Say Goodbye, Kate (7/7) FINALLY COMPLETE!
DISCLAIMER: NCIS and it's characters belong to CBS and their creators. This is not for profit and I am recognizing no financial gain from this enterprise.
Okay everyone, here it is the end, finally! Thanks to Shannon for betaing.
Sorry peoples, I can't get it to keep the breaks between paragraphs and since I am at work, I don't have time to really paly with it right now! I'll try and fix it tonight.
See part 1 for the disclaimer, notes etsc!
BUT BE WARNED! As Shannon put it, "That. Was. Cruel." And as I have been warning, the ending IS evil and you will all want to kill me. But alas, if you kill me, then I can't write the 3rd and final story in this series, Say Hello, Caitlin. So rest better, there will be more coming, but this story is 33 pages and is time for this to end so another can begin. (Besides I hate skipping years in a single story.)
Also, here are links to the first 6 parts, since it has been over a month now since part 6!
this link is for parts 1-5
this link is for part 6
From previous chapter (Chptr 6):
"I didn’t like who I was becoming with Crack and the team, but I didn’t like who I was with the Secret Service either. There I was too soft. Maybe after this I can find a me I like." Kate sighed. "I swear to God, Allah, Buddha, or whoever you believe in that I will end this. Manning will die this time, if it is the last thing I ever do on this Earth. I can’t take any more friends dying for the simple reason that I know them. Anton is worried about how much Manning has changed me and I know you are worried about me too. There was a time that a direct order was sacred to me. Now, with Manning, I’d kill him even if I received a direct order not to. Anton is more afraid of that change in me than anything else. I don’t really have the words to reassure him other than that only applies in Manning’s case. He has killed far too many innocents to live to be able to kill more. Some people are just born evil, and he is definitely one of those people."
Kate drifted into silence again. Although her eyes appeared to be watching Gibbs work, they were focused on the past.
Gibbs remained silent, knowing she needed him simply as a sounding board, and that she was still working things out in her mind.
After a long while Kate curled into the couch and fell asleep, but because the past was so close to the surface, the moment Gibbs stopped working and moved away from his boat, she was wide awake and sitting up.
Gibbs blinked, but only said, "Go up to your room and get some sleep."
Kate followed him upstairs silently and headed straight for "her" room, the room she had used when she and Tony had stayed here.
The next afternoon, Kate glanced at her calendar and realized that there was a press conference scheduled about the Manning murders in less than an hour. The idea hit her like a rush-hour train.
"I’ll be downstairs," she told everyone fifteen minutes before the scheduled press conference.
They all assumed she meant down to Abby’s lab with some new idea.
Instead, she headed to the pressroom. She surprised the press agent with her appearance at the conference and with her request to speak.
Kate stepped to the podium, not sure of her words, but 100% sure of her message.
"This is Special Agent in Charge Caitlin Todd," the NCIS press agent introduced her. "And she will be handling today’s press conference."
"I am in charge of the sniper cases. I’ve decided it is time to release some details related to the murders. We have identified the killer. His name is Dietrich Manning. The man has killed before. He will not kill again. I have a message for him." Kate let her words sink in a moment before continuing. "It will be a cold day in hell before you kill anyone else close to me. There is no one left for you to kill, except me. And we both know you are too much of a coward to even try to come after me. You are running out of time, Manning. If you expect to try and avenge your lover, you’d better try soon, because soon, you will find yourself at the end of my muzzle. Dietrich Manning is too scared to come after me He is weak and scared. He fancies himself a sniper, but he knows nothing of the mentality. He has neither the intelligence nor the skill to be a sniper. It is never about the killing, but for him, that is all there is. He lives for the kill; as long as the victim is weaker then he is and gives him no real challenge. I have put him behind bars twice already, and he is too scared to come after me. He knows he can’t beat me."
"So you think he has gone into hiding?" a reporter asked.
"No. I think he is trying to gather the courage he doesn’t have to fight the one battle he has avoided for over seven years. It is a battle he cannot win and he knows it. No, Manning isn’t in hiding. He is trying to come to terms with the fact that he is going to die," Kate answered coldly.
Meanwhile, Abby tuned into the press conference via video feed and stared at her screen, shocked for a split second before she grabbed the phone and punched a button.
"The press conference! Kate’s doing it!" Abby exploded into the phone. Then she slammed the phone down and tore upstairs to the bullpen.
Anton and Gibbs were swearing up a storm. Tony was silent for once- Abby could read the shock in his eyes.
One reporter heard her muttered, "I will not let him live this time," and called her on it. "What did you mean by ‘I will not let him live this time’?"
"I believe that is pretty obvious. This time I take him on my terms. The man has killed too many innocents." Kate answered, her anger flaring in her eyes.
The press agent stepped in then and ended the press conference.
Kate was slow climbing the stairs, thinking about what she would say tomorrow. She was also pretty sure the bullpen was currently filled with swearing men, because she was positive Abby had clued the men into what she had just done.
