FLASH: Kate confused.

OCTOBER 5, 2005
INDIANA, USA

Her eyes shot open, red and sore.

When she woke up, it was dark. She felt around trying to see where she was, if this was another cruel trick. The last thing she remembered was her laughing at Tony being right. Then the kinetic impact into her forehead-. Then nothing.

"Help!" she tried to scream into the darkness. Her voice was hoarse and breathless. "Help! HELP!"

She moved her hands around and discovered she was in a pine box. She was in a coffin. That's what the kinetic impact was. A bullet. Ari. Ari Haswari had killed her. Or did he?

Instead of laying there and pondering why she was, in fact, in a coffin, she prepared to herself to get out of there. Having watched Kill Bill while in law school, she flattened her hand and touched the coffin with the end of her bird finger. Taking three slow, deep breaths, Kate calmed herself. Then she wrapped her fingers into a fist and punched the top of the coffin. Of course, it didn't give way on the first punch. She readied her hand again. Punch. Again. Again. Again. And fucking again.

Kate pounded on the top until the wood finally gave way. She took a deep breath as all the dirt on top came through. Summoning all her strength, what was left of it, and possibly the will of God, she pushed and pushed throughout the darkness, determined to get to the light.

She finally got to the top, hers hand sticking out feeling nothing but air and the dirt that clung to her fingernails. A few seconds later her head popped out. She took a big gasp of air, and started crawling out. Her right hand clawed into the ground as her left pushed against the edge of the hole.

She got up and looked around the box. She stood in a cemetery underneath a beautiful huge tree. The tombstone at her grave was beautifully carved.

CAITLIN TODD

DAUGHTER, FRIEND, SPECIAL AGENT

FOREVER LOVED, FOREVER MISSED

1973 - 2005

Under it was beautiful bouquet of flowers and roses. She noticed they came from Martha's Garden, her favorite flower shop. The weather was perfect. The wind flowed through her dirt-covered hair. The breeze felt good on her. Kate looked at herself, noticing she was wearing a sleeveless blue dress and Presidential Medal of Freedom around her neck. She was barefoot and totally alone.

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore, Kate thought to herself. Oh God, she was talking like Tony would. She gasped.

"Tony..." her parched throat managed to croak.

FLASH

Review. Maybe I'll continue. IDK. This is set after "Mind Games", before Ziva joins the team.