A/N: Just a little something that hit me after meherm's private message (thank you). Home you enjoy. Please R&R

Disclaimer: they're only mine when I dream

Pairing: Kibbs

Rating: K+

Silence and Sandpaper

By: Katie Todd

The hushed sound of coarse sandpaper over unfinished wood greeted the silver haired agent as he opened the door to his basement. His smile almost split his worn face in two as he walked down the creaky unfinished, wood stairs. The sharp sound of wood giving beneath weight had the sanding brunette looking up at the stairs over her shoulder, her smile was breathtaking.

"You got started without me?" a deep voice asked, the soothing staccato sound breaking the deep silence.

Kate answered with a sheepish smile and a soft giggle as the questioner brushed her long brown locks back behind her, so he could place a kiss on her cheek, with a tickle of rough fingers under the smooth skin of her chin. He picked up a piece of sandpaper, slid it on a sanding block, and came to sand a piece of the curved, boat skeleton beside her.

They didn't speak. They didn't need words. This had become a nightly ritual, one they both thoroughly enjoyed. The pair would meet in his basement each night, work on the boat for a couple hours, the brunette would drive herself home, and they would meet at work the next morning. The couple seemed to learn even more about each other in the soothing silence of his basement, where words seemed useless, like washing a car in the rain. The secret smiles they shared, each one unique in its simplicity and openness, provided all the speech they needed.

Gibbs like the fact that his brunette had taken his nightly project, one that reflected years of pain, loss, and loneliness, and transformed it into their project. Kate was determined to sail in this boat some day. She had told him before that she dreamed about taking the boat out on the water, had always wanted to sit on a bench in the hull and rest against him. The silver haired ex-marine threw his girlfriend an open smile when she turned to replace a used sheet of sandpaper.

She turned back to the boat and continued sanding up the rib of the boat with quiet determination. Her concentration on her work let her miss her boss's movement. He sat the sanding block back on the saw horse behind him and wrapped his thick, muscular arms around her thin waist. A kiss was left in her hair and he leaned his head towards her ear to whisper in it.

"I love you" the words were pronounced slowly and carefully as if the speaker felt they were damaged from lack of use.

The brunette swiveled in his arms with a look of astonished joy on her face before cupping his rough jaw in her hands and planting a soft but building kiss on his coffee coated lips. She pulled back from him after a moment and stroked his cheek with delicate affection.

"I love you too" the words came out strong with the potent coating of a promise.

His smile was breathtaking and it started to deplete her air supply when he leaned down and let his kiss finish the job.

A/N: Well?