A/N: Okay, so this is my first TATE fic. The prologue is really long because I would like to give you some background. I didn't write any of the prologue except the word prologue at the start. Miss Woozy wrote all of this in her two fics Yankee White Tate Style and What the Future Holds. I just copied and pasted to save you having to read it all just for the background on what happens in my fic. However, it would be great to read her stories tow as What the Future holds is still in progress both are really good. I completely dedicate this story to Miss Woozy. Her fics gave me the whole idea. She gave me permission to use her character, Emily as well. So thank you so much Miss Woozy it is greatly appreciated.

Prologue:

Tony had started to come down the stairs, claiming that the pilot wouldn't take off until the 'Secret Service chick' gave the thumbs up. Unfortunately he caught sight of Kate towards the end of his sentence and was forced to pause before finishing. 'He really hasn't changed much,' she thought.

Smiling, she replied, "I think that just made it my team."

Unfortunately for her, Gibbs was one step ahead of her, "No. I think it means I just have to hijack Air Force One. Tony? Escort Agent Todd off this aircraft and close the hatch."

"You're not serious!" Kate almost shouted, shocked. She looked towards Tony for help, but he had already started to make his way towards the hatch. Gibbs was going up the stairs when Kate followed after him, "Wait! Wait, okay! Okay!" the stopped at the top of the stairs, "Your team. But only because I don't want to have to delay us further by having to shoot you." Gibbs smiled and they shook hands.

"There's just one thing though." He asked, "Why did you think we were homicide?"

Kate looked uneasy for a moment, unsure on what to say. "Tony was in homicide until a few years a go, right?" Gibbs nodded. She continued, "Tony and I were married and I didn't realise he transferred to NCIS. If he told me it didn't really register. Sorry if this causes any complications in the investigation."

Gibbs surprised her by laughing, "Don't worry about that. I've been divorced three times! Funny though, he never really mentioned anything about being married."

"Well if he transferred after we divorced, then I'm sure he just wanted to forget about it." Kate tried to brush it off, but deep down she was upset that he never mentioned her. "So he never talked about me?"

"You know Tony, he's got a different girl every week it seems like. The only name that I think crops up more times then most is Emma…Amy…"

"Emily?"

"Yeah Emily. He seems a lot happier once he's seen her. One of the only one's he spends whole weekends with as well I think. I take it you know her then?"

Kate scoffed, "Figures, he'll talk about every other conquest he's had 'til the cows come home, but he won't tell anyone about his daughter or me."

Gibbs stood there speechless. Kate made a mental note that she may need to keep that image as it probably won't come up very often. "DiNozzo has a daughter?" he finally got out.

"Yeah, she's coming up for 5 now." She had that 'proud mother' look in her eyes.

"I'd like to meet her at some point." Again he surprised her with his comments.

After closing the hatch, Tony had walked back towards Gibbs and Kate and caught the tail end of the conversation. "You know Kate, I did talk about you a few times. If I recall, you were the brunette that cheated on me with my best friend." He was practically in her face, but tried to keep his voice as calm as possible, only it didn't work very well. "I was not cheating on you." Kate argued, "We were – and still are – just friends. Perhaps you just didn't want to see that."

"Kate, I saw you together several times, and they were definitely more intimate then 'just friends.'" Tony was starting to get more angry now. This was the first time since they divorced that they were able to properly talk about what happened.

"You're right Tony, sometimes he did try and come on to me, but nothing ever happened. I still loved you. I wanted to get back together, believe it or not."

"If you wanted to get back together then why did you sign the papers in front of my face?"

She paused before answering, trying to hold back the tears. "Maybe it had something to do with the fact that when I knocked on your door, a blonde bimbo dressed in just a robe came out of your bedroom. You didn't seem so heartbroken. I just gave you what you wanted – me out of your life."

"I only slept with her because I was mad at you!" He sighed. He always hated arguing with her. "When can I next see Emily?"

Glad for the change in subject, she replied, "You know you can see her whenever you want. So you're stationed at NCIS now? How come you didn't tell me?"

