Heya!
WOW! Thanx for the reviews!
Jack is back in this one!!! SO be warned!
PLEASE R&R!!!
xXx Tiana
36 hours after Tony had been out of surgery, there was still no change. But as Abby kept on saying, no change was better than a bad change.
During those 36 hours, Kate had only gone home once, which was the previous night, after much persuasion from everyone else. Gibbs and Abby had stayed with Tony that night. Now, Kate was back. She hadn't slept much, but she had eaten, showered and changed, which was better. 41 hours after the surgery, it was 1pm and Kate once gain sat with Tony. It was only a matter of time until he awoke, she was sure.
Suddenly, there was a tapping at the door, and Kate looked up from the magazine that Abby had left there, expecting to see the Goth, or the boss. But she surly didn't expect to see Jack. The last time she had seen him was 2 days ago, before she had gotten that call from Tony.
Jack had had the lunch hour to do something, and the only thing that he could think of doing was to go to the hospital. Not to see Tony, he didn't ever know him, but to see Kate, he was worried about her, not to mention possible in love with her too.
'Hey.' He said.
'Hey.' Kate replied, not sure why he was there.
'I bought you some coffee.' He held out the cup in his hand to her. Kate stood up from the unusually comfortable chair and went to him to get it.
'Thanks.' She simply answered back. Jack nodded. He looked around the room abd finally at Tony.
'How is he?' he nodded towards the agent. Kate shrugged.
'No change.' She walked over to the bed now, as Jack followed her.
'I'm sure he'll be fine, Kate.' Jack comforted her. Kate nodded.
'That's what everyone says.'
'You don't believe it?' Jack asked. She snorted.
'I don't have a choice.' He looked at her sceptically. 'I have to believe he'll get better, you know? I want him to get better, so it's not like I can say that he won't get better, even though there ids that chance, and no-on is willing to admit it.' Kate shook her head and looked at Jack next to her. 'Sorry, I'm babbling.' She smiled politely at him.
'When was the last time you slept?' Jack asked her.
'Last night.' she replied, taking a sip of her coffee.
Jack remembered to earlier that day, when Gibbs and Abby had came in together, and McGee had asked them both how Toy was. It now all fell into place.
'it doesn't look like you slept much.' He stated. Kate gave him a look tat made him want to clarify what he said. 'I meant that- that you look tired- compared to usually- where you look fine…' he sighed when Kate nodded and turned her attention back to Tony, and he decided to stop before he dug himself into a bigger hole.
'I didn't sleep much. But I'll sleep later.' She claimed.
'Yeah? Later?' Jack asked in a way that remained her of Ton. It pissed her off for some reason.
'Yes, later! Later, when my b- partner is out of hospital and back as home, or even better, at work.' She snapped.
After the last couple of words, there was an uneasy silence in the room for about 2minutes. Kate decided to apologise. She always had a weakness for making people feel bad. She had to make everything right. Tony called it her 'perfection complex' but she called it manners.
'I didn't mean it like that. What I said before, I mean. I'm sorry.'
'It's ok. I know you didn't.' Jack smiled and sighed, glad that he hadn't ruined his chances.
They fell into silence once again, the only sounds being the machines and the coffees being sloshed in the cups and drunk.
'You just have to keep on believing that he'll be fine. Cos he will if you stay optimistic.' Jack said, his hint of a French accent clear. Once the words came out of his mouth, he realised how stupid and repetitive it sounded. He chuckled wryly. Kate looked at him and smiled at his mishap, and finally she found herself joining Jack laughing. In all honesty, she didn't know why she was laughing, but she was and it felt good.
Jack loved the sound of her laugh, and couldn't help but look at her as she did. They finally calmed down in a couple of minutes, but the tension had gone.
Maybe he ain't so bad Kate thought.
'Kate, I've been meaning to talk to you.' He started, deciding that it was finally time to say something.
'About what?' she asked, nonchantly.
'About that day… in the car.' Jack kept a lock on her, and saw her emotions change in an instant.
Maybe he is Kate fixed her previous thoughts.
'Jack, can we just move past that?' she questioned, not wanting to go into it.
'I just wanted to talk about it. I don't think you understand…' Kate sighed. She thought it was gone, but now the tension was back.
'I don't know if I understand or not, but my answer will not change. Could we please not do this?' not now she added mentally.
'Kate, look, I just wanted to say, to tell you someth-' but Jack was interrupted by the sound of one of the many machines. Kate's attention was warped immediately to Tony.
'Tony? Hey, can you hear me?' she asked gently, grabbing hi hand. There was a small flutter of his eyes, she was sure. 'Hey, Tony. You there, honey?' she asked again.
Slowly, she saw Tony's eyes opening. Well, at first, they were trying to open, but it got there finally, before he shut them in the bright light.
'Kate.' He murmured. His throat felt like sandpaper, and he his head felt like a million tonnes.
'Jack, go get a nurse!' she ordered him. He nodded and turned to go out of the room.
'Am I in hospital?' Tony finally managed to get out.
'Yeah. Yeah , you are.' Kate laid her other hand on his cheek, gently caressing it. 'You have no idea how much trouble you're in when you get out of here, DiNozzo!' the false anger in her voice was betrayed by the tears in her eyes.
