For the sake of the story, let's pretend A Man Walks Into a Bar did not happen… Even though that was one of the best episodes of the whole series.

6 months after the funeral

"So, I've got some bad news. Al's was closed, so I had to pick up from his similar but not quite as good rival, Sal's. Is that OK? Because I can always throw this out and get Chinese."

Tony was greeted with silence as he entered the apartment. He tossed his keys into the red Mosaic bowl on the small, brown table by the front door, and placed Sal's pizza on the kitchen counter top. He shrugged his coat off and placed it on the coat rack in the foyer. "Hello?" he called. "Is anyone home?"

Tony heard the sound of a door opening, and smiled as Kylie Todd walked out into the living room, pushing a chandelier earring through her right earlobe. "Hey," Tony said. "Started to think you weren't here. You look nice."

Kylie smiled. "Thank you. Do you think this dress is too flashy? Should I change? I have a blue one that's a little less, I don't know, leggy? Do you want to see it? Or is this OK?"

Tony shook his head while she blabbered on. He walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Stop. Take a breath," he said. "Now, what are you talking about?"

Kylie sighed. "I have a kind-of date tonight, and I'm nervous. I haven't been on an actual date in a long time."

"Well," Tony started, letting his hands slide from her shoulders down her arms to her wrists. "I don't know anything about dating men, but I'm pretty sure any man would be crazy not to like you."

"Thank you. That was nice of you to say."

Tony nodded and walked back toward the front door.

"Oh," Kylie said, realizing why he was there. "We were supposed to have dinner tonight. I'm so sorry, I forgot all about it. Would you be mad at me if we postponed?"

"Not at all," Tony said. "We can do it some other time. Have fun on your date." He smiled as she walked him over to the door.

"Tomorrow night, Tony, I promise. And maybe we can skip Sal and Al and go straight to Domino's."

Tony laughed. "That's not as good as Al, but it is better than Sal, so OK. Deal." Tony slipped his coat on and kissed Kylie on the cheek before leaving with his keys and pizza box.

It was a little over three hours later, and Tony was sitting in his apartment – alone, still dressed in his work clothes, and full of questionable second-rate pizza. He was lounging on his couch, sleeves rolled up, shoes off, watching a movie that was just as bad as the pizza he just ate.

Just as he was thinking it was time to give up and go to bed, there was a quiet knock on his door. It was so quiet, he would've taken it to be the wind – if there was any wind that night. Unsure of what or who it was, Tony slowly got up and reached for his gun. The quiet knock came again, and Tony slid his finger closer to the trigger. He moved to the door and looked out the peephole. Once he saw who it was, he quickly dropped his gun on the side table and flung the door open.

"Kylie? What the hell happened?"

She stood in his doorway, shivering from head to toe, the bottom of her dressed ripped slightly, a small bruise on her cheek, hair a mess, and one of her shoes had the heel broken off. Tony instantly widened his door, wrapped an arm around her and helped her inside. He kicked his door closed, and started rubbing his hands up and down her arms to warm her up.

"It's OK," he said. "It'll be fine. I'm going to just get you a sweatshirt and some pants, all right? Just sit here." He gently placed her on the couch, wrapped a throw blanket that was on the nearest chair around her shoulders and rushed off to his bedroom.

He grabbed the nearest sweatshirt, which happened to be his favorite one from Ohio State, and some sweatpants from his bottom drawer. Once he returned to his living room, Kylie hadn't moved an inch. She was in the exact same pose he left her in, except he could now see that she was crying. Tony ran to her, took the blanket off and helped her put the sweatshirt on. Once it was on, he took off her shoes and helped put the sweatpants on, underneath her dress, without once looking at anything inappropriate. First time he had ever done that.

"Are you OK? Are you warming up? Want something…water? Or anything?" Still no response. "Kylie, please talk to me. Say something, anything."

Tony wrapped his arms around her again, rubbing her arms to try and warm her up. She sniffed, and wiped away some tears. "He attacked me," she said.

"Who?" Tony asked, his voice as cold as stone.

"My date. Dinner was not going well, so I decided to fake sick and go home. I got to my car and he had followed me. He threw me against the car and…" Kylie didn't continue. Tony wasn't sure he wanted her to. "He got distracted by a car pulling in the lot, and when he let go I pushed him and jumped in my car. I locked the doors before he got up, and drove off. I was afraid of him going to my apartment so I came here. I'm sorry."

Tony shook his head. "Don't ever be sorry," he said, and stopped rubbing her arms. "Did you call the police? Make a report?"

"No, I just came straight here. I stood out in the hallway for ten minutes before I got the nerve to knock. I wasn't sure if you'd be alone and I didn't want to interrupt your night, and…"

"Stop," Tony interrupted her. "If you're hurt, I would hope you'd always come to me. No matter where I am or what I'm doing, I will come for you. OK? Now when you feel up to it I think you should go down and file a report."

"Tony, no, please don't make me. I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"I'm scared! Please don't make me. Please!" Kylie grabbed onto Tony's shirt, and started crying again. Tony sighed and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her as she cried some more.

"OK," he said. "You don't have to. I won't make you."

Kylie pulled back slightly, smiled, and thanked him. She promised to file a report at some point, just not right away. For the next half hour, the two just sat on the couch, holding onto each other and finding comfort in the soft lull of the television. Tony asked repeatedly for Kylie to tell him the man's name, but she refused. She knew what Tony would do – or worse, what Gibbs would do – and she didn't want to cause that kind of trouble.

A few minutes after that, Kylie pulled away for good. "I guess I should go home. He's probably forgotten all about me by now."

Tony shook his head. "No, you're staying here. I don't want to risk you going home and seeing him. Tomorrow I will go with you and check your place, OK?"

Kylie nodded and agreed. She looked at Tony, and was deeply touched by the genuine concern she got from reading his face. "Thank you for everything, Tony. I really appreciate it." She moved forward and kissed him gently on the cheek. The kiss lingered for a moment, and when she finally did pull away, he didn't let her move far. He held her in place, searched her eyes for some kind of confirmation, and went in to kiss her on the lips.

Her lips were soft, and she tasted of honey lip balm and salt- probably from her tears, which made kissing her slightly strange. But he didn't stop, and neither did she. Kylie ran her hands through Tony's hair, and playfully tugged at it when he deepened the kiss. He smiled through the kiss, and ran his hands under the sweatshirt and up her exposed back. He detached his lips from hers, and found a new spot along her jaw line. He moved his mouth down to her neck, where he rolled his tongue around and smiled when he heard her groan.

"Take the sweatshirt off," Kylie said in his ear.

The sound of her voice snapped Tony back to reality. He pulled back and looked her in the eyes. "We should stop. This shouldn't happen. I mean, not that I'm upset that its happening whatever it is, but you're upset, and I don't want to take advantage…and…"

"Tony," she said, placing her hands on both sides of his face. "I trust you. It is not taking advantage if I want it too. So shut up, and take my clothes off."

Tony didn't need to be told twice. The next morning, their relationship changed.