Chapter Four
"Gibbs, she seems so sure!" Tony whispered in the phone at 2:00 a.m. The room was dark, there were no lights on. The only noise at the moment was Kate breathing as she slept on the bed and the constant whirring of the fan. Careful not to wake Kate up, he got off the bed and wandered to the window, phone still in his hand.
"What is she doing now?" Gibbs said a little worried on the other line. "She's asleep. Took me a while to calm her down." There was no comment on the other line. "Gibbs?" Tony asked a minute later, his voice intense. "Yeah! Get some rest." Without waiting for a reply, Gibbs hung up the phone.
For the first time, Tony realized the true danger of going undercover. Not knowing what could happen and being totally oblivious to the future. The strange part was that Tony wasn't worried about himself, he was terrified for Kate. Even though she said they seemed like brother and sister, he felt more and knew that she did too.
"Tony!" Kate moaned. Not really sure what to do, he kept quiet. "TONY!" This time she screeched, waking up instantly. Tony rushed over to the bed and leaned over. Kate's fear face disappeared. No one especially Tony was going to see hr afraid of anything. Not yet. An annoyed look came over Kate when she saw a big wide grin spread on Tony's face. "Dreaming about me Katie?" his green eyes glowing with amusement. Kate let herself fall back in a sleeping position, her head resting on the pillow. Her hair scattered in different directions. "You wish!" Telling Dinozzo but facing the ceiling. Suddenly, Tony's head fell two inches away from her face. "You were dreaming about me." She rolled her eyes. He placed his hands on both sides of her face, and their eyes met for the second time that day. "I can see it in your eyes." The low voice came out of his mouth. "YOU were dead!" Kate leaned up and whispered in his ear, then punching him in the stomach. Tony backed up.
"I was dead?" After realizing what Kate said and that imagined it. Kate lightly nodded. "He killed you to get to me." "Landon?" Tony asked stupidly, even though he knew the answer. Again, Kate nodded. For some reason Tony turned away. She was scared. ´How could Tony die? That couldn't happen. I would be crushed.' "Tony?" Never did her voice sound this afraid. He spun around completely facing her, still sitting on the bed. "You were dead!" He wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement. All he could do was stare at her. The digital alarm clock clicked 2:40 and the phone shrilled off the hook, as if impatient for someone to pick it up.
For about a minute all they could do was look at each other and back at the phone. And when the ringing continued, Kate reached over and snatched it off of its delicate cradle. "Uh…Cindy Lublock here." "Look at the ring on your finger!" A crackly voice commanded. Kate's eyes just widened but didn't look down. "I SAID LOOK DOWN AT YOUR FINGER!" The voice bellowed loud enough for Tony to hear from where he sat on the other side of the bed. Like a little girl being told to do something for a bar of chocolate, Kate looked down. "Good, now say good-bye to your husband because you're going to DIE!" The voice barked and hung up.
The hand which held the jet-black phone shook violently. The phone fell on the bed with a soft thud. Tony jumped off the bed and ran to Kate's side. Sitting down next to where Kate was shaking, she put the phone back where it belonged. He sat there speechless, which was a first for Tony Dinozzo, waiting for Kate to say something. Anything. He heard the voice, now what was Kate going to do about it. Out of nowhere her two hands shot out and wrapped around Dinozzo's neck. Her body pressed against his in a tight hug. Tony just hugged back, not because it was yet another girl in his arms, but because it was Kate in his arms. Although he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was just as scared as she was. Maybe even more. The fact that the fearless Kate was afraid of something made him his heart pound with pain. Pain because he couldn't help her until he got rid of the crime and saved the victim. In this case, saved Kate. "It's okay Katie. No one's going to hurt you. Not when I'm here. You're safe with me." He whispered in her ear, still not letting go of her. Surprisingly, she believed him. Still knowing that no one could promise anyone that everything was going to be okay, she still believed him. Deep down she knew that Tony would kill himself if it meant saving anyone on the team…even McGee.
After Tony got sick with the pneumonic plague, things between them changed somehow. Each time, he coughed up his own blood, her heart screamed at her to take away his pain. She wanted to, but she couldn't. All she could do was risk her life by staying there with him and making sure he wasn't alone. And that's exactly what she did, still not sure why.
Kate slowly let go of him, realizing what she just did. She showed Tony that she could be scared. In her mind being scared meant that she was weak. To everyone else it was normal. "It's okay to be afraid of something Katie. It really is." Tony softly chided, when he realized she wasn't upset about hugging him but by actually being frightened out of her mind. "Goodnight Tony!" That wasn't a soft saying to someone before bed, it was a command. A command meaning "forget what happened."
"Damn!" She heard him say quietly, just as he crawled into his side of the bed and slipped in between the covers. Kate felt his weight push lightly on the bed and his presence near her. She closed her eyes pretending to be asleep, Tony doing the same. 'I think I like him.' Kate thought. 'I think I love her.' Tony thought at the same time.
Neither realized that a strange dark figure was shrouding behind the trees outside the window watching them move around inside the shack like house. A silver shinny blade glowed in his hand, reflected off of the moon, waiting to strike it's next victim.