CHAPTER 5
The next few days went by slowly and Kate was able to go home from the hospital. Tony went to pick her up.
"You ready to get out of here?" Tony asked smiling.
"For sure, if I spend any more time in here I'm going to blow." Kate said getting together her few things. "Oh, and I never want to see Jello again." Tony laughed and grabbed Kate's bag as he and Kate walked down to the car park. Kate was all ready fiddling with the sling she had on her arm.
"How do they expect you to do anything in these things?" Kate asked exasperated
"Well Kate, I think the point is to stop you from doing anything. Your gonna have to be one handed for a while." Tony said helping Kate into the passenger seat.
Tony put her bag in the trunk. They drove along the highway in silence. When they reached Kate's apartment it was early evening, Once inside Kate flopped on the sofa and Tony took her bag up to her room, Kate was to tired to protest Tony snooping around in her room. When he came back down Kate was asleep and Tony went to a near by Chinese take out restaurant.
"Kate. I got some dinner for you." Tony whispered placing the Chinese on the table.
Kate woke up as Tony came back into the living room with some plates and drinks.
"Thanks Tony." Kate said taking a plate and putting some food on it.
"Hey what kind of partner would I be if I left my wounded partner food less… your paying for this right?" Tony added. Kate laughed at him, typical DiNozzo, always looking for a free meal.
The next few weeks went by and Kate was cleared to do field work again. Her injury had healed nicely, and she was relieved to be out of the sling, which had driven her mad. It was Saturday evening and in celebration of Kate's recovery Abby decided they should all go out for a few drinks. Kate arm wasn't a hundred percent recovered and she wasn't risking driving yet. So Tony ended up driving her to the bar they had agreed on. They met Tim, Abby, and, surprisingly, Gibbs there.
"You ready?" Tony asked Kate before they got out of the car.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Kate said smiling as she got out of the car. Tony didn't miss her slight grimace though as she moved her shoulder a little too far.
They walked through the parking lot and entered the bar; Tony noticed Kate constantly looking over her shoulder. He realized that the experience of being shot and locked up had left her really nervous, he hoped it would go away as she recovered completely.
"Hey, Kate, no ones going to hurt you. I won't let them." Tony said grabbing Kate's good shoulder.
"Thanks Tony, I don't know why I'm like this." Kate said wincing.
"You were shot in the shoulder and locked up in a cell, being nervousis natural." Tony said looking at her. "Come on, lets go have a good time."
A couple hours went by and drink after drink went into everyone's system, everyone drank a little more then they might have normally; relived that Kate was ok and that everything was back to normal. Because of this everyone ended up a bit tipsy by the end of the evening. Tim, for example, ended up standing in the middle of the dance floor swaying softly, completely perfecting the lost puppy look. Gibbs was sitting on a bar stool fascinated by a lady outside, talking to a man in a dark suit. Ok Gibbs wasn't exactly fascinated with the lady, he was fascinated by the Starbucks coffee in her hand As the lady walked away and Gibbs lost sight of the Coffee, he put his hand to his gun. Abby sat on a bar stool next to him humming to some song playing in her head, red bull in hand. She got so into the song she was humming she spun around so fast in circles she got dizzy and fell off, Tony came over and helped her back up. Tony saw Kate go outside, but didn't think anything of it until she didn't return. Tony made his way out of the bar. He saw Kate at the dock near by looking out over the sea, the full moon making the ocean glow silver. Tony spent several minutes just looking at Kate noticing how beautiful she looked with the moon reflecting off her face and hair. He snapped himself out of it, what the hell was wrong with him? Kate's your partner, you've known her for forever and now your acting like a love struck sixteen year old? Pull it together. He walked over to her.
"Hey you ok?" Tony asked quietly.
"Ya, just needed some fresh air." Kate responded quietly.
"You want to go for a walk?" Tony asked.
"Ok." Kate said giving him an odd look before starting to walk down the beach.
They walked for about ten minutes before Tony stopped and turned to look at Kate.
"Kate what I said to you in that cell; its true." Tony said stammering a bit. Why am I telling her this? Why now? Because I never knew how much she meant to me before, he thought.
"What?" Kate asked confused she had no idea what Tony was talking about.
"You might not have been awake then but what I wanted to tell you is that…" Tony could barely bring himself to say the last words.
"What Tony?" Kate asked again.
"I love you Kate, and I know I have a lame way of showing it, I'm sorry." Tony blurted out.
Kate stared dumbfounded at him.
"Its ok if you don't feel the same I just wanted to let you know, but if you ever wanted to go out to dinner or something." Tony knew he was making a fool of himself, Kate had never shown any interest in him other then a friend. Damn it you never should have told her. He thought, mad at himself.
"I might just take you up on your offer." Kate said quietly.
"Really?" Tony asked.
"Really." Kate said moving closer to him.
Tony leaned in and kissed her, he knew he was moving to fast but he couldn't help it. Kate surprised him by kissing him back, She ran her hands through his hair and Tony cupped her chin in his hands, He was so much taller then her he almost had to bend over in half to kiss her, so he wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up; Kate laughed and wrapped her legs around his waist, he smiled and kissed her again.
"We should think about getting back." Tony said quietly into Kate's ear, her head now resting on his shoulder.
"Yeah I guess we should." Kate said.
Tony set Kate down and she brushed some sand off his cheek. They walked back down the beach. Once they reached the bar Abby, Tim and Gibbs were ready to leave.
"Where were you?" Gibbs asked.
"We just got some fresh air." Tony replied taking the keys to his car out.
Gibbs gave him a suspicious look. Good thing it's dark. Thought Kate, blushing at Gibbs' suspicious look.Tim waved down a cab and it pulled up to the curb. Abby, Tim and Gibbs got into it. "Kate get a ride with DiNozzo his flats closer to yours then any of ours. I'll see you on Monday. Don't be late." Gibbs said firmly.
"Ok boss see you then." Tony said waving as the cab drove off.
Tony got into his car and Kate got into the passenger seat. Tony started to drive off.
"You know what we should do?" Tony asked.
"What?" Kate asked smiling at his cheeky grin.
"I can swear that Abby and Tim are up to something I think… we should see if they get out of the cab at the same time." Tony said his eyes still on the rode.
Kate laughed. "Ok."
"Yes!" Tony said triumphantly
They followed the cab to its first stop. Gibbs got out and Tony grinned. After Gibbs said good-bye to Abby and Tim the cab went off again. For the next twenty minutes they trailed the cab. Finally the cab stopped and Tim and Abby got out. Tim paid the driver and they walked into Tim's apartment. They were holding hands and Abby's head was leaning on Tim's shoulder.
"I knew it." Tony said smiling.
Kate laughed as Tony turned around. "You're not going to let them know you saw them are you?" asked Kate.
"Nope, but I cant promise I wont bring it up if the Tim pulls a probie." Tony smirked.
Kate hit his arm playfully. For the rest of the ride Kate was silent like she couldn't find anything to say, or was too embarrassed to say it.
Tony stopped outside Kate's apartment.
"Home sweet home." Tony said.
" Ya…Thanks Tony. For everything." Kate said blushing again
"Its alright." He said goodbye and kissed her softly on the lips. Kate sighed as he drove away, what have you gotten into Kate? She thought.She was so confused she didn't know what to think. Everything with Tony had happened so fast, but she couldn't shake the feeling of how right his arms had felt around her. As she walked inside she came to the conclusion that had helped her throughout her entire life. It will get sorted out in time; all in time.
