Hello! So I'm sure a few of you are a bit confused. Firstly, for those that are trying to work out when they've ever read a story with this name, chances are they haven't. This my lovely readers was once called 'The Old Team'. I have decided I want to completely revamp this story, and that includes a new name. Basically, I plan to clean up the story since I like to think I've got better as a writer since I started this story, plus I want to break the episodes up differently, and other stuff like that.

Secondly, I'm SO sorry it's taken so long to get back to this project! I can't believe I haven't updated in over a year : (

I'm really sorry, but I plan to make it up to you guys : ) I definitely want to get updates up more frequently for this story, so I'm really going to try my best : )

Anyway, welcome to - Where The Winds Carry Them : )

Like I said, this is my cleaned up version of The Old Team. The first two episodes are going to be VERY different to what people remember : )

But I don't want to spoil it for you too much.

So all I'll say is that, once again, you have my apologies for making you wait so long to start revamping this, and I'll try not to let it happen again.

Please remember that NCIS is not mine, and I hope you enjoy the new version of this story.

Where The Winds Carry Them

The Winds of Fate

Caitlin 'Kate' Todd was fighting hard to squash the growing feeling of dread that was bubbling away in her stomach. She wouldn't admit it out loud, for fear of losing face, but she was nervous. Actually, screw nervous.

She was bloody terrified.

To be fair to herself though, Kate did have a valid reason for feeling the way she did. She was about the face someone that had haunted her for over a year now. Someone that had taken her hostage twice.

A psychopath that honestly didn't care if she lived or died. It was no wonder that put her somewhat on edge.

She refused to show any signs of weakness though. She was a woman in a man's world, which meant she had to work twice as hard to prove herself. She'd be damned if she gave off the impression that she wasn't up to this task, Even if her survival instincts were screaming at her to run away as fast as she could.

Kate let out a worried sigh as she struggled to find something to take her mind off her troubles.

The last thing she needed was to head into this situation with her mind all clogged up. She started to fiddle with her gun, just a nervous tick, but she quickly forced herself to stop.

She didn't want any accidents involving bullets.

Kate and her teammates, Anthony 'Tony' DiNozzo, Timothy McGee, and her boss, Leroy Jethro Gibbs; were all in a black federal agency car, Gibbs at the wheel and driving in his usual impatient and unnecessarily reckless fashion. They were on their way to a showdown between themselves and a terrorist group, led by the biggest bastard Kate had ever met.

Ari Haswari.

He was the man that had taken her hostage twice, had broke into the N.C.I.S headquarters, and seemed most... intrigued by her. He on the other hand completely unnerved Kate.

It was only natural she was anxious about facing him again.

But this time he'd better be ready for her.

This time, he was NOT going to get away.

The drive had been silent for the most part, after they had managed to piece together the clues and work out Ari's location. Now they just had to wait until they reached their destination. Kate hoped that they'd make it in time to stop whatever nefarious scheme he had cooked up.

They still didn't even know the target for his attack, but Kate knew if Ari was involved, it was going to be catastrophic.

"Do you know how to work that if we have to jam the drone, McGee?" Gibbs' voice suddenly broke the silence.

Kate was glad for the distraction from her troubled thoughts, so she turned away from the window she was staring out of, to listen as Mcgee replied.

"Urr… well, Abby explained it to me, but I've gotta be honest with you, boss. I…" McGee was cut off.

Not liking the way his youngest agent's sentence had been heading, Gibbs had taken his hands off the wheel and turned around in his seat, trying to pluck the bulky computer that Mcgee was holding out of his hands. Thankfully, Tony reacted quickly and lunged for the wheel, steering them straight again when they began to wobble off the road.

Kate rolled her eyes in annoyance.

That was so typical of Gibbs, to do something so needlessly reckless. It would be a miracle if they'd survive his driving long enough to even get to the gunfight!

"I'll figure it out!" McGee hastily assured Gibbs.

Kated hoped that he would. If he didn't... she didn't want to think what chaos that might bring.

Gibbs scowled and turned back around, focusing on driving again, much to the other three's relief.

