Hey, guys, thanks for your reviews! Its people like you who keep me going, I'm glad you are enjoying the fic!

Also, I mentioned this has both KIBBS and TATE in it. This is primarily a TATE story, I love that ship. However, I do see what others see in KIBBS, so, as long as Kate is dead, I'm going to add some of that. Only because I could have seen Gibbs falling for Kate, although it should be Tony.

It will be a while before I get any more up. We've been having computer problems, and I'm going to be in Nashville for at least a week…..

So, enjoy!

Chapter Two

Anthony Dinozzo walked up the steps and opened the doors of the church that Kate attended when she wasn't working. It wasn't as big as Tony thought—he remembered Kate inviting him several Sundays. She had warned him it was a "different church" than the large, traditional Catholic church he went to as a kid. She had claimed it was rather contemporary.

He walked in, and it smelled suspiciously of fresh flowers. The sanctuary was lined with rows of chairs, and Tony saw Abby and McGee occupying two of the quickly filling seats.

He glanced around, seeing few familiar faces. Besides Abby and Probie, he only recognized Gibbs, Ducky, a few other co-workers, and Sandy and her mother. Tony slipped into the seat beside the last two. He placed a hand on the shoulder of the blind girl Kate had befriended, greeting her. At the touch of the friend of one of her closest friends, the little girl threw herself at Tony, and cried into his shoulder.

Soon after, the ceremony started. The FBI had insisted on having the body, and releasing it to the mourning family, delaying Kate's service. None of Kate's co-workers liked the FBI taking over, but they were too drained to put up much of a fight. Tony was glad to be here, finally. Yet, he was glad to go when the service ended. Sitting, trying to control himself, while others freely expressed their feelings.

When the ceremony ended, Tony tried to avoid those he knew, ready for a breath of fresh air outside. He paused at the door, where Kate's family stood, awkwardly glancing from them to the door. He was going to slip past them, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Kate's petit mother, her face sad, but resigned to her daughter's fate.

Tony's voice went dry. "Mrs. Todd……I'm…."

Mrs. Todd interrupted him. "You're Special Agent Dinozzo, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Tony looked inquiringly into her eyes, trying to ignore a young man who watched him stiffly. Tony knew he was Kate's twin brother.

Kate's mother reached into her handbag, pulling out a plain French envelope. His name was written across the front in Kate's clear handwriting.

"She cared so much about you, Tony. When you were sick, after she got home, she called me and cried while she talked about you. She told me, seeing you so close to death, that she was so scared. Katie wrote this two weeks ago, and said if anything happened to her to make sure you got this." The woman touched his face fondly.

Tony took the envelope numbly, handling it carefully. He could almost picture Kate writing—

His thoughts were interrupted as a hand firmly clamped on his arm. He looked into the face of Kate's brother. His eyes were stormy, actually, they reminded Tony of Gibbs'.

"Tell me," he whispered lowly, "Did you do everything you could to save her?"

Tony stiffened, and blinked, preventing the tears from coming. He felt the hand loosed, and Brett backed away. Yet, he was still waiting for an answer. He kept his eyes on Tony, face growing darker as the agent remained silent.

He then spoke up suddenly. "I wish she was here as much as you do, and I would have done anything to save her."

Brett stared at him as he walked out, looking only half satisfied.

The cemetery was crowded with mourners as the casket was lowered into the ground. Tony was still clutching the envelope, not wanting to let go.

A shrill shriek interrupted the crowd. A young boy, maybe about five, started to scream, tears streaming down his young face, "Don't put Aunt Kate in the hole! Don't!" His yells faded away as Kate's oldest brother, the boy's father, carried him away.

Don't put Kate in the hole.

It was exactly what Tony felt.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

He loosened his tie as he closed his apartment door behind him. He kicked off his shoes, grabbed a bottle of water, and threw himself on his couch.

Tony fingered the envelope, the scent of Kate still smelling freshly on it. Just a few weeks before, Kate herself was handling this. She had written it for him. It was like she knew she was going to die.

Probie had said she hinted at something like that.

"There's a chance one of us might die every time we walk through those doors," she had said. Kate had almost been obsessed with the thought—she had gone over the top with protection detail. Since he was infected with Y. Pestis, death had consumed her. Tony had been right about one thing—Kate worried about everything.

Tony slid his finger under the seal, opening the envelope. He carefully pulled out a folded, delicate piece of paper. Before reading the note, he stared at the paper. Kate's handwriting was almost the same as always—except it was written with a shaky hand, and the ink was smeared a tiny bit in placed. She had been crying as she wrote.

May 2005

Dear Tony,

If you are reading this, then I am gone now. Strange, when I decided to become a federal agent, fighting death was what I wanted. Starting with Presidential Protection Detail with the Secret Service, and now here, I thought that is what I would do. And I thought I was doing it. Until you were infected with pneumonic plague. You had a fifteen percent chance of living; no antidote. We had little hope—we thought you were really going to die. All I could to was watch you die.

I never really was scared of death before. Not scared of death itself, but scared of leaving people I love behind. Without them knowing how much they mean to me.

But I've had to face death so much—here at the agency, with my job; seeing my family come so close. I've seen you close to death before, but then I could do something. Tony, in the hospital, I was totally helpless.

You said once I worry too much. That I need to loosen up a little. (Actually, you've said that way more than once) Maybe you are right—for once. Maybe I'm just being strange. But for some reason, I feel like I need to tell you something. I'm not even sure what exactly. I just want you to know, now that I'm dead, that you've been a great friend, and I care a lot about you. And remember, even now, I still know your college nickname.

You can tell the others…well, I don't know what you can tell them but simply that they've been great.

So, you've already had your goodbye. This is mine.

I wish you the best, Tony.

Katie

The young agent read and re-read the letter.

Wish you the best.

The best? How could he have the best without her? How could he have anything without her?

She had signed it Katie. She hated it when he called her that. Always. He would get elbowed—hard—in the ribs or worse if he tried it. Yet she would sign her letter with that "i." What a difference one letter made to the agent.

Anthony Dinozzo folded the letter, and placed it in a desk drawer. On top of the desk, his eyes caught on a picture. A few months ago, Kate, Abbs, McGee, and himself had gone kayaking in the Chesapeake Bay. It had been Abby's idea, and although Gibbs stayed home, preferring to building a boat rather than being in one, the others had so much fun. It was McGee who had taken the picture of Tony and Kate, both in life vests, Tony leaning over with his arms out as if to push Kate into the water. She was grinning from ear to ear.

Tony stooped to examine the picture closer.

Kate looked so happy,

What had happened?

To clear things up, the Sandy in here is the Sandy from See No Evil. I couldn't remember her last name, but if you've seen that episode, you probably remember her. That episode was one of my favorites, and I always felt sorry for Sandy after her dad was arrested, so I had to sneak her in.