Heya!

Whoa! Thanks for the reviews for the first chapter! They meant A LOT! And because of them – I typed this up as soon as I could!

Hope you enjoy it!

Tiana xXx

'What?' Kate asked in disbelief a moment later. Tony had felt her stiffen in his arms when the words had sunk in.

'Marry me, Katie.' Tony repeated, but this time she could hear the smile in them

'Are you… are you serious?' Kate questioned him.

'Of course I am.' The smile was still in his voice. Kate turned in his arms and got a bit of distance from him so that she could look into his eyes, but not be excluded from his embrace.

'You didn't plan this.' She stated rather than asking, the profiler in her reading and picking up things that no-one else could.

'No.'

'Then why did you just propose to me?' Kate demanded. She didn't know why she had to know, but something in her told her that it was a must.

'Because…' Tony trailed off. He didn't really know why he had proposed to her. It just seemed like the right moment.

'"Because?" Tony! This is serious!' although her voice might have portrayed the tone of anger, it was soft, and she still hadn't left Tony's arms.

'I know that, Kate. I do. But you wouldn't understand my thoughts and deductions to how I got to this.' Tony smirked as Kate shook her head, laughing.

'C'mon, DiNozzo. After working with you for years now, I think that I can interpret your thoughts.' She joked as Tony leaned in to kiss her. She didn't object, but kept it short.

'It's just that…' Tony began when they broke apart. He laced a hand through her hair, letting it gracefully fall from between his fingers before turning back to look into her eyes. 'Before, you were describing the summer and how beautiful it is. And it was true. The colours, temperature, the sunsets – they're all perfect. And summer will end, but they'll still be there. Maybe not the exact same as right now, but every day, it'll all still be there. And next year, it'll be almost like now. But one thing that might not be there is you. And that is the one thing that I want. So without you… it wouldn't all be perfect.' Tony's voice dropped at the end as he waited for her reaction of his explanation.

'Tony… asking me to marry you can't change that.' Kate finally said, propelling Tony into confusion. 'I mean, with the job we have, everyday is a risk. This can't change that.' She added in a rush.

'I know that, baby. Trust me I know. But it just feels right, you know? And maybe, you know… in some weird way… it might just convince you to never kill me. Or leave me.' Tony smirked at the end. 'So, will you marry me?'

'Yes.' Kate smiled. 'You know I will.'

'Yeah?' Tony asked, uncertain. Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him, her mouth right by his ear.

'Yeah.' She whispered before moving down to his lips to accept his waiting kiss.

'Why did it take you so long to say yes if you knew you would all along?' Tony speculated, eyeing her carefully after they broke apart.

'I wanted to make sure that you meant it, Tony. I mean, marriage is serious, and I couldn't imagine a guy like you settling down.' Kate confessed. Tony's eyes grew wide, kind of hurt by her explanation.

'You don't trust me?' Tony asked, the pain in his voice though he tried not to show it.

'Of course I do! I said that I couldn't imagine you settling down, not that you can't.' when Tony didn't look convinced, she carried on. 'I do trust you. Every day, with my life and my heart. I said yes, didn't I?'

'Yes, I know you did. But it's just that… in the past year, I've shown you I've changed, haven't I? I mean, we've lasted this long, and that's a miracle in itself.' Tony smirked at the end of the sentence to lighten the mood.

'Yeah, I guess it is.' Kate agreed. 'And, Tony, I know that you've changed your ways. This just goes to prove it. I love you, you know that, right?'

'I love you too.' Tony replied, hugging her once again. 'Want me to show you how much I love you?' he murmured seductively in her ear. Before she could reply, Tony was dragging her through the balcony doors as he gave her his irresistible smile. And almost as soon as the doors were shut, Tony pulled Kate to the bed, losing garment as their lips met and climbed onto the bed to consummate their engagement.

--

Tony lay with Kate resting her head on his shoulder, both lost in their own thoughts. The last time that he was lost in thought, he had proposed to her. Silently smiling, he stroked her arm, still not believing that she had said yes.

Then another thought came to him. He looked down to where her left arm was resting on the sheet, just above his abdomen.

Slowly, he extracted himself from her, with reluctances and confusion on her part.

Kate saw him sit on the edge of the bed as he pulled on some pants and then got up when she asked him where he was going.

'One second, Katie.' H told her, dropping a short and sweet kiss on her lips as she propped herself up on one arm.

When Kate saw him going into his closet, she unconsciously fingered the cross that he had given her earlier that year. When it was clear that he was looking for something, Kate sighed, still smiling a bit due to the current events, and leaned over the bed to grab a shirt to pull over herself. One she had, she heard Tony coming over to her.

'Aw, you put clothes on.' He moaned in his way. Kate laughed as Tony pulled her into a kiss, pushing her back to lie on the bed. Breaking apart, he smiled down at her in a way that got her attention.

'What?' she asked, amused. He shook his head and sat up, pulling her up too so she could lean against the head board.

