There is fluff. Lots of cute fluff.

Chapter 1 of part 5 will be out by the time you read this chapter because I'm that awesome.

Gaara had gone ahead of them, Suna needed his attention but he was hopeful that it remained in one piece.

Max and Itachi had stuck around D.C. for a while, reconnecting. They'd taken some joy in annoying DiNozzo with it, the special agent was trying to be the protective older brother but it just didn't work with the shinobi.

Then came the weird request. DiNozzo wanted her to meet his girlfriend. That wasn't the strange part. The fact a certain director of NCIS had suggested it first was the weird part. She probably wasn't supposed to have been listening in on that conversation.

She was briefed on part of it. To this woman Anthony DiNozzo was known as Tony DiNardo, a film studies lecturer. Max figured it would probably be better to start mentally calling her brother by his first name anyway.

Being able to change identity like changing shoes was a handy skill. Her purpose was to help cement Tony's cover, having a sibling wasn't something most undercover agents had. She had a new ID and slightly more normal appearance but most other details were the same, like only just being reunited.

Rho was a bit too well known so she was back with Anna but using a different last name of Savannah to give some realism to the story of them not knowing they were related.

Tony's girlfriend, Jeanne Benoit, was related to 'La Grenouille', an arms trader who Director Sheppard was obsessed with tracking down. Max had done her research, the woman was also a doctor at Monroe University hospital, her mother was also a doctor.

For the day before their meeting Max had a clone stalk Jeanne. Max did not like surprises so she wanted to know all she could in the short notice. Tony wasn't telling her where they would be meeting though claiming it was a surprise.

She found out why later. Indoor tennis. It was such a shame there were only three of them to Max's knowledge, you couldn't play tennis with three people. Max had a bad feeling in her gut.

"Some one else was supposed to be coming," Tony insisted to Max who looked clearly unimpressed. Jeanne picked that point to turn up at the reception.

"Hey Tony, who's this?" Jeanne asked quietly.

"My sister, Anna."

"You never told me you had a sister."

"I didn't know until a few weeks ago."

"Do you have any idea how much I feel like a third wheel right now?" Max said interrupting their hushed conversation to remind them she did indeed still exist.

"Sorry, I'm Jeanne Benoit." The woman held her hand out.

"Anna Savannah, mom hated me." Max shook the offered hand.

"Do you know anyone you could invite so we can play doubles?" Tony asked. Max twitched, Tony had figured that Itachi would follow her and was setting them up.

"I may have someone, but he doesn't know how to play." Max admitted reluctantly.

"He?" Tony asked with that lewd grin of his. "Ask him along, you can always teach him." Tony seemed to enjoy stressing the male pronoun. "Do you mind waiting a bit Jeanne?"

"Not at all." Jeanne seemed a bit put out but was willing to go along with it. Max grudgingly took out her cell and had a rapid conversation in Japanese before hanging up.

"Give him five minutes." That gave them some time to hire the equipment and everything.

When Itachi had turned up he had turned a few heads including Jeanne's before snapping out of it when Max had brought him over and introduced him. Eventually they were on the court, Itachi and Max versus Jeanne and Tony for the most part, sometimes they switched to make it interesting. They also played with the women piggy backed on the men.

There was half an hour of tennis and then they went ice skating, again with Max teaching Itachi. She was allowing him to cling onto her arm despite the fact Max knew he didn't need to. It was fun though, dragging him around the rink, weaving through the other skaters, sometimes stopping inches from the barrier letting Itachi crash next to her until he learned how to stop. That naturally led to a game of tag on ice.

At some point Max saw Jeanne get of the rink to sit down while Tony carried on, showing off a bit. Max allowed herself to be caught by Itachi then skated over to the edge, getting off the rink herself to join Jeanne.

"Are you ok?" Max asked sitting down to take the weight of her feet. Wearing skates for long periods of time did tend to make her feet ache a bit.

