"Tony..." Kate Todd searched her former partner's eyes. Tony was in a state of shock and disbelief. Kate was killed...years ago, right in front of him and Gibbs on a rooftop. A single sniper shot to the forehead; her blood splattered all over Tony's face before she dropped. He still had nightmares... "Tony, I don't understand what's happening," she explained. "I was buried. Somehow, I dug myself out. It was dark, and I walked for...God, I don't even know how long until I got to my apartment. But someone else was there. He was coming out just as I'd turned the corner. And everything...everything's different, Tony, what's going on?" her fear was genuine.

"DiNozzo, back away!" Gibbs voice sounded behind him.

Tony spun around but didn't move away as Gibbs' drew his gun and aimed. "No, boss! It's Kate!" his voice cracked.

"That's not Kate, Tony," Gibbs told him as Dean and Sam took positions beside him.

"Of course it's me!" Kate said. "What are you talking about, Gibbs?"

Tony didn't turn to look at her, but he saw the sudden faltering in Gibbs' eyes at the sound of her voice. "You can't kill her," Tony said in a low voice. Gibbs flinched. "Kate, go get in my car."

"Tony-"

"Go, Kate!" he yelled, stooping down to get his gun. Kate did as she was told; Tony never taking his eyes away from his boss's.

"What're you doing, Tony?" Gibbs asked as he lowered his weapon.

"I can't let you kill Kate, boss," he said in barely a whisper.

"Listen, man," Dean said, "Whoever you think she is, it's not her. Not anymore."

"I don't care," Tony retorted, then shook his head. "You find another way..." with that, he stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

"What is he doing?" Sam asked.

"I dunno, but we can't let him go off on his own," Dean said. "Especially not with 'living-dead-girl'."

"Her name's Kate," Gibbs told him.

"Yeah, I heard."

"She was on our team," he turned to look at them. "She was an agent. And she was our friend."

Dean considered him for a moment and took a breath, "Okay. Then, I'll take care of it." He headed toward the door just as they heard the screeching of tires. The three of them, then, bolted out the door to see Tony tearing down the street away from the house in his Mustang. "You gotta be kidding me..."

"We've gotta go after him," Sam said as he headed toward the Impala. Dean and Gibbs followed suit as Gibbs' phone went off in his pocket.

"Yeah. Gibbs."

"Uh, Boss..." McGee's nervous voice sounded on the other line. "We found the grave. You're not gonna believe this, but..."

"It's Kate's," he supplied.

"H-how did you-"

"Get to the other grave site Bobby's friend told 'im about, McGee. Somethin' came up we've gotta take care of," he ended the call as they shut the doors once inside the car.

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As they sped toward Tony's apartment, Kate kept glancing at Tony. She wasn't sure what the hell was going on or what Gibbs had meant by aiming his gun at her; why Tony had said he wouldn't let him kill her. Obviously, she'd missed something. But Tony was quiet. Too quiet. The look on his face, even now, was filled with determination and...something she couldn't really identify because she'd never seen it on him before.

When Tony's cell wouldn't stop ringing, he decidedly put it on silent. He was going to protect Kate, no matter what Gibbs had to say about it. So, there was no use in answering his calls.

"Are you gonna tell me what the hell is going on?" she asked, finally.

Tony glanced at her then back to the road, blinking rapidly as if he'd just come back to the realization that she was there. "Just..." he paused, not really knowing what to tell her. "Just let me know if you suddenly get a craving for red meat, okay?"

She furrowed a brow at the haphazard smirk that came with the statement. As she examined him a bit closer, she noticed lines in his face that hadn't been there before. In fact, he looked different...really, all around. "You look older, Tony," she said aloud.

"Yeah, well," he grinned, not looking away from the road, "It's been a few years, Kate." He pulled into his parking lot and cut the ignition, quickly getting out of the car.

"What do you mean?" she asked, following him as he quickly made his way up the stairs. He didn't answer. "Tony?" He fished his keys out right before they got to his door and fumbled to get the door open. As he pushed his way inside, encouraging her to hurry in as well, she turned in the middle of his living room, "Tony, what the hell do you mean, 'It's been a few years'?"

She was caught off guard as he threw his arms around her in a bone-crushing embrace. "I'm so sorry, Kate," his voice was so broken, she didn't know how to respond, but to return the hug. "I'm so, so sorry..."

"You're scaring me..." she said in barely a whisper.

"If I could've saved you, I would've...done anything..." he sniffled and she could feel tears soaking through the shoulder of her shirt. "What's the last thing you remember? Before waking up in the ground?"

Kate blinked at the question. Then she let out a small laugh, "Other than you insisting you were fine to come back to work, even though you were clearly not over your recovery from the plague?"

Tony smiled on her shoulder despite himself. Then he felt her pulling away. As he released her, he sought her face. She seemed afraid, suddenly, as her eyes darted around nervously. "Kate?"

"I'm not supposed to be here," she met his eyes with unshed tears. "On that rooftop...Ari..."

"Yeah."

"I'm dead."

"Well, you were," Tony let out a small, nervous laugh. "You look good, by the way. For being in the ground for a few years..."

She shook her head in addition to the incredulous look on her face, "Well, I guess it's comforting to know some things never change, DiNozzo."

"Lots of things did," he told her in a soft voice; his grin fading completely. "We've missed you."

Kate's gaze faltered in thought, "How am I here? How am I alive?"

"That's uh..." his nervous grin reappeared, "That's kinda hard to explain, really..."

"Try me." Her Gibbs-glare hadn't suffered from the long slumber, Tony assessed.

