I'm Here For You
J. Merrick
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, or possibly my own sanity.
Okay, so I played around with their ages just a little bit. Shoot me. I also played around with the character histories just a smidgen, as should be patently obvious. I took some creative license in fleshing out the character's back stories to not only fit the stories, but to provide one while remaining somewhat in grasp of 'reality' (of which this story firmly has no footing in).
I got the idea for this story from re-watching the season one and two DVDs and noting that at times Kate and Tony acted exactly like brother and sister. Yeah, I know that by the end of the second season it was being translated into sexual tension, but this idea stuck.
Particular spoilers for 'Heart Break' and 'Yankee White' if you've never seen those. General spoilers for the entire show.
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Chapter One
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Time line: Pre-NCIS
"Anthony, I want a divorce," Patricia Todd DiNozzo said while holding a wine glass precariously between her thumb and forefinger.
"Are you serious?" Anthony DiNozzo asked, with a gob smacked look upon his face. He had just returned home from work, and was still wearing his 'work suit' as his two kids referred to it as. He had yet to put on his 'home suit.'
"Come on Anthony," Patricia said with a disbelieving look on her face, almost like she was taken aback, "You can't say you didn't see this coming. You're never home, I'm an alcoholic, we don't even talk to each other much anymore."
"What about the children?" Anthony asked, looking almost heartbroken. It would later turn out that he was so absorbed into his work that he had not, in fact, seen this coming.
"Don't even give me the whole 'stay together for the kids' speech Anthony," Patricia said, before finishing off what was left in her wine glass, but still keeping a hold of the now empty glass in her hand, "In fact it would probably do some good for them."
She laughed a short, almost sarcastic, laugh, "We could never give them a normal upbringing the way we are now. If we end this charade of a marriage now, we can stop ourselves from doing enormous harm to them."
"So you really have put some thought into this?" Anthony asked, still in denial that his wife, who he thought had loved him up until the moment he had walked into his dining room that evening, wanted to end their marriage of eight years.
"Yes, Anthony," Patricia said evenly, staring straight at the defeated man, "My bags are already packed as well. I'll have the papers that I had Micheal draft sent over in the morning."
"Please don't tell me you're taking the kids as well," Anthony said, watching as his wife tossed the glass that had previously been in her hand into the fireplace of the dining room.
"Like it matters to you Anthony," Patricia said with a humorless laugh, "You only want them so you can have a legacy to the world."
"I won't let you take both of them," Anthony DiNozzo said with a vigor, and passion, that was slowly coming back, and what years before had attracted his wife to him.
"I'll tell you what Anthony," Patricia said, slinking up to him, much the way that she had done on their wedding night, "I'll let you keep Tony, he's already growing up to be exactly like you."
"And you would take Caitlin, my little girl, away from me?" Anthony responded, with a slight amount of anger trimming the edges of his voice.
"Only because it would hurt you more," Patricia responded, "The courts would separate the custody as such anyways Anthony, and you know that. Save yourself the trouble, and the money, and just agree to it now."
The argument lasted long into the night, as Anthony DiNozzo regained the fight that had made him one of the most feared business men out of Long Island in the past century. What the two feuding spouses did not know, however, was that the first of their many battles of the small war that their divorce was crumbling into was being witnessed by two children.
"What's going on Tony?" Caitlin, or Kate as five year old preferred to be called, asked her older brother from their position on the stairs overlooking the door to the dining room, "Why are mommy and daddy fighting?"
"I don't know, Katie," little eight year old Tony replied to his sister, "But it doesn't sound good."
"I wish they wouldn't fight," Kate stated, with a frown on her lips. Her brother reacted by putting his arm around her shoulders.
"Kate do you want to go play your room?" Tony asked his sister, recognizing that she did not need to be privy to this.
"Tony you only want to play sports, you never want to play dolls," Kate sighed, looking at her older brother in slight annoyance at his preferred way of keeping himself entertained.
"Well that's because I don't know how," Tony retorted with a smile on his face, "Why don't you show me how?"