"I'm sorry, I thought I did. Perhaps you and Emily can come to mine next time rather then me going to you?" Tony asked hopefully.

"I'll think about it."

He surprised her by hugging her, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too." Kate was struggling to hold back the tears.

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Kate got her phone out and dialled the familiar number. "Hi Janet. It's Kate. Could I speak to Emily please?"

"Sure, I'll just get her for you." Kate could hear her friend calling Emily's name and the padding of feet before a little voice could be heard.

"Hello?"

"Hi honey. It's Mom. How are you today? Have you been a good little girl?" Emily giggled. That normally meant that she had been a little bit naughty. "What did you do?" Kate asked her.

"Drawed on Mrs Davies floor."

"Emily DiNozzo! I hope you said sorry." She could just about make out a rustling noise that meant that she was nodding her head. Emily hadn't quite grasped the fact that if you're talking to someone on the phone, they can't actually 'see' you. "Well I've got to go, but someone here wants to talk to you."

"Who?"

Kate passed the phone to Tony, and walked back to Gibbs. "Hey sweetheart." Tony said down the phone."

"Daddy?"

"Yeah it's me. I've missed you loads." Tony was trying very hard to not break down.

"I missed you too. I love you Daddy." That nearly did it, and he had to blink rapidly to hold back the tears.

"Hey, how would you like to spend the night with me tonight?" He could hear the 5 year old jumping up and down. He chuckled, "I'll take that as a yes then. Alright then, could you pass the phone back to Mrs Davies please?"

"Ok. Bubi Daddy. Give Mommy a big kissy please."

He laughed again. "Ok I'll try. Bye Emily." The phone was passed back to the babysitter. Tony carried on the phone for a few more minutes sorting out the information for later that night.

Kate and Gibbs waited for Tony to finish his call before they left. It was after all, her cell phone. "Everything ok?" She asked Tony, noticing he was a little shaken up.

"Yeah, I'm picking her up tonight. I really miss her." He smiled sadly. "She wanted me to give you a big kiss Kate, but I'm not sure if you really want one." He laughed. 'I know I really want to give you one.' He thought. He stared into her eyes and for a moment, he could have sworn he saw the same thought, but it was gone almost immediately. "Hey Kate, could I have a word with you before you leave?" She looked at Gibbs who nodded.

"Sure, here or somewhere private?"

"I can think of somewhere." He took hold of her arm and directed her towards the elevator. Once inside he pushed a button to change floor before immediately pressing the 'emergency stop' button. "Now it's private."

"What's wrong Tony?" she could see a sadness still in his eyes.

He sighed, unsure how to continue, "Is it true that you're dating Major Kerry?"

"I'm not sure that's any of your business." She replied, a little shocked.

"You're right, it's not." He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "But I think you have a right to know that I think I'm still in love with you." She tried to say something, but he interrupted her, "Let me finish, please. I'm sorry about what happened when you came with the papers. I was mad at you after seeing you with James, yet I…I just couldn't make myself sign them. So I guess you could say we're still married." She stood there speechless. "You can say something now." He joked.

"Why didn't you say anything when I arrived at your door? I had originally gone there to try and sort things out, but once I saw that blonde bimbo, I knew you had moved on and would probably have wanted me out of your life as soon as possible." It was Tony's turn to be speechless. "I only started talking to James because you have begun to shut me out. Yes I admit he tried to come on to me a few times, but I always turned him down." She forced him to look straight in her eye, "I never cheated on you. I never even wanted to."

They stared at each other for a moment before Tony broke the silence. "So you're saying we could have sorted this whole thing out ages ago?" She nodded. "Just one thing. Do you still love-" he was cut off by her lips on his. 'I guess I just got my answer,' he thought. After a while, the need for oxygen forced them apart. Breathing heavily, he pulled her into an embrace, which she gladly received. "Come on. Gibbs is gonna wonder what's going on." She nodded and they left the elevator.

