5
A/N: Yay, it works again!! Let's hope this will last, then g
Okay, now I know this is a very short one and it's definitely not my best, but I hope you'll like it all the same!
Meg: I think that writing the whole recovery process would probably take another ten chaps if I wanted to do it properly, and, to tell the truth, I neither really felt like doing it, nor am I good at writing stuff like that. So I figured I'd rather skip the episode instead of spoiling everything. I hope you'll enjoy this little tiny rest all the same! Oh, and thanks a lot for the review, anyway!!
And many thanks to louise, Trumpet Lover and Reni-Maniac … again!!
Paperback
Another two weeks later, Kate is sitting at her desk, putting the finishing touches to her report.
The sun is sinking behind the tall buildings on the other side of Anacostia River, filling the squad room with a cosy, golden light from floor to ceiling.
It's been a warm day for early March, but that isn't something Kate minds at all. The sooner the better, especially this year.
She missed open air lunch breaks and enjoyed sitting on the terrace of Joey's, soaking up the sunshine like a sponge does water. Enjoyed it so much, in fact, that she certainly would have forgotten all about her Cesar's Salad, had Ducky not perpetually reminded her of its existence.
It's not just that, though.
Somehow, the coming of spring also made it a lot easier for her to put behind herself that whole troublesome episode that began last October.
It has always been like that with her, from childhood onwards.
She can get really gloomy and dismal on rainy days, and especially on muddy, overcast late winter days, but as soon as the sun comes out, all her worries are blown away like the clouds that caused all the bad weather.
That's not to say that what they've been though was just a couple of clouds.
A fully fledged storm with torrential rain and violent wind are nearer the mark, and weather like that doesn't just pass by and leave nothing but a few puddles that drain the next morning in the sun.
Kate doesn't really know about the others, of course. She can only suspect there, whereas Abby is the clearest case: she's simply happy. Nothing more to say about that.
Pretty much the same probably goes for McGee, although he still seems to be somewhat uncertain about how to feel about the entire experience.
Ducky will most likely have some wise view on it all, that she can't really guess.
And as for Tony – Kate suspects that he has feelings similar to hers about the whole thing, but, naturally, she couldn't know for sure.
Fruitful conversation between him and her ceased the moment they knew for certain Gibbs would be fine, and gave way to their usual banter again. Just like she had expected.
As for Kate herself, those last few months left her with a basket full of memories that she has very double-edged feelings about.
She wants to treasure them because they are a proof of how this team is a lot more than just an assembly of people working with the same purpose and for the same agency.
They came out of this acid test safe and sound, it didn't drive them apart or prove to be more than they could take, and to Kate that's the proof that they're really friends.
Occasionally, however, she also wishes she could lock all the memories up somewhere and forget about them, because there are quite a few dark moments among them, memories of being afraid and feeling guilty and being certain that nothing would ever be the way it was before.
She's a little worried even now that there might be scars none of the team is yet aware of, and that what they've gone through will make them too cautious, insecure, reluctant next time one of them is in danger.
They may be professionals, but at the end of the day they're only human all the same.
Then again … Kate smiles.
She's sure they'll make this work as well. Maybe they'll all be a little over-worried for the next three or four cases, but then they'll go back to just relying on the others' experience and skill, and they'll go back to being somehow alright with the constant awareness that something terrible might happen, and this will be over and done with for good.
Something black, white and bouncing invades her field of vision from the right and clips the train of thought. She looks up to find Abby standing in front of her desk, beaming.
"I've got it!" the Goth announces brightly.
Naturally, that catches Tony's attention.
"Got what?" he inquires suspiciously, the work he's been doing until a moment ago all but forgotten.
Abby turns to him and reveals something she's been holding cradled in her arms, quite hidden from view.
It's a book, and although it neither has any title, nor any other print that would have given away its contents, Tony knows right away what it is.
He grins. "Ah, that." Turning in his chair, he casts a glance at the door to Cynthia's office on floor above. "Shouldn't be too long now", he muses.
Abby rounds Kate's desk and takes her habitual seat atop the file cabinet, watching the printer produce her friend's report two shelves below and to the right, with detached interest.
As soon as Kate has both hands free, Abby hands her the book and smiles with anticipation.
"What d'you think he's gonna say?"
Kate shrugs with a grin.
"Nothing, most likely."
"That depends on the question, Kate."
Both women jump slightly at Gibbs' unexpected appearance, Abby throwing the staircase a wary glance, as if suspecting that her boss must have rather beamed himself down here.
She overcomes her astonishment quickly, though, and answers: "No questions, Gibbs."
With that settled, it would be Kate's turn to act, but she hesitates for a moment. For some reason, she's a tad bit nervous.
Don't be silly, she tells herself determinedly.
Trying to preserve that resolve, she exchanges one last glance with her two team colleagues, then she walks up to Gibbs and places the book she just brought right in front of him, on top of the file he's just been reading.
Of course, Gibbs has already got a comment on his lips before Kate has even straightened up again, but then the object on his desk engages his attention.
