Tag to S2E23 Twilight

Warning now, if you don't like death aftermath scenes, you might want to skip this.

Tony could only stand there.

Shocked.

Two seconds ago she'd been standing right there, laughing with him.

He was only vaguely aware of something warm rolling down his face. Lifting his hand slowly, he touched his face and was confused when it came away wet. And red.

He looked down.

He knew what he was going to see, but he couldn't believe it.

She'd just been laughing with him. She'd just made a joke. This could not be happening right now.

"Boss?" He said, looking up at him in horror. After the shot, he'd been aiming his gun towards where it came from, but they both knew he wasn't going to see anybody, not without his rifle.

Now he was staring at her in shock and grief. Gibbs' head snapped up to Tony, and widened slightly. "Come here." He instructed softly, and led him away. "McGee, get up here, and call Ducky. Kate's... Kate's down." He said quietly into his comm. Then he fished out a cloth and started wiping Tony's face off. They both felt numb.

This wasn't the first time they'd lost somebody on the job. Not by a long shot.

But she been right there a second ago. She'd been laughing with them a second ago.

"Gibbs! To- Kate?" Tim arrived on the roof and almost tripped on his feet, staring at the sight in front of him. His eyes traveled to the other two men, and he balked at the sight of Gibbs' wiping Tony's face off with a rag that he'd produced from somewhere. "I called it in, Ducky and the rest will be here soon." There were a lot of bodies laying around, some still breathing, some not. There was also a lot of evidence to be taken to the lab. "An ambulance is on the way to take care of prisoners." He kept looking at Kate, not able to believe it. His voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere else, even to his own ears.

"You two go down to meet them. I'll stay with her." Gibbs said quietly, having finished wiping off Tony's face. "Go on." He steered Tony towards Tim, who helpfully took the older agents arm and pulled him along.

"She was... she was laughing with us. She'd just made a joke." Tony muttered. "She said-" He choked off, not able to say that her last words were that she 'thought she would die, before-' He didn't even remember what they'd been joking about, which was strange because it wasn't even five minutes ago.

"Come on, Tony. We still have a job to do." Tim tried to bring him back to them, they'd gotten all the terrorists, but one. They still had to find the one that shot Kate, and he had a feeling they all knew who it was.

Tony looked at him for a long moment. "You're- you're right." He muttered, and shook himself like a dog. "We can break down after we find him." He nodded once. "You can stay on my couch for a few days, I don't think any of us should be alone for a while." He instructed. He was going to have to say something to Ducky about Abby, Gibbs, and Jimmy, none of them should be alone for a bit.

"Alright." Tim agreed after a moment as they reached the car. "Come on, we might as well get started with something." He handed Tony the camera while he took out a small device. "I'm going to try and figure out where the shot came from." He said quietly and went back to the roof.

They didn't go back to Tony's apartment. Gibbs hustled them both to the car and took them straight to his house instead. Tony was vaguely aware of Ducky doing the same with Jimmy and Abby.

Ziva David watched curiously, but didn't say anything. She was leaving in the morning, taking her brother's body back to Israel.

Tony didn't know what they were going to do with it, and didn't really care at this point. He assumed Ari would get some form of burial, but it wouldn't be as a hero or fallen soldier. He was a traitor to his country, if he could have even been considered loyal in the first place.

Now they were all sitting in front of Gibbs' fireplace, with Gibbs absently making up three large steaks.

"How do you deal with it?" Tim asked quietly. He hadn't experienced this before, he was still a very green agent.

"By taking it one day at a time." Tony sighed, taking a drink. "By remembering the good times."

"You honor them by doing the best job you can. And by moving forward." Gibbs cut in. "Never stop moving forward." He said, quieter.

"To Kate." Tony said, raising his glass.

"To Kate." The other two echoed, and copied him before going quiet again, occasionally broken by reminders of things she had done or said.