Chapter 5: Can't forget

Five hours later Tony and Kate were standing in front of the interrogation room window. Inside, Gibbs was interrogating Ed, one of the men involved in the bar fight. They had found him in his apartment after having found out his whole name in the hospital where he'd shown up last evening with a broken nose.

While they were standing there Tony kept throwing side glances at Kate, hoping she would meet his gaze, but not knowing what he'd do if she did. Should he ask her if she wanted to talk? Would she want to? Would he want to? Definitely not! It would only give her an opportunity to shout at him and call him all the things she was without doubt already calling him in her thoughts. But maybe afterwards things would come back to normal. They had to do something about it, after all! But maybe what they should do was wait, let some time pass. Today, all the feelings were still too fresh and Tony was hurting too much. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her, felt her. He remembered exactly what it had felt like to hold her in his arms, her warm body pressed against his. He had lain awake next to her sleeping form, well aware of what he had done, of the mistake he had made, and yet feeling so happy. He hadn't wanted to leave, but finally fear had gotten the best of him and he had sneaked out like a criminal.

One more time he looked at her and his eyes were caught by her black hair. He knew how soft it felt under his touch, like silk, and he knew its flowery scent. For a moment he really had to fight the urge to reach out and touch it. But it was exactly then that Kate shot him an annoyed glare. Her expression was exactly the opposite of what he'd gotten to know last night. Then it had been soft and passionate, now it was hard and angry. "Stop staring!" she snapped.

Tony suddenly felt the heat spread on his face and quickly looked away. Gibbs had already handed Ed a piece of paper and a pen to have him write down his confession, but the suspect still claimed that he was innocent.

"Who does he want to fool?" Kate murmured to herself. To her it was quite obvious what had happened: Ed had returned to the bar after having left the hospital, still drunk and very angry with the man who had broken his nose. He had seen Ensign Tyler leave the bar and since the victim had approximately the same size and same age as Ed's earlier opponent, and in addition to that had worn a shirt of the same colour, Ed had taken the young Navy officer for the other man, had dragged him into the backstreet and had stabbed him with a knife. They hadn't yet identified the murder weapon, but Abby was already examining all the knifes they had found in Ed's apartment, including one pocket-knife with some blood on the handle.

Tony's phone rang just as Ed angrily tossed the paper back across the table. He looked at the display but didn't recognize the number.

"DiNozzo" he said. Kate listened without watching him. "Oh, hey!" he exclaimed, obviously recognizing the person on the line. "Yes, look, can you wait a sec?" He turned from the window and walked out the door, closing it behind him, but not caring that the lock didn't click shut. Through the small gap Kate could still hear him talk.

"Ok, Candy, sorry, hi again. What's up? … Uh, I see … Yeah … So it's your evening off … Meet you at the bar? … Ah … I don't know, you know, depends on when I'll get off myself. … Yes … Yes, I'll call you as soon as I know … Yeah, it's a good idea … Yeah, I'd like that … Yeah, good. Bye then … yeah, see ya."

Kate let out the breath she had been holding since she'd heard Tony say the name of the blond waitress they'd met this morning. Wasn't the type to let some time pass and take it slow, was she? And Tony had accepted her invitation? She'd known that he was superficial, but that woman …? Kate tried to tell herself that all men were obviously stupid and not worth one single tear, but she couldn't help the stinging feeling that cut right through her chest.

"Hi, Kate!" Abby had appeared in the door with a broad grin on her face.

Kate relaxed at seeing the young woman, happy not to be alone with Tony any longer. But the problem with Abby was her ability to look right through Kate. She didn't have to look at her twice to know that something was wrong.

"Kate, you alright?" she asked. Of course, Tony chose exactly this moment to come back into the room.

"Sure, Abby. I just didn't sleep well, that's all." It wasn't even a lie. She was tired, but she doubted that was what Abby had meant. "What have you got?" she asked quickly to draw Abby's attention away from her.

"The blood on the pocket-knife", Abby started, still looking at Kate with a curious expression. "The blood group matches the victim's and it's definitely not the suspect's. DNA is going to take some more hours."

While Abby left the room to tell Gibbs her news, Tony joined Kate at the window and watched Gibbs open the door and listen to Abby's whispered report.

"He's going to confess", Tony said. "The case is obvious. Why would he still deny it?"

"Worried about your date?" Kate asked bitterly.

"Huh?" Tony looked at her wide-eyed.

Kate couldn't believe she'd just said that. She wasn't supposed to be interested in Tony's dating record! But still, she wasn't able to keep herself from continuing: "As long as the case isn't closed, you can't go out with one of our witnesses."

"She's not a witness."

"You want to ask Gibbs what he thinks about it?"

Tony didn't answer. He knew she was right. The waitress wasn't a suspect, but still was related to their investigation. As long as the case wasn't solved, he couldn't go out with her. The strange thing was that he wasn't even very much looking forward to having a date with Candy. But he desperately wanted to find something that would keep his thoughts away from Kate, at least for some hours – and that's exactly what a date with a tall blonde would be good for.

"He's going to confess", Tony repeated simply and watched how Gibbs confronted the suspect with Abby's findings.

Half an hour later they had the confession and returned to their desks to start with the paper work. It was half past six in the evening. Tony would be able to get to his date in time, Kate thought. Since this morning there had been no doubt for her that Tony would go on with his life like nothing had happened last night. But the fact that he was going on a date today, one night after … It seemed that he was even more superficial than she had thought.

She was feeling sick and hurt and she was still tired. All she wanted to do was go home, take a bath and then sleep – on the couch, because she sure wasn't going to be able to sleep in her bed tonight. But all the while she felt that she shouldn't let it get so close to her. Last night's events hadn't affected Tony in the least, why wasn't she able to take it as easy?

Kate looked over at Tony. For once he was actually working, typing his report. He had pursed his lips in concentration and Kate smiled at the sight. He looked cute when he did that, like a boy who was sitting over a test. When she realised what she was doing, her smile faded immediately. "That's enough!" she thought. She needed to get out of there.

Quickly she grabbed her things, took some of the paperwork to finish it at home and left the desk. But her hands were shaking and when she readjusted the strap of her purse on her shoulder, the papers slid out of their folder and fell to the ground. Sighing she bent down to pick them up, but only managed to drop the second folder too. Frustrated she stopped and took a deep breath. Her eyes were burning and the effort it cost her to keep her feelings together definitely started to get too much for her. She closed her eyes and fought back the tears, but quickly reopened them when she heard someone bend down next to her and collect the papers from the floor.

Tony. She looked at him, letting him pick up all the papers because she didn't trust her movements any more. When he was finished, he put the papers back into the folder and handed it to her. She took it, then slowly stood up.

"Are you heading home?" he asked. A small smile appeared on her lips when she heard his soft tone. She just couldn't help it.

But she only nodded and turned to leave, but then he said: "You were right, you know. About the case."

"What do you mean?"

"You said it had something to do with the fight at the bar and you were right." He smiled at her.

Kate only shrugged. Earlier today it had bugged her that he hadn't accepted her theory, but it didn't matter anymore. It wasn't the reason why she was so upset and there would be no use in pretending everything was alright. Because it wasn't.

"Have a good night", he said when she had already started towards the elevators.

Kate looked at him over her shoulder, but didn't answer. She was thinking about the plans he had made for the evening and to wish him a good night would have been cynical.

tbc ...