"Here's the plan," Webb continued to Cate. "Tonight we meet at the safehouse. I'll have my people drive you out, and we'll meet there. Dinner, then right after that, we drive to the safehouse in Philadelphia. Pickup is in the same place as it was last time, this time at the boathouse."
"Who's driving you?" Gibbs asked shortly.
Webb, Cate, and Tony, who was standing silently in the background, looked up to see the NCIS agent in the doorway. "You're not going," Webb said categorically to Gibbs, easily reading what the NCIS agent had in mind.
"That's not what I asked," Gibbs replied, turning his 'just try me' gaze on the CIA agent as he came in. "I asked who was driving."
"And I'm not answering your question," Webb retorted. "I'm telling you that you and Agent DiNozzo are staying in Washington. It's not like either of you are trained for this, and you're not required for the job. I'm not going to substitute either of you as drivers and Kate won't, either."
"You take one of my agents," Gibbs replied, his tone brokering no argument, "you take me." He moved so he was toe to toe with the shorter CIA agent, daring the man to say otherwise.
"And me." Tony refused to be left behind.
"When did this turn into a fraternity road trip?" Webb retorted. "No one is going except Agent Todd."
"That is not up for debate, Mr. Webb," Gibbs replied, his voice getting lower and lower as he dared the other man to continue. "I asked, who is driving?"
"Clay is going one hour before us. One passenger, one driver," Lin replied as she entered, then thunked a box down. Inside were Kevlar vests. "Agent Todd and I will be following one hour later, one driver, two passengers."
"What, you think I'm going to let one of my agents ride alone with you?".
"So shoot me."
"I am seriously considering it," Gibbs replied, his voice lowering even more, his eyes ice blue. "Tony, you go with Cate. I'm going in the first car out."
Tony nodded nervously. He knew what Gibbs was going to do - go on ahead and make sure everything checked out. He saw Webb look at the major, and her subsequent expression of exasperation indicated that the man had managed to communicate to her everything that had just happened without so much as saying a word. Tony, to calm himself, walked over and popped open the box Lin had just brought in. He frowned. "There are only two vests in here."
"Yup." Lin was checking over the list.
Gibbs looked from Lin to Webb. The original plan was three passengers, with Cate doing the pickup, so why was there only two...? "She's not going." When they looked up, he stared back at them. "She doesn't wear a vest, she doesn't go."
Webb gave him an exasperated look. "She only has to pick up the money and check it. They're not going to shoot the messenger."
"Whatever happened to 'this is pretty dangerous'?" Tony exclaimed. "They tried to blow up your previous messenger."
"Cate can't wear a vest," Lin replied as she looked up from her reading, "because they're going to search her. Thorough pat-down, at least. You have a vest, they'll feel it in a second. Then they'll think that you're doing more than just being a dumb messenger girl, and they shoot you. They've got good enough guns to make the Kevlar useless." She shrugged. "I didn't wear a vest the one time I did this."
"The pickup didn't even go down," Tony retorted.
Gibbs yanked the folder the Major was reading from her hand and tossed it aside. "I don't care whether you INVENTED the vest," he said in a slow, dangerous tone, his voice barely above an angry whisper as he stood toe-to-toe with her. "Cate is not going."
Lin just smirked. "Why don't we let her decide?" She leaned over and looked at Cate. "Agent Todd?"
Cate's eyes darted between her boss and the Major. "I'll do it," she said quietly, her voice much tinier than she'd hoped.
SAFEHOUSE, WASHINGTON, DC
The front door to the Washington safehouse banged open, and in walked Webb, toting a large bag. Behind him came a man dressed in a plain jacket and pants. "Dinner."
The six of them gathered around the table, alternately dishing out food and handing out plates and napkins.
"Whaddya get?" Lin asked, finally sitting down.
"Spring Garden's," Webb replied shortly.
"No MSG?" Lin asked.
"No."
