Title: Mask
Rating: T to be safe
Spoilers: none
Author's Note: From Chirugal's 2010 Hiatus Week 8 prompt "Mask".
Well, urgh. This was, for some reason, a really tricky prompt. I'm not overly thrilled with the final result, but I couldn't just skip chapter 8, especially since I've gone this one without an update. But the good news is that I now have Microsoft Office - I just need to install it and I'll be done with TextEdit =) Thank you for your patience through my very Gibbs-like technical issues!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except what I write. NCIS and all its characters, plots, and quotes are all Mr. Bellisario's…I just play with them every now and then.
He was always so careful - careful to hide what he really thought, what he really felt. Yes, he'd let his frustration burn through his cool exterior (Tony's semi-permanent headaches and the way the entire legal department jumped when he came too close were proof of that), but generally he was, to use the cliche (which Abby hated), as cool as a cucumber. Although, come to think of it, there were a lot of other things colder than cucumbers - a D.C. winter, ice cream, apartments with lousy heating…Anyway, he was always in control.
Well, no. He made people see that he was in control. But, really, there were times that he wasn't - or when he didn't want to be. And no one ever seemed to notice - except her. She could see the lines around his eyes tighten and relax, could see the slight changes in his hands when they signed - ever so faint, but definitely there. She could just feel the changes in him, and when he was at work, she was the only one to see. Well, technically, at home she was the only one, too…
Whatever it was that he was trying so desperately to hide, she could always see through the mask he put on every day - and she loved that he let her in.