Boston- NCIS

Ziva was starting to become very worried about her boss and mentor.

"Gibbs" she said "I will be upstairs if you need me."

He nodded "Yeah. Go."

She got out of there as fast as she could. Leaving Gibbs and Ducky behind.

Ducky glanced between Maura and Gibbs.

"Jethro, come look at this" he said carefully, pointing to a bruise on the left hand.

"Did he put up a fight?" Maura asked.

"The bruising occurred before he died" Ducky explained "I would think you'd know that, Maura"

"Of course." She shook her head, still looking rattled. "I'm sorry, Ducky. I'm being stupid."

"No, you're not" Gibbs cut in before Ducky had a chance to say something.

She looked up, a faint blush playing across her face. "Thank you, Special Agent Gibbs. You're too kind."

"Nah" He shook his head as he said it. He'd really missed that smile. Missed it so much that it had hurt.

My healing powers, my saving grace His heart ached just thinking that. Another flashback blinded him in the moment.

Going down to autopsy, and staring at the body bag. The bag that held the love of his love. He had not been in this much pain since Shannon and Kelly had died. This was a whole different kind of pain.

He had loved her.

And he thought she'd loved him back.

They'd certainly flirted enough.

But they'd never actually-

"Do you want to go to dinner with me?" He blurted out.

Maura stared at him, surprised.

Ducky was staring at him, speechless.

Even Rizzoli looked faintly shocked.

"What?" Maura asked. She was definitely surprised.

"Dinner. Talk about case" he sounded like a caveman, and he would have to headslap himself for it later.

"Um…." That lovely blush was back "I'd love to, Special Agent Gibbs. I'd love to. Does tonight sound okay?"

Rizzoli was glancing between them, and so was Ducky. Ducky had always been the one to know if Gibbs was in a relationship… including the relationship with Col. Mann. But Gibbs was never open about it, especially in front of people he barely knew.

"Great, can we continue?" Rizzoli asked impatiently.

Gibbs nodded, reverting to his mute stage. "I'm grabbing a coffee" was all he said, before heading upstairs. Once he was in the elevator, he headslapped himself so hard it made his head hurt. You deserved that he thought. Blurting out that he wanted to take Kate's clone to dinner had been the stupidest thing he'd ever done.

Actually it was the second stupidest. The stupidest thing he'd ever done was never tell her his feelings.

When he was grabbing a coffee, it happened. Again.

"Gotta be decaf" she muttered as he walked past.

He turned to look at her "What?" he asked. He thought he had been hearing things.

"All that coffee you drink" she said, narrowing her eyes before asking with a smirk "Don't you twitch?"

He put his coffee cup on his perfectly unshaking hand and grinned as he walked towards her. "Nope."

She chuckled a bit, grinning at him. He was flirting and so was she.

They both knew it, but neither would admit it.

He smirked to himself, trying to deny the wave of sadness threatening to overwhelm him.

"What. The. Hell?" came the growl from behind him.

Crossing his arms, he turned to face an angry Rizzoli "Problem, Detective?"

"Yeah, what the hell was that? You normally ask out medical examiners over corpses?"

"Nah." He chuckled. "Duck already turned me down."

She didn't even try to smile at his joke "That's funny" Her voice was flat "What is your problem?"

"I wanted to talk to Maura about the case. Is that a problem?"

"You asked her on a date!"

"I asked her to dinner" he countered "Not on a date."

"And there's a difference for you?"

"You assumed it was a date."

"Yeah, I did."

He couldn't help himself. "Rule number eight, never take anything for granted."

"What, you got rules too?" she asked, incredulous.

"Yah, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go do my job!" He snapped, walking past.

Something about Rizzoli set his teeth on edge. She was a really brutal detective, but he didn't want to tlak about scars with her like he had earlier. Because if you wanted to talk about scars, Leroy Jethro Gibbs has a lot of scars.

It was unfortunate for him that Kate was one of those scars.

Although Kate was a scar he'd wanted forever. She was his scar. And he loved that. It was his way of keeping her in his mind.

Every time he looked at the scar on his shoulder from where Ari had shot him, he was reminded of her.

That was why he had a tattoo right on his heel. A tiny K that no one ever noticed, and if they noticed they didn't comment.

And he'd chosen his heel because she was his Achilles heel. His one weakness, the only proof that yes, Leroy Jethro Gibbs was more than just a steely Marine. The only proof that Leroy Jethro Gibbs had a heart.

He walked around the corner- and right into DiNozzo. "Hell, DiNozzo, this better be good" he said, glaring at his subordinate.

"Uh, hey boss. Sorry" Tony muttered sheepishly "I just wanted to let you know… they're done the autopsy. Korsak wants a briefing in the brick tank- upstairs."

"Yah, and?" he was walking with Tony now, as they headed for the elevator.

"And is it true you asked Dr. Isles to dinner?"

"DiNozzo, when do you actually get any work done?"

"I don't know what you mean" Tony said quietly, as they stepped into the elevator.

"I think ya do. How do ya get any work done with all the gossip?"

"Well it's not exactly gossip, Ducky told me. And Ziva said you were acting weird."

He turned to him "How?"

"Well boss…." Tony hesitated "She- Dr. Isles looks almost exactly like-."

"Like Kate. I noticed, Tony" he said, but he was quieter.

"I saw your tat, you know." Tony commented.

"I don't care, DiNozzo" He was brash again, because he didn't want to talk about Kate to Tony.

"Look, boss, I know when she died it hurt, because it hurt Tim and I too! And Abby and Ducky, but you were too wrapped up in your own hurt. I know you loved her, but don't pretend the rest of us didn't! We were her friends too, Gibbs!"

He turned and stared at Tony. "Look, DiNozzo. I'm going to dinner with Dr. Isles tonight. And you won't say another word on the subject. Ya got that?"

"Yeah boss."

The elevator opened then, so Tony didn't have a chance to say anything else. And Gibbs briskly walked out to avoid conversing any more with DiNozzo.

He was right though.

And Gibbs hated that he was right.