"Thanks for dinner," Tim said for about the fifteenth time that night as he and Kate slowly meandered down the hallway of his apartment building. "It…it was fun."

"I agree," Kate replied with a smile.

"You didn't need to give me a ride home."

"McGee, there was no point in you hopping on a bus at this hour."

"You didn't need to walk me to my door either."

She shrugged. "I figured as long as we were flipping the archaic roles of men and women, we may as well go all out."

They paused before his door, Tim with his cheeks red and Kate taking a slight joy in his discomfort. "Uh…do you want to come in for a drink or something?"

"Are you propositioning me?" she asked in a teasing tone.

The tone was lost on him. "No!" he said earnestly, eyes wide in embarrassment. "No! I just thought…um…you know…"

Kate placed her hand over his mouth to cease his stuttering. "I was joking, McGee."

Tim sighed a breath of relief. "Sorry…I sometimes…well, you know."

"I know, McGee."

He nodded as he rocked back and forth on his heels. "So…was that a yes?"

"It's late," she told him. "But thank you for the invitation."

"Yeah…that's fine. Just thought I'd ask."

"Maybe another time."

"You mean that?" Tim asked, hoping he wasn't coming across as too eager.

"Sure. I mean, we're friends, right?"

He offered a small smile. "Right."

It was an awkward moment for them both; Tim stood with his back to the door and Kate stood before him, looking at him as though waiting to see what his next move was. He didn't make one.

"McGee…all the things Tony said about you and me…"

This time, it was Tim who held up a hand to stop Kate mid-sentence. "It's fine, Kate. I don't expect you to want to sleep with me. I mean, we're pretty different."

"In some ways we're very much the same."

He looked down shyly, nodding. "Yeah, I guess…but I was never trying to get you in bed or anything. I mean, I know that wouldn't happen."

After a beat, Kate pushed herself up to the balls of her feet and, in a move which surprised them both, she pressed her lips against his. It wasn't a deep, passionate kiss with tongues swirling together, but it also wasn't a platonic peck that barely gave them time to appreciate it. The kiss lasted all of seven seconds, but when Kate pulled away from Tim, the young agent looked slightly star struck.

"Give yourself some credit, Tim," she told him. "Just because Tony says something doesn't make it so."

Tim remained speechless.

"Good night, McGee."

She left Tim slouched against the closed door. After she had rounded the corner, he tentatively reached up and touched his lips. Never in a million years had Tim imagined that Kate would kiss him the way she just had; he had also never imagined that the chain of events could have occurred because of his love of comics.

That night, as he removed one of his stealthily hidden Spider Man comics to read before falling asleep, Tim couldn't help looking back on the hobby he had kept for the past twenty-two years with a smug grin of satisfaction.

AN: And thus, we come to an end! Thank you to all of my readers!