Hotch's POV:
"I thought I told you to take it easy." I scold.
"Look, it was over a week ago, I'm fine. It was just some weird bug." Danika shrugs as she walks around in her apartment.
"One that put you on the hospital. Not to mention you drowned in a dirty old well." I remind her.
"Maybe that's what cleared it up." She offers and I chuckle.
"Yeah, water where multiple dead bodies were placed cleared up your illness." I scoff.
"All I know is I feel better. I'm not having those hallucinations of ghosts anymore and I don't jump out of my pants every time I hear a strange sound." She explains and I remember how jumpy she was.
"Fine, give it a few more days and then I'll sign the papers for you to come back." I say and head out after putting the groceries I brought for her away.
Danika's POV:
I huff as I plop down on the couch and turn the TV on. I flip through the channels, one is about a fire that was started at the Heathridge manor, where the mom was kept burried. Apparently her body was burnt to ash.
I continue through the channels but stop when my phone goes off and I see it's Gibbs.
"What?" I answer.
"You need to come down." He says and I furrow my brows.
"What for?" I ask.
"Dani, just come down." He says and his voice is off..
"Gibbs, what's going on? You're scaring me." I question and there's a pause.
"Kate's dead." He says and I don't know what to say.
"I'm on my way." I assure him.
"Dani-." He starts saying.
"Gibbs, I can't just sit here and do nothing!" I growl.
"It was Ari." He says and I freeze.
"What?" I ask.
"He shot her with a sniper rifle." He explains and I can feel my heart beating hard in my chest.
"I'm on my way." I say as I get up to get ready.
"No." He orders and I clench my jaw.
"Gibbs-."
"That's what he wants." He states and I start pacing back and forth in front of the couch.
"Fine. What do you need from me?" I ask and there's a pause.
"The funeral is tomorrow. Be there." Is all he says and hangs up.
My other phone rings but I ignore it, not wanting to talk to him. It keeps ringing and I finally grab it and answer it.
"What?" I growl.
"I'm assuming Gibbs told you." Fitz says in a calm and gentle voice.
"How could you guys royally fuck up that bad?!" I shout.
"Dan-..." He starts saying.
"No! I mean it! How could you trust him?!" I shout, more mad at myself than anything else.
"We took a calculated r-."
"Yeah, and it cost a good agent her life." I growl and hang up.
I go out and drive around trying to clear my head. My phone rings and I see that it's Charlie.
"It's not a good time-."
"Why? You with your boss lover or something? Saw him drop off some stuff." He jokes.
"No, I'm on my bike. I-I need to clear my head." I say and there's a pause.
"What do you need?" He asks.
"What?" I ask.
"You drive recklessly when you're upset. I can hear the engine roaring. What do you need?" He asks.
"I need the location of someone." I say.
"Name?" He asks.
"Ari Haswari of Mossad." I say and there's a pause.
"What is this about?" He asks.
"It's better if you don't know." I admit and he sighs.
"I'll see what I can find." He says and I hang up.
I drive for about an hour more and find myself on Gibb's street. I park my bike and start going up to the door but stop when I hear voices coming from the basement.
One is Ari's. I clench my jaw and make my way around the back. I sneak over to a small window and see him pointing a rifle at Gibbs.
I whistle and Ari furrows his brows and turns his head and sees me. He smiles just as I pull the trigger. A bullet breaks through the glass, forcing its way into his skull. He falls to the ground and I look and see a girl on the stairs holding a gun, ready to shoot.
She had dark brown curly hair and I look in her mind. She's Ari's half sister and she was about to shoot him to save Gibbs.
"See you at the funeral." I tell Gibbs and he just nods.
I give the girl one last look and then head off on my bike. My phone goes off and it's Charlie.
"Nevermind, it's taken care of." I say.
"You sure?" He asks.
"Yeah, and if anyone asks you, we spent the whole day together." I say.
"You got it." He says giving me an alibi.
———
I get to the funeral and Gibbs walks over to me and brings me into a hug.
"Thank you for coming." He whispers.
"She was my friend." I say and he nods.
I greet Tony and McGee as well as Abby, Ducky and Palmer. I see a red headed lady I don't recognize but look in her mind and see her and Gibbs getting hot and heavy.
She notices me as well and looks confused as to who I am. Gibbs walks over and stands by me and brings my hand in his and gives it a gentle squeeze.
"There's nothing you could've done, even if you were there." He whispers in my ear, trying to get me to stop blaming myself.
We head out to the graveyard after carrying the casket to the hearse. Gibbs comes to my side again and the flag starts being folded up.
I raise my eyebrows when I see a black limo with flags on it, arrive and stop. There's two other SUV 's guarding it. We all watch as the door is opened by a man in a black suit and sunglasses.
Out comes President Fitzgerald. Secret service guides him towards the ceremony and his eyes immediately catch mine. I gulp and glance down feeling a bit bad for shouting at him yesterday.
"I don't mean to intrude, I just came to pay my respects." Fitz explains and looks at me again and then at the casket.
No one dares to say a word as he places a hand on the top of the casket and looks at the folded up flag.
"May I?" He asks the soldiers who are supposed to give the flag to the family.
Unfortunately, Kate didn't have any family and I was the closest thing she had to a sister. Fitz gently picks the flag up and carries it over.
"Agent Caitlin Todd was dedicated to her work when she was one of my agents and I know she was just as dedicated, if not more, with her work in NCIS." He humbly states and hands me the flag.
His hand brushes up against mine and I gulp. He gives me a slight nod and I know it's to say that he understands why I yelled at him yesterday.
"She made our world a safer place with her work." He finishes and takes a step back.
I look over and see that the redhead is clearly trying to keep it together. She's obviously in shock that the President showed up.
