Hey!
Thanks for the great reviews!
You can thank my lil sister for naggin me to update this quick! And of course your reviews DID help me get a move on too!
Please R&R this too!
I've taken into account what everyone said about me bringing in Ziva or an OC and you'll see what I decided either this chapter or the next!
Tiana xXx
Tony had let the guard know that Kate was awake, who had then in turn called her doctor. When he was doing all the checks on her, Tony called Gibbs to let him know that she was awake.
It was now almost dawn the next morning and things had been sorted out. Although Tony wasn't happy with the decision, neither was Gibbs but it was absolutely necessary. He had convinced the doctor to let Kate out of the hospital that morning. Of course the doctor had objected straight away.
'She has just had surgery, Agent Gibbs! I cannot allow her to go anywhere where there will be no doctors or nurses to look after her.' He had told him. Gibbs had smirked at his words and Tony and Kate, who were in her room with them, both shared a look. A smirk wasn't good.
'She won't be alone. We have a ME with us at NCIS. Also, Dr. Leery will be coming with us.' He informed him, although it was news to Tony and Kate too.
'She will?' the almost balding doctor asked the Special Agent.
'Yes she will. And I can assure you that as soon as she is safe, Agent Todd will be back here in an instant.' Kate opened her mouth to protest, but a look from Gibbs shut her up.
The doctor rubbed his wrinkled forehead and sighed.
'Well, if Dr. Leery will be there to take care of her, I guess I could allow her to be discharged, as long as she comes back as soon as she is out of danger.' He stated.
'You have our word.' Gibbs replied and then looked at Kate, who still sat in her bed. 'Doesn't he?'
'Yes.' She forced out. She was sure that she could weasel her way out of this once Ari was caught.
If he is caught a voice at the back of her head told her. When! Another voice hissed back, knowing that neither Gibbs nor Tony, or herself for that matter, would rest until he was captured, just like Tony had vowed to her last night.
The doctor exited quickly and Gibbs went over to the bed to join his two agents.
'No-one is to leave NCIS unless I say so, clear? If not then neither of you are going to leave this hospital!' he snapped.
'Got it, boss.' Tony replied for the two of them as Kate nodded.
'Good. Now get ready to go. We need to leave before it gets busy outside.' He instructed before turning to leave the room.
--
The journey back to headquarters wasn't that long as they had expected, considering that Gibbs wasn't driving. Kate and Tony were in a car behind the one with Gibbs and the doctor. They were driven by other agents.
Once they had reached the building, the cars went around the back to somewhere where they could get out of the car and get into NCIS safely. It was almost 8am so the traffic had just started to pass.
Gibbs and Dr. Leery had gotten there first and he had ushered her inside while he waited downstairs for his own agents to come.
Kate was fighting to keep her eyes open as they neared NCIS finally. She was still weak from the previous day's events, and the anaesthetic hadn't fully worn off. Also, the loss of blood made her slightly light-headed, but it wasn't too much to be concerned off.
The SUV that they were in pulled up right where Gibbs' had 5 minutes previously. There had been no hitches in the plan at all, but that didn't give anyone any feelings of safety. The two agents stepped out of the car slowly, and made their way into the building to be confronted by their own boss.
'The whole building is being guarded, and that's just for precaution. The entire base is under security checks. No one gets in or out without me knowing. We'll get him this time.' He assured them as he leaded the other two into the elevator and down into Abby's lab first.
'Why are we going to Abby's?' Tony asked. He was leaning against the side of the metal box, exhausted by the sleepless night and the busy previous day. But he wouldn't sleep until he had gotten Ari. He had promised himself that. Even just thinking about the guy boiled his blood. Tony laid a hand on Kate's lower back for his own comfort to know that she was still there with him.
'You'll see.' Was all the reply that he got.
As soon as they stepped off of the elevator, they all realised that the music was no longer on. Instead, all that could be heard was Abby talking at the speed of lightening to whoever she was with probably McGee. But that stopped when she heard the doors slid open.
'Kate!' she yelled mid-sentence. The Goth ran up to her best friend and pulled her into a tight hug while talking non-stop. 'I'm so glad you're alright! I wanted to come to se you but Gibbs wouldn't let me out of here and I couldn't. You have no idea how annoying and hard it has been being here and not knowing how you were. But I knew you would be fine.'
