15. GIBBS

The Makapu'u Lighthouse trail was an easy one, more of a stroll than a hike, but since they were full of shrimp it was quite nice just to meander, fingers casually intertwined, occasionally bumping shoulders or pointing out a seabird or a particularly splendid view. Wandering hand in hand with a woman he loved was something Gibbs hadn't done in a very, very long time, and he'd forgotten exactly how good it was.

Although it was far from deserted, it was fairly quiet, a blissful contrast to the hubbub of Honolulu. It was windy, but they'd made a quick stop to see the view from a lookout point on the Pali Highway, and after the trade winds stealing their breath away and whipping Kate's hair about so hard it could take someone's eye out, the gusts blowing in off the ocean down here seemed positively gentle by comparison.

The trail itself hadn't looked that promising at the start, a rough paved road leading through scrubby land populated with grass, prickly pears, and another cactus he couldn't readily identify, but the further they walked the more the view opened out.

The sea was on the edge of his vision everywhere he looked, and at times it was almost as if they were floating over the ocean. The road turned sharply to the left partway up and they had stood there awhile and stared out along the shore that stretched for miles into the southeast, waves crashing against rocks far below.

Now it was following the line of the cliffs, the air was clean and sweet, and even though the wind was enough to justify their long-sleeved sweaters, it was still pleasantly warm in the bright sunshine.

"You did good, Katie." She frowned up at him. "The trail," he explained. "Definitely not a letdown."

"Oh!" She got a mischievous look on her face. "I thought it was the company that made it special, Gibbs?"

He laughed. "It is. But the views are a pretty nice addition."

She grinned, and he let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders instead, taking pleasure in the freedom to do so. It didn't seem credible that this time yesterday he'd been watching his every move, doing his best not to act like he was utterly besotted, trying to figure out when and how he could give her a gift without freaking her out. This morning he'd woken up with her in his arms. Even adding the panic attack and the nightmare into the equation, it was ludicrous how far beyond any of his wildest hopes things had turned out.

He dropped a kiss on her temple, and she leaned into him as her hand slipped around his waist. Yeah, this felt... really good.

You are one lucky SOB.

A large group coming down the trail had them stepping off the paved road into the edge of the brush, and a loud 'chipchipchipchipchip' of protest rose from behind them.

"Java finches," Kate supplied before he'd even asked the question.

He couldn't help but laugh at her pride in the ready identification. "You've really gone native, huh?"

Her smile widened and she nodded. "I guess. It's nice to belong. When I got back to DC, it just - it brought back a lot of bad memories. And I didn't... I don't know. I felt like a stranger in my own life." She shuddered a little, and he gave her a reassuring squeeze as they stepped back out onto the path and continued up the trail. "I'd come back to a place that was supposed to be my home, and found I'd somehow stepped into a nightmare instead."

It was all too easy to remember her reaction. She'd looked haunted when she'd first arrived back at the Navy Yard - her face tight and drawn. He didn't think he'd seen her look that pale before or since, even when she was in the middle of a panic attack.

"I hate being so far away, but-" She shrugged a shoulder "-it's just so good to feel at home here, you know?"

"Yeah." He'd felt the same unsettling displacement the first time he'd walked back into his house after losing his girls, had been chasing after a sense of home ever since. A sense of acceptance and belonging.

He hadn't realised until too late how much he'd appreciated it, but the way Kate had busted his balls and treated him like a fallible human being even when she'd been his subordinate was something he'd enjoyed. Sometimes it'd been frustrating as hell, too, but he'd loved her for it. Questioning his judgement, rarely calling him 'Boss' or being cowed when he glared at her, not assuming he'd always be right - hell, she'd even ragged on him about his hair... It had meant a lot.

It was nice to have someone who seemed to see him as a regular human being, not an untouchable legend. And it had been something way beyond nice how she'd nevertheless tried so hard and so often to reach out to him in some way; to make him open up, to include him and treat him as a friend, not just her boss, even though he'd rebuffed her at almost every opportunity.

