A/N: So this is the last chapter, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you all how much your lovely reviews have meant, I'm SO stoked people enjoyed this fic. Now, I do think this is a natural stopping point for the fic, but some have indicated a desire for more along the line so if you want this let me know and a sequel could happen but in any case, this fic has been a fun ride. Now, enjoy the show! -pj

A/N2: I know Tony has always seemed like he's no good at Math on the show, I think it's possible that this is just an act, that perhaps he's downplaying intelligence so as to remain firmly within his 'handsome jock' persona. -pj again

---

Three weeks later and no one had heard word one from the CIA. Kelly, or Tracy, had enrolled at the college without a hitch but could still often be found hanging around the office when she wasn't in class and no one seemed to mind her hovering presence. She shared Abby's taste in music and Ducky was thrilled to be telling stories to someone who hadn't heard them before. What was more, she seemed to enjoy speaking 'tech' with McGee and since she had almost as many secrets as Ziva the two had developed a tentitive, if not slightly weary, relationship which was built on exchanging contact information. And then there was Tony, who flirted shamelessly and was complainging of developing a bald spot on the back of his head, for which Gibbs showed no remorse.

"Ow! Hey," Tony looked indignant as Gibbs breezed past him toward the stairs for MTAC and thrust an accusing finger toward Kelly, "she started it, Boss."

Gibbs ignored him and Tony turned back, scowling as the girl, settled comfortably in Gibbs' chair. She grinned and winked at him.

"He hits you because he cares," she said in a mock-soothing voice.

Instantly, Tony's scowl was transformed into a suggestive smirk, "ah, something to look forward to."

He was cut off by a ballpoint pen thrown with deadly accuracy from her side of the unit.

"Watch it, DiNozzo."

In celebration of an incident free month, not counting two unrelated murders, Abby had called Gibbs and demanded he attend the 'Mandatory Movie Night' she'd organized. Incidentally, she meant for it to be held at his house.

"We need to christen that awesome new TV you bought for your neice, Gibbs."

So he'd conceded.

And that was how he'd ended up at his kitchen table one night, with Ziva on his right, Ducky on his left and Jen across from him while he whipped their asses at Poker. In the next room McGee and Abby were bickering and ignoring Palmer's input as they set up said TV and speakers, which were, apparently, nothing less than requisite.

But the pair that had really captured his attention were at the counter, talking and flirting over a bowl of popping popcorn, were Tony and Kelly. They spoke in hushed tones with their backs to him so he couldn't tell what they were saying, not that it fooled him a bit. He'd witnessed his senior agent with enough metro cops, detectives and waitresses to know his 'charm smile' when he saw it. And as far as Kelly was concerned, her laugh was a dead giveaway.

Shannon used to laugh with him like that.

"I'll see your twenty and raise you ten," Ziva's face revealed nothing as she pushed colored tokens to the middle of the table and raised an eyebrow at him.

He pushed another two coins into the pot and laid his cards out in front of him, "royal flush."

Ducky visibly deflated, Jenny laughed and rolled her eyes while Ziva frowned, tossing her cards aside.

"Are you sure you're not stacking the deck, Jethro?" Jen asked with a smile.

"Would I do that to you, Jen?"

"In a heartbeat."

Gibbs only smirked, refusing to confirm or deny her suspicion as he gathered the pot to his side of the table. Out of the corner of his eye as he saw movement.

Tony had turned away to reach into the cupboard for a large bowl and the salt, and Kelly had turned to put her back to the counter, observing. Gibbs saw her eyes grow bright, misty even, and his first urge was to jump to her aid. He was stilled however, by the sight of Tony beating him to it.

The man immediately moved into her space, tilting his head to look into her eyes and resting one hand on her arm, squeezing her shoulder. He spoke so low even Gibbs' sharp ears couldn't pick up what was said, but he didn't really need to. Kelly nodded in response and gave him a small smile, which Tony returned and, after hesitating a moment, went back to the stove to get the finished popcorn off the burner.

