2 hours before…

Kate's eyes fluttered open to the bright morning sunlight streaming in through the blinds and highlighting the entire room. As her mind and body became more and more adjusted to being awake, she became extremely aware of a heavy pair of arms draped over her body protectively, and the sensation of another person breathing against the crook of her shoulder and neck. Looking over her shoulder, she smirked as the wide green eyes of Tony DiNozzo blinked back at her and gently planted a kiss on his cheek.

"How long have you been awake?" She chuckled.

"About 45 minutes," he replied, gazing up at her.

Raising an eyebrow, Kate lifted Tony's arms from around her waist and slid off the couch slyly. Leaving him with a wink, she made her way over to the window and stared out of it, her hands on her hips.

"What is it?" Tony questioned, sitting up and stretching out his arms in front of him, which were still bruised and aching due to receiving the beating a few days before.

"I was just thinking: how can I trust that Gibbs will find you?" She smiled into the glass, surveying the city, "But then I remembered that he's Gibbs." Kate laughed- a gesture that Tony couldn't help but return.

"Gibbs' team is like family to him: he'll do whatever he has to do to find us," he replied, giving this thought a small smile, knowing it was true.

"He'll do whatever he has to do to find you." Kate contradicted: "You're his agent, his star employee. In his eyes, I'm buried in the ground in some Indiana graveyard. I don't exist anymore."

Tony stood up, striding over to meet Kate at the window. He clamped a hand down on her shoulder, flinching as he made her wince (her shoulders were still bruised from being beat up), turning her around so she faced him, her eyes dead on his.

"You're still an NCIS agent, whether you like it or not, and you always will be. No matter whether you wear the badge or not, you are still a member of Gibbs' family, and as soon as he sees you, you'll be welcomed back in straight away," he sighed contently, "not that you were ever excluded in the first place."

"I do love you, Anthony DiNozzo," Kate smirked, stepping up onto her toes and pecking him contently on the lips.


Gibbs, Ziva and McGee sped down the motorway, growing closer and closer to their destination by the minute. Though they were exhausted from all the driving, the determination on their faces was utterly unmoveable. The mission to find their missing agent was the one thing on their mind, but not the only thing that was bothering Gibbs' gut.

"What's up Gibbs?" Ziva curiously pried, knowing that there was something else on her boss' mind.

For a moment, the team leader was silent, debating on whether to tell the two present members of his team or not, but finally, he spoke. "My gut." After noticing his two agents exchange a perplexed glance in the driver's mirror, he elaborated. "I have a feeling that Tony's not the only person who we're going to find in that hotel."

"Along with Sandy and all of her crew?"

"There'll be someone else, someone we won't expect to see." Gibbs added, "And whatever goes down, it won't be pretty."


Kate stood in front of the mirror, appearing to be adjusting her hair. However, Tony knew she was searching for something.

"Headlice?" He jokingly suggested.

"Bobby pins." She grinned, retrieving two of them.

"Are you going to style me or something? I thought my hair was great?"

At this, Kate laughed. "As much as I would like to give you a makeover DiNozzo- it might do something for your appearance, I have something else in mind." She made her way over to the door and began picking the lock as swiftly as she could.

"Miss Watson doesn't believe in security cameras, just armed guards- dozens of them, which when caught on their own aren't as powerful as they look, and aren't every evenly distributed," She muttered, seemingly more to herself then her partner.

The lock clicked the door now free to open.

"We're going to go and make Gibbs' job a whole lot easier."


A/N: Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of ISD! Another should be up next week, so make sure you come back if you want to read more...

If you've been here for a while, you may remember my fic Aria. If you enjoyed Aria, perhaps you should refer back to the bottom of my bio: there's a snippet for a fic on there containing Tate, Tiva, Aria and Tali! The whole thing will be coming soon, so I'd be on the lookout for that... ;)

Louise :)