Disclaimer: NCIS and all things related belong to CBS and Bellisario.

The song mentioned later on is 'Sweet Child O'Mine' by Guns'n Roses. The fragment of lyrics used belongs to its legitimate owner.

I will never thank aconline enough for doing the beta read. Sweetheart, UR the best!

BLOODLINES

Chapter 8

When Kate finally arrived at the bar, it was already past nine p.m., but Tom wasn't there yet. He must've lost track of time working on the car, she thought, unworried.

Waiting, she went to get herself something to drink and was surprised to see Susan behind the counter.

"Shouldn't Carol be working the night shift?" she asked.

"She wasn't feeling well so I sent her home," Susan replied. "She must've eaten something foul because she'd spent half the afternoon in the bathroom, puking her guts out."

"Oh," was all Kate had to say. She didn't feel sorry for the redhead in the slightest.

Serving Kate her drink, Susan went to attend to other customers and when she got back Kate started on a new topic.

"Gotta tell you something Sus," she began gingerly.

"Yeah?" Susan prompted.

"Gibbs and I got back together."

The blonde looked at Kate with clear disapproval. "Are you fucking stupid?" she huffed. "Don't come cry on my shoulder when he cheats on you again."

Kate let out a deep breath. "He won't," she said confidently. "He never did it in the first place. It was all a cover up."

Susan arched her brow. "Cover up?" she sneered. "You don't use cheating as a cover up, if anything you cover up the cheating."

Kate nodded and beckoning Susan with her finger, she relayed to her in a hushed tone what had happened between her and Gibbs earlier on, obviously leaving out certain details her friend needn't know about.

The evening went on, and chatting and laughing with her friend, Kate didn't even notice how much time had flown by. Glancing at the clock hanging from the wall, she saw it was almost midnight and her insides recoiled as she realized Tom had never shown up to their meeting.

Worried, she checked her cell, but there was no reception as usual, so she hopped off her stool and went to use the pay phone. She was searching her pockets for some coins when Susan called her over.

"Kate," she began in an apologetic tone, "can I ask you a favor?"

Kate gave her a nod. "What is it?"

"I think Terry might've had a couple too many beers," Susan explained, pointing to her husband, doing karaoke and making everyone's ears bleed with his interpretation of Britney's 'Hit me baby one more time'. "Could you take over the bar while I drive him home?"

"Sure, no problem," Kate agreed.

"Thanks Kate," Susan said and went to drag a protesting Terry off the stage and out of the bar.

Left on her own, Kate took the bartender's place behind the counter, but seeing she currently had no customers to attend to, she headed to the pay phone again. She was just reaching for the handle when all of a sudden, the phone rang.

"Hello?" she said, picking up.

"Kate?"

"McGee?"

"Is Gibbs there with you?" the agent asked.

"No," Kate replied, "he stayed at Carol's."

"We just called her place and she told us he wasn't there."

Kate scanned the room to make sure and said, "He's not here either."

There was a moment of heavy silence on the line and Kate felt her breath run shallow in agitation. "McGee," she gulped, "did something happen?"

"Norfolk PD called," he said. "They found another body in Lake Whitehurst and identified it as Carol Dunn."

Kate wasn't sure she'd heard it right. "What?!" she exclaimed.

"The Carol we know is an impostor," McGee spelled out, "and she most likely killed the real one as well as her brother."

The handle dropped out of Kate's hand as she caught on to the full meaning of his words.

"Kate, are you still there? Kate?!" McGee's voice called but she ignored it.

Running outside, she searched the surroundings until she found a large enough stone, and went back in.

Terry's so gonna kill me for this, she thought, throwing the stone into the glass cabinet that held the old Winchester rifle. The cabinet shattered into pieces, and climbing on a chair, she took the Winchester off it's hinges.

"What the hell are you doing?!" someone shouted behind her back, but she didn't pay them any attention.

Jumping back down, she ran to the office and locking the door behind her, she turned the room inside out until she found an old, dust-covered box of rifle slugs. Taking out a few, she loaded the gun and stuck the rest into her jeans pockets.

