Disclaimer: Some of the dialog has been taken from directly from the episode. I do not own those words, they belong to the writer which I think in this case was GG.

Warnings: Spoliers for "A Man Walks Into a Bar"

A/N: This is the last chapter for my verison of "A Man Walks Into a Bar" for this verse. Hope you enjoyed it. We'll be seeing Rachel again ;)

Guest- Thank you! I love the teasing side of Tony and Natalie's relationship. It makes it feel more natural and easy. Abby and Natalie are going to grow closer together now.

amaia- I will be writing about Tony finding that tattoo, but it didn't quite go with the mood of this chapter. Tony, McGee, and Natalie's dynamic is a mixture of what we saw with Kate, Ziva, and Ellie. Just taking some of the things that i really enjoyed about all those different dynamics and writing it into this one.

"How is the ying to my yang this afternoon?" Tony teased as he sat down with Natalie in the break room. "Or are you the yang to my ying?"

"Still trying to figure out if I got that tattoo or not huh?" Natalie inquired, grinning. "McGee said you were yapping about it non-stop when you went to see Abby about that adhesive found on Commander Reynolds' hand."

Tony playfully frowned. "You're really going to make me find it myself?"

Natalie nodded and continued to eat her salad. "Where is the fun in all this if I tell you what it is… if I got one at all?"

He scowled. "You're lucky you're cute."

She smiled. "I know."

Tony made a noise that was between a growl and a squeak; she wasn't sure what she would call it. He leaned in closer to her, his lips just mere inches from hers. "What if I can't wait for us to get home? Maybe I want to find an empty room and go exploring for that tattoo right this very second."

Natalie's pupils dilated, slightly, but she continued to smile, sweetly. "Abby told me that you had a thing for ink. I wasn't sure I believed her at first… but now that I see you're drooling… guess she was right."

Grabbing her face between her hands, Tony kissed her—hard. It was always a challenge cooling his attraction for her when they were at work but today she was pushing the limits and driving him absolutely crazy. He needed to find out if she had that tattoo or not… right now. Gasping, he pulled back and grabbed at her hands, "Closet… now," he whispered. "Before I decide to just take you right here…"

"DiNozzo."

"Sorry, boss," Tony sighed, backing away from Natalie, "I know…discretion."

"Uh-huh, but that's not why I'm here," Gibbs said. "Need you to come with me back to the Colonial."

Tony stood and fixed his suit, hoping the slight bulge in his pants wasn't too obvious. "On your six, boss."

Gibbs chuckled. "Yeah, don't say that too loudly when your pants are that tight—or people are going to talk."

Natalie laughed as Tony stood there, mouth open slightly in shock.

Tony threw her a dirty look as if to tell her this was her fault.

Gibbs simply gestured for him to follow, "Let's go lover boy. I haven't got all day."

His jovial mood was severely dampened by the time they sat down on the Colonial. Gibbs had informed him that Reynolds and Mrs. Hargrove did indeed have a relationship, but it was mostly while her husband was away. There would never be anything else. To top it off…Reynolds was being asked to retire from the Navy.

A man worked his whole life and had nothing to show for it, Tony thought, glumly. Natalie, it turned out, was right. Reynolds had committed suicide. Someone had covered it up to make it look like a murder.

Tony had been suddenly subdued, forgetting about the possibility of finding Natalie's tattoo later… how close had he been to becoming like Reynolds? He had devoted his entire life to the job… and up until recently had shied away from any kind of romantic relationship that might lead to a wife and children someday. Might? He thought, feeling slightly better, as he thought Natalie moving in with him, buying the house with him,will.

Gibbs did most of the talking with the two sailors that had staged Reynolds death to look like a murder. They wanted him to have some kind of dignity… he should be remembered for his work and not how he died.

He spent the ride back to the Navy Yard trying to wrap his brain around the turn of events, and just couldn't.

Pulling open the drawer to where Reynolds' body was being stored, Tony pulled the sheet back and looked down at the man's face.

"What do you see, when you look at him?" Cranston's voice asked, cutting through the silence.

Tony looked up at her, unaware that she even entered the room. "A man works his whole, dedicates himself to the job and has nothing to show for it."

Cranston studied him for a moment. "How does that make you feel?

"Afraid," he said without hesitation. "I'm a good agent, Dr. Cranston, a damn good one."

"I know," she agreed, "and so do a lot of others."

"How was I supposed to know what you were planning?"

"Well, we're a team, Kate. You were supposed to follow my lead."

"Oh, even when I don't know where it's going?"

"Especially then."

"But," Cranston said, pulling him from his memory of Kate in South America, "you can be more. Has anyone ever told you that?"

Tony knew that it was true; Gibbs, Natalie… they all believed he could be more… Kate. She was always riding me, pushing me to be better, to better myself. Suddenly, he saw it. He didn't need Rachel to say what she said next to confirm it.

Rachel smiled, "Maybe Agent Todd was hard on you because she knew what you were really capable of. Too bad she never got a chance to tell you that."

He felt his heart warm and returned her smile. "I think I just realized who you are, Rachel."

She knew eventually he would figure it out. "My sister would be proud of you, Tony. You've changed… for the better."

"It took me a long time to get over her death," Tony confessed. "Felt guilty."

"Survivor's guilt," Rachel offered.

"Yes, and that I couldn't stop it. I failed her as a partner."

"Is that why you're so incredibly protective of Natalie?"

Tony's jaw clenched and he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I love her. If anything were to happen to her because of my failure—I'd die right along with her."