"What's today's date, Kate?" Tony suddenly asked her.

The female agent quickly checked her watch which conveniently displayed the date as well as the time.

"May 24th" she told him, not really understanding why he wanted to know.

"Paula Cassidy's ship gets back from the Gulf today. We're hooking up this weekend" he said smugly.

Kate frowned, extremely irritated.

That was Tony in a nutshell. They were on their way to take out a terrorist cell, and what was he talking about? His mess of a part-time relationship with Paula Cassidy.

Typical.

"Don't you think you should concentrate on the terrorist attack first?" she reminded him snidely.

"The whole Marine Amphibious Strike Group returns today, Kate" Tony informed her, tone grim, "Five ships, all of them headed to Norfolk".

Kate's already troubled expression turned even darker.

She hated to admit it, but Tony probably had a point. And if he was right, then it looked like they knew Ari's target now.

"Tony, I doubt that a drone, even one packed with explosives, could do any real damage to a warship" McGee pointed out, his tone borderline patronising.

"The pier will be packed with Navy families, McGee" Gibbs stated grimly.

Kate felt her stomach squeeze uncomfortably tight.

That definitely had to be Ari's target. All those poor innocent people. The lovers and soulmates of America's finest heroes. Their parents. Their brothers and sisters. Their children.

So many families would be torn apart if this attack succeeded. And for what? To inspire terror. Well, it would certainly manage that.

Kate was determined to prevent it.

"Welcoming them home" Tony's voice dragged her back to the present.

"So let's quit yapping, and let's go stop them" Kate growled determinedly, a spark of anger burning in her eyes.

Kate loved her country. And she was willing to die to protect it. One way or another, she was going to stop this.

The alternative wasn't an option.

Agreeing with her sentiments, Gibbs slammed his foot down on the gas. They had to get there in time to stop this.

They just had too.

When they arrived at the location they had traced Ari's terrorist cell too, Gibbs brought the car to a sudden stop, and Kate almost hit her head off the back of his chair. She quickly got out of the car, and the moment she did, she was buffeted by the wind, her hair flying madly around her face, completely obscuring her vision.

"There's a hell of a storm moving in!" Tony roared over the thundering wind as he disembarked from the car.

Kate vaguely remembered watching a weather report that morning saying there would be strong winds today, and a huge storm would have settled over the city by nightfall.

"Great" Kate spat in annoyance, "Just great. How are we supposed to fire our guns in this?!"

"By taking great care" Gibbs said as he too exited the car.

When the final member of their party, McGee, was out of the car too, he brought the jammer over to them. They all looked around at the derelict buildings, trying to determine the best point of entry to each warehouse. Kate in particular was carefully monitoring potential obstacles.

The wind roared fiercely again. It reminded her that not even nature was on their side right now.

"You figured out how that thing works yet?" Gibbs demanded of McGee.

Thankfully he had managed to work it out in the car. Otherwise he'd probably have received a head-slap. That and the drone of explosives would destroy the pier and kill everyone on it.

For which Kate would have head-slapped him.

Multiple times.

"I did. The drone is on one of three radio frequencies" McGee explained, looking in his element with this computer stuff, "It'll take a few minutes to jam each of them but when I hit the frequency it's on, the drone should go off-target".

Gibbs nodded, and turned to Kate.

She wasn't looking at him though. She had just pulled a shotgun from the trunk of the car, and was now testing the weight of it in her hands. Sure, she'd fired a shotgun before, just never in winds as strong as these.

The damn weather was going to make this one tricky.

"It's gonna take hours to search these warehouses, boss" Tony piped up, a hint of a whine in his voice.

Kate was forced to agree that he was right. There was too many of them, and they were rapidly running out of time.

She prayed it wasn't already too late.

"Give me the shotgun" Gibbs ordered gruffly.

Kate knew better than to argue, and swiftly turned it over to him. Gibbs held it up high and aimed at a light hanging from one of the buildings. He immediately pulled the trigger.

Not been expecting it, Kate couldn't help but jump out of instinct as an echoing gunshot could be heard over the howling wind. The bulb shattered and glass rained down to the ground.