"Aw," Tony groaned. "That's the best part!" He got a look from Lin and Cate. "What?"
"I thought you were trying to eat healthy, Tony," Cate kidded, although her nervousness showed.
"MSG makes me sick to my stomach," Lin replied as she handed out bottles of water. At a few odd looks, she added, "Literally. You want me throwing up all over the place and botching the assignment?"
Cate fidgeted in her seat on the plush car. Up in the front riding shotgun was Tony, who was twitching. She wondered if he had to go the bathroom, like she did.
Dinner had been much spicier and saltier than she'd expected, and she had been guzzling water all night, long after the meal was over. Tony, too, had been drinking water like it was his job. No one else seemed to have been affected, though; just her and Tony. Now she was paying the price; neither she nor Tony had had the chance to use the restroom before going.
Gibbs and Webb had left an hour earlier, right on schedule. She had noticed Webb and Lin having a short discussion right before the two men had shipped out, with Gibbs replacing the initial driver, just to keep the count down to what it had been originally. She wondered briefly if anyone would notice that there were three passengers and a driver in her car, as opposed to what was just supposed to be two passengers and a driver.
Next to her, Lin looked sidelong glance at her and said to the driver, "Stop here."
Cate shrugged. "What, I'm fine."
"This is the last clump of trees for miles. If you want privacy, you'd better go now. I'm going to stretch my legs."
Satisfied, Cate opened the door and headed out, Tony already several feet in front of her. Lin was moving slowly inside the car, most likely because of the wound on her leg.
Suddenly there was a loud bump. The door to the backseat opened, and Lin stepped out painfully, taking her weapon and pulling the silencer off it as she shut the door to the backseat and moved around to the driver's side, where she reached down and pushed the button to open the trunk.
Cate stared in shock at the driver of the car, who was now slumped over the seat, dead. DiNozzo looked just as concerned and horrified.
Lin opened the front door. "We don't have all day," she replied, as if she were Gibbs merely waiting for a case report.
Cate spoke first. "You just SHOT him!" she hissed, her voice a mixture of anger and shock.
"He was a mole," she said, as if that explained everything. She pulled out clothes from the back trunk - identical to what the driver had been wearing - and tossed them to Tony. "I'll need some help moving the body to the trunk. Then you put these on and drive."
DiNozzo and Cate shared nervous looks.
SAFEHOUSE, PHILADELPHIA
Gibbs paused at the doorway to the living room. They had all arrived safely to the Philadelphia safehouse, he and Webb an hour earlier than his agents and the major. Both Cate and Tony hadn't said more than a weary "hello" to him and ignored Webb and the major completely. He figured something had happened to them on the way to Philadelphia, but no one had been talking at that point.
If Gibbs hadn't been looking more closely into that living room, he would have missed the bit of hair resting on the top of the back of the chair. He stepped quietly into the room, and as he approached, he saw Cate sitting curled up in the high-backed chair. She didn't say anything when he came in, but she wasn't startled when he spoke.
"You all right?" Gibbs asked quietly as he crossed around so he was standing next to her, looking down concernedly.
There was a moment of silence, and Cate nodded, still not moving. Gibbs sat down in the chair across the small coffee table from her and waited patiently.
She got a stubborn look on her face, and Gibbs guessed she didn't want to say anything to him, but he was going to wait her out. Finally she sighed and gave up, and then said softly, "The major...we...we stopped along the way...to go to the bathroom," she said quietly. "Just by the side of the road. The major...she must've planned it."
Cate shifted restlessly and drew her knees up to her chest. "After Tony and I got out of the car, she...she just...she shot the driver. Just bang, like that, then came out talking like she'd just ordered a meal at a restaurant or something." Cate dropped her forehead to her knees, then looked back up at the fire, hugging her legs to her chest.
Gibbs dropped his eyes to the floor for an instant, his lips pressed in a thin line. He looked back up at Cate's profile, her face illuminated only by the flickering from the fireplace. He had noticed that Cate hadn't used "Lin," which was how they were all referring to the Marine major, although Cate had begun to use it as a familiar nickname.
