PART TWO
"Are you ready?" Tony asked, breaking the silence as they sat in his car in the NCIS parking lot.
Kate turned to him and laughed shakily. "I was nervous meeting my family again, extremely nervous seeing you again… Shouldn't this be less terrifying?"
He reached over and squeezed her hand. "It's okay, Kate. Whenever you're ready."
A moment later, she took one last deep breath. "Let's go."
They got out of the car and she pulled out her NCIS ID, wondering if the computer would recognize that she was someone who was supposed to be dead once she placed it on the scanner.
"You think this thing still works?" she asked.
"I don't know. I don't think this kind of thing has ever happened to NCIS before – you know, an agent coming back to life."
"I didn't die, Tony," she corrected him testily.
He laughed. "I know. I'm just teasing. Relax, Kate."
She glared at him, but couldn't help the smile that broke across her face when she felt his hand at the small of her back. "You know, ever since we started this relationship thing, I haven't been able to stay mad at you."
"That's because you can't resist me," he explained mock-seriously, his tone similar to the one Ducky used when he was lecturing them, "and you can't risk getting mad at me because then you'd have to stay away from me, and you can't do that."
"Shut up, DiNozzo," she said, and lowered her voice, "or someone's not getting any – ever!"
His jaw dropped. "Wha – Kate, no, I'm…sorry?"
She stalked ahead of him, laughing silently to herself, and stopped abruptly when she realized she was inside the NCIS building. She stood in the lobby, frozen, and he laid a reassuring arm around her shoulders.
"Abby will be so excited to see you," he whispered in her ear. "She'll probably pounce on you the way she did me when I first came back to work after the whole plague thing."
Kate smiled, thinking about how great it would be to see her best friend again, and went over to the turnstiles for employees. She slid her ID over the scanner, and the red light simply blinked, the turnstile still refusing to budge. She looked at Tony, worry flashing in her brown eyes. This was exactly what she had been trying to avoid. Now she had to go to the security office, and everyone would know in an instant that she was alive. People would begin to fuss over her, and rumors would begin to spread about how and why she was back.
She stepped back, allowing other employees to go through the turnstile, her hair covering her cheeks and most of her face. Their murmurs irritated her, and she tried to reign in this frustration as she cursed herself for ever going with the FBI's crap.
"Oh, let's just get this over with," she said with a sigh, and headed over to the security office. "Hi, I'm Special Agent Kate Todd. I kind of died, and because of this you rendered my ID invalid, but now I'm back - alive and kicking, thank you very much – and I would appreciate it if you issued me a new ID."
Tony and the officer on-duty could only stare at her for a few seconds, open-mouthed. With a soft chuckle, Tony looked at the bewildered petty officer. "Yeah, I can vouch for that. This is Special Agent Todd. She was – is – my partner."
Her cheeks reddened at the double meaning of the word, and judging by the grin on his face, Tony had realized it too.
"Um," the petty officer finally spoke up, "I'm afraid a new ID won't be available for at least another two hours. We have to check out your information, and – "
"- How about giving her a guest pass for now, and we'll just sort it all out with the director upstairs?" Tony suggested, cutting him off. The expression on Kate's face was a mix of worry and frustration and impatience, and it was catching on to him.
"We'll need another ID card from you," the petty officer said to Kate, an expression of utter confusion still on his face.
She handed him her driver's license and he forked over a laminated guest pass. Tony led her to an elevator, and they held hands as it went up. With a soft ding, it announced their arrival on the correct floor, and before the metal doors slid open, he glanced over at her. "Ready?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The bullpen was empty, much to their surprise. Tony set down his stuff at his desk and checked a Post-It stuck on his computer. "They're at Abby's lab."
He found Kate staring with an expression that could only be longing around the bullpen. She hesitated by her desk and abruptly turned to him and his desk. "Still a slob, I see," she joked uneasily.
He couldn't come up with a proper retort, so he contented himself with sticking his tongue out at her.
"You know, I wasn't gone that long," she said, a genuine smile lighting up her features, "and you've gone rusty. Poor thing." She patted his cheek sympathetically.
Before he could say anything, she looked up at him, all traces of humor gone from her face. "Do you…do you think Gibbs will give me my job back?"
"Technically, you never lost it," he pointed out mildly. "But I'm sure he'll let you back on. You're a great agent."
She smiled. "Thanks, Tony."
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"All right, Abs, talk to me," Gibbs said, coffee cup in hand. He stared at the plasma and waited expectantly.
