Disclaimer: Not my characters, alas.
A/N: Spasibo Nat for beta'ing. Written for Mirela Gibbs for lj's NCIS ficathon.
No one sees it coming; one minute the atmosphere in the interview room is normal – a gunnery sergeant spouting lies about an alibi, Gibbs nodding and not believing a word – and in the next moment the gunnery sergeant leaps across the table and stabs Gibbs with a knife he'd managed to sneak in.
Kate, watching through the mirror, responds immediately. There's an alarm in the observation room; Kate slams her palm on the button on her way out. She bursts into the interrogation room, her gun already drawn, and shoots the gunnery sergeant; once in the chest, once in the shoulder. Double tap.
He stumbles backwards, the knife slipping from his fingers. Kate kneels at Gibbs' side, her hands fluttering over his wound.
"Kate?" Gibbs' voice is weak. One thing he has never been is weak, and the thought brings tears to her eyes.
"It's okay," she says. "You're going to be okay."
She forces herself to press down on the injury to slow the flow of blood. There's so much blood, too much. It's slick on her hands; her tears are hot on her cheeks. This isn't happening, she thinks. This can't be happening.
The gunny struggles into a sitting position. Kate swings her gun in his direction, keeping one hand on Gibbs, but the gunny just looks at her. His breathing is shallow, his eyes close, and then he is still.
Kate looks at Gibbs again. She can't stop the bleeding and no one has come yet and she's terrified he's going to die right here with her.
"Gibbs? Stay with me! Don't close your eyes. Keep looking at me." Her voice catches in her throat. "Dammit, Gibbs."
The door opens again. She doesn't look to see who it is; she keeps talking to Gibbs, not even hearing what she tells him. Then she's pulled aside and she watches numbly as paramedics begin to work on Gibbs and on the gunny.
"Kate?" Tony's voice cuts into her thoughts. "Kate, are you okay?"
She nods.
"Ducky wants to have a look at you." Tony tries to guide her out of the room but she breaks from his grasp and keeps her attention on Gibbs.
"Kate, he'll be okay." Tony sounds certain; Kate envies him that conviction. All she can think is that she was sitting on the floor earlier, trying her damndest to keep Gibbs from bleeding to death beneath her hands. She glances at her hands then; they are still covered in blood. She holds them away from her body, horrified.
Even her clothes are covered in blood. Gibbs' blood.
Choking back a sob, she turns away. Tony gently wraps his arms around her and says, "Come on, Kate. Ducky's waiting."
This time, she does nothing to prevent him from leading her out of the room.
Abby hates hospitals; she always has.
Not the actual hospital, but the waiting around part. She hates waiting rooms. The chairs are uncomfortable, the lights are too bright, they always smell too clean, too sterile – and time somehow slows when a person is waiting for news of a loved one.
Abby glances around the room. Tony and Ducky are in one corner, talking in low tones. Tony is probably asking Ducky what Gibbs' chances are. Gibbs' mysterious redhead – who turns out to be his dead wife's sister; how weird is that? – is sitting a few seats away from the men, speaking on her cell phone. It also turns out that she's happily married, which means McGee owes Abby twenty bucks.
Kate is sitting by herself. Abby sat with her earlier as she changed her clothes and scrubbed her hands until they were pink. She has not said a word since then, and her silence frightens Abby.
They're all scared Gibbs won't make it, but Kate seems to be in some kind of shock state. Abby doesn't need to be a psychologist to know Kate feels guilty about what happened; not that she could have prevented it, of course.
And, what makes this even harder on Kate is that she's in love with Gibbs. Abby doesn't know how she knows this, only that it's true. (It also explains her immense relief at learning the truth about the once-mysterious redhead.)
Abby also knows that by worrying about Kate right now, she's avoiding thinking about Gibbs.
If she thinks too much about Gibbs, she thinks she might start crying.
She can't imagine what it was like for Kate in those minutes before help arrived. No wonder Kate's acting like a zombie now.
Kate stands up then, and slowly turns to the door. Abby's at her side in a heartbeat. "Hey," she says.
Kate looks at her.
"Where are you going?"
"The chapel." Kate runs a hand through her hair and closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them again, Abby can see the bright sheen of tears.
"Mind if I join you?"
Kate shrugs, and steps out into the hallway.
Abby wonders why she didn't think of going to the chapel herself; she prefers it to the waiting room. As she follows Kate inside, she allows herself to smile.
She definitely prefers the chapel to the waiting room; the chapel is a place of hope.
Gibbs comes back to himself slowly. He is first aware of a steady beeping, then a slightly dull noise that sounds as if it comes from a distance. His limbs feel heavy; he tries to move, and instantly regrets it when a sharp pain shoots through his shoulder.
And then he remembers: the interrogation room, Gunny Watson coming at him with a knife; Kate, wide-eyed and pale as she leaned over him.
Gibbs glances around the hospital room, half-expecting her to be there, but he is alone.
His eyes flutter closed, and he sleeps.
The next time he wakes, it is to the sound of curtains being drawn shut, and Abby muttering something about sunlight.
"Abs?"
She whirls around, her face lighting up in delight. "Gibbs! You're awake!"
He grunts.
Abby drops into the visitor's chair and leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "You okay, Gibbs?"
"Was stabbed," he manages to say.
"Yeah." Abby's expression grows serious. "You had all of us worried."
"Sorry."
Abby shrugs. Her eyes dart around the room, and Gibbs vaguely wonders how much Caff-Pow she's already consumed today.
Not that he's entirely sure what day it is, but right now he doesn't really care about that.
"The gunny?"
Abby bites her lip and looks at the ground. "He – he didn't make it."
Kate, Gibbs thinks.
He dips his chin downwards, as much of a nod as he can manage, and drifts to sleep listening to Abby talk about hospital waiting rooms.
The third time he wakes, Kate is standing at the window, her back to him. He watches her for a moment as he tries to understand the flood of emotion at the sight of her.
"Kate." It's just a whisper, but she glances over her shoulder, and once again Gibbs finds himself struggling with emotion.
Maybe he can blame it on all the painkillers they're pumping into him, he thinks.
"Hi." Kate slowly crosses to his side and sits in the chair. She is holding herself too stiffly, her expression is too neutral, but even in his drugged state Gibbs can see her eyes are red-rimmed.
"I'm okay," he says.
She nods, and looks down at where her hands lie folded in her lap.
"Hey."
She looks up.
"Thanks."
She blinks, but a tear escapes anyway, marking a silver line down her cheek.
Beautiful, Gibbs thinks.
Gibbs finds himself fighting sleep again, but he doesn't want to let go of this moment. If he closes his eyes, Kate will go away, and suddenly it's very important that she stays with him.
Kate covers his hand with hers, and smiles for the first time. He holds that image in his mind, and as sleep claims him again, there's the lightest brush of her lips on his forehead.
His last clear thought is that one of these days he's going to give Katie Todd a proper kiss.
Fin