He couldn't figure out why he was defending the Major, but it came out of his mouth anyhow. "She's a Company woman, Cate. The guy sold out the project, so he had to go. She'll do anything she has to do to finish the assignment." He paused. "Lin's focused."
Cate chuckled mirthlessly as she continued to stare into the flames. "Yeah, I can see that," she replied bitterly, and plunged on seemingly without thinking. "Your kind of woman, I bet. Focused. No frills. I bet if she were a redhead that would cinch it." The angry disappointment and hurt in her voice shone through briefly, and she suddenly seemed to realize what she'd just said. She looked up at him finally with a horrified expression on her face. "Gibbs, I - " she began to apologize.
Gibbs shook his head, cutting her off, although he had to admit he was somewhat taken aback at the venom in his agent's voice. When he looked at her again, she was staring back at the fire, seemingly lost in it.
The incident had obviously colored Cate's initial opinion of the Major to a huge extent, and Gibbs was a little sorry for that. He knew that the Major had it in her to just shoot and kill somebody point-blank. She was focused, for sure, Cate was right about that. That was why Lin was a Company woman and not working some other detail.
Gibbs thought back to the time he had confronted Cate about Major Kerry's death; he'd been cruel in order to find out how she would react when confronted with that kind of news. Her reaction had told him first that she was innocent, but also that she had genuinely cared for the Marine. He doubted something like that would have worked on Major Lin. To be quite honest, few women scared him the way Lin had. He wasn't afraid of most women; he had respect for a smaller number of them; but women like Lin...could really be a terror.
"No," he finally said quietly, seemingly more to reassure himself than to reply to Cate. "I like women with a little more heart."
There was a soft knock at the door, and Tony looked up as Gibbs came in. "Hey boss."
Gibbs moved around the still untouched bed and sat down on it, looking at Tony carefully as the younger man sat on the desk chair, spinning himself from side to side. "Cate told me what happened."
Tony stopped and sighed. "Yeah." He looked up at his boss. "Is she OK? She, uh, she seemed kinda shaken up."
Gibbs only nodded, watching his junior agent carefully. It appeared that Cate wasn't the only one slightly off kilter after what happened. "She'll be fine." He fell silent, continuing to watch his agent.
Tony could feel his boss's eyes on him, and he shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. "It was a little creepy, sittin' right there in the driver's seat where a guy had just died," he tried to joke, albeit a little weakly. "Even weirder than when Lin held a gun to me and made me drive from her apartment to that warehouse - y'know, that time I found her."
Gibbs nodded.
The two men sat in silence for awhile, and then Tony said in a quiet voice, "I'm just glad I don't have to work in Langley."
Gibbs nodded and got to his feet. "Go to sleep, Tony."
Tony nodded, then cheekily grinned. "Yes, Dad."
Gibbs rolled his eyes as he headed out.
Cate quietly crept down the stairs, taking care with each step, particularly as she passed Gibbs' room. She was positive that he had purposely picked his room so that it was right next to the stairwell, just so he could most likely watch and listen.
She made it down the stairs and headed for the kitchen, padding quietly across the floor. She stopped short in the doorway but didn't move away fast enough before the major turned around and saw her. Great. Now she couldn't just leave.
Cate just looked at her and then went into the kitchen as nonchalantly as she could. She wasn't sure she could spend time around a woman like that. It had seriously made her reconsider everything she'd learned about the major, including the time she'd spent with the woman's brother and her sister-in-law, and that one time where she and Lin had discussed the photos. Everything just didn't seem...right.
The major watched her warily as she came in, then offered her a mug. "Want some?"
Cate was surprised at the unusually soft tone, and against her will, she found herself reaching out for the mug.
