Chapter Text
“Special Agent Gibbs does return his calls. In just over three hours, even.”
She didn’t even play at being innocent as to who was calling.
Just steam-rolled any attempt he coulda made at being charming too. Wise ass.
“You left me a message, Agent Todd.” He sacked his shoulders back hard into his chair, the smirk that her voicemail had drawn up over his lips slackening a little as he dropped his head back tiredly.
“It’s just Kate.” She corrected easily, tone even and casual. “Resignation, remember?”
“Yeah, I do.” He murmured, keeping his head driven back into the break of the chair so that he could stretch out his tightly-wired neck. “Gave you a pretty solid solution to that problem if I remember correctly.”
“Gibbs…” This was an apology without an apology – and he knew it was coming. “I got another offer.”
Yeah, that’s exactly what he’d been afraid of – especially when it had been a few days since they’d last spoken and he still hadn’t heard a word from her nor a whisper from upstairs. He’d fast tracked her paperwork to Morrow’s office and there’d suddenly been an end of some sort, made out of complete silence. She hadn’t followed up and Morrow hadn’t been in much of a mood to discuss it. The Director had been well trapped up in MTAC for the last two days and… frankly, he’d figured he’d already lost her interest. To another offer.
Gibbs nodded slowly as he clipped his chair into a half turn, avoiding DiNozzo’s less than surreptitious glancing, “A better offer.”
He mentally banked the list of government agencies that could have easily picked her up in the between days, from her resignation until he’d found a message on his desk written in green pen. Who the hell in his office used green ink?
“I didn’t say that.” Her voice perked a little defensive over the line and he smirked into how sharply it came off her, could see the pursing of her lips and the minute shake of her head. The fractioned slink of her pretty eyes getting thinner in annoyance.
“You’re not gonna hurt my feelings, Kate.” He slanted his shoulders into a lazy shrugging, letting his weight bank back into the swivel chair. “If it’s a better offer then just say so.”
“It’s better.” She breathed the admission over the line, kept it quiet and nearing apologetic in its tone. “Higher pay grade.”
“You mean higher security clearance.” Gibbs corrected quickly, letting his jaw lead the angling of his head as he used the toe of his shoe pressed on his desk to wedge the chair back and forth a little.
“Damn near rivals yours, I think.”
Of course. Because that would draw her in. Not the money. Not necessarily recognition or accolade. Not a specific agency. Higher responsibility, more pressure, more danger, more weight. She needed to prove it. Needed to prove something. It was sorta cute, when it wasn’t sorta annoying. She was motivated, ambitious. Had legitimate potential.
And, all in all, he had no doubt it was what she wanted. “You should take it.”
“I know.” Her voice culled quieter into his sincerity. “I think I’m going to.”
“Don’t need my permission.”
And she laughed – full throated and obviously bemused. “I’m well aware of that, Agent Gibbs.”
He was still leaning back relaxed into the sound of her laughter.
“So this is a courtesy call? Thanks for the offer but…” he trailed off into softness, letting the silence go laying long between them.
“I suppose it is.” She agreed with a swaying that seemed almost too obvious in its sadness, as though she was playing and plying him longer on the phone.
“That all?” He intentionally let a smile tease itself through the words, keeping them from seeming in any way aggressive.
“Is it?” Still a throaty hum of humor in her voice, sorta sexy, still controlled.
She was lulling him, keeping him keeled even and low, drawing on him. She would have made an exceptional interrogator if given the chance and the training. If she’d take the chance. He was pretty damn sure she’d already made her decision, though, and there wasn’t much chance of tugging her backwards.
“Say it or don’t, Todd.” Gibbs chipped back into a playful quietness, feeling a smirk crease his lips as he banked his jaw lower toward his chest and the phone tighter to his ear. “Because this could go on all day.”
“You realize you’re impossible, don’t you?” Even amused impatience sounded sexy when she was using that flickering tone, the one that went a little sharp on the edge of things.
“So I’ve been told. Often.” He slanted back nearly as sharply, keeping a balance to her as he caught the shift of DiNozzo’s movement behind him, intentionally banking himself farther around. “Are we having dinner or aren’t we?”
Execute Plan B. Lull her back. Interrogate over wine.
Hunt down the thieving conniving bastard that got to her in the interim.
White, maybe. She seemed like a white wine sorta girl.
“I’d like that.”