The act of vandalism served its purpose.

Less than five seconds later, they could suddenly hear the sound of someone shouting. Kate looked up, and the three men mirrored her. On the roof of a neighbouring building, the four federal agents saw one of the terrorists appear, a machine gun in hand.

Faster than Kate could even blink, Gibbs had the gun trained on him and he pulled the trigger once more.

There was a yell of pain, and the man fell backwards out of sight. The bullet had hit him square in the chest.

It stood to reason that he was dead.

"That was effective" Kate commented casually.

Gibbs ignored the light sarcasm in her tone.

"Tony, take the fire escape" he ordered, nodding towards an old, rusty ladder running up the side of the building.

"Got it" Tony nodded, drawing his gun.

"Kate, you're with me" Gibbs continued.

"Sure thing Gibbs" Kate agreed, likewise drawing her weapon.

"McGee, start jamming" Gibbs instructed McGee.

McGee didn't verbally respond like the other two. Instead he simply fell to his knees and placed the computer on the ground before him. Within seconds, his fingers were a blur over the keyboard.

Kate smiled hopefully.

If McGee was fast enough in jamming the signal, then they could stop Ari before he had chance to launch the drone. Kate prayed that this would work. She had no idea how she'd live with the guilt if they failed.

Gibbs let out a low whistle, and knowing that was her cue, Kate rushed off into the warehouse, Gibbs at her side.

She only hoped that as they entered the dark, squalid building, that all of them would leave in one piece.

The alternative didn't bare thinking about.

As they navigated their way through the haphazard warehouse, Kate held up her shotgun - which Gibbs had returned to her in favour of his own gun - keeping up her guard in case she and Gibbs were ambushed. Gibbs was right behind her, his own weapon drawn.

They ventured further into the damp, dusty warehouse.

CLANK.

Kate froze on the spot, straining her ears, as she heard someone knock into something.

For a moment there was silence.

Then she heard footsteps.

Kate acted on instinct, and all but threw herself behind some wooden pallets and a white car, using them for cover. Gibbs quickly crouched down next to her, having heard the person approach as well.

That's when the firing started.

Another terrorist was spraying bullet towards them, and judging by the racket it was making, Kate reasoned that it was a machine gun.

She and Gibbs quickly returned fire.

Kate didn't like shooting people. In fact, she hated it deeply. It wasn't like in an arcade game where it was all in good fun. The people she fired at didn't get multiple lives. But sometimes it was necessary.

Kate knew that.

That didn't mean she found any pleasure it in.

She and Gibbs continued firing at the man, who was hidden behind a pillar holding the roof up. This presented them with a challenge for it made him incredibly difficult to hit, and all the whilst the windows and the lights of the car they were behind exploded, raining glass down on them both.

It was a very chaotic gunfight.

When they attempted to subdue him with bullets again, their enemy dodged behind some cardboard boxes, running to get a better vantage point on them. Kate was determined that that was NOT going to happen. She suddenly heard crackling over the earwig in her ear, and then she heard McGee's voice through their open radio network.

"Boss, they fired the drone" he regetfully informed them.

Kate noted the nervous quiver in his tone, and bit her lip. She was still holding out hope that he could use the jammer to stop it.

She couldn't quite deny that snide little voice in the back of her mind, whispering 'What if he can't?'

Kate ignored it.

She had a job to do. She couldn't afford to get distracted.

"Jam it McGee!" Gibbs shouted to be heard over the tremendous noise of the gun-battle.

Kate didn't hear if McGee replied or not.

Whilst Gibbs had their opponent engaged in the gunfight, she used his distraction to her advantage and ran through a door and up some stairs to get up to the next level. That guy back there was only one of the terrorists. They had to take them all out.

It was the only way to end this.

"Got one down, boss" Tony's voice suddenly said over the radio network, "No visual on anyone else".

Kate reached the doorway which would lead out onto the roof.

When she heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind her, she whirled on the spot, raising her gun up high. She sighed in relief when she saw it was only Gibbs.

