Aversion Therapy

By: KitsuneLauz

Summary: "This was Dinozzo she was talking about. Dinozzo, who hit on anybody with a double X chromosome, Dinozzo who was standing there looking no more than six."

Pairing: Tony Dinozzo and Caitlin Todd (as if I'd write anything else)
Uploaded: Thursday 7 September 2006

Author's Notes: This baby took me ages! I kept on tweaking it, and tweaking it, and tweaking it, lol! I'm still not quite happy with the ending but I hope its good enough. My second fic, and I'm glad to say the length of my fics are improving

Disclaimer: Still don't own them.

Kate entered the office and was greeted by a cacophony of "Ow's!" and "Ouch's!" The source of it was, to no surprise, the one and only Tony Dinozzo. She raised an eyebrow at the stricken Dinozzo who was still every few minutes pinching his arm – however unwillingly – and giving a quick yelp of pain. As much as she was amused by a tortured Tony, she couldn't help but wonder and was saved the trouble of asking as Tony's gaze fell on her, face twisted into a painful grimace.

"Aversion therapy," he ground out, rubbing his pinch-red arm.

She rolled her eyes. Typical Dinozzo.

"And what sin of yours might this be for, Tony? Gluttony? Greed? Pride? Lust? Envy…" she counted off the many on her fingers and would have continued had Dinozzo not interrupted.

"Alright, alright, you can stop now Kate, I get the point," he said wryly, hands rising to massage his forehead, displaying to her the barrage of red markings along the outside of his arm.

She winced at the sight of the destruction. The vague thought that perhaps his arm really was bothering him entered her mind. That he had been pinching it for so long that he was indisputably in pain - it wasn't like Dinozzo to back down from a fight like he had just then, after all. Could Dinozzo really be that stupid? She smiled. She certainly didn't put it past him. It made her wonder how long Dinozzo had been pinching himself before she came in and that elicited a smile. Only someone like him could think that pinching himself to death would actually contribute to any cause.

"You were right, anyway," he continued. "About the sin," Tony added at the look of confusion on her face. "Well, it was one of them, anyway."

"Oh really? Do continue – please," she flourished her hand.

He shrugged and fleeting looks of confusion, fear, panic? – Kate wasn't sure - ran across his face. It was such an expression unlike the usual if-you-shot-me-I'd-still-be-grinning-my-annoying-smirk-at-you Dinozzo that Kate was about to ask what was wrong – and was halfway through opening her mouth to do so - when Tony waved a hand of dismissal at her, a sly, scheming look dominating the previous confusion.

"Well, wouldn't you like to know," and there came back the trademark Dinozzo grin for the pure reason that he knew his remark would tick her off.

She growled at him in frustration and scowled, hands going behind her to lean against her desk.

"Like I care, Dinozzo," she rolled her eyes. "I was simply making a point that you," she paused for impact. "Have a lot of sins to cover."

He smirked, quickly retaliating. "Don't go there, Kate. I'm sure you'd love to know all about my private life, wouldn't you?"

He leaned back on his chair triumphantly, certain that he had won.

"Admit it, Kate, I'm just too goo-"A look of surprise came over his features and his arms flailed for some grounding as his chair toppled to the ground, carrying the stunned Dinozzo with it. Kate laughed silently as he scrabbled at the desktop before finding his feet and emerging, flustered. He ran a hand through his mussed hair, looking at the mess he had made. Through lidded eyes, Kate's eyes flicked over himbefore she caught herself. What on earth was she doing? He certainly did make a picture, standing in the midst of his own mess. But…so what? There was a small twinge - hardly a twinge, more like a light prickling, like a dog with an annoying flea…

Well, the point was that she couldn't help but feel a small twinge of…

What was it?

Was it love, perhaps?

Her eyes widened, mouth opening in a round 'O' as she banished the thought as quickly as it had come. This was Dinozzo she was talking about. Dinozzo, who hit on anybody with a double X chromosome, Dinozzo who was standing there looking no more than six. She grinned. More like five, with the maturity of a two year old. Everything he did was living proof of the fact; he was now trying to get a paperclip out of his hair.

He was quickly brought to the attention of Kate's source of amusement. It wasn't hard – muffled giggles kept emerging from Caitlin Todd's mouth as her hysteria mounted. It was one thing to see Tony fooling around, as he usually did, another to just realise she might have possible – maybe not that possible, Kate thought distractedly – but possible nonetheless, feelings for her fellow co-worker. Tony's mouth slanted into a twisted grin.

"What? Do ya find all this," he gestured at the papers at which he'd grabbed on the way down and whilst trying to find his footing, lying around him much like snow covering his desk. "Funny?"

She took a deep gulp of air. Compose yourself, Caitlin Todd.

"Well," she grinned in reply. "I'm not going to be the one cleaning it up, am I?"

"Nice start to the morning, Dinozzo," she added with a chuckle.

She quietened down as she noticed the look of dismay which had replaced his former happy-go-lucky features. He was probably thinking about how much Gibbs would kill him when he saw the mess. Then again, there was always no guessing what Tony Dinozzo was thinking. Caitlin Todd sighed.

"Here," she pushed off her desk and walked over. "I'll help you clean up," she said resignedly.