Coming out of the office, she saw a small crowd had gathered around the door. "Hey, what's going on?" someone asked but she didn't bother to reply.

Pushing her way across the bar, she got outside, and tossing the Winchester into the trunk, she hopped into the Mustang and hit the gas.

She thought she'd never driven so fast, as she sped down the road at almost 60 mph, afraid she might be too late. To what exactly, she wasn't sure, but she had a feeling Gibbs was in danger.

If you think someone might be after you, or in this case, after your boyfriend, she reminded herself, they probably are. Rule... forty something? She didn't really remember because, contrary to the ones about apologizing, coffee and double checking, she'd heard it quoted only once, by McGee, in relation to Tony's stalker ex-girlfriend.

Arriving at Carol's, she spotted her truck in the driveway, but the house was dark and silent.

The front door was locked, and so was the back one, but it had a window and before she could talk herself out of it, Kate swung the stock of the rifle at the right bottom pane, breaking the glass. She cursed at the noise, and pulling the sleeve of her sweater over her hand, she carefully slid it inside the hole in the glass and unlocked the door.

Rifle ready, she snuck inside the house, trying to ignore that little voice of reason reminding her that this was basically breaking in.

Crossing the kitchen, she came out into an narrow hallway. From there an archway opened on a spacious living room, silent and still. To her left there were a couple of doors leading to a bathroom and a closet, both empty.

Reaching the end of the hallway, she climbed the stairs to the second floor and checked all of the three bedrooms and two bathrooms but found no one there either.

Then a thought struck her, and running back to the kitchen, she quickly located a plain wooden door. It was unlocked, and turning the light on, she descended into the basement.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she scanned the small room. It was filled with junk up to the ceiling, but there was nobody in there and she exhaled deeply in a strange mix of relief and disappointment. On one hand, she was glad she didn't find Gibbs's dead body lying there, on the other, she wished she knew what had happened to him.

Going back upstairs, she sank onto a chair, feeling helpless. She now knew for sure that Carol, or whatever her name actually was, had Gibbs, but she had no idea where she could've taken him.

This wouldn't have happened, she thought, guilt taking over her, if she'd let him come to Quinn's with her. He wouldn't have had to stay at her side like a guard dog. He could've just played some eight-ball with Terry or something, while she had her talk with Tom, and then they could've-

She stopped in her train of thought, the dots in her head connecting to form a perfectly clear picture, and suddenly she knew exactly where she had to go.

§§§

Gibbs blinked a few times and the bleary shapes surrounding him began to sharpen into focus.

He was in a large living room with cream painted walls and a wooden floor. On the left there was a table with a couple of chairs, on the right, a battered old couch in front of a TV set and a shelf full with books and DVDs.

He didn't recognize the place and had no idea how he'd gotten there. The last thing he remembered was watching some TV at Carol's, the rest felt cloudy and confused.

He tried getting up, but then he realized his wrists and ankles were tied to the chair he was sitting on with silver duct tape.

There was a shuffling sound, and a woman with strawberry blonde hair made her way into the room, dragging along the body of a young man. She was dressed a plain cotton shirt and jeans, had no shoes, and was wearing oversized latex gloves.

Lying the man down, she turned around and noticed Gibbs had regained consciousness. "Sleeep well?" she said, the corners of her mouth turning up in a mocking grin.

Gibbs gave her a glare, his confusion turning to anger, as memories came flashing through his mind. His eyes drifted towards the man lying on the floor and he recognized the thick, dark blonde locks and the dirty blue overall. It was Tom Wells.

Looking back at the redhead, he grumbled, "You aren't Carol, are you?"

"Nope," she admitted, letting out a hearty laugh.

"Who are you then?" Gibbs scoffed. "Her evil twin?"

"I guess I'm just a look-alike. They say everybody's got one."

"What's your real name?"

"If Carol won't come out of your mouth, now that you know I'm not her," she said, amused, "you can just call me Foxy."