"Okay!" Kate responded cheerfully, forgetting about her parents crumbling union, grabbing her brother's hand and leading him up the rest of the stairs to her room.
The next day, however, Kate watched with her brother as their mother packed up all of Kate's belongings in her room. Their parents had agreed that it would be best for the children, in their minds at least, that Kate would do best living with her mother, while Tony would do best living with his father.
After a nasty six month divorce struggle, both of the respective parents tried their best to forget about their former spouse, so much that they could not stand to see their other child because it reminded them so much of each other. The two siblings only saw each other twice a year at their grandmother's house on each side of the family.
Patricia Todd, as she was now known, had her daughter take on her maiden name after the divorce, and proceeded to marry into a family where a widowed father had numerous sons already. Anthony DiNozzo married quickly again as well, to an alcoholic woman that didn't mind that her husband was consumed with his job. He tried to train his son to inherit his role in his business, but his son just wasn't him, and he watched afar from his job as his son slowly drifted away from him.
As the years went by the two siblings stayed in contact with each other as much as possible, but it became harder when Tony was sent to a prep school in Rhode Island. Kate got along well with her older step-brothers, but never forgot her true older brother.
When they both got to college it became easier to see each other, even though Tony's sport achievements still made it slightly difficult. The two still had the tiffs that all siblings were wont to have, but because of the distance it was hard to keep up the hard feelings. Especially when one of them was in need of the other.
Not many played varsity sports at the collegiate level, and even fewer played more than one varsity sport, and even less than that in a Division I school such as Ohio State. Tony was one of those gifted athletes, and looked to have a shot at going pro in football until his senior year, when his leg was shattered in a game against blood-rivals Michigan. Kate was in the stands that day, as Tony had promised to give the performance of a lifetime in a game that was nationally televised.
Kate would never forget what it was like to walk into the hospital room and see her brother laying on the bed with such a lost look on his face. Oh he was surrounded by 'concerned' cheerleaders as was his MO, and something the young profiler had picked up on very quickly, but the look on his face should have told the bimbos that he did not want their attention at the moment. Although he was lost in his thoughts and pretty ineffectively ignoring the cheerleaders, he was able to notice his sister walk in.
"Kate!" he exclaimed, his facial expression regaining some life, "I had forgotten that you had come here today."
"Who's she Big D?" one of the blond bimbos asked, looking at Kate with distaste in her slightly plain clothes. Big mistake.
"She's my sister you whore," Tony ground out, causing the girls to look at him in shock, and cause Kate's eyebrows to raise slightly, "And if you would leave us alone I would greatly appreciate it."
The two blonde's quickly left the room, almost as if being burned from behind.
"Well, that was nice Tony," Kate said with a slight layer of sarcasm after a moment, taking a seat next to the bed and setting her purse on the table that was located next to her chair.
"They'll probably forget about it by the time they get to the nearest frat house," Tony said, leaning back into his pillows, the lost look starting to creep back onto his face. Kate frowned.
"Tony, how are you feeling?" Kate asked, taking the figurative first step forward. She was always amazed at how few true friends her brother actually had, as evidenced by she was the only person in the hospital room.
"How do you think Kate?" Tony replied, his voice dripping with bitterness, "My football career is over! Hell, my basketball career is finished as well!"
"Tony," Kate cut him off, standing up and placing her hand on her brother's shoulder, "I'm not going to tell you to cheer up or anything, because I know it would be useless at this point."
"Then what the hell are you going to say then?" Tony ground back, looking slightly put out at his little sister. Kate sighed, and looked directly into his eyes, her hand never leaving his shoulder.
"I'm here for you Tony," was what Kate said. What was left unsaid was that it was in a way that their parents weren't, and never would be.
"Thank you," Tony replied, deflating slightly, and smiling up at his sister, who had tears in her eyes. The moment passed and Kate sat back down in her chair, which she turned so that could more easily look at each other.
"So do you think Mom and Dad were watching?" Tony asked, sounding slightly more cheerful than before.
"Doubtful," Kate said with a laugh, "If they were then one of us would have gotten a phone call by now."