"Shins are just a bit sore." That was understandable with the stiff skates. They sat in silence for a bit, watching the skaters. "Is Itachi your boyfriend?" Max repressed a sigh, she knew how Tony and Jeanne's relationship would turn out. She didn't want that to happen, Tony was her brother and she looked out for family. If that meant telling her stuff then so be it.

"He was. Now… now I'm not sure."

"What happened?" Jeanne loved the gossip, Max's clone had told her that. Jeanne also liked the romantic novels and so Max was providing her with bits of both.

"I let something stupid drive us apart. Have you ever fallen out with someone, but still wanted to be their friend?"

"Once at school."

"That's how it was after we broke up, even separated I still loved him but I really wanted to hate him for what had happened. Eventually we talked things over but I'm no longer sure where our relationship stands." Jeanne was just drinking this all up. It had helped endear the woman to her, no more uncertainty over Max and Itachi's presence. Max gave a watery smile, happy that Jeanne was warming up to her.

"Shin's recovered yet? I'm sure we can evade the guys a bit more," Max asked, the smile turning to a cheeky grin which was soon mirrored.

It was late when they were done skating. Tony took Jeanne to a restaurant but Max declined for both herself and Itachi feeling they'd intruded enough. Instead they went to one of the parks and gazed at the stars. It was one of those rare clear nights in December. Cold but clear.

It didn't stay that way, clouds gathered in the sky blocking the stars. Then the first few flakes floated down. The snow melted on Max's tee-shirt, her body heating the frozen flakes back to water. She smiled despite herself. Snow… Snow country, the room on fire, being trapped. It was in the past, nothing she could do, just like everything else that had happened.

Only one thing to do really, take another step forward.

The flakes increased in size and density, the wind made them dance around before they settled. The chill went straight through Max's wet t-shirt, causing a slight shiver. Caught up in the sight of the snow meant Max didn't really notice.

Itachi had noticed though, he stood up from the bench and held out a hand for her to take.

"Want to dance?" he asked with a warm smile.

"Huh?"

"Dance. You know, moving to music, only there isn't any music. It'll keep you warm." He explained, a smirk on his face as Max realised she was shivering. Max took his hand and allowed him to lead as they danced through the swirling snow.

Itachi was right, she did warm up, both from the dancing and the proximity to him. She was content. Itachi tilted her head up so he could look into her eyes.

"Do you want to give 'us' a go again?" he asked, holding her closely. He could feel her try to pull away as he'd predicted but she quickly stopped. He loosened his grip, she was taking a while to say anything and he wasn't so sure of it anymore. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have ask-" He was silenced by Max closing the gap between them and kissing him.

"I wanted to make sure my feeling were real and not the product of the block," she mumbled after breaking the kiss, her cheeks heating up a bit at the confession.

"I was scared I'd killed the only person I fell in love with, then terrified that she would hate me," Itachi admitted making Max's cheek even more red. They shared another more passionate kiss in the falling snow. The flurry got heavier until they gave in and started to trudge over to Max's car.

Max was glad Gaara had left, the flat was empty, it was also a bit cold though.

"Bed or sofa?" she asked Itachi, striping of her wet tee-shirt, not caring Itachi was still in the room and no doubt watching.

"You can take the bed, I'll take the sofa."

"I think you misunderstood me. I'm taking the bed regardless, I just want to know if you'll be joining me," Max said with a mischievous glint in her eyes as her jeans also dropped to the floor quickly followed by Itachi's shirt.

A phone vibrating on the bed side table woke up one of the occupants of the bed. The phone vibrated over the edge but was caught before it hit the floor.

The girl flipped open the phone. "What?" she hissed quietly, trying not to disturb the other occupant of the bed.

"Are you still on vacation?" a now familiar voice scrambler asked. Max didn't bother with a response and just shut her phone, tossing it across the room. It began to vibrate again but Max ignored it, instead choosing to roll over and snuggle back into Itachi.

Sleep was difficult, every time she almost drifted off her phone would vibrate.

