disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or its characters...

Author's Note: I was away for a week so this chapter is shorter than the last ones. Plus, it doesn't seem to end...I just kind of didn'tknow where to go next.Not that I ever knew where I was going with this story.

Kate opened the door to the apartment. The silence engulfed her. She wished that Tony could be there with her. She hated that silence. It was the silence of a hundred nights spent alone, a hundred nights without his arms wrapped around her body. She shut her eyes and tried to will away the silence. She tried to remember the nights that they had been able to spend together, his warmth, his smell, the slight snore that he never admitted to having. It worked. The silence was soon gone, and all she could here was the soft pitter-patter of her flip-flops as she walked towards the bedroom.

She stood for a moment trying to decide whether she wanted to take a shower or a nap first. For being clean, the hospital made her feel quite dirty. She wanted to take a shower, but the threat of passing out and hitting her head was high. She only made it as far as the bed before she lost all of her remaining energy anyhow.

She didn't spend long trying to get comfortable before falling into a deep sleep. She awoke several hours later, a fresh layer of sweat compounding her discomfort. She decided to take her shower next, and after struggling to get in and out of the bathtub, cursed Tony.

Adorning a fresh set of comfortable clothes, a cotton ankle-length dress that buttoned up the front, Kate set off in search of food. She rummaged through the refrigerator, wishing that they had bought more groceries each week instead of resigning themselves to the fact that they were never home during meal times. She fixed herself the best meal she could manage and sat down to eat. She must have been famished because she ate more than she thought she was capable of eating.

Something occurred to Kate while she was eating her makeshift meal. After she placed her dished in the sink, she walked to where the calendar was hanging on the wall. She double-checked the date. In the box that represented the next day, her own neat handwriting informed her that she had a doctor's appointment. Tony wouldn't be able to take her now, and she had stopped driving because of the airbags. Plus, it was difficult for her to drive when she was distracted by how uncomfortably large she was. Maybe Abby could take her. Yes, Abby wouldn't mind bringing her.

So, this was it…She had to ask a coworker to drive her to the doctor's, not that Abby wasn't also a friend. Kate wondered about when and how she had become so estranged from her family. This was a time when she should be closest to her family, when she was about to start a family of her own. Her mother, her aunts, her cousins, all her female relatives should be there to help her. They should ask her how she feels, what pains she's gotten, how many times she has to go pee during the day. They should be telling her stories about their own pregnancies, about raising children. Kate suddenly felt very alone in her empty apartment.

Why hadn't she told her mother? She had talked to her on the phone at least twice since she had found out that she was pregnant. Oh, Kate knew the reason. She was afraid of what her mother's reaction would be. Plus it was so easy not to tell her. The conversation was always the same, and she could manage to get through it without lying, nor telling the truth. Her mother always asked when she was planning on getting married; she never knew. She always asked her how work was going; fine. Then she would tell her about how the rest of the family was; how her second-cousin twice-removed just got married, it was a beautiful wedding, and now they're starting a family. She'd go on and on like that for awhile. But if Kate called her, this time, it would be different.

At first, Kate couldn't decide if she should call. She paced up and down the hall until her feet her and her back screamed at her for the pressure she was putting on it. Finally, the loneliness of her current situation, as well as the need to talk to someone about her feelings convinced her to try it. She sat down on the bed with a pillow propped up behind her so the she might be only emotionally uncomfortable and not physically uncomfortable while she made her call. She picked up the receiver and dialed the number. She counted the rings, five, as she slowly breathed in and out to calm herself.

"Hey Mom. It's me, Kate."

"Not a lot. I've just been thinking and…"

"Well…" How could she put it? Her mother wouldn't remember Tony's name, and she wasn't ready to call him 'the father of my unborn child' to her mom, just yet. "…a coworker of mine got shot yesterday."

"Yes. He's going to be fine." She tried not to think about the alternative.

"It just made me think that…" She might as well say what was on her mind. That's what made her dial the number after all. "I think I love him."

"Yes, my coworker."

"Anthony Dinozzo."

"Yes. It's Italian."

"I don't know if he's Catholic. What does it matter, anyway?" It would be something that mattered to her mother.

"I'm not sure he knows."

"I don't know if he feels the same way."

"That's the thing, mom. We're already together."

"Over a year. We've been living together.'

"Since I told him that I was pregnant."

"Mom, you there?"

"Six and a half months."

"I don't know why I didn't tell you."

"No. We're not getting married." That's why.

"I don't care if my child is born out of wedlock."

"We're both committed to raising our child and that's good enough."

Tears began to trickle down Kate's cheek for what felt like the millionth time in the past twenty-four hours. Why was her mom so impossible?

"Yeah. I'm still here." She zoned out for the rest of the conversation, but got the basic gist of it. Her mother wouldn't be able to act supportive unless Kate and Tony did 'the right thing' and got married. Well, she could forget that! Kate would have her baby without the support of her mother, and she and Tony would raise their child together and do it well for that fact. She didn't need the support of her hard-headed family. She only needed Tony…whom she had almost lost previous night. She pushed the thought from her head. He was fine, and he was going to help her through her pregnancy and to take care of their child. Besides, she had other people, too. She had Abby, and Ducky, and sometimes McGee would help her out. And even Gibbs had cared for her welfare. She could do this. She was going to do this!

"Love you, too, Mom," she said back half-heartedly before she hung up the phone.