Title: Start of a New Life

Beta: MWSATDKT - great thanks to you!

Summary: AU postTwilight (Tate of course). Since Kate almost died from a bullet wound, Tony and Kate have gotten a lot closer. But Kate also has a new boyfriend and she's obviously serious about it. Tony seems to be okay with it - but is he really?

Genre: Romance, with major angst!

Disclaimer: NCIS is property of DPB, I don't own it.

Chapter 1

Tony, who for a change was actually trying to work, looked over at Kate when he heard her giggle into her cell phone. He didn't believe his eyes and ears. Kate? Giggling? There was something wrong with that idea. Kate didn't giggle. That thought was strange enough to make Tony forget that he should be glad to see her so happy. Over the last two weeks she had seemed a little bit depressed to him. At times she had been acting weirdly. She wouldn't even shout at him anymore when he annoyed her. She'd only send an exhausted and kind of upset look his way, and this look managed what more than two years of arguing with him hadn't: it shut him up.

The main reason why that look worked was that Tony had become softer around her after she had almost been killed. Almost losing her had taught him to value her presence more, and he wanted to try and be more kind to her because he knew that she was still upset after the incident. They spent a lot more time together outside the office now - that's why he was in a good position to judge the state she was in. While at the hospital she had been more quiet than usual - but wasn't that normal after an almost fatal incident? Back at home she had soon returned to her old self, but some weeks later he had noticed how from day to day she was getting quieter and constantly seemed to be brooding over something. She didn't even get annoyed at him any more when he teased her. It had hurt him a bit at times, that she didn't seem to value his effort at all. All he had wanted to do by annoying her was cheer her up – a kind of paradox idea, which in his world made perfect sense. And now she was giggling into her phone!

There, she'd just done it again! And was she blushing? Who the hell was she talking to? And why wasn't she afraid that Gibbs might come back from his meeting in the new director's office? But since Gibbs had been treating her like a raw egg over the past four weeks, Tony didn't think that Kate would get into any trouble, even if he caught her. But he couldn't blame Gibbs either: Kate had almost died because of him and had spent more than three weeks in hospital because of a gunshot wound. He had to treat her nicely after that, didn't he?

Ha! Third time! And this time, a whispered "Danny, stop it" accompanied the giggle. Danny? So it really was a guy! Kate was meeting someone and he hadn't known about it. He really needed to talk to Abby. It was unacceptable that he got such important information only by overhearing Kate's telephone conversation. Maybe he should go down to the lab now, as long as Gibbs was gone, and try to find out as much as possible about that Danny guy.

"Yeah, me too", Kate chirped into the phone. "Yeah, see you. Bye." She put the phone aside and looked at it with a dreamy smile for some seconds. Then she noticed that Tony was staring at her.

"What DiNozzo?" she asked sharply.

Tony grinned. "Danny?" he asked, making his voice sound high and kind of girly, in a weak attempt to imitate her.

"Yes, Danny", she said matter-of-factly, turning back to her computer and ignoring him like only Kate could. All of Tony's attempts to get more information out of her failed miserably, but he tried again and again, until Gibbs came back and Tony couldn't interrogate her anymore. He really had to go see Abby.

So, as soon as Gibbs let them take their lunch break, Tony rushed down to Abby's lab.

"Who's Danny?" he asked, on entering the lab.

Abby, who had been working with a pipette and a couple of test tubes, stared at him as if he had lost his mind. "Who the hell's Danny?" she asked.

"That's what I'm asking you."

"Yeah, but you must know which Danny you're talking about, since you want to know about him."

"If I knew, I wouldn't have to ask."

"True", Abby acknowledged and put the test tube down.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Danny!"

"Who's Danny?" Abby asked innocently.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Yes." She grinned at him.

Tony sighed and decided to start again. "Kate is seeing someone who makes her giggle when she talks to him on the phone. His name's Danny. I want to know about him."

"Why would I have information you don't have?"

"Because you're Kate's friend and the two of you are always talking about your boyfriends when one of you has one."

"True", Abby said again.

"Go on then, tell me."

"Why would I?"

"Abby!" Tony exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, you don't have to shout." Abby lifted her palms off the table in a gesture of defeat. "He's a young guy Kate met last weekend when we were in a club together. He's cute, he's polite and there's a lot of good chemistry between them."

"How young?" Tony wanted to know.

"I don't know, I haven't asked him."

