Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any of the characters, or some of this dialogue which is from the show. SPOILERS for "An Eye for an Eye"

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Anthony DiNozzo woke when the alarm clock went off at 0700. He groaned, and reached over to shut it off. He collapsed back into the bed, tightening his hold on the woman next to him, and burying his face in her hair.

"Tony?"

"Shh. Go back to sleep, babe," he whispered.

The woman sighed. "No, Tony, we can't. Come on. We have to go. Gibbs will kill us," she said, turning onto her back, and facing her boyfriend of under a year. "Come on," she said again, "Get up."

Tony grunted and shook his head. "No. Turn around. Sleep," he ordered. The woman laughed, and elbowed him in the stomach. "Ow! Kate, come on!" Kate laughed as he pulled away from her to massage his stomach and Kate laughed as she sat up and got out of bed. "Let's go," she said, stretching and heading for the bathroom. "That hurt!" he called after her. "I may never forgive you!" He received silence for an answer. He groaned and buried his head in his pillow. He heard the shower running, and knew he had about 10 minutes before Kate came charging in on a mission to get his ass out of bed and into the real world.

He was right. Exactly 10 minutes later, Kate came in towel drying her hair and looked at her boyfriend in unbelief. He was fast asleep, again, and snoring softly. She laughed, leaned over to kiss his forehead, and got dressed. After doing so, she started the coffee, taking a glass of water with her into the bedroom, where she threw the cold water onto Tony. "Ah! Kate!" he yelled, and jumped out of bed. She just stood there and laughed. "Not funny, Katie. That was really cold." He ran a hand through his now wet hair, and pointed his finger at her as he reprimanded her. She just laughed and walked away, throwing a "get dressed" at him.

Tony sighed, and looked around. He decided maybe getting dressed would be a good idea, so he changed. Opening his top drawer, he spied a small, velvet ring box and smiled. Maybe today was the day. Maybe.

Kate returned to the bedroom holding a cup of coffee, watching him standing there with a half open shirt and loose tie around his neck, and smiled at him. When he looked over, she set the cup on top of his dresser, gave him a small kiss, and said, "Looking good, honey."

Definitely. Today was definitely the day.

Kate returned to the kitchen, and Tony slipped the box in his pocket. If Tony had his way, he'd propose to Kate in Paris or Italy, or somewhere really romantic. Not in their messy apartment right before work. But alas, a vacation was not on the schedule for the two special agents. Gibbs may let one of them have time off, but both of them? Never.

"You ready to go, babe?" Kate asked, turning around to face Tony. He had a weird look on his face. "You OK?"

Tony nodded. "Ya, I'm OK. In fact, I've been OK for a long time." Kate just nodded slowly, not quite understanding. "Kate," Tony started, getting closer to her, "Kate, you know how much I love you. It seems like I can't stop loving you. And, well, the only thing left to do, is to…well," Tony stammered, and got down on his knee, "Kate, will you marry me?"

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Kate sat at her desk quietly, as Tony reclined in his chair with his eyes open. "Wow" said McGee, coming into the bullpen, "Tony, you can sleep with your eyes open?"

"Yeah, I'm meditating," Tony responded in a kind of whisper. Kate just closed her eyes, wincing, and shook herself out of it.

"About what?"

"If I wanted you to know, Probie, I'd tell you," Tony responded shortly.

"OK, geez. Just thought I'd tell you Gibbs will be down soon and will want…"

"What do we got?" Gibbs barked, stalking into the bullpen.

The case was a set of eyeballs was sent in the mail to an apartment complex. Kate and McGee were still working on getting the information, and Gibbs looked over to Tony, who was still sleeping in and out.

"The eyes were sent to a P.O. Second Class Benjamin Horlacher," Tony spoke up, getting the attention of both McGee and Kate, "He's stationed at Dam Neck, currently on a 72, due back tomorrow. That's a 72-hour leave there, Katie," he said, with a look at Kate, who lowered her eyes at him, obviously knowing what it was. He gave a small smirk before continuing, "He's a student at the Navy and Marine Corp Intelligence Training Center. Been at that address since last September. Military record is clean, the only thing that stands out is a speeding ticket he got two months ago and he didn't pay his cable bill last week," Tony finished, getting up and giving his report to Gibbs.