Kelly watched his back for a moment before her eyes caught Gibbs'. She wiped her face and then gave him a look that said 'I'm fine, stop worrying', and mouthed I'll be back. Gibbs nodded and she quickly and quietly made her way to the door on the other side of the kitchen.

---

Tony looked up from the freshly popped bowl of popcorn, evenly coated with salt and ready for eating. If there was anything Tony knew how to cook, it was movie-theatre worthy popcorn. He'd tuned out McGee and Abby some time ago and was hardly paying any attention at all to the poker game happening behind him.

Kelly was the one who'd had his attention all night, her quiet comments and quick wit had kept him on his toes since the moment he stepped through the door. He glanced to his left to ask her for the napkins and found she'd disappeared. He hadn't believed her a moment ago when she said she would be 'fine', but hadn't wanted to press it. Now she was gone and he was thinking perhaps he should have.

Tony caught Gibbs' eye and silently questioned him. For a moment he wasn't sure if Gibbs would answer him, then with a determined set to his jaw, he tipped his head toward the basement door. With a small nod of recognition Tony went to it, his movements going unoticed by the rest of the kitchen occupants.

Kelly walked slowly around the length of the boat, soaking her senses in the smell of sawdust of coffee, and came to a stop at the stern. She slowly began to trace the letters of her name with a delicate finger.

"Like father, like daughter, I guess."

She spun around and found Tony sitting on one of the middle steps. He had his elbows on his knees, soft brown eyes going right through her, "why the two of you spend such inordinate amounts of time in this dark basement, I'll never know."

Kelly smiled in response to his teasing and turned back to the boat.

"Wood is solid. Strong," she ran her hands along the unfinished wood, velvety in its softness after weeks of habitual sanding, "predictable."

"Like numbers," Tony said quietly.

She looked up at him sharply, something like surprise in her eyes and grinned, "yeah. Just like that."

Tony shrugged at her questioning look, "I like math."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Okay maybe 'like' is too strong a word. I understand it. Algebra anyway, never was a fan of Geometry."

Kelly nodded, accepting this and backing away from the boat. She stuck her hands in her pockets. On the bench there lay dozens of hand tools that were so incredibly archaic and completely familiar they almos made her laugh.

"Every time dad came home on leave we would work on the boat," she shook her head at the memories flooding her minds eye and smiled. "God, we'd spend hours and hours down here. 'Sand with the grain, Kelly', 'don't run with the chisel, Kelly'," she laughed, "'no we're not going to name the boat Barry Smiles, Kelly'," she shook her head, and her voice grew quiet, "I would stay down here until mom literally dragged me up to bed. All I wanted to be with him and the stupid boat."

Tony laughed softly, imagining a young Gibbs and even younger Kelly down in this basement, laughing at private jokes as they shaped and worked the wood until it was a water worthy vessel.

"Sorry I missed it."

Kelly's smile faltered, "me too," she whispered. She felt eyes on her skin and glanced over, seeing Tony's quiet gaze on her. She smiled purely for his benefit and went to join him on the step.

"Are you really okay? he asked, once she was squeezed in beside him, only to be interrupted by an inexplicable banging noise followed by shrieks of laughter from upstairs.

Kelly smiled and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I promise," she motioned toward the ceiling and smiled, "it's just a little overwhelming, that's all. I've never had a family before…at least, not that I really remember well."

Tony nodded and turned to look at her, finding the narrow staircase where they sat hardly allowed a hairsbreadth of space between them. He knew the feeling, had felt the same way the first time he woke up in the hospital to find Gibbs and the team hovering at his bedside.

"You do now," he said softly. His eyes fell between her lips and eyes in turn, his breath growing more shallow by the moment. Kelly leaned slightly forward, her blue eyes locked on his lips and Tony couldn't tell in the sudden rush of Adrenalin through his system was caused by excitement or panic.

"Shouldn't do this, you know," he practically whispered, the heat of his breath tickling her lips. He nearly groaned when her pink tongue darted out to lick them.

