Title: Take A Shot For You.
Rating: K .
Characters: Kate-centric, some Ducky and Gibbs. Mentions of Tony, Abby, McGee and Ari.
Pairings: Implied Tate.
Genre: Hurt/comfort.
Warnings: Character death. Quite sad (but then I find most things sad).
Spoilers: Some Twilight and SWAK.
Summary: An alternate ending to Twilight. What happens when someone takes the bullet that was meant for Kate?
Disclaimer: Nothing's mine.
Author's Notes: I was listening to iTunes on random and a few songs came on and this idea kind of jumped at me and it wouldn't leave me alone until I'd written it. I'm sorry if the flashbacks aren't exactly right, but I was only writing them from memory. They should be okay seeing as I only watched the episode yesterday but you never know. Oh and I wasn't sure of the time period between SWAK and Twilight seeing as I refuse to watch Twilight, so I just said it was a couple of weeks. And I know I said I wouldn't be uploading anything until February but I wanted to get this up. See you guys in February! One-shot. Hope you enjoy, please review.
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I'd take another chance, take a fall, take a shot for you.
Kate stared down at the lifeless body in front of her and wiped a tear from her cheek. The last few hours had been a complete blur, and it was only just coming back to her. It should have been her laying on the floor right now, not him. She felt a hand on her back and turned around to see Ducky smile sympathetically to her. She lowered her head and screwed her eyes shut.
"I'm so sorry, Kate," Ducky said, wrapping his arms around her.
"He's gone, Ducky, he's gone," she sobbed, letting the tears run down her face now.
"I know, my dear, it's awful. This shouldn't have happened," he shook his head. "Kate I need to move the body."
She nodded and pulled away. "I understand." She moved away, not looking back down at his body. She walked to the edge of the roof and stared out over the city.
"Oh Tony, I am so sorry," she heard Ducky say as he lifted Tony's body onto the gurney. She heard him tell Palmer to take the body down the autopsy and that he'd follow soon. There was silence for a few minutes before Ducky spoke again. "Kate you should come inside now, it's getting cold out here." She turned her head around to face him but didn't say anything so he walked closer to her. "I know it's hard, but you need to come into the warm." She nodded and let him walk her back into the building.
Gibbs looked up when Kate and Ducky walked into the bullpen. He smiled slightly, that was all he could manage. Ducky walked Kate to her desk and waited until she'd sat down to leave them alone and go back to autopsy. Kate noticed Abby was sitting on the floor next to Tim's chair, her head in her hands, and Tim was watching her with his hand rubbing her back.
Kate looked round to Tony's desk. Could it even be called Tony's desk any more? Seeing as he'd never sit at it again. She sobbed as she remembered some of the great times she and Tony had had here together, even if she hadn't thought they were that great at the time.
Flashback::::
"Are you going to answer that?" Kate asked, getting irritated by Tony's cell phone ringing.
"I'm in hell, Kate," Tony replied.
"Well do they have money there? Because you owe me for lunch this week," she smiled.
"I will pay you today if you answer this call for me," he stood up and walked over to her desk.
Kate rolled her eyes. "Who is it?"
"Crazy ex-girlfriend from college."
"Right. What do you want me to tell her?" Kate asked. Anything to stop the phone ringing non-stop all day.
"Tell her you're my wife or something. She won't stop calling me, I'm begging you here. Please," he held the phone out to her.
She hesitated. "You'll pay me back today?"
"Sure," he grinned.
Kate sighed and took the phone. "Hello?" She spoke into it. "I'm Tony's wife." She paused. "We got married a few years ago." She held the phone away from her ear and whispered to Tony. "Do we have kids?"
He shrugged. "Sure."
She put the phone back to her ear. "Yes, we have two. And we're very happy, so please don't call back again," she said and hung up the phone, handing it back to Tony. "I feel like I need a shower now."
Tony grinned again and took the phone, turning to McGee. "Pay her now, Probie."
Kate looked up and frowned. "What?"
"He bet me forty dollars he could get you to tell someone you were his wife today," McGee replied, handing her the money.
"Tony, I'm going to kill you," she glared at him, but he just smiled sweetly and shrugged.
::::End of flashback
"Kate?" She looked up and saw Gibbs standing in front of her. He looked tired, a look she'd never seen on him before. "You want a lift home?"
She shook her head. "It's fine. I'll stay here," she said quietly. For some reason she couldn't speak any louder than that.
"Kate you can't stay here forever you know. You need to sleep," Gibbs replied.
"I know. I just don't want to be alone tonight."
He nodded. "Okay. But Kate, I'm not letting you mope around like this. I need you here more than ever now, and Tony wouldn't have wanted you to dwell on his for too long."
She smiled slightly. "You really believe that?"
He shook his head and smiled. "Not really." He turned serious. "But you need to carry on."
She nodded. "Yeah. Night Gibbs."
"Night Kate," Gibbs leant over and clicked her desk light off. "Get some sleep." He walked away and towards the elevator. Kate watched him go before turning to look over at McGee's desk where Abby was still sat on the floor, but Tim was now sat next to her and she was asleep on his shoulder.
Kate sighed and lent her elbows on her desk. She knew Gibbs was right when he said she should get some sleep, but she also knew she'd never be able to sleep when all she could think about was how badly the day had gone. Only a couple of weeks ago the team had almost lost Tony to the plague. But when he'd gotten over that they thought they were safe and had him back for good. She sighed again and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Seeing how ill Tony had been with the plague had forced her to face her true feelings towards him. She'd never wanted to fall for him like she had, he was nothing like anyone she'd ever dated, but in a way that was the attraction. They spent so much time together that they knew nearly everything about each other. He knew what made her tick, and, as he'd so rightly put it, she 'got' him. She got to see the side of him that nobody else saw, the side that showed he could be a normal human being who had feelings. And as much as she hated admitting it, he was her best friend, and she knew she could rely on him when she needed someone to talk to.
But now he was gone. And she really didn't know how she was going to move on. She wasn't used to losing people, especially not people she cared about this much. All she could think of was that she'd never got the chance to tell him how she really felt. Never got the chance to tell him why she really stayed with him in isolation and pretended she was ill. She'd always thought she'd have more time, after all he'd survived the plague what else was going to tear him away from her? But fate had a way of butting in at the one time she needed it to keep away. He wasn't supposed to be the one dead, it was meant to be her. Ari had shot the bullet towards her, but Tony had seen it just a fraction of a second before her or Gibbs did and jumped in front of her to intercept it. He'd died to save her, and now she'd never get the chance to thank him.
Kate stood up and pushed her chair under the desk. She took out a blanket and jacket from one of her desk drawers and layed down on the floor. She pulled the blanket over her and folded the jacket under her head to act as a pillow. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She doubted she would be able to fall asleep, but she could always try. After all, now she'd lost Tony she'd have to make do with only seeing him in her dreams.
I will never let you fall,
I'll stand up with you forever,
I'll be there for you through it all,
Even if saving you sends me to heaven.
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A/N2: -cries- that was so sad to write, but I knew if I didn't write it now the idea wouldn't leave me alone. By the way, the lyrics at the start are from Apologize by One Republic, and the lyrics at the end are from Your Guardian Angel by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Hope you guys enjoyed that, please review I'd love to hear what you thought of it.
Thanks, -Beth.