Really? Well, goddamn…
“So would I.” He answered quickly, bending the phone between his shoulder and ear as he started a turn back toward his desk, flinching a half glare into the way Tony was rifling through the nearest file cabinet for not a damn thing. “Can’t tonight. I’m on a case.”
“Booked today anyhow.” She suddenly sounded tired or worn thin, the haziness of it making her voice quieter over the line – he was surprised to realize he wanted to know exactly why. “Call me when you’re done with this one?”
“Sure.”
A noise of huffed amusement bounced more energetically back to him, “Will you really?”
“Called you back this time, didn’t I?” He wedged the phone tighter to his shoulder, using his foot to lever himself back into facing his desk.
“You thought it was about work.”
“I didn’t care what it was about.” His eyes followed the way Tony cast him back a perked glance of amusement before slacking back in his own chair and flicking open a folder to peruse. “I’ll call.”
“Get back to work then.” She ordered at him curtly. “Hurry up.”
“I’ll talk to you soon, Caitlin.”
“Okay.” And still that sweet little valve of humored pleasure in her voice.
Mental note to use the entire first name more often.
He could almost see her eyes slim down at the use of it.
Gibbs swallowed hard with a lift to his jaw, the movement made before the realization that she couldn’t see it could sink in, “Kate, wait.”
“Yeah?”
“You gonna tell me who stole you away from me?” He teased it at her, intentionally played the smile through his voice. “Tell me it wasn’t Fornell.”
“Nobody yet, Gibbs.” There was laughter in her voice again, something nearly incapable of deceit. “That’s why we’re having dinner.”
“No, we’re having dinner because I wanna see you again.” The lazily made lift of Tony’s head went ignored as he wedged his elbow onto the desk, prying the phone back into the center of his palm. “And somebody stole you right out from under me.”
“Can’t let that go, can you?” She was nearly laughing into the comment. “You’ll still see me.”
“I’m working now.” He blinked confusion as he picked up the flicker of green he’d caught sight of, assuming the bobbly headed alien pen belonged to Abby. “I’m hanging up.”
“See ya, Gibbs.” He could hear a smile in her voice and he hung up before he lost the sound of it to an empty line.
“So,” Tony’s lips were pursed up slightly, his head angled as he stared over the pattern the blood pool was making in a tracked and foot worn beige carpet, “no Special Agent Secret Service?”
Gibbs kept his focus on the scene, intentionally avoiding the way DiNozzo had turned his way, “You disappointed, DiNozzo?”
“Yeah, kinda. She’s feisty.” The younger man was already pulling the camera back from the bag he had slung off to the right side of his back. “What exactly did you offer her?”
He finally swung a flat faced glance toward the other man, “Excuse me?”
“I mean, what sort of… it doesn’t matter how I say this, it’s not gonna come out well.”
“Ya think?” Gibbs asked into the room as he rolled his glance back over the carpet, stepping forward carefully so that he could angle opposite the empty space the body had left in the room. “You make sure you photograph this formation straight down. No angles.”
“You offered her a job?” Tony nodded agreement into stepping forward, searching over the carpeting before placing his steps and lifting the camera. “Team member?”
“She got a better offer.” He tossed it off as he stepped into the doorway to the small kitchenette, rubbing gloved fingers together as he looked over the slightly messy but ordinarily domestic counter. The smell of burnt up coffee and something soured hovered in the room.
“So you offered her dinner instead? That was your counter offer?” There was a flicker of near laughter off the other man’s throat.
“DiNozzo,” he breathed it off tiredly, shaking his head even while still searching over the kitchen, “what the hell makes you think that this is up for discussion?”
“It was accidental eavesdropping.” At least he had the decency to almost sound apologetic. Almost. “You were, like, seven feet away from me.”
“You could have distracted yourself.”
“I was distracted by you.” Tony’s voice ramped higher into something that could clearly be classified as an overly affectionate ass kissing. “It was an educational opportunity. I like to learn from the best, Boss.”
“You done?” He finally turned a slow shoulder and a chilled glance back toward the younger agent.
“Yeah, sure.” Tony flashed him a broad smirk. “Sketch and photograph?”
He swayed his hand over the room, “Any day now.”
“So who won her over? Feds?”
Gibbs swallowed the groan as the other man kept at it, “DiNozzo.”
“Got it.” If over-achieving class clowns (who tended to over dramatize to cover their tonnage of emotional insecurity) could ‘pout’, DiNozzo had nailed it. “Sketching. And photographing. On it.”
