Kate's crying had finally subsided into soft whimpers. Gibbs' thoughts drifted to Ducky, who'd told him of Kate's breakdown outside of Tony's isolation room whilst he'd had the plague. He wondered if this was bringing up old memories for her as well. He knew how hard it had been on her during that time, not only while she was inside the cell with him, watching her partner and friend slowly die, but also after she'd been forced to leave, still not knowing whether they'd find an antidote.
And he'd never seen another agent so distracted whilst Tony had been away on sick leave. For two weeks, Kate Todd had been a blank face. A blank mind. No smiling or laughing or snickering or anger or annoyance. No objects being thrown, no first-thing morning bickers over coffee and weekend adventures, no ganging up on McGee. Even he had missed it, and whilst sometimes entertaining on his part, it had usually exasperated him no end. It had been a relief to see the stiffness from her body drain away as soon as her partner had stepped foot back in the office.
It was at that exact point in time that he'd realised that he'd never met two partners quite like them. He still couldn't quite figure out whether they would ever be lover close or whether they'd remain brother-sister close. He knew for damned sure that at this point in time they were still the latter. Both still had too much ego getting in the way to give into any sort of obvious attraction. But they were more intimate than a lot of lovers he knew, not that most of his first-hand experiences with love had been intimate for very long. Without words, they could toss three separate smart-arse remarks across a noisy room in a split second glance. They seemed to get a kick out of screening lovers for each other, but then, as much as they'd deny it, they'd get jealous if one pursued. They bickered like an old married couple, yet at times like this, they seemed to wrap and twist themselves into an assortment of odd positions just to make sure the other was okay. And he knew that it was tearing away at Kate that she had to sit here and wait. She could do nothing to make sure he was okay. If something serious happened to Tony, he wasn't sure how she would deal with it this time.
Gibbs sensed that she was starting to regain her composure when his phone started ringing. He had turned it back on during the elevator ride down so he'd be able to get constant updates from Jenny in relation to Billy Adala. He removed his hold on Kate, stepped back, and pulled the phone from his pocket. She began wiping the tears away from her face and took a deep breath. He could almost see her reconstructing her emotional armour. He turned to walk away from where she stood and hit the talk button.
"Gibbs... Yeah... They were just taken in... Yeah, I know that..." Gibbs clicked off his phone, clearly hanging up on someone, and returned to see that Kate had taken a seat in the waiting area. "That was the Director. She's at the scene of the shooting. I'm going to head over now."
She looked up at him and nodded before replying, almost defensively, "I'm staying here."
"Good," Gibbs said, walking over and squatting in front of her. "Listen, Kate, I don't want to leave either but this is a bad situation and I have to go. I want to find out who did this to DiNozzo and McGee as much as you do." Kate nodded. "You call me the second you hear anything. Got it?"
Kate nodded her head again sadly.
Gibbs brushed a damp spot on her cheek with his thumb before standing and walking toward the exit.
- - - -
Kate didn't know how long she was sitting in the waiting area when she heard someone calling her name. She looked up to see the same ER nurse that had managed to obstruct Gibbs earlier.
She stood up and asked, "What's going on? How is he... I mean, how are they?"
She mentally cursed herself for only thinking of DiNozzo. Her thoughts so far had only seemed to concern Tony after she'd seen McGee enter the ER conscious, alert and receptive. But the younger agent was still not in the clear, she had to remind herself.
"A member of the surgical staff will be out shortly to speak with you, ma'am."
"Surgical?"
"Agent McGee's status is stable, but he is still in Intensive Care. Agent DiNozzo was admitted to the surgical ward fifteen minutes ago."
Kate felt her breathing hitch and heard her heart begin pounding twice as fast. She could feel it pressing against the fabric of her shirt each time it thudded. Why was she so surprised? Of course Tony would have to go in to surgery.
"But I thought we should give you these now," the nurse interrupted her thoughts. She handed her two plastic bags. "Their belongings. Weapons, badges, wallets. We know that whenever an agent or officer comes in you want these back as soon as possible."
Kate took the bags and the weight felt very strange in her numb hands. "Thank you."
The nurse began to walk away when she stopped and turned back. "Are you alright, ma'am? Would you like me to call someone?"
"No, no, I'm okay. "Kate hesitated before added, "I'm fine. Just make sure my guys are too."
The nurse nodded with a smile and headed back to the ER desk.
