Hey!

Thanks for the great reviews people! I'm loving them. For that reason – I made this chapter longer and hopefully more better…

PLEASE R&R!

Tiana xXx

'Hurry it up, Abs!' Gibbs snapped as soon as he entered the lab. Once he had gotten back to NCIS, he had dropped down to see her, telling her about the phone call and got her to trace it as soon as she could.

Abby knew that the possibilities of getting trace was slim to none, seeing as the call wasn't in progress anymore, and the number was "restricted", but she daren't tell her boss that.

'I can't hurry it up, Gibbs! I'm just one person!' she complained.

'Well, you're not getting McGee! So just do it twice as fast!' Gibbs was being extra grouchy to her, and she didn't like it.

'I don't want McGee, Gibbs! I'm never gonna get the trace because it's too far gone. The only way that I could have gotten one would have been during the phone call, or if you had a number. The only thing I can do right now is…' Abby trailed off, thinking of what she could do right then. 'I can't do anything, Gibbs.' She sighed, turning around to face him.

Gibbs stared at her for a moment before realising what he had just done. Sighing, he nodded tightly.

'Have you gotten the results for the bullets?' he asked.

'Not yet. I had started with that but then you made me do this so…' Abby left the rest of the sentence fade.

'Ok, then do that. You've got an hour.' He stated.

'Got it, Boss-man!' she replied in her normal chirpy one. Gibbs smirked as he left the lab and headed back upstairs.

Ducky had recommended that McGee should go home when Gibbs had arrived at NCIS, so he reluctantly agreed. He didn't hesitate because of being one-man down, but rather because of the consequences of the blast that day, and the chances of Ari having his men after McGee. But he knew that McGee knew about the photos, so he had quietly slipped to him to be careful.

Now, however, there remained Tony and Kate in the bullpen, and neither of them knew about the photos. He sighed as he sat down at his desk.

'Kate, go see if Ducky has any information for us.' He ordered her. She gave him a confused look before getting up and heading towards the elevator. Gibbs was always the one to go down to autopsy.

Getting up once again, he told Tony to follow him as he walked up the stairs to MTAC. Tony did to relieve the bewilderment growing in him.

'What's going on?' he asked once they got into the room. Gibbs stayed silent as he just watched what was going on with the search for Ari.

'I'm putting you on protection detail.' Gibbs announced suddenly. Tony's eyebrows scrunched up, wondering if he had missed something.

'For whom, Gibbs?' he asked. Gibbs gave him a glare.

'Who do you think, DiNozzo? Your partner!' he exclaimed, causing Tony to make an "oh!" face, although it was replaced rather quickly with a confused one.

'Why, Boss?'

'In case you haven't noticed, Tony, we have a very dangerous terrorist on our heels who seems to have a very unhealthy obsession for Kate.' He remarked. Tony nodded and decided to keep his own remarks to himself.

'No offence, Boss, but Kate won't really take this lightly.' He mentioned. Gibbs turned to look at him once more.

'Well then, I guess you're gonna havta not tell her then. Cos, DiNozzo, if you fail this, it'll be the last thing that you'll ever do!' Gibbs warned him. Tony smiled and started to laugh before turning it into a fake cough when he saw the seriousness on his face.

'Got it, Boss!' he announced before Gibbs told him to go back to work. He skipped up the stairs to get out of their before bouncing down the stairs to get to the bullpen.

Kate had just gotten off of the elevator and was making her way to the bullpen when she saw her partner jumping down the stairs.

'Hey, beautiful!' Tony greeted her as he jumped down onto the floor and turning towards her.

'Ok, what's gotten into you?' she laughed as he pecked her cheek.

'What? Can't I just be happy? Especially when I see you?' he asked innocently, sitting on the edge of her desk as she walked past him before realising that it was just them two in the bullpen.

'Where's Gibbs?' she asked him.

'MTAC.' He answered.

'Were you just there?'

'Yup!' he said cheerfully and Kate looked at him weirdly.

'Why were you up there?' Tony knew that that was coming but he still didn't have a good answer.

'I just followed Gibbs.' He shrugged, knowing that his excuse was lame. Before Kate got to use her profiling skills on him, he quickly changed the subject. 'What did you get from Ducky?'

'Nothing much. He's sent some sample down to Abby to test for DNA, other than that, just the cause of deaths, which were all due to loss of blood.' she informed him, sitting at her desk, which made Tony turn around on her desk so he could face her.

'Now, why's that not a surprise?' he replied sarcastically.

'What's that, DiNozzo?' Gibbs asked as he came down. Tony immediately stood up and walked over to Gibbs' desk, where he headed straight to.

'The CODs of the bodies were all due to loss of blood, Boss.' He told him.

'Anything else?' he probed. Tony went to say something, but Kate cut in before.

'The amputations where done by a professional, and there was minimum blood loss, but he had also stabbed the heart to make it bleed out, therefore, causing death.' She told him. Tony gave her a dirty look while she just smirked back.

'You didn't tell me that!' he hissed to her when Gibbs got up to look at the widescreen plasma where a couple of photos of he body pieces were shown.

'You didn't ask!' she hissed back, causing him to stick his tongue out. Kate was going to roll her eyes, but ended up laughing when Gibbs slapped Tony upside the head, causing him to bite his tongue. 'You so deservedthat!'

'Whatever!' he mumbled, glad that his tongue didn't hurt too badly, nor was it interfering with his speech.

Gibbs watched on as his two Agents bickered, partially happy with the fact that Ari was back didn't affect them much, although he knew that on a deeper level, it really did.