She presumed that meant his opponent was dead.

Taking a soothing breath to calm her nerves, Kate pushed open the door to the roof.

It was showtime.

"Let's do it" Gibbs said gravely, before stepping out onto the roof.

It started immediately.

Kate ducked her head as she heard bullets zipping through the air. She followed Gibbs out onto the roof, but was knocked back a few steps and almost lost her balance.

That bloody wind!

Her hair swarmed around her face, and she quickly pushed it aside, cursing that she hadn't tied it back into a ponytail and out of the way. To be fair though, it hadn't been windy until they'd got into the car.

The firing continued as more terrorists advanced on them. Forcing more hair out of her face, Kate saw Gibbs duck behind part of the roof which was slightly raised.

Unable to fight with her vision so badly impaired by her long hair and the wind, Kate was forced to take cover back inside the stairwell. She quickly brushed the hair out of her face. There wasn't any room for errors here. She knew she had to be careful.

She made a promise to herself though.

If she survived this, she was never going into battle without a hairclip again!

Kate could only see straight ahead of the door now, but when one of the terrorists ran into her line of sight, she began firing at him. Several of her bullets missed due to the high winds throwing them off target, but her third hit its mark, and the man dropped to the ground.

He was dead before he touched the floor.

Another voice was shouting something in a different language. They sounded pissed, and out for blood. Her blood to be precise.

Kate didn't care.

The adrenaline was keeping her going for now, which was good because it kept her on top of her game, which was exactly where she needed to be right now. Even if her hair apparently didn't agree.

Another man rushed across the line of vision the doorway provided, but before she could take him out too, someone else fired a shot and he fell over backwards in a pool of blood.

Again, he was dead by the time his body stopped falling.

Cautiously poking her head around the door frame, and pushing her hair out of her face again, Kate sighed in relief when she saw that Tony had been the one to kill the second man. She noticed that Gibbs had seen their teammate too.

He and Tony both darted across the roof top and spotted a man at a computer, obviously the one in control of the drone. They started firing as he turned and spotted them, and between them the two men made short work of him.

Kate, who had been playing it more cautiously and was looking out for more terrorists, deemed it safe enough to venture out onto the roof again.

The wind hindered her, but soon enough she managed to stumble over to where the two men were stood. She cursed angrily.

If she ever felt the wind again it would be far too soon!

Kate joined Gibbs and Tony at the beeping computer, and whilst Tony took the man's gun and moved it away from him, keeping his own gun trained on the man, Kate and Gibbs turned to the device responsible for all of this.

"Clear" Tony confirmed him to be dead.

Like there was any doubt after he'd taken six bullets.

Kate examined the screen closely. It was displaying the pier, with a red tracker on it, guiding the drone right to where all the families of the navy were.

"It's still going" she informed Gibbs anxiously.

"McGee, this thing is still flying!" Gibbs yelled into his earpiece angrily.

"Okay, one frequency down, two to go" McGee's voice replied over the radio network.

Kate let out a sigh of frustration. This was taking too long. He needed to go faster.

They were going to run out of time.

Then, much to her horror, Kate and the other two suddenly heard more gunshots and a cry from McGee over the radio. For a moment, they all froze in shock, but simultaneously sighed in relief when they heard someone return fire.

Kate prayed that McGee hadn't been injured.

But if he could still return fire, then at least he wasn't dead. That was something to be grateful for. Despite all the teasing, sometimes even coldness, that the team would throw at each other, they did all genuinely care about one another, and McGee was more innocent than the other three.

Because of that, Kate was a little bit more protective over him than she was over Gibbs and Tony.

Not that she cared for them any less of course.

"Boss, one of them shot my transmitter!" McGee's voice exclaimed over the radio frantically.

"Either of you know how to fly this thing?" Tony asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Haven't got a clue" Kate admitted, eyeing the device with loathing.

"Likewise, but I do know how to crash it" Gibbs stated gruffly.

Kate wondered what he meant, and was about to voice that question.

She never got chance too.

Before she or Tony could move, their leader had taken a step away from the computer, and opened fire on it. Naturally, within seconds it was completely destroyed.