Rachel nodded in understanding. "A part of you died when Kate was killed. So didn't a piece of me, Agent DiNozzo. She was my baby sister; I couldn't bring myself to the funeral—it hurt too much."

He thought about her words, recalling that he didn't see her at Kate's funeral. Of course, Gibbs had barely made it at the time and he had his theories on where the boss had been… "I doubt Kate would have minded. She probably would have understood."

She blinked back her tears before leaving him. "And she would have understood that there was nothing you could have done to prevent what happened to her."

Leaving him standing alone underneath a single light autopsy, Tony contemplated her words. He finally felt a sense of peace washing over him when it came to Kate's death. Armed with this new peace, he pulled the sheet back over Reynolds' face and silently closed the morgue drawer. He needed to find Natalie because he no longer was so afraid of working his whole life, devoting himself for the job, and having nothing to show for it.

Exhausted, and unable to find Tony, Natalie grabbed her gear and decided to take a cab home. She knew that he'd eventually find his way home—probably wanting to look for that tattoo.

As she approached the elevator, she was slightly taken off guard—only warned by the faint smell of Tony's cologne, before he swept her into his arms and kissed her. "What was that for?" she asked, pulling away.

Tony pressed his lips to hers, hungrily. "For giving me a reason for living," he whispered.

Natalie was startled by his words and immediately her heart started to beat madly in her chest. "Tony… you're scaring me. It sounds like… it sounds like before me… you had nothing to live for."

"Pieces of me have died over the years—taken from me as people have left—Wendy, Kate, Jeanne… even Ziva," Tony said. "I was left wondering for a long time if anyone would come along and give me a sense of belonging. NCIS was a job, a job I'm good at, but it never gave me a sense of belonging to someone."

"Did you… did you ever think about… suicide?" Natalie asked, timidly. She had seen good cops work their careers, never looking or wanting more, only to end their own lives towards the end because they had nothing once the job was gone.

His green eyes filled with despair and he slowly nodded is head. "Yeah… but something… always pulled me back. At first I thought it was Gibbs and the team, now I wonder if it was a stronger force telling me to just hold out longer… that you were coming into my life and making it worth living again."

Her vision blurred as tears gathered in her eyes. "Oh, Tony," she sighed, sadly. "I only wish I had come here sooner." She knew he had been her life savior, giving her a sense of value—but she never realized she did the same for him, that she saved him and gave him a sense of belonging. All he had ever wanted, apparently, was someone to love and take care of and that loved him in return.

"Come on," Tony said, releasing her from his arms and taking her hand. "I'll take you home."

"Wait… did you finally talk to Dr. Cranston?" Natalie asked as her fingers laced through his.

Tony nodded. "Yeah. She made me release what a savior you've been for me. I'd been drowning, slowly, since Kate's death… until I met you."

Natalie could see the change in him. He had finally found peace. "I'm glad you finally understand that her death wasn't your fault."

He smiled and pressed the button for the elevator. "It only took five years and Kate's sister waking me up…"

She was confused. "Kate's sister?"

"Rachel."

"Dr. Cranston?"

Tony laughed, softly. "Small world, huh?"

Natalie stepped into the elevator him and was immediately wrapped up into his arm, like a protective cocoon. "Yes," she whispered, "small world."

Gibbs had pulled her, literally, down into his basement and stood her at the far end of the room. She was obviously still trying to find closure when it came to her sister's death, just speaking to the team had not been enough. "Do you feel that?" he quipped.

Rachel was confused. "Feel what?" she asked. After he had discovered her, asleep behind what used to be Kate's desk, they had talked about closure. She admitted that the team, Gibbs, seemed to be doing better at moving on than she was. That was when he had brought her here, to his home, to his basement.

"There, right there, where you're standing right now, is where Kate's murderer died," Gibbs said. "Where Ziva shot her own brother—that Doc, that's closure." He clearly remembered Ari standing on that very spot, aiming his own sniper rifle at him. He was about to pull the trigger when Ziva fired from the staircase. He put his hands on Rachel's shoulders. "Now the rest is just memories. Ain't nothing wrong with memory."

"Never went to the funeral," Rachel told him, just like she told Tony hours before, "Just couldn't do it."

"Families all grieve in different ways," Gibbs observed.

"Let me ask you a question, Gibbs, see if you can answer. A man walks into a bar, asks the bartender for a glass of water. Bartender pulls out a shotgun, fires a blast just missing the man. The man says 'thank you', puts a tip on the bar and exits. Why the 'thank you' and the tip?" Rachel inquired.

Gibbs thought about it for a brief moment, and then laughed, "The guy had the hiccups!"

She stepped over to the workbench, and leaned up against it beside Gibbs. "It's all about responses, Gibbs. You, Vance, your agents. Why keep things bottled up inside? The largest response seems appropriate."

He looked up and away, as he so often did when he doesn't have an answer, and in that moment, Gibbs didn't have one. He probably never would.

Director Vance: Spending time with your team has been enlightening, to say the least. In clinical terms, they're a disaster. But their selfless dysfunction is ultimately why it works. It's clear to me we all react to life's challenges in different ways; your people are no exception. Some fight death, and some embrace its solace. Some recognize their fate. And others do whatever is necessary to alter it. Sometimes we defy others expectations. And occasionally we rise to meet them. But the constant is being true to ourselves. We do what we have to when we have to. We react, for better or worse. It's why your team succeeds. But be careful. Eventually it might catch up to you