Kelly smiled as Tony unconsciously leaned closer. Slowly, giving her an out, one she didn't intend to take.

"You don't think so?"

He shook his head minutely, "if Gibbs walks in he's going to break my legs off."

She nodded slowly, her nose brushing his as she did so, "probably beat you with them too."

"Definitely," Tony closed his eyes, as she closed the distance between them. Kelly swallowed his words, his lips stroking hers so softly she could have been imagining it.

Tony had kissed his fair share of girls, not quite as many as he said he had, but enough to know the difference between someone who knew how to give a kiss, and someone who didn't. The girl whose lips were locked with his at the moment, certainly did. It was hesitant and shy while at the same time bold and forceful. A combination of that both confused and enthralled him. He pressed his lips harder against hers, begging for more.

Kelly, too, had kissed and been kissed before. Often enough to be embarrassed that kissing Tony was literally taking her breath away. Often enough to know he was holding back, trying to keep himself from going too far. She reached up to cup his face before threading her arms around behind his neck, afraid he might pull away and the moment would end.

Neither heard their names being called from the other side of the door over the sound of their blood racing through their veins and pounding in their ears.

---

"There. Finished," Abby turned to look over her shoulder, "Palmer?"

Jimmy pressed the pre-arranged sequence of buttons and immediately the TV and sound equipment hummed to life.

"Ha!" Abby jumped up with her hands, drowning in striped wrist warmers, on her hips, "I told you the yellow one went on the left, McGee," she couldn't help but rub her victory in his face.

McGee rolled his eyes, pushing the leftover Styrofoam and cables into a box and putting it at the door.

"Is it my fault whoever put these directions together had no concept of electromagnetic currents?"

Abby sighed long-sufferingly, "just grab a chair, Tim. Hey, guys, TVs ready. Let movie night begin," she announced loudly, clapping her hands as she made her way into he kitchen.

"You guys ready?"

The four playing cards nodded and began gathering the cards together.

"Saved by the bell." Jenny muttered, stacking the poker chips back in their tray.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Gibbs countered, giving her a sidelong glare.

Jenny shrugged, thought the look on her face stated plainly that she did know, "you were going to fold, that's all."

"Fold?" Gibbs raised his eyebrows at her.

"Yes, fold."

Abby, ignored them both and turned to Ziva and Ducky,

"Where's TnT?" She grinned at the nickname she'd so cleverly made up for Tony and 'Tracy' a few days before.

Ziva motioned silently toward the door at the back of the room.

"Try the basement."

Abby quickly crossed the room, bursting through the basement door, already announcing the reason behind her interruption.

"Hey you two we're about to start-"

The pair that sat on the middle step of the narrow stair case flew apart as if shocked and Tony leapt to his feet, nearly toppling over the railing in the process.

"Abby. Abbs, hey…we were um..we weren't, you know…just, uh…it's not," Tony stuttered, motioning between himself and Kelly, whose face was beet red and entirely too guilty looking.

"Save it, Romeo," Abby grinned knowingly, "c'mon up here, the movie's ready." She disappeared back through the doorway and Tony winced, afraid his boss had heard the 'Romeo' comment.

"I'm so fired," he muttered and started up the stairs. He was stopped by a tug on his arm and looked back, somewhat startled to have lips eagerly and playfully crash into his. Then, just as suddenly, she was gone, scampering up the steps and out of sight.

Tony grinned, and stood there in a daze for several moments until Kelly poked her head back through the doorway.

"DiNozzo, you comin?"

He replied out of pure habit.

"On your six, Boss."

---

When Tony and Kelly entered the living room it was already nearly filled to capacity. With Jen, presumably Gibbs, though he was conveniently absent and Ziva on the couch, Jimmy and Ducky on the Settee and McGee on the floor in front of them next to Abby, the only place left was at Gibbs and Jen's feet between the couch and the television.

Kelly moved to sit on the floor in front of the couch while Abby decided which of the movies to watch first.

