A/N: Thanks to everyone that has reviewed the first chapter :) it means a lot to me. I decided on a bit of a light opening but this story will take a slightly new direction from here on but the Maltesers will be back later. :P

Happy Birthday ("Grattis på födelsedagen" in Swedish) TV-LUVIN-HOTTIE (a little late) and Rayadreamer and Ggirlxxx (a bit early). Here comes a slightly longer chapter for ya. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

Through Troubled Nights Chapter 2: So Follow Me Home…

It's now or never…, it's now or never… Kate told herself over and over again, pacing her living room. I'll just do it, and then he won't have anything against me leaving early…I'll be back here in no time!

All she had to do was get into her car and drive to the restaurant, tell him, and go home. It wasn't harder than that, at least not theoretically. I can drive; I've known how to do that for quite some time now. I know where the restaurant is. I'm capable of speaking and I know my way home again. How hard can it be?

I really like theoretically right now! She thought taking another deep calming breath as she checked herself out in the hall mirror. She made sure her hair and make up was good and then walked out of the apartment with the never ending "It's now or never"-echo in her head. Another voice in her head, the voice of the scared Kate, told her she could wait. It told her that she didn't need to see him at all. She could just run… or ignore him… or both! Maybe I could shoot him?

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"Hello, darling!" Mitchell greeted with a little too sweet smile on his face as she met up with him outside the restaurant. "Ready for some Italian?"

Tony...? No! Focus! Kate this is not a good time to think about your annoying co-worker! She shook the thought away.

"Huh? Oh yeah…. sure"

Mitchell took her hand in his and ignored the look on her face that told him she wanted to yank away from his grasp. He wasn't stupid. He knew Kate wanted out but he would just have to teach her a lesson, now wouldn't he. He knew that she had all of these ideas in her head about women and them supposed to be strong and have minds of their own. Isn't she stupid? He thought as he guided her to the table they were assigned. Stupid, but way too cute for someone else to lay their hands on. No, she was his and there was nothing about it to discuss. He knew what she was up to and he knew how to handle it as well. Bring it on Katie…

Kate had already won one battle. When Mitchell asked for this date he wanted her to come have dinner at his apartment. They could order in something, he said. Kate knew what she wanted to dump him but did not feel like doing that in his apartment… or hers for that matter. Not that she wanted to break things off with this big public scene or anything but her job had taught her to bring back up when she wasn't sure she could handle something on her own and this was a situation like that. Her back up tonight would be the other people in the restaurant. Not the best back up but that was what she had. She smiled, picturing actually telling Gibbs about Mitchell and then have him standing with his gun to Mitchell's head while she broke up with him… oh yeah, that would be back up. After many phone calls and Kate threatening to call the date off Mitchell had finally given in and agreed to the two of them going out somewhere.

As she sat there picking at her food Kate was really happy that she wasn't the one giving in and that she now could do this in the public eye. She'd seen him snap before… about practically nothing.

She considered opening the conversation with a "Mitchell we need to talk" but soon decided against it. After all she did not want a conversation, she wanted a monolog. Once I let him cut me off I'm toast, she thought. She cleared her throat and nervously played with the napkin on her lap.

"So…" another deep breath and then she spilled it "I've been thinking and I think, no I know, that we shouldn't do this anymore. I want us to stop seeing each other." She held her breath, shocked over the fact that she managed to get her message across in less than 0.3 seconds but also anticipating an answer, a reaction, anything from Mitchell. Not that she wasn't happy with him being quiet for once, but she wanted a more long term reaction.

"Okay" said Mitchell simply. He gave her a small smile. "Let me pay and then we'll get out of here alright?" His voice wasn't upset, not stressed or angry… it was just a calm and simple 'okay'.

Mitchell turned around in his seat, trying to locate their waiter so that they could get their bill. Kate just sat there not sure what to do with herself. She had her head full of different things to say to defend herself and her decision and a ton of different scenarios but none of them included the word "okay" coming from Mitchell.