"You've been resurrected by a demon-goddess," he told her. "Gibbs was gonna kill you because..well, you're kind of a...creature feature zombie-chick. Minus the decomposition and missing limbs, of course."

Kate snorted before bursting into a fit of laughter that had her doubled over. "You- you've expanded on the humor, Tony," she said amidst the huffs of laughter. "Is it possible you've been hanging around McGee too long?"

Tony joined her laughter for a few moments, "Guess it's possible. Only...I'm not joking."

She slowly straightened; laughter slowing though the smile remained, "Okay...I think I get it. I was just grazed along side my head and I'm lying comatose somewhere. Probably Bethesda. I'm guessing this is all some strange, neurotic dream that's most likely induced by some crazy story you're probably sitting at my bedside telling me."

"God I wish that were true," Tony said as his laughter died and he was only left with a sad smirk.

Kate and Tony spent several long moments standing there in awkward silence as Kate seemed to process what she'd been told. "Let's say, for a minute, that I believe you," she started. "Why don't I feel the desire to...eat your brains, or whatever it is zombies are supposed to do? And why do I look like this; normal?" she indicated to herself. "And most of all, why are you trying to protect me?"

He couldn't answer her because the door was suddenly busted open and Gibbs, Dean and Sam came rushing in with weapons drawn. Tony threw himself in front of Kate, "No!"

"Tony, you need to back off!" Dean yelled.

"She's not whatever it is you think she is!" he retorted. "She's not dangerous!"

"Tony..." Gibbs warned.

"No, boss," he shook his head. "No one's takin' her out. Not like this. She's not a damned zombie. She's just Kate."

"But she could change," Sam told him.

"Well, until she does, you don't touch her!" Tony argued. Tentatively, the three men slowly began to lower their weapons. Tony turned to Kate, "Go into my room, Kate. Stay there while I talk to them." Without question, and with a noteable fear in her eyes, she nodded and escaped to the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Tony turned back around just as Gibbs stepped up to him, and the older against head-slapped him, "Don't you ever run off on your own again! You know the damn rules! Anything could've happened."

"I'm sorry, boss...I just couldn't..."

"That's another one. Not to mention not answering your phone!"

"Boss..." he clenched his jaw as he searched Gibbs' eyes. "What're we gonna do?" he asked in barely a whisper. "We can't kill Kate..." his eyes shifted slightly to look at the Winchesters who stood idly where they'd come in the door. Then he looked back at his boss.

To anyone else, the man would've seemed calm and collected. But Tony knew better; Gibbs was just as lost on this one as he was. And of all the stupid zombie flicks Tony had seen in his lifetime, and all the telltale red flags and stupid ideas he knew by heart; even remembered shouting at the screen when someone did something so stupid...like this very thing... there was still no way he was gonna let anyone touch her while she was still her.

Gibbs patted Tony's arm, then turned to go into the bedroom. As he visually scanned the room, he wiped a hand down his face. He walked further into the room, finding her sitting on the floor up against the bed; her knees pulled to her chest as she slightly rocked back and forth. When she caught sight of Gibbs, she scrambled away to until her back hit the nightstand.

"It's okay," he assured her; his brow furrowing as he noticed the tears streaming her cheeks.

"Says the man who had a gun aimed at my head twice now," she said, then sniffled.

Gibbs smirked at her fully intact snarkiness. But the smile faded quickly and he made his way toward her, slowly, and sank to the floor to sit beside her. A few moments of silence passed while Gibbs allowed memories of that day of the rooftop to play in his mind. "I'm sorry, Kate," he told her. "For everything..."

"You're breaking one of your own rules, Gibbs," she glanced at him with a small smile playing on her lips. "Besides, you're supposed to kill zombies, right? Can't really let them roam around-"

"Not for that," he shook his head. "For you gettin' killed protecting me."

She really looked at him then. "Wow, Gibbs...You and DiNozzo have really been carrying this around all this time?" He gave her a questioning look. "Tony I can understand; he's insecure and he's harder on himself than even you are. But you? I can't believe you've managed to continuously convince yourself that you're somehow to blame."

"You were my protection detail, Kate. That's all the facts I need."

"I was assigned the job, Gibbs. If I remember correctly, you didn't even want protection." She smirked at his small laugh at her comment. "That's what I did before you hired me, remember? I mean...of course you do. But honestly, Gibbs," her voice softened, "Taking a bullet for the President wouldn't have been the way I wanted to leave this life." Gibbs' reddened eyes met hers again, apologetically. "Taking one for you, however... though it might not have made the ten o'clock news, I don't think I could've asked for a more honorable reason to die."

Gibbs swallowed and shook his head. Kate didn't die for him. Ari targeted her. She died because of him. But telling her that wouldn't help her, and he certainly wasn't going to take that feeling and crush it. "Dyin' in place of me isn't any good reason. You were young. You were a good agent, Kate."

"I still am," she smiled. "All of this was yesterday to me, Gibbs."

Gibbs returned the smile, if for nothing more than to match the warmth he felt from seeing hers again, "I don't think I can get you your job back," he laughed.

"Yeah, I guess that'd be kinda hard to get through HR," she grinned. "Although, being presumed dead would make for great starting pay back in Secret Services."

"Not even back a day, an' you're worryin' about findin' work?"

She smirked at his question. But soon her gaze shifted slightly away from him and her smile faded. "If I do become something dangerous," she told him, "I mean if this is actually real; any of it...You have my full permission to pull that trigger, Gibbs. You know that, right? I don't want to hurt anyone..."

Gibbs looked at her for a long moment before putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into a half-embrace, "You won't hurt anyone, Kate," he told her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. Even if he had to do as she'd suggested...

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Tbc...