Author's note: thanks for the reviews..but I'm wondering..where did you find the fic? I wanted to post it amongst all the other tate stories but when I search for it, I cannot find my own story...anybody know what I did wrong or should I subscribe to something?

And as promised..introducing a little tate;) Hope you like it!

Day 2

Ducky came out of the elevator the next day, followed by Abby.

"Jethro!" He yelled, "I've got some interesting news for you."

"Ok, what's up Duck?"

"Did it occur to you once, that you had a funny taste in your mouth when you woke up?" Kate and Tony exchanged looks.

"Well, it has been scientifically proven that every human being swallows 2000 bugs and spiders during his lifetime..."

"Is this going somewhere Ducky?" Gibbs asked.

"In due time, Jethro, in due time," He said calmly. "I was examining the stomach of our victim and I found a strange bug that he swallowed."

"I ran it through my database," Abby continued, "and it appears that this kind of species only lives in Florida, so that means that our victim was in Florida yesterday before the murder."

"That's strange," Kate said, "When I talked to the wife on the beach, she said that her husband had been working on a secret mission here in Washington. Why would she lie about him being in Florida? And she was in Washington herself with that investigator!"

"Unless she didn't know that he was in Florida..." Tony added.

"Grab your gear, we're going to Florida." Gibbs stated.

It was late in the afternoon when they arrived in Florida, the hotel where they were staying lay directly at the beach and there was a pleasant sea breeze. Kate put her bag on the floor in her hotel room. She went into the bathroom to unpack her toiletries bag. Tony walked into her room from a door connecting their adjoining rooms, where he went through the bag Kate had placed on the floor.

"Well well, what do we have here? Lady Chatterley's lover..." He held out a book and grinned viciously. He knew Kate would react to his behaviour and he loved it.

"Tony, give it to me" Kate demanded, her eyes narrowing.

Tony ran towards the bed and jumped on it, Kate following. He held the book with his one

hand and with his other he had to keep Kate from getting the book. She elbowed him and he dropped the book behind the bedside table. They started fighting, using their hands and trying to cover their faces. Suddenly Tony grabbed Kate by her upper arms and pulled her down. They were only a few inches apart, both breathing heavily and gazing into each other's eyes. They didn't notice that somebody came in.until Tony looked away and shrieked:

"Gibbssss...we were..."

"I don't want to know what you were doing, DiNozzo. I just want you to go and interrogate Darlene Stevens NOW!" They both jumped off the bed, blushing ashamed and nodding. They rushed out of the door followed by McGee, who had been standing behind Gibbs all that time.

"So what were you guys doing anyway?" Tony was planning an answer to shame most fictional writers, when Kate gave him a look and said:

"Nothing McGee. We were fighting over a book of mine."

"Really? 'Cos it looked like you were about to…"

"Drop it, McGee and that is final," added Kate. She turned on the radio and Jailhouse Rock blasted through the car speakers.

"You know, I have a friend who doesn't believe that Elvis is dead, he thinks that he has been abducted by aliens." McGee casually said. Tony laughed and gave Kate a little look, who was also smiling.

"I bet you do probie, I bet you do" Tony grinned.

Their car stopped at a big villa near the sea.

"Wow, I guess she's doing pretty well" McGee remarked. Darlene Stevens opened the door.

"Hi, come on in." The woman led them to a huge living room and offered them refreshments.

"We have beer, coke, lemonade, kinnie and coffee."

"Kinnie?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, that's a drink, typical for Malta. We drank it on our holiday there and loved it that much that we ship it over. It's a bitter drink made of herbs and very thirst-quenching.

"That's fine, I'll have that then." Kate answered.

"So, what do you want to know? There's not much to tell actually, I haven't seen my husband since the last time he left for a mission a few weeks ago. I suspected he was having an affair, because some of his mates were all ready home and he wasn't. I so hoped that it wasn't true, but I had to see it with my own eyes, so I hired that private investigator and he found out that he was cheating me...with a man!"

The living room door opened and a young girl stepped in the room.

"Mom, is it okay if I go and see Punk?"

"Yeah, that's alright honey, just be home for supper." The girl ran off.

"Punk?" asked McGee.

"That's her pony. She was our 10-year old daughter Melissa."

"Can you describe us the relationship between you and your husband?" Kate asked her.

"Well, we fell in love when we were really young and I had no clue what it would be like, being a marine's wife. We lived on base for a few years, but I couldn't get used to being alone all the time. He was always gone and I was alone with a baby. It wasn't easy. Ian's parents invited me to come live here in Florida. Ian wouldn't talk about his work or the bruises he had of his missions when he came home. Everything was secret. In the end, I got sick of it and I told him I was going to leave. He thought it was a good thing I spent more time here, so the grandparents could have some quality time with their granddaughter. They didn't get the chance to see Melissa a lot when she was little, so I want them to spend time with her now. Ian comes by when his mission is over that is until he gets a call for the next one."

"How long is it ago that Ian came by?" McGee asked.

"A few months. He called before he came and that was usually after a mission was finished."

"Ok, thank you for your time Mrs. Stevens. We will contact you if we have more questions." Tony shook her hand and they stood up and went to the door.