"Yeah, Dad will probably only hear about it at work on Monday when someone tells him that he saw his son over the weekend," Tony said, laughing as he always did about his parents lack of care about what he did with his life. He had gained a mantra since his parent's divorce: If you weren't laughing, then you would be crying.
"Tony did you have any idea of what you wanted to do if sports didn't work out for you?" Kate asked, changing the subject instantly.
"That's a big if there Katie," Tony said, then reconsidering with a frown, "Well, was would be a better word now."
Kate was about to say something to keep Tony from going down that path again, but he continued speaking, "I don't know, being a police officer always sounded interesting."
"You're only saying that because that's what I want to be," Kate said with an accusing tone.
"Well maybe," Tony admitted with a laugh, "Who knows? I did take some criminal justice courses, I'll put out some feelers once I get out of this damn cast that I'm going to be in."
Kate shook her head, but didn't say anything more. Her brother was happy again, that's all that counted.
As it turned out, Tony was welcomed instantly to attempt to try to become a police officer, which he did, quickly becoming one of the best in Peoria, IL. After spending eighteen months in which he quickly rose threw the ranks, he accepted a job in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. It was here that he first began to show promise as a detective due to his uncanny ability to remember and discover details of a crime scene. By the time he moved to accept a higher paying position in Baltimore a year and a half later he had become a full fledged homicide detective.
Kate as well went into law enforcement, but in a different path than her only brother by blood. Showing a proficiency in college at profiling she was recruited by the United States Secret Service, and over the course of two years became a full fledged Special Agent, becoming a member of the Presidential Protection Detail.
Because of the rigors of their respective careers, the two siblings only had sporadic contact over the course of those years, although they made sure to still try to visit each other as their jobs would allow.
That soon changed.
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Time line: Post-Yankee White
Tony was relaxing in his apartment after the case of the mysteriously dieing Navy Commander who had just ate with the President on Air Force One. As impossible as it would seem to believe, that wasn't the weird part of the day. The prize for that went to discovering that one of the members of the Secret Service Presidential Protection Detail on the flight had been his little sister, Caitlin Todd.
That had been a right little shock. Of course he knew that Kate had been up for her Yankee White clearance due to him being interviewed as part of her background check. Unfortunately he hadn't been able to get into contact with his sister since then, as his job as a Special Agent at NCIS had been quite hectic, being involved in a whole slew of cases that he never though he would ever dream of being involved in when he had applied to become a Special Agent two years ago.
In a certain way at times he felt like James Bond in his undercover missions, although contrary to what people may think he enjoyed being an investigator more. He was already becoming lauded for his investigative skills, and had even overheard his boss, Gibbs, mentioning to the Director that he had a bright future.
Now his sister was joining the team, and if Gibbs knew that they were related he certainly didn't let on. It would certainly come up at some point – in the near future in all probability.
A knock came at the door. Tony looked at his cable receiver and saw that it was close to midnight. Walking over to the door he wondered who could possibly come calling at this hour, and as such he looked through the peep-hole to identify the person. It was Kate.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of my baby sister coming to bother me at close to midnight on a weekday?" Tony asked as he opened the door with a smile.
"What, a sister can't visit her brother when she wants to?" Kate asked, also with a smile on her face.
"Not on this planet," Tony replied, laughing, "Come in, what's up?"
"I was wondering if I could crash at your place for a few days until I'm all set up in town," Kate replied, as Tony took note of the duffel bagged hanging off of her shoulder, "I would have called but my cell phone has been acting up...and I honestly couldn't remember your number."
"Kind of sad that's how much contact we have had with each other, isn't it?" Tony responded, "You can grab the couch if you want, I was just about to crash out so I won't be good company."
"That's okay," Kate replied, "And thanks, I couldn't find any hotels that wouldn't make me blow through my entire savings."
"I've missed you Kate," Tony said, looking at his sister.
"Same here Tony," Kate replied, "But now we get to work together!"
"And you'll soon regret ever suggesting that I look into law enforcement!" Tony said with a sly smile on his face.
