Rule Number 12
Chapter 4
Taking a break from reading through the material in the folder, Kate looked up to see Tim approaching and she smiled as she rose to greet him. She immediately saw the hesitation and worry in his expression and pulled him in for a quick kiss, which seemed to ease his anxiety.
"What's going on?" He asked as he sat down across from her and she signaled the waitress to bring more coffee. He noticed the folder sitting on the table and frowned. "What's that?"
"It's…" Kate paused when the waitress arrived and waited for her to finish pouring the coffee. "I think it could be a solution to our problem."
"Problem?" Suddenly his eyes widened. "Oh, that problem." He glanced at the folder again. "What is it?"
She handed the folder to him. "It's a job offer. An old colleague wants me to join his private security firm."
"You're leaving?" His panic was painfully obvious.
"Just NCIS, Tim. Not you." She smiled and wrapped her hand around his. "Definitely not you."
"B-but…you love your job."
"I do, but if I do leave, it's not the end of the world. It will just be different." She squeezed his hand. "I haven't made up my mind yet, and I wanted to make sure you'd be OK with it. I know it means we won't see as much of each other, but…"
"We can see each other…without worrying about…"
"Stupid rules."
Tim smiled. "So what is the job, exactly?"
Kate nodded towards the unopened folder in his other hand. "Go ahead and read it."
She released his hand and he opened the folder. He started to read as she took a sip of coffee and after a few moments his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wow." He glanced up at her. "The private sector pays more than I expected." He continued to read and sadness flashed across his expression. "A lot of traveling. We really won't see each other much."
"True. But the job is still based in D.C. I'll still be local." She reached out and squeezed his hand again. "We can make it work, if you're willing."
He looked up and gave her one of those gorgeous smiles. "Always."
XXX
On Monday morning Kate arrived early, swinging by HR to retrieve the necessary paperwork to prepare for her departure. She wanted to make sure everything was in order before she faced Gibbs, as she knew talking to him about her decision was going to be a challenge.
By the time both Tim and Tony had arrived she had her resignation letter typed up, printed, and tucked away in a folder in her desk. Tim caught her attention, briefly, and he gave her a questioning look. She smiled and tilted her head towards Gibbs' desk and Tim gave a quick nod of understanding before settling in at his own desk.
Gibbs soon arrived, coffee in hand, and announced that they had a call-out. Kate barely managed to hide a sigh of frustration as she grabbed her backpack and followed the rest of the team to the elevators. Tim was clearly trying to avoid meeting her gaze, something that Tony finally managed to notice.
"OK, Probie. What did you do this time?"
"Nothing, Tony."
"Yeah, right. You're acting guilty."
"No, I'm not, because I haven't done anything."
"Leave him alone, Tony," Kate growled. "If he said he didn't do anything, then he didn't."
"OK, so what did you—" Gibbs reached up and smacked the back of his head. "Sorry, Boss."
Gibbs instructed Tim to ride with Tony in the truck before informing Kate that she'd be riding with him in the sedan. "We'll meet you there."
She gave Tim a quick smile of support and he nodded in return, obviously bracing himself for the onslaught of questions the senior agent would begin as soon as they were on the road.
Kate followed Gibbs to the sedan and climbed in the passenger's seat. After they left the Yard and had merged onto the Beltway, Kate decided it was time to talk to Gibbs. Before she could begin, however, he turned to scrutinize her in a way only Gibbs could.
"Something on your mind, Kate?"
She took a deep breath. "An old co-worker of mine left the Service a few years ago to join the private sector. He works for an international security company. I met with him this weekend and he made me a job offer." She glanced at him, but his expression was unreadable. "I've decided to accept the offer."
Gibbs' eyebrows rose slightly and he chuckled. "And here I thought you were finally going to tell me you're dating McGee."
Kate couldn't hide her shock. "What?"
"You. McGee. Dating."
"But how-?"
"You're good, Kate. But you're not that good."
Fuming, Kate directed her gaze straight ahead, afraid that she'd say something she'd regret…or worse, enjoy way too much.
"Tim…McGee and I are not dating."
Gibbs chuckled again. "For people who aren't dating, you sure spend a lot of time together."
"We're friends."
"Uh huh."
"Alright, look, we're getting off the point: I had a job offer. I'm taking it. I'll have my official letter on your desk as soon as I get back." She glanced at him. "I just wanted to tell you in person, first."
Gibbs remained silent for the next several miles. Finally he spoke.
"Never said I had a problem with you dating McGee."
