Working with Gibbs (a NCIS story)

Chapter 13: healing begins

-a few days later-
Grace continued to improve, but she had a ways to go before she'd be able to home, nonetheless return to work.  She was moved into a regular room and she could have one person stay with her all the time and have 2-3 other visitors in addition.  Of course, Gibbs had already told the staff that he'd be the one to stay, and she chuckled at his protectiveness.  She got to see her team again, and they were very happy to see her alive and talking. 
She was still on an oxygen cannula because she had a bad reaction to the anesthesia during surgery, but other than that the only outstanding problem was her leg.  She was tired of staying in the bed, but until she got evaluated by PT, there wasn't much she could do.  That didn't mean that she got bored, no sir.  Tony brought her a mini DVD player and some movies, Tim brought over a copy of his book - she didn't even know he was writing one - and Abby brought her an iPod with pre loaded songs on it. 
Of course, Gibbs was the one who kept her the most entertained.  Sometimes he'd sit with her and talk about recent cases for her input, but on more than a few occasions, there wasn't much talking going on at all - and not in the way that I'm sure you are thinking - but sometimes he'd just lay in the bed with her and relax.  One morning a few days later, the doctor came in.
"Good morning you two" he said with a smile.
"Morning, doc.  Got any good news for me?" She asked, hoping for something to go on.
"Actually, yeah.  Your latest X-ray shows your leg is healing better than we thought it would.  How would you like to head on home and to your PT sessions there?"
"Yeah, I'd love it!" She replied with a big smile.
"Alright, well I'll have the nurse come in and get you all ready to go, then" the doctor said before he left the room.  When Gibbs looked at her a moment later, he got concerned at the downcast look on her face.
"Hey, what's with the face? You were just excited a minute ago"
"And I am, it's just...my apartment isn't exactly ideal for a leg injury, so it's going to be hard to get around" she replied, nervous about going home.
"Come live with me" he said suddenly and she looked up at him, shocked.
"What?"
"Just for a little while, until you're able to walk on your own"
"Jethro, that's sweet, but I don't want to invade your house..."
"I wouldn't have offered it if I thought that, trust me.  Plus, we can consider this a trial run of when we start truly living together" he said, moving a stray hair from her face. 
"Okay...I can have Abby go get some things from my apartment when we leave here"
"Sounds like a plan." He replied, looking at her with a smile.  "Love you" she smiled at him.
"Love you too"