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That evening, Tony had driven to collect Emily from her babysitter. Even though he knew he had to work the following morning, and she would either stay with someone else for the day, or go in with him, he didn't care. He was just happy to see his daughter again, for the first time in over 3 months. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer. After a couple of minutes, the door opened to reveal a short woman in her mid-forties. "Hello?" She asked.

"Hello, you must be Mrs Davies. I'm Tony DiNozzo, Emily's dad." He extended his hand for her to shake, and he could see the recognition appear on her face.

"Well, don't just stand there, come in." She practically dragged him inside before shutting the door behind him. "Emily?" She called up the stairs. Soon the sound of tiny feet plodding down the stairs. As soon as the young girl realised who it was, she sped up and jumped into her fathers open arms.

"Daddy!"

"Hey Sweetheart. Have you been a good girl today?" She nodded, but he looked over at Mrs Davies for confirmation. When she smiled he grinned back and enveloped Emily in a big hug. "I've missed you so much." He could feel the tears forming in his eyes. He kissed her on the head before picking her up properly and walking over the Mrs Davies. "Is it ok if we leave soon? I want to get back before she needs to go to bed."

"That's fine. I packed her a bag for when you arrived. Do you know how long she's likely to be with you?" He shook his head. "Don't worry, I'm sure Kate will tell me when she gets back." They exchanged goodbyes, and Tony and Emily left to head back to Washington.

Back at Tony's apartment, Emily settled in fine and they watched a few of the Disney DVDs he owned before he noticed her eyes slowly drooping. He picked her up and took her into his spare room. "Read me a story?"

"Ok. What would you like?"

"How you and Mommy met." She giggled.

"Well, I'm sure Mommy is a much better story teller then me, but I'll have a go. Hmmm let me see.

"It was a cold winter's night and Tony was stuck on Patrol duty in the local park. Nothing normally happened on the patrols, but whenever they're not there, something seemed to happen. Unfortunately, that night was an unusual night when more then just a few people hanging around in the bushes needed to be told to move on. As he walked around the main path, he noticed a woman walking the other way passed the thick tree line. He smiled at her when she looked up, and she smiled back. Some youths nearby, however, seemed to have either not noticed him standing there or chose to ignore him, as they decided to take the woman's bag. What they didn't realise was that she was a Secret agent who could tackle a grown man twice her size to the ground with just a flick of her wrist…"

"Daddy!" Emily giggled again.

"Sorry, got a little carried away there, perhaps that's not quite true." He smiled before continuing his story. "Well,

"She was a Secret Service agent, who could stick tackle men to the ground, so a bunch of youths was nothing. Tony was about to go over and help her when she started to attack the youths, and he soon realised that she didn't need his help, but he stood and watched as the youths walked away ashamed and painful. The woman noticed him still looking at her and walked over to him. "What you're not going to help a damsel in distress?"

"You seemed to have it all under control." He smiled at her. "I'm Tony by the way."

"Kate." They shook hands.

"Those were some moves back there. Think you could show me? With perhaps dinner, a bottle of wine, some music…" She laughed. She didn't normally say yes to strangers who asked her out, but there was something about him that was different. She nodded and he grabbed her, and jumped in the air dancing."

"What happened in the dinner?" Emily asked sleepily.

"That is something you can hear another time, when you're a little older perhaps."

"I'm nearly 5." She mumbled before yawning and falling asleep. He kissed her on the forehead and left the room.

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Kate was walking along the runway when Gibbs ran up to her. "I heard you quit Agent Todd."

"Happy news gets around fast. Yes, I resigned. It was the right thing to do." She stopped at her car, but Gibbs carried on walking.

"You and DiNozzo leave it all at home, ok? Bring anything in to NCIS and I won't give you a chance to resign."

"Is that a job offer?"

He ignored her as a convertible pulled up and he got in.

Kate drove back to NCIS and was lucky to find Tony still there with Emily. "Tony! What's she still doing up? It's way passed her bedtime!"

He looked like a little kid who had just been told off and new that the face was identical to the one on her daughter without even having to look. "I'm sorry Kate. I didn't realise it was so late. Did you want to stay at mine tonight or are you going back now?"