Abby took a huge slurp of Caf-Pow. "Okay, so I was at the store yesterday? And this lady, she – " She fell silent when Gibbs turned around and shot a warning glance her way. Her brow furrowed when she realized Gibbs wasn't turning back to the plasma. "Uh…Gibbs? I'm going to talk, I promise." When he still didn't budge, she swiveled her chair around to see what he was staring at, and her jaw dropped. "Oh, my God…"
Kate smiled a little shyly. "Uh, hi everyone."
McGee and Ziva had looked over too, and McGee wore an expression of happy shock on his face while Ziva's was of curiosity and calculation.
"Kate!" Abby burst out. Exactly as Tony had predicted, she launched herself at Kate and gave her a huge hug. "OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGodohmyGod!"
She hugged Abby back, tears streaming down both their faces.
"My mascara just ran, didn't it?" Abby asked after pulling away slightly.
Black streaks ran down her cheeks, and Kate couldn't hold her laughter in. "Yeah, it did, but you still look great. I've missed you, Abs."
"I've missed you too! Do you know what it's like to have just Gibbs, Tony and McGee around all the time?"
Ziva tensed and made a move towards the door. Kate stepped in her path before she had a chance to.
"Hey," she said with a warm smile. "You must be Ziva. I've heard so much about you. I'm Kate Todd. Call me Kate." She held out her hand.
The former Mossad agent warily searched Kate's eyes first for any sign of deception, but found only a genuine openness. After a slight hesitation, she smiled back and shook Kate's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Kate. I thought you were…" Her voice trailed off, and her cheeks reddened. "I'm sorry, I – "
"- No, it's fine," Kate interjected. "I'm not dead. I never was."
"Kate!" McGee exclaimed jubilantly from behind Ziva. "You're here, you're alive! This is incredible!"
"Hey, McGee," she said, giving him a warm hug. "Tony been giving you a hard time?"
Behind Kate, Tony narrowed his eyes at him and shook his head vehemently.
"Um…ah…no, not at all," McGee stammered out.
"You're still a terrible liar, Tim," she said, laughing. She looked past him. "Hey, Gibbs."
Gibbs smiled. "Kate. Long time no see."
"Oh, come here," she said, and they hugged.
"Boss, that's not fair. When I came back to work after a plague, you never hugged me – ow," he said, wincing, after Gibbs delivered a sharp slap to his head. "Forget I said anything."
"So what happened?" Abby asked. "Something hinky must've been going on for you to pretend to be dead."
"Yeah, it's kind of…complicated. But you're working a case, aren't you? Maybe this can wait." She cast an uncertain look in Gibbs's direction, unsure of where she stood as a member of his team. Whatever she was, she still respected the silver-haired ex-Marine, and was determined to show that respect.
"Oh come on Gibbs, please? Aren't you even the least bit curious?" Abby said pleadingly, waving her Caf-Pow to stress her point. A few drops of brown liquid came out of the straw and landed at Gibbs's feet. "Whoops."
They all looked at him. Even Ziva looked interested.
"All right," he said with a sigh. "Fifteen minutes, Special Agent Todd."
She had opened her mouth to speak, but realizing what Gibbs had called her made her stop. "Wait, what did you just call me?"
"Special Agent Todd," he repeated slowly, as if she were deaf. "Did wherever you disappeared off to impair your hearing or something?"
"No, I just…you mean I still have my job?"
"Well, you didn't quit, did you? Or would you like me to fire you?" Behind the harsh tone, Gibbs's blue eyes twinkled, and she grinned, relieved.
"No, no, I'm good," she said. "Okay, so – "
Before she could continue, Ducky came through the doors. "Jethro, there you are, I've been – " He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Kate. "C-Caitlin? Is that really you, or have I finally gone senile?"
She laughed. "It's me. Hey, Ducky." She stepped into his embrace and smiled at the ME. "Have fun doing 'my' autopsy?"
"Well not that you've mentioned it, Caitlin, no. I knew something was off," he said. "What brings you back to the land of the living, my dear?"
"Actually, I was just about to explain that."
"Well, carry on, you do the story-telling for once. Perhaps people will listen to you and not interrupt," Ducky said good-naturedly.
Slowly she told them the whole story, pausing every so often to swallow her tears – it certainly wasn't any easier or any less emotional than the first two times. The look in Tony's eyes a few feet away gave her strength to finish, and at last she fell silent, suddenly feeling exhausted.
"Fornell," Gibbs growled out before heading out of Abby's lab.
"Uh-oh," Tony commented. "Guess Fornell's going to die for real this time. They do have a thing for faking deaths, don't they?"
