"Hmmm," The doctor glanced at Kate and Tony over her glasses as she flipped through some papers on her clipboard. "Mrs. DiNozzo, I'm happy to say that you're baby is fine for the moment. There might be some complications at birth, but there's nothing we can do about that until it's delivery time."

Kate and Tony both sighed in relief. They had rushed as fast as possible to the hospital, with Kate crying the entire way. She had been so afraid that the baby was too early, or she had miscarried. After a number of tests and ultrasounds, it was determined that the cramps had been caused by stress, and that both Kate and the baby were fine.

"Mrs. DiNozzo, your blood pressure is much higher than it should be. I'm inclined to think that you've been under a great deal of stress lately," the doctor continued. She gave the couple a daunting look.

"I-Well, I have…a stressful job," Kate offered.

"Ah! But surely you've taken your pregnancy leave by now?"

"Oh, but I've only been doing desk work."

"It is in my expert opinion that if you do not take your leave soon, you will lose the baby."

Tony leaned back on his chair and looked sadly at the empty desk across from him. Kate was at home now, resting, and making sure that the baby was okay. Tony knew that her job had nothing to do with the stress she had. It was all Liz's fault.

The problem was that Tony hadn't heard from Liz ever since their encounter at the bullpen. Gibbs had tried to help him track her down, but everything turned up a dead end. It was killing Tony, knowing that she was out there somewhere, telling people that he was the father of a child that didn't exist.

The phone rang, jarring Tony out of his thoughts. Swinging his feet off the desk from which they had been resting, he swept the phone off its cradle and said, "Agent DiNozzo."

His face, which had been relaxed (though maybe a bit tense) moments before, morphed into a mask of fury when he heard who was on the other end.

"Hey Tony. It's Liz."

"Liz." Tony's voice was monotone. McGee looked up when he heard "Liz." The entire team had banded together to help Tony find her, and now, McGee jumped to attention. He was best at tracking phone calls. If Tony could just keep Liz on long enough…

"Sorry I wasn't able to call before. I was a bit tied up in things."

"Listen Liz," Tony said through gritted teeth, "Thanks to you, Kate almost lost the baby."

There was a flutter of motion on the other end. "Well, I'm also carrying your child, so I don't see what the big deal is about."

Tony almost hung up right then, but he saw McGee rapidly typing away on his computer, and knew it was important to keep talking.

"I know the baby doesn't exist Liz. And Kate believes me. Why would you make up such a thing?"

"It's not made up. Where is Kate anyway? I tried calling her, but no one picked up."

"Kate is at home now, thanks to your fiddling."

For the first time since Tony had heard her speak, Liz's voice lost the snotty tone. She actually sounded scared as she said, "Kate's at home? Alone?"

"Um, yeah." Tony glanced at McGee, who shook his head, signaling that he was not yet done tracking Liz down. On the phone, Liz swore quietly.

"I have to go Tony," she said hurriedly, and promptly hung up. From his desk, McGee slammed his fist against his desk in frustration.

"I almost had it," he told Tony. "She's downtown, in the coffee shop district. It's a two mile strip, and I'm not sure which shop she's in."

Gibbs appeared almost instantly and clapped McGee on the back. "Good work. Let's get rolling."

Tony gripped the edge of his desk. "She said she had to go. That probably means she's not in the café anymore."

"Then I've got good news. I managed to pick up her GPS signal. From the looks of it-" McGee paused and pressed a few keys on his keyboard. A map of the city appeared on the big screen, with a little red dot traveling along its roads. "-Liz is on the move."

Liz had quite a lead foot when she felt like it. Cars around her were honking and screeching as she tore through the streets. It was uncomfortably warm in the car, but Liz's hands were cold. Her conversation with Tony kept replaying in her mind.

"Kate is at home now, thanks to your fiddling."

"Kate's at home? Alone?"

She knew that her employer was listening in on all her calls to Tony. News of Kate, alone and unarmed, would be of value to him.

The truth was, Liz was a good and honest person. She only agreed to trick Tony and Kate because it paid well, and money was something she was in dire need of. Having never learned to spend money wisely, Liz squandered her savings quickly, and was falling into bankruptcy when a strange man offered her two million dollars to deceive innocent people.

Once she met Kate and Tony, it became harder for Liz to keep lying. Now, she decided that it was time to come clean.

The house that she pulled up to was on a nice suburban street. Its lawn was neatly manicured, but the paint was peeling off, and the windows were tainted with dust and dirt. Liz ran up the walk and threw the door open, almost smashing into the man coming out.

"You can't do this Rhodes."

Rhodes, his hair slicked back, smiled greasily at the blonde woman. "Liz. Just the person I wanted to see." He opened the door wider and ushered her in. They stepped into the kitchen, where Liz slumped into a chair.

"Kate. Please, don't go and hurt her."

Rhodes wandered over to the counter and fingered the handle of a steak knife. "You know I wont hurt her. I'm just going to go over there and make her see that she's meant to be with me, not that Tony person."

"But you should have seen them! They were happy, so happy together. It broke my heart, lying to them like that."

Rhodes wrapped his fingers around the handle and picked it up. "You're becoming a bit of a problem in this play of things, Liz."

Liz looked up, and saw him approaching, knife in hand. She let out a strangled gasp, but sighed in relief as Rhodes put it back down. "Where are you going?"

He barely glanced back as he passed her. "To Kate."

Liz let out a cry and rushed to the door, blocking it. "No! I-I won't let you! I'll call the cops! They'll arrest you!"

Rhodes paused, turned, and picked up the knife. Liz turned and gasped, but stayed where she was. "Don't you use that," she whispered in horror.

Her words had no effect on the man. He rushed at her, imbedding the knife in her abdomen. Using one hand, he kept her upright and snarled into her face, "Get out of my way, bitch." He let go of her, and Liz dropped to the ground. Rhodes kicked her hard in the face before walking out the door. He didn't even have a single drop of blood on him.

TBC