I have nothing of importance to say. Read on...

Disclaimer: Same as always

He was not there when she woke up and for a moment she was filled with a heart-stopping fear. He was gone, she had opened up to him, gave him everything and he had left. Then she remembered this was Tony, her partner of five years. He trusted her, and despite everything inside her fighting it, she trusted him too. And besides, she was in his apartment; it was not as if he could move out in the space of a few hours.

And then her brain went click. She was in his apartment. She had SLEPT in his apartment. This was probably not good; she should not have slept in her partner's apartment. She knew that had been a bad idea and she was pretty sure it would come back to bite her, and yet she couldn't bring herself to worry and the more she thought about it, the less worried she was. It was not as if they had broken any rules.

Sitting up, wide awake now, she took in the quiet of the apartment. At some point during the night he had covered her with a blanket which now slid to the ground as she got up and moved to the kitchen where she found he had left something on the bench. Accompanying a stack of DVD's was a piece of paper, black ink covering the white with his boyish print.

Gibbs called, gone in to fix up some paper work.
Should be back in a few hours, do not leave.
I will find you.
Food in the cupboard, towels in the bathroom.
I chose some DVD's you might like to pass the time, brush up on your English. Popcorn is the third shelf from the bottom, Please don't burn down the house ;)
-T

Looking at the pile of DVD's she hoped he had a lot of popcorn; there were at least 10 different movies there. She smiled at his attempted threat, he knew as well as she did that if she really wanted to hide no one could find her. Not McGee with his extraordinary computer skills, phone trackers and technological words, not Abby with her forensic stuff, fancy machines and sciencey words, not Gibbs or his gut, and not Tony. She had never had a problem with running. It was staying that had always been the problem.

Tony could not concentrate. Gibbs had called him in around 6:30 and with the threat of desk duty hanging over his head, he had forced himself to leave the house. It had not been easy and he did not like the number of scenarios that ran through his head when he thought of leaving her alone after what had happened yesterday. She had seemed alright last night and he felt a little reassured by the fact that she had finally opened up to him, she was ready to move on. He felt even more assured remembering the good half hour he had spent before he left scouring the place for anything she might use as a weapon and putting them somewhere she would never think to look. That included every credit card and every paperclip he owned. Then, finally, he had left the house. Persuaded only by the thought of what she would do to him if he told Gibbs the truth about why he wasn't coming in.

He had covered for her when he arrived, saying she had called him last night and asked him to explain that she was sick, that had earned him a raised eyebrow and a Gibbs-stare Tony knew he reserved especially for interrogation but after toughing it out for a full thirty seconds he had turned with one last sceptical look and disappeared into the elevator, leaving Tony relieved but wondering how long he had before questions started flying.

Since then he had been on edge, he had tried to call her 7 times in the past hour but every time he picked up the phone he seemed to be interrupted. McGee asking him something, Gibbs needing something done, Abby wanting to see him in the lab, and with every passing minute he grew more and more anxious. He could tell McGee wanted to ask what was going on but every time the probie opened his mouth to ask, Tony cut him off with a joke or a question and McGee, getting the message, would give him an I-know-something's-wrong, here-if-you-need-to-talk look before changing the subject.

Finally at lunchtime Gibbs turned to him.

'Go see her Tony, you being here like this isn't helping anybody.'

In the minute it took him to get his stuff and be in the elevator pressing the button for the parking lot, he had just enough time to be amazed at how well his boss knew him and wonder just how much else he knew.

After what could have been an eternity of driving he pulled into his parking space and headed upstairs. Turning the lock seemed to take longer than it ever had before but he eventually got the door open and stepped inside, closing it behind him without turning back.

The sight before him made his breath catch.

Not one of my favourites, i'll admit, but I had to fill some time. So what do you think? did she stay? did she go? guess you'll have to wat and see..

Oh and guys, I got a lost halfway through replying so if I sent you two replies, well lucky you ;) if I sent you none, I'm super duper sorry and if you review again I promse to reply this time :)
That is all. x