Tony & Kate- Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore
Plot: Tony/Kate. Tony invites Kate to go to the bar with him but when they have too much fun and things sort of go unplanned. Sure enough they find themselves stuck in a situation that turns complicated.
Chapter 1:
As hours went by in the Navy Yard Headquarters, Tony annoyed Kate as much as he ever had. She tried to ignore his presence as much as she could to get her work done on the next case and whenever Gibbs was around to catch Dinozzo off task or off work- he'd get that usual slap in the head routine.
Dinozzo went back to work- as well did Kate. When she finished for the night Gibbs dismissed her and Tony from work. Then Tony went back to bantering and teasing her as usual.
"So, Kate got a hot date tonight? Who's the sore loser?"
She glared at him from above her compact mirror as she was trying to reapply her red lipstick. "Well, he's rich, a lawyer, and drives a Ferrari. Oh and did I mention that he graduated top honors from his class at Yale law school-some of the qualities that women find attractive in a man. Oh and on top of that he treats women with decency and kindness- something you'll never achieve."
He guffawed and his laughter overtook the whole room. "You mean to tell me that you are going out with someone who is more successful than you. Wow, this guy must be a real tool to be going out with you when he could be nailing some hot attorney that's working on the same case."
"Well some men actually care about those who have high standards rather than the ones who have lower standards or shall I say ones that dress up like hookers or prostitutes."
Tony rolled his eyes. He said unconvinced, "Yeah, right."
Kate's phone rang and she answered it hoping it was from the guy she was going out with that night. Surely enough it was. She said in a low but delighted tone, "Hey, are we still on for tonight?"
Tony leaned into eavesdrop on her conversation as she had her back turned from her desk. Her voice turned from delighted to being discouraged, "Oh, I see. Um…yes that's perfectly fine. I understand, it happens to all of us." She paused for a moment. "Yeah, hope you and Teresa find a lead to your case. I'll talk to you later. Bye."
She sighed deeply. Another guy she thought could be the one turned out to be a sleaze and a phony. Yet again she was proven right by Tony and as much she hated being wrong she had to give him credit for proving guys are all pigs. "Well, Tony, you were right about one thing. Guys are interested in only one thing…and that is tall leggy attorneys that show lots of cleavage."
Tony insinuated, "Well I didn't exactly say that. What I meant was he could be banging some hot chick in his office instead of going out-"
She cut him off with a little sob at the end of her voice, "With me. Yeah I know. There's always something wrong with me Tony. Even you'll admit it."
She turned forward to face him as a tear or two slid down her face. "What's wrong with me?"
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat not sure of what he should say. The truth was he never cared enough to know about girls and their emotions he only wanted to get in bed with them and to never return their phone calls.
Then he replied with a genuine answer, "Nothing. The guy is obviously a moron. I mean look at yourself, Kate, you're every guys dream. You're smart, witty, and…attractive."
She looked at him as though she couldn't believe what he was saying. It made her speechless for a mere minute and a half. "You really think so?"
"Yes, definitely, yes. I cross my heart and hope to die that I'm telling you the god's honest truth. I do believe that guy standing you up like that is a douche. It's his loss."
She grinned a little and she felt that Tony was right- she felt that swearing his oath was indeed honest. Was he actually being nice to her? Was this a sign that he did actually care about her feelings and emotions? This little kind gesture made her think that maybe they could become friends.
He said, "So now that you are available, I was thinking maybe you would like to accompany me to the bar tonight. We can have a few rounds of beers and just loosen up. It'll get you to stop thinking of that guy."
She thought to herself, I knew there would be a catch to this whole nice guy act. "Dinozzo, you have another thing coming if you think I'd be caught drop dead with you getting drunk. I know what you're up to and don't try and think that you're going to get anywhere with me tonight because I assure you that most likely will not happen."
"I was just simply asking if you would like to talk and have a few beers. I wasn't insinuating that you get drunk just so that you could sleep with me."
She was dumbfounded by his notion of being nice. "Ok, so you just want to talk and have drinks? That's it?"
He nodded. "Yeah, so what will it be, Kate? Are you in or are you out?"
She sighed. Her hesitant thoughts snuck up on her-daunting her every thought. Knowing Tony she wondered if he had some sort of plan to reel her in when she was least expecting it. He was all for pulling pranks and tricking people into thinking he did something out of the kindness of his heart. Although something was telling her that he was being actually nice this time and that he wasn't trying to fool her.
