A/N: Well. you know how it is with some chapters: you start with honourable intentions, and then the story just takes off on its own and goes wild…
However, enjoy and tell me what you think!!
Tony's Hollywood
NCIS headquarters actually has a lounge with a sofa and nice comfy chairs (cool black leather, of course, but comfy all the same), a TV that's always got CNN on and a fridge with soft drinks in it.
Only, if you're working for Gibbs, you tend to forget about the existence of that room because you simply don't have the time to be in there. Plus, none of the team ever were too keen on finding out what their boss would do with them if he ever found them hanging out there.
Today, however, Kate was in desperate need of a quiet place to her own, and since it's late and most of the employees have left already, the room was the perfect place for her.
She switched off the TV and sat down on the couch, slipping off her boots and hugging her knees to her chest.
Like every other room in the building this one too has a soundproof door and walls, and the silence has something calming about it. It threatens to become oppressive, however, and she knows it. It's hard to ward off that sense of suffocation that comes from too many gloomy thoughts and too many what ifs and if onlys.
Maybe she should leave again, but that's when Tony comes to rescue her.
She's got no idea how he knew where to find her, but he did. He plops down on the sofa besides her and watches her from the side. "Hey."
"Hey", Kate echoes, staring fixedly ahead because she can't seem to bring herself to do anything else. They've been through a long day of working on a case that is likely to get them stuck soon, because none of them can manage to stay focussed, and they're constantly trying to work on something else – namely trying to find out what exactly happened almost thirty days ago, and who made it happen.
That means facing the blunt facts, facing possible failures, facing all the what ifs and if onlys. Facing Gibbs' absence as well. It's trying, and Kate feels the strain.
"You cold?" Tony suddenly asks beside her, and her head snaps up because she's already almost forgotten again she's not alone here.
Finally, she turns towards him. "Only a little."
She'd meant it as a dismissive reply, and Tony probably understood it just as such, but he puts an arm around her and pulls her closer all the same.
That would be her cue to start some tirade and maybe slap him, but she doesn't, not this time. She knows that if this story ever has a happy ending, and they should ever end up in a situation like this again, she will slap him and yell at him, because it's their way. But Tony's embrace is heartfelt and she needs it, and she's also aware that, therefore, this is a precious moment.
It's moments like this that remind her of how much Tony really means to her. Because, if it's serious, then he's the best friend you could wish for.
You wouldn't believe it, but sometimes he knows just what to do.
Kate sighs and frowns, wishing that his presence could just erase the thoughts that cling to her mind like cotton candy to your shirt. Last night keeps replaying in her head, and something she started to ask herself, probably not for the first time, but for the first time consciously.
"What movie is this, Tony?"
She feels him move his head a bit so he can look down at her. "What?"
Kate's well aware that her question won't be making much sense to him at all, but she is too tired to explain all about how Abby's music made her feel like she were in a movie the other night, or how something about that thought had not quite left her since.
Instead, she asks: "The one we're in. You seen it? How's it end?"
She sounds almost sleepy as she sits with her head resting on his chest, voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt and the curtain of her dark hair that falls around her face.
Tony purses his lips, trying to figure out what on earth she's talking about. He thinks that he probably has seen the movie, only which one?
This is strange.
Did they ever have a serious conversation concerning movies, the two of them? Hasn't it always been him reciting some scene to tease her, and her barking at him for teasing her? Or commenting about how everything he seems to actually know something about comes out of a movie?
Then again, when was the last time that Kate let him touch her like this without punching him? Tony frowns, then he thinks he knows what she's asking.
"Nah," he replies, "haven't seen it. Didn't want to." He pauses, staring out of the window for a while. "I don't know how it ends."
Kate sighs, but she doesn't move. He's got the feeling like her body is slowly getting a little heavier against his. Seems like she's really tired.
"You know, Kate," Tony starts again before she falls asleep, "there are only so many types of movies, actually."
Kate's head lifts a little. "Yeah?"
"Mhm, three or four perhaps. And then they're all the same anyway. Different cast, different settings and stuff, but the plot's always the same." She stays still, as if she were expecting some great revelation from him.
"And this," he goes on slowly, "is one of those movies where…" He hesitates, as if he has to make sure he won't put their movie into the wrong one of his categories. "…where everything starts off nice and sunny, and then it goes all wrong. And there are those movies where it ends that way and people go out of the cinema with puffy eyes and looking like they'll never have a good time again in their lives. But this one, Kate…" He waves his index finger through her field of vision as though to make sure the difference between categories a and b registers with her, "this one is one of those movies where they make the audience fell like crap and then, when you're already thinking you might as well leave before the end and have a few pints of Jack in the nearest bar because there's no way out of this misery anyway, then everything turns out perfect and suddenly you saw a feel-good movie."
Conclusively, Tony stabs the air with his finger, apparently very satisfied with his little monologue.
Kate, however, remains silent, only after a while she asks: "You sure?"
" 'Course," Tony says, actually sounding very convincing even when they both know what they're talking about at best is wishful thinking wrapped in a funny metaphor.
It feels good, though.
"No exceptions to the rule?"
"Not in film business, Kate. Never heard about the Secret Laws of Hollywood?"
Kate laughs against his chest, and Tony smiles. It's good to hear her laugh, and it's even better to know he made her.
"Well," he says, "the Secret Laws of Hollywood are something that every movie maker keeps to. People say they should actually be called the Sacred Laws, you see? Violation is equal to professional death." Kate glances up at him, frowning, but with a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Tony clears his throat and mirrors her frown, one behind which she can see the mills in his head working to produce more of this wisdom of his.
"You see", he continues after a moment, "at some point the producers and scriptwriters and all those guys realized that they have a responsibility towards their audience. There are certain things you just can't do to people who pay a ridiculous price for a ticket to the cinema. Like … you can't kill James Bond in a Bond movie. Or Frodo in Lord of the Rings … PETA probably would have protested against that anyway."
"PETA?"
"Yeah, save the animals from becoming handbags and fur coats. Hairy feet, you know…Or you can't not let Pretty Woman become Mrs. Richard Gere, to name something more classical."
"Classical."
"Okay, Elizabeth become Mrs. Darcy. Classical enough?"
"Pride and Prejudice?"
Tony grins. "Impressed?"
"Hmm. Well … let's say surprised."
"Hey, it's Jane Austen after all."
"Yeah, but I bet you only saw the 2005 one with Keira Knightley." Kate retorts, feeling almost sorry that Tony can't see the smirk on her face.
Her colleague pouts, but decides not to make any reply to that. "Anyway", he goes on instead, "movie makers are allowed to ignore logic. They can't have exceptions as well. So: no exceptions to the rule. Happy ending."
Kate smiles. They are silent for a while as it gets dark above the city of Washington, and around the two agents as well.
"Thank you, Tony," Kate says, sounding very sleepy again.
As she drifts off, she thinks I hope you're right, you and your movie theory. And let's not think about all the ones that end differently, because it seems that you can't just let Jack survive in Titanic either.
TBC