Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! Each chapter takes a lot of work and it makes my day to hear your feedback. (And also to know that there are Tate fans out there still!)

Sorry it took ages to update but university went back so I'm really busy with that and then I just turned 19-organising parties can take up a lot of your time... But I'm ready to come back to this story if you guys still want to read it!

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I had planned to spend my Friday night the same way I'd done for the past two years; go out, get drunk and wake up with another girl. But a certain goth with way too much enthusiasm broke my routine. And left me in a pretty big funk.

At first, I wasn't going to let her in. I hid behind my front door that she was practically knocking down, hoping she'd just go away. Abby's visits were never a good sign these days-it meant that she'd seen Kate and was going to try to convince me to get back together with her. Or at least visit her, contact her. It never worked. The only place Abby's visits sent me to was the liqour cabinet.

"I know you're in there, Tony!" Abby yelled after two minutes of knocking (not that I was timing it or anything).

I flattened myself against the door as much as possible, elation flooding through me as I realised she'd stopped knocking. I was about to walk away when my cell phone started ringing in my pocket. Loudly. No prizes for guessing who the caller was.

"I knew it!" Abby called out gleefully. "You can run, Tony, but you can't hid-"

I gave up and opened the door, interrupting Abby mid-sentence.

"Come in," I muttered glumly.

"Why the long face?" Abby asked cheerfully, bouncing into my apartment. "You're normally happy to see me."

"Not when you ambush me at my apartment to talk about...her," I said, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

"Who?" Abby asked, her wide green eyes staring at me in mock innocence.

"The same person you talk about every time you visit me," I said, sitting down on my couch.

"The one whose name you've forgotten?"

"I haven't forgotten, I just don't like to say it."

"Fine," Abby said in exasperation, sitting next to me. "I'm here to talk about Kate."

"I know."

Abby stared at me while I drank my beer, deliberately avoiding her gaze. She wanted to be here, she could do the talking.

"Well?" she finally asked. "Aren't you gonna ask me how she is?"

"She seemed fine the last time I saw her."

"Two years ago? While she was packing her desk and leaving NCIS?"

"Yep."

Abby groaned in frustration.

"Okay, you know what we need?" Abby asked in the bubbliest voice she could muster. "A change of scenery. I'm taking you out to dinner."

"But-"

"No," Abby snapped, grabbing my hand and pulling me up. "No excuses! I'm sick of this grumpy Tony! So tonight, we're going to have dinner, I'm going to talk about Kate for ten minutes and twenty-two seconds, then I'm going to bring the old Tony back!"

I let Abby drag me out to her car, shove me in and drive me to the restaurant. My mind wandered and for the first time in almost two years, I allowed myself to think about that day when everything changed.

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Kate had been edgy for the past week. Whenever we were alone, it was like she was somewhere else. Now she was standing in front of me at my apartment, her hands shaking and telling me we need to talk. Not promising.

"Sure you wanna talk?" I asked her. "There's an empty bedroom waiting for us."

"We need to talk," she repeated and that was when I knew something was really wrong. Normally, she'd make some remark about my dirty mind.

"Is everything okay?" I asked her.

"Not...not really," Kate replied. "Remember last week, when you were almost shot because you were distracted by something I'd just said?"

"I'm not about to forget that any time soon."

"Well, it got me thinking. It really scared me, Tony. If something happened to you because I-"

"But it didn't," I said, taking her shoulders. "Don't think about it."

"I'm worried we'll continue to distract each other at work and that eventually, one of us will have to pay for it."

"What are you saying?" my voice quietened and my hands dropped from her shoulders.

"I think we should take a break," Kate whispered, tears filling her eyes.

I shook my head. This was just like what had happened three months ago-the day after she'd sprained her thumb and we'd kissed-when she'd started jabbering about Gibbs and Rule 12 and how this would never work. All I had to do was kiss her, tell her we could make this work and take her in my arms, then she'd see sense just like she had three months ago.

"Kate," I said, taking a step towards her, ready to put my plan into action. But she took a step away from me and grabbed her handbag.

"Please," she said, and I could hear the quiver in her voice and see the tear that was rolling down her cheek, "don't make this any harder."

Without any further explanation she walked out my door.

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"Earth to Tony!" Abby said, waving her hand in front of me. "We're here."

I followed her into the restaurant, sat down and stared expectantly at her.

"Tony, I'm worried," she said. "I mean, you're the same at work and everything but ever since you and Kate broke up, you act grumpy when I find you alone at home."

"Because you always talk about her."

"Don't you think it's a little strange that you can't say her name?"

"Kate!" I almost yelled. "Happy now?"

"No," Abby said. "Because Kate...well, Kate's sad, Tony. And she's been sad for the past two years."

"She broke up with me," I reminded Abby, trying to ignore the pang I'd just felt somewhere near my heart.

"That's not entirely true, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"Think, Tony!"

"You mean she didn't 'entirely' break up with me when she said 'let's take a break' and then left NCIS?" I asked, feeling the anger and hurt rising in me.

"Think about in between those two things, Tony!" Abby exclaimed in exasperation.

Then I remember. Going out three days after Kate put us on a 'break', getting drunk and taking the first willing girl home with me. Even though I was drunk at the time, I can remember being in bed, the girl-whose name I don't think I ever knew-on top of me and Kate. Standing in my doorway. Staring at me in shock. I'd closed my eyes for a second, convinced I was seeing things, and when I opened my eyes again, she'd gone. The next day, I'd found the spare key I'd given her on my table and when I returned to work on Monday, she was packing her desk and left without saying goodbye.

"You mean the day she gave me back my spare key," I said sheepishly, wondering just how much Abby already knew.

Abby glared at me-glared at me. Abby wasn't meant to look this angry.

"I think you need to ask Kate about what she was really going to do that day."

Guilt began to infiltrate my body and even my mantra of "she broke up with you, she broke up with you, she broke up with you" did little to change it. What had Kate been planning to do?

"What's the time?" Abby asked suddenly.

I looked at my watch and was about to reply when I heard her say, "don't worry." She was waving to someone across the room. I looked behind me to see who it was and felt like I'd been kicked in the gut.

Standing in the entrance, gaze shifting from Abby to me, and looking just as surprised as I felt was Kate.

Sitting in front of me, Abby looked more pleased with herself than she'd ever been in her life.

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Will Kate and Tony sit down and talk about what happened, or will one (or both!) of them try to escape from the pickle Abby's put them in?

If you want to find out the answer to this question, there's only one way to make me update faster:

REVIEW!

(Pretty please.)

I'm more than happy to spend my Australian Public Law lectures writing this story instead of listening to our lecturer. As it is, I currently spend them arguing with one of my friends about who's better-Kate or Ziva-so it's not like I'm paying attention anyhow.