One short moment

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Sequel to "Demons of the past", about a month after Gibbs tells the team about his son, Kate gets a call at work. When she disappears, her colleagues start to wonder…

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7- Final Goodbye

Only a small group had gathered in the small chapel on Oak Hill cemetery on this rainy spring day. They had come to say goodbye to a girl they had never met, but still they felt as if they had known her for a long time. The small coffin was decorated with white and red roses, a bed of flower on the floor below. Kate sat in the front row, not listening to a word the chaplain said. Her eyes were fixed on the coffin as tears were streaming down her face. If she had looked to either side, she would have noticed the worried looks her friends cast at her.

Gibbs sat on her right side, his hand casually resting on her arm, trying to reassure her, but he knew that she didn´t even realize it was there. He hadn´t realized it when his wife had done the same for him on Leroy´s funeral. He noted that Tony had his hand on her other arm, obviously trying to do the same thing. Ducky sat behind him with Abby and McGee.

Half an hour later the group followed the coffin that was carried towards a freshly dug grave. Except for Ducky and Gibbs, none knew about the site so far. Kate had pulled close to Tony and Gibbs as they had left the chapel and both had an arm wrapped around her as they walked across the cemetery. To any outsider it must have looked odd. When they came to a stop, Kate looked at the grave that lay next to the one that would become Emily´s and her head spun around until she looked into his blue eyes. She could see a few tears glistening in them, which was probably a very rare sight.

They watched in silence as the coffin was lowered into the grave. The chaplain waited for them to step up for the final goodbye. Kate pulled free from her two co-workers and stepped up to the grave. She held a single rose and a small bear in her hands. "Be good. I love you, Emily." She whispered as she watched both items fall into the grave. The sound of the bear hitting the wooden top of the coffin made her cringe and she had to pull herself together to make the few steps back to her friends.

She leaned on Tony, burying her face into his chest as new tears started to flow. He held her tight as he watched their boss walking up to the still open grave. He had pulled a rose out of his coat and tossed it down now. His lips were moving, but the words could not be heard. For a second, Tony gazed at the tombstone that was shaped like a book and lay on the adjacent grave. He swallowed as he read the name on it and suddenly realized why he had seemed so absentminded all day long.

When Gibbs came back, he took Kate from Tony and let him walk up to the grave. Kate was sobbing softly, leaning into his embrace. They stayed like this until McGee had walked up to the grave as the last of them to say goodbye. They slowly walked back to the parking lot. "Tony, can you stay with her tonight?" He asked his agent, who looked at him a bit surprised, but nodded. "See that she takes tomorrow off and gets some rest -the last days were hard." He added and walked to his car, watching how Abby and McGee walked with Ducky.

-3 days later-

Kate had taken the rest of the week off before she felt ready to return to work. Tony had been with her for a day before she had finally convinced him that she was okay. He had been the sweetest person around her and she was grateful for this. He couldn´t relate to what she was going through, but he tried not to let it show and just be there. She hadn´t spoken to Gibbs since the funeral and he had left early today. She had to ask him something and planned to do so the following morning at work.

Around 6 pm, she drove to Oak Hill for a short visit. She had a few white roses to put onto the grave and slowly walked down the way that lead her to the large oak tree underneath which Emily was buried. Walking closer, she noticed a lone figure standing there. She knew who it was immediately and stopped at his side. Both didn´t talk for a while until she had put the roses down. "How are you doing?" He finally asked and she could tell that he either had a cold or had been crying.

"Okay, I guess. It takes some time." She replied and then looked at him. "Thank you." She added and saw him looking back at her.

"What for?" He replied and the look in his eyes told her that he had indeed been crying.

"For being a friend." Kate said and smiled a bit. There wasn´t anything else to be said. She knew that she could return here every time she wanted and felt that her demons had given up for now. Maybe they would come back later, but for now, she felt that everything would be okay somehow. Taking his hand, she started to walk back to the exit, knowing that her daughter had someone watching over her now, just like Kate had someone. She had never imagined that this person could be Gibbs, but he had that different side, only that he managed to hide it most of the time.

END