Disclaimer: I own nothing. Do you really think I would have let Twilight happen if NCIS was under my control?

I know I said I had an idea for a new story when I finished A Case of You. But then my story idea was kidnapped by insecurity and self-doubt. It just seemed too over the top and out of character. I debated whether or not I should write it for ages and decided against it. Bah humbug. So I wrote this instead. Which is not over the top and out of character…not at all…

Enjoy!

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"Come on, Kate!" Abby whined.

"The last time I went clubbing with you, I came home with a tattoo," Kate said, her hands firmly on her hips.

"So you're gonna stay in and spend your night drinking tea?" Abby asked, indicating to the whistling kettle in the background.

Kate shrugged, grabbing a mug from one of her kitchen cupboards.

"No offence, but that sounds a bit grandma-ish."

Kate hesitated briefly, biting her lip. Her plans did sound rather unexciting. Sure, she'd enjoy spending the night with a book or movie and a cup of tea but that was how she spent most nights when she wasn't working.

Abby sensed the hesitation and pounced on Kate's moment of weakness, pulling the mug out of her hands and putting it away before Kate had the chance to make any tea.

"You need to get out, Kate. You've been so busy with work lately. It'll be fun! And I promise I'll make sure you don't get another tattoo."

"Well..."

"And you need to make the most of the time you have left to go clubbing in."

Kate raised an eyebrow and the bubbly Goth's demeanour faltered for a moment.

"Not that you're old, of course. Not even close! We're not old. Neither of us. Which is why we need to go out and have fun!"

"Okay," Kate relented, realising she'd never win the fight. And anyway, the more Abby fought the more Kate realised she wanted to go.

"Yay!" Abby squealed, clapping her hands and bouncing in glee, making her pigtails fly wildly about her face. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"Wait-I need to get changed first," Kate reminded her.

Abby's mouth dropped open in surprise, as if she couldn't believe she'd overlooked such an important matter.

"Quick!" Abby cried, grabbing her hand and running the two of them into Kate's bedroom. "Now, what's the shortest skirt or dress you own?"

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Kate stood anxiously in line for a club, trying to pull down the skirt of her dress so it would cover just a little bit more skin. Abby swiftly whacked Kate's hand away.

"I can't believe you talked me into wearing this," Kate muttered.

"Oh please," Abby scoffed. "You look hot! You'd better not be hiding away in a corner all night, either. We're here to have fun, remember?"

"Fun, of course," Kate said, folding her arms so she wouldn't be tempted to try to pull her skirt down again. It had been so long since she'd really had fun that she was having a bit of trouble remembering how to relax.

A few minutes later, Abby grabbed Kate's arm in excitement as the line moved. "Look! Look! We're nearly inside!"

A few people walking by stared at the oddity of an exuberant Goth and Kate couldn't help but giggle at how surprised they all looked. She smiled at Abby who squealed again in excitement as they finally made their way into the club.

"Let's go to the bar!"

Kate shrugged and obediently followed Abby to the large congregation at the bar.

"This enough to buy you, babe?"

Kate looked over at the guy standing next to her who was staring appreciatively into her cleavage and waving a twenty dollar note under her nose. He was just like Tony. Except far less attractive.

"I don't think so."

The guy nodded in understanding and gave her a conspiratorial smile. "Babe, for you I'd pay a million dollars."

Okay. So he was worse than Tony. Kate looked straight ahead, trying to ignore Abby's snickering and keep a straight face.

When Kate hadn't said anything for several moments, he decided to take matters into his own hands and leaned closer to her, announcing, "Hey babe, my name's Tony."

She hadn't meant to laugh, really. But the corners of her mouth twitched up irresistibly then she heard Abby snort next to her and the next thing she knew, she was laughing hysterically and Tony had stormed off, offended.

It took nearly the whole time they were waiting to order for Kate to calm down. By the time she and Abby were walking away with their drinks, she didn't even have to fight the urge to laugh anymore.

Abby turned to her and raised her glass.

"Cheers, 'babe'," Abby said with a wink and Kate burst out laughing again.

