CHAPTER 2:
FLASHBACK
Tuesday morning 8:05 am – Bull Pen:
Seated as his desk McGee glanced up as Kate entered the bullpen on a rush. At her desk, she dropped her bag onto the ground, sat down and moaned as she laid her head down.
Tony looked up from reading his e-mails, leaned back on his chair, placed his hands behind his head and asked, "Rough night Kate? Don't tell me you actually had a date last night that kept you entertained enough to tire you out."
McGee, at his desk, perked up. "Kate had a date? Wow, it's been a while since you've had one of those."
Kate lifted her head, irritated that once again they would start the verbal sparring so early in the morning. "First of all, my love life-"
"-or lack thereof" inserted Tony.
"is none of your business." Kate finished off with deadly looks aimed at Tony and McGee. "Secondly, it wasn't a date that kept me up. I kept having these prank calls through the night!"
"Really? Was it a heavy breather making grunting noises? It could have been Tony."
Sitting up, Tony protested. "I do not make grunting noises, Probie!"
"Ah, but you're a heavy breather DiNozzo?" asked McGee, pleased that he was able to get one on Tony.
"What happened to you Kate? You look like crap." Gibbs remarked to Kate on his way to desk.
McGee turned around quickly and pretended to read a file, while Tony sat up again preparing to enjoy the show.
Annoyed already, Kate's eyes narrowed at Gibbs and said sarcastically, "Thanks Gibbs. A girl always loves to be complimented first thing the morning. You need lessons on-," distracted, Kate answered her ringing cell phone without looking at the caller ID. "Kate Todd."
Having let out a silent moan, Kate politely asked the caller, "What do you want Andrew? I've already asked you not to call me on my cell phone."
At this, McGee along with Tony and Gibbs looked over to Kate, watching her intently.
Kate noticed the attention and turned her back to them.
Kate lowered her voice as to not be overheard. "Andrew, I've told you before that this isn't working out and I would rather -"
Interrupted Kate said almost frantically into the phone. "No, don't – not at my apartment. Fine, I'll meet you at the coffee shop at 5:30 today."
Kate paused to listen then replied with, "No, dinner is not possible. I have plans for tonight. I'll only have a few minutes to spare later."
Hanging up, Kate took a calming breath before turning around – only to find Tony and McGee standing directly in front of her desk.
"What?"
Concerned, Tony asked, "What's that about?"
"None of your business, Tony."
Not satisfied with Kate's evasion to Tony's question, McGee asked, "You sure Kate?"
"I hate to interrupt your discussion on personal issues during working hours, but I need Abby's lab results Kate."
"I'll go get them now Gibbs." Kate narrowed her eyes warningly at Tony and McGee before heading to the rear elevator.
Tony looked at McGee and signaled with his head towards Gibbs. McGee confused, mouthed "What?" Tony widened his eyes and again gestured at Gibbs. Finally understanding, McGee rolled his eyes at Tony and tentatively questioned Gibbs. "Ah, Boss? Do you think we should be concerned about that call?"
Gibbs glanced at Kate's retreating back, eyebrows drawn together and said, "Fine, call Abby. See if she can get some info from Kate." He lowered his voice and added "And do a background check on this guy."
Gibbs stood up and called out to Tony, "DiNozzo, you're with me. Director wants to see us."
A few minutes later - Lab:
"Hi Abs! Gibbs wants me to find out if you're done with the results on the ballistic tests on the Petty Officer Patroni case."
"Not yet, it should be in a couple of hours." Staring pointedly at Kate, Abby asked, "So what's with the obsessed former lover?"
"How did you know about – never mind. Who called you? Tony or McGee?"
"McGee. So what's the deal?"
"Remember a few weeks ago on the Marine Sergeant embezzling/murder case? There was an FBI agent assigned to the case, Andrew Sommers. We had to work with them since the FBI were already investigating the Marine black-mailing some federal agent when he was killed."
"Wasn't he the tall one with the big-."
"Abby!"
"-smile? I was going to say 'smile'." Abby replied to Kate with an innocent wide-eye look.
Giving Abby a doubtful look, Kate continued, "Anyways, this was when Gibbs and Tony were in New York. McGee and I handled the case and it was closed within a couple of days. Andrew asked me out for coffee and then we had a couple of dates. I wasn't very comfortable after the second date and told him I would rather be friends."
"Oh, the dreaded 'F' word."
"Yeah, well he seemed okay about it but then a couple of times a week he'd call and I just keep turning him down." Kate shrugged. "I thought it was all harmless and I'd hardly call him 'obsessed'."
"I can go with you after work when you meet him," offered Abby. "Then we can just go on to dinner and the movie as planned."
"I'll be okay. It will be right after work so I'll still be on time meeting up with you. I'll come back in a couple of hours for the results Abs."
INTERVIEW – FBI BUILDING:
The interviewer lifted his hand for Kate to pause. "Just a moment, Agent Todd. What about these calls to your apartment the night before? Didn't you think to report those in? You are an agent and therefore subject to threatening calls."
Kate blinked couple of time to focus on the interviewer's questions. She pressed a couple of fingers between her eyes to help ease the pressure of a headache coming on and said, "They weren't 'threatening calls' as the caller didn't say anything the first couple of times I did answer the phone."
"You said that the calls kept you up all night. Why didn't you just shut off your ringer?"
As though stating the obvious, Kate slowly replied, "Because I didn't want to miss any urgent calls if anyone tried to call me at home. Not everyone has my cell number."
"Did you make the connection that the calls were connected to Agent Sommers?"
"No. The calls at my apartment had 'blocked' on the screen. When Andrew called me on my cell phone that morning, his cell number appeared on my screen."
"So what happened next?"
In the Observation Room, Tony stood leaning against the wall beside McGee and had to force himself to remain composed when all he wanted to do was pound his fist against the one-way mirror and tell that dweeb of an interviewer to stop being so obtuse.
Tony glanced over to the two FBI agents standing in front of the door, who were eyeing the NCIS agents with some trepidation. He thought back to the scene from a couple of hours ago when they first arrived at the FBI building – their main priority was getting to Kate. Tony raised an eyebrow at them as if to say 'FBI. Huh. Just showed who's tougher when you're out-numbered nearly three to one.'
Sure, Tony was still a little pumped from the incident and can admit to himself that the stand-off was surreal - and perhaps a little foolish - but looking back at an injured Kate in the opposite room, he knew that he, along with Gibbs and McGee would do it again. Nothing will stop them when one of their own was hurt – at least not again.
Tony closed his eyes briefly as Kate continued with where she was interrupted by the interviewer.
TBC