Charity woke the next moring to the sun shining on her face. She felt the soft cotton of the sheets on her bare skin. She actually had a smile on her face. She rolled over, expecting to find him there, but the other side of the bed was empty.
The door to the bedroom came open then. Tony walked in the door carrying two mugs of coffee and wearing only his underwear. "Good morning." He told her, a smile on his face.
Charity smiled back at him. "Morning." She replied.
Tony walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed and handed her one of the mugs of coffee. "Black coffee." He said.
Charity sat up and took the mug, holding the covers around herself. She breathed in the aroma of the fresh coffee and then took a sip. "You brew an excellent cup of coffee." she told him.
"Are my ears playing tricks on me or did you just give me a compliment?" Tony teased.
"I thought I'd given you several last night." Charity replied with a coy grin.
Tony chuckled. "Oh, so that's what that was."
A comfortable silence fell between the two. They sipped at their coffe for a few moments, enjoying the morning. "Thank you for being so pushy." Charity spoke up.
Tony looked up into her eyes when she'd said that. "Wait, are you actually thanking me for prying into your past?" He'd asked, raising a brow.
Charity gave Tony a shy smile. "Yes." She told him. "You were right, I'd needed to talk about it."
"The second time you've told me I was right." He said, feining shock.
"Don't let it go to your head. It's already big enough." She teased.
Tony chuckled. He watched as a stray strand of red hair fell into Charity's face. He reached his hand over and moved the hair away and tucked it behind her ear. His fingers trailed down her cheek then. Even after his fingers had left her skin, his touch felt as if it lingered there.
Charity was automatically leaning forward. Tony met her in the middle and they kissed, tenderly. Tony's hand gently rested on the side of Charity's neck, holding her lips to his. That was the moment when Charity's cell phone rang. Charity reluctantly pulled away and picked up the phone. She briefly looked at the screen before holding the phone to her ear.
"This had better be good, Burley." She greeted. There was a pause from Charity as she listened. "You and McGee head over and I'll meet you at the scene." Charity ordered and then hung up the phone.
"So, I'm guessing that breakfast is out of the question." Tony said.
Charity nodded. "Yeah, we have a dead sailor." She answered.
"Dinner later?" Tony asked.
Charity smiled. "Detective, are you asking me out on a date?" She teased.
Tony grinned back at her. "You're the big shot federal agent with her own team, you tell me." He teased back.
Charity leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "Dinner sounds like a great idea." She then rose from the bed and gathered her clothes. She quickly redressed herself and pulled her hair back into her usual pont tail, then she was gone.
When Charity arrived at the crime scene, she found Ducky kneeling by the body and removing the liver probe. "What do you have Duck?" She asked him, as she knelt beside him.
"Well, he died roughly ten hours ago." Ducky answered. "He has multiple stab wounds and defensive wounds. There's also some bruising."
"You'll know more when you get him back on your table." Charity finished for Ducky.
"You've been working with me for far too long my dear." Ducky said with a chuckle.
Charity chuckled slightly with him. "Nothing wrong with that."
Ducky was then loading up the body. Charity walked over to where she saw Burley, collecting evidence. "What do you have for me?" She asked.
"Well, our victim is Seaman Jason Collins." Burley began. "So far we've found some splinters, some sort of green gooey stuff, and rope. McGee is handling the interviews."
"Good work, Burley." Charity said and then she headed off to look for more evidence.
Burley watched her leave with a confused look on his face. "What's that look for, Burley?" McGee asked.
"The boss, she just complimented me. She never compliments me." Burley answered. "It wasn't even a thinly veiled insult like it usually is."
"Are you sure you didn't just imagine it?" McGee asked.
"No. It really did just happen." Burley replied.
"I just don't believe it." McGee said. "She doesn't give out compliments like that."
A while later...
Charity walked into autopsy. "Do we have a COD yet?" She asked.
"Ah, Charity. I was just about to call you." Ducky said, looking up from the body, he was working on.
"What did you find?" She asked.
"Well, he suffered multiple traumas to the head and chest as well as multiple stab wound, but that is not what killed him. I believe that the stab wounds were inflicted after his death." Ducky explained.
"Then what did kill him?" Charity asked.
Ducky pointed to a wound in the young man's intestines. "Toxins were released into his body from this wound. That is what killed him." Ducky answered.
Charity nodded. "I don't remember him having a stab wound here, plus that looks different from the stab wounds."
Ducky nodded. "I found this in the wound." He then lifted a jar that held a tine flat black item.
Charity took the jar and looked in it. "A micro SD card." She said. "I'll take it up to Abby. Hopefully she can get something off of it."
"I'm sure she can." Ducky said. "That girl can work miracles with her technology."
Charity nodded her agreement. Then she leaned over and kissed Ducky findly on the cheek. "Good work, Duck. You're wonderful." Then she left.
Ducky watched Charity walk out of the room. Then he looked down at the man on his table. "Something has gotten into that girl. It's about time she found some happiness." Then he went back to work doing what he does best; getting the dead to speak.