Gibbs sneered. That was the nickname the Tuckers called her, and getting to know her better, he figured it fit more than well, and not just because of the hair.

Foxy reached behind her back, drawing out a gun, and Gibbs immediately recognized his own Sig Sauer. His blood ran cold as he finally realized the full gravity of his situation.

His mind went to the people he'd be leaving behind. He thought of DiNozzo and McGee, how they'd have to make it on their own, of Ducky, a good friend, of Abby, who was attached to him like they were DNA, and he also thought of Kate. He imagined her face when she stared into his casket, her eyes puffy and red with tears, and something revolted in his stomach. No! He couldn't let her suffer like that, he couldn't let any of them suffer like that, because deep down he knew that all those people cared about him, just as much as he cared about them.

Desperate, he struggled against his bonds and his fingers scraped against something sharp. There seemed to be a tip of a nail sticking out of the chair frame and he thought that, perhaps, if he managed to stretch his arms far enough, he could use it to break the tape holding his wrists.

"How did you come across Carol?" he asked Foxy, trying to buy some time by making her talk.

"I met her at a gas station close to DC," the redhead replied and placing the gun on the table, she began tipping over pieces of furniture.

She was setting up a crime scene, Gibbs realized and his eyes darted to Tom Wells, lying unconscious by the opposite wall. The poor guy was about to be framed.

"Carol and I immediately noticed our likeness and joked we could've been sisters separated at birth," Foxy continued. "She told me she was going to Norfolk and I asked her if I could join in for the ride. She agreed right away, trusting little thing," she let out a pitiful snort

Never take a hitchhiker, Gibbs thought, and asked, "You knew then and there you were going to kill her, didn't you?"

The redhead nodded 'yes'. "I had to, if I wanted to take her place."

"What for? She was just a random small town girl."

"Exactly."

Gibbs gave the redhead a confused stare but she didn't care to elaborate. Instead, she went on with the story.

"On the way to Norfolk, I manipulated Carol into telling me everything about herself," she recounted, trashing the room to make it look like there'd been a struggle. "When we hit an empty stretch of road, somewhere past Suffolk, I pretended to be sick, and when Carol pulled over, I knocked her out and tossed her into the trunk. I drove to a motel where I cleaned my face up, dyed my hair red, and cutting hers off, I used it as makeshift extensions. When Carol came to her senses I..." she paused, looking for the right word, "I persuaded her," she finally said, "into giving up some useful information, like her social security number and such. Then I suffocated her with a plastic bag and tossed her into a lake."

Gibbs stilled, when throwing one last book off the shelf, Foxy turned her attention back to him. Squinting her eyes, she looked him all over and he swallowed hard, wondering if she'd noticed he'd been trying to free himself. "What about William?" he asked, in an attempt to keep her distracted.

"Carol didn't tell Will she was coming, so I never even meant to meet him, but then I stumbled across him at a bar," she replied, her tone disbelieving. "He initially took me for his sister, but as the evening went on he figured out I wasn't really her."

Of course he did, he was Carol's brother, Gibbs thought. "You killed him so the truth wouldn't come out," he guessed.

"He threatened to go to the police," the redhead said it like it was a justification.

Walking over to Wells, she knelt down and began taking his clothes off. She was facing with her back to Gibbs, and he took the opportunity to shift on his chair, trying to reach the small metal tip sticking out of the wood. His arms hurt like hell and he wondered whether he might've strained a joint or two, but he couldn't give up.

Man up marine, he told himself and fighting the pain, he extended his arms farther down. The nail grazed the edge of the tape wrapped around his wrists, but then the redhead turned to face him again and he froze.

He watched her put Wells's jeans, shirt and overall on, and it dawned on him that she was doing it, so, when she shot him, the GSR would remain on the man's clothes. That was the final step of the setup, he thought, and felt a dead weight drop into his stomach as he realized he'd run out of time.

In a final attempt to delay his execution he blurted out, "How'd you know we figured you out?"

"I didn't," Foxy said with a smirk.