'Is there an elephant on my head?' Tony asked. He had his eyes closed, for which Kate was grateful for. She didn't need him comforting her right then. She laughed at his question.
'No, baby, there isn't. But there is a lot of bandage and gauze. Not to mention stitches underneath.' She explained.
'What happened?' his words were slightly slurring, and Kate took it as a sign of tiredness, even though he had been sleeping for the last 2 days.
'Shh, don't worry about that right now. Just rest.' she squeezed his hand as he barely nodded.
A nurse from earlier on came into the room with Jack on her heels. She did all the normal checks, not before pushing Kate out of the way.
Jack had seen the anger pass through her face, and gently laid a hand on her back. He was glad that she didn't shrug it off.
'He seems fine. I'm going to call Dr. Christianson for a check up, but it'll be a while before he gets here. If there is anything that alarms you, call me immediately.' The nurse informed the two of them.
'Sure thing.' Kate replied as she left.
Jack didn't fail to notice how Kate went straight back to Tony as soon as the nurse had finished, nor how her fingers intertwined with his in an instant. With irritation, and jealousy, running through his body, he couldn't help but face the truth.
'I'm going to go call Gibbs.' He told her.
'Good idea. He'll want to know.' She replied as he walked out of the door. If she was a little bit more into focus, her profiler side would have noticed his change of mood. But she wasn't and she hadn't.
Kate's eyes gently grazed along Tony's body, not noticing much apart from the fact that it laid really still. She was entranced in the slight movement of his chest as he breathed that he hadn't noticed him waking up.
'Hey, Kate?' he whispered after a moment. Kate's attention was drawn from his form to listening to him.
'Hmm?' she replied.
'I'm sorry.' His words were barely audible, but it was clear.
'Hey, it's not your fault. Ok?' she reassured him.
'You sure? Cos it usually is…' Tony smiled a bit, and Kate had to smile back.
'I'm sure. Now rest. Jack just went to call Gibbs, so pretty soon; you'll have a lot to answer for.' She told him strictly.
'Oh, so Jack's here?' his voice was laced with amusement, and maybe a hint of envy.
'Yes, he is.' Was all she said.
'Did he keep you… busy… while you were waiting for me to wake up?' he hinted, a smirk on his face.
'How can you joke when you're so badly injured?
'What else do you want me to do? Cry?' he mumbled, trying to move into a comfortable position, but never taking his eyes off of Kate. She sat on the side of his bed.
'I'll make you cry in a minute if you don't shut up and rest.' She retorted. Tony laughed, and Kate joined in.
'You can't make me cry, Katie. You wouldn't anyways.'
'Yeah, well you're going the right way to make me do so.' They both laughed once again before neither one of them said anything. Kate would've been sure that Tony was sleeping if he hadn't kept on looking at her every two seconds. 'What?'
'Nothing.' He smiled, but didn't quit it.
'What?' she asked, exasperated, causing Tony to shake his head. This immediately caused pain in his skull. He tried not to show it, but he had involuntarily released a gasp and squeezed his eyes shut, and the hand that Kate had, tightly.
'Remind me never to do that again.' He stated as he opened his eyes, only to find a wide-eyed Kate staring at him like he was crazy. 'What?' he now said.
'Are you ok?' she snapped.
'I'm fine… are you ok?' he asked cautiously.
'I'm fine.' Tony eyed her again.
'No you're not. What's up?' he asked, sounding more awake than ever before.
'Nothing. Go to sleep.' She discarded.
'Kate? Do you really think that I'm going to sleep after that?' he asked. Kate wasn't sure if he was referring to the pain or to what she had said.
'It's nothing. I'm just glad you're ok. You had me scared… before… and now.' She looked away from him.
'What happened, Kate?' he finally asked. She looked at him and sighed, before starting to tell him what had happened to him from the phone call to when she found him, and then what the doctors had said.
'And here we are, 42 hours or so later.' She smiled. Tony brought her hand to his lips and kiss it.
'I'm sorry.' He repeated.
'It wasn't your fault. You were ill. I knew that and I should've stayed with you.'
'I made you go to work, Kate. And I was too stubborn to admit that I was that ill.' Tony countered. They looked at each other before laughing slightly.
'We make a great pair.' Kate stated the obvious although sarcastically.
'Abby seems to think so.' Tony reminded her.
'You got that right.'
'And me. I think we make a great pair. I think we make a really great pair.' Tony said in a suggestive tone.
'You're in hospital. You've just woken up after brain surgery. And you're still ill. And yet, you still can't stop thinking about getting laid.' She sighed.
'Only cos you're here.' He smirked.
'Yeah?'
'Yeah.' He whispered, looking deeply into her eyes. 'So this might not be entirely appropriate, or as romantic as you would like it to be, but I love you, Kate. And not everything I think about, or even suggest, is about sex.'
Kate looked at him for a moment. The whole thing that he had said was a bit over her head. She understood it, but at the same time, it was surreal. She smiled gently.
'I love you, too. And I really beg to differ about the latter.' She smirked. Tony smirked back.
SO?
I hope you guys like it!
I had to put some TATE into it – I just miss it toooo much!
And is it just me or had anyone else noticed that a lot of the FanFics around are now Tiva or Kibbs? I mean, personally, eww! So I thought I'd give people like me some TATE!
Please R&R!
xXx Tiana