Tony, however, was more concerned with sitting arrangements than viewing options. He narrowed his eyes at the living room set up. As far as he could tell, there was no way he could sit next to Kelly and still be out of reach of Gibbs.

"Something wrong, DiNozzo?" a low voice rumbled from directly behind him.

He nearly jumped out of his skin and he whirled around to face arguably the sneakiest SOB on the planet.

"Hey boss," he said, clearing his throat unnecessarily, "me? Um, no. Not, uh, nothing's wrong."

Gibbs tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, suppressing a smirk that threatened at the other man's obvious discomfort.

His eyes slid over to Kelly, who'd commandeered the popcorn bowl and was laughing at something Jimmy said to Ziva.

"Admiring the boat, were you Tony?"

Tony swallowed and frowned, "the boat, boss?"

Gibbs continued to stare and Tony realized he had probably been in the basement much longer than was actually required of the 'search and retrieve' mission he'd originally set out on.

"Oh, um, yeah. The boat its…" he relaxed his shoulders slightly and his eyes softened, details that did not go unnoticed by Gibbs, as he recalled the feel of Kelly's mouth on his, "she's a fine vessel, Boss. If I had a boat like her, I'd take good care of her."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes and Tony fought not to squirm under the stare.

"That so, Tony?" He asked, his voice so soft it could hardly be heard over the other's voices.

Tony took a deep breath and nodded, "Yes, sir." He responded formally, feeling that, in this particular instance, Gibbs would accept it.

Tony winced when he saw Gibbs right hand move in the corner of his eyes, preparing himself for the smack to come. He was suitably surprised then when, instead of pain, he felt Gibbs stroke the back of his head twice gently.

He cracked open one eye and then the other only to find Gibbs brushing past him a muttered, "I'm going to hold you to that, DiNozzo," in his ear.

Tony smiled. It was a blessing if he'd ever heard it.

As expected, Gibbs sat on the couch beside Jen and Kelly grinned up at him, motioning to a spot on the floor beside where she sat at her father's feet.

"Missing me already?" he asked cheekily, folding up on the floor beside her.

Kelly rolled her eyes, "not hardly. Abby won't start the movie until-"

"Now that we're all here," she was interrupted when the woman in question leapt to her feet at the front of the room and held up two DVD cases, "we can start. Here I have a couple of classics. First a little flick called 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' courtesy of our own, Mr. DiNozzo," she motioned to Tony who bowed slightly, earning him a few projectile popcorn kernels from Ziva's side of the couch, "and a personal favorite of mine, The Princess Bride which, somehow, Gibbs has never seen. How is that Gibbs?"

"Do I look like the kind of guy that sits around by himself watching movies called 'the Princess Bride', Abbs," Gibbs asked giving her an impatient look.

Abby nodded, "good point. Which is why, you're going to watch it with us." She held up the second case triumphantly and inserted the disk before scampering back to her place laid out on the carpet beside McGee.

"Okay, Carey Elwis and Mandy Patinkin star in this classic 'love conquers all' fairy tale," DiNozzo began, taking it upon himself to educate the group as to the movie's illustrious history, "it was directed by Rob Reiner of 'A Few Good Men' fame and-"

"Shut up, Tony!" A chorus rang of voices rang out around the room at the same time that he felt a familiar sting to the back of his head.

Suitably chastised, Tony suppressed himself, and the opening credits began to roll in peace. Out of the corner of her eye Kelly could see Tony pouting, clearly not understanding why everyone else wasn't as interested in the film's history as he was.

Careful, so as not to attract attention from above, she scooted her hand over until it captured his, giving it a gentle squeeze.

And unlike the last time in the car, when he'd ignored the gesture, Tony turned his hand over and reciprocated the touch.

The movie began quietly, with all in attendance of Abby's Mandatory Movie night paying rapt attention, so none of them noticed the matching secret smiles on Tony and Kelly's faces.

No one, that is, but Gibbs.

And, this time, he decided that was okay.

END