Warnings: Spoilers for "Patriot Down", Tony might be a bit OOC

A/N: Will be winding down this story soon. Few more chapters to go, finishing out the Reynosa arc. I hope you have enjoyed my take on Season 7 :). Thank you for all the support, for the reviews, favorites, and follows. It does make a difference when you leave a review, favorite or follow :)

Turbulence on the flight home did not help Tony, who was in a lot of pain to begin with. Despite the medics wrapping his torso to set his ribs and giving him some painkillers, whenever the plane jostled, sharp pains shot up the senior field agent's entire body. Warmth spread through him as Natalie pulled a blanket over their outstretched legs and burrowed against him, gently so she didn't disturb his injuries.

Medics might have cleared Tony to fly, but he was clearly in pain. While Gibbs could sleep on flights like this, Tony on the other hand had not mastered the craft. Pressing her back into the crash webbing she stretched a little and then leaned up to place a soft kiss on his cheek. "Almost home. Maybe another hour."

Tony winced against the pain. Now that he had a round of antibiotics, food and water in him he was feeling stronger. It was making him antsy to get back to work on catching Reynosa and putting her away before she hurt anyone else—before she went after Natalie. He looked at Gibbs, peacefully sleeping underneath a blanket. "Was always a bit jealous that Gibbs could sleep on these flights, what do you think his secret is?"

Natalie smiled, softly, "Maybe he'll share it someday. I'm just happy that we're all here on this flight—on our way home and relatively in one piece." She closed her eyes and buried her face against his chest. "I thought I was going to lose you, Tony."

"Hey," he said, running his fingers along her cheek, "it's okay now, Nat. You found me. You got me home."

"She isn't going to stop," she replied, opening her eyes and gazing at him. "She's going to keep coming at us, again and again."

Tony's jaw tightened as the plane shook. He let the wave of sharp pain wash over him before he spoke. "We're going to stop this, beautiful. Promise. She isn't going to get her wish, she isn't going to hurt us anymore."

Natalie wasn't sure why but she believed him. Maybe it was because she needed to believe him that this nightmare was going to end. And that was exactly what the entire situation was—a nightmare—someone was coming after her and the people that she had grown to care for, that had grown to be her family. The plane shook again and she saw the intense pain that Tony was in. She sat up slightly and helped him lay down, resting his head in her lap. "Better?" she asked, running her fingers through his hair.

"Hmmm… would be better if there was a pizza," he muttered as he started to fall asleep.

"Got some ration packs," she said.

"Nah… pizza… I'd really like a pizza."

Natalie laughed silently as Tony started to snore softly. Finally the antibiotics and the painkillers had kicked in—he was finally sleeping. She didn't care if she was the only one still awake on the plane. She'd sleep when they were back in Washington. Since they had found Tony she hadn't left his side. Franks had made some joke about the two agents being inseparable. She didn't really care what he thought anyways. So what if her and Tony had a strong bond? They loved each other…

She startled at this realization. Okay, sure she knew that their relationship was more than sexually driven… and a piece of her had always known that what they had was love… Yes, Natalie, yes, he loves you. Maybe you should tell it to him sometime…

He murmured in his sleep, turning his face towards her and she smiled, gently. Taking his hand she brought it to her lips giving it a quick kiss before she leaned down to his ear and whispered, "Tony? I should have told you this… months ago… but I love you, Tony."

His fingers tightened around hers and he surprised her when he whispered back, "I love you, too, Natalie."

Gibbs startled them both when he grumbled, "About time you two said it." And then he promptly fell back to sleep with a satisfied little smile on this face.

One, loud, single gunshot echoed across the buildings. Blood all over his face. Kate lying on the rooftop, dead, life gone from her brown eyes. Tony stood there in disbelief, hearing Ari's laughter turn into the snickering of Paloma Reynosa… watching as Kate's ashen face dissolved into Natalie's…

Tony awoke with a scream, thrashing about in his bed as a cold sweat broke out all over his body. His heart was beating rapidly against his chest and he clutched at it while trying to take deep, calming breaths. Nightmares like that had been plaguing him since returning home and no matter how many times he told himself that it was Kate that had died on the roof—not Natalie—he still had them.

