Chapter 2

On Monday morning Tony watched a very cheerful Kate enter the bullpen and take a seat behind her desk.

"Good morning, sunshine," he said with a grin. "What's the matter with you?"

"I'm having a good day, that's all," Kate replied happily.

"How can you say that it's a good day at eight in the morning?" Tony wanted to know.

"I can," Kate said, still smiling.

Tony frowned. He knew what that kind of smile on a woman's face meant. But before he could ask any questions, Gibbs appeared with a coffee in hand and sat down behind his desk. Damn! He needed information! Even worse, one hour later they had to go out into the field and Tony didn't get a chance to interrogate Kate on her good mood all day.

When they were finally allowed to leave, it was past 10 p.m. and they all were really exhausted. Tony was quick to grab his things, but on the way out he hesitated and stepped up to Kate's desk, watching Kate put a stack of files into the top drawer of her desk. She looked at him and raised her eyebrows in a silent question.

"What?" Tony asked. "Is it a crime to wait for one's co-worker when leaving the office?"

"No," Kate replied, a little bit wearily, took her purse and stood up. "Let's go."

"So … What did you do this weekend?" Kate asked when they were walking over to the elevators.

"I had a hot date on Saturday," Tony replied, changing into brag-mode. "So I slept in on Sunday."

"Alone?"

"Of course not!" he said in a scandalized tone.

"Wow, Tony, I'm surprised that it took you a whole day to bring that up."

"Well, I was thinking that since you always tell me not to talk about my girlfriends at the office, I would keep my private affairs to myself. But since you were asking what I did last weekend …"

"Understood. I'll never ask such a question again."

Tony rolled his eyes. The elevator arrived and they both stepped in.

"What did you do this weekend?" Tony now asked.

"I also had a date," Kate replied.

"That's what your good mood is about?" Tony wanted to know.

Kate didn't answer; instead she just kept on smiling.

"What kind of date was it?" Tony asked.

"A nice one."

"Aw, come on. A little bit more information please!"

"Why would I tell you about my date?" Kate asked with a laugh.

Tony glared at her. "Forget it," he muttered and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"What?" Kate asked, obviously taken aback by his dismissive tone.

At that moment, the elevator reached the ground floor and Tony stepped out with little more than a nod in the general direction of Kate.

"Tony!" she shouted after him, but he didn't react.

Right before he reached his car, Kate caught up to him and stopped him by putting a hand on his arm. "Tony, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said with a shrug. "I understand that you don't want to talk to me about it. After all, you told me countless times that you don't want me to stick my nose into your private business. But I really thought that after the last weeks we were on a level where you could talk to me about the things happening in your life."

Tony had put slightly more offence in it than he was actually feeling, but what he had said was true in principle. Sometimes Kate was treating him like some kind of intruder - partly, that was for sure, because on a lot of occasions he was still aiming to get her angry with his curious behavior. But they were friends, after all, good friends and he didn't want to be shut out of her life. In addition to that he was dying to hear what had happened last weekend between Kate and fireman Danny.

Kate was looking at him out of round eyes, so surprised that her jaw had literally dropped. "T-Tony," she stuttered. "I… I didn't mean to… I'm sorry."

"I understand completely," he said, fishing his car keys out of his jacket. "Never mind." And with that he turned towards his car and wanted to unlock the door, but Kate stopped him another time, this time by catching his hand and pulling him towards her. She was standing very closely in front of him now and looked straight up into his face.

"I don't want you to believe that I don't think of you as a friend - of course we are friends, close friends. But sometimes, when you ask questions like that, I still believe that you are trying to find something out that you can use against me later. And I don't want you to make fun of my private life - and now don't tell me you never would!" she added when she saw his outraged expression. "You've teased me far too often to now claim you would never do such a thing."

"Okay," Tony admitted. "Maybe I spied on you once or twice." When Kate stared incredulously at him he only cleared his throat and went on: "But now I know you better. It would be nice to learn things about your life without having to spy. How are we supposed to be friends if you don't trust me?"

"I do trust you," Kate said, her voice silent, and her eyes pleading him to believe her. He had to believe her!

Tony saw how upset she was because of what he'd said and felt a sting of guilt. "Hey," he said gently, cupping her cheek with his hand. "I didn't mean to make you upset. Please, Kate, smile again."

She really smiled, shaking her head at his method of cheering her up, and when he opened his arms, she stepped into his embrace and buried her face in his shoulder. Tony rested his chin on the top of her head and smiled. He definitely liked being a part of Kate's life - especially when it meant being allowed to hug her whenever he wanted. Perhaps she wouldn't react too friendly to a very free interpretation of the words 'whenever he wanted', but he liked the general idea of it.