Tony's face broke out into a huge childish grin.

That now familiar something twinged in Kate again and she almost hoped that he grinned because she was spending the time with him, not because she was on the floor with him (and God, how dirty that sounded…she really had stop hanging around Dinozzo…), scrabbling to pick up his papers, his mess…

What was she on!

If Judgement Day was tomorrow, she definitely wouldn't be going to heaven. At the rate she was going, even hell would throw her back!

Snap out of it, Caitlin Todd.

Tony kneeled in front of her, head down as he too began to pick up the papers. Kate froze at his closeness and tentatively took a breath. He smelled…wonderful and for a few seconds, Kate forgot why she was there in the first place. But then he looked up at her, honey brown eyes locking with hers and Kate's condition plummeted. She could now hardly remember her name.

"Thanks," he said, simply.

But he didn't look away.

"Yeah…" Kate breathed out.

He gave a crooked smile. "For helping me out, Kate," he further explained.

"Ah," she blinked. "Right. That. Yeah. No problem."

She ducked her head and stood, clutching a stack of papers to her chest. He rose with her, eyes still locked on hers. Kate, slightly puzzled by his actions, remained still, face in a confused frown.

She realised what was coming when she saw Tony clench his hands into fists and lean closer.

Tony's thoughts were racing a hundred per minute. What was he doing? He didn't know. He just couldn't hide from his feelings for Kate, his Kate, anymore. All he wanted was for Kate to know how he felt and so, by this stage, his mind was a muddle.

Pleasedon'trejectmePleasedon'trejectmePleasedon'trejectme.

Kate froze with her eyes wide.

No.

She pushed the papers into his chest, stopping him in his tracks as she gave him a smile.

"Pick up the rest on your own, Dinozzo," she laughed. "You are such a lazy ass."

And thus, she banished the tense moments of before.

The day was slowly rolling to a close. It had become pretty tense in the room during the day as the case took its toll on the members of the squad. Things had taken an interesting twist when the suspected man turned out to be a woman.

At least that had closed the case earlier than expected.

Still, he should have known then the day was bound to get better.

It was dark. The others had gone home - well, excluding Gibbs, but for all Tony knew, he basically slept in the office anyway. So, excluding Gibbs as aforementioned, it was just Kate and him. Tony played aimlessly with the paperclips on his desk, making squiggly shapes with them and trying to make piles as high as his index finger. In the back of his mind, even he was wondering why he didn't just go home, leave things at that…

But then he looked across from his desk, saw the beautiful woman he adored and knew why.

Tony, in his befuddled state of mind, needed to know why Kate wouldn't kiss him. No one had said "no" to him since grade seven in a tragic game involving a certain Samantha and Spin the Bottle. So, in a way, it was a sense of male pride that spurred Tony on to act. But, and Tony was reluctant to admit it, it was more than that too.

Tony swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing. He knew he was out of Kate's league. If he hadn't realised it before today, now he knew without a doubt. His eyes cast down on his desk with grim despair. Her actions that morning had confirmed it.

Stupid, he chided himself. Stupid that he had ever hoped anything could happen. But… he still needed to know. He needed – closure. That was all, he concluded. He didn't have any last, lingering hopes of a future with Caitlin Todd; he wasn't trying to find something in her gaze he knew would never appear.

Closure.

That was all.

A loud snap brought him out of his reverie and he looked up to see Kate turning off her desk light and packing her things. He watched, dumbfounded, as she stood and slung her bag over her shoulder before rounding her desk.

By then he was out of his seat, leaving it swivelling motionlessly behind him.

"Kate," he called, taking bounding steps towards her.

Kate glanced at him before giving a derisive smile.

There was a light playing in her eyes.

"What is it now, Tony?" He couldn't help but notice how quickly her derision had turned into a full fledged grin.

Did she enjoy talking to him? Their banter? Their…

"I just, eh," Tony grappled silently for something to talk about. To mention. Anything. Subconsciously, he couldn't believe he'd degraded himself to this, desperately hoping for something with a woman he could never attain. The Dinozzo of days gone by would have laughed had someone told him he would end up like this. He locked his hands behind his back.

"Katie – Kate," he began. "I, ah, know we've been co-workers for a while-"

He was cut off as Kate's lips seared across his, startling him as he stumbled back to come with a thud against his desk. He stood, frozen.

What are you doing!Caitlin Todd is kissing you. You! Do something!

"Right," he mumbled against her mouth, hands ghosting her back and tangling in her hair.

The moment stretched on timeless and Tony couldn't count how many tender nips they gave each other as they slowly eased away from each other, to lean, forehead against forehead. The grin spreading across Tony's face was infectious and soon Kate was smiling as sunnily back at him.

"You know," he murmured. "I never did tell you what I was punishing myself for this morning."

Kate looked at him quizzically.

"I thought it was lust," he said, voice barely a whisper.

Kate's face fell slightly. Tony merely lowered his head to her ear.

"But I was wrong," he grinned. "It was love."

Well, what did you think? Read & Review please! Even if it's just as simple as "I couldn't finish it – it was THAT bad," anything is bound to help ;) I'm still having some troubles with styling, can anyone help me with the following?

1. How do you get hr's in Word to show up on FanFiction?