"Good MORNING everyone! Tony DiNozzo is here!"

"Oh, yes Tony. We are all too aware of that." Ziva said from her accustomed place behind her desk. Tony sneered in her direction, and she smiled triumphantly.

"Well, I understand. Someone feels belittled now that the SUPER special agent is here!"

"Sure. Whatever drifts your boat."

"Uhm, Ziva. The expression is float."

"Tell me what the difference is between 'float' and 'drift'" To that, Tony had no answer.

"You're late, DiNozzo." Gibbs said, as he walked casually through the bullpen and sat down at his corner desk.

"And so is Kate. Where is she?" McGee said coolly, typing away at his keyboard.

Tony froze, extremely confused.

"What did you say?"

"Kate. She's late. Kate's usually never late." Ziva responded indifferently, flipping through papers. Tony laughed acrimoniously, figuring this was another antic from his team.

"Okay, what's the big joke here? Are you guys trying to mess with me? Well QUIT it! It's not working. Kate has been DEAD for years."

"Really, Tony. I wasn't aware of that. How did it happen? Was it a fiery explosion? I always hoped I would die like that."

Tony knew that voice; he would know it from a mile away. Unmistakable, distinct. The voice he had been longing to hear since Ari pulled the trigger.

"Kate." Tony whispered, in complete and utter shock. He turned around to face his thought to be deceased co-worker, and his heart stopped.

"Tony." Kate whispered mockingly, in the same manner as Tony. "Is there a problem?"

"Kate." Tony said again, wondering how on earth this was possible. Kate's dead; he's been sure of that. He would swear his collection of playboy magazines on that.

"Good. You know my name. Now that we have covered the basics, what's the problem?"

"You're dead."

Kate, along with the rest of the team, stared at Tony quizzically.

"Well, Tony, apparently she's not. To think you went through criminal investigative training for that." Ziva jokingly felt his forehead. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"YES Ziva, I'm fine." He said, viciously swatting her hand away. Ziva frowned. "But you shouldn't be! You're dead! You've been DEAD for years! Ari killed you, with a single gunshot to the forehead! What the HELL are you doing here?" Tony said, practically shaking by now. He poked Kate's stomach, testing to see if she was real.

"Um," Kate responded worriedly, "Should we call Ducky?"

"No, no, no! You are DEAD! DEAD!! I DON'T GET IT! Why the HELL are you standing here? YOU. ARE. DEAD."

"I'm not dead. Hello, Tony. I'm Agent Kate Todd. And I'm living. And so is Ziva! And McGee! And Gibbs! And YOU! We ALL are!"

"Yes, Kate, I know who you are and I know everyone here is living. Except for you. I got it! I'm talking to you inside my head, and you're not really here. This happen the day that you died. You would just appear, when I needed it. Why are you here now? Are you going to give be some O-bi-won kinda thing?"

"Gibbs? Tony's hallucinating!" Kate called.

"And when I close my eyes, you'll disappear, and I'll wake up." Tony shut his eyes shut, and popped them up. Kate was still there. He did it repeatedly many times. Even as much as Ziva was enjoying watching Tony make a fool of himself, she stopped him.

"Tony...Kate's still here, and you are still make no sense." Ziva said, looking at him, and slightly leaning away, as if his insanity was contagious.

"Ugh, I need some Advil. PROBIE!"

"WHAT?"

McGee looked up, annoyed. He wasn't paying attention to Tony, he knew he was bluffing this whole thing. Probably to get Ziva's attention. You don't need to be Eienstein to figure those two out.

"Advil, McWhiney. Pronto." McGee took out the bottle of pills from his drawer and chucked it in Tony's direction, which flew right past his head and on it's way to hitting Ziva's. She caught it with the flick of her wrist and tossed it to Tony.

"Oh. Remind me not to mess with you, Agent David!" Kate said, getting a chuckle out of Ziva. Gibbs' desk phone rang, and Gibbs' picked it up within second.

"Gibbs. Yeah. On our way." He hung up the phone and the rest of the team stood in position, ready to roll.

"Dead lieutenant found on the parkway. Let's go!"

Tony started to follow his team out of the squad room, but was stopped by Gibbs.

"Not you. Go to Ducky."

Tony reluctantly put his bag down, extremely confused. He watched his team, specifically Kate, walk out of the bullpen

"She's dead, and still causing problems for me" Kate heard Tony's comment, and from the elevator called back.

"I'm not dead, DiNozzo!"

"Jesus Christ!"