"Thank you." Gibbs says and Fitz nods his head.
"I'll let you get back to it." Fitz says and glances at me again and gives me a small reassuring wink.
"You can stay. If you want." I say and he looks at me.
"I wouldn't want to impose-."
"Please, I bet it would've meant a lot to her." The redhead states and he nods and walks over and stands next to me.
The pastor says a little prayer and message and I feel numb. None of this feels real, part of me expects to see her in the trees watching her funeral, like Emily did.
But she's not hiding in the bushes or trees, she in the box in front of us with a bullet wound scarring her forehead.
"Would anyone like to say anything?" The pastor asks and I gulp.
"I will." I say and hand the flag off to Gibbs.
"Kate and I had a complicated relationship. The case we had together she lent me some of her clothes. Unfortunately, they ended up burnt in an explosion that could've been avoided if she hadn't identified with the victim who just happened to make small bombs for a living." I start out.
"As we got to know one another better we learned that we were very different people. She was a stickler for following the rules while I saw them more as suggestions. At times we were like sisters, mocking Tony or pulling pranks on McGee to make the day go faster. Other times it was like we were in a silent war with one another for dumb little things. Things like; when I helped Tony look through her stuff and snoop on her, all the way to starting a prank war until it went too far and she ended up with temporary blue hair." I start saying and Tony chuckles a bit clearly fondly remembering how he called her a stuck up Smurf.
"But, she was an amazing agent, especially since she could put up with Tony and I without shooting us. She was always willing to go the extra mile to prove a theory, even if it was completely wrong in the end. Her competitive nature helped with solving cases in record time, yet she still found time to remind us that we were being childish for whatever we were doing in the moment. She wasn't a stick in the mud though because she once said we should burn Gibbs' boat after he made us shoot at one of our favorite items, hers was a old-ass Walkman." I continue and the crowd chuckles.
"Anyway, she is the closest thing I've ever had to a sister and I'll miss every minute of it. But I'm glad I had the time with her that I did, because I hate to admit it, and she'd never let me live it down if I told her that she rubbed off on me a bit. Unfortunately she made me about half a percent more responsible than I was before I met her. But if Gibbs' boat goes up in flames; I'll be in Mexico. I'll miss you Kate." I say and lay my rose down on the casket.
I feel Gibbs' hand on my shoulder and he puts his rose down next to mine. The others follow suit after we walk away back to our spot.
"That was beautiful." Fitz whispers to me and I just nod.
The casket is out into the ground and we each toss a handful of dirt on it. Time moves forward and I just stand there by the grave sight as everyone slowly leaves. Fitz leaves it's his secret service and the others go to the mingling.
It starts raining but I don't move a muscle as I watch the raindrops soak into the ground. I just stare at the plot and the small stand with her name on it, waiting for the replacement of the permanent stone.
The rain starts coming down hard on me, soaking my clothes, turning the dirt under my feet to mud. My clothes feel heavy on my shoulders and it feels like the mud is quick sand, dragging me down towards the grave to be with Kate.
The sky is turning dark and thunder is rolling near. A lightning bolt strikes nearby but I don't even flinch. I don't feel anything, I'm numb.
My hair is soaking wet, laying on my face and my makeup is most likely ruined. All I can think is, if I had just killed him in the autopsy room, she'd still be here. If I had done my fucking job, she'd be alive.
"It wasn't your fault." I hear Gibbs say and he puts an umbrella over us.
"Yeah, it was." I say not bothering to look at him.
"No, you couldn't have stopped-."
"Just don't." I say and walk away and he knows better than to run after me.
I get back home and see Charlie in my apartment, there's food but I'm not hungry.
"You're soaking wet! He says and grabs a towel and wraps it around me.
He brings me to the bathroom and I see that he has the bath all ready for me. Nice and bubbly and smelling nice.
"Come on, it'll make you feel better." He offers and helps me get my wet clothes off.
He doesn't even try to make any moves, clearly seeing I'm not in the mood. He helps me get in the tub and the warm water calms me down.
"How'd it go?" He asks as he sits down on a stool next to me.
"The President showed up." I mutter and he gives me a glass of red wine.
"You thought of everything, didn't you?" I chuckle.
"The internet was a big help." He admits and I can't help but chuckle.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't have known what to do either." I confess and he smiles and his dimples show through.
"Was it nice?" He asks and I nod.
"Yeah, small like she would've wanted." I say and it's silent for a few minutes.
It's not awkward silence, I'm actually quite comfortable in it, which is the problem. I shouldn't feel comfortable right now.
"Kate's dead and I'm the one who pulled the trigger." I say looking at nothing in particular.
"What are you talking about?" He asks.
"I should've killed the bastard when I had the chance. I could've. But I didn't. And...I don't know why." I finally admit and he sighs.
"If I would've killed him, she'd still be alive." I say with conviction.
"You don't know that. Let's say you did kill him in the autopsy room. She could've been hit by a car the very next day." He offers and I roll my eyes.
"What I'm trying to say is that-."
"I know, you can't predict the future. But..."
"But nothing. Look at it this way. I'm pretty sure the people he was working against would've had another person in line to take his spot. And if that happened, they probably would've killed her at the barn." He says.
"I mean, you said it yourself, that woman was willing to kill her when she wouldn't tell her how to tell the President's plane apart from the others. I doubt you would've been brought to the barn by whoever took his place. And I'm pretty sure they would've tortured it out of her rather than asking nicely." He continues making me sigh.
"So, how I see it, you bought her a few more months when you didn't kill him." He ends his rant.
"Why her though? Why did he shoot her?" I question out loud.
"I don't know babe, but I don't think you'd feel any less shitty if it was one of the others." He states and I know he's right.