'Thanks, Abby.' Kate replied after a pause. 'Abby.' She gasped out. 'You wanna let go?'
'Oh! I'm so sorry!' she apologised when she backed off a bit, but kept her arm linked with Kate's good arm. Her right arm was bandaged and plastered and in a sling to make sure she didn't move her shoulder until she was allowed to.
'Ok, since everyone's here-' Gibbs began.
'Ducky and Palmer aren't, boss.' Tony informed him.
'Well, that's because I've already spoken to them.' He sighed as Tony inched away from his pissed off boss. 'As I was saying, since we are all here, I thought it would be easier to tell you what's gonna happen all at the same time. First of all, no-one, and I mean no-one, is to leave this building. The only time that you can is when I say you can. And I doubt that I will do so for a long time. Secondly, we have just one priority right now and you all know what that is. And finally, the only reason why you are here, Kate, is because you are safe here. Other than that, you are to rest and recuperate. Do you all understand?' he asked the last four words slowly and looked at all 5 of them; the team and Dr. Leery.
Gibbs received a muddle of answers, but he knew they were all confirmative.
'Good.' He regained himself and put himself back into working mode. 'What did you get from the DNA matches, Abby?'
'The finger that Ari had dropped off was the Petty Officer's, and by the looks of it, it was cut with a saw. Ducky said it wasn't a surgical saw either.' She confirmed, dragging Kate with her to her computer.
'Ouch! So what? He just cut it off cos Ari said so?' Tony asked.
'I dunno. You'll havta asked Ducky on that.' She replied.
'We can do one better. Let's go and ask Davidson himself!' Gibbs sneered. 'DiNozzo, McGee, you're with me. You three can stay down here. Abs, I want the ballistics on the bullet I gave you in an hour!' He instructed at the guys left the girls in the lab.
'That was interesting.' Dr. Sydney Leery said for the first time. The other two looked at her.
'He's always like that. I thought you'd be used to it by now.' Abby said innocently as Kate rolled her eyes at the attempt.
'Why would that be?' The redhead doctor asked.
'Just, you know, seeing as for the last two months…' she trailed off, pretending to be interested in her computer.
'For the last two months… what?' Sydney prompted just as Kate yawned and steadied herself against the work top.
'Maybe you should go to sleep, Kate. Gibbs said that that's why you're here.' Abby said, more or less pushing her into her little office area.
Kate didn't have the energy nor the time to argue with her. She was surprised to see that Abby's futon was set out already for her, and it seemed even more comfy than ever before.
'I knew that you would be tired, so I thought I would give you something comfy to sleep on, seeing as you can only sleep on your side.' Abby explained as if she read her mind.
'Thank, Abs.' Kate replied as she walked over to the futon and sat on it, glad to give her legs some rest.
'You're welcome. Anyways, Tony would kill me if I don't look after you when he can't!' she winked before leaving her alone in the room.
Kate sat in the room just staring around at the walls for a moment. She suddenly realised how alone she was in that room and how grateful she was with the lack of windows. It was then that she understood why Gibbs had taken them down to the lab. Rolling her eyes, she laid down on the futon, hoping to sleep for a while.
--
Gibbs sighed as he exited the interrogation room. The former Petty Officer, as it was now, was being very uncooperative. Even after being threatened and called many foul things by Gibbs, he still didn't choose to help.
He must be helping Ari Gibbs decided. He didn't really care on why he had cut his finger off or why he and the other guy had taken them hostage. Rather, he just wanted information on Ari that could only be gotten through his associates. Unfortunately, it seemed as if Mossad agents really were totally loyal.
Upon entering the observation room, Gibbs saw a very agitated Tony and an almost annoyed McGee. Before he had bought Kate and Tony from the hospital, he had asked McGee to find the pictures that he had taken of the photos that they had found in the closet.
'McGee. Go see if you can get anything from Davidson's phone log. And try to find out the other guy's name please!' he ordered. McGee left, knowing exactly why.
'Now what, Boss?' Tony asked him. Gibbs made a sign for him to follow as he left the room and headed up to MTAC.
MTAC wasn't as empty as it usually was, but it wasn't that crowded either. Tony didn't recognise anyone there.
'Do you remember when we found those bodies in that apartment, DiNozzo?' Gibbs asked him. Tony cocked an eyebrow.