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Time line: Season Two
Since he had become a full-time Special Agent, Timothy McGee had seen many interesting things, and he would like to believe that he was becoming a better investigator. There was no way he would ever be up to Gibbs' level, or even Tony's, both of who had to be the best in the business. Still, he liked to believe that he more than earned his spot to stay on the team.
Kate had mentioned off hand one day that a good way to become a better investigator was to observe you colleagues, and 'investigate' their life a little bit. Pick up the nuances of their life, predict what they did. It would help with crime scenes in being better able to pick out details that one normally wouldn't see. As an experienced profiler, the advice wasn't odd coming from her.
Hell, he was certain that was how Gibbs knew so much of all his agent's private lives. Tony probably did the exact same thing without realizing what he was doing. He had learned long ago that there was no way to describe Tony's investigating style, other than he got results. He suspected that Tony was playing the part of an idiot because his personality certainly didn't match how naturally talented Tony was at investigating.
In his observations of his coworkers, though, he had noticed something slightly disconcerting to him.
"Abby, you ever notice anything odd about Tony and Kate?" McGee asked from his position above the keyboard, furiously typing.
"It depends on what your definition of "odd" is Tim," Abby responded, clicking with her mouse.
"I mean...well you know about Gibbs' rules, right?" McGee replied, pausing and looking at Abby.
"Of course Timmy," Abby responded, looking at McGee for a moment, before resuming her work.
"Well then you know about Rule Number 12 then, right?" McGee said, still looking at Abby without doing any work. Abby paused instantly, and swung away so that she was face to face with him.
"You think...you think...oh my God!" Abby said with a complete look of disbelief on her face, before laughing, "You think that Kate and Tony are having sex!"
"Well, not exactly," McGee stammered out, before deciding on, "Yes."
Abby continued to laugh as she walked away from her computer and McGee into her true "office" in her lab.
"Abby it's not funny!" McGee said in tail, "Those two could get into serious trouble if Gibbs found out about it!"
"Timmy, Timmy, Timmy," Abby said, still laughing as she pulled up a file on her computer, "You are going to feel like a complete and total idiot when you find out what's really going on."
"So you've known about this for a while then?" McGee asked, just a little bit more than slightly incredulous. Abby shot him a look that was just as every bit incredulous.
"Kate's my best friend McGee," Abby retorted, though in a manner that a teenager would speak to an annoying eight year old sibling, "We tell each other things, and I can not wait to tell her this!"
"Why?" McGee asked, suddenly fearing for his safety. He did not like to make Kate mad, it was slightly worse than making Tony mad.
"This is why McGeek!" Abby said with a slight flourish, bringing up a picture on the desktop. McGee leaned over her shoulder, and studied the picture. Two out of the four people in what looked to be a Christmas picture looked to be eerily familiar. He heard Abby whispering from right behind his ear, "What do you see Timmy?"
McGee looked harder at the two that looked familiar to him, the two children in the picture, a young boy and girl. It took him all of about fifteen seconds to realize who the boy was, as he would recognize that smug grin anywhere.
"Is that Tony?" McGee asked, looking back at Abby for a quick second, noticing that she had moved back slightly and away from him so they weren't so crowded.
"That would be a seven year old Anthony DiNozzo, yes McGee!" Abby replied, sounding every bit like a game show host, albeit female.
"Why am I looking at an old family picture of Tony's Abby?" McGee asked, wondering just what the goth forensic specialist was up to. Although he was the one that started this line of conversation, so he shouldn't argue with where it lead to, especially when he started it with Abby "Queen of the Tangents" Sciuto.
"Look at the little girl Timmy," Abby replied, pointing one heavily-ring laden finger at the screen. McGee sighed and looked back at the screen, almost squinting as he did. Turning his head to the side slightly, he finally noticed what Abby was trying to point out.
"Is that..." McGee trailed off, looking at the set of the girl's jaw and her hair.
"Is that who Timmy?" Abby asked, raising her eyebrows and smiling a grin that would make the Cheshire Cat proud.
