NCIS Fanfiction: Swing batter batter swing

[dragonheart]

Title: Swing batter batter swing
Author: kytivafan
Characters: Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Hollis Mann
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Not mine.  Never were.  Never will be.
Summary: A chance meeting in an unexpected place
Notes: written for flamingo55 - because she ships these two hard

It would have surprised his team to know that Leroy Jethro Gibbs did not spend every Friday night in his basement drinking bourbon and building boats.  He knew that was what they believed and he didn't want to dissuade them of that thought.  As much as loved his team - he wanted to keep his private life just that - private.

In fact most Friday nights would find him unwinding from the week at the local batting cages.  He had learned years ago that hitting a ball with a wooden bat did wonders for his mood.  It worked much better than bourbon; most of the time anyway. 

He arrived at the cages and saw that it was fairly crowded for a Friday night so he knew he would have to wait his turn for a cage.  He wandered over to the snack bar for a beer and a hot dog - baseball food was mandatory - and slowly walked through the park.  As he neared the cages he could hear the solid whack of the bat and watched the ball soar long and high - someone knew what he was doing.

As he got nearer to the batter, he began to feel a vague sense of deja vu. 

He recognized that stance.  Hell, he recognized that ass.

His first thought was to turn and walk away - she would never know.  But, then he realized that he wanted to see her, he wanted to talk to her - see how shes been, what shes been up to these past four years - had it really been that long?
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Hollis Mann loved to hit baseballs, it was one of her favorite ways to unwind and she needed the stress relief after the week she had just had.

She had received a call two weeks ago requesting (ordering) her to come back to DC to answer questions regarding an old case from her Army CID days.  She felt like she had spent the week defending herself and her investigation.  In the end, she had been vindicated, but it still rankled that she had to come at all.

Twenty minutes in the batting cage was equal to a month of therapy and she was glad that she remembered these cages and that they were still here, after all four years is a long time. Being at these cages brought back bittersweet memories that she wouldn't allow herself to dwell. Four years was a long time, but obviously not long enough for some things.

Shaking her hair out of the batting helmet she almost walked into someone standing outside the cage, when she raised her eyes to apologize she was stunned to find herself looking into the very eyes that held her thoughts only moments before.

"Jethro?"

"Hollis" answered Gibbs with a grin that made her knees weak.

Neither spoke for several seconds and the silence was beginning to get awkward, so she resorted to polite conversation "So, how have you been?"

Gibbs smirked "The same as always...dead petty officers, missing marines, moles and inter-agency politics. You?"

"Sun, sand, surf."

"Sounds like retirement is everything you hoped it would be"

"Almost" smiled Hollis wistfully

Gibbs cleared his throat and asked "So what brings you back to DC?"

Much safer ground thought Hollis "Old CID investigation. Felt like old times." 

"Ongoing?"

"Wrapped it up today"

"So, that means you will be going back to Hawaii soon?"

"I leave Monday morning.  I wasn't sure how long it would take so I planned for a full week"

Gibbs couldn't believe what he was about to ask, but he knew he would be asking as soon as he realized it was her in the cage "Got dinner plans?"

Hollis smiled a smile that made him weak in the knees "No, I don't"

He returned her smile with one equally as happy "I just happen to have a couple of steaks in the refrigerator at home.  We could cook those and catch up"

"I would like that Jethro. Very much" replied Hollis linking her arm with his.




 

Comments

[alidiabin]

I ship them hard now thanks to Liz and rewatching S4 (it helps me study cough cough).

Very nice, you captured the relationship and wrote Hollis very nicely. And of course Gibbs recognized the ass.

[proseac]

Yay for Gibbs/Hollis!! I love this pairing, and you totally did them justice.

Very nice bit of deja-vu, and weren't you clever to come up with a believable pretext for getting Hollis back to DC?

Well done!