The reason for rule 12
Tony, who was late for work as usual, went over to put his stuff at his desk. "Morning Tony" Ziva said. "Morning Ziva" Tony replied as Tony headed off to the elevator only to run right into Gibbs. "Where do you think you are going Dinozzo?" Gibbs asked. "I need to talk to Abby." Tony said. "You need to get to work." Gibbs said. "Boss it's about Kate; you yourself said I should talk to someone. Well I'm going to talk to Abby." Tony replied. "Fine oh and I know about your little dinner with Ziva last night, I saw you. Just don't forget about rule 12." Gibbs said. "Gibbs I'm not interested in Ziva." Tony said. "Yeah well you weren't interested in Kate when she started working here and it turns out you fell in love with her." Gibbs replied. "Who told you that?" Tony asked. "No one, I'm not stupid Dinozzo I saw you two together. It was obvious that you loved her and if it's any consolation I'm pretty sure she loved you too." Gibbs said. "Thanks boss. Oh and for your information I was always interested in Kate. I fell for her the day I met her." Tony replied. "Tony, now do you see the reason for rule 12?" Gibbs asked. "Sure boss." Tony said even though to this day he didn't agree with rule 12. If it wasn't for rule 12, never date a co-worker, he would have been with Kate soon after he met her and maybe he would have been able to protect her.
Down in Abby's lab Abby was looking at some evidence from the latest case. "Hey Abs" Tony said as he went into the lab. "Hey Tony, what's up?" Abby asked. "Actually I need to talk to you about something that happened last night." Tony said. "You didn't sleep with Agent Ziva David did you?" Abby asked coldly. "No you're way off Abby, why would you think that?" Tony asked. "Because Gibbs said you had dinner with her." Abby replied. "Abby nothing happened she found a sketch in Kate's desk that she thought I might want and then we talked that's it. I'm not interested in Ziva or anybody else right now for that matter." Tony said. "Okay what did you want to talk about?" Abby asked. "Well you can't tell anyone because anyone else would think I was crazy but I saw Kate last night and we had a conversation." Tony told her. "You saw Kate? That's weird because I saw Kate last night too." Abby said. "What did she say?" Tony asked. "She told me to look out for you and to be nicer to Ziva, a lot nicer. Okay she told me to be Ziva's friend. What did she say to you?" Abby asked. "She told me that she loved me." Tony replied. "You know that's true, right?" Abby asked. "Yeah I know, and she said she knew how I felt all along. I just wish I had the chance to tell her before she died." Tony said. "Tony she knows now. Did she say anything else?" Abby asked. "She told me to get on with my life but she made me promise to never forget her. Not that I ever would. I decided I'd get on with my life because that's what she wants but Abby I don't know how." Tony said. "I don't know how either. It's funny how in one day we both lost the most important person in our lives, I lost my best friend and you lost the love of your life." Abby said and then gave Tony a hug. "Well I better get back to work before Gibbs comes down her to personally escort me back to my desk." Tony said as he left and went back to work.