She said, "Oh what the hell I'm in." There had to be something good that came out of this unfortunate evening, she thought bluntly. If Anthony Dinozzo was the one to show her a good time then so be it. She was tired of getting rejected by the wrong guy or misreading their signals. She hoped deeply in her heart that Dinozzo was different from the rest and that he wasn't going to take advantage of her while consoling her vulnerability.
As they both had entered the elevator, Tony leaned in seductively. "So, you thought I was trying to get you in the sack huh..were you thinking of me naked?" His lingering question made her wince at the very thought of her in Tony's bed.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't push it Dinozzo." She edged him in the ribs leaving him moan in pain.
He forced out his words sluggishly, "Relax Kate, I was just joking."
"No, you weren't," she indicated.
"Yes I was," he said mockingly.
She reiterated, "No, you weren't."
"Yes I was," he reiterated. His mischievous grin spread across his face as he started to like this game they were playing at.
She pressed down on the emergency button-knowing that Gibbs could only do that and would probably kill her if he caught her in the act.
"Kate what's going on? You know Gibbs would kill you if he saw you press his button." Then he let out a boyish laugh. "Ok those last three words didn't come out right."
She turned around to face him with her glare. He slowly backed away when she was coming close enough to him that he was being cornered into the elevator. He gulped-that was one sign of letting his fear show. "Kate, you know I hate being stuck in elevators. So could you do me a favor and press the button again so it can take us down?"
"Let me make myself clear," she warned him, "if you so much as lay a hand on me or try to do something irrational or stupid-which let's face it, you tend to do that on a daily basis- I will kick you somewhere you've never been kicked before."
He was mesmerized by how close enough she was to him. He could sense her adamant behavior but was too drawn in by her body language. Could it be that he found her even more attractive at this moment?
She waved her hand in his face trying to bring him out of his transfixed state. "Hello, earth to Tony. Am I making myself clear?"
As he brought himself back to reality, a smug smile appeared on his face. "Yes I'm well aware of your hostility and what damage it can do to me."
She smiled back this time. "Great, I'm glad we're able to clear this up."
She pressed the emergency button and the elevator proceeded to go down to the first floor. There was the suppressed silence that filled the air leaving them both staring at the elevator door waiting for it to open. Tony glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He couldn't wipe away the biggest grin he had shown. As soon as she awkwardly caught him checking her out, he quickly looked away.
The elevator doors slid open and as Kate got out of the elevator, Tony followed her closely behind. He could smell the perfume she had on, it smelled like vanilla & honey. He inhaled the alluring scent and all of a sudden she could feel him moving in closer from behind.
"Dinozzo, stop smelling me," Kate said.
He found it odd that she could sense him from a couple inches away.
As he tensed up, he said, "Right, sorry."
They both headed to the parking lot where Tony insisted that he would drive her to the bar in his car. It was a fifteen minute drive to get there and of course throughout the car ride Dinozzo did nothing but talk about movie antidotes which annoyed Kate to no end but she learned to contain her irritated behavior.
As they both got out of the car, he continued with his movie trivia, "Ok, the lead star is Keanu Reeves with Sandra Bullock and he realizes that there's a bomb planted on a bus-"
She turned around quickly to face him.
"Dinozzo, guess this quote 'frankly my dear, I don't give a damn,'" she said sharply.
His face was blank. He had no idea what she was talking about.
"The point is I'm here to have a jolly ole time and you are going to help make it happen and that means no movie quotes, just for this one night. And please, please whatever you do try not to hit on any women tonight. Deal?"
He nodded. "Alright, deal but you also have to do something for me."
"And what's that?"
"At the end of night you have to show me your tattoo."
She threw a disgusted look his way. "I got two words for you, fat..chance."
He groveled, "Please? Do it for me Katie, just for this one night."
She turned away from him and walked to the entrance of Louie's bar.
"You're such a pig."
He grinned mischievously thinking of naughty thoughts as he pictured her tattoo somewhere inappropriate.
The bar was crowded that night. For the first time, Kate felt like she belonged in this bar. She was glad that Tony offered her to come along.
She yelled out from across behind the bar stand. Her words slurred, "Hey Louie, give us another round of shots."
