Gibbs POV

I felt the world slow down till it was just a dull hum in my conscious brain. All I saw were here cherry red lips, coming closer and closer towards mine, her hazel eyes covered by cream colored lids, her skin, still so milky smooth and soft, pressing closer to me.

Then, at the very possible second, I realized who we were again. I was her superior, her, my subordinate. If this . . . whatever this was, happened, everything that we had both worked for would be shattered.

I sighed, glaring up at the roof of the car, wanting to kick myself in the gut for thinking so fast.

She seemed to hear me and the same realization dawned on her, and she silently, skillfully, knowingly, pulled away.

"I didn't mean to let it get this far, Gibbs," she whispered, not sending a verbal apology my way, thank God.

I nodded, acknowledging her instead, silent apology, "We should get out of this car and try and find our way to a hospital or a town, or something. They might be tailing us. We have to move."

She nodded and began slowly untangling her legs from around my waist. I could see her jaw muscles working, clenching back tears or pain, I didn't know. I doubted if I would ever know what she was thinking.

I began working at the car door with my left hand, using my foot to push me out and into the sticky, desert air of Arizona. The sun was like a raging fire, preying on the almost completely dried out plants.

I shielded my face from the already burning sun, raging like a fire and preying on the only forest outside of Arizona's spiraling city of Phoenix.

I looked over at Kate to see that she was still in the car, unmoving, as if in a daze. That was when I saw the silent tears slide gently down from her bright eyes, down her cheeks, and finally dripping off her chin. It broke my heart to see that.

Kate POV

I was so stupid. Why did I just try and kiss him? At this time? What was I thinking! We could die here and I was thinking about how his blue eyes were so bright, his broad shoulders, and his equally broad and muscular chest.

I sat perfectly still in the car, trying to gather myself up back into the tight ball of control I had been wearing to work since two weeks after he had hired me.

I didn't realize that I was crying until I felt the betraying salt water tears slide down my cheeks and blur my vision. I didn't bother wiping them away, because they wouldn't stop if I did.

I took a deep breath, wound myself back up, and slowly opened the door, setting my good leg out first and swinging my right leg over.

The Arizona sun was murder, glaring and bright, making the air seem even more musty and hot then it already was.

I looked around, and saw a few mountains in the distance, and past those were the cities.

I pointed towards the mountains, ignoring my throbbing leg as I tried to put some weight on it, "We should climb over those, then we might have a good chance of finding medical help or a city or something."

I looked over the car's roof to see that he was leaning against it, medical first aid kit in hand, his eyes staring off into space.

He nodded, "Yeah, but can you climb that with your leg?"

I nodded without hesitation. I wouldn't let myself slow him down if I could help it.

"Let's go, I want to get out of this place by night fall."

He began a quick jog towards the mountains, the heat didn't seem to bother him. I watched him run towards the mountains, admiring his muscles as they moved under his polo and the way his arms pumped at his sides.

I ran after him, hissing in pain as my leg started throbbing. I ignored the pain and pushed myself to speed up and follow him.

Soon, after a few agonizing minutes, we were finally side by side.

"Gibbs, why did you hire me?" I asked him curiously, trying to get my mind off of my leg.

He turned to look at me in surprise, but didn't slow down his pace.

"I hired you, Agent Todd," he began, "because I knew that you were going to be a damn good agent. You had balls, standing up to me like that."

I gave a small laugh, "You barely even knew me, how did you know that I wasn't just being a bitch?"

He gave me a ghost of the smile I loved and said, "My gut."

His answer was simple, and yet I had expected it. I gave him a full on smile back, and he seemed to give a low chuckle in response.

We were quiet then, the sun shone down on us, making beads of sweat crawl down my face. I felt the pain radiating from my leg slowly increasing and grit my teeth each time my leg hit the dusty ground.

"Kate," he said suddenly, and I turned to him, realizing that he had been watching me for the past half hour, "You're in pain."

It wasn't a question; it was a simple statement, one not to be argued with. I was about to try, but closed my mouth and continued jogging, stubbornly speeding up my pace to get ahead of him. The mountains still seemed so far away, like a lifetime away.

Suddenly, his arm snaked out and grabbed my arm, pulling me to a painful stop at his side.

"Sit, I shouldn't have made you run so much. You're in pain," he murmured, taking out a knife.

"Take off those dress pants, I have to make them shorter so I can see the bullet wound."

I glared at him, and he just glared back expectantly. Finally, I sighed, and slowly unbuttoned and unzipped my pants, handing them to him. He didn't even spare me a glance as he took the expensive material in his hands and cut them into shorts.

He handed them back to me and I slid them back on, gasping in horror. The bullet wound had opened and blood was slowly oozing from the wound.

"Dammit," he swore and took the first aid kit out and found the bottle of alcohol and bandages.

