Thanks for all the reviews I got so far, I really appreciate them. Because I got such lovely reviews, here you go with the next chapter.

Tony was shocked. He didn't know what just happened. Even though he looked at her, it was too surreal. This couldn't possibly be her. She died. No. She was killed. That moment still haunted him.
While Tony was speechless, the female agent looked at her boss, angrily.
"What is he doing here?" She said, trying to suppress her anger.
The Director shortly looked at Tony, excusing, before looking back at Kate, "Special Agent Todd, is there a problem?"
"Is there... a problem?" She tried to stay calm but couldn't keep her emotions inside, "What the hell is he doing here?"
"Uhh, what do you mean? I told you an NCIS agent would work with you and..."
"Yes. Yes you did. But why him?"
The Director got a little nervous, "You mean he..."
"He is on that team? Yes!"
Foster swallowed nervously, "I'm sorry. I send Lawson, you know he doesn't know."
"And you felt like you don't need to tell him that there are people who can't be part of this mission for reasons that you can't tell him?" Kate said stunned.
"I couldn't tell him and I didn't think that the possibility of someone from that team to be chosen would be too high."
Kate sighed, still looking at the Director.
"Is this some kind of a sick joke?" Tony asked, gaining the attention of the others.
"No, it's not. I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were one of the agents who knew Special Agent Todd", Foster answered, trying to stay calm.
"I don't get it...", Tony quietly said, trying to hold back his emotions.
The Director was about to answer, but was cut off by his phone, "Yes?... Okay, I'll be right there", he hung up before facing the two agents, "I gotta go. I'm sorry for the mistake, but we can't change that now. Please do your job and do it good."
Foster left, leaving the two agents alone in silence.
The two former colleagues stared into each others eyes, not knowing what to say or how to react.
"I know this is... confusing", the brunette started.
Tony nodded, "You're... alive? But... how?"
"Look, Tony", she took a deep breath before continuing, "This mission has nothing to do with you... or me... we need to stay professional and with that I mean we need to... we need to pretend that we don't know each other."
"What?"
"Things happened. Things changed. Just pretend that we never met. That I never joined NCIS. You just met me now, okay?"
"You're back with the Secret Service?"
Kate sighed, "Yes, Tony, I am."
"And you're alive."
"Yes."
"And you are Kate."
"No, goddammit I'm the Easter Bunny. Of course it's me!"
Tony couldn't believe it, "That's impossible. I saw...", he looked down for a moment before looking back into her eyes, "I saw you being... killed."
"I just told you, pretend that I never joined NCIS. That all that never happened."
"Well, excuse me, but that is not exactly the simplest thing to do when seeing a former colleague... a former friend, alive, after having seen her being killed three years ago."
"I get it, okay? But it doesn't matter what is easy to you. What matters is that you do as I said."
"How could I pretend to not know you? I don't even know what the hell is going on or how you managed to survive that shot."
"I know..."
"Maybe I'm dreaming..."
"You are not dreaming, DiNozzo."
"You are alive", he repeated.
Kate sighed, "Yes, I am."
Tony was about to ask yet another question, but was cut off by Kate, who took a file out of her bag and reached it to the NCIS agent, "This is the guy we need to bring back to Tel Aviv next week."
"Tamir Yadin", Tony read out loud after he opened the file.
Kate looked at Tony while he read the file. No one was to find out about her being alive and she thought she would never see him again. And there he was. Close to her, aware that she was still alive. Even though he should not know of her not being dead, she was relieved that he found out. But being realistic, she knew that Tony knowing made everything harder. Not for the mission in general. But for her and him.
"What kind of information did he steal?" Tony asked after closing the file.
"Information about Naval ships. The construction, the crews."
Tony looked at her, "I can't believe you're still alive."
Kate moaned, "God, Tony, would you stop that and concentrate on the mission?"
"Well excuse me for still being shocked.", Tony calmly replied.
"I got that part. Now can we focus on this again?"
"Sure..."