'I thought that we could make the engagement official.' Kate smiled and her heart leapt at the word "engagement". 'Well, semi-official' he smirked and showed her what he had gone to scrounge for in his closet.

It was a tiny box, but Kate couldn't mistake it for anything else but a ring box. She looked up at Tony, questioningly. If he hadn't planned it, then why did he have a ring?

Tony seemed to pick up on her assumptions, as he twisted the box around in his hand.

'I've had this for years. It was my mom's. She kinda gave it to me so that she wouldn't lose it. Told me that she'd take it from me when she got out. Of hospital, I mean.'

'Tony, you don't have to explain.' Kate interrupted, knowing that he didn't speak of the past often nor easily. But Tony shook his head, and carried on, speaking as if it was jut another story, someone else's past.

'When she knew that she wouldn't, she told me to keep it, and that one day, I'd find a girl who meant to me as much as she did. And that I would give it to her.' Tony opened the box to show her the ring. 'And now I'm giving it to her.'

Kate looked down from his eyes to his hands to see the piece of jewellery. She had to admit, it was beautiful. The ring was set in white gold, she assumed, and was in a twisted design. There were three diamonds where the two twists met, the larger on in the middle blue while the other two smaller ones on either side of it white.

'Tony… it's beautiful. Are you sure you wanna give it to me?' Kate finally spoke, looking up at him.

'There's no-one else who I'd want to give it to.' he smiled, picking the ring up from the box. 'I'll buy you another one later. A proper one.'

'No, Tony. This one is perfect.' she whispered as he slipped it onto her finger. Somehow, it really was perfect. It fit on her ring finger like it had been made for her.

Kate couldn't help but smile when she looked at the ring on her finger. She lifted it up a bit, the stones glittering in the minimum amount of light that was shining into the room. Placing her hand on Tony's cheek, she pulled him closer to kiss him. Not one to back down or to ignore her wishes, Tony gave in to her for the second time that night.

--

The vibrations of a ringing cell phone woke Kate up at almost 4 in the morning. She wasn't sure at first what it was, but when she opened her eyes, the light that glared from it made it obvious.

'Kate?' the voice greeted her as she flipped the cell phone open.

'Abby?' she groaned, not being able to wake up that early. Her and Tony had gone to bed late that night, having dinner at almost midnight.

'Kate. I know it's late or early, but I really need you. And I know that you're probably really tired and all, but trust me when I say that I wouldn't be calling you now if I didn't have to. I just really need my best friend right now.' Abby spilled out, babbling like she always did when she was excited, or nervous.

'What's going on?' Kate asked her, propping herself up on her elbow to wake herself up a bit. The stirring woke Tony up, who was also very reluctant to get up.

'I… I think…' Abby paused for a second as Tony looked up at Kate. 'Could you just come round, please?' her voice was so sincere that Kate knew that something had to be up.

'Of course, Abs. I'll be there in 30.' Kate informed her.

'Thanks, Kate. And I'm sorry for waking you up.' She apologised. Kate sighed, smiling slightly.

'Don't worry about it.' With that, they both hung up.

'What's going on?' Tony asked, or more liked yawned. Shaking her head, she leant down to give him a kiss, the smile never leaving her face.

'I've got to go see Abby.' Kate whispered to him when she broke away.

'What? Why?' he immediately responded.

'Relax.' She laughed, knowing how protective he was of Abby. 'I dunno right now, but she seemed alright.'

'I'll come with you.' He told her, pushing himself up too.

'I don't think that's a good idea.' When Tony shot her a "why not?" look, she carried on. 'She said she wanted her best friend there, and you don't really qualify for that.'

'Katie…' he moaned, knowing that there was no fighting with her when she got smart like that, especially that early in the morning.

'We'll see you at work, Tony.' She gave him another lingering kiss. 'Grab another couple of hours.'

'I'd rather you were here with me.' Tony sighed, throwing himself back onto the bed.

'You'll have me tonight.' Once again, Kate gave him a sweet short kiss. 'I promise.'

'Fine. Go. But tell Abby that this better have been good.' Kate laughed at his words, knowing that he wasn't as angry as he pretended to be.

'I will.' She got up and went into the bathroom to shower and wake herself up properly. Once she had, Kate re-entered the bedroom to get dressed. As she was doing her hair, the reflection of her ring caught her eye, a smirk coming onto her face.

Turning around, she saw that Tony had fallen back asleep. Walking over to his side of the bed, she placed a kiss on his forehead before exiting his room and then his apartment.

--

'Hey.' Kate greeted her when Abby opened the door to her place.

'Hey, Kate. Thanks for coming.' Abby stood aside to let her in. The sun was just rising and the golden light from it lit up her front room.

'No problem. So… what's up?' Kate cut to the chase straight away as she sat on the Goth's couch. Abby came to sit next to her, wringing her hands. 'Abby?'

'I think I'm pregnant.' She blurted out suddenly.

Sorry for the long wait!

Had work to take care of.

But I got this up as soon as I could! I'll do the next chappie even quicker (I hope!)

Please R&R!

Tiana xXx