What If? Chapter Twelve:

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A/N: so the next chapter will be the last for this story, and that may not be up for a while as Chris who is Reaper85 and my B/F was in a car accident and is laying in hospital now, so I want to be with him until he's out, which knowing him will be sooner than Doctors like, but as soon as he's out and fit we'll post the last chapter...errr good news is that the happy ending wins, so expect TATE fluff and happiness.

Big Thank you to all that have read our story, I know some of our spelling may be crap but thanks for sticking with us, I hope you have enjoyed the story, even if the spelling was awful and...Shit.

Thanks again, please do leave comments about your thoughts on the chapter or the story in general as we do love reading them.

Thank You all.

Don't own anything.

As Tony pulled into the NCIS parking lot, the heavy, dark grey snow clouds above broke, spilling pure white snowflakes down onto the capital below, the sun had set, the temperature dropped and festive seasonal lights sparkled form every window, he pulled into an empty space near to the building's entrance, he slipped out and once again wished he had better protection from the bitter snow enhanced cold.

He'd driven all day, and most of the night, his cell had dyed half way through the drive which meant he was out of touch with Gibbs, he only stopped for gas, and even then he waited until he was driving on nothing but fumes before pulling up at a service station, he was completely drained both physically and emotionally, yet his mind and priority was still on getting to Kate.

He had used a payphone at the last service station to phone his former boss and father figure to ask him to keep Kate at the office until he turned up, Gibbs had of course said yes, but when he was about to tell him something important about the contact that had ruined Tonys life before and was now threatening Kate's, when Tony ran out of money and the call ended abruptly, other than for Gas, Tony hadn't stopped, he was tired, hungry, thirsty and desperate for the toilet, he shuffled as fast as his very fully and what felt like a peanut sized bladder would allow, towards the entrance of the office, he pulled the door open, hissing at how cold the handle was against his bare hand, he slid inside and felt the hot air wash over him, if it wasn't for the overwhelming need to use the head, he'd of stood there a moment longer to enjoy the warmth.

He shuffled forwards and saw Dave, the night guard, While Tony was an agent, he often returned to the office late at night to fill out all his paper work and to check McGee's and Kate's before putting them on Gibbs desk, he had also gotton to know both Night Guards very well.

He shuffled forwards to the distracted Guard and knocked on the counter making the elderly man look up, his face instantly paled and once again Tony was faced with the perfect impression of a fish, he rolled his eyes and gave a defeated sigh.

"Dave is Kate here?" he asked softly, but urgently.

The man behind the counter only managed to make a deep groan as his mouth flopped open and shut wordlessly.

"Just nod or shake your head ok," Tony sighed, but was rewarded with a soft nod of the old guards head "Awesome, now, is Kate still here?" he asked again more calmly, again the older man gave a soft nod, his eyes the widest Tony had ever seen, "Can I go up and see her, the whole team are expecting me" the former agent requested softly.

Dave was a veteran Guard, he knew exactly what visitors to the building had to do and go through in order to get a visitors pass, but tonight, at the sight of his dead friend, now stood in front of him, his mind went blank and he simply nodded again.

Tony smiled and shuffled forwards, through the gates, he thought about taking the stairs but opted for the life, due to the full bladder, he pressed the button to call the elevator and only had to wait for a second or two before the doors slid open with their standard "Bing!", he shuffled inside and pressed the button for his floor, the doors slid shut with their charming chime and the elevator started to hum as it ascended the shaft to its requested destination, fond memories of this elevator flooded back into Tonys mind as he stood and waited for the sliver cube to reach its floor, the good memories were closely followed by the bad, most being the head slaps he'd gotton in there.

In exactly twenty five seconds he had reached his floor, the doors slid open and gave their soft "Bing" signalling the end of the journey and allowing Tony to shuffle out, he looked across the silent and dimly lit squad room at the small boxed off area, he could see McGee and the woman that replaced him hard at work, he could also see the top of Gibbs head, he looked up at the balcony and saw Kate talking to a red head, his heart and body gave a massive relieved sigh, with the knowledge of Kate not only being alive, but safe too, with that knowledge he turned and shuffled towards the men's room.

Upon his return he allowed himself a few seconds to look around his old workplace, very little had changed, and for that he was grateful, the walls were still the warm shade of orange, the desks were all still stood in the same positions and the smell of pine disinfectant and lavender air freshener still remained, the only differences that he could see were a few more faces were crossed off the NCIS most wanted wall and there were Christmas decorations up, but then that wasn't really that different, he's had a number of Christmas's here with NCIS, he walked slowly back to his old work space a small proud smile on his face as he went, just as he approached the small divide closest to Kate's desk he saw her, she had just come down the stairs and was now walking towards him, her phone in hand as she checked again, he stopped right in her way and smiled, as she snorted in annoyance and snapped her head up to glare at him, her glare instantly dropping as she recognised her friend, her lover, her man.