The two agents talked about the mission for about two hours, before they were done. Kate put the file back in her bag, while Tony looked at her. She noticed it and as soon as she was done putting the file back, she looked at him, "Could you stop that, please?"
"Sorry, I just..."
"DiNozzo!"
"What?"
She looked at him, seriousness in her eyes, "Remember what I said earlier?"
"You said a lot, actually."
"I said we have to pretend like I've never met you before, like I've never worked at NCIS."
"Yeah about that..."
"No."
"What do you mean 'no'?"
Kate got up, "It means no questions. Just listen to me. We never met until now. And when we're done with this mission you'll just remember me as the »Secret Service Chick«."
Those were the last works of Kate before she left the room.
Tony sat there, by himself, confused, "What just happened?"

It was dark. Eleven pm. His apartment filled with silence. He lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. What did he just experience? Was it real? Or would he soon wake up, realizing it was all just a dream? He didn't know. And what was it with the pretending not to know each other? How did Kate survive? Thousands of questions ran through Tony's mind. Unfortunately, he couldn't answer them. And Kate didn't seem to be willing to answer them. For a second Tony thought about calling Gibbs and asking him, but he then remembered that Gibbs didn't know and that Tony wasn't aloud to talk about the mission, and Kate. Tony had the strange feeling that there was more to the mission than he was told. He felt like Kate was more involved in the mission than anyone else. Maybe she wasn't willing to answer him, but he would find out. He had to.

At home, Kate let herself fall on her bed. When she woke up that day, she hadn't imagine to meet Tony. Of all people. She knew she would work together with an NCIS agent and she knew Tony was good. But she didn't think that they would take Tony. She actually thought that Director Foster was capable of choosing an agent that didn't know of Kate's NCIS time. And then of all people, it was Tony who was chosen. That just made it harder. She always hated the fact that she would never see him again, and that she made him saw how she died even though it wasn't real, but seeing him again wasn't any better. Not because she didn't like him, because she did. No. The reason was that as soon as the mission was over, they would have to say goodbye. She couldn't possibly say goodbye. It never felt quite right pretending to be dead, but that way she was the only one of them knowing that she was able to see him again, but couldn't. She didn't want to hurt Tony. She didn't want to say goodbye. But now it was too late. He knew. From the moment she saw in his eyes that day she knew that they would have to say goodbye and that that would make everything even worse.
She almost fell asleep when her phone rang. The brunette got up and walked to the kitchen, where she answered the phone, "Hello?"
"My apologies for not choosing an NCIS agent myself", Foster said.
"It can't be changed now", Kate replied.
Foster nodded, "I know. The Director of NCIS chose him, he is supposed to be one of the best agents. Would you agree?"
Kate thought back for a few seconds, remembering some of the cases they had, making her smile, "Yes, he is a very good agent."
"Is it going to be a problem that you know each other?"
"He was very confused today and I guess that is not going to change in the next few days but... he'll keep it to himself, mostly. Anyway, I believe that it's not gonna be a problem for him to work together with me. It's just that... he wants to know what happened and this curiosity is not going to fade away."
"And are you able to work with him?"
Kate stayed silent for a moment, "Yes."
"Good. I trust you, agent Todd. DiNozzo is one of the best NCIS agents while you are one of the best Secret Service agents. I believe you two can do this. And maybe the fact that you two know each other makes it easier."
"In what way?"
"Because serious missions are always easier to be successfully accomplished when there is trust between the people who were involved."
Kate nodded, "We can do it."
"Try to keep your emotions aside."
"With all respect, Sir, you don't need to tell how to do my job, I'm aware of that."
"I know that you do, agent Todd. But this mission isn't just another job. It's about saving the president and the country."
"Like you said I am one of the best agents, I think I can handle that. And just so you know, Special Agent DiNozzo and I are a good team."
"That's all I needed to hear", the USSS Director said before hanging up.
Kate sighed in relief. What she said was true. She and Tony were a good team. And now they were back.

And with that the actual story begins. Hope you enjoyed this chapter :-)