Tony thought that maybe the moment had lasted long enough for a friendly gesture and he should let her go, but he liked so much how she fit against his body and into his arms. Holding her like this gave him the rare satisfaction of feeling that he could protect her against everything bad in the world. He often felt the urge to do that recently. He thought that maybe it was due to the feeling of utter helplessness he had experienced when he had held her in his arms on that damn rooftop and had had to watch the life flow out of her in a constant red stream of blood. He never wanted to feel like that again.

When he finally felt he had to let her go, he rested his hands on her shoulders for a moment and looked at her. It was too late and they were both too tired to ask her to go out for a drink, even though he would have liked to ask her.

"I will tell you about last weekend," Kate said. "Even though there's not much to tell, really, we just spent a very nice evening."

"And not a very nice night?"

"No," Kate said. "Unlike you, I prefer to get to know a man well before I sleep with him."

"Okay, time to say goodnight," Tony decided because he really didn't want another discussion about his dating habits. "But I want more details tomorrow during lunch break. You're buying, if I remember correctly."

"Okay," Kate agreed. She stepped closer to him again, rose on her tiptoes and kissed Tony on the cheek. "Good night," she said.

One minute later Tony sat in his car, still in the parking lot. Kate had already driven away, but Tony was only sitting in the driver's seat, head leaned against the headrest. He was smiling.

"Where do you want to go for lunch?"

Tony lifted his head to look at Kate. He hadn't heard her come over, but now she was standing in front of his desk, head tilted to the side and a questioning look on her face.

"I've heard more subtle ways of asking someone out," Tony replied with a smile.

"I didn't take you for a man who'd react to subtlety," Kate said.

"I can be very subtle," Tony said, hurt in his pride. "It's part of my charm."

Kate smiled. "Is it? Would you still consider going to lunch with my humble, unsubtle self?"

"Yes."

"How very kind of you."

"You're welcome."

"So I'm asking you again: where do you wanna go?"

"Wherever you're taking me - since you're buying," he reminded her. "But when there's tofu on the menu I will leave the place instantly."

"I was thinking of Linda's Diner. So I can eat my salad and you can have a burger or whatever unhealthy thing you want to stuff into you."

"Perfect."

It was still in the morning, though, and they could only hope that Gibbs wouldn't come into the office with another case in the next couple of hours. But he didn't and they were allowed to leave for an hour at lunchtime.

They walked to the diner because it wasn't that far away and it would take them longer to find a parking lot than it actually took them to walk there. On their way, Tony already started to ask questions.

"When did you go out with Danny? Saturday?"

"Yes. We had dinner, quite early, because afterwards we went to the cinema."

"What did you watch?"

"The Defiant Ones."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That movie is a classic. It's one of my favorites."

"I didn't know the movie before. Danny chose it. But I really liked it."

Tony was surprised. The guy had good taste in movies.

When they reached the restaurant, Tony held the door open for Kate and when she walked past him he placed a hand in the small of her back to lead her inside. They sat down at a table for two and ordered their lunch before Tony took up the conversational thread again.

"So, the date was pretty good, right?" he asked.

"Yes."

"What made it so good?"

"What do you mean?"

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. What were the things that you liked so much about it? If that Danny is such a specialist, maybe I can copy some of his moves."

"It's not about certain things," Kate replied, shaking her head. "The date was good because… because I felt really comfortable in Danny's company. He's making me laugh, but he can also talk about serious things. I find him very handsome and I like him as a person. That's why I enjoyed the date." After she'd said that, Kate studied Tony's face. Was that too much information? But he'd said he wanted to know these things.

"So…" Tony said, drawing out the word. "If the date was so damn good, how come you didn't take the next step?"

Kate sighed. "You are hopeless," she said. "Why can't you understand that some people choose to wait with the sex until they're really sure they want to take that step?"

"How can you be really sure about a relationship in general before you've even had sex?"

"That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard you say," Kate said disgustedly. "Seriously, are you that superficial or don't you want to understand what I'm talking about? Tony, maybe that's new to you, but you should know that for most people sex has a lot to do with feelings. You don't sleep with someone until you're really sure that you like the person."

"Kate, I'm not a complete moron. I'm not saying that you shouldn't know the person you have sex with. All I'm saying is that to decide for a relationship before you know if things work between you in the bedroom - that's like buying a house without having been inside before."