Gibbs complimented Tony on his work, and the team worked together to get more information on either the Petty Officer or his special package. After searching P.O. Horlacher's apartment, and finding Horlacher, Kate and Tony are put on surveillance detail while Gibbs and McGee return to NCIS. Neither Kate nor Tony were happy about this.

After a few hours, Tony was reclined in the driver's seat, sleeping, as Kate watched P.O. Horlacher in his apartment. Kate shivered and looked at Tony. She had this overwhelming sense of guilt, as well as a sense of fear. What was going to happen to them now?

"Can you turn the heat up? I'm freezing," she finally remarked.

"Can't," Tony said, sleepily, "The smoke from the tailpipe will give away our position."

"Great. I can't feel my legs."

Tony sighed. "We can do what the Eskimos do to keep warm."

"Oh yeah?" Kate asked. "What's that?"

Tony smirked and said, "They press their bodies together. OF course the effect is greater if your naked."

Kate laughed, thankful for the light moment between the couple. "Somehow, I think Gibbs would frown upon that."

There was some more silence, before Kate couldn't take any more. "Are you ever going to talk to me again?" she asked.

Tony opened his eyes and stared at her. "Why would you ask that?"

"Tony, don't be like that."

" 'Don't be like that'?" he repeated, sitting up and facing Kate. "Really? Because I think I have every right to 'be like that.' Especially since my girlfriend rejected my marriage proposal this morning," he said softly, lowering himself back onto his seat.

Kate sighed. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I told you. I just…I don't know." She returned her attention to P.O. Horlacher's window.

Tony laughed a mean laugh, and sat up to look at her again. "You know, you keep saying that. You don't know why you buy the vegetarian lasagna when you know I hate it. You don't know why you insist on having the first shower in the morning. You don't know why you like white wine but hate red. And you don't know why you won't marry me. You'd think out of all the things in the world, Kate, that you would know why you did or thought something."

Kate opened her mouth to say something, but just as she did, they both heard a gunshot. They ran inside to find Horlacher dead.

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They managed to track down a suspect, Commander Purcell. He was down in Paraguay, and Gibbs ordered Tony to go down there.

"Alone?" Tony asked.

"Take one of them with you," was Gibbs' reply.

McGee was excited. "I've always wanted to go to Paraguay!" he exclaimed, walking up to Tony. Tony smiled and laughed at McGee.

"Sorry," Tony said, "I got to sort things out with Kate." And with that, he walked away to grab Kate and go to Paraguay.

While there, Kate and Tony were driving down the dirty, crowded street to find the tactical analysis building. Kate was looking at the map, while Tony was driving, with one arm on the jeep door, and the other on the wheel; his teeth grinding, and sunglasses on.

"It should be just up ahead," Kate said. Tony just nodded. She looked at him. She knew him long and well enough to know that he was really upset. She wanted to clear this up, to go back to normal, but what if it couldn't be fixed? "I'm really sorry, Tony."

Tony nodded once. "Found it," he said. "Let's go."

They park the jeep and get out, when Joe Tabarez – member of the tactical analysis team – greets them. He informs them about Purcell, and flirts a little with Kate, which doesn't go unnoticed by Tony, who is very short with "Joe."

Joe takes Tony and Kate to see his informant Iggy, who has been known to communicate with Purcell.

"You like DVDs?" Iggy asks Tony. "Five dollars. Any DVD."

"Five bucks for a DVD?" Tony asks.

"OK, my friend. Just for you, four dollars."

Tony takes off his sunglasses. "Four dollars, wow. Got any Hitchcock?"

Kate stops him. "We're looking for information, Iggy."

"Pretty lady, do you like handbags? 20…two for 40," Iggy tries again.

"Wow, really?" Kate says, obviously interested.

This time, Tony stops her. "Like the lady said, Iggy, we want some information."

They make chit-chat, mainly Iggy denying everything Joe told Tony and Kate, until Kate gets a call on her satellite phone from McGee. "He found us a hotel," Kate relays to Tony. "Good," Tony replies.

"How much for the phone?" Iggy asks.

"The phones not for sale," Kate replies. They go back and forth before Tony grabs her phone and interrupts.

"Tell you what. I'll give you the phone, Iggy, if you promise to tell us when Purcell contacts you."

