Chapter Text
Kate
Kate and Lucy had been apart for nearly a year. Lucy was gradually moving on with Skylar, feeling comfortable and content in her new relationship. Although she seems happy, deep down, she knew she would never feel for Skylar what she felt for Kate. Nevertheless, she hoped that with time, she would learn to love her the way she deserved. As time passed, Skylar had found her place within Lucy's team, and everyone could see that her feelings were growing much faster and deeper than Lucy's.
Kate tried to fight for Lucy, and on the day she apologized, she also confessed her love for her. However, Lucy replied that it was too late, and it was time for them both to move on. So, Kate did. Grief and heartbreak were two things that Kate didn't know how to handle healthily.
Growing up, Kate had a violent and abusive father and an alcoholic mother. Her twin brother Noah was her best friend and protector, especially from their father. Noah athletic abilities and handsome features made him popular in school, leading to many friends hang out and even girls. Noah was not often around on weekends, which gave their father opportunities to focus his abuse on Kate. She became an expert at hiding all her physical and emotional traumas. Unlike her brother, Kate was an introvert with few friends and a secret. Noah always tried to make time for his favorite person and pushed Kate to come to spend time with him and his friends, even though she was not invited.
Kate struggled to fit in with boys in an attempt to appear normal, but her first crush, Cindy Keller, was the only person who made her feel accepted. Indeed if she was not with Noah, she was with Cindy. One day, Kate mustered the courage to kiss Cindy in her bedroom, but their intimate moment was interrupted by Kate's violent father. He mercilessly beat Kate in front of Cindy until Noah intervened. Kate was hospitalized for three months, and she and Noah moved in with their grandparents in Washington DC, leaving Cindy behind. From that moment on, Kate and Noah were inseparable, and she relied on him for safety and comfort. When Noah joined the army, Kate followed him, and despite the hardships they faced, she was content as long as she had him by her side. Tragically, on the eve of their 19th birthday, they were ambushed, and Noah was killed. Kate was left broken, physically and emotionally, and without her only friend, she felt like she had nothing left to live for. She decided to wait until after his funeral to make any drastic decisions. During the funeral, Kate felt numb as people offered their condolences. Later that night, Kate found a tape with her name on it in her bedroom, and as she watched it, she saw Noah's face for the first time since his death. Tears streamed down her face as she listened to his voice apologizing for leaving her.
“Hello Kitkat. I Hope you never get to see this video. If you do, I am sorry I had to go.First, whatever you're about to do, don't.” Kate raised an eyebrow, wondering how did he know.
“It's a twin thing.” Kate laughed
”We don't have a twin thing." She said out loud to the TV
"Of course, we do." Noah replied and they both laughed simultaneously.
"But seriously, please don't. It is not your time. Your destiny is much grandiose than that. You always wanted to be a lawyer, so be one. Or anything less boring." She laughed again.
"Just don't give up yet. Learn to be happy. You deserve it. Let people in. Fall in love. Make friends. Be successful. Don't be just another name in a grave. This chapter of your life is going to suck for a while. I wish I could be there to make it better. But it's just a blip in what your future could be. Don't let my death be for nothing. Dedicate your first unborn son to me." Kate and Noah both started crying.
"I am going to miss you so much. I will always be there for you. Whatever you do or wherever you go. I'll be there. Make me proud, Kitkat. I love you. See you but not too soon, I hope."
As the tape stopped, Kate smiled to herself. At that moment, she resolved herself to be the best person she could be, or at least try.
It hadn't been easy, but she tried. She was smart, a genius actually, but never delved on it. She went to Northwestern, successfully rushed a sorority, made friends, not close ones, but enough that people liked her. She dated a bit, nothing serious. She kept her heart in a box and kept the key well hidden. Most conversations she had with her friends were generic and lacking substance. She was okay with that. She refused to get attached to anyone. She graduated early, became a lawyer. As Noah anticipated, she got bored and joined the DIA. She was happy at first. Her type of people, ambitious with no interest in friendship and fully focused on the task in hand.
This is how she met Cara, someone who cared about the bottom line as much as she did. Sex was good enough, no strings attached, companionship. But then Cara did the unthinkable. She got attached, asked questions, personal painful questions about her past. How dare she? So Kate started to pull away, calling less, seeing each other even less. Cara asked for a break, and Kate happily agreed.
Kate's life dramatically changed after her trip to Hawaii. She returned home a changed person, feeling lighter and happier than she had in a long time. She found herself daydreaming, smiling more often, and even reaching out to old college friends. The reason for her newfound happiness was Lucy, a woman she had met in Hawaii and fallen in love with. However, there was a problem: how could she be in love with someone she would never see again?
Then, Cara, asked for a second chance, and Kate accepted because she didn't want to be lonely anymore. But she soon realised that Cara was not Lucy. She felt lost and unsure of what to do, so she turned to her brother for advice.
In tears, Kate poured her heart out to Noah, telling him about Lucy and how much she missed him. As she got back into her car, Elvis Presley's "I'll Remember You" played on the radio, and Kate took it as a sign. The next day, she asked for a transfer to Hawaii, and when it was granted, she informed Cara that she was leaving. They fought, and it was the last time they spoke until Cara unexpectedly showed up one day. Kate officially ended things with her, finally letting go of her past. However, as she looked to her future without Lucy, she saw it crumbling before her eyes.
As time passed, Kate tried to fix what she had broken, but it seemed like every effort she made only made things worse. The final nail in her coffin was the day she met Skylar at one of Jane's ohana parties. When she arrived hand in hand with Lucy, something inside her broke. She hadn't felt that kind of pain since losing her brother. She saw how happy Lucy was, cheerfully greeting her friends and introducing Skylar to them. Kate finally understood that she had lost Lucy for good. She went to the kitchen to compose herself, avoiding running into them. The last thing she wanted was for anyone at the party to see her in tears. At that moment, she was no longer Kate but Whistler. She thanked Jane for the invitation and discreetly left the party.
From that day on, Kate kept her interactions with Lucy and the NCIS team polite but strictly professional. She minimized her presence at the NCIS headquarters and avoided Lucy as much as possible. She didn't participate in any jokes or go to Jane's house anymore. She was no longer part of the family, and due to the circumstances, nobody fight to keep her in it. All she did was work. She was the first person in and the last person out. She worked most weekends, and her only free time was surfing early on Saturdays before going to work straight after. She looked into old cases, anything and everything that she could solve to feel in control.
One morning after surfing, she found a note on her windshield that read, "I see you. Can you see me?" She looked around, but the beach was quiet, with only an old couple walking their dog and a young woman going for a run. She decided not to pay attention to the note and threw it in the bin. But something in her head ticked, and as an FBI agent, she was taught to pay attention to details. She decided to keep the note.
A few days later, Kate was called to support the NCIS on a case involving the death of a young female petty officer. The FBI was called in due to the violent nature of the crime. The petty officer had been missing for a week, tortured and raped. As Kate entered the war room, her face went pale. She was looking at the big TV screen, where the petty officer's naked back was displayed, with the words "I see you. Can you see me?" engraved on it.