Ch 5
The whole team sat in MTAC (multiple threat assessment center), awaiting Kate's call to Juliet nervously. Juliet sat in the front row of the theater style setting arrangement. She nervously fidgeted with her armrest, remembering the previous events of the afternoon. Gibbs has been so comforting, like a father, and she had only just met him. Maybe it was some special bond he had with Kate that carried over to Juliet. Maybe he was just a nice person. Her thoughts where interrupted when Tony tapped her in the shoulder.
"Hey, so I was just wondering… has Kate changed?" he asked her nervously. "Well, I'm not sure, it would have been extremely gradual if she did, because I didn't notice." she answered. Without response, Tony leaned back in his chair, taking in a sharp breath as the call came in.
Juliet stood up, walking towards Gibbs. "Ready?" he asked. She nodded in response. Suddenly Kate's voice filled the room. "Hey Jules." she said. "Hi Kate" said Juliet. "What's wrong, you sound upset." Kate said. "Kate, I need to tell you something, please don't be Mad." said pleaded Juliet. "I won't, just tell me what's bothering you." said Kate in a motherly way.
Wow, thought Tony. He hadn't heard that voice in a long time. At that moment, he realized how much he missed Kate. All the feeling he tried to push aside for the last six years where coming back, but he liked it, he didn't mind.
"I contacted your team." said Juliet sheepishly. "They want to help you." she said. She awaited an angry response, but instead, all she heard was an exasperated sigh. "Are they listening right now?" asked Kate. "Yes we are agent Todd." said Gibbs. "And we need your cooperation for this to work."
Silence on the other line made Gibbs worried. He decided to take a different approach. "It's nice to talk to you again Kate." He paused. No response. "We all really missed you." Again, silence. "Kate!" Abby piped up. "I missed you so much!" The silence broke when Kate said in almost a whisper, "So you guys aren't mad at me?" "Well, sure you have a lot of explaining to do, but we could never be mad at you." A sigh of relief filled the room as everyone took a relaxing breath. Everyone was obviously on the same side.
"Juliet, I can't believe you directly disobeyed me!" She said angrily. Oh no, thought Juliet, here comes the mad. "I specifically told you not to contact my team!" She continued. "It's not her fault Kate. She was just trying to help, and so far, she had done a great job." Said Tony defensively "You stay out of this Tony!" shouted Kate, causing Tony to wince. "Jorge is holding me hostage for Ari, and Ari is using Jorge's attempted contacts to locate Juliet. She is in danger! Ari is going to come after her." "Ari is dead." Said Ziva as she walked into MTAC. "Died only a week after you… disappeared." "I'm sorry, who is this?" asked a confused Kate. "Ziva David, I started working at NCIS right after you… left. I was the one who killed Ari." McGee pulled Ziva over to the side and whispered in her ear, "Don't expect Kate to like you right away. Remember how long it took Abbs to like you when you started working here?" "So wait, you killed Ari?" Kate asked. "Uhm…" Ziva started but was interrupted. "Thank you! You have no idea how much of a relief this is! I have been living in fear of that monster for the last six years."
After a long pause, she said, "Juliet, I guess I owe you an apology. If you hadn't contacted Gibbs and the team, I would have never found out about Ari. So what are you guys going to do now?" She asked. "Well agent Todd, we where planning on coming to rescue you, unless you have some sort of objection to that." Said Gibbs with a smile. "Not at all. And Tony?" She said. "Yes Kate dear?" He asked playfully. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. I was just…" Tony cut her off, "Taking you PMS out on me, like always." With that comment, Gibbs smacked Tony on the back of the head as McGee struggled to contain a chuckle. Instead of being mad, Kate started to laugh, "You know Tony, you haven't changed a bit. I really missed you. All of you. Oh no, I have to go, Jorge is coming, bye Jules, I love you." "I love you too Kate." And with that, the line went dead. "Okay everyone, Back to work." Said Gibbs, and everyone filed out of MTAC.