He'd liked it but taken it for granted at the time, then missed it, desperately, after she'd gone. At least it meant he had the sense to value it now, to be secretly delighted, even when he pretended to growl, every time she teased him. It was like confirmation he had somewhere he belonged, someone he belonged to. He loved and was grateful for the family he'd found at NCIS, but this was something different than that, was something he hadn't had in a long time, that soothed an old, old ache. He would gladly spend the rest of his life with her laughing at him, if she'd only let him.

He looked down at her, ran a hand over her hair, then lifted up her face to give her a brief kiss which prompted a surprised and pleased squeak, but when she peered up at him questioningly he just shrugged, trusting an opportunity to try and explain what she meant to him would crop up in due time.

They walked for a while in thoughtful but companionable silence, until Kate suddenly jumped in front of him, waving her hands in front of his face. "Close your eyes, close your eyes!"

He gave her his best 'have you lost your mind?' look, and she just grinned.

"There's an information sign and I don't want you to see it."

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"It'll spoil the surprise."

He sighed exaggeratedly but closed his eyes as she lead him what felt like a half dozen yards or so along the trail.

"Okay, you're fine now."

"Don't s'pose there's any point asking you what this is all about, is there?"

He had no expectation she'd relent, but it was amusing to see the grimace of long-suffering patience cross her face. "No, no point whatsoever."

They walked a little further, then took a side trail. It was another paved path, smaller and even less well kept, but easy enough to follow between the cactuses, down closer to the cliff edge, past a pillbox, and onto an outcrop which gave them an unimpeded view over the water.

Kate stopped and grinned at him, then her gaze returned to the sea, hopeful, even expectant. Gibbs followed suit, wondering what exactly she was hoping they'd see.

"What're we looking for?"

She pursed her lips. "You really don't understand the concept of a surprise, do you?"

He shrugged and tried to adopt an innocent expression, savoured the over-the-top eye roll he was so perversely proud of prompting, then looked back out at the ocean. "Just don't wanna miss whatever it is you're so excited about."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the amused shake of her head, and with a laugh he slipped his arm around her waist so he could pull her in close. They stood for a few minutes, and he had to admit to himself there were worse ways to spend an afternoon than staring at the water with Kate leaning on him.

"There, there!"

She pointed. At first Gibbs couldn't figure out what had caught her eye. There was a spray of water and a shadow moving under the surface. For a moment he was still confused, seeing more shadows, another exhalation of spray that seemed to come out of nowhere, until suddenly a huge tail broke the surface and an unmistakable silhouette thumped down into the water with a crash.

"That was - was that a whale?"

She grinned hugely. "The humpbacked whales spend the summer in Alaska, then they come down here in the winter."

The absolute delight on her face was catching, and he turned back to look out at the ocean. It was tempting to watch Kate watch them, but it wasn't every day you got this close to a whale pod just hanging out, and the fact she'd wanted to share it with him made it that much more special. With no one else nearby, it was as if the whales were putting on a special show just for them. The tail smack wasn't repeated, but it was satisfying even to spot the huge creatures as they moved with deceptive speed back and forth, blowing out water, now and then one surfacing to slap playfully at the surface with a pectoral fin that looked enormous even at this distance.

"You know," said Kate eventually, "I don't think I even care about the lighthouse today. What say we just stay here and watch them?"

Gibbs looked down at the ground. It wasn't exactly built for comfort, but there were a couple reasonably flat bits, they had the blanket, and at least there were no cactuses. More importantly, it was away from the main trail, and a little peace and privacy with Kate while they sat in the sunshine sounded damn near perfect. Maybe it would even give them a chance to talk about a few things from his long mental list, but even if it didn't, he couldn't think of any other way he'd rather spend his afternoon.

He grabbed the blanket from the knapsack slung over his shoulder. "Sounds good to me, Katie."

Between them they got it spread on a flat-ish piece of ground, folded double for extra padding. Kate lowered herself gracefully down beside him, balanced the bag of malasadas in his lap, and rested back against his chest as if this was the hundredth time they'd had a picnic together, not the second. He dropped another kiss on the top of her head, smiled at the happy humming noise she made, and dug into the bag.

Sitting in the Hawaiian sun with Kate using him as her personal pillow again? Yeah. As far as he was concerned, life couldn't get much better than this.