"Then you think that not having sex before you get married is stupid?"

Tony pursed his lips, considering her question, then he nodded. "Yes."

Kate nodded faintly, a bit surprised by his answer. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he said.

"Has there ever been a woman in your life that you had strong feelings for? A woman you would have done anything for and the question was not if you would get her into bed?"

After that Tony stared at her for a long moment, totally at a loss as to what to say.

"Wait," Kate said after some seconds. "I want to put it differently. Have you ever slept with a woman you loved?"

Tony relaxed. That was a question he could answer: "No."

"Never?" Kate asked, her eyes wide.

Tony shook his head. "At school, I went out with a girl I really liked a lot, but I don't think I loved her."

"Why did you break up?"

"She fell in love with the captain of the football team. Cliché, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry," Kate said.

"There's no need. I got over it by dating every girl in the cheerleading team within three months."

Kate rolled her eyes.

"I also have a question for you," Tony said.

"I'm listening."

"Did you ever have a one-night-stand? No feelings involved, just sex."

"No," Kate said without a moment's hesitation.

"Never?" Tony echoed her earlier question.

"No," Kate repeated.

"Weren't you even tempted, at least once?"

Kate shook her head. "For me there is absolutely no point in sleeping with someone you don't have feelings for - I don't say it has to be love, but at least a very strong affection. Maybe you can't understand that because you never slept with a woman you loved. The first time this happens to you changes everything."

"Who was the guy?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're definitely thinking of someone in particular when you're talking about that first time. Who was it?"

Kate looked at Tony for some seconds, definitely hesitant to answer his question, and he held her gaze the whole time. But then Kate shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it," she said. "Not now. This conversation is already personal enough for a simple lunch break."

"Okay," Tony agreed. "Maybe some other time?"

Kate shrugged. "Maybe - if I'm really drunk."

Tony grinned. "We could see to that."

The waitress brought their food and they concentrated on eating for a couple of minutes. Then it was again Tony who broke the silence: "Are you planning on taking the step with Danny?" he asked.

Kate looked up from her salad and locked her gaze with Tony's. Why wouldn't he let it go? She had already opened her mouth to answer when her cell phone started to ring. Kate fished it out of her purse, looked at the display - and started to grin. She flipped the phone open, bringing it to her ear and answered it with: "Hi, Danny!"

Tony focused on the half eaten burger on his plate and tried not to overhear Kate's conversation. It was strange. Curious as he was about that guy and Kate's relationship with him, he couldn't stand hearing her talk to him on the phone. But of course it was impossible not to hear what she was saying when she was sitting two feet away from him.

"Yes, I'm just having lunch… With a colleague… Yes I did, thank you. What about you?" She giggled. Tony was slowly getting used to that sound. "Yes, I also enjoyed the evening a lot.… Of course I'd like to repeat it.… Oh, I see. But maybe we could have breakfast together… Yes? … Okay, perfect… Yeah, you too… Okay, see you tomorrow. Bye."

She flipped the phone closed and smiled at it. Tony looked up from his plate. "So?"

Kate raised her eyebrows in question.

"Are you planning on taking the next step with Danny?" Tony repeated his question. He didn't have to ask, he knew the answer, but still he needed to hear it from her.

Kate slowly started to smile. She looked down at her cell phone as if she could see Danny there. When she looked back at Tony, her smile had turned into a wide grin. "Yes," she said. "I do."

Tony spent the rest of the day thinking about Kate's relationship. Maybe he had been wrong in the beginning. When he had heard that Kate was dating a twenty-seven year old guy, he had thought that she couldn't be very serious about it and only wanted some fun. The conversation he had had with her today had made him rethink his position. Kate definitely was not looking for a meaningless fling, she wanted a real relationship. Was that such a surprise? Kate had always been looking for Mr. Right. She had had dates; he knew that from pieces of conversations between her and Abby that he had overheard. But most of those dates had turned out to be disasters. Her dates with Danny weren't disasters, on the contrary. She had been really happy since she had started dating him. And that was a good thing. Kate really earned some happiness. But he really needed to see that guy at least once. He had to make sure that Kate wasn't blinded by a handsome exterior and didn't notice that the guy had a bad personality. And God help him if he hurt her!

The next day, Kate was late for work. Tony knew that she was having breakfast with Danny and wasn't surprised that she seemed to have forgotten about the time. The problem was that at eight o'clock Gibbs appeared and announced that they had a new case. Then he frowned.

"Where's Kate?" he barked.