Kate tensed, hoping he hadn't just made a fatal mistake for which the navy families would pay the price. From the look on Tony's face, he was thinking the same thing she was.

They waited in silence.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Nothing.

Kate let out a sigh of relief. Based purely on the fact that she couldn't hear a massive explosion somewhere in the distance, it seemed that Gibbs' little stunt had done the trick.

She was about to congratulate him, but again, she never got the chance.

Before the words could even form on Kate's lips, Gibbs had raced over to the edge of the roof, the side that was overlooking their car. That was where McGee was stationed, but to Gibbs' dismay, he couldn't see him, which troubled him.

"McGee, are you okay?" he asked over his earpiece.

"I got one terrorist inside" McGee quickly replied, and Kate swore she saw a flash of relief pass over Gibbs' usually stoic face, "I don't know if I got him, but he's stopped shooting".

"Hold your position" Gibbs instructed his junior agent, "We'll flush him".

"Okay" was McGee's reply.

Gibbs quickly checked the ammunition on his gun. Kate mirrored the action. The last thing she needed was to run out of bullets. That would be even worse than her hair mixed with the wind.

"I'm out" Gibbs informed them.

"Me too" Kate added.

Tony dug around in his pockets for a moment, before he passed Gibbs another pack for his gun. Neither of the men saw a door creak open. They didn't see the man on the other side. They didn't see his gun trained on them.

But thankfully, Kate did.

"SHOOTER!" she screamed so loudly she feared her throat would tear.

Not thinking about the risk to herself, Kate bravely threw herself in front of Gibbs. He was her boss. She respected him and admired him. And there was no way she was going to let him get shot.

No way.

It was her duty to protect him and the others, along with the nation. And Kate would be damned if she let any of them down!

Pain suddenly blazed through her and Kate groaned as she crumpled to the ground with a painful thud. Fighting the urge to whimper, Kate curled up in agony. Thankfully her vest her saved her. The bullet hadn't reached her flesh.

It still hurt like hell though.

Gibbs and Tony opened fire on the man that had tried to sneak attack them, and between them, the two men easily took him out. He fell out of the doorway he was taking cover in, and fell flat on his face.

Once certain he was dead, Gibbs and Tony both turned to their fallen teammate.

"Kate?" Gibbs asked worriedly.

She was in too much pain to reply.

Anxious, and praying they weren't about to turn over her dead corpse, Gibbs and Tony rushed over to her. Tony helped Gibbs turn the woman onto her back. He couldn't deny the fear that threatened to overwhelm him in that moment.

Kate couldn't have died.

It simply wasn't possible.

Kate tried to make a sound, but the pain was still too much. She felt Gibbs unzip her jacket, and heard him sigh in relief when he realised that the bullet was lodged in her bullet- proof vest rather than her body.

Tony realised it too.

He let out a breath he hadn't even realised he was holding.

He knew that the coldness and teasing that he and Kate shared was just a mask to their true relationship. After all, they were partners. They trusted their lives to each other. They knew they had each others back. You couldn't have that relationship with someone and not care about each other. It just wasn't possible.

And the fear that had rushed through Tony in that moment was indescribable.

He prayed he wouldn't have to feel that ever again. And if not forever, then at least not for a really long time.

"You okay?" he asked her gently, unable to help but smile down at her.

Kate playfully groaned as his face hovered over her.

"Ow!" she cried, this time for real, still in a lot of pain, "I just got shot at point-blank range, DiNozzo. What do you think?"

Tony smirked at the usual sarcasm in her voice. She wouldn't be Kate without her sacasm after all.

"That you're not gonna be going to Pilates class tomorrow?" he joked, just so relieved that they were all alive.

Kate didn't grace him with a response.

"Oh… urrr" she groaned in pain.

Taking pity on her, Gibbs and Tony both decided to be nice, and helped her to her feet. Kate wobbled on the spot, but quickly gained her balance. She was almost knocked over though as the wind gusted once more.

"Protection detail is over, Kate" Gibbs smirked as she furiously fought against her hair again.