She then turned her attention to Dinozzo, "Wow, I feel great, like I'm on top of the world. Like I'm Louis Lane the superhero that can fly!"
Tony chuckled. Wearing a silly grin on his face he said, "Don't you mean Kara aka Superwoman?"
She look bewildered for a second, not sure of what to say next. Then she said with a sluggish response, "Oh, right. And what would that make you superman?"
"Nahh I'd rather be batman. He has more of that appeal to him and besides he's way cooler than that freak who wears his underwear over his tights."
She said abruptly, "Please you have more appeal than batman and superman put together." As Lou handed them another round of shots, she was ecstatic to see more drinks in front of her as if they were presents on Christmas morning.
"Yay, more drinks. Are you going to help me finish them or are you gonna sit there staring at me all night?"
Even though they were both completely drunk he couldn't believe what he heard. This was the same woman who did nothing but insult him and ridicule his movie quotes and bad taste in women. This time he knew she wasn't just being her normal usual self she was stating the truth just by the way her eyes gave it away.
"Hold on, you think I have appeal?"
Her eyes all of a sudden turned soft and gentle. "Of course I do. You're brilliant. Sometimes I think you can be such a jerk but then at other times you do things that just completely amaze me, Tony Dinozzo."
He shifted closer to her making his sudden interest known and his curiosity grow deeper. "So tell me what do I do that amazes Ms. Caitlin Todd?"
"Well, you can be very persuading like when we're working with a case which by the way rarely happens. Your sense of humor is sexist but at times it can be..charming. You want to be a better man someday I can sense it whenever you're around Gibbs, he's like your role model-well aside from the grumpy mood and the demanding orders-I just can feel it. Oh and the way you're looking at me right now, it just makes me feel that there's still hope for you yet Dinozzo."
The way she studied him for a while made him feel like she knew him all his life. It was uncanny how she seemed to know his intentions that he buried somewhere inside him where he thought no one would look to find- his heart.
He added, "You forgot amazingly handsome, my incessant use of movie quotes, and last but not least the impeccable taste I have in women."
He paused for a moment -seeing what her reaction might be to his little joke- to his array she laughed and he did the same.
"Nope, I still think those are annoying traits that make you a jerk," she stated.
All of a sudden somebody played, "I Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon from the record machine that sat right across from Kate and Tony. Kate lit up all of a sudden and so did Tony.
"My favorite song," they said in unison. They both exchanged shocked expressions, feeling as if they'd enter some strange alternative universe.
"You're a REO Speedwagon fan? There's just no way you could like this song. In fact I didn't know a guy could ever like this song."
Tony gave her that look like he'd prove his loyalty. "Pfft yeah I totally love this song. I bet you don't know this word by word."
She was appalled, "What? I so know this word by word. The question is do you know this word by word?"
He bragged, "Yes, indeed I do know it word by word. I will prove it to you."
He sang at the top of his lungs, "I can't fight this feeling any longer and I'm still afraid to let it flow. What has started out as friendship has grown stronger I wish I had the strength to let it show."
As she continued to hear him sing, she was taken a back. The truth is she never heard him sing before until that very moment when he had serenated to her in the bar. She thought it was cheesy and so not like Dinozzo, he was a man of keeping things casual and simple. He was never involved with anybody romantically yet alone he never showed his softer side.
She interrupted him, "Tony, I didn't know you could sing. Your voice is so..."
"So…bad, good, horrible…what?"
"Amazing. You are truly amazing."
He turned red feeling a little bashful. "No, I'm not that great."
She placed her hand on his arm and as her lingering fingers brushed up against his skin he felt his heart start to pound out of his chest and he felt that it was going to leap out at any minute. Kate never complimented him like that before she usually sneered his way anytime he would bring up his perverted little sense of humor. This time it was unusual to see Kate acting this way, being altruistic, and giving him some encouragement.
A warm gentle smile spread across her face. "You're great to me."
Just when he wasn't thinking clearly he did something that was impulsive and rash. He leaned in to kiss her without thinking twice he clearly acted on gut instinct. It might have been the alcohol talking but he found himself suddenly... drawn to her. His hand brushed through her hair and inhaled her sweet scent that he noticed earlier that night. She kissed him right back and they held each other for what it seemed like the longest time.