"Erm, I've been offered a job here actually, so while I will need to head back to move all of our stuff here. Right now want to go home." He was smiling, but the last sentence confused him a little. She tried to explain a little more clearly. Stepping closer, she took hold of his hands. "I want to go home, with my husband and daughter, wherever that is, and right now, that's your apartment." He bent down and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he rubbed one of his up and down her back.

They were soon interrupted though, by Emily wanting them to show them her drawing. "Look what I drawed!" She handed them a piece of paper with a few squiggles on it, but Kate could just make out 4 stick men next to what looked like it should be a house to a 5 year old.

"Er, honey, who are these people?" Kate asked as she bent down to Emily's height.

"They're us, silly Mommy!" She replied as it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But there are only 3 of us, and you've drawn 4! Who's the last one?"

"My baby brother." Emily giggled and hid behind her father's legs. Kate was frozen to the stop she was squatting in, but soon her knees protested and was forced to stand.

When she stood, she looked at Tony who was eyeing her a strange look. "What? I'm not pregnant!" 'yet,' she wanted to add, but felt it wasn't the right time to say anything. She could see the relief in his eyes. "We'll talk about this later, but can we go now?" He nodded and rounded up everything he needed to take home, while she sorted out Emily, before they left the building to go home, as a family again.

Emily walked between them holding a hand of each parent, while looking up at both of them, smiling. 'Finally together at last,' she thought.

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By the time the three of them reached Tony's apartment, Emily was already fast asleep. Tony picked her up and carried her into the spare bedroom while Kate hunted round for the child's clothing. "Hey Tony, where did you put Emily's pyjamas." Wordlessly, he pointed in the direction of the chair in the corner while he gently laid his daughter down onto the bed. "Thanks."

They remained in silence as he watched Kate remove Emily's day clothes and get her into her pyjamas. It never ceased to amaze him how natural she was at being a mother. He remembered how anxious and nervous she was when they first found out about her pregnancy.

"Tony." Kate padded quietly into the bedroom of their apartment and sat down on the bed. They had only been married for 18 months, and were still trying to save up enough money to be able to afford a proper house. With her job in the Secret Service, and Tony being a policeman, they had thought that they could have afforded it by now, but they were wrong. Up until then, the one bedroom apartment was quite adequate for their needs.

"Yeah."

"You might want to sit down for this." Tony looked at her, worried. He could see she was nervous, and agreed to sit down next to her on the bed. He remained silent, knowing that whatever she needed to tell him, him forcing her would not help. "Well…" She began, "You know I've been feeling a little funny the past few days?" He nodded. "Well I went to the doctor's this morning." She could see the worry begin to appear on his face, so she quickly tried to reassure him, "Don't worry, it's nothing serious, well I suppose it could be if you want it to be-"

He held a finger to her lips to try and stop her rambling. "Kate, calm down, what did the doctor say?"

She paused, "I'm pregnant."

The confusion on his face quickly changed to shock and then excitement as his brain processed the news. He surprised her by wrapping his arms around her and almost squealing. "Really?" She nodded, "Ooo sorry, I'm not hurting you, am I?"

She laughed, "Don't worry. So you are happy about this then?" she asked nervously.

"Of course." He had his trade-mark 'DiNozzo' grin. "What about you? How are you handling this?" After noticing tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes, he wrapped his arm around her again, "Come here," he whispered and passed her a tissue.

She dabbed her eyes with the tissue before sighing. "I'm sorry, I don't know how I feel at the moment." Pausing, she took a deep breath before continuing, "What if I'm a horrible mother? I don't know anything about being a parent. What if we are bad parents?" Tears had begun to fall down her cheeks.

"Hey, I know without a doubt, you will be a great mother. Anything we don't understand we can always ask help with and I'm sure we will be able to this together. Don't worry, everything will be fine." He soothed, rubbing her back.

She smiled, sniffing, "Thanks Tony. I love you."

