Should I be completing my works in progress instead of writing a new one? probably. Will I? no. Enjoy!
"We got a body," Gibbs said, striding into the bullpen, cup of coffee in his hand.
Tony wondered if there would ever come a day when there wasn't a body, couldn't people go one day without killing each other? The team grabbed their stuff and went to leave, but Tony noticed Gibbs slipping a piece of paper onto Kate's desk and nodding at her.
"What was that about?" Tony asked as they arrived on the scene.
Kate shrugged, "I put in a request for personal leave in a few weeks."
"Ohhh where are you going?" Tony teased, "Visiting family, college friends… hot date?" he said, raising an eyebrow suggestively.
"There's a reason it's called personal time, Tony," Kate said without even blinking.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs barked, "You gonna stand there gossiping all day or get me some witness statements?"
"On it boss," Tony said, jumping into action. The mystery of Ms. Todd would have to wait.
He ended up forgetting about the incident until a few weeks later when he showed up to work and Kate wasn't there.
"She ever say where she was going?" He asked McGee.
He shook his head, "Didn't say anything to me."
"Wonder where she is," Tony said, looking at the empty desk belonging to his partner.
"Well that's not your business is it DiNozzo," Gibbs said, walking to his desk and pulling out his gun.
"Dead body?" Tony asked, groaning internally.
"Yep, Kate's meeting us there."
"What happened to her personal day," Tim asked.
"She's not there as a cop, she's a witness."
The crowd around the body was more… eccentric than Tony was used to. Body paint abounded, and most everyone had some kind of brightly colored flag draped around them.
Kate on the other hand was dressed in her usual clothes, but the one difference was so stark it might as well have been a beacon.
A small pin, attached to the front of her jacket with the rainbow colors of the gay flag. It didn't take a genius to figure out what it meant.
Kate was looking at him definitely, as if daring him to say anything, but for once he couldn't find the words.
"Victim is Petty Officer Micheal Jones, 28 years old. He was at Pride with his sister and his boyfriend. Approximately 2 hours ago he started exhibiting signs of heatstroke. Family attributed it to dehydration, but then he began foaming at the mouth and collapsed, five minutes later he was dead."
Gibbs nodded, "Alright, Tony you and McGee get photos and start bagging. Kate, you start talking to other witnesses, see if anyone else noticed anything."
Kate and McGee both nodded, but Tony still felt as if he had fallen into another universe.
"So you, your, uh…" He nodded at the badge.
Before Kate could respond Gibbs threw a bag at Tony's chest.
"Get to work DiNozzo!"
"Right, Boss."
The ride back to the office is tense. He kept trading glances with Tim, while Kate seemed content not to look at any of them. Gibbs was staring resolutely out the window. Finally, it was Kate who broke the silence.
"I know you want to ask so just… get on with it."
"So you're… gay?" Tim asked, and Tony wanted to smack him.
Kate rolled her eyes, "I'm a lesbian Tim."
And there it is, out in the open. He sees Gibbs glance back at them in the review mirror.
"Any of you have a problem with that?" Kate challenged.
Tony meets her gaze and then suddenly he's 26, just starting out at Baltimore PD. A coworker mentioned her girlfriend in passing and ended up cleaning out her desk a week later.
Then he's 15 years old again. Two kids at boarding school got caught kissing in the closet and got the crap beaten out of them by the school bully. Instead of making sure they're ok, the teacher is questioning them, accusing them of preying on other students.
Then he's 10 years old, his father won't let him see his older cousin Joseph anymore because "Dinozzo's don't associate with those kinds of people."
Then he's in the present, and Kate looks scared, scared of them he realizes and it's like a bucket of cold water has been poured on his head.
"Why would we have a problem with it?" he finds himself asking.
Kate looks surprised.
"Yeah I… I don't have a problem with it." McGee says.
"Gibbs?" Kate asks nervously.
"Makes no difference to me."
They fall into silence again, only this time it's comfortable.
"So," Tony says looking over at Kate, "Girls in skirts and long socks am I right?"
Kate looks at him, and for a moment he thinks she's going to punch him but then she bursts into laughter.
"Seriously Tony?" Tim askes, but he's beginning to laugh too.
"You may not be able to understand this McGoo, but Kate knows what I'm talking about. Am I right?"
Kate is shaking with laughter, "Sure DiNozzo."
Tony grins and sits back. Take that, Dad.
The case doesn't take long to solve. It turns out that the petty officer had quite a lot of money put away, and his younger brother poisoned him so he could inherit it early.
They got into the elevator together.
"Hey Kate?" Gibbs said.
"Yes Gibbs?"
"Thank you," he said, looking her in the eye, "For trusting us."
Kate smiled.
I may end up adding other chapter to this with other team members coming out, but Im going to wait until I finish my other fics first. Leave a comment, they make my day :)
