A/N: Wow! You guys are amazing! Thank you so much for the amazing response. I dont know how long this story will be. Probaly not to long-maybe four or five chapers. I have a pretty good idea of where I am going with this. But please, keep those reviews coming. They make me feel special!

--Emily--

Disclaimer: Nope-own nothing.


3 Years Later

The sound of a soft giggle woke Kate up. She smiled, her eyes still closed as she felt the warm breath on her face. Her eyes slowly fluttered open as she found herself face to face with a pair of large blue-green eyes. The child giggled as Kate kissed her soft cheek.

"Morning Ally," she said.

"Morning Mommy," her two-year-old daughter replied. Kate pushed herself out of her bed. It had been three years since she left NCIS, and since she left her past behind. It had been a little over two years since she had Ally. She never regretted her decision to keep the child; Ally was the center of her world. She did regret the fact that Tony would never see his daughter. He would never know how it felt to hold your child in your arms, to look into their innocent face and see yourself in them. Ally had been born with his good looks.

Kate showered quickly, not paying much attention to her hair and makeup. Since the birth of Ally, things had changed. Her whole way of living was completely different. Long nights off of work were no longer spent alone with a glass of wine and the TV. Now they were spent playing with her young daughter. Kate learned early on that trying to make herself pretty for work just did not work out with a baby.

"Mommy. Make pancakes!" squealed Ally as she watched her mother dress for work. Kate glanced at her watch. Deciding she had enough time before she had to take Ally to daycare and get to work, she agreed.

An hour and a half later, Kate was finally on her way to work. She had just dropped off Ally at the day care center. The center was nothing special, just a small school. It was nice enough, and it was affordable. Kate groaned silently at the though of bills. She was just reminded that her monthly rent bills would be coming soon. Before Ally, money had never been an issue. She had lived well enough for a single person. But as with everything else, Ally changed this. Kate suddenly had found herself trying to support two people, one of them a baby. Money had suddenly become a huge issue for Kate, as she was a single parent, with a low paying job.

When she had decided to keep her baby, she had known that Tony would not be in the picture. She knew she would have to raise the baby alone. She knew being a single mother would be hard, but nothing could prepare her for the experience. It had been a struggle, both physically and mentally. There were times when she would just lay down in her bed and cry after a tiring night with Ally. She would stare at the phone, wondering if she should call Tony and just tell him the truth. She never called him, of course. She had always managed, and throughout the past two years she had managed to get into a routine. Of course she still had difficulties-she was, after all, human. She groaned as the rain started to pour down on her windshield. When she had moved to Florida, she had expected sunny days and warm weather. She soon learned that this assumption was wrong. The winters got cold at times, and in the summer, when it wasn't blistering hot, it was raining. Right now, it was raining. And it was raining hard. She pulled into the parking lot of the NCIS building she now worked at and ran in, trying to stay as dry as possible. She quickly walked to he r office,

"I am so sorry I'm late. I was dropping Ally off at daycare," she said, walking up to her boss. He rolled his eyes.

"What else is new?" he muttered. Kate started to walk towards her desk, but he suddenly stopped her. "Oh, and Kate, two agents from another NCIS lab are coming to help with the Mitchell case."

Kate nodded. They had all been working hard on a case involving a man named Tom Mitchell, who was suspected of killing navy officers all over the United States. Kate gave no thought to who was coming, or from where they were coming. That is until an hour later, when a loud voice echoed down the hall.

"I though Florida was supposed to be sunny! Where are the sun and the girls?" Kate's heart froze. She knew that voice. She would always remember it, until the day she died. She scrambled around at her desk, shoving all of her pictures of Ally in the desk. She looked behind her and felt her breath stop.

It was Tony DiNozzo. The man that she thought she would never see again. He was the only man she had ever lost sleep over. She took a deep breath as she rose from her desk, her heart pounding as she came up behind him.

"You know you shouldn't believe everything you see on TV, DiNozzo," she yelled back. He slowly turned around to face her, his eyes widening in astonishment.

"Kate?"

She smiled. "Hey Tony. It's been a while." He just nodded.

"Hey, what's the hold up?"

Kate smiled at McGee, who upon seeing her stopped short of Tony. "Hi," she greeted. She was well aware of the stares that she was getting from her coworkers. They did not know how Kate knew these strangers, for they knew very little about her.

"Kate… Do you already know special agents McGee and DiNozzo?"

Kate looked at her boss and nodded. "We worked together."

He smiled. "Well then, show them what we have so far. We have work to do."

The rest of shift went well. No one mentioned Ally, and she hardly had time to talk to Tony and McGee. But she knew that eventually they would want to talk to her, or one of her current coworkers would mention Ally, or they would notice the strong resemblance between Tony and Ally. Kate always thought the easiest thing would be to keep Ally a secret. Now she wasn't so sure.

"So, Kate…"

Kate turned to see Karen, her friend and coworker.

"So what?"

"You know those two agents?"

She nodded. "We worked together."

"Tony's pretty hot," Karen said, stealing a glance at the man in question. Kate raised her eyebrow.

"And your point is…"

"Oh, cut the crap. He's nervous, you're nervous, and you've hidden the pictures of Ally. It doesn't take a genious to figure out that he's Ally's father."

Kate nodded. "Please, don't tell him or McGee. I really don't want them finding out."

"Why? Doesn't he have the right to know that he is a father?"

Kate shook her head. "It's complicated. What I'm doing is for the best."

"For the best of who?"

Kate rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her work.

An hour later, Kate was getting ready to go home when she heard a familiar voice calling out to her. She turned to see Tony.

"Hey Tony."

"Hey Kate. Would you like to go grab a bite to eat, maybe show me around?"

Kate cursed herself inwardly. "Sorry but I have something to do."

"How about later, maybe tomorrow?"

Kate considered this for a moment. She would have to call up a babysitter, but she was sure she could find someone to do it. "All right." She smiled as she drove home, looking forward to the next night.


A/N: I know I know I know. A lot of you wanted me to have her tell him and live happily ever after. But now what fun would that be? I have a plan, don't you worry. And this will be Tate-eventually. If you are nice and review!

Emily--

Edited 12/18/07.