The Morning After
By that belle

Ending up in Anthony DiNozzo's bed was not at the top of Caitlin Todd's 'to do' list… ..Tony & Kate..


"If it's not what I think, then what is it?" Tony demanded.

Kate shuddered. It suddenly seemed extremely cold in the room… then again; she was only wearing a towel. She could feel her eyes welling up with tears… she didn't want him to find out this way. And unless the results did not turn out in her favour, she never wanted him to know.

"I didn't want you to find out this way…" She said, wringing her hands together. "I tried to push it all out of my mind, but when I found out that I was pregnant, then I…"

"You what?" Kate flinched at the tone of his voice. She felt like she had been caught having an affair… but that's what Tony probably assumed the situation was anyway.

"Tony…" She said quietly. "Just over three months ago… I…"

She didn't get to finish her sentence, as the phone rang again. Tony picked it up, and snapped, "Kate's place."

"DiNozzo, put the speaker on." Gibbs said. Tony complied. "Kate, are you there?"

"… yes, I am." She said.

"I had a word with Abby."

"Oh, so you were in on this too, Gibbs?" Tony spat. "Oh, great."

"Kate, smack DiNozzo for me." She didn't move. Tony felt relieved, but it was nothing compared to the other emotions he was feeling. Jealousy, betrayal, anger… Gibbs continued, "DiNozzo, you don't know the half of what's happened to Kate over the past three months."

"Gibbs, please-" Kate pleaded. She was crying openly by this point. "Don't…"

"What is it? What's going on?" Tony demanded. "Kate, please, tell me…"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Tony… I can't tell you until I know… but please believe me; I have not done anything to betray your trust. I wouldn't…"

"I trust you two will figure it out. See you tomorrow." Gibbs cut the connection rather quickly, and the two looked at each other.

"Probably the Director." Tony said, and Kate nodded. She'd do the same if she were in Gibbs' situation. Tony walked up to Kate, and took her hands. "Kate…"

She looked into his eyes, and frowned. "Tony… please, don't push me on this. I would tell you, but… I just can't. Not yet." Kate turned and left the room, wiping her eyes. Tony just stood there, dumbfounded. At this stage, he didn't know what to think anymore. He remained where he stood, expressionless, until Kate returned 10 minutes later in a light blue dress. "Tony?" She put a hand on his shoulder, but he flinched. Her mouth opened slightly, but she didn't say anything. When it became obvious that he wasn't going to say anything, she bowed her head, and walked out of the room again. About a minute later Tony heard her bedroom door shut.


For the next three weeks Kate was sitting on pins and needles. As each day passed, she became more and more worried and upset; worried because she wasn't sure if she wanted to know about the paternity of the baby, and upset because Tony had not talked to her, looked at her, or made any effort when it came to her at all.

What made it worse was the fact that she was starting to put on weight. Not a lot of weight, but it really got to Kate on the morning before she was due to find out about the results of the amniocentesis. She went to her wardrobe one morning, to pick out her favourite light pink dress and matching coat but to her dismay, it didn't fit. She sat on the floor in her room, crying, until her phone rang.

"Agent Todd." She couldn't hide the fact that she had been crying, because she still had been crying when she had answered the phone.

"Kate, it's Abby!" Kate held the phone away from her ear, because the Goth seemed happy this morning. And happy loud in Abby's world. "Where on earth are you? Gibbs told me to call you. You're late for work!"

"… oh, that's right. Listen, Abby, can you apologise to Gibbs and the Director for me? I… had a bit of a breakdown this morning. It's really nothing major. I'll be in to work as soon as I can find something in my wardrobe that fits. Gotta go."

She turned off her phone, and put it to the side. She was resisting the urge to throw it at the wall. Deciding that today was going to be a bad day, Kate decided to wear a pair of baggy grey jogging pants, and a dark blue tank top. She pulled on a pair of sneakers, pulled her wide-rimmed sunglasses out of the drawer and brushed her hair. At 8:30, although she was one and a half hours late, Kate decided that she was finally ready to go.


Abby stepped out of the lift, and walked slowly over to Gibbs' desk. It had been clear to Abby that Kate had been very upset earlier in the morning, and she wondered how she was going to pass on Kate's message to Gibbs. She wondered if he had ever put up with pregnant, hormonal women.

