Title: Classified

Chapter 6

Spoilers: "Dead Man Talking," "Split Decision" And my author's notes might have spoilers for the season finale of JAG.

Author's Notes:

1) As I said earlier, I have not decided who—if anyone—Tony will wind up with. Tony seems drawn to Kate, and yet he also seems drawn to Gibbs…Hmm…

2) Regardless of what may or may not have happened during the season finale of JAG, I will continue this story, and Clayton Webb will play a big part. I'm hoping we'll find out that Clay lives next season, but regardless, he will continue to live in fanfic.

Warnings: This chapter will have a small mention of homosexuality. If that bothers you, you might want to skip this.

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Last night was a rotten night. After Webb's cloak-and-dagger routine, Gibbs wanted to spend the evening poring over the file Agent Wonderful gave him, so he dumped me unceremoniously at my apartment and drove off, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Not to mention hungry.

Usually, spending the evening alone doesn't bother me so much, but yesterday I was profoundly aware of how alone I really am. Sure, I have friends at work, but we don't hang out together that much. Unless you count murder investigations. And sure, I could probably go to a bar, flash a smile, and pick up some company, but what difference would that make? It's an ugly truth for me to face, but I don't think anyone really and truly cares about me.

So, I stayed up most of the night watching horror films and eating leftover chicken.

To make matters worse, Gibbs sent Kate to pick me up this morning. I wasn't given a vote in the matter. She just showed up at my doorstep.

Normally, I wouldn't mind Kate unexpectedly showing up at my apartment, but I'm still trying to be mad at her for teasing me yesterday.

So I'm sulking.

"Do we have to listen to this?" I say, slumped impatiently in the passenger seat.

"Stop whining," she says.

I plunge defiantly on. "Who listens to talk radio while they drive?"

"I do."

"Yeah, you would," I say sarcastically.

Kate frowns at me. I know I'm being a little over-the-top today, and to be completely honest, I don't know why. Maybe I want Kate to realize how much she hurt me. Or maybe I want wallow because I know she was right about everything she said yesterday. Who knows?

When we pause at a red light, she turns to me, and says, "Do you want to swing by a donut shop or something?"

I shrug, trying to be uncooperative. "Whatever."

The light changes, and so we start driving again. As we round a corner, she tugs at her bottom lip. "Okay, well, we can do donuts or a breakfast sandwich…"

Trying to ignore how endearing Kate looks when she's tugging at her bottom lip, I say, "Donuts are fine."

She turns to me like she's going to say something, but then she changes her mind, and we drive in silence until we reach the donut shop.

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You've got to love chocolate.

My mother once told me that chocolate can cure almost anything that's wrong in your life, so I've decided to test the theory by ordering hot chocolate with chocolate shavings and a chocolate donut. I'm feeling better already. I think Mom might be on to something.

Kate chuckles. "What's wrong, Tony? Did you get your heart broken?"

"What?" I ask, dunking my donut into my hot chocolate.

"You're drowning your sorrows in chocolate," she says matter-of-factly.

Licking whipped cream off the rim of my mug, I say quietly, "What sorrows do I have?"

She closes her hands around a coffee-filled mug and gazes at me. "Did something happen with Gibbs last night?"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

She shrugs. "He's been kind of…high strung lately. I thought he might've jumped down your throat for something."

I shake my head. "Did he tell you about Webb's visit last night?"

She scoots forward in her seat. "No. No, what happened?"

"Well," I say. "Webb showed up acting like a refugee from an old '60s spy series. He gave Gibbs some secret file and disappeared into the shadows."

"What was in the file?"

"Beats me. Gibbs dropped me off, and then went back to the office to look through it." I lick my lips and take a swig of hot—now lukewarm—chocolate. "I, however, spent the evening alone watching old slasher films."

"Poor Tony," she smirks. "Why didn't you call the woman of the week? Or is the well dry?"

"The well is better than ever, Kate. But I'm not looking for a woman right now."

She raises her eyebrows. "I knew the make-out session with Voss left you a little conflicted, but I didn't know it turned you off on women completely."

Stinging from Kate's words, I just stare at her, not sure what to say. I don't know why, but our usually friendly-banter has been a little acidic lately. Kate's been on me about the Voss thing ever since it happened. I want to drop it, forget it ever happened, but Kate seems determined to dredge it up whenever she wants to hit me hard. The problem is, I don't know why it bugs me so much.

Closing my fist tight around my balled-up napkin, I snap, "You have a problem with men dating men Kate?" .

Kate cocks her head at me, and guilt washes over her face. "Listen, Tony. If I hurt you, I'm sorry. I was teasing. We tease each other all the time."

"You're hitting below the belt," I say accusingly. "And you never answered my question. Do you have a problem with men dating men?"

"No," she says a little too quickly, "I don't have a problem with that."

"You sound like it," I say.

"Tony," she says. "I didn't mean to imply anything. It's just…"

"You keep bringing up the Voss thing," I sputter.

"I'm sorry. "Really, I'm sorry."

"I've got a lot going on in my life right now. I don't know whether I'm coming or going," I say. "I don't need this to think about, too."

Kate reaches across the table and places a hand on my shoulder. "Tony, I didn't realize this was bothering you." She kneads the muscle a little, and then stills her hand, waiting for me to say something.

I bite my bottom lip. "Can we just drop it?"

"Yeah," she says, sounding relieved. "We should get to work."

"Yeah," I say. "Let's go see what kind of bone Webb threw Gibbs."