"Is that Kate?!" McGee finally bite out, looking almost slack-jawed between the picture on the computer screen and Abby. Abby nodded in her excitable way.
"Why, I mean, how?" questioned McGee, this time staring directly at Abby.
"McGee you are looking at the last complete family Christmas picture of the DiNozzo family," Abby stated, vacating her chair and walking back into her lab proper, "Taken when little Anthony DiNozzo was eight years old, and little Caitlin DiNozzo was five."
"Caitlin DiNozzo?!" McGee exclaimed, not sure if he was hearing Abby correctly.
"They're brother and sister Timmy," Abby said, picking up a Caf-Pow! Off of the table and taking a quick drink from it, "The story isn't mine to tell, but if you feel like asking them, go right ahead."
"This is so Star Wars," McGee mumbled to himself as he walked back out into the forensics lab proper.
"What is Star Wars McGeek?" Tony asked as he walked into the lab.
"Nothing," McGee responded, just slightly to quickly in classic cliché, 'it is something,' styling.
"And I'm Luke Skywalker," Tony replied, causing Abby to snort, "Spill Elf Lord."
"Well, I thought that, well what I mean is," McGee stumbled over his words, causing Tony to look at him in exasperation.
"Can it probie," Tony said, cutting McGee off, "Gibbs needs to know where we're at with getting into this guy's computer."
"And you couldn't have called Tony?" Abby replied, walking over to the computer that McGee and her had been working on.
"What, and miss coming down here to see my favorite forensics specialist?" Tony retorted with a smile, completely ignoring McGee, "And make probie squirm?"
Or not.
"Thanks Tony," Abby replied, as she started to explain to Tony why it was good for you if you reformatted your hard drive seven times, but incredibly annoying for investigators.
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Time line: Post-Heart Break
'I'm so sorry,' Kate prayed, kneeling in the third pew from the front, head bowed. She felt that she didn't deserve to let the large Crucifix stare at her face, 'How could I have known? What should I have done?'
Ever since she had shot that innocent sailor, she hadn't been able to think straight. Yes, it was as Gibbs told her, suicide-by-cop. But her heart couldn't accept that. It would have been easier if he had just shot himself, or even if he had fully drawn the gun. But he had barely even flinched when she had made the split-second decision to shoot the troubled young man.
Why did she make that decision? Maybe he was going to slowly drop the weapon and she had shot him unnecessarily. She would never know now, because she had ended the man's life.
It seemed as if everyone around her had been clueless to how this was affecting her as well. Gibbs had just about ripped her head off, McGee would never be able to understand, and Tony was more preoccupied with Paula Cassidy to even notice what was going on with her. She doubted if he even knew she had shot the man.
She slowly crossed herself and stood up, still keeping her her bowed. She didn't deserve to be seen by the crucifix. She exited the pew on the side of the aisle that wasn't being overlooked by the specter of Christ. She raised her head slightly, and saw a shape in the back of the church that looked to be praying as well.
She would have walked right by it, but a tug of familiarity caused her to examine the figure more closely. She noticed a familiar Rosary set in the obviously man's hands. The hair was also familiar, as was the suit that she had seen earlier in the day.
It was Tony.
As she approached the pew she saw her brother cross himself, stand up and look at her, and give her a tight smile. He walked over to her and joined her in walking out of the church in silence. As they walked out she noticed that he had parked his car next to her on the street.
"What are you doing here Tony?" Kate asked as they stepped off the last step of the church, "Shouldn't you be with Paula?"
Kate saw Tony react slightly like he had been punched in the stomach, but didn't miss a step. It took a moment for him to speak, and when he did it was in a low tone, "No she wants nothing to do with me."
Kate again asked, this time turning towards her brother, "Why are you here Tony?"
"Because you shouldn't be alone tonight," Kate was caught off guard by the conviction in his voice, "I heard what happened."
"You did?" Kate asked, looking into her brother's eyes
"I'm here for you Kate," Tony said, putting his hand on her shoulders. This caused Kate to collapse against him, crying.
"Thank you," Kate said, pulling her brother as close as possible as he rubbed her back.
End Chapter.