"Close your mouth darling… leaving it hanging like that makes you look like a fish" Mitchell winked as he signed the bill and thanked the waiter as he got his credit card back.

Inside of Kate there was another battle going on. Someone in her head screamed at her that something was wrong. Wasn't Mitchell's 'okay' an acceptance? Was it something else? Did he hear what she'd just said?

"We're over!" she blurted out putting both her hands on the table in front of her, a desperate and slightly confused look on her face. Mitchell smiled at her again.

"Sure" He took her hand in his. This time she did take it away. She stared into his blue eyes as her mind went 200 miles an hour. You're a profiler! Just understand him, damn it! Figure him out… she pleaded with herself. He stared back into her eyes and as her thoughts and theories flew by in that high speed she couldn't seem to grasp a single one for consideration. She could see his lips move… he did that again, he started talking and had her hypnotized. She had no idea what he was saying. Or did she? Focus Kate!

"…so since it's raining now maybe we could take your car and I would only have to walk from your place." Even though the words he used implied a question, what came out of his mouth really wasn't. It was an order. At least that's what it felt like to Kate who still had a hard time connecting her tongue to her brain. His eyes burned into hers and she found herself nodding. Rain… he didn't want to walk in the rain and she had her car… yeah that made sense… didn't it?

Kate didn't have time for an inner debate on the subject since Mitchell now, standing, ushered her out the door. She looked back to the table where they'd just had dinner, confused. Had she not been there minutes before? Seconds before? Had she not just told the man she'd been dating that they shouldn't see each other anymore?

As Mitchell slipped his arm around her waist and grabbed her car keys out of her coat pocket she didn't know anymore. What just happened? She asked herself.

"Let me drive my Katie home one last time" He smiled sweetly again and didn't wait for her to answer before getting in the car. Kate, still in shock got in as well and Mitchell started the engine.

Building after building went by. A red light. It turned green and they were on their way again. More buildings… darkness broken by street lights. Kate stared in front of herself wringing her hands in her lap. He's only driving you home, what could go wrong? She asked herself trying to convince herself that the growing ball of pain in her stomach was just paranoia… or possibly food poisoning.

Mitchell glanced at her from his seat. "Drive my Katie home one last time"…Yeah… I can't help the fact that I didn't specify which home that would be. He returned his eyes to the road ahead and ignored the fact that he was supposed to turn right to get to Kate's street.

Kate had decided not to panic. She needed to take things easy and just consider it work. A case. She was trained to do these kinds of things, for gods sake. Who am I kidding? I wasn't trained for this! That's when he missed the turn. She looked at him, eyes wide. No he wouldn't… no…

The car suddenly seemed very cold to Kate. Her fingers and hands went numb and she felt like her brain was freezing. Could she do anything? Scream? Cry…, try to fight him? They were in a car and with the heavy traffic she would endanger not only herself and Mitchell but others as well. She took a deep breath, and another one trying to calm herself.

She soon realized that Kate Todd, Agent with the NCIS was not calm after all… she realized that she had given up. She had let him win. She was on a mission and had failed. It was as if she accepted it all instead of him accepting their break up. Well… at least I tried, can't do more than that, she thought as she let the heavy rain on the roof of the car lull her in to some kind of sleep like hypnosis. What movie would Tony think of if he was here? She thought, a heavy fog settling in her head.

Mitchell dragged her out of the car. "Home one last time…" he whispered in her ear as he shoved her into the elevator. His building was big and dark to Kate. She recalled having been there once before… but in her numb state she couldn't think of when or why. He pressed the button for the 4th floor.

