Shattered
Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything
Summary: Twilight left them shattered. When Ari is killed 6 months later, the team learns surprising news, but will those news come soon enough to keep one of them from breaking?
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4- Surprising guests
Kate packed some clothes for the night and they got into the car. She was silent most of the drive and just looked out of the window. "I haven´t been anywhere near Washington for the last months. The chance of running into someone I know was too big." She finally said as he parked in front of a chinese restaurant. "Tony, can we go to Abby´s place?"
He looked at her and smiled. Her eyes were sparkling and full of hope. "Can´t wait to see her, huh? Yeah, sure. You get the food and I call her up to see if she´s home." He said and pulled out his phone. When Kate had disappeared into the restaurant, he hit 3 on his speed dial and waited for a reply.
"Hey, Tony." It didn´t take her long to find the phone tonight, so Tony figured that she had either been reading or watching TV. If she had been to a party or listening to music, it would have taken her longer.
"Hi, Abbs. Uhm, you home tonight? I was thinking about coming over with some Chinese food." He said and grinned. She would suspect that something was up immediately. Abby knew him rather well by now and dropping by with some food on a Sunday night was not like him at all.
Her voice gave that surprise clearly away. "Wow, did you catch my flu or something? I´m home all right, but Tim is here too. We were watching some movie. Just come over and we´ll have a fun night." She said and hung up again.
Tony hurried after Kate, who was still waiting in line to place her order. "Probie is at Abby´s place as well, so we ought to get something for him too. You okay seeing both of them tonight? I could call McGee out while you go and see Abby." He offered, but she shook her head.
"It´s fine. It´s just Ducky tomorrow then -well, and Gibbs." She said and they waited for their food to be ready. 10 minutes later, Kate felt her hands trembling as they walked up to Abby´s apartment. "Maybe you go ahead and take the food." She said, feeling a bit scared all of the sudden and Tony placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Don´t worry, Kate. I´m sure they´ll be thrilled to see you. Abby talks a lot about you still and you know how McGee is. Just stand around the corner and let me do the talking first. I don´t want those fried noodles to end up on the ground." He told her and rang the doorbell while Kate stood out of sight. It was kinda dark and only her silhouette was visible, making her look like a shadow.
The door was opened and Abby stuck her head out. "Hey, Tony! Wow, you made it in less than 20 minutes." She said and sounded rather cheerful. He handed her the bags with food and she put them into the hallway, waiting for him to come in. "Come on in, we won´t bite. Would be a pity to let the duck get cold."
"I got somebody else to come, I hope you don´t mind." He finally said and felt his heartbeat quickening. He knew how close both women had been from the moment they started to work together. This probably wasn´t the best way to tell both that Kate hadn´t died, but he guessed that both would survive that shock.
"Oh Tony, what poor girl did you bring this time? I thought the time when Alison ran out after seeing my bed had taught you a lesson." She said and stuck her head around the corner. Abby frowned a bit when she saw a lone figure standing in the darkness. Something about the shadow made goosebumps errupt all over her body. It took her a moment until her eyes adjusted a bit to the darkness.
Kate felt tears in her eyes again, choking her so much she could hardly speak. "Abby..." It was barely a whisper and she wasn´t sure if her friend had heard it at all. She took a step towards the door and therefore into the light. "Abby." She repeated, her voice becoming a bit more steady as she saw the incredulous look on the goth´s face.
Abby felt her hands shaking all of the sudden. She blinked twice, trying to tell herself that this was just a trick of her mind, but part of her had already realized that it wasn´t. "But...Kate?" She tried softly and felt tears streaming down her face as she recognized her friend. "Kate! You´re here? I mean, but how, when..." Her voice trailed off and she pulled her into a hug.
Kate wiped the tears from her eyes and returned the hug. "I didn´t mean to make it so hard for you guys. I didn´t know, Abby." She whispered and found herself face to face with Abby again.
"I don´t even care what happened, you´re here, you´re really here." Abby said and bounced back into the apartment. "Tim! You got to see who came around for dinner." She called into the livingroom and jumped onto the couch, landing half on McGee, who was still watching the news.
"I know that Tony´s coming, Abbs." A voice replied, sounding a bit annoyed. "Hey, Tony." He called out towards the hallway without actually looking up from the TV. He hadn´t noticed Kate coming in.
Kate winked at Abby and jumped over the back of the couch, landing next to McGee a second later. "I heard Tony is even worse than Gibbs in command, so I figured you need some help there." She said and grinned when his jaw dropped through the floor.
"Wha...wha...wha..." McGee couldn´t get a word out when he found himself only inches from Kate. He had seen her dead body in morgue, he had been at the funeral and now she was sitting next to him with one of her beautiful smiles on her face.
Tony brought their food and some cuttlery in and sat down on a free spot of the couch. "Gee, probie. That makes you look stupid, you know that?" He said and laughed heartly. It felt like the weight of the whole world had been lifted off them at once.