AN: I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's reviewed. You guys are awesome, as always!!! I never would have gotten this chapter done if I hadn't come home from the first day of my new job from hell and found an inbox full of reviews. Please keep it up! Good or bad, I need reviews now more than ever. And constructive criticism is always welcomed, especially since I wrote this in two nights in a row instead of sleeping : D

Chapter 10

Gibbs had made a call and, fifteen minutes later, Tony and Kate were packed and ready to move to the safe house. "It'll be better if you guys leave separately, twenty minutes apart. Tony, you'll leave first. Since you're number one on Greg's list he might decide to follow you and we'll be able to grab him. I'll stay here with Kate in case he decides to come after her when he sees you leave."

Tony and Kate both nodded in agreement. They wanted to stay together but they both knew that this was the best way. Gibbs continued outlining the plan. "Tony, we've been watching your car so we know it hasn't been tampered with. I want you to leave in your car just like you normally would and go back to headquarters. We'll have agents watching you the entire time and if you get even the slightest bad feeling I want you to call them so they can move in." He sent Tony a look that let him know he was deadly serious, but Tony easily met his stare. There was no way Gibbs could intimidate him with a look when he was feeling this murderous.

Gibbs let out a sigh of exasperation, knowing his agent would never make that call. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if Tony caught sight of Greg and intentionally ditched the agents so he could handle it himself and dish out his own, very painful and potentially deadly brand of justice. Gibbs couldn't really blame him, knowing that he'd do the same thing if the situations were reversed. It was a character trait he and Tony had in common, which probably wasn't a good thing. He switched his attention to Kate, knowing that she at least had the common sense to follow orders. Well, most of the time. Gibbs didn't doubt that she'd do something stupid that would risk her own life if it meant saving Tony. He just hoped that Tony realized that and wouldn't do anything stupid to put himself in that kind of position.

"Kate and I will sneak out the back way twenty minutes later where McGee will be waiting with an unmarked SUV. We'll go back to headquarters, where we'll all rendezvous with another team of agents that are going to be helping us out. Two of them will act as decoys. They'll be disguised as you two and they'll go with McGee in the SUV to a dummy safe house we're going to use to try to trap him."

"And then you'll move us to the real safe house?" Tony asked but Gibbs was already shaking his head.

"No, I think you'll be better off staying at headquarters for right now. It won't be as comfortable but it's the one place where your safety is guaranteed, at least from this nutcase. We can move you to a safe house sometime tomorrow if this trap doesn't work, but I'd rather not risk moving you guys while there's a chance the decoy might work. Ok?"

Both agents nodded, although Tony looked a little unsure. Gibbs shot him a questioning look but Tony ignored it, immediately smoothing out his features until his face was devoid of all emotion. It was a lot like the unreadable mask Gibbs often wore and he wondered when Tony had mastered it enough that even he couldn't tell what was going on in his agent's mind. But his gut was definitely telling him that something wasn't right. He had a bad feeling that things were about to go terribly, irrevocably wrong, but he couldn't figure out what act of stupidity Tony was about to perform.

He silently cursed now that the shoe was on the other foot and he was the one left in the dark. No wonder he aggravated everyone so often, although he was sure that wasn't the only reason. Gibbs wanted to pull Tony aside but his cell rang and interrupted him, telling him that everyone was in place and they were ready to move.

Tony turned and pulled Kate into a tight hug. She held on as tight as she could, a part of her panicking at the thought of being here without him even though Gibbs would be with her the entire time. It just wasn't the same. Besides, she had a bad feeling about this.

She always seemed to have a sixth sense about Tony. People in general were usually easy for her to read because of her profiler training but Tony was more open to her than anyone she'd ever known, especially when he was trying to hide something. It was like she could see inside his head at times and anticipate his moves. It was part of why they worked so well together, and the reason she was so worried now. This was the only time that Tony had ever been unreadable to her. The only thing that had betrayed him were his hard, unyielding eyes, which were burning with rage and swirling with a hint of deception.

"Don't do it." Kate whispered in his ear. "Please, Tony. You promised. It's not worth it. It's not worth risking you." Her voice cracked at the thought of losing him and she felt him stiffen.

"It'll be ok, Kate. I promise. I won't let him hurt either one of us. Just trust me." Tony's lips brushed her ear. He'd hoped he could get away without anyone catching on but he should have known better. He'd never been able to completely hide anything from Kate, just like she hadn't been able to keep anything from him. They had some kind of amazing connection that Tony couldn't even begin to explain, but it was a real pain in the ass right now.

He kissed her on the cheek before forcing himself to pull away. He had a job to do, and this time it had nothing to do with the law. Kate reached for his hand as he turned away and he looked back at her over his shoulder. Tony could see the silent plea shining in her eyes and he was caught. He felt the guilt well up inside and he couldn't look away. He didn't want to hurt Kate and he started to wonder if it was worth the risk. Maybe he should at least try it Gibbs' way first.

He was still torn when Gibbs cleared his throat, breaking the spell. He tried to flash Kate one of his reassuring grins but he could only manage the barest flicker of a smile. He hoped it was enough. He dropped her hand and, with one final look over his shoulder, picked up his bag and walked out the door.