Gibbs let out a defeated sigh. "You've been planning this all along, haven't you?" he asked, even if he already knew the answer.

"At first, I wanted to frame the Tuckers," she confessed, "or perhaps Harper, but then I figured I'd better not mess with any of them. Tom here," she used her foot to roll him over, "was a much smarter choice."

"You won't get away with this," Gibbs hissed.

The redhead just snorted. "Oh, I will," she said with confidence. "Tomorrow the police will find a perfect murder-suicide crime scene complete with a note. It will look like you figured out Tom was your man and came to arrest him. He put up a resistance and during the fight he took hold of your gun and shot you. Then he panicked and shot himself."

"The local cops may buy it, but NCIS won't," the agent assured her. The evidence McGee had taken to DC would nail her.

An expression of uncertainty crossed the redhead's face, but she quickly regained her poise. "Save your breath Gibbs," she scoffed, coming over to him. "You won't talk me out of this."

Gibbs meant to retort, but Foxy put a hand over his mouth, keeping him quiet. Sneaking behind him, she ran her free hand over his upper back and chest, and leaning down, she whispered into his ear, "I'd love to have some fun with you Special Agent Gibbs." She placed a small kiss on the side of his neck. "What a shame I have to kill you."

"Get your hands off him, you bitch!" spoke an angry female voice and perking his head up, Gibbs saw Kate standing in the doorframe.

Foxy quirked a brow. "'Cause if I don't, then what?" she asked, pointing to the rifle in Kate's hands. "Ya gonna shoot me?"

"You can bet on that," the brunette replied, her voice cold with fury.

The redhead appeared to consider her options, then raised her arms up in surrender. "Fine, you win," she said, taking a couple of steps out, and when Kate let her guard down, she dove for the Sig Sauer laying on the table.

Kate fired and missed by a whisker, but dodging the shot, the redhead lost her grip of the gun, sending it sliding across the table to end up somewhere on the floor.

Getting on her knees, Foxy crawled under the table to retrieve the Sig, but just as she reached for it, a pair of hands yanked at her leg and she sprawled on the floor.

Dragging the redhead out from under the table, Kate punched her square in the face, but she recovered quickly and hit her back.

The two women began to wrestle, and taking advantage of the commotion, Gibbs tried to free himself again. He flexed his arms, and the tape, already split at the edge, began to rip off.

The rustling sound of the torn off tape distracted the redhead, giving Kate the edge she needed. Stretching her arm, she took hold of the Winchester that lay discarded on the floor, and when Foxy turned back to her, she slammed the stock into her temple.

The redhead tumbled to the floor, senseless, and Kate crawled away, panting for air. In a split second, Gibbs was next to her, pulling her up to her feet and into his arms. Holding her tight, he whispered, "It's over Katie."

"I really hate redheads," she huffed and Gibbs couldn't help but laugh.

At the other end of the room, Tom began to stir. Opening his eyes, he looked around in utter bewilderment.

The room looked as if a tornado had passed through it, there were Kate and Gibbs holding each other like they'd just survived the apocalypse, and at their feet there lay Carol dressed in his jeans, shirt and overall. Then suddenly he realized that he was only in his boxers. Pointing to the redhead he asked, horrified, "Why the hell is she wearing my clothes?!"

Gibbs and Kate broke away from each other and exchanging a glance, they said in unison, "It's a long story."

§§§

Sunday, August 29th 2004

Kate and Gibbs sat at the counter at Quinn's, exhausted, after spending the rest of the night at the police station, but happy.

The fake Carol had been arrested and was temporarily in the custody of the local police. McGee and DiNozzo were currently making arrangements for her to be turned over to NCIS and taken to Washington. It turned out that, when they couldn't reach Gibbs, the two of them had alerted the local PD about the redhead being potentially dangerous and immediately headed down.

A wonderful aroma filled the air and Susan Quinn came out of the kitchen with a two plates of pancakes. "Chocolate syrup and applesauce," she announced, placing them in front of Kate and Gibbs respectively. "On the house."