Kate felt a surge of anger and turned to him. "Oh, really? If I remember correctly, you told me if I ever dated someone I worked with I wouldn't get a chance to resign. Your rules, remember?"
Gibbs just shook his head. "Yeah, well, I have those rules for a reason. If that reason doesn't apply…"
"What do you mean?"
"You've kept it out of the office. Wouldn't have known if I hadn't been paying close attention. Besides, that rule exists because those types of relationships usually end badly. The people involved can't even stand to be in the same room." He chuckled. "McGee proved to be the exception."
"You mean…McGee and Abby? You knew about…?"
"He slept in her coffin. Of course I knew."
Kate winced. "I don't think I needed to know that."
That elicited a genuine laugh. "Don't think he did, either. My point is that even though they're no longer dating, they can still get along. That says a lot about McGee." He turned to her, his expression serious. "He's a good man, Kate, and a good agent."
"You don't have to tell me that."
"Good. As long as that doesn't change, I won't have a problem with you two. Just keep it out of the office."
"Gibbs…I already accepted the offer."
"Oh."
"And I didn't just take it because of Tim…or you. It is something I want."
"You want to babysit a bunch of rich businessmen?"
Briefly Kate wondered if he really had been spying on her…or was psychic as Abby always claimed.
"There's more to it than that, Gibbs. It's a really great opportunity."
"I'll take your word for it." They both remained silent until they had reached the crime scene. Once he had parked the car, Gibbs turned to Kate and held out his hand.
"Good luck, Kate."
She felt her chest loosen as she took his hand and shook it, a smile appearing on his face.
"Thank you, Special Agent Gibbs."
XXX
When they returned to the Yard, Kate made another visit to HR to file the paperwork and then she was faced with the task of telling rest of the team that she was leaving. Ducky and Jimmy offered heartfelt congratulations, as did Tim—with an added wink when he was sure no one else was looking—and Tony proceeded with his usual joking comments, although Kate thought she detected a hint of regret in his tone. They only one who was not immediately thrilled for her was Abby, but after Kate took her aside and explained the situation, Abby gave her a very enthusiastic hug and an outpouring of well wishes for the future.
The next two weeks passed quickly, and she was looking forward to a quiet final day on the job.
Until Tony opened an envelope and released a cloud of mysterious white powder in the bullpen.
How she made it through the next few days, Kate was never really sure, but finally they received word that the 'bug' was dead and Tony was going to survive his encounter with a medieval killer. She offered to stay on another week to cover for the senior agent while he recovered-regretting that when Tim told her a few rumors Tony had spread around—but finally the day came when she packed all of her belongings and, at the end of the day, turned in her badge , gun, and ID before walking through the doors for what she expected to be the last time.
That evening, she and Tim got together at her place where they had dinner—Chinese take-out, just for old-time's sake—and settled on the sofa to watch Spiderman which they both mocked mercilessly all the way through the movie and then spent the next couple of hours discussing how they would have done things differently had they been in charge of keeping it true to the comics.
Finally Tim said he had to leave and she drove him home, enjoying the good-bye they shared before he climbed out of her car and leaned down to look in the window.
"Friday night, 8 o'clock, if we aren't stuck on a case?"
"It's a date," Kate replied with a grin. Tim gave her a grin of his own before he headed into his building. Kate drove off, a smile still on her face and already counting down the moments until Friday night.
XXX
Ari Haswari watched the two agents scramble across the rooftop, dodging the hail of bullets in an attempt to foil the terrorist group's plan to send a drone crashing into the pier full of waiting Navy family members. He had expected the agents to succeed, which was also part of his plan, but what he hadn't expected was the absence of one of the team members. That certainly put a damper on his goal to compound Gibbs' misery before he ended the lead agent's life.
Ari took sighted down the scope on his rifle and took careful aim, centering the silver-haired man's previously injured shoulder in his crosshairs. He didn't intend to kill Gibbs, not yet, but a little extra agony was simply another facet in the scheme that was re-forming in his mind.
He slowly exhaled, gently squeezed the trigger, and watched as the agent went down. He saw DiNozzo rush to help his boss, crouching too low to present himself as a target, so Ari turned his attention elsewhere.
He pointed the rifle in a different direction, noting the controller that he had already disabled with a pair of shots and saw that the third agent was still crouched by the sedan, shouting into his headset, clearly asking if his boss was OK.
Ari paused only for a moment before sighting on his new target, one that had escaped his bullet only moments before, and slowly started to pull the trigger.
"Sorry, Timothy…"
TBC…