As Kate stepped into Tony's apartment, one thought immediately came into mind: Wow´. Apparently her surprise showed on her face, cause she soon heard Tony's voice call from the kitchen. "Impressed, Kate?"
"Well…I…-" she began as she walked through his living room. Tony'd gone with a modern but still homey design and it was better kept than she'd ever thought. She spotted a huge plasma screen on the wall and smiled to herself.
"You hungry?" Kate quickly spun around, startled by his presence.
"Um, no thanks. Just tired"
"Come on, I'll show you the guest room" Tony said softly and walked down the hall. Kate followed, not being able to ignore the fact that Tony'd changed a bit the moment they stepped through the door. She followed Tony down the hall and through a door to the left. It wasn't big but more than enough to be a guest room.
"I'll get you some pillows" Tony mumbled and left. Kate stepped into the room and placed her duffel bag on the floor. It felt odd to be here, in Tony's apartment, in one of his bedrooms, preparing to spend the night. Tony soon returned with a few pillows and a duvet in his arms. He dumped them on the bed and turned to Kate.
"Bathroom is across the hall, take whatever you want in the fridge except by Canadian beer and well…behave" he said teasingly and then left her alone.
Well, this was an unusual situation´ Kate thought as she made up the bed. She heard Tony move around in the kitchen and was struck by the fact that she, if only for a couple of days, would be living together with Tony. It was strange, just not to be alone. When the bed was made, Kate changed into a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. She let her hair down and crept out to the kitchen. She lingered in the doorway, watching Tony move around and prepare some sort of sandwich.
"How domestic" she teased. Tony just grinned and offered her a box of cherry tomatoes, which she accepted. They ate in silence, an odd kind of silence hovering over them. It was a new situation for them both, spending time outside of work. Living together, even as friends, were something pretty intimate, especially now when it wasn't work related.
"Well, I'm going to bed" Kate said and put down the empty plastic box on the counter. "Goodnight, then" Tony said. Kate smiled tiredly and walked out of the kitchen.
---
Far away, Kate heard a low tapping. Deciding to ignore it, she turned around under the covers. But as the tapping continued, now with a low Kaaaaaate´ accompanying the annoying sound, Kate forced her eyes open.
"What do you want?" Upon hearing Kate's agitated voice, Tony dared to open the door.
"Morning" he said cheerfully. To cheerful for Kate's taste at this hour.
"What time is it?" Kate demanded grumpily.
"Around seven. You should get up" he said and sat on the edge of the bed. Groaning, Kate sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"You're worse than my alarm clock!"
"Good to know. Come on, breakfast is served" he gently twirled a lock of her hair between his fingers before he stood. The slightly affectionate gesture startled Kate, before she decided to get up after all. She's slept like a baby through the whole night, which made waking up worse then usual. Still sleepy, Kate made her way to towards the kitchen. In the doorway, she froze. On the table stood two plates with home made waffles and a strawberry on top. Tony was just about to add some whipped cream when he spotted her standing there.
"Surprised I could cook?"
"Well, yes. I always pegged you for the take out type" she teased as she walked past him and sat down on a chair.
"This actually looks really good, DiNozzo"
"Well, thank you" he said and sat down across from her.
"God, Tony. This is so good" Kate said after taking a bite.
"Never thought I'd hear you say that"
"Pervert" Kate said, but she smiled as she saw Tony simply shaking his head. While they finished, they talked about the case and what Gibbs would make them do today. Kate remarked that as long she was in a warm, snow free place, she would do pretty much anything.
"What do you think Gibbs'll say? About you staying here I mean" Tony asked as they bundled up to face the cold weather.
"For our own good, I think we should stay quiet" Kate suggested.
"We probably should. Which kind of spoils my next idea"
"Which is?"
"Take one car to the headquarters"
Kate eyed him for a moment and then put her car keys back in her pocket.
"You'll drive. If we crash, it's your fault. If we're late, I'll blame you, deal?"
"Deal" And with that they were out the door.
As they drove, Kate couldn't help but think how similar their morning routines were. Everything from in which order they prepared themselves for the day to smaller things like how they both checked the news or picked up coffee on the way to the Navy Yard. Luckily for them, they neither crashed nor arrived late. They took the chance to come in together and fortunately, Gibbs didn't seem to care.
"Something came up on the stuff we found at the scene?" Kate asked.
"Nope, but Ducky's got an ID. Kate, pull out the records on a petty officer Caleb McKenzie" And without any further information, Gibbs left the bullpen. Sighing, Kate booted up her computer to bring out the records. Although, she'd had a hot cup of coffee on the way to work, she was still freezing like hell.
"I swear, we're on the verge to a new ice age" she whined as she typed in the name Gibbs had given her. She pressed a few buttons and soon the info was shown on the plasma between Tony's and McGee's desks.
"By the way, you think Probie's late?" Tony asked as he came to stand beside Katei n front of the plasma.
"His stuff is here, so he's probably down with Abby" Kate reasoned and gestured towards McGee's backpack, neatly place by the file cabinet behind his desk. The pair studied the petty officer's file until Gibbs came back, now with McGee in tow.
"Found anything?"
"No. He's spotless, Gibbs. Not even a speeding ticket. He was never married, no kids and next of kin is a sister, living in New Jersey. Name is Rachel" Kate informed him. This wasn't really much to go on. "So what do we do now?"