Gibbs immediately reached for the treat, his mouth watering. He loved pancakes.

"In yours I put something special," Susan said with a mischievous smile and he placed the fork down and eyed the food warily.

The blonde chuckled. "Don't be a chicken Gibbs," she dared. "Try it."

Eyes fixed on Susan, Gibbs risked a bite. "Cinnamon?" he mumbled, munching on the pancake.

"Uh-huh," she nodded. "I heard you like it."

"I do," Gibbs admitted, glancing over at Kate, who blushed a little and pretended to be very absorbed with her food. Turning his attention back to Susan, he asked suspiciously, "Is this some sort of tactic to make me let my guard down?"

"Last night Kate told me that you broke-up with her to protect her from some terrorist that was after you," Susan said. "Knowing that, I figured you weren't such a bastard after all and that I owed you an apology for that coffee."

He chuckled. "Apology accepted."

In the meantime DiNozzo and McGee came to the bar.

"We got word from Abby, boss," Tony announced. "She got a hit on AFIS on our Foxy Lady's fingerprints."

"Her real name is Jessica Ford and she's originally from Portland," McGee took over. "She's been previously arrested for theft on more than one occasion and and her prints also popped up in a case of robbery with homicide in California."

"She stole Carol's identity in order to hide from the police," Gibbs noted, remembering their conversation from the night before.

"Yeah," the Italian sneered, "and now she'll have to face up to us."

"Abby matched her DNA to that from the blood Tony found at the crime scene," McGee reported. "The partial on the glass is also hers. What's hinky is the hair. It turns out that it belongs to the real Carol Dunn."

"Oh, I think I can explain that," Gibbs cut in. "Last night Jessica told me she'd cut Carol's hair and used itto make... err... extensions."

"Hair aside, we have more than enough to press her with multiple aggravated charges," the younger agent said with a satisfied smirk. "She'll be spending the rest of her life in jail."

Susan shook her head in disbelief. "And to think I let this... this criminal tend to my bar!" she fumed.

"You know, there's one thing I still don't get about this entire story," Gibbs said and four pair of eyes set on him, questioning. "What the hell happened to Julie Harper?"

Tony shrugged his shoulders and said, "It turns out she wasn't involved in Dunn's murder after all."

"Yeah, I figured that." Gibbs gave the younger agent an annoyed look.

Averting her gaze, Susan shifted behind the counter, which didn't go unnoticed by the older agent.

"You know something, don't you?" he asked.

After a moment of thought Susan said, "Julie really ran off, and I helped her do it." She let out a sigh, then continued, "Contrary to the rumors, she and Will were never anything more than good friends. For her he was a role-model of sorts."

"Frank Harper mentioned Julie wanted to join in with the Navy, just like Dunn," McGee remembered.

Susan nodded. "She never had the guts to stand up to her father though, so Carol and I came up with a plan," she recounted. "We knew all too well that old Frank would rather lock Julie up in the basement than let her do what he believes to be a 'man's job', so I pulled some strings to get Julie a new identity. Then, going to see her brother in Norfolk, Carol took Julie with her and dropped her off in DC where she met a contact of mine that provided her with new documents."

The blonde went to get her bag, and taking out her cell, she showed the agents a photo of a pretty young gingerhead in a blue patterned uniform and cap. "She's currently in Great Lakes, undergoing recruit training," she said. "If William were alive, he'd be proud of her."

§§§

After catching on a few hours of sleep, the Washington guests finally got to go home.

Tony and McGee left first, taking a handcuffed and very upset Jessica a.k.a. Carol with them. Kate and Gibbs were supposed to follow right behind them, but they hadn't considered one tiny detail: getting kidnapped, Tom hadn't finished fixing Kate's car.

Luckily for them, Terry came up with a solution. "Why don't you just take the Mustang?" he offered.

Kate and Gibbs exchanged glances then looked at the bearded man, disbelieving.

"Seriously?" Kate asked.

Terry smiled and nodded 'yes'. "You can give her back next weekend," he said. "There's gonna be an 'end of summer' party on Saturday. Why don't you guys drop by?"