'Uh… yeah, Boss. It isn't hard to forget it.' He replied. Gibbs nodded tightly and paid more fake attention to the screen before him so that he didn't have to look at his agent.
'In the back room, there was a closet which had photos pinned at the back of. It was easy to find and I assume that Ari wanted me to find it.' Gibbs explained. Tony stood listening, not sure if he should say anything or not.
'What were the pictures of?' he finally asked.
'I got McGee to bag and tag them, but before he could, the place was blown up and burnt down. Luckily, he managed to get some snaps of them.' Gibbs said. He moved to one of the desks and picked up a file that he had given the Director earlier when he was asked to show him all of the evidence. 'These are what McGee got.'
Tony took the file off of his Boss and opened it like it was any other folder with evidence pictures in it. However, once he saw the contents, he was shocked beyond words. It was photos within photos, and that gave it an eerie aura about it. But what shocked him the most was the contents of the photos. The first person that stood out to him wasn't himself, but it was who he was with. Kate. There weren't any dates on the real photos, but he could guess when half of the ones with them in it were taken.
'He was stalking us?' Tony finally chocked out. When he said the word, he realised how much it meant, and his anger rose.
'It looks like it.' Gibbs simply said, sipping his coffee that Tony hadn't noticed before.
'Why?'
'I dunno, DiNozzo. It's not like Ari is a stable person.' He retorted.
'Is this why you put me on protection detail for Kate?' Tony asked his boss, putting two and two together.
'Part of the reason.'
'You knew Ari was after her, and you, yet you still took us out there?' Tony accused.
'It's not like I could've stopped her anyway, DiNozzo. That's why I put her under your protection.' Gibbs defended himself.
'I could've convinced her.' Tony replied. It was only then that he realised that he was arguing with his boss. It would've been funny if it hadn't been so serious.
'Maybe so. But if Ari wanted to do this, then he would've gotten to Kate while she was here instead of there.' He countered. Tony had to agree, knowing that Ari usually got what he wanted.
'Is that why Dr. Leery's here too?'
'He'll go after whoever was in those pictures, and the rest of the team.' Gibbs stated.
'Why? I mean, why not just go after you personally?' Tony asked.
'Cos it'll have more effect on me this way.' He murmured angrily, but Tony could still hear it.
'So what now?' he repeated his question from earlier.
'Now we track down the son of a bitch.' Gibbs smirked, taking the file out of Tony's hands and led them both back to their bullpen.
--
Several hours later, Tony and McGee were still at their desks looking for information on Ari. As neither of them could go out, this was their only source of information. There were FBI agents around the building too, and the frequent passing of people was getting on Tony's nerves.
'This… is … just useless!' he snapped, banging the desk with his hand.
'What else do you propose we do then, DiNozzo?' Gibbs asked him as he came from the director's office with the doctor with him.
'I dunno.' He murmured. 'Did Abby get anything on the bullet?' he asked.
'Go check.' He instructed. Tony jumped up and went, glad to have a reason to go down.
The elevator took it's time to go down, but when he got off, he wasn't surprised to hear the music low.
'Hey Abs! Do you have anything yet?' he asked, practically begging.
'Almost there. It's just running through the programme.' She informed him in a chirpy voice.
'Great. At last; something to go with!' he exclaimed. Abby laughed at his enthusiasm.
'I don't think you've ever been this excited about my work before, Tony.' She stated. Tony smiled at her.
'That's cos your work hasn't this important before.' He quipped before ducking away when she went to hit him. He chuckled as she scowled and walked over to the glass doors which would lead him into Abby's lab.
'She's been asleep since she got here.' Abby informed him. He smiled softly.
'That's what you think.' He replied cryptically before getting closer to the doors to make then open.
'What?' Abby shouted, making her way closer, but Tony managed to get to her close to her and turned her around and pushed her to her computer.
'You work.' He ordered before going into the other room. Abby shook her head and allowed him to have some time with his girlfriend.
Tony had seen Kate sleep enough times to know when she was pretending. She did it almost every morning when she didn't want t get up, which was often.
'I know you're awake.' He whispered as he sat down on the futon where she wasn't lying on, back against the wall. Kate slowly opened her eyes to see him looking at her. Sighing, she sat up too, rotating her left shoulder to get rid of the kink after lying on it for the past 3 hours.
