a/n: A lapse in time has passed; the next day.
Chapter Summary: Tony expresses his feelings, but gets some bad news that force him to shut them down.
Invitation: Welcome to the Team
Tony whistled tunelessly all the way through the elevator ride up to the bullpen, much to Kate's annoyance. The elevator opened with a muted ding and she stepped out in relief- or dove out.
"Seriously, Tony." she said, stalking to her desk. "Just for once, shut up."
"Whoa!" Tony gave a whistle as he set his bag down behind his desk. "Did someone keep you up last night, Kate." his brows danced.
Kate spun around to him, her mouth open is disgust.
"Tony!" it was actually Tim who protested.
"What, Probie?" Tony looked at him.
"That is very rude,"
"Thank you, McGee." Kate said. "That was very nice, unlike some people." she glared at Tony.
"Come on!" Tony looked between the two of them. "You guys are so boring,"
"We're not children," Kate corrected.
"No, you're just a Nun and a Alter Boy, with a stick up your asses."
Now they both looked at him with open mouths.
"Jeez!" he ran fingers through his hair, "Sorry," he sighed. "Where's Gibbs?"
"He up stairs in the conference room," Tim told him.
"Why's he up there?"
"He's with Claire-"
Tony didn't wait for Tim to finish, usually it wasn't something good if Gibbs was alone with another Agent, especially one that they didn't work with, and it was in a closed off room. He took the stairs two at time, Tim and Kate watched him go with raised brows and a shared look.
Tony was about to knock, but the door swung open, and there stood Gibbs.
"Boss..." Tony started.
Gibbs just looked at him before he went passed and back down the stairs. Tony watched him for a second before he peeked into the conference room. It was quiet and he spotted Claire down at the end of the table, looking at the table top.
"Claire?" he asked quietly, as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, "Are you alright?"
Claire looked up, a dazed look in her aqua coloured eyes. "Tony?"
"Yeah," he nodded as he came around to her. Slow. "You okay?" he asked again.
"I, uh, I don't know." she told him.
"Okay," Tony nodded. "So let's talk it through." he pulled out the chair adjacent to her and sat down.
"O-okay," she nodded.
"So, what did Gibbs do?" Tony encouraged.
"Um," Claire licked her lips and took a breath. "Gibbs... he-he pulled me from Forensics and transferred me."
"What!" Tony demanded. He couldn't believe this, he was pissed. "He can't do that. He's not your boss, you're your boss." he said in a harsh breath.
"Tony," Claire took his hand in hers.
He looked at her, his breath coming down. Her hand was warm and he liked the feel of his on his, he swallowed. His heart was actually racing, wow, he did like her. Damn Kate. He leaned in and kissed her. What? He did. He leaned in and he kissed her. Her lips were soft, just like he imagined. She didn't push him back, so he was right that she liked him too. He don't know why he did it, she was getting transferred and he didn't know when he would see her again. He sat back sated.
"Yeowza," he breathed.
Claire was stunned. Tony was a great of a kisser as she knew he would be, you couldn't be the way that he was and not be. She would just love it to happen again.
"What was that for?" she asked.
"Sorry," he said, "It just sorta happened."
"I don't mind," she said.
Tony grinned. "Me either,"
"I wouldn't even mind if we did it again,"
His grin widened as he leaned forward to kiss her again, but he remembered something. "Wait. Where did you get transferred to?"
"Oh," Claire looked surprised for a second. "I got transferred to your team."
"What?" Tony demanded. This was different than before, this changed everything. "Why?"
Claire shrugged her shoulders. "How am I supposed to know? He's your boss,"
"And now he's yours..." Tony trailed off in defeat.
"So? You sound disappointed," she said in confusion. "This way we can be together during cases."
Tony shook his head, his heart was sunken. "We can't date,"
"What?" now Claire was the one that was hurt. She thought that he liked her, but apparently not enough to date. But what else could she have expected? This was the kind of man she was attracted to.
"It's one of Gibbs' rules," Tony explained, "Never date a team mate. It gets too complicated in the field."
"Oh," Claire felt better that she knew that Tony wasn't like all those other guys, but even then they couldn't date.
"Oh," Tony agreed. He looked down at their entwined fingers, they fit together, they belonged. But now, because of Gibbs, they would be torn apart. He stood from the chair, his fingers slipping from hers.
"So, what does this mean?" she asked, looking up at him.
"It means, we're just friends." he told her as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. He left after that, not able to bear being so near and not able to touch. Being on the team was now going to be more torture than fun.
"Tony," she called, "Wait!" she fallowed him, but he was already down the stairs at the elevator. "Tony!" she was down the stairs, but by the time that Claire had gotten to the bullpen, he was already in the elevator.
"Claire?" Tim asked in worry.
"Is everything okay?" Kate said, coming to her friend, "Tony?"
Claire turned to the two Agents, her arms crossed over her chest. "Looks like we're team mates," she told them, trying to play happy, but by their looks she knew that it didn't work out to well.
"That's cool," Tim said in confusion. "Isn't it?"
"Yeah," Claire nodded. "It is, Tim."
tbc!