"Tony" she gasped as she threw herself into his arms, her arms wrapping around his neck as his snaked their way around her body, holding her closer to him as she held him like he was her only life line left.

He pulled back and cupped her face in his soft palms, looking her deep in the eyes, searching, something was wrong, he saw how grateful she was that he was there, he saw her happiness but there was something else, something bad, something that had hurt her somehow, he'd seen this look before, when she was forced to kill a innocent man, as Gibbs had said then, it was "suicide by cop", but that hadn't made her feel any better, all he wanted to do that day was hold her, let her cry into him, tell her it would be alright, that it wasn't her fault, but he wasn't sure if she felt the same about him back then, but now he could.

"What is it?" he asked softly looking deep into her soul through the windows that were her beautiful hazel eyes "What's happened?" he asked, his voice full of concern for her.

"We found out who the contact is" She whispered, her voice shaky.

Kate dropped his loving concerned gaze and stared down at her hands that rest gently against his chest, she felt ashamed, hurt and weak, she just wanted to lock herself away with Tony and cry, the knowledge that Tony wouldn't hesitate to wrap her in his strong arms and hold her until she was ready to face the world again made her feel worse, but also a little better.

"Katie?" Tony whispered dipping his head to try and make eye contact again.

Kate closed her eyes as a single tear ran down, Tony caught it straight away, brushing it away softly with his thumb before it had even reached her cheek.

Why was he being so loving, so caring, so perfect to her, she feared that as soon as he was informed who it was he'd run, leave her far behind, throw her heart to the floor and stamp on it until there was nothing but dust left.

"Kate, Sweetie" Tony breathed softly, the amount of worry and concern or the woman he loved evident in his tone as he pulled her into him again, he wrapped both his arms protectively around her as he gently hushed her as she began to cry.

The small circle patterns he was gently drawing lightly on her back calmed her and in a matter of minutes the tears were subsiding, slowly he turned them, walking both of them back to her desk, the rest of the team watched in silence, Gibbs watched with a proud smile as the man he had come to love as a son showed just how mature, selfless, and loving he could be, McGee watched in shock at how Tony DiNozzo could love someone, other than himself, so much and Ziva...well, Ziva just watched, intrigued if nothing else.

He gently sat Kate down in her chair and lowered himself before her, his hands placed softly in hers as he tried again to catch her eye, he leaned forwards and gently placed a soft kiss on her forehead before returning to his position in front of her.

"Kate, what's wrong? You can tell me, you can tell me anything you know that" he whispered softly as he gave her hands a gently loving squeeze.

Finally Kate allowed her watery eyes to make contact with his, she felt her heart splinter at the look of hurt and worry in the eyes of the man she loved, she took a long shaky breath and squeezed his hands nervously.

"Promise me that you'll never leave me" she whispered nervously, her voice shaky.

Tony smiled lovingly at her, she knew he'd never leave her, why would she ask something that she knew the answer to, it didn't matter either way, he took a small breath and with a true loving smile replied.

"I promise that I, Will never leave you Kate" he whispered.

Kate smiled slightly and gave a soft nod, before standing up, pulling Tony with her; she walked round her desk with Tony in tow and stopped in front of the plasma.

"McGee managed to trace all outgoing calls from the prison for the last two years," she started softly, a bit more confidently and defiantly more like Agent Todd as opposed to Katie Todd the woman she was when it was just her and Tony "He noticed a constant reoccurring number" she stated with a nod at McGee, who hit a few keys and made the number appear on the screen before them "Recognise it?" Kate asked turning to face Tony as Gibbs walked up behind him.

Tony looked at the number, it was defiantly familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on where from, he squinted at it, hoping that the blurred vision of the digits would jog his memory but nothing came, just the senses that he should know it, that he did know it, he just didn't know how.

"Wanna a hint DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked in his normal gruff tone from behind him, making Tony jump slightly.

"Yeah, please Boss" Tony answered nervously as he turned and looked at the smirking older man.

"You're dating her sister" he stated as he walked past them and scooped up the remote for the massive screen.