'I hate it when you do that.' She told him, sitting right next to him. Tony chuckled.
'Nah you don't.' they sat in silence for a moment. 'Did you get any sleep?
'Yeah, for about a couple of hours. I couldn't be asked to get up so I thought I'd stay here. It's not like I could do anything else anyways.' Kate claimed. Tony laid a kiss on her temple before drawing his legs up and hanging his arms off of them.
'You should be resting anyways. Let us do the rest. Then we can go home.' He sighed at the end. He never thought he'd be gladder to go home.
'Yeah, home.' Kate snorted.
'You'll be better soon.' Tony reassured her, knowing that she didn't want to go back to the hospital.
'Doesn't help though. I'll need rehabilitation to get the movement back, and God knows how long that will take. Until then, I won't be able to do any fieldwork, and I doubt that Gibbs will let me come into work for a long time.' She ranted. 'And like that's not bad enough, I'll have a nasty scar on my shoulder, and I'll have to learn how to be left handed for the next couple of months!'
When she had finished, Tony suppressed his smile, knowing that it would just piss her off more.
'Don't worry about all that. It won't take as long as you think it will. Gibbs'll let you back when you want to come, of course, after you have recovered. And personally,' Tony dropped his voice to make it more personal, 'I find scars quite sexy.' He bit her lobe for fun as she squirmed away from him.
'Well, you would.' She replied snappily. Tony raised his eyebrows. 'Never mind. I'm just cranky.' Tony chuckled and threaded his hand with her free one, intertwining their fingers.
'You know what we need?' he asked.
'What?' Kate replied, laying her head on his shoulder.
'A vacation. We totally deserve one too, don't ya think?'
'Hell, yeah.' Kate laughed. She had the feeling that her medication was wearing off as she felt pain in her shoulder, but she didn't want to move from her safe and comfy position.
'When this is all over… we'll get away. Somewhere far and remote.' Tony dreamt up, his eyes narrowing concentration.
'Somewhere where no-one, including Abby, can find us. And it has to be hot. And on a beach.' Kate added.
'Naturally.' Tony said as if it was an obvious fact that it had to be a beach. Kate laughed as she held tight onto his hand.
'Soon, right?' she asked him.
'We'd go right now if it were up to me.' He murmured back, giving her a kiss on the head before getting to stand up.
'Where you going?' Kate asked, disappointed.
'Funny as it might sound, I have to work, Katie.' He told her in a voice reserved for children. Kate rolled her eyes.
'I'm sure you do.'
'Hey!' he pouted, pretending to be offended. 'That's quite mean you know.'
'Doesn't mean it's not true.'
'Not funny.' He said as she stifled a yawn. 'Ok. You need to go to sleep and I need to work. I'll come back later to see you.' They shared a kiss before he got up and went to Abby's lab.
'Is she still awake?' Abby asked straight away.
'Nah, she was tired so I told her to go to sleep.' Tony smirked as Abby glared at him. 'What?'
'She's my best mate you know.' She told him.
'Yeah, I know.' Tony paused as Abby glared at him continually, making him feel small. 'Uh… did you get anything from the bullet?'
'Yes I did.' She said shortly. When she didn't carry on, Tony gave her a sign to prompt her. 'Here.' She handed him a file with the results in. Abby used force when she placed it in his hands, making a loud slapping sound.
'Ow!' he exclaimed as Abby huffed. 'If you wanna talk to her, just go and do it now. Don't take it out on me!'
'Well, I' not gonna take it out on Kate! She's injured. So you're the only one here that I can take it out on!' Abby fumed.
'Well, then. I'll be going now before Gibbs kills me.' He turned to leave. 'Or you.' He mumbled under his breath.
'I heard that!' she yelled after him.
Tony smirked as he opened the file, waiting for the elevator. He had never noticed before how long it took for the elevator to come. Usually because he would always come down there with Kate, so they would bicker or something while they waited.
However, before the elevator had the chance to come, something happened that Tony had been dreading. It was the same noise that he had heard the day before. It was almost identical.
Except for the scream. This time it wasn't Kate that screamed. It was Abby who screamed as the glass shattered in the other room as bullets were heard once again.
Wow! That went longer than I expected it to go!
How did you like it? Or didn't you like it at all? I thought I'd add some TATE fluff like always.
PLEASE R&R! Please?
Tiana xXx