Ch 8
"Let me get this straight, you build a boat in you basement?" asked Juliet. "Yup, it's my only way to pass the time." Replied Gibbs. "How does he get it out of here?" Juliet whispered to Tony. "We've been wondering the same thing for the last eight years." He said with a smile. Everyone stood around the boat with a different tool in their hand. Juliet stood next to Gibbs as he guided her hands to sand to side of the boat. This reminded him of working on his boat with his own daughter.
Flashback
Gibbs and his daughter Kelly stood working on his boat, her little hands under his big ones, sanding the side of the boat, both had a smile on their face.
End flashback
In certain ways, Juliet reminded him of Kelly. Her stubbornness, her determination, and her ability to love anyone she comes into contact. She also reminded him very much of Kate. Maybe that was the reason he liked her so much, he felt like he already knew her. He could tell the rest of his team really liked her too.
"I say we call it a night" said McGee, putting down the tool in his hand. "Me too, I'm beat" agreed Tony. Gibbs sighed and put down the sandpaper in his and Juliet's hands. "We'll take shifts. Tony and Ziva, you take the first shift. Wake me and McGee in one hour, we'll switch off in that pattern." "Really Gibbs, it's fine…" said Juliet. "We are protecting you, Juliet. We need your cooperation or this won't work." Juliet huffed, but didn't say anything else. "You can sleep in the guest room," he said "McGee can take the couch, I'll take the floor."
After everyone was in their assigned position, and McGee and Gibbs were sound asleep. Tony and Ziva started talking. "I wonder why Gibbs wanted all of us here," said Tony. "I don't think we need this much man power for one little girl, especially sense the person we are protection her from isn't even in the county." "Maybe," said Ziva, "he is protecting us." "What do you mean by that," asked Tony. "Think about it Tony, in one day, you found out Kate is alive, she has a daughter, she had unknown contact with Ari, and she has been in hiding for the last six years. Maybe he doesn't want you to do anything stupid that would interfere with the case." "You may have point."
Juliet lay awake listening to the conversation between Tony and Ziva. She had heard stories about Tony, not firsthand, but she had heard Kate talk about him to Brian. She was under the impression that he was an over grown frat boy who chased skirts in his spare time, but Juliet knew better. Kate cared about him. She remembered when he had gotten pneumonic plague.
Flashback
"I really thought he was going to die Brian," said Kate. "He was laying there so helpless, but yet he acted like he was so strong. He was putting on an act for me, but I could tell he was scared." "It's all over now Katie," said Brian as he placed a reassuring hand on Kate's shoulder. "It's all going to be fine." Juliet sneezed from her hiding place behind the chair. "Jules have you been there the whole time?" Juliet got up and ran away, but Kate followed her up the stairs to her bedroom. "You are too sneaky for your own good, you know that," she told Juliet when she finally caught her. Juliet giggled in response.
End flashback
Now that she thought about it, maybe Kate was right. Juliet had managed to get a whole federal agency involved in her life without Kate even knowing at the time. Given Kate was in another country, so it didn't really count. Juliet couldn't decide how she felt about seeing Kate again. Even if Kate hadn't really changed, Juliet had. She was six years older and about three feet taller. She could actually for a sentence without giggling out of control (she used to laugh ALL the time) and she felt like a completely different person the one Kate knew before. Kate would look at her own daughter as a stranger when she returned, and Juliet wasn't sure if she wanted that.
Finally, Juliet drifted to sleep, and the rest of the night passed uneventfully. In the morning, Juliet awoke with the sound of a loud thud. She looked around, Tony had fallen off of the couch and Ziva lay on it, still asleep. McGee rubbed his eyes, and yawned. After about four this morning, no one except Gibbs had been able to withstand sleep deprivation, so he agreed to stay up the rest of the night by himself. Gibbs walked into the room with coffee on his hand and said, "DiNozzo, David, why are you still asleep?" Tony jerked awake saying, "On your six boss" and Ziva gasped awake and said," Who do I need to shoot this time?" Gibbs laughed and walked out of the room and back into the kitchen.
Tony groaned and stretched his back. "You know Tony, if you wanted the couch all you had to do was ask," said Ziva. "You would have given it to me," he asked. "No, but you still could have asked," she said with a smirk as she stood up. Tony growled at her with a frown and stood up. "Well McProbie, I see you slept well," said Tony. "If you are referring to her hair, then I would have to agree," said Ziva. Juliet looked over at McGee and saw that is hair was pointing in all different directions. Ziva laughed and said, "You look like a porcupine." "You said that same thing to me your first day at NCIS, granted it took you three times to say it right. Look how much you've changed. See probie, our little ninja assassin is growing up fast." Said Tony "Believe it or not Tony, six years in America has really helped with my English," said Ziva with a smile.
This made Juliet giggle. Everyone turned to look at her, causing her to drop her smile. "What," asked Ziva with a smile. "It's just that, you guys act a lot like a family," she said. "Sure you have your differences and you fight, but at the end of the day, you can really tell how much you guys care for each other." "You really think so," asked Tony. "Of course, I mean, take Kate for example. She always came home from work telling Brian about how annoying Tony was and how rude Tony was, but when you almost died of plague; she was really upset at the thought of losing you." Tony smirked and said, "I knew she always loved me, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep…" Tony's sentence was interrupted by a slap on the back of his head from Gibbs, which caused everyone except Tony, to burst out laughing. Their laughter was interrupted by a ringing phone. Gibbs whipped put his cell phone and greeted the caller. "Hey Abbs, whatcha' got" "I found her Gibbs! I tracked her down," said a frantic Abby "Alright, we're coming in," he said as he hung up the phone. "Abby has a trace on Kate, he found her. Lets go," and with that, they filed out the door of Gibbs' house.