Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I don't even own this computer. Oh wait I own this hair-lacky! Yay!

"Hey uh, Gibbs, I've finished the Fletcher report, mind if I go for a walk? I'll bring back lunch," Kate said as she stood from her desk.

"Only if it isn't anything from that health food shop you go to, Agent Todd."

"Deal. You like the pizza from Chazello's right Tony?"

He nodded at her, confused. Kate grabbed her coat and cell phone and headed for the elevator. Once the doors shut Tony shot a questioning look at his boss. Gibbs just shrugged.

Since when does Kate go for a walk to get us lunch? He thought.

"Hey Boss I might go for a walk too," he mumbled as he rushed to the elevator.

"Does nobody drive anymore?" Gibbs wondered aloud. By the time he realized DiNozzo hadn't finished what he was supposed to be working on, it was too late to call him back. "Son of a-"

Out in the quiet streets, Kate walked slowly and aimlessly. Walking to clear her head had always been a good technique in the past. Pity it wasn't working so well today though. Her cell phone began to ring but she ignored it. She knew who it would be. She and Harrison had had yet another fight last night. Same old story – he was upset that she had to work all the time, she was upset that he wouldn't understand, he accused her of having an affair with a colleague and she kicked him out of her apartment. Now he would ring all day until she answered and he'd apologize and she'd go running back to him. But not this time.

She knew that the demands of her job were tough on her boyfriends. She understood why they got so mad when she cancelled dates so frequently. The annoying fact of life was that she couldn't change that, and not changing that meant dating outside the office was next to impossible. The only ones who really understood were her colleagues at NCIS and she couldn't very well date any of them could she? No, that was one of Gibbs' rules.

Her frustrated thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she felt someone take her hand. She gasped and looked up, but found it was Tony. She relaxed and kept walking in silence, as did he. She felt him interlace their fingers and she wondered what he was doing. She turned to him and opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't know what so she closed it again and they kept walking, hand in hand, down the street.

After what felt like hours, but was probably only 10 minutes, Tony cleared his throat.

"Kate where are we going?" he asked softly.

Kate suddenly took note of their surroundings and realized they were nowhere near Chazello's or Kate's health food shop.

"I, um, I don't know," she said lamely.

"It's alright. We should probably start heading back though."

"Yeah… sorry Tony."

"Don't apologize. Just tell me what's wrong," he said as they turned around and headed back the way they'd come. Tony never let go of her hand.

"Just a lot on my mind right now. Nothing major," she shrugged.

"OK," Tony replied, but she could tell he wasn't exactly satisfied with her answer.

Several moments of silence passed before Kate finally asked the question she'd been wondering for 15 minutes now.

"Tony, why are you holding my hand?"

"Because I want to," he answered mater-of-factly.

She didn't ask any more questions and they visited the stores and bought their lunches. When they made it back to NCIS, Tony turned to Kate and asked her the question he'd been wondering for a while now.

"Kate, why didn't you pull your hand away?"

She stopped walking and looked thoughtful for a moment before replying.

"Because I didn't want to."

Thank you for reading )