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Tony strutted into the club, pausing to scope out any potential talent. A few maybes, a few hell nos and a few definite possibilities. But first, he needed to unwind and have a drink or two. He'd had a beer and a shot before he came out but that hardly counted.

He walked over to the bar but stopped in his tracks when he noticed the backs of a tall Goth and petite brunette waiting in line. There was only one person he knew who would wear a skirt like that and pigtails that high. And the other body, he'd recognise anywhere. He just wasn't used to seeing it wrapped up in a short red dress that hung enticingly on every curve. Tilting his head slightly to the side, Tony wondered how a frontal view of the dress would look-would it be low cut enough to give justice to Kate's body? There was only one way to find out.

He walked up behind Kate and Abby, placing a hand on each of their waists. "I don't think Gibbs would approve."

Abby turned to face him with a grin and a hug but Kate was a different story. She turned around slowly and squinted at Tony, as if trying to make out who it was. She seemed to work it out a second later because she was tugging on Abby's sleeve, giggling and exclaiming, "Abby! Look! It's the other Tony!"

Tony meant to ask which other Tony they knew but found himself a bit distracted. The front of Kate's dress definitely did justice to her figure. It wasn't a trashy dress-a trashy Kate was a paradox-but he'd still never seen her in anything that was so low cut. If he'd known what he was missing out on, he would have taken Kate clubbing ages ago.

"And he's staring right where the other Tony was staring, too!" Kate exclaimed with another giggle.

Abby took Tony's chin in her hand and moved his gaze up to her stern face. "Bad Tony. Bad other Tony, too."

"Who the hell is the other Tony?" he finally asked in exasperation, although Abby's grip on his face made talking slightly difficult.

"Just some guy who hit on Kate and wouldn't take his eyes off her chest," Abby said casually, releasing Tony's face.

"Babe," Kate piped up, still giggling.

Suddenly it hit Tony. Kate should have been making him feel great pain for staring at her cleavage right now. Not giggling.

"Uh, Abs," he said, moving closer to her, "is Kate…drunk?"

"Kate likes vodka," Abby said loudly, with a shrug.

"Kate does not like vodka," Kate declared. "Kate likes champagne. But vodka is okay."

Abby's eyes suddenly lit up as she spotted someone in the distance. "Look! Look! It's Sarah! I haven't seen her in ages!"

Abby raced across to her old friend but Kate didn't seem to notice.

"Did you know," she told Tony seriously, her eyes wide, "that every Friday night, for two whole hours, you can get drinks for two dollars here? Like raspberry vodka. And lemonade and vodka. Two dollars! Isn't that cheap?"

"You've never been here before?" Tony asked in shock. He thought that everyone knew about the two dollar drinks deal.

"Uh uh," Kate said, shaking her head. "I don't like clubbing."

"I can tell," Tony said sarcastically.

Kate raised her wrist up to her face, trying to make out the time on her watch. Apparently, this was slightly difficult because a second later she'd dropped her wrist in defeat and grabbed Tony's instead.

"Your watch is bigger," she explained to him.

She stared intently at his watch for several seconds before shaking her head.

"What time is it?" she asked, holding his wrist up to his face to help him out.

"Eleven forty."

"Eleven forty?" Kate exclaimed. "But there's only twenty minutes of happy hour left! Quick! We'll have to buy two drinks at a time now!"

Tony smiled as he watched Kate anxiously tap her foot, waiting for it to be her turn to order her drinks. He never thought he'd see a drunk Kate. And he was pretty sure this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Screw the potential talent he'd been scoping earlier. A night spent observing a drunk Kate would be much more entertaining.

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"You know what, Kate?" Tony announced several drinks later.

"What?"

"I planned on getting drunk tonight," he told her slowly. "But not this drunk."

Kate looked up at him with her mouth open and her eyes wide. "Me too! Isn't that crazy?"

Tony thought about that for a moment before shaking his head. "No."

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"Happy hour's finished, hasn't it?" Kate asked some time later.