"Not here yet, boss," Tony replied. He studied Gibbs' expression - the senior agent was not pleased. Had Kate finally used up all her bonus points? Could it have to do with the fact that yesterday the doctor had finally confirmed that Kate had completely recovered from her wound?

Gibbs was already dialing her number on his cell phone. "Kate!" he bellowed. "Where the hell are you?" He was silent for a moment as he listened to her answer. "Get your ass over here! We're leaving in ten minutes. If you're not here by then, you can go home again because then you're fired!" With that he hung up and started telling Tony and McGee which files to pull from the system.

When Gibbs had sat down behind his desk to make another phone call, Tony and McGee exchanged a look. Kate's time of preservation had definitely just ended.

She arrived five minutes later with a very guilty look on her face. But Tony still noticed the small glint in her eyes. When they all walked over to the elevator, Tony took her arm and pulled her closer to him to whisper into her ear: "I hope the breakfast was worth the trouble it got you in."

Kate looked at him with a cheeky smile on her lips. "It definitely was," she said. But it hadn't been the breakfast itself, more what had happened after it. Danny had walked her to her car, which was parked in the small parking lot behind the coffee shop they had been to. He had looked so cute with the sun shining on his dark hair and reflecting in his green eyes. He had said something sweet that Kate couldn't quite remember right now, but suddenly she had been kissing him - passionately. Danny had leaned on the fender of the car and had pulled Kate to him, kissing her with an intensity that had made her head spin - still did, actually. She didn't know how long they had been standing there, all she knew was that when they had left the restaurant she'd still had enough time to get to work, and when she had looked at her watch the next time she had already been late. But it had been worth it.

All day long the smile didn't vanish from Kate's face. Not even Gibbs' rather rude treatment managed to wipe it off. What had happened this morning? Tony was dying from curiosity, but he didn't manage to get Kate alone to ask her. And the case proved so difficult to solve that they had to stay late at the office and when they were finally allowed to leave, McGee rode down in the elevator with them.

The investigation continued the minute they got back to work the next day. They had suspects to interrogate and evidence to evaluate. Of course they got the culprit. It was the victim's wife. She had killed her husband because his colleague with whom she was having an affair had promised her she'd get half of the money he got from smuggling weapons. They had both been arrested.

Kate was out of the office by six o'clock. Tony hadn't finished his report by then and had to stay half an hour longer. When he had finally left the office and sat in his car, he thought about what to do this evening. It was an easy decision. He had wanted to talk to Kate for two days and now they both had a free evening. So he left the parking lot and drove to Kate's apartment building, intending on spending the evening together with her on her couch. Maybe he could talk her into watching a sad movie. Sad movies always made her snuggle up to him.

The door of her apartment building was open and Tony entered without ringing first. When he knocked on Kate's door he didn't even have to wait for five seconds before Kate opened the door, smiling brightly. But when she saw him, the smile faded immediately. "Tony, what are you doing here?" she asked rather impolitely.

"What kind of a greeting is that supposed to be?" Tony asked, stepping past her into the apartment.

Kate caught him by the wrist and stopped him. "I'm sorry Tony, but to be honest, I was expecting someone else. You can't stay, I have a date."

"A date?" Tony asked intelligently. And now he noticed what Kate was wearing: a beautiful, dark blue shirt that showed a lot of cleavage and pronounced the curves of her body, and a skirt made of an airy flowing material that played around her thighs at the tiniest movement. She had applied lipstick and eye-liner that made her pretty eyes still darker and even more intense.

For some seconds Tony did nothing but stare at her. She looked…hot! Not attractive or pretty - well that too - but the only word that really seemed to fit here was 'hot'. He hadn't seen her dressed up like this in ages and now she had done it to impress another man. Tony was surprised at how much that thought stung in his chest.

"You were expecting Danny?" he asked, just to say anything and not stand there like an idiot.

Kate nodded. "And he could be here any minute. I'm sorry, but could you leave? It would be so awkward if another man was here when he arrives." The thought seemed to make her really nervous.

Slowly and reluctantly, Tony nodded. "I should have called first," he said.

"Yeah," Kate muttered. Her eyes were locked on his, but Tony felt uncomfortable and didn't hold her gaze.

"Where is he taking you?" he wanted to know.

"Nowhere," Kate said. "We're staying here."

"Oh," was all that Tony could force past his lips. They were staying at home. And Kate was dressed to kill. It was obvious where this evening would lead.

"So you decided to try it," he stated.