"I love you too, Kate." He smiled back at her as he leant in to brush his lips against hers.

He was brought out of his reverie by a tap on the shoulder, "Hey, Earth to Tony. Anyone in there?" She joked, "What are you smiling at?"

He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her towards him, "Just thinking about when you first told me you were pregnant." She smiled back at him, "You seemed to think you would be a rubbish mother, but you seem to have done a brilliant job." Her smile seemed to fade a little and she dipped her head to avoid eye contact.

"It would have been nice to have had you helping me for more then 2 years before you moved out." He placed a finger under her chin to lift her head to face him.

"I'm sorry for not being there the past few years. I've missed you so much." She moved even closer to him and placed her head on his shoulder. "You've still been a great mom." He felt her smile again against his shoulder. "Hey, you wanna watch a movie or something before we go to bed?" She nodded and reluctantly removed herself from his grasp to search for a DVD in his collection.

It wasn't long before the two of them were cuddled together on the couch watching the movie. Tony didn't think Kate was an action/adventure film kind of person, but she told him that she knew it was his favourite so she had chosen Die Hard. It also gave her several opportunities to snuggle even closer when she didn't want to watch the screen directly. Tony's arm was coming in very useful as a screen blocker, which made him smile, but he didn't complain.

Kate had decided to fall asleep by the time Hans Gruber had fallen off the building. She jumped awake at the loud noises coming from both the TV and the man next to her. She turned her head to stare at the sleeping man. She smiled, 'perhaps I didn't miss the snoring,' she thought. After noticing that the credits had started rolling, she shook him awake. "Wake up sleepyhead."

"Mmpf."

"Come on," she stroked his arm, "I want to go bed with my husband."

He slowly came round, "Well why didn't you say that then?" Yawning, he stretched and stood, before holding out a hand to pull Kate upwards as well. She turned off the TV as he led the way to the bedroom.

Just before getting into bed, however, they both stood in the doorway of the spare room staring at their sleeping daughter. Kate had stopped first and he stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. "I still can't believe we created such a perfect little girl." She whispered.

"She's beautiful, just like her mother." He whispered back. Silently, he closed the door to the room and pulled Kate into the master bedroom.

Since they were both still tired from the long day, so once they had changed into some suitable nightwear, they got into bed and soon fell asleep. Kate had left most of her clothes either back in her house or at the hotel she had stayed in the previous night, so she borrowed a t-shirt and some boxers from Tony. Automatically, she went to the right side of the bed as he went to the left. Even while they were separated, and therefore sleeping on their own, they still kept to their side of the bed as if it would make the separation more final.

When Tony woke the next morning, he couldn't help but smile as he remembered what had happened the previous night. His arms were still wrapped around Kate as she lay sleeping. She appeared a lot younger and more innocent asleep, as if the past few years of being both a secret service agent and full-time mom were draining her. He always felt guilty knowing that she was left to look after Emily by herself, but things between them were so tense and it was better for Emily to live with her mother rather then himself. 'Perhaps things will be better now.' He thought. He felt Kate stir beside him.

She rolled over smiling, "Good morning," she said and quickly kissed him on the lips.

"Good morning to you too beautiful." They stared at each other for a few moments, enjoying the other's company, before Kate suddenly began to get out of bed. "Where do you think you're going?" Tony asked her.

"If you hadn't noticed, it's nearly 8am, and so Emily will be waking up any minute." He rolled over and looked at the clock beside him. She let out a small laugh when she noticed his eyes bulge once he realised how late it had got. "I take it you don't normally lie in this late?" He shook his head, "Me neither. Well I'd better go check on Emily. Why don't you get your lazy butt out of bed and go and start on breakfast?"

He gave her a mock salute, "Yes ma'am." He succeeded in making her smile again as she left the room. He never realised how much he missed it until she came back into his life.

