Kate sat watching the snow fall, it has been tumbling from the sky for nearly a week now and it was quickly becoming a storm. Four days ago when it had started, the flakes that fell were light and settled easily on the dry and cold ground. Two days before that Kate had started to notice the change of her stomach, the slight rise had she had seen for the last few weeks had shaped the she’d stood studying her stomach in the mirror " finally feeling the pregnancy at last.
It had been five months since they’d moved here. Gibbs had done his best to make things easy on her and had spent the whole of Christmas looking after an emotionally drained pregnant woman. Her family had no idea where she was, they only knew that she was on a mission and while she was out here, she couldn’t contact them. No presents, no cards, no letters. It had stung, to say the least.
They’d sent themselves up quite nicely. In their first week, Gibbs had managed to get a job building wood furniture, his want to use hand tools instead of electric devices had driving the price of his work up. Not that they needed the money, NCIS was paying for everything. Down in the basement, Gibbs had sneakily set up a workspace for her, shopping while she rested to start with and getting whatever the woman at the art store suggested based on what he knew about her. She’d expanded on that since that time, setting up so she could switch between drawing, painting and sculpturing as she pleased.
She wasn’t in the mood for that, she wanted to sit outside, walk, jog or do something required being anywhere but in the house. The current three foot of snow outside was making that difficult and it showed no signs of letting up anytime soon. She sighed, leaning back against the wall beside the bay window and rested her hand over her stomach. She turned her head just slightly, listening to the sounds of wood being sanded from the room below her and wondered if this was what things would be like when they got home.
It didn’t frighten her as nearly as much as it should. Gibbs spending their evenings down in basement building his boat and her sitting on the floor above looking longingly out of the window. Maybe it didn’t scare her because she wouldn’t all be sitting here alone, she’d have a baby to look after, or she’d be down there with him, in her well lit corner painting a picture of their family while the baby played in a designated area. Protected area, she corrected, she’d have to find some netting or something to make sure random wood scrapings didn’t make it to the baby’s pen.
That bit frightened her. In just a few months time she’d be a mother.
They’d talked the first few months about how things would work, for a start they’d have a problem with the baby’s name. They could pick the first name easily enough, but Kate would be submitted to the hospital under the name Isabel Walker, the last name of which would automatically transfer to the infant. They both knew eventually they’d have to tell the director about the baby, Gibbs had said they should do it before the birth, that way whatever they called the baby could also be certified to his or her last name.
The talk had then switched over to whose last name they could use. Which in turned led to a “will we ever get married for real” conversation Kate still didn’t know the answer to. She couldn’t blame him for that, not really, he’d been married 4 time, widowed and divorced three times in his lifetime so far, she couldn’t blame him for not wanting a fifth marriage. Then again, she didn’t want to put the baby in his name if she didn’t get to use it too. A slightly selfish part of her screamed at her for not being married before having a baby and it was this part that told her, that by rights, he had no claim over the baby and its name. Then the part that loved him would singe her skin tell her to ignore her logic and go with her feelings, call the baby Gibbs and hope one day he’d marry her. It just gave her a headache thinking it through too many times.
“Think of the snow angels you could make when it stops,” Gibbs said, pulling her harshly from her thoughts and making her jump slightly. She hadn’t noticed the pause in his work or the footsteps up the stairs.
“We’re gonna miss out appointment tomorrow,” she pointed out, ignoring his comment. He couldn’t honestly think she’d be able to make snow angels; did he want her to get ill?
Kate watched a couple of kids struggle across the road to a neighbour’s house as Gibbs sat down. He placed his hand over hers covering her belly and she slipped her fingers out from under him to let him take his feel of the growth. It felt weird, she couldn’t deny that. Knowing there was life inside her, that her body was supporting it and helping it grow, that another heart was beating and circulating blood because of something as simple as having sex with Gibbs. It was taken for granted these day, most people didn’t realise what they had done, what they had created and she knew for some they couldn’t even see the miracle when they were holding it in their arms for the first time.
“Kate?” he said, the tone of voice making her turned to him to find out why he was worried about her. “You alright?”
She nodded and gave a small smile attempting to reassure him. “I’m not used to being cooped up for so long. I want to be out there, or at the gym, I haven’t been for weeks.”
“You shouldn’t be working out while pregnant.”
“I’m not lifting weights or anything, just want to run the treadmill and stuff. Alex already worked out a new routine for me back when we found out,” she said. Pausing for a moment she chewed on her lower lip. “I really want to keep that appointment tomorrow.”
“You just want the next scan picture so you can compare the size of the baby to the last.”
“Yep.” She was curious, she wanted to see it every step of the way, catalogue everything so she could look back one day and remember what her first time was like. If she’d had that kind of sense when she was a teenager, she would have done the same thing when she lost her virginity; even if that did sound crazy.
“I have something to show you,” Gibbs said holding his out for her and helping her up off the window seat. He led her across the room and out into the hallway before opening the door to the basement. About half way down the stairs he paused and turned to her with a smile. “Close your eyes,” he said.
“Gibbs, I’m not walking down the chairs with my eyes closed.”
Gibbs took a step up and kissed Kate gently on the lips. “I won’t let you fall.”
Kate sighed, gave him a small smile and closed her eyes. She felt his hands on her hips move over her belly before he took her hands in his. She was very away of him taking a step backwards on the stairwell and followed him down carefully still unsure about walking down into the unknown. She had known for a few weeks he had something secret going on, every time she left the basement she would hear him opening the create he kept carefully locked in the back. It seemed whatever he had been working on he was now finished with and the unveiling was at the bottom of the stairs.
She felt the warmth as soon as they turned to the last few steps and a vague small of orange floated up her nose. Gibbs stopped her at the bottom of the stairs and moved to stand behind her. With his hands on her hips he leaned in close and whispered for her to open her eyes.
The main lighting of the room had been turned off, the only electrical light in the whole room was from the soft light over Kate’s area. Gibbs had carefully placed candles around the room giving enough light to show off the item he’d made for her. To top it off, he’d cleared away everything he possibly could so nothing could distract her from the item. Standing in the middle of the room was the first piece of baby furniture. The crib. The solid wood ends of the bed had curved tops with an eloquently design carefully etched into the outside. Smooth bars made up the sides and Kate caught sight of the latch on the side nearest her so she could lower the side to reach the baby easier.
She felt the tug in her heart and the tear in her eyes as he breath caught. He’d built a crib for their baby, carved the wood, sanded it and by the looks of it, varnished it to protect the baby.
“Gibbs,” she breathed taking a step forward to take a better look at the crib. She ran her hand across the smooth surface of the cot and looked down into it.
“Terry’s donating half the wood to do all the furniture,” he said keeping his voice quiet as she moved around the sides. “And the schematics, I have a book of baby furniture to look through, but I wanted to do that before you saw the book. Is it okay?” he asked. She could hear the smirk in his voice, there was no possible way it wasn’t okay. She turned to him, closed the gap between them and kissed him passionately.
“It’s perfect.”
“Being stuck inside with me isn’t all that bad, is it?”
“It’s better than being out in a snow storm,” she said with a cheeky smile before turning back to the crib. “Thank you.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
A Kate Todd Interlude!