His eyes shot wide open, his mouth dropped and his brain stopped, for a second he forgot how to function, his lungs stopped his hands froze and his knees went week, he was pretty sure his heart had stopped beating for a second too, Kate's sister, she was the contact, it all made sense now, she had known of Tony for four years, she had heard about him form Kate when she would called her, then she had met him again as Chip, but why? Why would she be in "bed" with the two psychopathic murderous bastards that were his elders? What did they have on her, or what did she owe them? He staggered backwards a couple of feet and felt Kate let go of his hand, finally his eyelids blinked, snapping him from his thoughts, his eyes moved over to Kate and saw the look of fear in her eyes, slowly he closed his mouth and swallowed, he took a step towards her and took her hands in his again.

"So what do we do?" he asked softly, looking at her, but directing his rather stupid question at Gibbs.

"Bring her in" both Kate and Gibbs replied together.

Tony gave a soft nod.

"Are you going to be ok with this?" he asked the beautiful woman before him.

Kate looked up into his eyes, where she saw love and concern for her, her earlier thoughts that they would be over when he found out it was her family that had betrayed him, them, were suddenly proven wrong, god she felt stupid for doubting his love for her, she smiled and shrugged at his question.

"She was going to kidnap me, and kill you," she stated softly "that bitch isn't my sister, she's just another piece of trash that needs to be punished" Kate concluded sounding less confident than she would of liked.

Tony smiled and let go of her hands, he walked over to the tall black filing cabinet that was beside Ziva's desk...his old desk, he pulled open the bottom draw and stuck his hand inside, pulling out his old Baltimore PD Kevlar vest.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Gibbs asked with an eyebrow raised as he watched his ex senior field agent slid the vest over his head and tighten it around his body.

"Going with you" Tony stated sliding the draw shut again.

Kate shared an amused look with McGee before they both turned to watch Gibbs walk back across to his desk.

"Get your gear!" he called to his four three agents as he pulled on his own vest.

Tony watched as his former boss open his top draw and pulled out an Id, badge and holstered weapon, he crossed the room and showed all three into Tony's chest.

"Good news and Bad new DiNozzo" he stated before turning and walking towards the elevators.

"What's the good news?" Tony called knowingly with a smile.

"You got your job back" Kate smiled as she slid her holstered Sig onto her belt and walked back to join him.

"The bad?" Tony smiled as they started after the oldest member of the team.

"You belong to Him, again" McGee answered with a smile as he and Ziva hurried past them and into the waiting silver box.

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They took two cars to Lucy Todd's house; Tony rode with Kate and Gibbs, while McGee was left to hang on for dear life with Ziva.

Tony noticed Kate's happy mood start to slip, her smile had faded and a shameful hurt frown started to appear, he reached a hand back and gently rested it on her knee making Kate turn to him, she moved her hand under his and entwined their fingers with a soft, forced reassuring smile.

"You don't have to do this you know, you can just wait in the car and cover our six" he stated softly, missing the glare from Gibbs as he said it.

"I want to," Kate nodded softly "I have to know why she did it" she added with a distant look in her eyes.

Tony frowned slightly, he felt useless, he hated to see Kate so torn up but something that was clearly out of her control and felt useless to do anything about it, if there was a way he could of taken all her pain for her he would of, in an instant, but they were both only human, the only thing he could do was be there for her, especially now.

They pulled up in front of the small attached two bedroom house and slid out into the cold night air, Tony watched as Gibbs gave McGee and Ziva a wave, signalling them to move around back, the two agents, one looking more pale than the other because of the trip there, gave a nod and made their way through the small dark alley beside the property.

The remaining three agents moved up to the front door, Gibbs and Kate took up positions on either side of the dark brown wooden entrance, guns drawn while Tony stood before it, he lifted his hand and gently knocked against the cold wood.

They waited for a few seconds before they heard the shuffle of slippers on the wooden floor beyond, they heard the chain lock being disengaged and then someone call through the wooden obstacle.

"Who is it?" Came the familiar male voice.

"Ben, its Chip...Can I come in?" Tony called back softly, his voice shaking from the cold.

"Chip, It's like...half two in the morning" Ben moaned unlocking the catch and pulling open the door.

Tony quickly pulled his friend out and pressed him against the wall as Kate and Gibbs slid inside, he covered his mouth with his right hand and lifted his left index finger to his lips, Chip gave a shocked and confused nod.

"Is Lucy in there?" Tony whispered nodding towards the open door.

"Yeah, she's in bed why?" Ben asked completely lost.

"I'll explain later, just stay here and don't go inside until we come out" Tony stated softly and quickly.

Three shots were fired from inside, followed by a lot of shouting, Tony pulled his gun free and rushed into the house, his heart pounding, his mind begging that it wasn't Kate that had been shot, he cleared each room quickly on the ground floor and spotted McGee on the stairs, his gun pointing down the hall, he rushed up towards him, stopping on the opposite side of him.

"McGee, where's Kate?" he asked quickly.