Kate smiled faintly and only nodded. "Tony," she said, sounding uneasy. "He's soon going to be here. Could you …?"

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry." He went to the door and reached for the doorknob, but then he hesitated and turned around to face Kate again. She looked at him, in a strange way, he thought, but he couldn't figure out what it was he saw in her eyes.

"Tony?" she asked. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he said. "I … I just …"

A knock on the door interrupted him. Kate jumped visibly at the sound, but then she straightened and went to open the door. Tony was standing in an angle behind her that hid him from the visitor, so he stepped around Kate in order not to make the situation more awkward by trying to hide from Danny.

The young man on the other side of the door, who had been smiling at Kate, stared at Tony as soon as he came into sight. Tony also stared. He had expected Danny to be handsome, but hadn't expected to meet young Mr. James Bond. Tony didn't consider himself an expert when it came to judging other men's looks, but that guy definitely had model qualities. He had black hair and green eyes, a combination that tended to make every woman sigh when she saw it. He was also tall and well built and his face was that of a male perfume model.

Kate was the first of the three who found back to her power of speech. "Danny, please come in," she said. "This is Tony, my colleague, he was just about to leave, but now I get a chance to introduce you." She even managed a convincing smile.

Danny now stepped forward, the smile returning to his face, and Tony hated the fact that even the guy's teeth were perfect. Tony knew he would soon have to move in order to leave the apartment, but he was like frozen in place. When Danny held out his hand, Tony only stared at it for some seconds, not sure what to do. What if he grabbed the guy by his leather jacket and threw him out the door? What if he asked Kate to throw him out? His eyes wandered back over to Kate and the amazing outfit she was wearing. He experienced a very vivid image of himself yanking that top over her head. He closed his eyes. She didn't put these clothes on for you, a mocking voice inside his head said.

Tony was brought out of his paralysis when Danny spoke to him: "Hi! I think Kate has already told me about you. I'm glad to meet you." He was still holding his hand out to Tony.

And now Tony took it. "I've also heard a lot about you," he said. "I didn't mean to get in the way of your date. I only brought Kate her PDA - she forgot it at the office."

"Yes," Kate said quickly. "Thanks again."

Tony forced a smile onto his lips, stepped past Danny and opened the door. "Good night," he said, only shortly looking back over his shoulder before he left the apartment and shut the door behind him.

When the door was closed, Danny turned to face Kate and smiled at her. "Hi again," he said, stepping closer so that he was standing mere inches from her. Kate placed her hands on his shoulders and slowly let them wander to the nape of his neck. "Hi," she whispered and their lips met in a lingering kiss.

Danny wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her closer, at the same moment breaking out of the kiss to look at her face. "You're very beautiful," he told her and his face took on the soft expression Kate had come to like so much. Danny was a good man. He may be young, but it rarely showed because he was a very responsible and intelligent person. His touch was gentle. And his eyes were full of affection whenever he looked at her. Kate had longed for a man who'd look at her like that for such a long time. He was not a womanizer - strange enough for a man with his looks. She felt safe when she was with him. Safe that he wouldn't cheat on her. Safe that his intentions were serious. Tony didn't trust him, she knew that. But that was because Tony had difficulty understanding that a man could be content with only one woman in his life. Tony wouldn't change. Kate had spent so much time with him during the last weeks and in that time four different women had been in his life - and his bed. He hadn't made a secret out of it - he had bragged about it like he always had. He wouldn't change.

Tony lay on the couch in his dark living room. The only light was coming from the TV, but he wasn't watching the screen and had turned down the volume. He was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. One hand was dangling over the armrest of the couch over his head; the other was resting on his stomach. There was a nasty bruise on his knuckles and the pain in his hand pulsed in time with his heart. In front of the couch a couple of magazines lay scattered across the floor. They had been sent flying off the coffee table when Tony had thrown it over. On the white wall next to the front door there was a small red pattern, imitating the outline of his fist. The wall itself didn't show the tiniest dent or scratch. This fact had made Tony so angry that he had kicked it several times with his foot, but he had lost the fight.

After some minutes he turned the volume on the TV back up and turned to look at the screen. But the images on the screen couldn't erase the movie that was playing inside his head. A movie in which Kate was playing the main actress. But the role of the actor was not his. The more Tony tried to shut out the images, the more vivid they got. He saw Kate's fingers fist in black hair. Hands on her body. Lips on hers. Another man holding her, loving her.

With a frustrated scream Tony jumped up from the couch and smashed the remote control against the opposite wall, where it burst into a dozen pieces.