Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, nor will I ever.

Spoilers: Sub Rosa. Everything in bold was taken from the episode.

Sorry about the long wait between chapters, I got a little distracted by other fandoms. And I can't promise rapid updates on this one, because my DVDs are back at university and I'm stuck home for another two weeks.


Sub Rosa

Kate rubbed her temples, feeling her head pounding. She hated colds. It was too menial an excuse to take time off work, but they left you unable to even lift your head.

Across the bullpen, Tony was talking to one of the agents at Norfolk about a body found in a vat of acid.

"No, the best thing is for you to do nothing, okay, Agent McGee?" Tony caught her eye and rolled his eyes. "Just secure the area and wait for us to get there. Okay." He hung up. "Case agent at Norfolk sounds pretty green."

Kate didn't bother pointing out that most people – even NCIS agents – hadn't seen partially digested corpses (and she definitely wasn't going to remind him that the first acid-case she'd seen had caused her to empty her stomach).

"You look like hell." Tony commented, leaning on her desk.

Kate gave him a dirty look. "A woman loves to hear that, Tony."

"If you're coming down with something, don't sit next to me in the truck." Tony told her.

Several months ago, Kate would have bristled, but she knew Tony well enough to hear the unspoken question in his voice.

"Well, there's an upside to having a cold." She joked, keeping up their banter and reassuring his concerns in one fell swoop.

Tony grinned at her, fingering his tie. "You wanna tell the doctor about it?"

Kate gave him another dirty look – she'd built up a repertoire since working with DiNozzo – but Gibbs arrived before she could say anything.

"You guys ready to go?"

"All set …" Kate paused for a second to think, her cold making her thought process slower than usual. "Yeah, and Ducky and Jackson are already on their way. Oh God …" she heard Tony leap to his feet behind her as her bag knocked Gibbs's coffee to the floor. "I'm sorry." She grabbed a couple of napkins and dropped them onto the spill.

Gibbs looked like he was about to rip her head off and she stopped cleaning it up. "Er … what do you put in your coffee?"

"Coffee." Gibbs answered, as though it should have been obvious.

"Okay …" Kate said, attempting a smile. "I'll just go down the hall and get you another cup."

"That's not coffee." Gibbs picked up his briefcase and left the bullpen, stepping over her on the way. "Meet you in the truck."

Kate followed his progress and caught Tony's eye. "What?"

"I've never experienced Gibbs without his morning coffee." Tony whispered, looking terrified. "We're in unchartered waters here, Kate."

Kate rolled her eyes, grabbed her bag and jogged after him to the elevator. "It won't be that bad."

"Rule #23!" Tony announced as the doors closed on them. "Never mess with a Marine's coffee … if you want to live." He glanced sideways at her, dropping pretences now it was just the two of them in an empty room. "You sure you're alright?"

Kate allowed him a small smile. "Just a cold. Is the hitting on me really necessary?"

"Kate, if I stop, Boss is gonna think we're sleeping together." Tony told her flatly.

His words startled her, but the shot of hurt in his voice was what caused her to stop the elevator.

"Kate, we gotta …"

"Gibbs went to Starbucks." Kate reminded him. "To get coffee. Why are you bothered that I'm bothered by you hitting on me?"

"I'm not." Tony lied, reaching for the button.

Kate stopped him. "Tony …"

"Case, Agent Todd." Tony batted her hand away and flipped the switch. "Talk later."


"Lot of fun in college, huh?" Tony asked with a smirk. "How was the sub?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "I didn't come here so you could tease me, Tony. And it was … interesting. Fun to watch all those sailors do a double-take when they realised I was a women."

"Gibbs pour water down your throat until you exploded?" Tony asked knowingly.

Kate raised an eyebrow. "He's done that before?"

"The old 'bathroom decoy' trick." Tony chuckled, heading for the kitchen. "You want a beer?"

"No thanks." Kate answered. "I'm not going to need anything to drink for at least a week."

"Kate, college?" Tony prompted.

"Hitting on me?" Kate responded. "It's later."

Tony sighed and grabbed a beer out the fridge. "You sure you don't want anything?"

Kate smiled slightly. "I'm sure. Now what's going on?"

Tony exhaled slowly and sank on to the couch. "Okay … First of all, Gibbs expects me to hit on you – you get that part, right?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "I get that part, Tony. Although I think you're being a little paranoid. When you … I mean that … in the elevator …"

Tony smirked at her. "I don't think I've ever heard you lost for words, Katie."

Kate gave him a warning look. "What have I told you about calling me that?"

"Not to?" Tony gave her a charming smile.

Kate rolled her eyes. "See, you do listen. When you said that, you sounded … I dunno, hurt, I guess."

Tony muttered something that sounded like Italian, before heaving a deep sigh. "Cone of silence?"

Kate nodded. "You know that, Tony."

"Yeah, I do." Tony ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. Yes, if I didn't hit on you, Gibbs would think something was going on – it's just the way I am, so if I stopped it'd be suspicious, at least to him – but that's not why I do it."

Kate found herself suddenly wishing she had a cup of coffee or something – at least then she'd have something to do with her hands. Oh my God … what's he implying? Is he genuinely hitting on me? Oh God … Oh God … what do I do?

"Thing is, Kate, I've never been comfortable with showing emotion." Tony admitted, staring at the beer in his hand. "This entire conversation is extremely awkward for me. My teachers used to refer to me as 'emotionally stinted'. My father called it 'being a real man'."

Kate did her best to disguise her snort at that, but he caught it anyway.

"I know." He agreed heavily. "So if I'm worried about you, but I can't say it, or I'm having a bad day and don't want to take it out on you, or I just don't know how to handle the situation …"

"You'll hit on me." Kate finished with a nod. "I get it."

Tony's face broke into a relieved grin. "Movie?"

Kate bit back a laugh at how predictable her partner was and at how terrible he was at changing the subject. "Sure, Tony."

At least Tony doesn't have feelings for me. That would make things awkward.

But despite her relief, she couldn't help feeling just the smallest pang of disappointment …


AN: Still looking for reviews and ideas!