Life Line: An NCIS Fanfiction [Book One]

Chapter 2 - Alone

Tim holds out his hand for Carter to shake, but she stands there looking at him in a daze. "Excuse me... Carter?" Tim asked softly, breaking her from her trance.

"I... I'm so sorry." Carter extended her hand to shake his. As she does her face begins to blush.

"Listen, I'd love to stay and chat but I need to get to work, maybe some other time... Nice meeting you, Carter!" Tim hurried out the door of the apartment leaving Carter alone in the empty room. Still under his spell, she made her way around the little apartment to get familiar with it. It was nothing much, small kitchen, living room, bedroom, and a bathroom. The only pieces of furniture in sight were a bed, small table, couch, and a desk.

After a much needed nap, Carter had unpacked her things. She changed into an oversized t-shirt and gym shorts, and was sitting on her bed in the dark watching television. It was almost ten o'clock when there was a knock on her door. Nervously, she got up and turned on the living room light. Just to be safe, she reached into the pocket of her sea bag and pulled out a small bottle of pepper spray.

"Oh. It's just you." Carter sighed in relief after opening the door to reveal Tim.

"Uhh... Thanks?... Hey, I'm sorry to stop by so late... I, uhh... Just wanted to make sure you were alright." Tim spoke quickly, while looking down at the ground.

"Don't worry. I'm used to the Iraq time zone, been there long enough. And I am fine. Thank you."

"If you're going to stay up a while... Do you maybe want to order some pizza for delivery and get to know each other? I mean, because you're new and don't have any friends... That sounded bad, I'm sure you have plenty of friends wherever you're from... They're just not here..."

"No, it's ok. You're not wrong. I don't really have any friends... But it's getting late, shouldn't you be getting some sleep? Don't you have to go to work in the morning?" Carter tried to change the subject. She didn't want to have Tim learn more about her than she knew herself.

"I do... But being alone isn't fun. I know from experience. Although if you don't want me to stay, I completely understand and I will respect that." Tim put his hands up in defense.

"Maybe some other night... I just need some time to catch up to America. This is my first day back in almost six months. It'll take some adjustments I'm sure, but once I'm back in the swing of things we can do that." Carter lied her way through that and she knew it. After all these years, she didn't really want to have a friend.

"Alright. Goodnight, Carter. If you need anything during the night, I'm just four doors down. Don't hesitate to ask, it'll be alright." Tim waved as Carter slowly shut the door. Her face was red from all the blood that had rushed to her face. She made her way back into the bedroom shutting off all of her lights and her television, since she, too, had to get up to go to work early the next morning. Her first day at NCIS was just around the corner.