Walking into the spare bedroom, she padded over towards the bed and was about to wake the little girl when she noticed that Emily was already awake, just pretending to sleep. Kate smiled, her daughter would play this game regularly to try and fool her, oblivious to the fact that Kate knew when Emily was asleep or not. "I wonder if Emily's still asleep?" She could hear giggling. "She must be, perhaps if I tickle her she might wake up." She crept closer to the bed and placed her hands on either side of Emily. The little girl tried to put her hands out to protect her self, but wasn't fast enough, so was attacked by Kate.

That was how Tony found them a few minutes later – Kate pinning Emily down on the bed, tickling her as she shrieked with laughter. Emily looked up when she heard movement in the doorway. "Daddy!" She held her arms out for a cuddle, which he gladly accepted. Kate looked at him, smiling and silently asked if breakfast was ready.

"In the kitchen, whenever you're ready." He looked down at his daughter, "Hey Ems, you want some breakfast now?" She nodded, "Ok then, off we go." He picked her up and carried her into the kitchen as Kate followed. "So what would you like? We have some toast, a boiled egg or some cereal."

Emily thought about it for a moment before answering. She looked just like Kate when she was thinking really hard about something. "Um, an eggy please, wiv soldiers."

"Ok, 1 egg coming up, with soldiers."

Kate was already boiling the egg as Tony got out the bread to cut into soldiers. It wasn't long before they had each finished their tasks and placed the egg and bread in front of Emily. Quickly, Kate managed to cut the top off the egg, and Emily began scoffing down the food. 'She definitely gets her eating habits and appetite from Tony.' She thought. Looking up at him, she could tell he was thinking the same thing by his smile.

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Gibbs left the room to return to the ballpen. "You ready to go now?" Tony asked Kate as he picked up Emily. She started to stir, but was soon back in a deep sleep cuddled in her father's arms. Kate took a moment to drink in the sight before nodding her response. He smiled as he passed her on the way to the elevator. "What do you wanna do tonight?"

"After today, bed preferably." She noticed the look on his face and quickly clarified, "To sleep Tony, I'm far too tired for anything else at the moment." The grin dropped slightly, but was replaced with understanding.

When he was younger, he never thought he would want to find someone just to lie down with and hold as they slept. That was until he met Kate. During the separation, he used his charm to chase the 'skirts' as she called them to ease the pain, yet he still couldn't find anything as satisfying as just lying next to Kate as they watched TV, or in bed as they fell asleep. It was something that tended to be taken for granted until it was taken away. Now he had the chance to have it back. As much as he would have loved to do more that, he was content knowing that Kate and Emily were back with him, this time to stay.

They packed up their things in silence and headed downstairs to find the car, trying not to wake the sleeping child in the process. It was only once Tony had started the car and begun to drive down the road that either of them spoke. "So you finding NCIS more interesting now?" He asked.

Kate thought about it for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, I never realised how much stuff you actually did. I'm still a little shocked at your intelligence Tony." She teased. As expected, a grin formed at the edges of his mouth, even as he tried to form a pout.

"I'm hurt Kate," She placed a hand on his arm, "I never knew you thought so low of me."

"You know what I mean, Tony. You were always dumbing yourself down in front of the others, but I always saw through it." She grinned up at him. When they stopped at some lights, he glanced over at her and caught her eyes. He was surprised to still see so much love in them, but knew that it was probably being reflected back in his own.

A car horn interrupted them, and reminded them that they weren't home quite yet. Only a few minutes later, however, and they were. They were forced though, to wake Emily up to get her ready for bed. Surprisingly, she behaved well, and did so without much fuss. The adults noticed that she had probably tired herself out during the day, and was quickly fast asleep again in bed.

While Kate was in the shower, Tony looked in the fridge for something to eat. Unfortunately there wasn't very much left. "Hey Kate, did you want me to order out or will a sandwich do for food? That seems to be all we have at the moment."

A few moments later, a fully showered Kate opened the bathroom door. "Just a sandwich will do, I'm not too fussed, just remind me we have to go shopping in the morning."

"You have to go shopping in the morning." He gave her his trademark 'DiNozzo' grin. She rolled her eyes and proceeded to plod into the bedroom to get changed.