DISCLAIMER: NCIS and its characters are the property of CBS, no infringement intended.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SPOILERS: Vaguely for "Hung Out to Dry"
Agent in Red
By Geonn
Schlepping.
Abby let Kate trail her into the testing room, somehow not irritated at the other woman's presence. A lot of Gibbs' foundlings - the castoffs from other agencies that somehow found a desk in the NCIS squad room - were a little grating, took a little getting used to. She'd given Tony a good three weeks before she stopped calling him DiSchnozzo. You didn't even want to get her started on Kate's predecessor.
But something about Caitlin Todd was striking Abby. This woman would be a friend, she could just sense it in the way they were communicating. The way Kate hadn't cringed when introduced to the Goth lab tech. The tests would take a while, so they'd been making small talk, Abby subtly feeling out the other woman to see if she'd be open to advances of the more intimate nature.
Off-handedly, she said, "I like your shirt."
"Oh," Kate said, holding open the lab jacket Abby had loaned her. "This?"
"Yeah. You look good in red."
"Thanks," Kate said.
That was the end of it. For then.
Patterns.
"You leave a red sock in with your whites?" Gibbs asked.
Kate looked up from the file she'd been going over and said, "Um... what?"
"The red sweaters. Every day this week, you've worn a different red sweater."
Kate cursed the luck of working with someone trained to notice little details like that and said, "No, I... guess I just fell into a pattern. Should I wear something purple on Monday?"
"No," Gibbs said, allowing a small grin. "No, red will be fine... if you have anything red left in your closet for Monday."
"Maybe a teddy," DiNozzo offered. "Or a nice, slinky nightg-" He was cut off by Gibbs' muffin contacting his forehead. He cringed and ducked back down, focusing on his computer screen and withdrawing from the conversation.
Declarations.
Abby smiled when she peeked into Kate's closet. Red blouses, a pair of maroon slacks, a red trenchcoat, red t-shirts... She found a price tag hanging from one sleeve and realized just how much of the stuff had to be brand-new. Kate returned to the bedroom, blushing when she saw where Abby was looking. "Got a fetish for tomatoes, Kate?" she asked.
Kate shrugged and said, "You told me I looked good in it."
"You really do," Abby assured her. She slid her hand under the wave of Kate's hair, drawing her head forward. "But you know... you look just as great out of it."
Kate's red silk robe fell to the floor around her feet.
The End