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"Conference room," Gibbs said curtly as soon as Fornell arrived.
Fornell rolled his eyes and followed Gibbs into the elevator. Gibbs hit the switch and they stood there, plunged in darkness.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Gibbs asked angrily.
"Tell you what?" Fornell asked cautiously, not quite sure what he was talking about.
"Dammit, Fornell, don't give me this shit! Agent Todd – she's alive, and it's all the FBI's doing. What the hell were you thinking?"
Fornell swallowed. He had seen Gibbs angry before, but never this angry. "I…it wasn't my place to."
"'Wasn't your place to'? She is my agent – or have you forgotten that? Of all the stupid stunts the FBI has pulled, this takes the cake."
"I – "
"- I'm not finished, Tobias. How could you let one of your own die, too? Did she know what she was getting herself into? Or did you have her follow orders blindly, like you did with Agent Todd? And dammit, you had no right to do what you did to Agent Todd, considering she's a NCIS agent, not FBI." Gibbs stood there, breathing heavily, glaring at Fornell.
"Jethro, it wasn't my decision. The FBI…the others felt that since it was our fault for bringing Ari into this whole thing, we were going to take responsibility for it."
"By deliberately killing one of your own, is that it?"
"No! She wasn't supposed to die – Special Agent Curtis was a fine agent. Specially trained, at that. We thought she could handle it. Save one of your own agents in the process, too."
"You should have told me. You went about this the wrong way."
"We know, and – " Fornell sighed. "We can't change anything now, Jethro. The past is past. But if I could, I would change what happened, all right?"
Gibbs leaned against a metal wall of the elevator. "Are you sure he's gone? Every trace of him? All of his associates, henchmen, whatever…gone?" he asked, his voice much quieter.
"Gone," Fornell confirmed. "You have my word."
"Yes, and we all know how reliable that's been," Gibbs retorted sarcastically.
"Jethro, we are truly sorry for everything that's happened."
"Have your director call my director." Gibbs flipped the switch and stalked out of the elevator.
"Jesus," Fornell muttered. He tugged at his coat and exited the elevator.
"Fornell," Kate said pleasantly as he passed.
"I thought you were dead," he commented, stopping.
"Got better," she deadpanned.
He narrowed his eyes at her and left.
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"Kate, wait!"
She turned and saw Ziva coming towards her, and stopped for her to catch up. "Ziva."
"Can we…talk? In private?"
Kate nodded. "Yeah, sure. Um…in here."
They slipped into an unoccupied interrogation room and Kate looked at her expectantly. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"I…I hope my presence at NCIS doesn't…bother you."
"No, it's fine," Kate said quickly. "Totally fine. In fact, I've always wanted another girl out on the field with me. I can't handle Gibbs, McGee and Tony all by myself all the time."
They both laughed.
"I'm glad," Ziva said, smiling. "You know, they…they missed you a lot when they thought you were dead."
"Yeah, I missed them too."
"They missed you so much that they didn't really accept me at first, and I just… I would understand if you would have wanted me gone, that's all."
"You're a great agent, Ziva. Tony told me so. And I'm sure Abby will warm up to you now."
"I'll move out of your desk. I know you miss it, and that you want to stay close to Tony."
Her cheeks turned scarlet. "What? I mean, I miss it, but I'm not so sure about that last part."
Ziva laughed. "It's okay, Kate. I know you like him more than a friend. I can see it every time you look at him. And I know he feels the same way, because when I first met him, he was – how do you say it – daydreaming about you. Oh, I found your sketchbook, too – the many drawings gave it away."
"Okay, you got me," Kate admitted, "but don't tell Gibbs."
"Are you kidding? The man already knows."
Kate winced. "Great. I hope he doesn't fire us over this."
"He won't," she said with a confident smile. "Don't worry. Oh, and nothing happened between me and Tony during the undercover thing. He was still very much in love with you then, and he still is now."
There was a moment of silence, and Kate reached out, and much to Ziva's surprise, gave her a hug. "Thank you, Ziva."
"You're welcome."
"And Ziva?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm glad we're on the same team."
THE END
AN: Did anyone get the exchange between Kate and Fornell, the whole "got better" thing? I know this was only supposed to be a oneshot, but I was reading your reviews (which were awesome, by the way) and they made me realize that I still had plenty of stuff to go on. I know there are loopholes (like the medal Kate got, the funeral, et cetera) but ignore them, because I don't feel like cooking up an explanation for them. :) Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and have a happy, happy New Year.