Kate opened the first clear plastic bag and looked inside to see that it was McGee's belongings. She didn't even have to open the wallet to know that it wasn't DiNozzo's. The leather on the wallet was crisp and unworn, a dark shade of brown, far too neat and tidy for Tony. She noted that his weapon was dirty with gunpowder at the end of the barrel. She smiled, slightly in surprise, mostly in relief. McGee had shot back.
She resealed the bag and reached for the other, fishing out DiNozzo's black leather ID. It was tattered and worn at the edges like the cash wallet sitting beside it, the charcoal black streaked with cuts of light brown from years of careless bending and shoving. She opened it slowly, feeling the metal badge on one side give in to gravity and fall to the side. She needed to see him – even if it was just a standard ID photo. The doctors and nurses had stolen him away before she'd even gotten a glimpse of his face and she needed to see him.
The first thing that struck her was how young he looked. He looked more like he had when she first met him; he had his hair grown out a little longer and combed backward, making him look both slightly dangerous and official at the same time. His expression was very serious and severe. They tell you to look serious because when you flash your badge you are doing it for serious reasons. She'd never seen DiNozzo look like that in real life, she knew that much.
Noticing a bit of paper sticking out from underneath the ID she pulled it out and immediately felt a lump in her throat. It was the top half of a photo strip. It was frayed at the edges with small creases across the images. It looked as if Tony had taken it in and out of its ‘secret hiding place' on multiple occasions. Kate felt tears well up in her eyes as she pulled out her own badge to retrieve the missing bottom half, which looked just as withered.
- - - -
They were in an oddly jovial mood. To start off, it was Tony's birthday, and he'd invited them over for dinner and some drinks after they'd wrapped their case. And whilst Tony gave off the impression of having the culinary talents of a freshly-graduated frat boy, when he did, on that rare occasion, decide to pull out the wooden spoon and saucepan, he somehow managed to cook up dishes that brought about the smells reminiscent of a traditional Italian townhouse, so Kate, Abby and McGee found it hard to say no. Gibbs still didn't trust Tony's cooking, so had said he would try and catch up with them later for the drinks. Furthermore, whilst they had found their missing petty officer undergoing an illegal and dangerous surgery on the outskirts of Washington, they had found him alive. And a case solved was still a solved case. And last but certainly not least, it was payday. And none of the team could look solemn after seeing their accounts take that tiny step upward into the black. They were all teasing about how little they were paid in comparison to their FBI counterparts when Tony led them into his local corner store to get some beer and provisions for his arranged meal.
"Evenin', Tony," Gregory greeted him.
"Hi, Greg," Tony replied, giving him a broad smile as he led Kate, McGee and Abby in behind him. Gregory owned the local store and knew Tony from the neighbourhood. He was a regular visitor, often late at night, and it was the ones that supplied Gregory with regular business at odd hours whose names he remembered.
Kate started down the aisle when she realised that Tony and the other two had stopped trailing behind her. She turned around to see them staring intently at something. She walked up beside them to see what was so fascinating. It was a photo booth. She gave Tony a perplexed look when a large smile began to creep across his face, followed quickly by McGee and Abby's.
"Oh, no, no way!" she began, already backing away when Tony grabbed her hand and dragged her into the booth.
"Oh, yes!" Abby shouted. "Come on, it'll be fun!"
McGee slipped two dollars into the slot and the four of them began to try and squash and mash each other into the tiny cubicle. By this time the four of them were laughing so hard at their inability to fit that they didn't even hear the first click announcing that the first photo had been taken. Once they realised that the camera had started snapping pictures, they all began to play up the poses. The good humour gave way to playful bickering and shoving and before they knew it, Tony and McGee were wrestling each other out of the booth and onto the hard floor, Kate and Abby left in hysterics.
- - - -
Kate stared at the photos she held in her hand with a bittersweet smile.
One: McGee's head was being squashed downward as Tony used it to lever himself up onto the stool. Abby and Kate were laughing with each other as they were tumbling into the frame.
Two: They were all making stupid faces – or rather trying to. It's very hard to try and look silly when you are laughing so hard. Tony had an eyebrow cocked and his fingers stroking his chin, Kate was eying him out of the corner of her eye, Abby had her hands in the shape of a gun, Charlie's Angels style, while McGee was covering his mouth with his hand, wide open in mock shock.
Three: Abby was planting an exaggerated kiss on McGee's cheek as he struggled to look angelic, whilst Kate had Tony in a headlock.
Four: The four of them were all in fits of laughter, Tony crushing a giggling Kate into his chest and pointing his fingers into a ‘V' shape above McGee's head.
She ran her fingers over the photos and felt like crying, wondering if Tony would ever be able to pull off that expression again. But her eyes were dry.
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