"Then guess."

"Twenty-seven, twenty-eight?"

"What?" Tony choked.

"What's your problem?" Abby asked. "That's still a lot older than the girls you normally date."

"Yeah, but that's different."

"What's different?"

"Err … it's different when the man is the one who's younger."

"Who says that?"

"What does he do?"

"Huh?"

"His profession?"

"Uh … I think she said he's a fireman."

Tony snorted.

"What now?" Abby sighed. "You've got a problem with firemen?"

"No." Tony shrugged. "I don't know… This is just so… so un-Kate-ish."

"Un-Kate-ish?" Abby chuckled.

When Tony turned to leave to finally get something to eat, Abby shouted after him and he turned around in the doorway.

"You're not going to use any of this against her, are you?" she asked. "Because, since I was the one who told you, it would be my fault."

"Of course not", Tony said in the most convincing tone he was capable of.

He was almost out of earshot when Abby shouted after him again. He poked his head back inside the lab and raised his eyebrows.

"Did she really giggle?" Abby asked.

Tony grinned and nodded, then he left.

---

The situation with Kate didn't improve much over the next few days. Her cell phone was bound to ring once every day and then she would drop what she was just doing to talk to fireman Danny. If I did that, Gibbs would have my head for it, Tony thought. But he had to admit that Kate was being discrete. She used her lunch or coffee break for her phone calls and she didn't lose a word about her relationship to anyone in the office. Tony only noticed because he was watching her. Kate didn't often date, so of course this new development was interesting. It was also the absolutely first time that in her choice of men, Kate had come so close to the criteria that Tony usually applied on the women he was dating. According to Abby, the guy was good-looking and some years younger. Tony didn't think that Kate was really serious about this guy, and it was intriguing to see how she fell into a pattern she had always reproached him for.

Generally, Tony and Kate's relationship – professional as well as in terms of friendship – had really improved a lot recently. Not that they hadn't been on good terms before, but since Tony had made a habit out of visiting Kate in the hospital every single day of her long stay, they had gotten really close and also spent a reasonable amount of time together outside the office now that she was back at work. That's why Tony had started to worry a bit about her lately. Physically, she had recovered quickly, but mentally a lot of things seemed to bother her. And those problems didn't seem to go away with time. On the contrary, Tony was quite sure that – whatever was bothering her – was getting worse. He had tried to talk to her about it, but she wouldn't let him in. Maybe a fling with a fireman was her way of drowning her sorrows. If it helped her cope with the situation, he didn't see a bad thing in it.

And she was definitely better now. He came to that conclusion when he had lunch with her on Thursday. She seemed to be happy. She talked and smiled a lot, and even laughed about some of his weaker jokes. When he asked for advice concerning a young blonde he wanted to impress, she told him he was impossible and that she wanted to change the subject. One week ago she would have just ignored him. Kate not getting angry when he bragged about his latest fling was really something scary. He was glad that she was feeling better now and had returned to shouting at him.

It took Tony half an hour – almost the whole extent of the meal – to get Kate to talk about Danny. He had approached the subject carefully, knowing that when he was too direct she wouldn't want to talk about it. So he did it very carefully, at first flirtatiously, commenting on how often he saw her smile recently, then admitting that he had once overheard her talking on the phone to a man – he thought it was better to admit it right away. Kate was able to put two and two together very well, and if he denied it, she'd only get angry and he wouldn't get his information.

It worked. After Kate had glared at him for some seconds for having overheard her private telephone conversation, she started to talk: "I'm currently seeing someone", she said with a fond smile on her lips. "His name is Danny. He's a fireman here in Washington. I only met him last weekend."

"You think the guy is good for you?" Tony asked in a mock serious, older brother kind of way.

Instead of answering Kate only grinned for some seconds and Tony's eyebrows rose in surprise. How often did you see Kate grin like a ten year old girl who'd just found out that she would be getting a horse for Christmas?

"That good, huh?" he muttered. "Then tell me, how well do you know this guy?" The way he pronounced the phrase made it clear that he was talking about the biblical sense of the word 'know'.

Kate made a disgusted face and threw her napkin at his head. "I only met him last weekend", she hissed. "I'm not that kind of woman."

"I know you aren't", Tony said, and he meant it. Some time ago he would have teased her endlessly with it, but now he didn't. He didn't really feel like it. All he felt was a sense of relief he couldn't really figure out.