The flesh around the wound had swollen up so now it was a bright red. I felt my stomach turn once I saw the blood pool and mix with the yellow sand, automatically painting it a dark red.

He looked at me, catching my eye, "This is going to hurt," he told me, his eyes gentle.

I nodded, and watched as he slowly poured a small amount of the alcohol into the wound. I grind my teeth together to keep from yelling out at the hissing pain and felt my hands clench into fists at my sides.

"Almost done," he whispered, his voice instantly cutting through the white hot pain.

Keep talking, I prayed, just keep talking, I wanted to tell him but kept my mouth shut.

He put on a pair of gloves and pinched the two sides of skin together, closing the wound and quickly putting a pad of gauze on top and tapping it around my leg.

His hands pressed down on the wound, making me wince a little and bite down hard on my lower lip.

"Almost done," he told me again, looking up at me, his hair blowing to the side.

I nodded, refusing to acknowledge my pain.

After several seconds, his hands were off of the gauze, and I felt his fingertips brush across my lower thigh and felt my heard start to race.

He looked up at me, both of us sitting so close to each other. His blue eyes were now softer, I realized, a delicate blue, not the icy cobalt, stormy, and full of fury and determination. The sun made him glow; I thought, made his silver hair shimmer and added a sparkle to his eyes.

"Come on, we have to keep moving," he told me, getting up and dusting the back of his pants off, and holding out a hand to me. I nodded, and took it, letting him pull me to my feet with little effort.

His arm went around my waist as he jogged, keeping me close to him and supporting most of my weight as I hobbled along beside him, not able to forget the touch and firmness of his hand around my waist, only a thin layer of fabric separated us, I thought.

Gibbs POV

I watched the sky turn from a clear blue to a delicate pink and slowed us down to a walk. We had only stopped once, and that was to check on Kate's wound.

I turned to look at her to see that despite the blistering heat and the raging sun's rays, her face was slightly paler then it was when we had started. A thin layer of sweat covered her forehead and she looked about ready to collapse.

I ignored the now dull throbbing of my right arm, she had done a good job, probably even set it right too, I mused.

I helped her sit and she did without complaint.

To say the least, I was surprised. She had kept up with my speed the rest of the day, not even acknowledging her pain, which I knew was present and just kept going, pumping her legs harder and harder.

She instantly collapsed backwards once my arm was at my side again and lay there, her breathing coming in gasps.

Slowly, cautiously, I lay down with her, looking into her eyes as well as the eastern sky.

"I used to love the sunset when I was a kid," she whispered, smiling a little through the hazy pain.

I laughed, "Yeah, me too, a sunset usually means the end to a day, and the beginning is just around the corner."

She turned to look at me just as the sky seemed to turn a delicate violet.

"Are we ever going to make it out of here?" She whispered, asking the question that I had been wondering the whole day and hadn't come up with a solid answer yet.

I hesitated, and then nodded, "Yeah, of course Kate, if you were DiNozzo, then I'd have my doubts because I'd probably shoot him before we even got out of the car."

She gave me a small chuckle that made my heart flutter.

I turned to face her, looking into her hazel eyes and drawing in my breath. No sunset, I realized, could compare to the various shades of brown in her eyes, nothing could compare to the kindness and the determination in those eyes, and nothing, nothing at all, could compare to her laugh, her sweet laughter, it was like bells chiming in the air, soft, delicate, and feminine.

I felt the shadows of the sunset dawn and twine around us, like a black blanket, wrapping us tight up together.

At the last rays of the quickly disappearing sun, I pulled her to me, and she clung to me. It's amazing how we fit perfectly, as if we were made for each other, I mused, and listened to her soft breathing.

We were both so vulnerable now, I thought, she was basically handing her life into my hands and letting me protect her, not doubting, and not questioning. I smiled at the though, I would keep her safe, even if it meant not sleeping tonight, hell, even if it meant my life, I would gladly hand it over in two seconds flat. She was my love now, I thought, after Shannon, I was positive I wouldn't be able to love again, but like the many things she has done, she surprised me and made me love her with a love so strong, so sweet, and yet so forbidden. It was like dying of thirst and having a glass of water in front of you, the droplets of moisture slipping down the glass's edge and knowing that it had been poisoned.

She teased me and dared me to "drink" her, and every day was a battle just to turn away. But one day, I knew, that I would break, and finally take my first sip, quenching my thirst, and possibly making her feel hollow after I was done. I couldn't do that to her. I couldn't potentially damage her, a woman who was just at the apex of her career, a woman that was so beautiful she made traffic stop, a woman, who quite frankly, I didn't nor cannot deserve.

As soon as I was sure she was sleeping, I whispered in her ear something I had been dreaming of saying to her for the past year.

"I love you Katie."