"Hot chocolate." Cate sniffed at it, a little suspiciously, and looked up to see an amused Marine watching her. "I didn't spike it, if that's what you're wondering."
Cate raised an eyebrow. "You're admitting you spiked our food."
"I didn't SPIKE it, spike it," Lin replied, a small smile of amusement on her face. "Webb and I just put more spices and salt in it."
"To make us drink all that water," Cate replied.
"Uh huh." The unspoken reason and consequence hung between them. "There was no reason for anybody to have to see that."
Suddenly it clicked. The discussion Lin and Webb had must have been over who would have to sweep the rogue driver. Because Gibbs hadn't fallen for their food-and-water trick and thus couldn't be lured out of Webb's car, it had fallen to Lin to do the job. "Did you have to shoot him?" Cate suddenly blurted. "Ask for another driver? Bring him in on charges?" Her frustrated questions suddenly poured out.
"Of course," she replied agreeably. "Right after I delivered you both in body bags to Agent Gibbs." Then she added as an afterthought, "If I had been alive to do it."
"Just wounded him?"
Lin turned to make herself another mug. "You don't shoot to wound. Too dangerous. Go for the head, it keeps from going to appeals."
Cate looked down, sipping a little at the hot, milky chocolate. Lin hadn't made it with water, and it tasted much better this way. It soothed her nerves a little...just a little. She shivered unconsciously as her mind drifted back to what had happened just a few hours earlier...just a thud, and the unsuspecting driver was dead. Lin hadn't hesitated in the slightest.
Suddenly the terrorist's smirking face appeared in Cate's mind, and she closed her eyes, trying to block out his image. It still bothered Cate. She didn't know why she had hesitated. She didn't WANT to know why. If Lin had been in her situation, would any of that had even happened? Cate had hesitated and then Gerald got shot, Gibbs got shot, the terrorist escaped. Maybe Lin was what she needed to be on this job. Emotionless.
The thought made Cate shiver. She wasn't one to let that stop her, though, and she was about to open her mouth and ask when Lin cut in.
"It's not easy to turn your emotions off."
Cate looked up with a disbelieving look and wondered if all her thoughts were being tattooed right onto her forehead as she thought them. "You speaking from experience?"
The major just watched her steadily, ignoring her question. "Emotions can't be turned on and off at will, Cate," she said again, quietly, using the agent's first name for the first time.
"You do it."
"Emotions can't be turned on and off at will," the Marine repeated. "When you learn to turn them off, they never turn back on again in quite the way they were before, even if you want them to." She paused for a moment, and her voice got even quieter. "It's not the same."
Cate blinked, then looked at the major carefully in puzzlement.
Gibbs lay on his back in his bed, wondering why he'd just awakened. Something wasn't right.
He remembered vaguely hearing Cate's footsteps - too light for DiNozzo's - heading across the hall. He figured she was going to the head, but either she hadn't actually gone there or was stuck inside.
Gibbs picked up his weapon from the side of his bed and crept out of his room, careful not to wake Tony in the next room down. Not that he wanted to see Tony woken up...that once at Gitmo was way more than enough.
Gibbs put the thought aside and slipped down the stairs quietly. He heard two female voices in the kitchen and frowned. He crept around so that his back was to the wall of the kitchen; unless they came into the hall, they wouldn't see him.
Cate should be sleeping. She had an assignment that evening - technically, early morning.
"...bothering you?" the major asked mildly.
Gibbs watched as his agent just sat, then slowly straightened. "No."
The major obviously wasn't buying a second of it. "You're asking me about shooting people," the major replied, a slight retort in her voice. "I'd say it was something."
There was a long silence, and then Cate's voice came, sounding disturbingly tiny. "Do you...do you ever get nightmares?"
The major didn't look surprised, but she leaned against the sink counter, studying the NCIS agent carefully, as if trying to figure her out. "Who doesn't?"