"When are you meeting him again?" he asked.

Kate narrowed her eyes, deciding whether to tell him or not, but then she shrugged almost invisibly and said: "Tonight. He's taking me out for dinner."

"Nice", Tony said. "Where's he taking you?"

"I don't know." Kate grinned again. "He wouldn't tell me. Said it was a surprise."

Tony smiled knowingly. "That's a good strategy. Keeps up the suspense. But also dangerous because you have to live up to very high expectations."

"I'm sure he will", Kate said.

Tony stared at her. Then he looked at his watch. "We should get going or Gibbs is going to rip our heads off – mine at least."

Kate smiled faintly and reached for her purse, but Tony cleared his throat and shook his head. "It's my turn to pay", he said.

At first Kate wanted to protest, but then she only smiled at him. "Thank you", she said.

"You're welcome." He grinned. "I can't let that Danny get all the credit for buying you a meal."

This time Kate's smile really lit up her face. "I'll tell him that he has a rival", she said.

"You'd better", Tony said.

That night when Tony was sitting in front of his TV with a beer, he found that he had problems concentrating on the movie. His thoughts kept drifting off all the time. He wondered how Kate's date was going. If it was good, then he really needed to get a look at the guy. Kate was very vulnerable just now, he couldn't let some random guy get close to her without checking him out.

If the date wasn't good, Kate was very likely to fall back into her depressed state. He definitely didn't want that. He hadn't seen her as happy as today in a long time and it had made him realize how much he missed her old, teasing self. He had hoped to get her back to it himself soon by spending time with her and finally breaking through the wall she had built up around whatever was bothering her so much. It bugged him that some young fireman had come along and had managed what Tony hadn't. But what counted in the end was that Kate was feeling better, no matter why.

Tony had gone to bed early, but awoke from a nightmare, sweating and panting at around three in the morning. He crawled out of bed and dragged himself into the bathroom to splash some cold water onto his face. It helped a little. Tony looked into the mirror above the sink and stared at his pale, tousled reflection. He didn't feel good. He hadn't had that dream in over two weeks and had hoped he had finally gotten rid of it. Why had it come back now?

Switching off the light, he returned to his bedroom and sat on the bed. He stared at the red digital numbers of his alarm clock which showed 3:13. He stared at it until the numbers changed to 3:34. Then he stood up and got dressed. He didn't want to go back to sleep so he might as well go to the office. He often worked at night when no one else was there. Then he could surprise the others with the amount of work he had gotten done even though he hadn't seemed to be doing anything at all during the last work day. He smiled when he thought of how angry Kate sometimes got about it because she couldn't understand how he was doing it.

The streets were empty and it hardly took him ten minutes to get to the office. Up in the bullpen the lights were dimmed. Tony liked the atmosphere of the office at night. It was peaceful. The carpet swallowed the sounds of his steps as he walked over to his desk. He stopped at Kate's desk for a moment and looked at her empty chair. After the incident on the rooftop seven weeks ago, the sight of her empty chair at night had started to make him nervous. It made him think about what life would be like if that chair would have stayed empty, if Kate hadn't gotten off that roof alive. It was a scary thought. When he was still in primary school they had learned that fish didn't have lungs but gills. He remembered that he had tried to imagine what it would feel like not to breathe ever again and still be able to live on. That idea had disturbed him. It was the same feeling he now got when he looked at Kate's empty chair.

Turning away from Kate's desk, Tony sat down at his own and started to work.

At seven o'clock he cleaned his desk and left the office to have breakfast somewhere. The others weren't supposed to know that he sometimes spent his nights at the office – he had a reputation to keep up.

On his way back to the office he stopped to get a Caf-Pow for Abby. He thought it would be a good idea to have something to bribe her with in case Kate was refusing to tell him details about her date – which was very likely, as he thought about it more. Back at the HQ he went straight down to the lab. Of course, Abby wouldn't know anything yet, it was too early, but he wanted her to think that he was bringing her a Caf-Pow without secret agenda.

When he had almost reached the open door to the lab, he overheard a piece of conversation that was being held inside and he immediately stopped and hid next to the door so he couldn't be seen.

"He was being such a gentleman", Kate had just said. "He opened each and every door for me and gave me compliments all evening. And he looked so hot!" She had added that last bit in a low voice, but Tony was still able to hear her – they must be standing close to the door.

