Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or its characters…

Author's note: Apologies for the tardiness/crappiness of this chapter. I haven't been in much of a writing mood lately and I was going to hold off until I had written more before posting this…but that may be a while, so maybe this will tide some readers over until I'm not so lazy…

Kate heaved a heavy sigh, the kind that forces every last molecule of air out of your lungs, in the hopes of expelling everything evil in the world along with it. She felt guilty about not informing her mother about her impending grandchild. But at least she told her before the baby was born. Maybe she should call her brothers and tell them, too. However, her mother would definitely tell them of their sister's "Predicament", if she wasn't already on the phone with them right that second. Kate wondered if their reactions would be as extreme and cold-hearted as her mother's. Probably not. But then again, they were overly-protective of her. They would probably think that Tony had taken advantage of her, because they all knew she was too smart to get herself into such a situation. Maybe they would kill him. Maybe she would let them. Maybe she would kill him herself, slowly and painfully, just like she was suffering right now.

How did she get herself into this situation, anyway? Oh, she could blame Tony. It was easy to blame Tony. But the truth was that it had been just as much her fault as it was his. They had been dating for awhile, sleeping together for over a month. She had been careful not to rush into things, to do anything stupid or regrettable. She hadn't had a single alcoholic beverage on any of their dates. It hadn't been that she hadn't trusted him; it had been that she hadn't trusted herself not to screw things up. She had figured that they were safe from doing anything that they would regret, that would make things awkward between them. They had already made that certain step she feared alcohol would make them take prematurely while sober. So they had finally decided that they were comfortable enough with each other to got out drinking and have a good time. Neither of them had been surprised when they had awoken in bed together, with little to no memory of the previous night. She had assumed at the time that they had been smart enough to use protection. It hadn't been until the indicator strip turned blue that she knew she had assumed wrong. Never assume anything, Gibbs always said. Why couldn't he have been wrong just once?

The alarm clock started wailing, piercing and dissolving her thoughts with its shrill beep beep beep. Kate leaned over and with considerable effort managed to turn it off. She had set it so that she wouldn't sleep, causing her to suffer insomnia during the night when she would need to be sleeping. The bright red glowing numbers burned the time into her brain. She rubbed her forehead. Four O'clock. She should check on Tony.

She sighed as she realized that she would have to get up to look up the hospital's phone number. She would rather have wanted to visit him there, to see him in person, but someone would have to take her and she refused to become a burden upon anyone else more than she had already been. She forced herself to get up and walked to the kitchen where she located the phonebook under a rather large and random amount of junk in the "miscellaneous" drawer. She decided to use the phone in the kitchen for this call, in case she dialed the wrong number and needed to look it up again. No sense in making two trips. It also gave her room to pace, an action that phone conversations with Tony tended to make her undertake, probably because he usually made her frustrated or anxious. Pacing provided a way to work off her aggression without snapping at him. She took another deep calming breathe, something she had been doing rather frequently as of late, and dialed the number. She wouldn't let him frustrate her, and she wouldn't have an emotional breakdown again.

A nurse or receptionist answered the phone with a forced sweet-honey voice. Kate gave her Tony's name and the room number. She wouldn't forget that number for a long time; it was etched into her memory. Two-Oh-Seven. It represented how she had nearly lost him, but also that he was alive, that she had been able to see him again. The phone rang three times-she had been counting again-before he picked up. It was his voice, a little weaker and less playful than usual, but it was still him. She swallowed back the lump that had begun to form in her throat, and scolded herself for being so emotionally erratic and stupid.

"Hey, Tony. It's me."

"I wish I could. It's just-"

"No. I really do want to see you." He didn't know how much! "I just don't want to ask Gibbs or Abby to drive me over again. And it's getting late anyway, and I'm pretty sure that I'm expected back at work tomorrow and-"

She smiled to herself as he told her that he understood. He didn't hold it against her, like she had feared that he would. Sometimes, she knew exactly why she loved the man. She just didn't know how to tell him.

"Is there anything I can bring to entertain you while you're stuck in the hospital all alone?"

"No. I don't think they'll allow that." At least being shot hadn't dulled his personality any. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"Okay. If I can find it." She had no clue where the portable DVD player had gotten to. "What movies do you want?"

She couldn't help but feel like she was taking a fast food order. "Would you like fries with that?"

He laughed at the sarcastic comment, and that made her smile.

"Godfather, White Heat, Dirty Harry, The Shining, Reservoir Dogs, Goodfellas…Are you sure you should be watching those type of movies?"

"I mean, don't people get shot in all those films?"

"People die, though."

"Okay. The point is that they're a little on the violent side. How is that restful?"

She decided that this shouldn't turn into an argument, like almost everything between them did. Sometimes the arguments were serious, sometimes they weren't, but it seemed to remain their primary form of communication. "You know what, Tony? I'll bring you whatever you want…minus the strippers."

"Yeah. I think I can talk whoever gives me a ride to work tomorrow morning into stopping by the hospital."

"You're welcome. I'll see you then."

"I won't forget. Don't worry." How could she forget that he was lying in the hospital instead of at home taking care of her!

"Bye." She pressed the button to hang up the phone.

Kate pulled out the kitchen chair and sat down. Her feet were beginning to hurt, an intense stinging sensation on the souls of her feet whenever they hit the floor and received the pressure of her overburdened body. It felt like the bottom of her feet had managed to become sunburned somehow. She closed her eyes and took a minute to clear her head. How could phone conversations be so taxing? And she wasn't done yet. At least the last one should prove much easier. She picked up the phone receiver for what she hoped would be the final time that night, and dialed Abby's number.

Seven rings, no surprise there. Abby had a tendency not to pick up the phone very expeditiously. It was either that she couldn't hear it because of her loud blaring music, or because the ringing was muffled by the coffin she probably slept in. This time, it was because she had just gotten back from work, she explained and apologized to Kate with her grainy voice as she picked up the phone. Not too late then, Kate thought. It was only five-thirty. Gibbs must have been in a good mood.

"Hey Abby. How'd you know it was me?"

"Clairvoyance? That's new. I was wondering if-"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"He's acting his usual jackass self, so yeah, I think he's fine. I had a favor to ask you, actually two. One's for Tony, one's for me."

"Tony wants some things from home-"

"Yes, movies. He's so predictable. So I was wondering if maybe-"

"Thank you. I'll tell him that he owes you one."

"I have a doctor's appointment at 3 O'clock tomorrow and I thought that maybe you could take me?" Kate got the whole sentence out that time. That wasn't a good sign.

"No. It's okay, Abby. I'll figure it out."

"No. I don't want Gibbs to be angry with you, too. He has to like at least one of us."

"Thanks, Abby. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Bye."