Maura stood there, frozen in utter shock for a few seconds. Thankfully, she hadn't carried her coffee out with her, or else it'd be all over the front of Anthony Dinozzo's shirt right now.
"I..what the hell are you doing here?"
She questioned, eyeing him with a disbelieving look. He merely looked at her like she was...well, a ghost.
"Me? You're seriously asking me that question right now? You're..alive! How is this possible? I watched you die! Your blood splattered my face!"
"SSHH!" She reprimanded, pulling him around the nearest corner. Their bodies were inches apart, and Maura felt her head start to spin with the closeness and the surprise and the confusion. There were so many emotions in her head that it was hard to process them all.
" I should have known that you'd come looking sooner or later. I knew I shouldn't..I.."
And without saying anything else, Tony wrapped his arms around Maura..Kate. Caitlin Todd. Kate. His Kate. No, she was never his Kate. They'd never been romantically involved. She had "died" too soon for that. Besides, he was still getting over Ziva. But, as he hugged her, everything melted away. The years, the time, the days. It felt like they were back at NCIS again. He was hugging her and that was all that mattered. Kate curled her fingers into his shirt, her eyes welling up with pent-up emotion from never properly dealing with her own death; or the loss of her friends. In reality, they'd never left. But she had. She'd made sure that they never found her. Except, one of them did. Tony did.
"It's okay, Katie. It's okay," Tony soothed, rubbing her back. That only made her cry harder and curl into him more. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, Tony," She felt herself whisper. Kate was half apologizing for staining his cotton shirt with her tears, and half apologizing for..everything. For making it hard for them and leaving her whole team with horrible memories of her dying. Carefully, she pulled away from him, composing herself just enough to manage to speak.
"You can't tell anyone. Do you understand? If you do, everyone is in danger. You, the team, my friends, my family. Everyone."
Tony simply looked at her with a raised brow, resting a hand on her shoulder.
"Kate, we're not in danger. Ari..he's dead."
Maura's eyes went wide for the third time. How the organization hadn't told her that, she didn't know. Were they trying to let her live her life? "What? That's not possible?" Oh, but it was very possible. The fact that he was standing before her right now, told her that it was very possible.
"Just.. I don't understand. How could they not tell me? I.."
He simply moved closer to her, wrapping his arms around her again. "It's okay, Kate. You can come back now. Everything is fine," Wait, she couldn't go back. Not now. She'd finally found her home. These people accepted her. Of course, NCIS had as well, but this was..different. If Jane ever found out that Maura had lied about who she was, she would never speak to her again. The woman couldn't tell her.
"Tony, I don't think you understand," She said, pulling away from him. "I can't go back. I have a life here. My friends, my family. My job. If I tell them everything, they won't trust me. I could lose my credentials." He seemed surprised at this. Maura was not the woman he'd known ten years ago. Even more than was blatantly obvious.
"Wait, what? Are you saying I have to keep this from them? Kate, they were..devastated when you died. We all were. You want me to go back there and lie to them and pretend I never saw you?" Taking his face between her hands, she looked him in the eye. He knew that look. She wasn't messing around with him, or kidding. "Tony, you have to. You have to go back there without me. Forget you ever saw me. Okay?" Anthony locked his jaw and moved to place his hands on her wrists, closing his eyes. He let out a breath before he reopened his eyes, biting his lips.
"Fine."
Caitlin nodded, carefully pulling him into another hug. She knew she'd have to let him go..again. She'd have to take her own advice and forget she ever saw him in Boston, and more importantly, what he was even doing here to begin with. "Please don't be mad at me..," She whispered, looking up at him. "Never," He murmured, pressing his lips to her forehead.
There was something so comforting about forehead kisses-especially his. They lingered there for a moment before he forced himself to pull away and lock his jaw, squaring his shoulders. "I'm so sorry I had to do this." Kate pulled away from him, feeling the sting of hot tears that were threatening to spill over. God, she wanted to rush back to him. Oddly enough, she wanted to kiss him. To be close to him. It was odd how much she'd missed him, when they'd never really been that close to begin with. Sure, there was sexual tension, but if you met Maura Isles or Caitlin Todd, rather, you'd know that she could have sexual tension with a spoon.
When Maura walked away, that left Tony standing there, leaning up against the wall. He was still trying to figure out. How could he keep this from everyone? Was Anthony Dinozzo a liar? No. However, he was a man of his word, and he'd promised Kate that he wouldn't give her up. No matter how much he wanted to. Carefully, he pushed himself off the wall and moved back to his car, running a hand down his face. He'd figure out what to do when he got back to the hotel.
Meanwhile, Maura had gone back into the coffee shop and paid for her coffee. "Hey, you alright? You look a little upset." David frowned, looking at the medical examiner.
"Yeah, I'm..alright," She said, giving him an incredibly forced smile. "Thank you for asking. And for the coffee. I'll come back again soon." "Promise?" "Promise."
Hopefully, what she just said wouldn't be a lie. She didn't even think about it for the fear that hives would begin to coat her skin. Now, she had to go home. She had to go home and pretend like none of this had ever happened. But, how well would that work? She still had nightmares from when Ari had killed her. And the two other times he'd kidnapped her. It was hard to believe that he was...dead.
After chewing on her lip and trying to decide what to do, she slid into her car and turned on the engine. Her car was familiar, with its leather interior and pictures on her dashboard. Maybe it would stay this way, with everything being familiar. She doubted it, though. Soon enough, they'd know. Someone would find out, and she'd be known as a liar. Maura Isles had to protect her image.