"And the restaurant was good?"

"Perfect", Kate sighed. "Romantic, but not too elegant… candlelight and soft music. I had no idea young men were so romantic nowadays."

"Me neither", Abby said enviously. "But what happened? How did the evening end?"

"He drove me home, walked me to my door… said that he would like to meet me again…" Kate was drawing out the moment. Tony could almost see her face in front of him, her eyes beaming and her cheeks slightly blushed.

"What then?" Abby asked excitedly.

"Then we kissed."

One of Abby's excited shrieks was what followed. "How was it?" she gasped.

"Perfect", Kate sighed. "He's a brilliant kisser. He made my knees go weak."

"Aw!"

"And then he said goodnight", Kate continued. "He didn't try to push me or anything. He's so sweet!"

"Yes he is!"

Tony grunted. Seemed like today the conversational standards were junior high school level.

"Abby, I have to go now", Kate finally said. "I'm already late."

At this, Tony hurried to get away as quickly as possible. He didn't wait for the elevator, but sprinted up the stairs. He threw the Caf-Pow away before he entered the bullpen. He'd had enough information for one day, and those drinks were going to be the death of Abby anyway.

Kate came in one minute after he'd sat down behind his desk.

"Morning, Katie!" Tony said. And since he had to keep up the appearances, he added: "How was your hot date?"

Kate smiled her why-would-I-tell-you smile at him and typed her password into her computer.

"Does that mean it was that good or that bad?" Tony asked. He didn't even want to get her to talk, but if he just left it, she would get suspicious.

When Kate looked over to him, their gazes locked for a few seconds. Finally she smiled a kind of dreamy, a tiny bit timid smile. "Very good", she said.

"What was good?" asked Gibbs, who walked past them and sat down at his desk.

"M-my coffee", Kate stuttered.

"That's good to know", Gibbs said, in an almost friendly way.

Tony stared at him. Seriously, Gibbs' behaviour towards Kate was getting eerie.

In the course of the morning they were called to a crime scene in West Virginia, and – as always – they had to leave immediately after Gibbs got the phone call. Inside the elevator Tony watched as Kate typed a short message into her cell phone and he got a glimpse at it when they left the elevator again: 'Can't make it 2 lunch. Got a case. Call u tomorrow.'

"Did you have another date today?" Tony asked. They had stayed some steps behind Gibbs on the way to the car.

"Tony!" Kate exclaimed, putting her cell phone away. "Did you just read the message I typed?"

"Uh … well … I didn't mean to. But the elevator is small and I looked in your direction, so …"

"Oh, stop it!" she said. "How often did I tell you to keep your nose out of my business!"

"You don't have to get so loud because of it", Tony complained. "What am I supposed to do when you don't give me the tiniest bit of information? Curiosity is part of my job, you know?"

"That curiosity is not supposed to spread into my private life!" Kate replied.

"But I'm your colleague… and your friend", Tony said defensively. "I consider it as a part of my duty to convince myself that the people in your life are good people. I want to make sure that this Danny is okay."

Within seconds, Kate's expression softened. "That's kind of sweet of you", she admitted. "But I'm a big girl, you know? I can take care of these things myself."

Tony wanted to reply when he was interrupted by Gibbs' barking: "Tony, Kate, will you get your asses over here!" He had to postpone the rest of the conversation for later. Kate might consider the subject closed, but he still had some things to say and she wouldn't get away that easily.

By five o'clock that afternoon, Ducky's autopsy confirmed the suspicion they all had since the moment they had entered the crime scene: it was a case of suicide. They would still have to investigate it in detail, but not even Gibbs thought this time they would find any evidence that a crime had been committed.

So they were allowed to leave at 6 p.m. and Gibbs even told them that they only had to come in on Saturday if he called them in the morning.

Tony stepped next to Kate while she was waiting for the elevator. She looked at him and smiled. Tony smiled back. "Any plans for the evening?" he asked.

"No", Kate replied, shaking her head.

The doors of the elevator opened and Tony let Kate step in first, before following her.

"Why not?" he wanted to know, trying to sound casual because he knew she wouldn't answer if she suspected he was trying to tease her.

Kate cast a side glance at him that looked slightly suspicious, but she answered anyway: "Danny is on late shift this weekend. We wanted to meet for lunch today, but as you know I didn't have time."

"I'm sorry", Tony said. He looked at Kate and she looked back at him questioningly. Then the elevator reached the ground floor and the doors opened.