"Why don't you just talk to them?" Itachi asked sleepily after what seemed like hours. He'd slipped back into Japanese he wasn't awake enough to speak some other language. His hand started rubbing her back, subtly pulling her just that tiny bit closer.

"Didn't want to wake you," she mumbled. "Would turn it off but I threw it before I thought of that, now it's too far and too cold." Itachi smiled, clearly amused by her antics. He reached behind him for something and then pointed it at her phone.

"Accio phone." The phone landed neatly in his hand next to his wand. "You went to Hogwarts for longer than me."

"Using magic seemed a bit lazy," Max mumbled embarrassedly, her cheeks turning slightly red.

"You forgot about magic."

"Haven't used my magic since I left Hogwarts," Max admitted, once again trying to bury her face in his bare chest. She heard Itachi flip open the phone, nothing confidential was on it so she was fine with it.

"Oh crap." Itachi bolted upright followed by a bleary eyed Max who looked at him questioningly. Before she could ask there was a knock at the door.

"Rho?" a voice called out, Max recognised it as her brother. Both of them scrabbled to untangle themselves from the blanket.

"Oh crap," Max muttered, repeating Itachi's words. This was a situation she'd never thought she'd be in. "Yes?" she called back. If she didn't answer then he'd probably jump to a conclusion and barge in. Neither Max or Itachi were in any state of dress to answer the door so they hunted for stuff to wear.

"Can you let me in?" The hunt became more furious until they both were reasonable dressed. Max dashed to the door and opened it a bit with an innocent smile. Tony instinctively looked into the flat though the slight crack. "Are you going to let me in?"

"Sure, do you want a cup of coffee of something?" she offered, the innocent smile never leaving her face as she opened the door wider. Tony declined the coffee but entered the apartment slightly wearily. Itachi was lounging on the sofa with a glass of orange juice, a blanket was messily strewn over the side and another glass of juice was on the table for Max.

"Did girly-boy stay here last night?"

"On the sofa, yes," Max lied, not quite hiding her amused smile at the name. She'd taken the hint from the blanket that it would be their story. Tony raised an eyebrow, slightly sceptical of the story but he hadn't seen any evidence contrary to it. "Is there a reason you decided to drop by?"

"I just wanted to make sure you had got home fine. I did try calling, and texting first." Max winced sheepishly.

"My phone was on silent, I must have slept though it. I'm fine, now you can leave so I can sleep." Tony ignored the suggestion and made himself comfortable on the sofa, leaving a gap between himself and Itachi.

"Why? Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"If I say yes you're still not going to leave."

"I never believed personality traits were genetic till I saw you two," Itachi smirked looking between the siblings. He could see the roles being reversed and playing out the exact same way.

"Hey, none of that, I know you speak English," Tony reprimanded. "So do I get a tour of the place?" He asked with his boyish grin, knowing he would still be irritating Max.

It was a week later Max and Itachi were beck at the SGC. They hadn't meant to stay in DC for so long but it had been fun. Now they were going home, finally in Max's case, she hadn't been home in over three months.

Unfortunately there were delays, the Stargate was malfunctioning due to the worm hole connecting to a black hole. This was one of those things that couldn't be solved by a shinobi so they took to exploring the complex.

It was sitting innocently in a room. It made Max reconsider her plans, she still wanted adventure. It gave her that opportunity.

The quantum mirror, dimension travelling device. Max did wonder if her universe was there somewhere but she didn't dwell on it too much.

She left a unique symbol on the wall facing the mirror so she would know home, a notice-me-not charm on the door so no one would move it and a note that would appear on General Landry's desk when the gate deactivated from the black hole world. She picked up the control device for the mirror, turning it on, the image changed from the drab grey walls to a sunny green park.

With all these preparations done, much to Itachi's great confusion, she dragged him through the looking glass.

Part five will be called 'Through the looking glass'

Reviews are always welcome. Feel free to recomend a crossover.