Glancing at the time in the corner of his computer screen, he read that it was just past 7pm. Shuffling the papers around on his desk; he smirked when the iPod that rested there fell out suddenly. He knew that Tony had gotten to it; there were fresh fingerprint smudges on the back of it, where it was easy to see because of the mirror like cover. He picked it up and got up form his desk.

'Ok, the two of you can go. There's nothing else left for today.' He stated. As he passed Tony's desk, he placed the iPod on it. 'Drop that off at reception when you leave.' He ordered.

Tony stared after Gibbs as he left in the elevator as Kate burst out laughing.

'I to-' Kate started but Tony interrupted.

'Don't say it! We still don't know!' he mentioned. Kate snorted.

'He just told you to drop it off at reception. If it was his, then why would he tell you to do that?' she argued.

'To throw off suspicion.' He countered.

'Tony! Just give it up!' Kate said as she got up and started to get ready to go home. Tony did the same and they continued to bicker all the way down to reception.

'All I'm saying is that we shouldn't jump to conclusions! Stick with the facts, Katie!' he told her as they approached reception.

'Yeah like the fact that Gibbs just told you to hand it in at reception, or the fact that what was on the iPod is something that Gibbs would never have?' she mocked. Tony fake laughed before they walked up to reception.

'Oh, is that the iPod that Special Agent Gibbs found this morning?' the young blonde lady at reception asked Tony. Kate smiled at Tony in an "I told you" manner as Tony frowned.

'I dunno. He just told me to drop it down here.' He said, indignantly. The receptionist smiled at him, and Tony smiled back as Kate rolled her eyes. Even in the 8 months together, he hadn't changed his flirtatious manner. She didn't really mind; it was a part of him that she loved. And he knew how far to take it before she got pissed off. He had learnt that from experience.

'Ok. Well, I'll keep it here then.' She chirped. Tony nodded and said thanks before pulling on his sunglasses and walking out of the building behind Kate.

'Hey! Where do you think you're going?' he asked her, grabbing her by the hips.

'Um… home maybe?' Kate informed him, cocking he head to the side while turning to face him. Tony gave her his famous 'DiNozzo' smile which made Kate not only smile back, but also wonder what he was thinking.

'Nah, you're coming with me!' he announced to her, slightly pulling her in the direction to his car. Kate raised an eyebrow at him. 'C'mon! You know that Gibbs'll keep us from God knows how long starting from tomorrow… and yesterday I didn't get to see you…' he smiled at her once again as he opened the door to his car. She gave him a look before getting in.

'This is only cos you're gonna buy me dinner.' She assured him. Tony chuckled.

'You keep telling yourself that.' He laughed. Kate hit him on the arm, struggling to keep her smile at bay. 'Hey! I'm driving here!'

'What's your point?' Kate retorted. Tony opened his mouth to say something, but then decided against it. Kate noticed his movement and looked at him, waiting for him to repeat it, but he didn't. 'What were you going to say?'

'Looks like it's gonna rain.' Tony told her.

'That's not what you were going to say.'

'Yeah it was.' He said.

'No it wasn't! If it was, then you wouldn't have said it.' She argued back, knowing that they were going to get into an argument.

'Well, maybe I knew that you were going to pester me about it so I just told you!' He countered.

'Nah, you wouldn't.'

'But I did.' He smiled.

'Nuh- uh!'

'Yeah!'

'No it was not!' Kate laughed. She didn't know why she was laughing, but she was just in the mood to.

'Yeah it was. And even if it wasn't, I can't remember what else it would've been.' He stated.

'So you're saying that it was something else, right?' Kate probed.

'Nooo…' Tony dragged out 'I'm just saying that I dunno what I was going to say, so we should just leave cos we are now home, and it is raining!' he smiled at he end of it for like the millionth time that day and Kate just smirked at him.

'Aw. Is lil Anthony scared of the rain?' she cooed.

'Ha! You wish!' he threw back as he got out of the car, followed by Kate on the other side. It wasn't raining too much, but it was a steady drizzle that would soak them if they stayed out for a little while.

Once again that evening, Tony grabbed Kate by her waist as she reached his side of the car. He gently spun her around and brought her closer to him.

'Tony!'

'What?' he asked innocently, smiling. He still had his arms around her waist holding her close as he swayed them both in the rain.

'What are you doing?' she giggled as he rested his forehead against hers. The rain was still beating down on them, but neither one of them noticed. It was still the summer, so it was refreshing.

'Dancing.' He answered. 'In the rain. With you.' Tony added as Kate sighed and laughed once again.

'Can I ask why?' she now whispered due to their close proximity.

'Because you're mio amore. And I love you.' He whispered back. Kate smiled and gave him a sweet, long-lasting kiss.

'I love you too.' Just as she said it, the rain started to pour even harder and Kate looked upwards to see the heavy drops of rain come down onto her face.

'I think we should go in before we get ill.'

'We wouldn't want that, now would we?' Kate teased as Tony dragged her by the hand up to his apartment. She finally realised that she was glad that Tony lived in a private area where the apartment block and car park was fenced off so that no-one else could've seen them dancing in the rain.

Once they were in his place, the coldness of their wet clothes sunk in. Goosebumps rose on Kate's skin as the wind caused by the door closing reached her. She shivered and Tony pulled her close to him.

'I think we should get changed.' He suggested.

'I have a better idea…' she trailed off biting her lower lip as Tony laughed.

'I bet you do.' He replied, capturing her lips in a kiss while she dragged him into his bedroom.

So that was chock-full of TATE right?

Please R&R and I'll update soon!

Tiana xXx