"So you're free for dinner?" Tony asked, again letting Kate go first.

Outside the elevator she waited for him and smiled. "Why?" she asked.

Tony gave her a duh-look. "Because I'd like to have dinner with you?" he helped her.

Kate gave him a scandalous look in return. "Tony, it's a Friday night! Do you want to tell me that you haven't made any plans?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Tony said: "Having dinner with you sounds like a plan to me."

At that, Kate gave him a radiant smile and nodded. "I'd like to have dinner with you. But I'd prefer to go to one of our places instead of a restaurant – if you don't mind."

"Not at all. My place or yours?"

"Mine", Kate said.

"Okay. But I'm not watching one of your movies."

"And I'm not watching anything with aliens or zombies in it."

"Fine."

"Fine." Kate grinned at him.

By now they had reached the parking lot. "I'll drive behind you", Tony said and waved at her before walking over to his car.

They got separated on the streets, but Tony knew exactly how to get to Kate's place. He had been there plenty of times over the past weeks. At first because he had wanted to check on her and help her with the things she wasn't allowed to do as long as her wound hadn't healed properly, then because he had gotten so used to her company and at spending time at her place that for him it was just natural to visit her at one or two evenings in the week. She also came to his place sometimes, but not as often.

Kate was waiting for him in front of the building and smiled when he joined her on the sidewalk. They went into the building and climbed the two flights of stairs to Kate's floor. Inside her apartment, Tony helped her out of her jacket and hung it up next to his on the rack.

"I think there might be some leftovers in the fridge", Kate said, walking into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and looked at its contents. "Yeah, there's leftover Chinese and some pasta sauce."

"Is the Chinese with tofu?"

Kate took out one of the cartons and looked into it. "Yes."

"Then I'll take the pasta", Tony said.

Kate grinned and took the pot with the sauce out of the fridge. Then she bent down to get another pot out of a cupboard to cook some noodles in it. But Tony took it out of her hands.

"I'll do it", he said. "You warm up your Chinese."

Without arguing Kate left him with his cooking and instead went to pour herself a glass of water.

"What do you want to drink?" she asked.

"What do you think?" Tony asked, grinning at her.

Kate smiled and got a bottle of beer out of the fridge. She didn't like beer and had never had any at home, but recently she had started to always stock her fridge with at least two bottles.

"Thank you", Tony said, taking the bottle from her after he had switched on the stove. Before drinking he clicked his bottle to her glass of water. "Cheers", he said.

While Kate put her Chinese into the microwave, Tony put the noodles into the boiling water and placed the sieve inside the sink. Then he sat on the counter and waited while Kate excused herself to go and change into something more comfortable. Tony watched her walk into her bedroom and smiled. He really liked spending time at her place, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. They even were past the point where you felt you constantly had to keep up some kind of conversation. If they felt like it, they talked – quite a lot, usually – but if they didn't want to they also felt comfortable in silence.

When the microwave beeped, Tony took Kate's food out and put it on a plate. His noodles were also cooked by now and he poured the sauce over them. Kate returned to the kitchen wearing a light green cotton sweater and an old pair of blue jeans that Tony liked a lot on her. He found that she looked a lot younger wearing such casual clothes.

"Oh, you already prepared everything", Kate noticed, walking over to him, and casually touched his arm when she reached his side.

Tony smiled at her. "If you take the drinks, I'll carry the plates out."

"Sure."

They usually ate at the dining table out in the living room. Sometimes, when they were eating pizza, for example, they just sat on the couch and ate from the coffee table while watching TV, but since they had already agreed that they wouldn't agree on a movie today, Kate simply turned on the stereo and they sat at the dining table like civilised people.

"Don't you have one last doctor's appointment next week?" Tony asked because the thought had just come to him.

Like always when she was reminded of her wound, Kate lifted her right hand to her left shoulder and touched the spot where Tony knew a circular scar was hidden under her sweater. The bullet had entered her body at the shoulder right under the point where her collar bone met the shoulder joint – where the Kevlar vest offered no more protection. The bullet had come from the side at a slightly downward angle so that it had entered her lung and had made it partly collapse.

"Monday", Kate said. "But it's merely a routine. My shoulder is completely healed."

"I know." After the first day at hospital during which Kate had literally fought for her life, she had healed at an amazing speed.