Gibbs felt hesitant, parties weren't really his kind of thing, but how could he resist Kate's big brown puppy dog eyes, looking at him expectantly. "Fine," he finally surrendered, "we're gonna come."

Terry flashed him a content smile. "See ya Saturday Jethro," he said, pulling him into a man hug. "Take good care of our Katie-girl."

"I will," Gibbs assured him and then went to say goodbye to Susan.

Shaking his hand, she said, "It was nice to meet you in person Gibbs."

Gibbs chuckled a little. "You too Sus." He shook her hand back.

Then both the Quinns kissed and hugged Kate and they were ready to go.

Kate insisted on driving, and on their way out of town, she took an unexpected turn into a dusty country road.

"Are you taking some sort of shortcut again?" Gibbs asked, half curious and half worried about the unplanned detour.

"No," she laughed, "I'm just taking you somewhere special before we go home."

A few minutes later the Mustang rolled into a clearing on top of a hill, where a lone oak tree grew by the edge of a narrow slope. Down in the valley the town lay surrounded by endless miles of fields and forest.

Kate and Gibbs got out of the car and leaned against the striped hood. It was peaceful and quiet. Crickets were chirping in the tall grass and the air was heavy with a coming storm.

The sun hung low over the horizon, bathing everything in a warm orange glow. Its fading light played on Kate's hair, making it shimmer with copper and bronze reflections.

To hell with redheads, Gibbs thought, brushing off a lock that had fallen over her eyes, brunettes are even better.

The radio in the car began playing a classic rock tune and the vibrant sounds of electric guitar filled the still evening air.

Getting his guts up, Gibbs stood up and stretched his hand out to Kate in a silent invitation.

She raised her brows, surprised and said, "I thought you didn't dance."

Cocking his head, he replied, "I figured that we could use some practice for Saturday."

Kate giggled, and when she finally accepted Gibbs's hand, he pulled her into his arms and they began swaying to the rhythm.

Her head rested on his shoulder, and she closed her eyes, reveling in his scent and the warmth of his body. Last night, she realized, she'd come very close to losing him again, and this time for good, but he was still there, alive and breathing, and that was the only thing that mattered.

Putting a little distance between them, Gibbs led her into an inside turn and she spun on her feet, sending the fringes on her jacket flying all around her, before landing back safely into his embrace.

She looked up to meet his eyes, gleaming with unshed emotion, and adjusting the lyrics a little, she sang along with the radio, "He's got the eyes of the bluest sky, and if they thought of rain, I'd hate to look into those eyes, and see an ounce of pain."

Gibbs cocked his brow. "Didn't take you for a GnR fan."

"When they were teens, my older brothers liked to listen to classic rock," Kate offered by means of an explanation.

He smiled in acknowledgement, and holding her firmly by the waist, he brought his palm up to tenderly stroke one rosy cheek. Then, tipping her head a little he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers.

Kissing, they moved back towards the car and lifting her up, Gibbs sat Kate on the hood.

His palm stroked up and down her smooth thighs, and she sighed in pleasure, feeling a wave of warmth pool down into her core. Holding on to his shoulders, she kissed him harder, grinding her body into his, and a low growl escaped his throat.

He broke away from the kiss and shook his head as if to say 'you're just incredible'.

"Gibbs?" she murmured, tracing the line of his jaw with the tips of her fingers.

He gave her a questioning look. "Hmm?"

She bit her lip. "I just realized I still haven't told you something very important."

"What?" he asked.

She dropped her gaze for a second, as if she were a little embarrassed, then looking back up at him, she smiled that adorable dimpled smile of hers and said, "I love you too."

THE END

A/N: And they lived happily ever after! Nah! Just kidding! More adventures to come in the future. There's supposed to be a book 3 of the series but my idea for it is still pretty vague and I'm going through some personal sh** so it might take a while before I post it. I may however add a couple extra chapters to this story containing some related oneshots.

So? Loved it? Hated it? Please be so kind and leave a review!