Chpt. 9

"Kate, we've been over this a hundred times." Tony groaned in protest as Kate reached for another crime scene photograph. "We're going nowhere in hurry looking at this stuff." Kate stared at the photograph without even seeing it. She had to admit that Tony was right; they'd been at this since they had gotten back from the crime scene. "People are gonna think that we're sex addicts." Tony winked at her and was caught completely off guard when she knocked him over with her body. Standing above him she glared down at him.

"DiNozzo, I swear to God if you make one more remark like that I'm going to…"

"Tell Gibbs?" Tony had recovered from the shock of being tackled by his partner and was grinning mockingly at her. "Listen Todd," he stood up to face her "We've been at this for four hours straight now, let's order room service and take a break. Better yet, why don't you try out the Jacuzzi bathtub in there while we're waiting all right?" He began to gently push her towards the bathroom door, "That way after dinner we'll both have our heads clear and we'll have a better shot at finding something that we've missed."

"What are you going to do?" The idea of soaking in the bathtub for a good half hour was sounding wonderful to Kate.

"I'm going to take a quick power nap without you hogging all of the blankets." He winked at her before pushing her into the bathroom and closing the door.

"How could I hog all the blankets when we were curled up together the whole night?" Kate muttered as she turned on the faucets and sprinkled a handful of bath salts and poured some scented oil into the steaming churning water. After a few minutes she sank gratefully into the warmth and allowed herself to doze. Only to be disturbed a few minutes later by a knock at the door.

"Kate, I forgot to ask what do you want from room service?"

"I don't care Tony, whatever you're having." She waited a few moments to see if he needed anything else before settling back and allowing the jets to release all the tension that had crept its way back into her muscles after her massage.

After ordering dinner and putting away all the photographs and files, Tony lay back on their bed and fell asleep almost instantly. He woke up to Kate gently shaking his shoulder telling him to hop in the shower real fast before the food came.

"Why do I need to Kate?" Tony moved towards the bathroom that was still full of steam from Kate's bath.

"Because I'm all wet," She said very matter-of-factly.

"I'm still not following."

"If I'm all wet, and my husband is perfectly dry and completely dressed, what sense is that going to make to room service?" Kate grinned wickedly at him as she closed the door without leaving him chance to comment.

Fifteen minutes later they sat on the floor dipping lobster meat into melted butter.

"I can't believe you ordered lobster Tony." Kate had been more than a little surprised when room service had shown up with two huge lobsters, garden salads, and chocolate cake for dessert.

"Well one, it was the only thing on that damn menu that wasn't tofu, organic, or completely fat free. And two, we get to charge it, so why not live a little?"

Kate grinned in response, the rest of the meal consisted of comfortable silences and small talk. After they had cleared the dishes and placed them back on the cart outside, they got back to the crime scene photographs.

"The way the bodies are positioned is bugging me." Kate held a photograph up to Tony who took it from her and began to examine it.

"It's very romantic, laying on their sides facing each other, almost as if they were talking to each other." His eyes shot up at Kate, "The men were stabbed and the women were strangled."

Kate couldn't figure out what he getting at until she looked at the photographs of the wounds more closely, "The men were penetrated, and the women,"

"Were forced to look at their killer in the eye while they killed them."

"If we're looking for one killer, one or both of them is a woman."

Tony paused for a second, "We're looking for a couple."

"What?"

"Kate look at it this way, the men were penetrated by a knife at least a dozen times, if it's a woman it's a crime of passion and of sexual frustration of something she doesn't have."

"Penis envy? You have got to be joking me."

"Not that necessarily but maybe she has an issue with men in general, perhaps she was raped when she was younger."

"And the women were killed by a man, because they couldn't be what he wanted them to be, they couldn't give him what they wanted."

"Were the women raped?"

Kate reached for the autopsy reports, "Nope and neither were the men. No sign of sexual assault what so ever."

Tony sighed in frustration, "Do you think we should call Gibbs?"

Kate checked her watch and shook her head, "It's getting pretty late and he said he had another meeting tonight. We'll call him first thing in the morning; we also need to call Abby to see if she's found anything." Kate stretched and stood up, "You ready to go to bed?"

"With you Kate, always." Tony walked towards his dresser to get out pajamas and was surprised when Kate didn't follow him, yell at him, or throw something at him. When he turned around to comment he saw the bathroom door closed and heard running water. He shrugged his shoulders and quickly changed. "Kate, I need to get in there."

"The doors not locked DiNozzo, you can come in."

When Tony opened the door, Kate was just starting to brush her teeth. "Scootch over, and let me have some room." All of a sudden he felt very strange; it felt so domestic standing here and brushing his teeth with her, as if they'd been doing it for years. He put his head in the sink to spit when he felt something wet hit the top of his head.

"Kate?" he stood up and looked at his partner who had a hand over her mouth and was trying not to laugh. "Did you just spit on my head?" That did it, she couldn't hold it in anymore and fit of laughter overcame her.

"Tony," she was finally able to get out as she tried to catch her breath. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

"Uh uh, sure." Tony grabbed a towel and began to wipe the back of his head vigorously. Kate was still chuckling softly as he finished and made his way back to the bed. And then he felt it, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he knew he was being watched. He silently thanked God that they had thought to put the pictures away or else their cover would have been blown. Tony nonchalantly reached for a magazine and was flipping through it when Kate walked in. She felt it to, he could tell. But his telling came from hours upon hours of working together and learning each others body language. She crawled into bed beside him and curled up next to him putting her head on his chest.

"Do you think they'll be mad at us because we missed our appointments this afternoon?"

Tony put down his magazine and slid down onto his pillows, wrapping his arms around her.

"They're still getting our money so I don't think they're going to care all that much, besides if anyone says anything we can just tell them we were trying to make a baby." Tony grinned wickedly at her as he reached to turn out the light.

"Tony," Kate whispered in his ear as they lay there in the dark with the moonlight streaming across the floor. "Who do you thinks out there?"

Tony rolled Kate onto her side and continued to hold her against him, someone was out there watching them and that worried him. "I guess we'll find out when we catch the killers." They spent the rest of the night in silence and didn't sleep until the sun was about to rise. The killers had been out hunting for their next victims, and both prayed they hadn't found them yet.