"Oh yeah," Tony told her. "At least an hour ago."

Kate shook her head forlornly. "I'm very sad."

"Just because it's not happy hour," Tony told her wisely, "doesn't mean it's sad hour."

"I'm still very sad."

"Why's Kate sad?" Abby asked, reappearing for the first time since she'd spotted her friend.

"Because happy hour's finished," Tony said, patting Kate's shoulder in consolation.

"Let's go, then," Abby suggested, holding out her hand to Kate. "To another club!"

"I'm too sad," Kate said, shaking her head in refusal.

"I'll take care of Kate," Tony said. "You go."

Abby wasn't too sure that Tony was capable of doing that, judging by the way his breath smelled of alcohol. But on the other hand, Abby wasn't any more capable than Tony considering she was drunk herself.

"Okay," Abby decided with a shrug. "But before you do anything, just think: what would Gibbs say about that?"

"You're thinking about our boss right now?" Tony asked in confusion but Abby had already gone.

Kate looked up at Tony. "I'm still-"

"You're still sad, I know," Tony said. Even though he was drunk, he was beginning to have to repress the urge to roll his eyes.

Kate nodded.

"I know!" Tony exclaimed. "Let's have an ABC shot! That'll make you very happy."

"They named a shot after the alphabet?" Kate asked with a giggle.

Tony grabbed her hand and led her to the bar. "You have a lot to learn, Kate."

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"What's in these shots again?" Kate asked, holding up the empty shot glass to her face and observing it.

"Absinthe, Bacardi and chartreuse," Tony recited happily. "It's the best shot on earth."

"We've had a few, haven't we?"

"Yep."

Kate looked like she didn't know whether she found this funny or troublesome. On the plus side, she wasn't sad anymore.

"Let's dance," she decided.

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Kate couldn't exactly remember how she and Tony wound up in the cab. But here they were in the backseat, and there the driver was in the front seat, and now they were on their way somewhere.

"Everything outside's moving," she said with a giggle, looking out her window.

"I think that's because the cab's moving," Tony said thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah," she turned and looked at him. "You're not moving."

"Neither are you."

"Do you like my dress?" she asked him, looking down at the garment. "It's very red."

"I like it a lot."

"You've been very nice tonight Tony," she told him, patting his hand. "Very nice. I'm having lots of fun."

"Me too."

She looked at him for a moment before leaning in and kissing him. He tasted like alcohol but then again, she was sure she did too.

He pulled away a few seconds later. "Kate, this is probably a bad idea."

"Probably," she said with a shrug, before pulling him back to her and kissing him again.

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Kate buried her face into her pillow the next morning as she woke up, refusing to open her eyes. For some reason, she just did not feel well that morning. Her head felt fuzzy and slightly painful, and she was desperately thirsty.

It felt like she was hung over.

Hung over…alcohol… Kate suppressed a groan as she realised that hung over was exactly what she was. She could remember hitting the vodka quite hard with Abby. Then Tony turning up. What happened after that? Kate pressed her face further into the pillow as if that would help her remember.

Suddenly, a snore came from next to her and Kate sat up with a start.

She wasn't in her bed.

She wasn't even in her room.

She wasn't wearing her clothes.

And next to her, sleeping soundly was an equally naked Tony.

"Oh, shit," Kate whispered, deciding this was definitely an occasion for profanity.

Although she didn't want to, she slowly looked around the room. Articles of hers and Tony's clothing were strewn about haphazardly.

Maybe it was a good thing she couldn't remember all of the events of last night.

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I would like to point out that the "is this enough to buy you?" and "for you, a million dollars" line was used on me recently. Twenty dollar note and all. Except the real life guy didn't say "babe" all the time. It was still rather horrifying yet very amusing… Gotta love cheesy pick up lines! Or not.

Anyhow, do you think I should keep going with this story or should I kick its clichéd ass to kingdom come? I do have a plan for it which I'm sure I could make less clichéd… Sort of.

Help keep Tate alive and:

REVIEW!

(Pretty please.)