"Uh, Gibbs…" Abby started. The grey-haired man looked up at her. "I… just got off the phone with Kate a while ago… and, um… she told me to apologise to you and the Director. She's having a bad day."

"I don't care." Gibbs replied curtly. "Kate has a job to do, and she should be here, doing it, when the day starts."

Abby knelt down, and whispered to Gibbs, "She sounded very upset on the phone, Gibbs! Show some compassion, she's three and a half months pregnant! She started to show, and she can't find anything in her wardrobe that fits."

Gibbs paused. Yes, he had forgotten that fact with pregnant women. He was about to reply, when Tony's voice filled the bullpen rather loudly. "Wow, Kate, I know it says… dress standard optional, but…"

Gibbs looked past Abby. Kate, who had been on her way upstairs, had stopped by Tony's desk. She was wearing clothes that one might wear to a gym, or out jogging.

Her retort surprised everyone. "Get stuffed, DiNozzo." Tony's mouth just fell open and Kate stomped away. She paused at the steps and yelled at him. "Got anything else you wanna say while I'm still here, Tony?"

Tony's face remained passive. "You… have a nice day, sweetheart."

Kate said nothing. She went up the stairs to the Director's office and was soon out of sight. Gibbs looked at Abby, his eyes widened.

"I'll talk to Kate this afternoon." Abby said. She walked over to McGee's desk, and pulled up a chair. "Tim, you know I love you, right?"


When Kate left the Director's office that afternoon, she was surprised to find Abby was waiting for her. Everyone else in the office had gone home for the afternoon.

"Why are you still here?" Kate asked, embarrassed by her performance that morning.

"I'm taking you shopping, Kate!" Abby replied, beaming.

"I don't want to go shopping." Kate said. What she really felt like doing was going home and curling up into a ball, but it didn't look like Abby was going to give up.

"Don't you dare blow me off!" Abby snapped. "I ditched my plans with Tim for a romantic evening out so I could cheer you up! Now, we're going to have a muffin and a cappuccino, and then we're going to buy you some comfortable clothes!"

Kate's eyes widened. She had rarely seen Abby this angry. "Alright, we'll go shopping."

Abby grinned. "Great! Let's go!"


Kate was satisfied with what Abby had helped her pick as far as maternity clothes went, and so the next morning when she went to her wardrobe she chose a light blue turtleneck sweater, a pair of black pants and a matching coat. Her stomach was barely noticeable, and that's how Kate liked it. She drove to work in a good mood, and when she got to her desk she found that Abby was waiting for her, smiling.

"Great news, Kate!" She said, as soon as Kate had stepped out of the elevator.

"What?"

"I received a package today." Abby said, holding up a small brown box. "And inside is your DNA. Cool, huh?" Kate's heart sank; she had completely forgotten. The two went back to the elevator, and down to the lab. "I'll run the DNA test, and from what Karen told me, two files should come up. Yours, obviously, and the father's."

Kate nodded. "How long will it take?"

"Depends." Abby moved around the lab quickly as she began to prepare the test. "From what you and Gibbs have told me, I'm going to need to run it through our database, and through AFIS."

"Could you run it through AFIS before our database?" Kate asked. She didn't know why she asked it, she just hoped that it was Tony's file, not Ari's, that showed up alongside hers.

"I can run them both at the same time." Abby typed something on the keyboard, and the test started. It took less than 10 minutes to test the DNA, and Kate had gone to get two cups of coffee while they waited. When she returned, Abby was sitting at the screen.

"Kate, the test's finished. I didn't open up the files, because it's not my business… … you know what to do."

Abby patted Kate on the shoulder, took one of the coffees and left the lab. Suddenly Kate felt very alone. She put the coffee down by the computer, and sat at the chair. Reaching for the mouse, she clicked on the left hand file. She wasn't surprised to find that it was her own file. She paused when the mouse hovered over the right hand file. Taking a deep breath, she clicked on the file, and it opened. The picture of the man looking back at her had brown hair, and dark eyes. She released the breath, and ran from the lab.