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As he watched Kate half sit, half lie on his floor even Mitchell wondered why she was so drained of emotion. He'd practically thrown her inside his apartment. She stood pressed up against the wall just looking at him… not the right thing to do according to Mitchell and he struck her across the face sending her to the floor with a thud. There she was now. Not moving, not crying…

"This is for you… I do this for your sake. You understand that, right?" He bent down, speaking only inches from her face, blood, from her split lip, ending up on her black dress in small drops. "You need to be taught how to behave around your man Kate." he said with a firm grip around her upper arm. He peeled her wet coat off of her and tossed it next to her spot on the floor.

I'll just let him do whatever he wants to do and then go when he lets me…, Kate thought as she fought hard not to show him any kind of emotion as he dragged her to her feet. And never look back.

"Tonight we'll practise." He said, his eyes cold. He released his grip on her arm.

Cold as ice, Kate thought. Just like the car. When she didn't response he continued.

"We're going to practise being husband and wife, darling." He walked towards his bedroom. Kate remained standing where had hauled her up. Mitchell stopped and Kate could have sworn, she saw his ice blue eyes right through his head. He turned around, slowly breathing hard, clearly frustrated with her behaviour.

"Lesson number 1, Katie:" He sneered. "When I want you to move…" he grasped a chunk of her hair "you move!" and pulled. She yelped and swaggered as the pain and shock ripped through her.

"I-I want t-to leave now" she said, still trying to remain calm.

Mitchell punched her hard in the side, she fell to the floor and felt like her ribs had shattered in to a million pieces. Mitchell got down on his knees next to her, not minding turning her over so that she faced him, he sighed loudly.

She bit her lip, to keep herself from moaning in pain.

"You're free to go…"

She let out a big sob not believing him but wanting desperately to. How the hell did I end up here? She thought, the pain in her side bringing tears to her eyes that she refused to let go of. She wouldn't let them fall.

"Ally… your little sister… she's pretty!" Mitchell continued when Kate refused to move. "You're free to go, as I said… I can teach Ally to be the perfect wife instead," He said, taking out a photo from his pocket. "and I could have some fun with that little girl of hers as well."

Kate felt ice run up her spine. How did he know any of this? She had never told him about her family.

She winced as she felt her ribs hurt as she moved on the floor. A grin spread across Mitchell's face as she moved. He stuck the photograph of the 4 years younger sister and her 6 year old daughter in the park under Kate's nose and watched in satisfaction as her tears finally fell from her eyes and dripped on the photo, one by one.

"Where did you get that?" she hissed not caring about the tears now.

He stood up, looking down at her. "We'll forget about Ally and little Megan if you stay tonight. Now if you share our… experiences with that team of yours or anyone else our deal is off. I'll enjoy what I plan on doing to you, but I'm telling you I'd enjoy playing a bit with Megan as well." He smiled at her again and Kate looked up at him in hatred. She hadn't talked to her sister in about a year but loved both her and her daughter. She'd die before anything happened to them. Mitchell had when taking that photo, obviously been closer to them than she had in many years… he knew where they were and would get his hands on them if he wanted to.

"Now what did we learn from lesson number one again, Kate?" asked Mitchell and turned around.

Kate stood up again, holding her side. Her legs felt like jelly and the fog in her head wouldn't disappear.

"Move…" she muttered, taking small ragged breaths trying not to fall to the floor again as she followed him.

This has got to be the worst break up in history…

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Maybe a bit of a boring chapter but I felt like introducing Mitchell to you all. A real catch, obviously. ;) I don't know if Kate has a sister or not but in this story she does.

You might think "Kate's not at all like herself!" and that's what Kate's thinking as well. She's just as confused and lost as you guys might be.

So, the question still stands, can Kate trust Tony to help her out? Will she tell him or is he going to find out on his own?

Yes, McGee and Abby and… well all of them (except for Ziva) will be in the next chapter. I have nothing against McAbby and I'll see what I can do about that.

Thanks for all of the descriptions of your socks btw :)

The same goes for this chapter. Want to tell me something, anything? Do it in a review :) Plans for the summer holidays? Tell me in a review ;)

Thank you.

/Malin