Tip toe to your room,
a starlight in the gloom.
I only dream of you
and you never knew…
Muse – Sing For Absolution
Chapter III – Hurt
"I´m not going to stay here." Gibbs stated curtly and shot the Doctor who was stitching the wound over his left eyebrow an icy stare. Due to the painkillers they made him take the throbbing in his left knee was like a background noise and so was the headache.
"You can but you really have to rest. Even your slight concussion can get worse when you don´t do that and your knee has to be elevated to heal proper." The younger man explained and placed a band-aid over the stitched wound. "Is there someone you could call to pick you up, maybe your wife who called the ambulance?"
"She isn´t my wife, not even my girlfriend." The silver haired man replied bitterly and the Doctor nodded, someone knocking on the door outside saved Gibbs from further explanation though he doubted that the Doctor would dare to ask more questions.
"Oh excuse me I´m Donald Mallard." Ducky introduced himself and looked at the NCIS agent. "How is he doing Doctor?"
Jethro just grumbled something inaudible about being fine, but both other men just ignored his antics. "You can take him home but he really has to rest otherwise his medial collateral will tear completely."
"I promise we will make sure of that, right Jethro?" the older Doctor asked, fully aware of the fact that he wouldn´t be able to hold the investigator back when he felt the need to protect one of his team members or in this particular case the boy too.
"Fine, I´ll just get the papers for you to sign and some painkillers for you to take home and then you´re free to go, agent Gibbs." The younger man replied and left the room. Duck walked up to the gray haired man and watched him preparing himself to get up.
"Caitlin was quite shocked to find you in the hall, lying in your on blood. What happened, Jethro? You are usually more than capable to get an attacker down." The good Doctor stated and could see his friend pause for a moment. The former Marine never told him what happened between him and the brunette so the ME could only guess. Together with Abby of course, who was curious as hell because Caitlin didn´t tell the forensic anything either.
"Don´t know. I heard the door being opened and went out of the kitchen. I screwed up Duck once again and not only with Kate… Brady could have been taken by the man or hurt or worse." The gray haired man mumbled bitterly and looked up at his friend all the pain and self-doubt visible in his deep blue eyes. "She accepted me the way I´m but I couldn´t appreciate it. I knew it was only a matter of time until she would decide that I´m not the right one for her that she could find a good man her age…"
Gibbs broke the eye-contact again and looked down on the ground. He could remember Kate´s frustrated and hurt face painfully clear as she stood in his basement trying to break through his shell. Shaking his head the investigator snapped back into reality. "Probably there is a chance that she decides it´s worth to try again. I´ve never seen you smile the way you did when you two started going out even Anthony and Timothy recognized the change from the very beginning Jethro. These two were also the ones who suffered the most, besides you when you ended it."
"Maybe yes." The agent replied and seriously contemplated what his friend just said.
"But keep in mind that you have to open up from the beginning otherwise it would go the same way like the last time or she wouldn´t give you a second chance." Donald gave Gibbs a minute before he went on. "Let´s go."
"Agent Gibbs, take these when the pain becomes unbearable. You shouldn´t need them longer than three or four days the longest and here is your brace. Take the crutches for two days then start walking otherwise the ligament will shorten." The Doctor removed the ice pack from Gibbs´ knee and closed the Velcro, handing the gray-haired man crutches while standing up again. "Alright. Just sign the papers before you leave and then you´re free."
"Thanks Doctor." Donald said politely and followed the investigator who had refused to be wheeled out of the hospial in a wheel chair, out of the room. The silver haired fox was unexpectedly quick with the crutches, obviously eager to get home. Jethro signed the papers willingly and most of the drive to his house passed in silence. Ducky could see that his friend was a hundred miles away with his thoughts and didn´t want to interrupt him. Maybe it was a good thing that he thought over his situation again.
"Boss?" Anthony asked and watched his supervisory agent limping into the kitchen, grimacing everytime he put some weight on his bad leg. "How are you?"
"Jethro you forget the crutches." Donald stated and entered the kitchen as well putting the crutches next to Gibbs while shooting the gray-haire man a warning look. "If you go on that way I swear I´ll get you back into that hospital until it healed completely."
"I´m fine here Duck I really don´t need them… Why are you still here?" The older man asked gruffly and DiNozzo offered him a small smile. He should have known better than asking about Jethro´s condition and expecting a proper answer.
"We decided to secure your house since we were already here. Currently it´s my shift, McGee is sleeping in the living room and Kate is somewhere upstairs with Brady." The Italian explained curtly and Jethro´s gaze stopped on the pile of manila folders on his kitchen table. "The one who is awake tries to find something about your attacker but we have nothing so far. But our sources are limited here, so we might make a break tomorrow at the HQ."
"Great…" Jethro mumbled and started limping upstairs without another word, knowing that the medical examiner would answer Anthony´s questions. The investigator plainly ignored Duck´s threat, knowing that he wouldn´t do that. He peeked into his bedroom and could see that the five-year-old was sleeping peacefully in his large bed but there was no sign of Caitlin in the room. "Maybe in the spare bedroom…"
The investigator turned around and went towards the room he barely entered since he was able to remove Kelly´s stuff. He didn´t throw the toys and stuffed animals away, he couldn´t just like he couldn´t talk about them, he put everything into boxes and moved it into the attic and after a while Stephanie decided to redecorate it as a spare bedroom. As quiet as possible he opened the door and looked in. He had been right on the queen sized bed laid his brunette co-worker, curled up into a ball and sound-asleep. Slowly making his way over to the bed he watched her closely for signs that she was waking up. Slowly he made the last few feet before sitting down on the edge of the bed she was currently not occupying.
"I´m sorry that I´m such a bastard…" He whispered and reached out to softly caress her cheek. She didn´t stir but leaned into his touch. The warm feeling he had when she slept next to him rushed over him and while giving in to it he didn´t recognize immediately that she woke up and was looking up at him with clouded brown eyes.
"Why can´t you change it then?" She asked in a hushed voice and he needed a moment to get that she was picking up on his earlier statement. Obviously she woke up but didn´t show him and somehow he was proud of her that no one could sneak past her not even when she was sleeping. But for the moment he focused on her questioning look and was thinking of an answer, which would serve for the moment.
"It is just easier than opening up to people and then getting hurt afterwards." He replied and hoped that the brunette would accept it. It was all he could offer at the moment but it was the truth. "There are things which happened in my life no one knows here, not even Ducky…"
"I never intended to hurt you, Jethro." Caitlin stated and subconsciously called him by his given name again, sensing that there was more she went on. The brunette wouldn´t make it too easy for him, she wanted him to know that he had to work harder than the last time to make it work. "But why are you telling me this?"
"Because I´m asking you for a second chance." Gibbs said curtly and looked into her eyes, waiting for an answer.
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Sorry for the slightly OOC Gibbs in the last Chapter (by the way thanks for pointing it out dolphinsiren is me), but it was necessary for the story. I hope it didn´t do much damage. Again PLEASE REVIEW. In my opinion it is pointless to go on posting if nobody tells me what is good or bad.