his own child. It wasn´t always easy for him. He gave up the marine corps to be here for me. That´s how he got into NCIS. I guess my affection to forensics goes back to all the time I spent with him. Nobody knew who I was when I started to work there. He had made sure I got that job in the lab. He put me above everything else all those years. That´s why his marriages failed. None of them was ready to accept the fact that he would first look at me before they came." Abby told her and a single tear rolled down her face.

Kate just nodded. She was still confused, but slowly began to see the whole picture. She had always sensed a special bond between those two, but never thought it was so much. "He can be a really sweet person, if he has enough coffee and nobody is watching." She said and noted a smile on her friend´s face.

"He´s different when you´re around. He changed the very day you met him on Air Force One. He never said please to anyone before, not once in his life. There is something really special between the two of you. That´s why he invented rule 12 the day you came to NCIS. He tries to protect himself from being hurt again." Abby said and motioned her friend to follow. She walked back upstairs and opened the door to his bedroom. A small beam of light from the hallway cut into the darkness and fell on the sleeping figure. "He´s lonely, but I can´t give him the hold he needs to get his life sorted out. He´s scared beyond anything to lose you, that´s why he never asked you out." She said and felt uncomfortable all of the sudden. Maybe she was making it all worse right now, but she just had to tell Kate. Gibbs was like a father for her and she was sick of seeing him sad.

It took a few moments until Kate felt a smile creeping onto her face. She didn´t find the right words, but her heart was going out for that grumpy marine, who was sound asleep on his bed. She had always known that he had a soft spot somewhere, eventhough she had not expected it to be something like this. "I don´t want to hurt him, Abby. I really care about him, but I tried to lock those feelings up because he kept telling me about rule 12." She finally said and continued to look at her boss. Actually, she didn´t see him as just that at this moment.

"He´s not going to remember anything tomorrow. And he´s going to feel awful -he´s been doing this a couple of times. Mainly after you got hurt on duty. Don´t let him know I told you, okay?" Abby said and they walked downstairs again. She checked her watch, looking a bit hesitant. "I was going to meet some friends tonight..."

Kate smiled. "Just go, Abby. I´ll be watching him." She said and returned to his bedroom after Abby had left the house. She was curious about what lay behind that curtain, but didn´t dare to look. She sat down on the empty side of the bed and watched him sleep. He was going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning.