Hi, guys! Thank you so much for the reviews, the favs and alerts! You are absolutely amazing! As you might have noticed from the title, Kate comes back in this chapter! I just couldn't wait any longer! She HAD to come back! Keep reviewing and, what's most important, enjoy the story!

DISCLAIMER; I, sadly, don't own any of the NCIS characters mentioned in this fic.

REUNITED

Tony's apartment; 2nd of February; 11 thirty in the afternoon;

Tony was once again starring at the rain outside his window. Since the incident with the red ribbon, he had entered a zombie like state working more as a robot than ever. The results in his work during the past week were more than stunning; he had even finished his paperwork before McGee. His ability to socialize however had gone out of the window. All he could thing about was Kate.

'Could she be alive?' he thought. 'But I was there when she died. For the love of God her blood was all over my face!' thinking about that he kicked the coffee table with all of his strength, effectively turning it upside down. He then sighed and proceeded putting it in its right place; in frond of the couch, legs down. He had tried not to trash his house completely and he had done pretty well.

'Thankfully, humans have invented boxing' he thought, sighing and throwing himself on his couch. He replayed the last week in his mind once again.

Once they had found the sniper, and the ribbon off course, it had taken Tony about five minutes to compose himself. On the outside at least, because on the inside he was still an emotional mess. He had tried to make some sense out of the situation. At first he had asked Abby whether the sniper himself had tied the ribbon on the rifle.

'I should have expected it was a long shot' he thought as he remembered what Abby had told him;

"I have already run the ribbon for prints, Tony. And I am afraid there are no prints whatsoever on it. That leads me to believe that it was placed on the rifle by whoever left the sniper unconscious. It seems to be just a simple red ribbon made of silk. What do you think the ribbon means anyway?" She had asked. Off course Tony didn't answer. What could he possibly tell her?

'Oh, nothing. Don't worry Abbs. I am just suspecting that Kate is sending me messages from the grave… Nothing to worry about!' he thought bitterly. 'Yeah, that would have gone really well!'

'Not to mention that the sniper had never laid eyes on his attacker.' He added angrily. 'Gibbs interrogated him for seven hours. Nobody lies to Gibbs that long. Plus he let me have a go with him…' he thought as he remembered the interrogation process. 'I was really pissed at that moment' he admitted to himself. 'By the end of the interrogation I even felt sorry for the guy. Even Gibbs was surprised by the outcome. He had never seen a psychopath felon braking to tears in the interrogation room I guess… Maybe I was a bit too harsh on him.' Tony thought. 'He did however confess all of the attacks of the 'New Army' and even mentioned their associates. At least something good came from this parody…'

And only to make things worse, Tony had found another red ribbon tied on his doorknob that night once he returned from the office. He was holding it in his hands right now. And it was killing him. At the spur of the moment he brought the ribbon closer to his face…

'Impossible' he thought, staring at the ribbon intensively like it was about to talk and give him all the answers he needed. As soon as he had brought it closer to his face and took in a breath, he inhaled Kate's scent, emanating from the ribbon. He took another breath of the heavenly scent coming from the ribbon. 'Definitely Kate's scent' he thought. He would recognize her scent anywhere; it was a mix of her perfume, her shampoo -that held an almost painful resemblance to the scent of fresh picked roses- and something he could only describe as well… Kate.

He held the ribbon near his heart, closing his eyes and letting his mind wonder. He remembered her smile, their stupid little arguments and the amazing sensation of freedom he had when he was with her. He always felt he could be himself near her and that is probably the reason why he was so joyful around her.

He no longer cared where the ribbon had come from. He felt closer to Kate than he had felt for the past six months and that was enough for him.

He was however brought back to reality from the ringing of his doorbell. He tried to ignore it and return to his perfect little dream, where Kate was still alive, but he just couldn't. He actually let out something that sounded like a growl and, taking the ribbon with him, headed for the door, feeling murderous and wondering who could possible knock his door at midnight.

Outside Tony's apartment; 11 fifty in the afternoon;

Kate had been waiting for Tony to come back from work so that she could finally talk to him. Once she found out that he had recognized the first ribbon she couldn't resist to leave yet another one. So, after he left for work that morning, she had entered the apartment building and tied the ribbon around the doorknob. 'It isn't here now' she noticed 'so he must have found it.' She knew he had come back home since she had heard a noise like something had crashed on the floor a few minutes ago.

Everything was finally settled. She had the clearance to return to NCIS as an active agent first thing tomorrow. She would inform director Shepard and show her all the necessary documents provided to her by the CIA, proving what she had been doing for the past five months and she would be able to return to active duty the same day. But she wanted to talk to Tony first. She had to.

'I just can't go back unless I find out what he feels about me. I mean I know I love him. I loved him since I first laid eyes on him, even if he was too absorbed with all the other females in the planet to notice me.' She thought. 'I hoped he would have gotten the hint when I stayed with him during the pneumonic plague incident, risking my own life just to be near him, just because I couldn't leave me alone.' She shuddered while remembering the thoughts that had passed through her mind back then. She had thought that he would die before she could tell him what she felt about him.

'I never thought I would 'die' before telling him though.' She took another sigh and looked at the door once again. She had been thinking about that moment for the past four months since she had awakened from her shot inflicted coma. 'So why is it so difficult to ring the doorbell?' She let out a sigh. She knew exactly what her problem was.

'I am afraid that he doesn't love me.' She admitted to herself. She dreaded the possibility that he wouldn't want her back into his life. She couldn't even think what she would do if that was the true. 'No!' She ordered herself. 'You are here after all this time. You are not going back. Ring the doorbell.' She ordered herself.

She put her finger near the button ready to push it. She took in a deep breath and thought of Tony. She imagined his face and his contagious laughter. And that was all it took for her to find her courage. She would talk to Tony again. And that was a reason good enough for her to do anything in the world, let alone ring a stupid little doorbell.

She took another deep breath and rung the doorbell. In the beginning nothing happened and she wondered if he had fallen asleep. She then heard something that resembled a growl coming from inside the apartment and afterwards footsteps coming closer and closer to the door.

'This is it.' She thought and looked straight at the door, the only thing between her and the love of her life.

Tony's apartment; midnight;

Tony reached for the doorknob and opened the door. He was ready for a severe argument with whoever had stopped his amazing daydreaming only a few seconds ago.

'I might as well as kill whoever rung the doorbell.' He thought. 'This was the happiest moment of my day, if not of the last month…' But as he saw who was standing outside his door, all the thoughts of revenge disappeared from his mind. He forgot where he was, he forgot why he was there and -if he wanted to be true to himself- he even forgot how to breathe for a second or two.

"Hi Tony" Kate said with a small smile on her lips, but with eyes that betrayed her anxiety.

'Am I dreaming again?' Tony thought. 'No, don't be stupid!' He answered his own question. 'You remember hearing the doorbell and walking towards the door. Your right leg is still a little soar from when you kicked the coffee table.' He took another look at Kate. He had to admit she looked better than ever. Her hair was longer, almost reaching the middle of her waist. They were still the same dark brown color he loved so much. Her eyes were still the amazing dark depths that mesmerized him every time. And she was smiling one of her perfect smiles again. She wore tight black jeans and a soft woolen pullover with a black belt on it. It looked amazing on her, especially with the contrast of the white pullover and her dark hair that were cascading at her back.

'No, this isn't a dream.' Tony thought. 'That must mean that I have gone crazy… well it was about time…'

Kate, who was at the moment oblivious of his inner fight with his madness, parted her lips to talk, only to be stopped by Tony. He seemed to have awakened from his trance, as he had moved faster than she had ever seen him move in the past. He closed the distance between them in a fraction of a second, wrapped his arms protectively around Kate's waist and kissed her as his life -or his sanity- depended on it.

'Since I've gone crazy' Tony thought 'and since this hallucination looks so real, I might as well enjoy it before they lock me up.'

'So much for not wanting me back in his life.' Kate thought, almost bursting with happiness, as she started kissing him back.

'Damn!' Tony thought. 'This hallucination not only looks, but feels real too.' And then it hit him; This had to be real. In all of his dreams (and he should know, he had more than one every day) he could see Kate, listen to her voice and sometimes even talk to her.

'But this is just so real!' He thought while tracing her back with his hands. 'I shouldn't be able to hold her like this. I shouldn't be able to feel her touch. And damn! I shouldn't be able to kiss her like that!'

He held her tighter and asked permission to deepen their kiss, biting her bottom lip as softly as he could manage. Kate was more than eager to comply, so she allowed him entrance.

'She even tastes amazing.' Tony thought. 'O.k. I admit it! I've lost it! This is far too good to be true! Wait a second…' his thoughts had led him to a rather weird conclusion. 'What if she is not alive? What if I am dead? What if the sniper actually hit me, I fell into a coma and now I'm dead?' But this bizarre train of thoughts was abruptly brought to an end, as Kate let out a moan she had been holding in for far too long.

'The hell with it!' Tony thought, shaking his shoulders in a sign of defeat. 'If I am dead, then this is heaven and I shouldn't complain about it…'

Kate however, felt the movement of his shoulders and realized for the first time how confused Tony should feel at the moment. So she let out another moan and broke their kiss, trying to ignore the physical pain this simple action had caused her.

"Tony" she whispered, placing two of her fingers softly on his lips to prevent him from kissing her again. 'I have to stay focused to explain what happened during the past months to him and kissing isn't the best way to focus. If he kisses me again,' she thought 'talking will be the only thing we won't be doing tonight…'

She let out a sigh, smiling a bit seeing his confused and pained expression as she prevented him from kissing her again.

"Tony" she said again, this time her voice something more than a whisper. "As much as I want to do this, I have to explain what happened. Please listen to me…"