"Of course my fingerprints were there! You'd find my fingerprints on almost anything Rick owned! Except maybe his hunting rifles." The woman responds, distressed and tearful.
"We had to ask." I say, semi-apologetically
She looks at me curiously for a moment.
"You're not married, are you Agent Todd?" she questions.
How does she know? Is the ring showing? Breathe, Kate, breathe, she doesn't know…
My eyes flash to Tony for a second, before back to the woman,
"No." I say, firmly
"Well a lot of husbands leave a trail when they come home. I was constantly picking up after him."
Yeah, I get it. Trust me.
"How was your relationship with your husband?" asks Gibbs, and I take that opportunity to flash a look at Tony, but he isn't looking at me.
"He wasn't sleeping in the den?" Tony asks the woman
"Like any married couple, we had our problems."
I get that too.
"Like what?" questions Gibbs
"That's none of your business!" the woman cries, getting more agitated.
"We didn't mean to upset you." I say, trying to calm her, but that appears to bother her even more.
It takes us a few minutes to calm her down, before we leave, her husband's laptop in tow.
Gibbs gets in the car, when Tony smirks at me
"Funny how she pegged you for unmarried."
I give him a withering stare, but a smile plays at the corners of my mouth.
That Night
"So, Mrs. Dinozzo-Todd. Today was an interesting day." Tony comments as we walk up the front steps of our house, hand in hand. He loves calling me that whenever we're out of the office.
"Indeed it was, Mr. Dinozzo-Todd." I say, just as jocularly "I nearly choked."
He chuckles. "Well, I'm just glad you broke the habit of reaching for your necklace."
Right after we first got married, about five years ago, I had the habit of touching my necklace every time someone mentioned anything having to do with marriage.
"Shut up. At least you didn't laugh. That is the worst defense mechanism ever!" I tease back.
We pause at the door, and open it at quietly as possible. We sneak in, but of course, Tony forgets that the door slams behind us.
"Dammit Tony!" I hiss at him, as the lights upstairs come on.
"Mommy! Daddy!" shrieks our son, Caleb, as he stumbles down the stairs, his three-year-old legs not quite steady yet. He stumbles to the bottom and right into my arms.
"Hey C-bear! Did you miss us?" I ask, and I cling tightly to our son, who is the spitting image of Tony.
"Mama!" smiles our 18 month old daughter, Layla, from our babysitter's arms as she walks down the stairs "Dada!"
"Hey Layla-bug!" calls Tony, and our babysitter hands our dark haired, dark eyed daughter to Tony. Tony claims she looks just like me, but I think she is far more beautiful.
"Mommy! Guess what I did today!" asks Caleb, ecstatic
"What?" I ask, just as breathlessly excited.
"I made you and Daddy a picture. Wanna see?"
"Yes! Just give Mommy one minute, Okay?"
He nods, happily like a bobble head.
I stand and pull out Julia's pay.
"Here, Thank you so much for staying late again." I say
"No problem." She smiles, and the blonde quickly leaves.
"Tony, I think Caleb has a picture he wants to show us." I nudge Tony, who is completely wrapped up in kissing Layla's hands as she giggles.
"Sure, Angel." He grins, and hands me Layla. He then scoops up Caleb and says, "The monster wants to know where the picture is!"
Caleb squeals with delight and says "My room!"
We all go upstairs and see Caleb's drawing, which is a very crude, but very cute interpretation of me, Tony, Layla and Caleb standing in front of our house, with our dog, Toni.
"It's beautiful, C-bear. You're going to be an artist one day." I compliment, kissing the top of his head. "But right now, it's time for my little artist to go to bed."
"But Mommy-!"
"I'll read you Rikki TIkki Tavi." I promise
He turns around and jumps straight into his bed – a little red car, which Tony insisted he have because of Magnum PI.
"Daddy will put Layla to bed and you and I can read the story okay?" I say, handing Layla to Tony, and grabbing the book from Caleb's bookshelf. "I'll meet you in our bedroom, Angel." Calls Tony as he bounces Layla on his hip, as he heads towards her room.
I sit down next to Caleb in his bed, and open the book, already knowing the book by heart, but he loves the pictures.
"There was once a mongoose named Rikki Tikki Tavi." I start
When I finally finish, Caleb is asleep. I plant a soft kiss on his forehead and quietly exit the room.
I peek through Layla's doorway, and see she is asleep in her crib. I walk further down the hall and into my bedroom, where I can hear Tony brushing his teeth.
I shut the door, and let out sigh. I then follow the sound of the water running into the bathroom, where I join Tony in brushing my teeth. I then, take off all my makeup while he does his nightly routine of about thirty different hair gel removers and facial creams.
Finally ready for bed we crawl under the covers and I snuggle into his arms. The only downside to working with Tony is when I was on Air Force One, it was easier for at least one of us to be home with Caleb and Layla, now both of us are needed to do the same job.
I yawn, exhaustion overpowering me.
"You know, I should really thank Gibbs one day for offering you a job. It's so nice to work with you, and be able to keep you safe." Mutters Tony, and I smile.
"I can picture his face when you tell him. If he gets mad at you, you should tell him it's technically it's not your fault he gave your wife a job."
Tony chuckles.
"For now, it's just going to be our little secret, okay?" he whispers
"Okay." I whisper back.
To the rest of the world, Tony Dinozzo is a good agent, but a player who is always flirting with Kate and will probably never marry. Kate Todd is a good agent, but secretive who is always yelling at Tony, who doesn't have time to marry. To our son and daughter, we're Mommy and Daddy, who will always protect them from "The Bad Guys". To each other, we're simply Kate and Tony, with matching wedding rings around our necks, engraved with "love you always, love you forever." With a smile on my face, I doze off, knowing that whatever comes tomorrow, we'll face it hand in hand, as Mrs. and Mr. Dinozzo-Todd.