"We're going to talk to his CO, then contact his sister in some way. I have no intentions of driving all the way to New Jersey" he said grumpily. "Come on, let's go" Gibbs grabbed his coat and then went for the elevator.
---
"I don't have a good feeling about this" Kate said warily as Gibbs drove off the freeway and into a much smaller road, away from the city and its nicely ploughed roads. "I definitely don't have a good feeling about this" Kate said as Gibbs drove into a much smaller road, barely squeezing in between two trees.
"Gibbs, where the hell are we?" She snapped. Gibbs hid the smile by turning his face down so she wouldn't see his face in the rear view mirror.
"His CO, Lieutenant Gordon, is out on the field"
"And you couldn't have waited until he came back to some place…maybe without snow?!" Kate almost yelled. Both Tony and McGee looked amused as the usually straight-laced agent become upset over the cold. Apparently Gibbs thought the same as he with a triumphant grin parked the car just beside a huge snowdrift.
"You gotta be kidding me" Kate deadpanned as she pushed the door open and angrily trudged through the snow. Now Tony couldn't help but laugh. Kate gave him a death glare and he immediately stopped. Gibbs seemed to actually enjoy the snow and the call weather as they went to find the lieutenant. As he suddenly began walking into the woods, sick sacking between trees and smaller snowdrifts, Kate stopped dead in her tracks and turned to Tony, who walked right behind her.
"I must have done something extremely bad in my previous life" she said and reluctantly began walking. Lucky for her, since she didn't hear Tony's chuckle behind her.
---
After almost an hour with snow up to her knees, Kate finally found herself back at the office.
"If I see another snowdrift I will pass out" she deadpanned and tossed her backpack behind her desk, then began walking away.
"Hey, where are you going?" Tony asked before Gibbs did.
"Changing" Kate said exasperated and gestured towards her soaking wet pants. Then she walked for the elevator, apparently to go down the gym. She grimaced as she peeled off her wet slacks and slipped into a pair of sweatpants. It was only a few hours left of the day so she wouldn't die if she wore sweat pants for a few hours. She took off her shoes and replaced them by a pair of sneaker. Much better, and much more comfy. With a content grin she closed the locker, only to be met by Tony's grinning face.
"You followed me?"
"Needed to change too"
Kate looked down for a moment and realised that he too, wore navy blue sweatpants. "Whatever" she said and closed her locker.
"Gibbs told us to check with Abby if something else came up" Nodding, Kate followed him out of the gym, once again wishing that she could just go home. Or well…at least somewhere without snow and Gibbs.
When they arrived at the lab, Abby was nowhere to be seen. Pretty unusual since she spend almost all her time with the microscope, maspectrometer and the plasma, mostly for Gibbs' sake of course. They walked through the automatic doors, expecting to see Abby by her computer but the chair was empty.
"Think she's abducted by aliens?" Tony asked. Kate rolled her eyes and began scanning the area.
"In there" she nodded and Tony soon spotted Abby, wearing protection glasses and apparently testing something in the ballistics lab.
"You staying at my place again?" Tony asked after a moment of silence. Kate shrugged.
"I guess I am…if it's okay?"
"No problems" Tony grinned. "But it's your turn to make breakfast tomorrow"
"No way! I'm the guest"
"You're the lodger, big difference" Tony pointed out for her with got him another glare.
"You're so silly"
By now Abby was finished and heard her friend bickering on the other side of the window. As always. As she opened her door, she caught Kate's last sentence.
"Remind me to get my slacks before we go home" Abby froze. What the…"we go home". What did that come from?
Now Tony and Kate turned, spotting Abby but not looking guilty at all. "Something you wanna tell me?" Abby eyed them warily. They exchanged a confused glance. "No"
"Immediate denial. You're lying" Abby said and walked to her computer. "Okay, tell me, what's going on between you two?"
"What are you talking about?" Kate asked.
"Are you sleeping together?"
"WHAT?!"
"Kate said before we go home´. You live together"
Now exchanging another glance and then putting on their knowing smirks, Kate turned to Abby.
"Yes"
"So you are sleeping together? Oh my God, this is so huge. I always knew it, but when it finally happens geez!" she rambled, eyes glowing.
"The central heating in my building broke" Kate then revealed.
"And?"
"I'm moving back to my own place already this week and no we're not sleeping together and never will!"
"Who says that?" Tony then butted in, upon hearing the last part. Another glare from Kate. Abby on the other hand just looked disappointed but also skeptical.
"Whatever you say"
"What is that supposed to mean"
"Nothing, nothing. Did you two come here to let me think you're sleeping together or did Gibbs send you?"
"The latter" Tony said. "Got anything useful?"
"Nope, nothing. Sorry, guys"
Kate looked like she was going to die. "Something wrong, Kate?" Tony wondered teasingly.
"This probably means more diving through the snow. Damn it, I hate snow. Christmas is over! Why can't it just disappear!!" she whined and left the lab. Abby turned to look at Tony.
"She hates snow" she stated.
"Oh, you should have seen her today, snapped at Gibbs. Well, I better go and find her before she does something stupid. See ya later" Tony said and quickly went to find Kate.
"Well, that was…rewarding" Abby said as she turned back to her microscope, a big smile plastered on her face.
Looooong second chapter. Probably my longest so far :D Well, I hoped you had energy to read it and have a bit energy left to review:D Thanks!