"Maybe Gibbs will start acting normal again when you get the doctor's verification that you're okay", Tony said. "I'm starting to feel really pissed that I am the only one who still gets death glares and head slaps."

"You are not the only one. What about McGee?"

"Let's reformulate: I'm the only one who gets head slaps and death glares without reason."

Kate chuckled.

They ate in silence for a minute or two, then Tony asked: "Where's this Danny from?"

Kate raised her eyebrows. "Never giving up, huh?"

"I already told you, I'm not asking out of curiosity, but out of concern for you."

"Yeah, the same concern that makes you put super glue on McGee's chair to make sure he doesn't fall off it, right?"

"Very funny!" Tony pouted. "Kate, I'm hurt that you don't trust my intentions. I'm starting to feel that there's something wrong with this guy that you don't want me to find out."

"There's nothing wrong with him", she replied with a sigh. "But I really like him and I don't want you to use my boyfriend for your jokes."

"Boyfriend?" Tony echoed. "After only one date?"

"After one very good date", Kate added. "I'm not seeing anyone else, he isn't either, why can't I call him my boyfriend?"

"'course you can", Tony said, muffling his words with a mouth full of pasta. When he had swallowed, he asked: "So if he's your boyfriend – and you want him to be for more than a couple of days – then I guess you'll introduce him to me some day."

"Maybe."

"So if you're not intending to hide him from anyone, why wouldn't you answer my questions?"

Kate sighed defeatedly. "Fine. Go ahead then."

"Where is he from?"

"Washington, born and raised."

"How old is he?"

"Twenty-seven… What?"

"Nothing. That's just younger than I expected. I didn't think you would date somebody who's younger than you."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know. You're often talking about maturity and experience …"

"Danny is a lot more mature than some other men I know – older men."

"Was that a hint?"

Kate gave him her most innocent look. "Why? Sound familiar?"

Tony grunted and Kate grinned.

"Where did you meet him?" Tony continued.

"At a club I went to with Abby last weekend."

"Which club?"

"Why?"

"The clubs a person goes to tell you a lot about the person."

"I was there, too."

"Abby's choice or yours?"

"Mine."

"Then it's okay."

"What?"

"It's okay", Tony repeated.

"Does that mean that a club I would choose is nothing anyone might worry about?"

"The truth? I would take my six year old niece to the clubs you choose."

"You have no niece, you're an only child."

"Doesn't make it less true."

Kate glared at him. Tony ignored it. "When you went out yesterday, did he open doors for you?"

"Yes. He opened doors, pulled out the chair for me, made me compliments and did not stare at my cleavage."

"You sure the guy's straight?"

"Tony!"

"What?"

"I'm not continuing this conversation", Kate said. She took her empty plate and carried it into the kitchen. Tony grinned. Kate was so much fun to tease these days!

When he carried his also empty plate into the kitchen, Kate was pouring herself a glass of red wine. Tony rinsed his plate and put it into the dishwasher, then leaned onto the counter next to Kate.

"What?" she asked.

"Are you angry?"

"Annoyed."

"Don't be."

"Why not? You are annoying."

"I'll stop."

Kate rolled her eyes. "As if you could."

"I'll prove it to you."

"How?"

"I'll let you choose a movie, no matter which, and will watch it with you without complaining."

"You could never."

"Can too!"

"Can't."

"Five bucks say I can."

"Done."

Tony raised one eyebrow. "Choose."

Kate grinned and walked past him into the living room.

"What?" Tony asked, following her. He watched as she ran her right index finger along the rather short line of DVDs on her shelf. When she stopped, he came closer. "Which one is it?"

"Sleepless in Seattle", Kate announced, taking out the DVD and turning around to face Tony. At the sight of her radiant smile, he even forgot to complain.

"Switch the stereo off, would you?" Kate asked while she put the disc into the player.

Tony did as she asked then went to sit on the couch with her. When the movie started to play, Kate turned her head to look at him. "No complaining", she reminded him.

"I wouldn't dare", he assured her. They exchanged a smile. Soon Tony stretched out his arm on the back of the couch, behind Kate's shoulders. She understood the invitation and came closer, resting her head on his shoulder. Tony rubbed his cheek over the top of her head and closed his eyes for a second, breathing her in, then he lifted his head again and squeezed her gently with his arm. Why would he complain? Those five dollars were already his.

A/N: More chapters to come. Tell me if you like itso far!