Chapter 9: What happens in a bridal chamber

The list of prospective brides was amazingly short. Those who knew about the temper of the beast had no wish to marry him, so the Lindorm ordered the king to search high and low for a willing wife for him, otherwise he would destroy the kingdom... and the king with his castle with it.

A subterfuge was used then. The princess of a faraway kingdom was sent as a bride and she was kept in the dark about the appearance of the groom until the very last moment.

In the bridal chambers, after the wedding ceremony, the Lindorm made his great appearance in all his fearsome and bestial glory. It happened as expected: the bride was terrified. The Lindorm, in a fit of anger, killed the bride and ate her.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

The drive to her home was silent as Laura kept her eyes firmly out the window observing the slumbering city streets we drove by to her place.

"Listen, why the pouting?"

"I'm not a baby that needs an escort home."

"It's Gibbs' orders."

"And you obey him like a good little agent." She said it with irony, turning to study me with those haunting green eyes of hers.

"Listen." I turned to her, glaring into her light green eyes. "I'm not happy that I have to be here, okay. Neither are you. So why don't you stay quiet until we arrive at your place and this torment is over for both of us."

"Fine."

"Fine."

The rest of the drive was made in silence, just with exasperated glances of my part sometimes thrown into her direction. For the most of the interim, she simply ignored me, preferring to look out of the window as we crossed the city until we reached her neighborhood.

I stopped the car in front of her building, turning off the car in a small alley that lead to a block of buildings very badly illuminated that chilled me a little as I imagined her walking down that path towards her door, seeing all kinds of dangers and monsters jumping out the shadows to attack her.

With her things in her hands, she muttered softly, "Thanks for the ride."

"You're welcome."

She hopped out, slamming the door after herself. It wasn't a nice neighborhood, with several closed shops in her block and some suspect folks standing on the corner of the next corner, who looked at her with a very unfriendly way.

I cursed softly and left the car, locking it after myself.

She stopped in the path to her building and glared at me.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm walking you to your door."

"You don't have to do that."

"But I want to."

"But…"

"Listen, can you please stop being difficult? I would love to be anywhere but here but I'm doing a favor to a colleague and I would feel very uncomfortable knowing that I haven't walked you to your door. So could we please?" I pointed to her door, noticing her astonished look.

"Why do you have to be so nice?

"Why do you have to be so difficult?" I answered back, towering over her and noticing, not for the first time, that her eyes were actually two colors, with a circle of brown around her pupils.

We both stared at each other for a long time, only our respiration could be heard on the street. Our staring contest was over only when a door was slammed shut a couple of blocks away, breaking the spell.

"Okay, lock your car, I'll prepare you some tea."

We entered the building and she guided me up to a small forth floor apartment, its green door peeling on the corners. She gave me a small shallow smile as she forced the door open, as the rust on the lock made it difficult to turn the key.

"Let me do it?" I offered, just to receive a glare from her.

"Just. A. Minute." The lock opened and we entered chez Laura.

I have to admit, it was completely different of what I had pictured for her place. I closed the door behind myself and looked down at her, as she tossed her badge and her gun in a small drawer right by the corridor that lead to what I could only imagine were the bathroom and bedroom. I slowly entered the small living room and once again felt like this place didn't match her at all.

"Cozy." I said.

She glared at me and rolled her eyes.

"Please." She went to the small counter that separated the kitchen from the living area. "Would you like a beer?"

"I'm driving."

"Non alcoholic." She grabbed two in the fridge, opened one and slid it on the counter, before opening the other for herself.

"Thanks." I sipped it and sighed as the cold liquid slowly made its way down. I looked at her and saw her studying me as carefully as I was studying her.

"Are you profiling me?"

"Why should I do it?"

"I don't know. Isn't it your thing?"

"I don't have to profile you to know how you think, McGee."

"Really?"

Okay, this girl pisses me off.

"So, please tell me, how do I think? What makes me tick? Because I'm dying of curiosity to know what an expert shrink like you was able to pick out of my brains."

"I'm not a shrink anymore."

"No, you are very rude and lonely person who just wishes that everyone else is as rude and lonely as you are."

"I'm just trying to protect myself."

"From what? From life?" I asked her, almost shouting. "Living in your little bubble, keeping people at bay won't help you live a happier life."

"I don't need to hear that." Laura put her beer down and walked around me, going to the small bookcase overflowing with books. Now that I could think about it, her house was devoid of any girly decorations that usually littered walls and surfaces whenever I visited a woman's place – either Ziva's, Abby's or even my sister's dorm. It was almost Spartan looking, with only some basic pieces of furniture and books. Books in every horizontal surfaces, littering shelves, cupboards and floor.

"And you think you are so smart and saint and you act as I'm the scum of humanity. Please what's so wrong in being nice to people?"

"Because people will hurt you!" She shouted, approaching me and staring up at my face.

We stared into each other eyes, and for once I could see all the hurt and pain she hid under her uncaring attitude.

"I... I just want you to protect yourself." She said in a quivering voice. Her eyes filled with tears as she whispered in a broken voice, begging me to understand her point of view. "They will use you and laugh at you when you are all alone and needing a hand. And none of the people who you helped and that you were nice to them in the past will be there by your side when you are down and in the mud. They will all leave you hanging. No one will come. Neither those you have trusted with your life."

"What the hell happened to you?" I whispered, seeing how she studied my face with wet tears rolling down her face.

"Just protect yourself. Trust no one but yourself."

She tried to take a step back, but my hand grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to stay right where she was.

Just one step from my arms.

"Ah... I..." I studied her green eyes and what I've saw in them, for once, wasn't the rude nail biting FBI agent which had been my bane during my day. My gaze flickered from her green eyes to her lips, just when she bit them lightly and wet with the tip of her tongue her lower lip.

Her breathing sped up slightly and when I looked up again, it wasn't mistrust that I saw in her eyes, but something else completely different that took my breath away.

"Tim..." She whispered, just a millisecond before I leaned and took her lips with mine, in a wet kiss that tasted non alcoholic beer which brought a fluttering to my chest and a shaking to my hands, in the very few seconds I moved my hands from her arm to her back, bringing her against my chest.