Author's Note: thank u very much for all the reviews and nice comments I got...this makes me really happy and as promised...a longer chapter 4...enjoy...and don't forget to review;)!
Day 3
The following morning they opened their eyes at the same time. They were again a few inches apart, looking into each other's eyes. They both had rolled on their side, facing each other. Kate swallowed, still sleepy. Tony came closer and suddenly their romantic moment was interrupted by an insecure knock on the door.
"Hmm, Kate, Gibbs wants you to be ready in half an hour. You'll have to go back and investigate the daughter. Maybe her father contacted her without the mother's knowledge. I also knocked at Tony's room but he didn't answer. You don't happen to know where he is, do you?"
"Uh, no McGee I don't. And I'll be ready" Kate quickly looked away from Tony, slipping out of the bed. She could hit herself for what just was about to happen if McGee hadn't knocked on the door. She didn't deny that there was chemistry between them, but Gibbs would fire her if something happened between them and she didn't want to lose her job again because of her own stupid mistakes.
"I'll see if McGee is gone" Tony uttered and silently left the room. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it, sighing. God why the hell did I do that? Now everything is going to be weird between us. But what could have happened if McGee didn't knock? Damn you Probie.
"Welcome...again." said Darlene Stevens.
"I've had a phone call that you want to speak with my daughter. Why do you have to involve her into this? She has nothing to do with her father being dead. She already has nightmares about the whole thing." Mrs Stevens remarked clearly annoyed.
"Just a few short questions Mrs. Stevens" Kate asked politely.
"She's in her room" she nodded.
Gibbs knocked on the door and the 10-year old girl opened the door of her bedroom. Since it was only 10 am in the morning and holiday, the girl looked rather sleepy.
"Hi Melissa. I'm Kate and this is Tony and Gibbs. We have a few questions for you about your father." The girl nodded.
"So how long is it that you haven't seen your father?"
" Umm…don't know, a while" the girl said nervously, while turning her head left. Both Gibbs and Kate knew she was lying. The both of them had their experiences with interviews and when the person looked to the right they were recalling a memory and when they looked to the right, they were lying.
"We both know that that isn't true Melissa." Gibbs said softly, "Now, why don't you tell us what you know and then we can find the person who did this to your dad."
"He said I couldn't tell anybody, that it was just between him and me. I'm not going to betray my dad. Semper fi." She said strongly and distinctly.
"Wow" Gibbs answered, "so your dad has taught you some stuff, and I'm sure that he would want you to help us out right now. We want to find the person that did this to him. It's really important that we know all the information."
Tears appeared in the corner of her eyes. "He came to visit me yesterday. He told not to worry and that he would be back soon. Tomorrow is my birthday party" she said proudly.
"Happy Birthday" said Kate and Gibbs at the same time.
"Thanks...I'll be 11."
They left for their hotel. In the car, they were discussing the new information.
"Like Abby would say, this is something hinky!" Kate said, "Ian Stevens visits his daughter after his mission was ended, saying that he will be back soon. Why would he do that if nothing were wrong? His wife clearly doesn't know anything about that or hasn't told us she does. The next day his lover kills him. What is wrong with this picture?"
"Pictures are the answer here Kate." Gibbs interrupted her; "Abby will have these pictures of the murder ready tomorrow."
A few hours later McGee came into the lobby of the hotel, where Gibbs was drinking his cup of coffee and reading some background information about Ian Stevens.
"Hey...I ran this through the computer and these are all names of the high society of Florida." he told Gibbs.
"Anything more useful McGee?"
"Hmm, well, there's a charity event tonight actually and a lot of these people will be there then. It appears that Ian's parents are diamond traders and are very wealthy."
"Well, what are you waiting for then? Get DiNozzo and Kate over here..."
"Tony, your parents are loaded aren't they? Well, I'll set you and Kate up in another hotel room as a rich couple wanting to donate a large sum of money to the cancer foundation of this charity event. You can snoop around and ask some questions." Kate's eyes got wider...
"A rich couple?...a couple?...no, no, no Gibbs...no way..."
"Would you rather be the wife of McGee then?" he asked annoyed.
"Uh, no...Tony it is..." she answered.
"Now, I'll let Abby set up a fake identity for you two...and behave!" he added.
"Ha, who would believe that you were Probie's wife anyway!" Tony smirked.
"Erm..Gibbs, you're forgetting something. Do you think I have evening dresses hidden in my luggage everywhere we go? I have nothing to wear for tonight and I bet Tony here has the same problem!" Kate said.
"She's right boss, I don't have anything." Tony quickly responded.
"Well, alright, you guys go shopping then, the mall is near here, but be back at 5pm and not a second later!" he waved his hand to give them the sign to leave.
"Yesss!" Tony shouted while Kate grabbed her purse and left together with him.
"We're gonna make a deal here Tony, you don't come to check me out and I don't come to check you out and we're back here by 5pm and everybody's happy!" Kate said self-assured.
"Awww, c'mon Kate, I get to pick your dress, something black and sexy!" he laughed naughtily.
"No, you don't!" she answered.
They arrived at the mall and Tony watched Kate disappear in the crowd, waving goodbye. She smiled to herself, enjoyed this little bit of spare time she had on a case to do some shopping. She wanted to get it over with, so that she could also do some personal shopping. She stepped in a boutique and started to look around. A lady came by to help.
"It's quite formal, so I don't want any bright colours." Kate told her.
"Ok, I'll show you some nice black ones then!" she responded and left to get her some dresses. Kate smiled at the sight of Tony looking at her dress. She got 5 dresses and immediately excluded the ones she deemed too old or too sexy, but found one of them very nice. She came out of the changing room and turned in front of the mirror.
"I'm taking this one!" she said, before the saleswoman could say anything.
"Excellent choice ma'am!" she responded politely.
When Kate came out of the shop, she looked at her watch and saw that she had enough time left to do some other shops. She stepped into Victoria's Secret to buy herself some new lingerie. As she stepped out of the store, she ran right into Tony, who was licking an ice cream.
"Lingerie? Lingerie?" he asked like a teenager. She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah some people do use that every once in a while! Are we getting back?" He shrugged
"You want to see something else?" She shook her head "no, not really." They started walking again in the direction of the hotel.