A/N: Thank you for all your reviews. Sorry for the delay - I've been trying to work out how to do this chapter (and managed to delete the story on my computer a few days ago)
Disclaimer: I still do not own NCIS or any characters.
Chapter 13
It was nearly 4 hours later when Tony relaxed a little bit. He had spoken to Gibbs, arranged all that Kate needed and had been beside himself with worry as he and Gibbs, with a variety of other agents, had protected Kate in her apartment as she collected what she and Charlotte had needed. There had been several occasions where he had nearly pulled her out of there, but he had managed to stop himself. Finally they had all got themselves to the safe house without, it appeared, any followers. It had helped that they had chosen to stop at the Navy yard and change cars around. Now he and Kate were sat with Gibbs, Ziva, Abby and McGee in the living area of the safe house, with Charlotte safely in bed in one of the bedrooms. There were agents in the two adjoining apartments and in the street watching so he felt fairly safe. Now he could find out what had happened over the last few years since Kate's "death". The five adults looked at each other before Kate spoke.
"So, I suppose you want to know everything?" she asked.
"Would be useful!" commented Gibbs. The others nodded their agreement. Kate thought back to the day she had woken from the coma of the fake bullet. And as she talked, she relived herself the last few years; the pain, happiness and everything in-between:
She was in a room. Based on the layout and the regular beeping, she assumed it was a hospital room. She was alone at first. Then the door opened and someone came to join her.
"I see you are awake." Kate looked at the man in front of her.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Ehrm... it's rather complicated. We've managed to save your life, we'll need to check on your memory skills and see how you are doing as a shot to the head is never good. We'll go through your memory as we go. However, it's important you eat something first. I'll have a nurse come in with some food and she'll provide some more information." The Doctor left then.
It was a few days later when they moved Kate to England. She hadn't been aware of the movement at the time as things over those days were a bit groggy. During the time she had asked over the NCIS team and why she wasn't having any visitors. She had been told that there had been a matter of secrecy that needed to be dealt with first. Kate remembered one day screaming at the nurse about why her husband wasn't visiting, before bursting into loud sobs and needing sedatives to eventually calm her down. She had only vague memories of an aeroplane flight to England and the first few hours there. Her memories started about a week after arriving in England, when she met the Homeland and MI6 agents for the first time – probably when they felt they could get away without sedatives.
She had been collected from the hotel she was staying in and taken to the MI6 building. There she was introduced to many people she had never met before, including her agent Bob Thornton and, much to her surprise at the time, Tom Morrow – newly assigned Assistant Director of Homeland security. They explained her rescue from Ari, but that he was still a threat to her and NCIS and it was felt better that she was kept away from her life until such a time that no lives were under threat anymore. Kate agreed, although she fought to have a minimal name change and they had agreed to let her use DiNozzo since nobody really knew she and Tony had got married. The idea had been sold to Kate was that she would do a couple of years in England as an agent whilst the Ari issue was dealt with, then would be allowed home again. She was set up in a house next to a lady called Joan, an MI6 operative herself but who, at the age of 65, was really there to support the younger agents. The story was that Joan was her mother-in-law, married to Kate's husbands' father, but had kept her previous name as it was a second marriage. Nobody had ever queried the story and Kate and Joan had become very close, particularly when Kate soon realised she was pregnant.
Kate's first job in England had been to get close to Scottish man whom they suspected was involved in arms smuggling to terrorists in America. She had spent 3 years getting the information she needed, only to realise he was just a go-between for a Russian man. Her undercover had involved being a teaching assistant in a school where the wife of this man worked. It had been in this role that Kate realised she enjoyed teaching – something she had never considered before. However, the birth of Charlotte 7 months after her arrival in England had cemented the fact that she wasn't so certain about being a federal agent or spy anymore. Unfortunately, she had been in deep undercover by then and couldn't just walk away. Luckily, she had persuaded Homeland to allow her to complete her degree and train to become a teacher as part of her undercover role. This had been an excellent choice when she had needed to get closer to Federov as he had a teenage daughter. Kate (and Joan) had been relocated to the seaside town his family resided in and Kate had taken a post as a teacher in the daughter's school. Three years with teaching in the school and the family had moved to America. Kate had taken that as an opportunity to move back to America herself, although not in the same school. However, she had developed a friendship with Federov's wife through community meetings and luckily it had been Ana who had suggested Kate's move to America. This had meant that Kate had been open about being able to secure a job in Washington and nobody had seen anything odd about this. In fact, only last week, Ana and Kate had met for coffee.
The only issue had been NCIS. The whole time Kate had been asking when she could go home. She had been told that Ari was still a possible threat, even in his death.
"But that wasn't true!" Abby interrupted.
"I know that now, Abby. It's a bit difficult to check this out when you are in England. Anyway, the school has offered me a promotion there. I had agreed with Homeland to retire in the summer, regardless of the situation with Federov. In the meantime, I had to stay away from you guys for the next few months. That was until Federov himself started to get involved!" Kate finished her story and sat back. The rest of the team stared at her for a moment, then Tony pulled her into his arms.
"I'm just pleased you didn't die. I love you!" he whispered to her.