"What?" Kate yelled, reaching for her phone. "You're not authorized to give…"

"Agent Todd!" Tony yelled at her, which stopped her ranting. "You are interrupting my negotiation." Kate looked into Tony's eyes, and saw something she never saw before. Hate. Anger. Sadness. So she let go. Tony and Iggy made the deal, and Tony walked away. Kate followed after him, heading towards their hotel.

When they got to their hotel room, Tony was loading his gun when Kate walked over slowly. "Tony?" she asked quietly. "Can we talk quick?"

Tony cocked his gun and nodded, "Sure."

He kept ignoring her, and she fidgeted. "I just wanted to apologize, again. I-I love you, Tony…."

"Then why, Kate?" Tony asked, turning on her. "Why won't you marry me? Is spending your life with me really that terrible?"

Kate shook her head, tears forming, as she got closer and held his arm. "No," she said forcefully. "No," she repeated, softer. "I just….I'm scared. I guess I don't want things to change between us, and I'm scared that I'll make you leave or…"

"You think I'll leave you?" Tony asked, standing nose to nose to Kate. "You really think that? Kate, if I wanted to leave you, I would. But I won't. Not now, not ever. I will never leave you, and I will never hurt you. If you leave, I will come after you. I won't let you go. I can't. I love you too much."

A few tears fell down Kate's face, and Tony brushed them away. "But I will wait for you. As long as it takes. If it takes the rest of my life, I will wait for you to say 'yes' because that's how badly I want to be with you," Tony finished. Kate smiled at him, and leaned in to kiss him. He then gathered her into his arms, and held her as tight as he could, burying his face in her hair and rubbing his hands up and down her back. She clung to him, whispered a word of thanks, and pulled away.

"You know," she said, "You could've given Iggy your phone."

"A lead agent never gives up his means of communication."

"Since when are you lead agent? I thought we were a team," she said.

"We are," Tony responded. "I'm the team leader." He winked, and slapped her ass as he walked by her. "Oh, I don't think so!" Kate called and ran after him.

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They found Purcell holding his wife hostage, ready to blow her head off. They interrupted him, and handcuffed him. Joe came in and let Purcell go, which irritated Tony to no end. All he wanted was to punch Joe, but he couldn't. It wasn't really Joe's fault. Purcell got his though - a bullet to the head.

Once home, back in D.C. in their regular apartment, Kate watched as Tony lay in bed next to her obviously deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked. She was laying on his chest, drawing patterns on his T-shirt. He rubbed his hand up and down her arm when she spoke.

"Purcell's wife. Poor thing," he said, not looking at Kate.

Kate got where this was going. "It won't happen to me," she said, sitting up and looking at Tony. "I won't be Purcell's wife."

"You already were," he said quietly. "With Ari, in that morgue, and when he kidnapped you again. Those were the scariest moments of my life. I had this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that I may never see you again."

"I'm right here," she whispered. "I'm not going anywhere." She ran a hand through his hair as he spoke quietly, eyes transfixed on the wall in front of him.

"I dream about it sometimes. Those things with Ari. In my dreams, you don't come back, and it's all my fault. I basically lay back and wait for you to die. Then I wake up and you're in my arms, and I have to pinch myself to make sure that this isn't the dream," Tony confessed. Kate's eyes welled with tears, and watched as Tony's did the same.

"I won't leave you," Kate said, repeating his earlier words. "Not now, not ever. And if you leave, I will come after you." Tony looked up at Kate, and smiled his famous smile.

"I love you," he said, and brought her down to kiss her. He kissed her mouth, her cheek, her neck, and then lay back into the bed.

Kate smiled, and traced his face. He kissed her fingers as they came near his mouth. All of a sudden, Kate felt a sense of relief, and she felt…safe.

So, without a word, she got up, went to Tony's dresser, opened the top drawer, took out the ring box, and brought it over to him. He just looked back and forth from the ring to Kate, and finally she said, "Ask me again."

Tony smiled, and got out of bed, and down on his knee. "Kate, will you marry me?"

"Yes, Tony. I will," she replied. Tony put the ring on, and kissed her with all his might. What started out as a terrible couple days, turned out for the best.

He was engaged to his best friend, his lover, his soulmate. Not even Gibbs could scare him away. Tony knew he would be with Kate forever.

A/N: I know this isn't my best work, but, it popped into my head and I didn't want to waste a lot of time with details. Ha ha. So thanks for reading!! xoxo