Cate was a little surprised at the response. She would have figured that somebody like Lin would never get nightmares; after all, she herself never had for a long time. Cate snorted. "Well, me, for awhile." The major just waited expectantly. "It was...it was one of our cases," Cate said quietly, then paused. She obviously didn't want to talk about it. "I haven't told anyone. Not even my colleagues."
The other woman cocked her head to the side, looking at the NCIS agent. "Might be easier telling it to a total stranger, somebody removed from whatever happened."
Cate watched the woman carefully, debating whether or not she should say anything. "I...was in a hostage situation," she said quietly. "At one point the hostage-taker was so close to me I could feel the bulletproof vest under his shirt. I had...one of Ducky's medical knives, I could've killed him and I hesitated."
When the major didn't respond, Cate waited a moment, then shrugged expectantly.
The major shrugged back. "So?"
Cate sat up indignantly, and Gibbs was amused to hear the spit and fire back in her voice, hushed as it was so as not to awaken the others. "'So'? That's all you can say? What could I have done, where did I screw up? I'm not telling you these things to amuse you, I'm trying to ask for advice, here."
"I wasn't there. I can't tell you what you should've done." It was so detached. Cold. Gibbs saw Cate ran a frustrated hand through her hair and then heard the major continue, almost in amused merriment, "And, well, I don't know who told you you could kill somebody wearing a Kevlar with a...a dissecting knife."
Cate frowned and decided she was ready to go. She had had enough of this and was about to slide off the kitchen stool when the major spoke again, this time softly and more gently. "What about the dreams?"
"I...." Cate was sure she DIDN'T wanted to tell the major now, especially after that last comment about the scalpel, but she couldn't help it. So she plunged on. "Sometimes...I'll be freezing. He put me in one of the body coolers in the autopsy room. Sometimes...I'll" she shuddered "feel him...searching me." She paused for a moment and looked at the major, who was watching her steadily.
That wasn't the dream that was bothering her. Sure, they were nightmares, but they were never the worst one.
Cate tried to quash the thought. She decided then and there not to tell the Marine about the last one, but she couldn't stop the images from coming up. She didn't even know where those pictures in her head came from; it wasn't as though she'd actually witnessed anything. She had been locked up in that cooler; she hadn't seen anything, although she did hear about it later. The dream was like any dream - a jumble of events, not necessarily in order, illogical actions, everything.
She is in the elevator, headed down for the autopsy room with the box of evidence from Qasam's room. The doors open and she looks into autopsy. Instead of the usual clinical white and very pale blue, it is swathed in red. She sees Abby, crumpled over in the corner; Gerald is lying on the floor, shot in the shoulder and in incredible pain; Ducky is being pushed into one of the cooler trays; Tony is sprawled out on the floor, a bullet to the back.
She hasn't noticed Gibbs or the terrorist until after seeing the others; her eyes drift back into the middle of the room, and she suddenly sees Gibbs and the terrorist standing just a few feet from each other, two tables separating them. For a brief instant Gibbs is standing, then turns to look at her...a shot...and then he isn't there anymore.
Cate flinches. The box of evidence is no longer in her hands, but there is an unused dissecting knife, the one that she had been thinking of using against the terrorist but hadn't. Her hands are covered with blood - instinctively she thinks it's her colleagues'. Without thinking, she rushes into autopsy to the sink, trying to wash her hands off, but no matter how she tries, it doesn't come off....
"He's not your problem."
Cate looked up in surprise. She hadn't realized she was speaking out loud until the major responded. It took Cate a moment to realize she'd just told the woman the whole dream, and then another moment to process what the major had said. At that point, she turned incredulously to the woman. "How is he not the problem?!"
The major, sensing her confusion, shook her head at Cate. "Your nightmare isn't about that guy in particular. You don't actually see his face or think about him. Your focus is on your colleagues. Your nightmare is about not being able to protect them and blaming yourself for what happens to them. That won't ever go away. This first guy's dead, the next time it'll be another crazy maniac, doing other stuff to your coworkers. That's what I mean when I say HE's not actually your problem."
