NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service | Book 1

Secret Service Workplace

        "Good to see you again, Major. Always good to see you," President Bush said with a small smile as he boarded Air Force One, clapping the man on the shoulder with a small smile, before turning to his three Secret Service agents. "Well, folks... that was a job well done,"

        "Thank you, sir," Agent Baer nodded, and Annabelle resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The only thing this man had done was make the investigation harder to carry out, and yet he was all for taking the credit.

        "What do you say we head home?"

        "Absolutely," Agent Baer nodded, and Annabelle smiled a real, genuine smile for the first time since boarding the plane. There was nothing she wanted more at the moment than to curl up on her couch with a book and a glass of wine.       

        "Alright. I agree," the President quipped with a small smile, forcing a chuckle out of Kate. He then made his way further into the plane to take his seat, and Agent Baer proceeded to follow him, only to be stopped by Annabelle's voice.

        "Sir, with all due respect... I must say I'm surprised that you didn't object to Agent Gibbs flying with us,"

        "He's here because his gut is still churning, isn't it?" the man asked, and Annabelle shared a brief look with Kate before looking back to her superior.

        "I suppose you could put it that way, yes," she replied, her brows furrowing just the tiniest bit at the worried frown on the man's face.

        "Well, so is mine," he said before finally following the President, as the two women remained where they were left. Now that they had heard those words from the man himself, it was even harder to ignore their own worries.

*20 Minutes Later*

        "Expect him to drop?" Annabelle couldn't help but quip dryly as she looked up at Gibbs, who had been staring at the major eating his lunch for the past full minute while drinking his coffee. The man, however, ignored her (if one were to exclude the smallest of eye rolls he threw at her), and walked back over to the two agents, his eyes settling on Kate as he watched her eat the meal they were served.

        "I see you're over the flu,"

        "24-hour bug," Kate replied, wiping her mouth with a napkin as Gibbs settled in the seat beside her, with Annabelle in the seat in front of them. "Tim got over it yesterday,"

        "Tim is Major Kerry, by the way," Annabelle clarified with the tiniest of smirks, and Kate couldn't help but roll her eyes at her best friend.

        "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he already figured that out, Anna, but thanks," she quipped with a sarcastic smile, to which Annabelle simply smiled sweetly as Gibbs watched the two with amusement. For all the experience he had with women, those two were a breath of fresh air - there was no other way to put it, "I met him for a drink yesterday," Kate suddenly spoke up again after a few seconds of silence, her expression now serious. "I told him we had to stop seeing each other,"

        "Why the hell would you do that?" Annabelle couldn't help the words that tumbled out of her mouth as she stared at her friend incredulously. She knew Tim. She liked Tim. And it had been a long time since she liked one of Kate's love interests.

        "Well, I mean, we hadn't been dating a long," Kate replied with a bit of a defensive tone in her voice, "I mean, we knew each other on the detail for a couple months before we started... dating," Her words were directed to both Annabelle and Gibbs, but then her voice turned a bit more vulnerable than Annabelle knew Kate would have liked. "You know, when you're on the job 24/7, how else do you get to know someone?"