"She's with Ziva, down there" McGee nodded towards the other end of the hall.

Tony gave a quick firm nod and turned, he rushed down the hall and into the small bathroom where Ziva was stood, her weapon raised pointing at the only closed door on the landing, he turned and looked back the way he'd come, noticing three bullet holes in the door at the far end of the hall he gave a relieved sigh.

"Where's Ben?" Kate asked from the bathtub on Tony's right, making him jump slightly, he clearly hadn't seen her.

"Outside waiting for us to come out" Tony replied in a whisper "Where's Gibbs?" he asked searching the dark hall for any sign of his Boss.

His answer came in the form of a quick flash from a flashlight in the doorway of the second bedroom, just to the left of the closed door; Tony gave a nod as he saw Gibbs point to the right side of the closed door.

Tony moved silently but quickly back up the small dark hall, stopping on the right of the bullet wounded door, he looked at Gibbs and started to slowly count to three, Gibbs gave a nod with each number that Tony mouthed, on three, Tony stepped back lifted his leg and kicked the door open, Gibbs swept past him and into the room, dropping onto his right knee and raising his SIG as he cleared the room, Tony wasn't far behind him moving to Gibbs's left, weapon raised as he searched his side of the room.

"Boss," He breathed as he slid his gun back into his holster.

Gibbs got up and stepped to Tony's side, his eyes following his newly reinstated senior field agents eye line.

"Outside, make sure Kate doesn't see this" he whispered as McGee and Ziva entered the room.

Tony gave a grateful nod and moved back out of the room, leaving his colleagues to start processing, the bloody and lifeless body of Lucy Maria Todd.

Kate rushed down the hall, her weapon drawn, she was just about to enter the room when Tony's right arm stopped her, she turned and looked up at him, her eyes silently asking the questions she didn't really want the answers too, Tony simply shook his head with an apologetic look.

"No," Kate breathed shocked.

"Kate don't" Tony whispered softly as the woman he loved started fighting against his hold to try and enter the room.

"No, she wouldn't" Kate stated angrily as she fought against him "She's a Christian like me, she wouldn't!" she stated as tears started to fill her eyes.

"I'm Sorry Kate" Tony whispered as she gave up fighting and buried her head deep into his chest.

"No," Kate cried as Tonys arms wrapped around her, holding her protectively, lovingly as she wept.

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Tony was sat back at his old desk come day break, Ziva had willingly give it up and moved to one of the smaller cubical just behind McGee, Ducky had been called to the scene and had finished the autopsy, Tony was filling out the last of his paper work as Gibbs explained what had happened and why to Ben, McGee sat numbly at his desk, Abby stood behinds him, gently hugging him reassuringly, while Ziva typed away at her computer.

Tony printed out the last sheet of paper and slid it into the Dark Blue NCIS folder before walking it over to Gibb's desk where he placed it on top of the growing pile.

He turned and let his eyes fall on Kate's empty desk; he let out a regretful sigh and ran a very tired hand through his hair.

"Go Home," Gibbs ordered softly as he walked back round the corner into the bullpen.

McGee, Ziva and Abby started to slowly pack up there things and get ready to leave, Tony turned and slowly started towards the stairway.

"DiNozzo" Gibbs called just before he reached the door.

Tony turned and lifted both eyebrows at his boss.

"I don't need to see you or Kate tomorrow" he stated softly his eyes scanning the younger man for a reaction.

Tony simply nodded, turned and opened the door to the stairway, he descended the stairs slowly and opened the door at Autopsy, silently he walked through the automatic doors and over to the centre table, where Kate was stood looking down on the lifeless body of her sister, her left arm wrapped around her waist as he right hand held her sisters, he could see silent tears trickle down her cheeks as she stood silently.

"Hey," he whispered softly as he snaked an arm around her waist and gently placed a soft kiss into her temple.

"Why did she do it?" Kate whispered leaning back into Tony's warm protective embrace.

"She knew we were coming, knew she'd have to go to jail and would shame your family" Tony whispered softly as he moved his other arm around her.

"But why help them?" Kate asked turning to face her lover, her friend, her partner and man.

"I don't know sweetie" Tony breathed looking her in her big beautiful watery eyes, he slid his hands up to cradle her face, his thumbs gently wiping away the falling tears "But I'll find out...we'll find out" he whispered softly "together."

Kate gave a soft nod and buried her face in his chest, his arms wrapping around her again as she wept openly for her sister.

A/N: there you have it, the chapter before the end, as I said I don't know how long it will be until we post the last chapter, Hope you enjoyed reading this bit of work, we are grateful for your time and hope that we hadn't just wasted it.

Thanks Again.