Kate knew the guys would be upset, but there was no changing her mind. She would goad him for a few more days and control the movement of her team. No one would leave the office without her having planned every little detail of the trip. After a few days of goading, then a few days of not being able to get at anyone, Kate would do a mock scene investigation, having everything covered with triple backup. He’d react to the goading and fall into her trap. Locations would be scouted for any sniper angles. Kate would play god yet again and she would win.
Kate was sitting a half a flight down from the bullpen stairs’ entrance as she planned her next steps... where she would allow the guys to go, and where the final confrontation would take place. She needed to be ready when she finally decided to face Gibbs and Anton. Truth be told, she had been thinking about this plan for most of the last week. It wasn’t until today, though, when she saw the scheduled press conference that she realized it was a viable plan.
Kate was sure of the quotes the press would replay over and over- variations of "Special Agent in Charge Caitlin Todd says killer is a coward" and "Special Agent Caitlin Todd says killer will be captured soon".
After a fortifying breath, Kate stood up and walked the last half of flight of stairs and entered the bullpen. She walked straight to her desk and began calling up satellite imagery of places she would allow the team to go. She needed photos of angles and such to ensure the safety of everyone.
She felt twelve pairs of eyes on her- Ducky and Abby must be up from the labs, she mused. She said nothing though. She smiled inwardly, sure that her boys would be the last to speak. They knew she could wait forever when she wanted to- she was a sniper, after all.
It was Tony who finally cracked, as Kate had figured it would be. "Why did you do it, Kate? What good will be gained from provoking him?"
"Because it means the final confrontation will be on my terms, at my location, with my plans. He will be on the defensive instead of me. And it was time I did something. I am so tired of sitting and waiting to see what his next move will be, to see what body will turn up next, Tony," Kate answered easily, her voice low. "Never mind that we can’t go on like this. We all have jobs we should be doing."
"You have a plan," Ducky stated, cutting off the others.
Kate smiled. "I always have a plan, Ducky." She lost her smile then and her eyes turned deadly serious. "For the next few days I will repeat the same themes of today’s press conference. And I will control every movement we all make. We will have the upper hand. After a few days of the news and the conferences, he’ll react. We will control where. We can’t control the when exactly, but you can’t have everything."
Abby and Tony both were startled at the coldness in her voice and the flatness in her eyes. This wasn’t the Kate they knew. Gibbs and Ducky recognized her for who she was- Katie-girl, sniper. Her boys knew it had been Katie-girl who had strode into the bullpen over an hour ago now. They had recognized her in the press conference.
Kate made the next two press conferences--more structured, because she thought out her remarks the night before with help from the team. She was able to get in more insults.
She kept everyone under wraps for the weekend, and then Monday it was time for the mock scene investigation. She was sure Manning would be over eager for a chance to kill her by then.
She had a helicopter on standby, men stationed by the three places a sniper would take and a five-hundred-yard perimeter set up. Her boys were mobile and her NCIS team members were all wearing vests. The stage was set, now all they had to do was wait.
Kate wandered, taking photos, paying more attention to her surroundings than the pictures- not that anyone who knew her noticed.
They had processed the scene for almost three hours and her team was getting restless. Abby and Ducky were out of sight, watching on video feeds.
Gibbs was calling her name when the first shot rang out. Then her boys were yelling in her ear.
Kate did a slow spin, her eyes searching. She smiled predatorily and took off running in the completely opposite direction of where she knew Manning was. She’d circle around and catch him by surprise.
By the time she got close to him, he was sighting in for another shot.
"Manning," Kate stated, her voice low, but steel and her eyes ice.
He jerked the trigger as he turned and met her eyes. He saw his death in them.
She could read the fear in his eyes as he started to swing his rifle around. She fired just once and took him out clean.
Kate sighed--the ending was almost anti-climatic--until Tony’s voice registered in her ear, screaming for a Medic. She hadn’t thought to be worried about the two shots Manning had gotten off because her people were all wearing vests.
She ran straight to where her NCIS team was. She saw Tony and Ducky kneeling by a body and then noticed Abby running with a small medical bag from the truck. Kate’s heart skipped a beat--Gibbs was down.
"Anton- get my bag from the trunk!" she yelled as she tossed keys, not slowing down until she reached Gibbs.
"Where the hell is his vest?" Kate demanded absently.
Tony answered. "He took it off before the first shot- he was tired of waiting. I guess he thought it was a bust." Tony gave a shrug.
"I swear to God I will kill him myself when he wakes up!" Kate muttered and got to work. She dug through her medical supplies for things she needed. As she studied the wound, she realized that Manning had to have been aiming for the lower abdomen because when he jerked the trigger, the shot went high, hitting Gibbs just below the heart.
"ALS is over ten minutes away," Anton reported.