By the looks of it, it's a book, but one that chose to be quite secretive about what it's about. It's bound in paper the shade of a dusky sky, anthracite grey with a tinge of dark violet. In general a very unrevealing colour.
Gibbs looks up at Kate questioningly. "What's this?"
Kate shrugs. "A present," she says, "from all of us."
He raises both eyebrows, obviously quite surprised. He looks at each of his team in turn, as if the book was a piece of evidence and he was yet waiting for some more information on it. His three agents and forensics expert are gazing back at him quite mutely, though, all wearing expectant expressions rather than giving the impression of intending to say something helpful.
So, eventually, he opens the book.
Gibbs' face never gives away anything, at least as good as never, and this isn't the exception to the rule. He just sits there and slowly turns one page after the other.
Kate has to fight the urge to stand on her tiptoes and try to catch a glimpse of what her boss is currently looking at. Instead, she pulls out all the stops her training as a profiler provides her with, but of course there's no point in that. So she eventually confines herself to waiting.
She's got no idea whatsoever what he thinks. He might think it silly just as well as touching, or nothing at all.
Gibbs turns the last page and then closes the book again. He stares at the back for a few moments, his thumb brushing over the imprint at the bottom that probably is the name of the place where the book was made.
His eyes narrow a bit and he licks his lips, and suddenly Kate is sure that he at least doesn't think their gift silly.
He looks up and meets her gaze. "What is this?", he asks again. When Gibbs poses this question, he often sounds a bit annoyed because, when he has to ask this, he mostly is annoyed. Now, however, it's a very soft question.
Subconsciously, she tucks her hair behind her ear before replying, wondering but briefly why on earth she's still a bit nervous.
"I made them on the nights we were waiting for you to wake up in intensive care", she explains. "And Abby did one or two. You can see … I put the dates in the corners." Gibbs nods, he's noticed the dates. The first one is the 9th of November, and from then on the order is chronological. Some drawings have two dates. She made them over midnight.
"Abby pinned them all over the walls", Kate goes on, "it looked liked we'd wallpapered in the end." She smiles at the memory, and Tony chuckles behind her. "She also took them down when you were moved to the new room and – I forgot all about them, actually, but Abby quite obviously didn't and collected them and had them bound into a book. We thought … well, I guess we all just wanted you to have them."
Gibbs cannot quite say he remembers an occasion when he was lost for words. But there is a first time for everything, after all.
He doesn't want to say nothing for such a long while, but as he looks at some of the pictures again, he just feels stunned into silence.
The first one's a picture of Tony just sitting in a chair, an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. Ducky and Jenny talking. A cartoon strip of Abby and someone Gibbs recognizes as the head nurse, arguing over something that's got to do with Abby's computers. A sleeping Abby in a chair, Tony flirting (probably flirting...most likely flirting) with a pretty nurse.
There's one drawing that Kate obviously hasn't made herself. It's less detailed, the lines are less confident and flowing. It's Kate in another one of the hospital chairs, wearing a long evening dress, her high-heeled shoes dangling from their straps in her hands.
Gibbs turns the book so she can see the picture. "What happened?"
Kate actually blushes a bit. "I had a date that evening", she explains.
"With a nurse?"
She knits her brows in slight confusion. "Couldn't it have been a doctor?"
Gibbs seems to consider that for moment. "No", he decides then, "I don't think doctors are your type."
She has to laugh. "You're right, it wasn't a doctor. It was a lawyer. But he wasn't as nice as I thought, so I figured I might just as well do something useful with my time."
"Hm." Gibbs turns the book back around and continues leafing through it. "Well, if you consider sitting around doing nothing useful, the two of us should maybe have a talk, Kate."
His voice is unusually soft as he says that, and Kate smiles.
Gibbs skips a few pages and finds a sketch of Abby playing on her black guitar, the instrument resting upon her crossed legs.
That's the last picture he looks at before he shuts the book again, taking a deep breath. Eventually, he looks at Abby.
"You brought your guitar?"
Abby must admit she did not expect just this question, thus it takes her a moment to react.
She shrugs and folds her hands behind her back. "Yeah, I thought that maybe it might help you wake up." She purses her lips, looking at him almost apologetically. "It didn't work." She still sounds like she finds some kind of blame in that, but before anyone can give that too much thought, she goes on more brightly: "I even conquered my fear of audience for you, bossman – But I'll return to playing just for you again now, I think. Kinda gave me a constant adrenaline-high, all those people."
Gibbs sits in his chair silently again, one hand lifted to his mouth as if he was contemplating something, completely lost in thought.
The team exchange glances, both surprised and quite pleased that after all this time, they actually managed to render their boss rather speechless.
Suddenly, Gibbs gets up and walks round his desk. "Come on, guys," he says, pausing to give Abby a kiss on the brow, putting yet another huge smile onto the Goth's face, "I'll take you out, agree on where you wanna go." He looks at Abby and adds: "Go get Ducky, will you?"
And then Kate gets a kiss as well, and promptly blushes a bright pink. Gibbs just grins at her and goes to get his coat.
TBC…one more time ;)