Love From Tony

A/N: So this is my first fan fiction EVER. My first fiction in probably 10 years, so I'm sure I'm rusty. And, I wrote it very quickly while watching NCIS, so it's gotta be pretty crummy. Sorry! It's totally pointless, plot less fluff, and I've probably seen less than half of the episodes so it probably is inaccurate, but I had to do it!

Disclaimer: I own it all!! Until the dream was over, anyway… In real life, I own nothing…

Today was going to be a special day. Not the kind of special that you write in your memoirs and made You-Tube tributes over, sure, but special none the less. A day meant for tears that Abby was determined to fill with smiles.

Today was Tony's day. Maybe bringing Tony in to her life wasn't the best thing for either of them, but Abby never regretted it for a minute. Looking in to Tony's deep brown eyes melted her heart, and she happily made changes to her life- sacrifices, even- that she would never consider for anyone else. Her wardrobe now included hiking shoes and cargo pants. She got up earlier than usual and didn't go to as many parties as she would normally like- an idea she would have scoffed at for anyone but Tony. Tony was just too cute to resist and could always make her smile, no matter what!

Abby decked herself out in her usual attire- a too short red plaid skirt, black starred t-shirt, huge platform boots and her ever present dog-collar. She grinned as she put one on Tony as well. She didn't care what Gibbs was going to say- today, Tony was spending the day at work with her!

After checking in at her lab, Abby strutted up to the bull pen, Tony by her side. Not surprisingly, she came upon a somber scene. All her favorite men there were dressed nearly as dark as she was, which under any other circumstances would have caught the young woman by surprise. But not today. Even Ziva, who put on a stone face under the most difficult of situations seemed affected by the mood of the normally buzzing team. Abby knew without seeing that everyone's badges had a black band across them today.

Clicking "play" on tape recorder, she put on her biggest grin and danced down the center aisle, all eyes on her, Tony at her heels, as The Viper from the Album Dixieland rang out, much as it had a nearly a year ago to date.

Realization dawned in Gibbs eyes as he watched his favorite forensic scientist spinning in front of him, and for the first time all day, the smallest hint of a smile started to show on his face. "Tony," he breathed, somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. At the name, the spike-collared, pink bowed terrier mutt bounded happily over to her old friend and bounced up in to his lap. Watching, Tim and Tony both laughed, a flood of happy memories triggered by Kate's dog. Ziva was the only one that was out of the loop, and still, watching her teammates smile was a nice change from the somber mood they had all been in; watching her tough boss getting smothered in dog kisses made her laugh.

"Tony here has decided that, in memory of his mommy, she had to come share some of our happy memories! No tears today!" Abby chirped up over the end of the song that she had played at Kate's funeral as she stopped the tape.

Smiling a sad smile, Tim crossed over to Gibbs' desk to hug Abby. "I'd almost forgotten that you still had that old girl, Abs. Boy, it's good to see her so… peppy, still!"

As the three of them fawned over the wiggling dog, Tony sauntered over to Ziva's desk. His mind was whirling, his heart aching. Anthony DiNozzo didn't love many people, but he loved his team, and he loved Kate. She had been the sister he never had, and he missed their old antics. He remembered beaming as Abby and Kate had laughed together the day Kate inherited the dog, before he knew that the "Tony" they were oogling over wasn't him, but her new pet, feeding her from his NCIS cap. He looked down at an identical cap that he was fidgeting with in his hands as he sat on Ziva's desk.

"Kate thought it would be 'funny' to be able to sleep with 'Tony" every night! Since she couldn't have the real thing…" Tony's voice trailed off. Some of their old flirty "fights" flashed through his mind, and he wondered, if things had been different… But they hadn't, and even now, a year after she was brutally murdered, Tony still felt the hole she left in his heart.

"More like no other Tony was worthy of sleeping with her, I'm sure," Ziva thought, but seeing the pain in her partner's eyes, she bit her tongue. Walking over to him, Ziva lightly placed her hand on his shoulder. "I am sorry for your loss, Tony," she said sincerely. As their eyes met, Tony was warmed at the sympathy in his partner's eyes. She may have been a trained assassin, but she knew pain, and he could feel her heart going out to him. "I am sure she was a wonderful person," Ziva finished, lowering her hand from his shoulder.

"She was. She was the sister I never had. She was no ninja, though!" Tony handed his cap to his partner as he went over to pet his old friend's dog, who was now running around Abby's feet. Kneeling down to pet the little dog on the head, Tony jumped a mile as his name sake growled, snapping at his hand.

"That's my girl, Tony!" Abby chirped as she bent down to pick up the dog, who was still growling at Tony. Just to rub it in, Gibbs rubbed the dog on her head, and she broke in to licks and wiggles again.

Tim broke out in a huge grin at the exchange, and looked over at Ziva. When she had first showed up at the bullpen, a part of Tim hated her. He didn't want someone to replace Kate, especially not someone who had tried to protect her murderer. It hadn't taken him long, though, to realize that it no one could replace Kate, and that Ziva never tried. "The more things change, the more they stay the same!"