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Kate woke up feeling happy and excited. It’s been six weeks since she got beat up by assassin Medina, five weeks since she’s been home and had the love of her life back, and now she has recovered enough to get back to her Saturday morning surf. She sighs happily and takes in Lucy, who’s still asleep next to her, the soft beginnings of morning light that’s coming through the big bedroom windows illuminating her gorgeous face. The blonde kisses Lucy on her forehead before she softly and quietly gets out of the brunette’s arms as to not wake her up. She tenses as Lucy moves in her sleep, searching for Kate but stopping her movements as her head hits Kate’s pillow, sighing contentedly as Kate’s smell engulfs her. Kate smiles at the adorable sight and moves to the kitchen to get the coffee started, eat a banana and then gets dressed to go to the beach. She leaves a note on the bedside table for Lucy.
Went out to surf. Coffee’s ready in the kitchen. See you at breakfast.
Love you! X
Half an hour later Kate’s at the spot where she agreed to meet up with Kai and Jesse to surf. The two NCIS agents arrive right as she’s removing her surfboard from the top of her car. “Good morning.” she greeted them.
“Hey, good morning.” Jesse and Kai greeted her, removing their surfboards from their respective cars.
“How are the ribs?” Kai asked her.
“They feel good.” the blonde said.
“If they start aching too much, just tell us and we’ll head to breakfast.” Jesse chimed in.
“You don’t have to do that but, thank you. I could just wait on the beach, you know.” Kate said appreciatively.
Ever since she got beat up, the two NCIS agents had gotten more concerned and a bit protective of her, checking in on her regularly to see how she was doing and if they could help with anything. Even more so after she and Lucy had gotten back together.
“Nonsense.” Jesse waved her comment off with a kind smile.
“You guys ready to catch some waves?” Kai asked.
“Yes.” Kate and Jesse said in unison.
They checked if they had everything they needed with them before following Kai through a kind of beaten path that led out to a gorgeous beach. Aside from a couple locals, there was no one to be seen.
“I came here with friends when I was in high school and training for the marines. Pretty much got sworn to secrecy to keep this a hidden gem.” Kai explained, seeing Kate in awe of the place.
“It’s gorgeous.” Kate breathed, still taking the beach in. She then turned to see Kai and Jesse looking seriously at her. “What? What’s wrong?”
“You have to swear to keep this place secret.” Jesse said. Kai nodding next to him.
“Okay.” Kate said. “I solemnly swear that I won’t tell anyone else about this place.”
“Good.” Kai said. Jesse grinned at her.
“What?” she asked, confused at why Jesse’s grinning at her.
“Did Big Fed Whistler just half-quote Harry Potter?” Jesse teased.
“Maybe.” Kate grinned. “And I told Ernie to stop calling me ‘Big Fed’.” she mumbled, Jessie and Kai laughed in good nature.
“You do give off ‘Big Fed’ energy when you walk into the bullpen.” Jesse shrugged. Kate shot him a glare. “What? It’s true. Lucy loves it. Always has this look on her face that’s between heart eyes and being speechless.” he laughed.
“I-“ Kate blushed, not wanting to say that she knows exactly how much Lucy loves it.
“Alright, you two.” Kai laughed. “Let’s catch some waves before the sun is completely up.”
“Yeah, let’s.” Kate agreed.
They each attached their board to their ankle and made their way into the water, waiting for some good waves.
***
“Where did you learn to surf so well?” Kai asked as they sat on their boards back on the sand.
“Is there some sort of Yoda of surf teachers here?” Jesse asked. “No offense.” he added, holding his hands up in surrender. “It’s just that you haven’t been on the island for that long to basically just have started surfing.”
“None taken.” Kate said, taking a sip from her water. “My brother, Noah, taught me while we were on vacation when we were teenagers.” she explained, smiling at the memories. Kai looked up when he heard the familiar name. “Our parents would be too busy being on calls despite being on vacation, so he’d take me to the beach on nice days to teach me.”
“He sounds like a great guy.” Jesse said.
“If he comes to visit, you should invite him to surf with us.” Kai added.
The two NCIS agents looked at each other as Kate they saw the blonde retreat back into herself a little bit. “You okay there, Whistler?” Jesse asked in his concerned dad tone. “Are your ribs or head hurting?”
“No, I’m good.” Kate said as she registered his questions. “And uh, he was.”
“What?” Kai asked. Both him and Jesse looked confused and concerned at each other.
“Noah, he was a great guy. He was killed in an ambush in Iraq.” Kate explained.
Kai and Jesse were quiet for a moment, never having expected that answer. “I’m sorry.” Kai said.
“It’s okay.” Kate shrugged that adorable half shrug. “It happened a long time ago and there’s no way you could’ve known. I’m not exactly an open book.”
“Still. It’s not easy losing a loved one like that.” Kai said, remembering the friends he’d lost in the marines.
“It isn’t. But all we can do is try to move forward, never forgetting them. It gets easier over time.” Kate said.
“One wave at a time.” Kai breathed.
“One wave at a time.” Kate agreed.
“I’m sorry for your loss.” Jesse said. “For what it’s worth, I think he’s incredibly proud of you.” he added after a minute.
“Thank you.” Kate said, blinking away her tears.
The three agents sat and talked on the beach for another while before they headed back to their cars. After they got dressed, they made their way to Wally’s restaurant where Lucy, Heather and Melanie were waiting for them already.
“Hey!” Wally greeted them enthusiastically as he walked over to the group. “Kate, it’s good to see you again. How’ve you been?” he gently gave her a fatherly hug. Over the last 6 weeks, she had been over to the restaurant for lunch when she was hauled up alone at home and other times she came with Kai or the NCIS squad for dinner. During this time, Wally had always made sure she had enough food, even to take home for the next day or for Lucy when she came back from work, and they had talked. Kate found herself growing fond of the man and really liked how his and Kai’s relationship was getting better again. Wally in turn had grown fond of the FBI agent.
“It’s good to see you too, Wally.” she hugged him back. “I’m good. How are you?”
“I’m good.” the man smiled. “Your usual spot is free.” he told the group. “Go sit down and someone will be with you shortly for your orders.”
“Thank you, Wally.” they all said as the man went back to the kitchen.
“Hey.” Lucy smiled, stepping onto her tiptoes to kiss Kate. “How was it?”
“It was great.” Kate smiled.
“How are your ribs?” Lucy asked softly.
“They’re starting to feel a little soar but they don’t hurt.” the blonde told her just as softly.
“Okay.” the brunette nodded. “Let’s enjoy breakfast and then we’ll take care of the ribs at home.” she added, giving Kate a quick and soft kiss.
They all had a great time during breakfast and before long they were parting ways. Lucy and Kate drove back to Kate’s apartment in their respective cars. When they got back, Kate had a lost but content look on her face so the tiny brunette made sure to take extra good care of her girlfriend.
“You okay?” Lucy asked when they were sitting on the balcony, Kate reading the newspaper and Lucy lovingly staring at the blonde.
Kate thought back at how it had felt to open up to the guys earlier. How they have been so great to her over the past weeks, very much giving off protective big brother vibes for her, how there was no judgment or pity to be found in their tones when she talked about Noah. She loves Lucy, she will always love Noah, but she smiled at how the two NCIS agents were starting to feel like brothers. “Yeah. I’m great.” she breathed as she took Lucy’s hand in her own, kissed it and intertwined their fingers, just enjoying life, one wave at a time.