Cate groaned aloud. She had read Gibbs and Tony's notes from their interview with Col. MacKenzie, and the JAG lawyer had mentioned that the major had given her a lot of analytical psychobabble; from what Cate could gather, she was getting the same sort of thing. It was still a different feeling, though, to say it out loud to somebody else. She felt a little better. Just a little. She eyed the major and then muttered, "Well, thank you, Dr. Freud."
Gibbs noted that the major at least had the normality to smile amusedly at the comment. She shook her head and continued, "Secret Service trained you to protect lives, not take them in hand-to-hand combat." The major shrugged, then snorted. "Particularly with a dissecting knife."
Cate scowled. The woman was obviously much amused by the knife thing.
The NCIS agent looked into her mug, a few tiny marshmallows that hadn't melted still bobbing up and down. "How do you do it?" she asked softly. "Get to the point where you don't hesitate, just...like you did tonight." The major gave her a plainly exasperated look; Cate knew that Lin didn't want to tell her, but the NCIS agent was determined to know, especially if it would keep Gibbs and Tony, and Ducky and Abby and Gerald alive. "I want to know," she insisted.
"You don't need to do that in your job," the major replied shortly. "No matter what other people say."
"How?" Cate insisted.
"You know our driver? Never met him before in my life. You think he even had any idea what was going to happen tonight? You want to learn that?" Lin asked sharply.
Cate fell silent.
"Everyone makes mistakes, Agent Todd. Somebody is always going to jump on your case - you're too soft the first time around, need to be harder. Second time, you're too hard, need to be softer. You'll never please everyone. You're doing fine. I've seen your records. There's no need for you to learn whatever it is...you think...you need to learn." She waved a hand impatiently. "You and that JAG lawyer," she snorted. "She's afraid she's turning into me and here you are wanting to."
Cate's eyes flickered from her mug to the major and back down.
The major thought for a moment. "I don't think your colleagues would find it worth it, either."
"Don't tell me they wouldn't find being ALIVE worth it," Cate replied, a retort growing in her tone.
Lin watched her silently for several long minutes. The clock hanging over the sink generally was barely noticeable, but its ticking seemed thunderous to Cate as she waited.
Then the Major reached into her pocket, casually flipping out a slim, wallet-like pocketbook and holding it open for Cate to see. Inside was a small photo of Lin and her late fiance. "See her?" the major said conversationally, indicating the younger version of herself in the photo. She looked at it briefly and then continued, almost like a teacher reading a story to a kindergarten class. "I've got her hair, her eyes, her face...her name." She paused a moment to give a nonchalant shrug. "I killed her about seven years ago."
Cate's fingers folded around her mug as she watched the major tilt her head, looking at the photo. "If her fiance were ever to come back?" The major trailed off and fell silent, then drifted into an almost a faraway tone. "He wouldn't know me from the next woman on the street."
"That's not true," Cate whispered.
"Isn't it?" Lin asked questioningly, snapping out of whatever thought she was in. When Cate didn't respond, she continued, "Person learns to kill the way I do, and you don't think they'd take a turn for the worse?"
Cate looked down at her mug, not wanting to agree but not finding much reason not to. Despite everything, she found herself liking the Marine. "It's not too late," she said softly. "There's plenty of time for you start over."
Lin shook her head as she put the wallet away. "That's how the cards have fallen."
"Players can make the cards do what they want," Cate replied.
"You're only as good as the hand you're dealt," Lin returned. When Cate didn't reply, she continued, "Play long enough, that perfect hand comes along." She stopped.
Cate looked up, waiting for her to go on. When she didn't, the NCIS agent replied, "And then?"
The Marine shook her head and smiled a little, staring at the countertop. "Then, though, you can't hesitate. You have to bet big. Don't...don't put things off. This life isn't that long."