"Too long!" Kate shook her head. "Ducky, keep pressure." She turned and look at Anton. "Helo still on standby?" Anton nodded. Kate continued to bark orders. "Tell dispatch to warn Bethesda that we’ll be there in six minutes via helo. Tell them we have a GSW about two inches below the heart, bleeding heavily. Have a trauma team on standby and have them meet us at the heliport." Then she turned to Abby. "Get the backboard from the truck. Tony, we are going to put him on the backboard then run to the helo. Ducky is going to keep pressure on the wound. Ducky and I will go with Gibbs to the hospital. The rest of you need to deal with Manning’s body, then you can get to Bethesda."
"We’ll need Ducky to move the body," Tony stated.
"No, you don’t. Bullet to the brain. He’s dead," Kate replied without even looking up from Gibbs’ body.
"Just bring it to the morgue, Tony, then drive Abby to Bethesda," Ducky spoke then, cutting off anymore of Tony’s arguments.
A moment later they were running to the helo.
"You have five minutes to get us to Bethesda," Kate ordered the pilot once Gibbs, Ducky and she were inside.
The trauma team was standing by when they landed four minutes later. They took Gibbs and Kate and Ducky followed slowly behind them.
"If he lives, I’ll kill him myself. And if he dies, I’ll bring him back to life myself just to kill him." Kate’s voice was soft and broken. "He promised me he would wear it until I told him he could take it off. He knew I couldn’t handle another body. He swore, Ducky."
Ducky saw the pain and fear in her eyes and cursed Gibbs. The man would never learn. His foolishness had just cost him Kate.
Tony and Abby arrived just under an hour later with Anton and her boys. They waited silently for almost ten hours before Gibbs was out of surgery. Then another two hours passed with him in recovery before Tony, Abby, and Ducky stepped into his room.
Kate talked to the surgeon and then waited until everyone was out of Gibbs’ room before she went in alone. She swore when she saw him with all the tubes and wires.
"I never believed you when you said you were a bastard... until yesterday. I see now you were telling the truth." Kate let her anger boil over. "What the hell possessed you to take off your vest? I told you he’d be cautious. You promised me, Leroy Jethro Gibbs. You swore you’d wear it this time, until I gave you the signal, but you decided you knew better. Damn you to hell! I’d shoot you myself, but I don’t think Abby or Tony would be able to handle another night like tonight. You die on us and I will bring you back just to kill you myself."
Kate watched him for a moment before the nurse ushered her out.
Anton and Ducky had convinced Tony and Abby to go home and get some sleep. Her boys had headed out when the surgeon had come to tell them Gibbs was out of surgery. Ducky went home after talking to the doctor. Anton was the only one left.
"You should go home and get some rest yourself," he told her.
Kate shook her head. "I’m not leaving the hospital until he is out of danger."
Anton knew she’d stay for days if she had to, because Gibbs was one of hers now. Anton had seen this stubborn side of her before and didn’t waste his breath arguing. Instead he gave her a shoulder to rest on and come the morning, he went to her apartment and got her some toiletries and a change of clothes.
It was the second morning after she had brought him in when the doctor told her Gibbs was out of danger.
Kate headed straight to NCIS and took care of all the paperwork for Manning.
Once she handed the closed case report to Director Morrow, she stood and stared at Gibbs’ desk. She let out a deep sigh and moved back to her desk.
She’d done a lot of thinking at the hospital. She’d never thought it would come to this. She told Gibbs she’d wanted a chance to find a version of herself that she liked. Except that wasn’t possible now. Now she had to find a version of herself she could simply live with. She loved NCIS and her coworkers, but during her time at the hospital, she’d come to realize that she just couldn’t do it anymore. She couldn’t be responsible for another death, another body. Which, she knew, meant that anything connected to law enforcement and criminal law was unavailable to her. Gibbs had been the final victim.
So she packed her personal effects and left her letter of resignation on Gibbs’ desk.
Tony and Abby stepped off the elevator as she went to step on.
"What are you doing?" Tony demanded.
"I resigned. I can’t do this anymore," Kate answered softly. "I don’t know what I’m gong to do, but it won’t, can’t, be law enforcement."
"But, Kate, it’s what you do," Abby stated, shocked.
"I won’t endanger another person. I can’t handle another body," Kate spoke softly and let the elevator doors close.
Abby and Tony just looked at each other in shocked silence for a moment.
"Gibbs is going to be pissed," Tony finally broke the silence.
"Special Agent Gibbs lost that privilege when he was stupid enough to take off his vest," Abby stated coldly.
Kate headed to the hospital. She needed to say one last goodbye, even if the man never knew it. The drugs kept him under.
"I’m through, Jethro. I left my resignation on your desk after I handed Director Morrow the closed-case file on Manning. You should have listened to me and waited for my signal to take your vest off. It’s all your fault. I told you I couldn’t handle another body, and you went and got yourself shot. Goodbye, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs," she whispered to his still form, deciding to take liberties with his name she never would have if he was conscious.
She brushed a kiss over his lips and the smoothed his hair back. She sighed and then leaned down for a second kiss. She was unable to resist the second one, knowing she’d never see him again.
Then she turned and walked out of his room without looking back.
Fin.