Women Prefer Their Own Beds

Disclaimer: Not mine. Sigh. Oh well. It's not fair, but I'll live.

A/N: Ok, yeah, starting another thing while I'm doing my other stories… to be honest, I've got major writers block on just about everything else. So then, I'm flipping channels, and I find Navy NCIS, "Minimum Security." Go iguanas! Yeah. See bottom author's note for a basic overview of that episode. If you haven't seen it, you should look at your schedule and wait for it to be on. Anyhow… here goes. Women Prefer Their Own Beds, take one.

Chapter One: Who Won?

Things had gone back to normal at NCIS. Well, ok, as normal as ever. Abby had managed to avoid having to date her friend who had verified the authenticity of the emeralds, although she did take pity on him and explain why she had so many bottles of perfume. Agent Cassidy had been sent back to Guantanamo Bay, but she was assigned to a different apartment. Who knew who now had her keys?

Tony, on the other hand, wasn't normal. He wasn't precisely depressed, but he wasn't bantering with Kate like he used to. Even Gibbs had noticed. Kate really noticed. A few days after they returned from Cuba, she headed down to chat with Abby.

"He's not being, well… Tony." Kate fiddled with one of the perfume bottles. "I think she really got to him. He's so used to being able to have any girl's heart that he couldn't stand being rejected. Not only that, but she played him. She played him like he played other people. And she pointed it out in front of Gibbs."

"Did he really like her?"

"I think so. He apologized when Gibbs made him search her room."

Abby looked slightly shocked. She put down her latest project and came to stand in front of Kate. "He apologized?"

"Yeah."

Abby noticed the slightly pained look in Kate's eyes and changed the subject. "So, learn anything on the trip to Cuba?"

Kate grinned slowly. "Tony's afraid of iguanas."

"How did you find that out?" Abby could tell there was a story behind this one.

"Ok, so it's really early in the morning, and I hear a cry from Tony's room. Logically, I assume there's trouble. I grab my gun and go running to see, so does Gibbs. We get there and Tony's got his gun pointed at an iguana." Kate grinned. "Apparently he's woken up to see it on the bed next to him and freaked." Remembering the other part of the story, Kate blushed. Abby noticed Kate's hesitation and pounced on it.

"There's something else, isn't there? He just sleeps in boxers, doesn't he?" Kate looked slightly guilty, and blushed harder. "Oh my god! He sleeps in the nude?"

Kate dissolved into laughter, and Abby joined her. "Yeah," Kate gasped out. "And when we stopped pointing our guns at the iguana and looked at Tony, we realized that he had nothing on. And then, he picks up…" here she broke of to giggle. "He picks up a chair and uses it to cover himself up. Not that we both hadn't already seen…"

"So Gibbs saw Tony with no clothes on? Oh, would I have paid to see the look on his face when he did! What did it look like?"

Kate managed to get her laughter under control. "I don't know. I was a little shocked myself, you know."

Abby leaned in conspiratorially and winked. "I know he has to work out a lot. Was it a good view?"

Kate started to reply, then cut herself off. "Hey, DiNozzo."

Abby spun around. "Hey, Tony."

He nodded to both of them. "Kate, Gibbs says we're needed upstairs. A Captain Reynolds was shot, apparently during a break in."

"Armed robbery?" Kate grabbed her coffee and followed Tony out of the lab, whispering, "Great view," to Abby.

"Well, yeah. The twist is that it appears that Reynolds was the one doing the breaking and entering."

"Oh, I see." In the elevator, Kate glanced at Tony. "Hey, you ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Cause you know, if you want to talk…" Kate couldn't believe she was offering to give relationship advice to DiNozzo. What the heck was she thinking?

"I said I was fine." Tony was sounding slightly angry.

"Alright. No need to snap." Kate couldn't keep the slightly hurt tone out of her voice. They bantered a lot, but they'd always been friendly. She kept silent as they headed out to process the scene.

Tony, on the other hand, was kicking himself. He didn't want to talk about it, but he shouldn't have been mean to Kate. He couldn't figure out why he was distressed about Paula Cassidy. She wasn't that wonderful; he'd only known her for a day or two… but she'd rejected him. Played him how he played women. Isn't it funny how great minds think exactly alike? And, to make matters worse, she'd mentioned it in front of Kate. That was what got him. It was easy to flirt and banter with Kate while he had a steady stream of other girlfriends to bring up if need be. Kate was one of the very few women he was merely friends with, and it was hard for him to be comfortable flirting with Kate when she'd seen him get shot down…

What was wrong with him? There had to have been something in the water down in Cuba. He'd just go out to a bar later and find a girl to go out with. Well, to sleep with at least. He shook his head. "Women," he muttered. "They're so confusing. Why can't they just act more like men so we'd understand them?"

A/N: Ok, done with this for now. The title comes from the episode. Kate sees that the dead guy had a key to Agent Cassidy's apartment, and makes a comment about women liking to use their own beds. She immediately retracts it when Tony objects. Later, they tell Gibbs, who says "Well, women prefer their own beds" and Kate looks at Tony like she knew it all. And the thing with Cassidy: Tony flirted with her, thought he was doing well, then she says (in front of Gibbs and Kate) that Tony'd bought her act. He says "What, the ice queen was an act?" and she says "No, the act was the fact that I was melting." I'm not quoting verbatim, by the way. Anyhow, they end up on the plane on the way back, and Kate kinda tries to play matchmaker between the two, and they look happy enough, which pissed me off, cause I'm a Tate shipper. Therefore, this story. Review! Gratia!