"To be born is to die," Cate murmured, and the major just smiled in agreement. The NCIS agent looked up at her. "You waited?" she asked.
"I hesitated," she replied. "By the time I realized how much I should have bet, it was a dead man's hand."
Cate bit her lip. She knew the major meant it literally - she was talking about Quinn. "And now?" she asked softly, after a moment of silence.
The major sat thoughtfully for a minute, obviously a little surprised at the question. "I don't know." She chuckled a moment. "I don't even think I'm playing cards anymore. Maybe...Scrabble or something." Even Cate couldn't help a small smile at that.
There was a long silence, and then the major said quietly, "I don't think I know HOW to play cards anymore." At that, Cate looked up at the woman and was contradict her when the Marine shook her head. "You can't save everyone, Agent Todd."
Cate pursed her lips, not wanting to concede the point.
"You can't think that learning to be...like this doesn't kill somebody. It doesn't matter if it's me, or Webb, or another operative. It's not worth it, Cate. Especially when you don't need it for your job."
Cate nodded, looking down at her mug, twirling the spoon in it.
After a moment of silence, the Marine said softly, almost to herself, "And as long as we stay alive to do another assignment, no one else has to."
Cate looked up immediately. The major was staring past Cate into space, lost in thought, a small, contemplative smile on her face. The two women sat in comfortable silence for several minutes, and then a small chuckle escaped the Marine. Cate shrugged. "What?" Lin's expression had changed into one of utter amusement.
"I think Agent Gibbs - and Director Morrow and your other colleagues - would kill me if I turned you into even a vague shadow of who I am." Her eyes danced with obvious merriment at the thought.
"He most likely wishes I would learn something from you," the NCIS agent muttered. To her surprise, the major just shook her head, trying not to laugh. "What?" she asked in utter puzzlement.
"No he doesn't," the Marine replied firmly, the grin that was still puzzling Cate firmly on her face. "Trust me. Gibbs doesn't."
Cate narrowed her eyes suspiciously and thought for a moment. "Does this have something to do with whatever you said to make him so mad the other day?"
At that, the major looked up in surprise, then amusement. "You're good. You're very good. Don't let Clay know or he'll come to find you for a job."
Cate smiled, then asked curiously, "What did you say to Gibbs?"
"Curiosity killed the cat," Lin warned, her eyes laughing.
"Cats have nine lives," Cate returned, a smile crossing her face.
But the major didn't give in. "He didn't tell you?" When Cate shook her head, the major just smiled. "Then neither will I."
Cate made a face of mock annoyance, but she couldn't stop the smile from returning. "Oh come on. I thought we were communicating here."
At that, the major's smile grew and she lifted the mug to her lips, taking another sip. "I have no desire to be shot full of lead, Agent Todd."
"Gibbs isn't trigger happy."
The major just grinned, setting the mug down. "Not right now," she managed, chuckling. There was a comfortable, companionable silence for awhile, and then suddenly Lin said, "You should go back to sleep."
"What about you?"
"I don't have a major pickup tomorrow." In his mind's eye, Gibbs could see the major's smirk grow wider. "And I'd prefer not to give Agent Gibbs yet another reason to shoot me when he finds out you were down here talking to me."
Cate just smiled. "He won't know. He's sleeping."
The Marine just snorted softly.
Gibbs moved silently away from his spot and took refuge in the foyer, a spot where Cate wouldn't be able to see him when she went back upstairs. After a pause, he heard his agent say good night and head upstairs. When he heard the soft click of the door - his eyesight might be going, but his hearing was as good as ever - he waited a little longer and then emerged from the foyer. As he started towards the stairs, he looked into the kitchen.
For a moment he and the Marine stared at each other, like two opponents sizing each other up. The latter wore a knowing smirk on her face. Without a word, he silently returned to his room.
Chapter End Notes:
Part One is a crossover between "NCIS" and "Without a Trace." ("Nine Lives, Part I") Originally posted to FF.net 3/21-4/2/04