“Has to be the Feds. Or Homeland.” Tony’s voice canted off into a one sided dissertation, the words babbling off him in an unchecked fashion. “Presidential detail and experience in profiling? They’d both pounce on her. Or the Spooks. Which, wow… that’d be worse. Hate to see her become one of the drones.”
“You have a job to do.” Gibbs flicked into the back of the other man’s arm, tipping into DiNozzo’s space with a slim nodding. “Which you won’t have if you don’t shut up in the next ten seconds.”
“Yes, Boss.” The younger man was already lifting the camera as he carefully side-stepped across the crime scene, the guarding movement both practiced and easily made. “I meant ‘pounce’ in the most metaphorical sense possible, by the way.”
At least it was, actually, less than ten seconds.
She pinched her fingers tighter around the warm cup, easing her steps slower and bracing her heels quieter against the carpeted floor as she took in the mostly empty but still lit up office. DiNozzo was watching her approach from the upper level and she passed him a smile, his steps also suddenly treading softer and slower as he angled his way down the highest stairs. Bemused confusion made his smile look tipped higher on one side and he waved in return, sleepiness evident in the spaces around his eyes. Kate lifted the other hand to still him with a smile that bred familiarity, catching the perked glance of humor he gave her as he bent into the landing’s railing and leaned watching.
Her steps slowed as she angled over Gibbs’ desk, leaning a palm along it as she settled to the corner and shifted the cup closer to the way he was sunken low in the chair. She settled a moment before intentionally motioning the cup back and forth in front of him. His neck was canted back at an angle that would have made it impossible for her to turn her head left for at least a day and his polo was slept-in-rumpled, but he looked more than relaxed in his sleep. His eyelids were wearied dark but his jaw was loose, slack and eased.
“Crap coffee and starched laundry.” He grumbled the words past lazily moving lips, cracking one eye open into the way she was slowly swaying the cup back and forth before him. “Smells like the Hoover building to me.”
“Good guess, but no.” Kate murmured softly, stilling the cup and arching her wrist up as she left it centered in the space before his chest. “Good morning.”
“No, it’s not crappy coffee?” His hand was the only thing to move, palm curving the cup as he blinked a surreptitiously searching glance over her before dipping his head to sniff at it. “Or, no, you’re not working at the Hoover Building?”
She cocked her head blankly against his fishing for leads, “I said ‘good morning’, Agent Gibbs.”
“Morning, Kate.” A boyish smile finally grazed over his lips before he took a long swallow, a sighed noise coming off him as he let himself look over the tailored jacket and skirt. “How’d you get in my office without a visitor pass? DiNozzo clear you?”
“I still have my security clearance.” Her shoulder came up at the same time she crossed one delightfully toned leg over the other and that was about when he noticed how easily comfortable she’d made herself on the edge of his desk.
Well, okay, yeah, he’d already noticed.
But that was about when he realized how much he was truly enjoying the close quarters proximity. For being on the shorter side of tall she had legs that looked awfully long by the way her toned calves curved.
Gibbs lifted her a grin as he wiped his tongue against his bottom lip, drawing down the coffee cup as he shrugged, “Not to my office.”
He could have easily curved his hand against her calf just by dropping his wrist.
And he had to wonder how fast her instincts would have had her catching against it first.
“Oh, but I do.” And her brash countering caught his attention back up, leaning his shoulders back harder into his chair as he took another swallow of coffee. “Your office? When did you become Director?”
“This?” He swirled the bottom of the disposable cup in a circle, the coffee that was still left sloshing around to support his confident tone. “My office.”
“Uhkay.” She nodded a droll agreement over him, a smile flushing her a little as she leaned her head and shoulders forward and her hair followed. “How’s the case?”
He let himself graze a slow glancing over her face and dark downed hair, “Unresolved.”
“That why you slept in your chair?” Her shoulders backed straighter as he stood, keeping an intentional closeness as he stretched his back out and refused to stop looking at her. “You need a bed, Gibbs.”
She wasn’t about to let him lean intimidation on her this time.
There was nothing stopping her from staying exactly where she was - except for him – and he didn’t seem all that interested in making her move from his space.
“I have one, Kate.” The tip of his head seemed to lead his smile angling over her and she suddenly realized that’s why it always looked so adorably young on him even though his eyes were brightly aged.