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"You have to stop him, Gibbs!" Kate cried as soon as Tony pulled the door closed behind him. "He's going to…"

"I know, Kate." Gibbs interrupted, practically snarling. "I told the other agents to stick close and to be prepared for him to try something. There's nothing else we can do." Gibbs looked down, hating the words that had just left his mouth. He was used to being in total control at all times, but he'd lost control the second he'd let Kate leave with Tony this morning even though he knew there was something else wrong. He'd made stupid assumptions and he couldn't remember a time in his life when he'd felt like a bigger ass.

Kate had needed him and he'd been too busy trying to decide if their relationship was big enough or screwed up enough that he'd have to transfer one of them, and wondering how he'd ever be able to make that choice. Now Kate was looking to him for help again, this time with Tony, and he couldn't come up with a single damn thing that could help.

"We have to be able to do something. We could follow him. He'd never be able to lose both of us and we'd be there to back him up if something happened. Maybe if I'm there Greg come after me instead." She was rambling and fighting back tears but she couldn't seem to stop herself. She was too worried about Tony, too busy picturing the worst to care about acting strong.

"Shh." Gibbs gave her a quick hug and tried to soothe her, but this wasn't exactly something they taught in basic training. Although, they probably should. He could see it now: "Comforting Women 101. Required Text: How to Comfort Women: The Idiot's (aka MEN's) Guide. Gibbs suddenly found himself trying to fight a smile. What a strange time for his unique sense of humor to strike.

He shook his head. Damn, DiNozzo, he thought, worrying about you're ugly mug is starting to make me crack. I must really need a vacation. He paused, unable to believe that thought had just entered his head. He must really be losing it. He shook his head again, dislodging the unwanted though and returning his attention to Kate who was staring at him strangely. He was relieved that she'd at least calmed down, not that he could take any credit for it, and was looking more like her old, controlled self again.

Kate wasn't sure exactly what had just happened. One minute she was freaking out about Tony pulling a Tony and getting himself hurt, or even killed. Gibbs was trying in his own way to calm her down but it wasn't working, not that she blamed him. Even though he acted like a father figure to the team, probably without even realizing it, she still couldn't picture him spending his free time comforting crying women.

It wasn't Gibbs fault that he couldn't help her. Only Tony could do that, but if Tony was here then she wouldn't have had a problem in the first place. She'd been ready to retreat to the bedroom, Tony's bedroom, since slipping between his sheets and letting his scent envelop her was as close as she could get to his warm, soothing arms around her. But when she'd looked up to tell Gibbs she'd realized he was lost inside his own mind. She'd had to watch this rare, unguarded moment, focusing most of her attention on the fleeting emotions that flashing across his face.

She wondered what he was thinking about, watching as one corner of his mouth twitched in the slightest smile before dropping into a scowl. Then he'd just looked bewildered, something she'd never though Jethro Gibbs could be. He'd finally snapped out of it but, even though he'd been caught and in true Gibbs fashion, he wasn't about to be forthcoming with information. "Well?" She questioned when he remained silent.

Gibbs shrugged, ready to tell Kate it was nothing but he stopped himself. He'd just figured out the one thing he had to offer her…a distraction. Even though he hated revealing anything, he started telling her about the Comforting Women class. She laughed a little and he knew that he had to keep this going and keep her mind off of Tony, at least as much as was possible.

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Ten minutes later, Gibbs was glad to see that his plan seemed to be working. He'd just told her the details of the infamous wife #2 wielding a 7 iron story and gotten her to smile again and even crack a joke. But now his brain had locked and he couldn't come up with another good story that didn't involve DiNozzo.

"Are you worried about Tony?" Kate asked in a small voice. "Is that part of what you were thinking about earlier/"

Gibbs swallowed and thought for a second before finally deciding to tell her the truth. "Yeah, I'm a worried but I know he can handle himself. I'm just worried because all you guys are like my family. I figure you guys are way less dangerous than a wives who want to use my head as a golf ball, or a baseball." He tried to lighten the mood and was rewarded with Kate's small smile. "The point is that I'm not worried because I think something bad might happen to Tony. I'm worried because I care about him and I feel responsible for him. I feel the same way about you and Abs, and even McGee and Ducky. And earlier I was cursing Tony out in my mind for making me crack, making me lose my edge. I even thought that I might need a vacation after all this is over."

"Thanks, Gibbs." Kate smiled. "You know we all feel the same way, like we're a family. I think that's part of why I was afraid to do anything that might cause problems, like telling you guys everything as soon as I got the first note. I didn't want to disappoint everyone or change the way you guys looked at me but, more importantly, I didn't want to be the one who broke the family up."

"There's nothing you could do to break up this family. We're way too tough for that." Gibbs winked and Kate knew he'd understood that she was talking about more than just her secret past. Hopefully that meant that Rule 12 had been torn out of the rulebook. But right now she had more important things to worry about, like Tony. She knew they'd be together after this no matter what the rules said, as long as they both survived.

She didn't have time to think about that now. Gibbs cell had just gone off. It was time to go. She said a quick prayer that Tony would be waiting for her without a single scratch on him as Gibbs picked up her bag and escorted her out to the waiting SUV. She said a quick hello to McGee as she slid down in the back seat, staying out of the line of sight, and the line of fire. Twenty minutes, she told herself. Just twenty minutes until she was safe in Tony's arms again.