That had been part of their latest mission. Ari was supposedly after Gibbs again, so Director Morrow had tasked Kate with protecting him, with her life if necessary.

Kate would gladly do that for the man.

"Although how you managed it when you can't even manage your own hair is beyond me" Tony lightly teased.

"Ha. Ha" Kate playfully glared at him, "It is not my fault it so damn windy up here!"

"In all seriousness though, you did good" Tony winked at her.

Kate couldn't help but grin. Tony always had a way of making her smile, whether it be in annoyance, sarcastically, or genuinely. He was a really great guy. And Kate was lucky to have him as a partner. She'd never tell him that though.

She'd never hear the end of it.

"For once, DiNozzo is right" Gibbs admitted, smiling.

Kate couldn't help the laugh that slipped her lips.

"Wow!" she said in amusement, "I thought I'd die before I ever heard a..."

Kate was cut off as three things happened at once.

The wind raged stronger than ever.

She, Tony, and Gibbs all staggered off balance as the force was enough to blow them sideways.

A final gunshot echoed around them.

Kate gasped as she felt something small, made out of metal, lightly knick her temple. Her hair ruffled, but this time it was due to a solid object, not the wind. She had only felt pain for a split second, but long enough to know she hadn't imagined it.

Brushing her fingers against the area she'd felt... whatever it was, Kate gasped as she lowered her hand and saw droplets of blood on the tips of her fingers.

She felt another trickle of blood oozing down her face.

Then it hit her.

She knew what had happened.

The small metal thing had been a bullet.

A bullet that had been fired at the exact same time the wind blew. Which meant... it had been blown off course. Her life had just been saved, because the wind had knocked her off balance... that was... that was... That was too much for her mind to process.

But wait!

If someone had fired at her, then that meant...

They could fire again.

"GET DOWN!" she screamed, genuine fear entering her voice for the first time.

Not giving them chance to react slowly, knowing it could prove fatal, Kate dropped her gun and used every ounce of her strength to push both Gibbs and Tony backwards as hard as she could. Surprised by her sudden manoeuvre, both men fell to the ground, and Kate collapsed on her stomach in between them.

"What the...?!" Tony gawked in astonishement.

"We're under attack!" Kate yelled over the howling wind.

Tony paused, and looked at her properly for the first time since she'd forced them all onto the ground. His eyes widened in horror when he saw the blood trickling down her face freely.

"B-but..." he was too stunned for her words to really sink in, "Who?!"

Kate didn't reply, but she didn't need too.

Gibbs did it for her.

Their boss was staring at them both, thinking about how miraculous it was that both Kate and Tony were both still alive. He couldn't believe just how close he'd come to losing one of them. All because he'd brought them here.

He'd brought them here.

That would have made it his fault if one of them had died.

His blood turned to ice just at the thought.

"Ari..." he whispered in horror.

Kate didn't say anything. There was nothing too say. All that was going through her head was one single, solitary thought. The wind had saved her life. The wind had saved her life. She had escaped death with nothing but a tiny graze, all thanks to the very thing she'd been complaining about for the past twenty minutes.

It was too much to even begin to process.

If she had been standing where she had been for just a moment longer, she'd be dead. Gone forever. Kate decided there and then that she had forever changed her mind.

She most certainly did not hate the wind anymore.

WHOO!

A different way for Kate to have survived : ) I admit, I kind of like the first version where she was wounded but survived better than this. It felt more realistic in a way to me, but this way means that I can involve her right for the off in the next chapter, where as last time she was stuck in a hospital bed in a coma for the first two episodes of season 3, which kinda sucked : (

Leading on from that, in this version of the story, Kill Ari Parts 1 and 2 will now be VERY different to how I originally wrote them, so I hope people are looking forward to it, because I certainly am : )

Beyond that, I don't really have much to say, other than I'm sorry for the delay, and I hope to now be able to update regularly since this story deserves it : )

I'd be very grateful if you'd leave a review on your way out so I know if you guys like the new version of the first chapter : )

Until the next time, keep on reading : )