She just nodded disapproval at him, “Then you need to use it more often.”
“Giving me a reason?” He bit down to keep from grinning into the way she suddenly sucked in a deep breath through her nose, the caramel bright of her eyes flaring a little wider as she stared astonished at him. “Thank you. For the coffee.”
“You’re welcome.” She murmured after a moment, keeping her jaw lifted into the way he was leaned over her.
He finally let himself smile into a silent laugh, voice hashing low and quiet. “Whatcha doin’, Katie?”
“Did you just call me ‘Katie’?” Her eyes went dangerously thin as her head canted a little.
“I mean in my office at,” a deflecting shrug complacently matched the lift of his watch and the shift of his glance, “zero seven thirty. What are you doing here?”
“I have a meeting at zero eight.” She uncrossed her legs and leaned her weight balanced back to the floor, standing into how close he kept, head drawn back into the way he damn near seemed to shift a fraction closer. Impish bastard. He was more than incorrigible - he was downright impossible.
“With?” He was scrutinizing her even while lackadaisically sipping his coffee.
Kate lifted her head into his studying. “Tom Morrow.”
She wasn’t sure she’d actually seen legitimate surprise on him yet.
Felt like a Hail Mary pass to victory.
“Changing your mind?” He questioned tightly, eyes focused on hers so intently that she couldn’t tell if she was actually blushing – but she didn’t doubt it.
“Just reviewing my options.”
A slow nod came off him as he raised the cup and pointed at her with one accusatorily aiming finger, “Shoulda known it wasn’t the Feds.”
She smiled reflexively into his nodding, watching as he shifted and shoved his chair in and stepped back up into her. “And why not?”
“You smell like lavender too.” He held the coffee aside, kept it to his right as he lingered a look down the front of her and dipped his head closer. “And something else. Something deceptive. You’re keeping secrets, Kate.”
“Boss.” DiNozzo distracted her straighter, her shoulders lifting a little defensively to pull them farther separate as he rounded up on them. “Hey, Kate.”
“Morning, Agent DiNozzo.”
Gibbs had already slanted the other man a look that verged on annoyed contempt, his fingers closing up tighter around the cup, “What?”
“Abby’s got that excited yippy puppy thing goin’.” Tony waved a finger toward the elevator opposite from where she’d entered the office. “Wants you to see something.”
“Okay. Thank you.” He nodded an apologetic acceptance toward the younger man before panning blue eyes back to her, “How long’s this meeting?”
“I have no idea.” She shook her head slowly, letting her shoulders lift and then lax as she met the brightness of his eyes. “Honestly.”
“If I don’t see you…”
Kate nodded quickly into the way he drawled off the words, his glance catching over her face, “When you’re done.”
“Right.” He lifted the cup again, wagged it between them slightly. “Thanks again.”
“Hurry up.” She just angled her head aside and toward the elevator, letting a smile cradle along her lips as he banked slow steps backwards before turning his broad back in her direction.
DiNozzo was still watching from perfect stillness at her shoulder, a goofy grin caught up on his mouth as he studied her profile.
“Aren’t you going with him?” She asked tightly as she turned her head into how close he suddenly seemed.
“Naw, he generally witnesses Abby’s empirical epiphanies on his own.” The younger agent waved off, still letting his eyes wander over her face in otherwise silent amusement.
“You’re staring, DiNozzo.”
His grin seemed to bank even wider than it had been, “I’m trying to imagine what you’d look like as a redhead.”
She blinked surprised into the reference, too clearly remembering the woman that had picked Gibbs up straight off the tarmac, “You’re incorrigible.”
Obviously this other woman had been around once or twice – but he wasn’t blocking any of her teasing or, admittedly, intentional flirtation. If anything, he was drawing it out.
Tony just nodded at her once, “Proudly.”
She lifted her hand and waved her fingers around in questioning, “Director Morrow?”
“Up the down.” He thumbed back toward the stairs and stepped back finally, leaning out of her way as she turned from his scrutiny. “Need an escort?”
“I do not.” She wiped against the buttoned run of her jacket as she moved toward the bottom of the stairs, the other hand reaching out to catch against the rail.
“You could get lost.” Tony tossed up after her, his glance just noticeably stroking down her legs once before sharpening back up.
Kate banked into the same spot of rail he’d been leaned over earlier, “I’d rather be lost, DiNozzo.”