Closing his eyes he reached for the bottle of sleeping pills that the doctor had prescribed him and undid the cap. He dumped on into his head, titled his head back and swallowed it without using any water. Discarding the container on the nightstand, he laid back down and threw his arm over his head. Just a dream, he chanted over and over again, just a dream.

Slowly the bedroom door creaked open, startling him. "Tony?" Natalie's voice called into the darkness, reminding him that she had insisted on staying with him—on nursing him back to health. She entered the room cautiously, watching his body movements. He was breathing heard, trying to obviously calm himself from yet another bad dream. She sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to run her fingers through his hair when he rolled away from her. "Tony, please talk to me," she pleaded. Her heart was breaking that he was closing up to her. "Please, let me help you."

Struggling with his emotions, he refused to look at her. Tony had always prided himself on his ability to need no one or at least his outward appearance that he needed no one. Truth was, he was just as desperate for emotional connections as the next guy… "I'm fine," he ground out.

"You're not fine," Natalie argued with him. "You were crying in your sleep…"

"It was just a bad dream," Tony assured her, just wanting to go back to sleep—to drown out the world.

Natalie bit down on her lip. She recognized the struggle he was in, she had suffered the same one when coming back from Africa. He wasn't doing himself any favors by shutting her out. He needed to let her in, let himself heal before they could move forward with their lives. "It's okay to admit to me that you're not okay. I won't think any less of you, Tony. And I won't think any less of you if you ask for me to help you."

Tony felt the dam break, felt the emotions rushing at him like mad, raging rivers. He reached behind him and found her, beckoning her to him. She took the hint and laid down behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and nuzzling her cheek into his shoulder blades. Silently he let his tears flow down his cheeks. It was probably the first time that he had actually, truly grieved for Kate… grieved for what he'd been through at the hands of Saleem Ulman and later Paloma Reynosa. "What if… what if I'm not strong enough to keep doing this, Natalie?" he whimpered.

She kissed his back and hugged him tightly. She felt her own tears gathering in her eyes. "You're the strongest person I know, Tony. You'll get through this… we'll get through this… together, I promise."

He sighed and closed his eyes tightly. Somehow, he believed her. Rolling over he pulled her against him and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't let you do this alone… I should let you help me."

"Tell me about the dream."

"I was reliving Kate's death only this time… it was you that died. It was Reynosa that killed you."

Natalie let a lone tear leak out of the corner of her eye and trace a path down her cheek. He whisked it away. She smiled, sadly. "We're going to stop this. Remember? On the plane three days ago you told me that it was going to end."

Tony did remember. And he remembered believing his words of comfort to her. "Stopping it doesn't erase what's already happened. It's… it's going to take me some time, Natalie. For those nightmares to stop."

She nodded in understanding. Every now and then she still had one from Somalia. "Do you think it would help if I stayed here? Just like this?"

He knew that she had offered to sleep on the couch not to disrupt his sore ribs but he liked her here with him more. "Yeah. Just like this."

"Okay, I'll stay right here."

"Good. I like you there."

Natalie took a deep breath. "We're going to be okay Tony."

Tony kissed the tip of her nose and took his own deep breath. "I know." As long as they had each other…everything was going to be okay. Paloma Reynosa may have physically beaten him down and threatened to take away his life and everyone that he loved… but she had not taken his heart, his soul and as long as he had Natalie he would have the strength to fight. He kissed her again and sighed as they were both starting to fall back to sleep, "As long as we have each other… we'll be okay."

Lara Macy was laid to rest on a wet, dank day in West Virginia two weeks after her body had been found. The MCRT was present, huddled underneath large black umbrellas while the minister gave his graveside sermon.

Rain only aided in making the somber day depressing. The team had been working around the clock trying to put the pieces together, trying to find that loose end that Reynosa had not tied up that would lead them to who had really killed Macy. Matching knives was only circumstantial in the courts eyes and there were no prints at the crime scene where Macy's body had been found.

Ducky was right. The killer had left Macy's remains there to burn to taunt the team, more specially to taunt Gibbs. It was evident in the team leader's movements and gruff remarks for the last two weeks that the manner in which Macy's body had been dumped had the desired effect on Gibbs. He was beating himself up even if he wasn't responsible for any of this happening.

Macy had been back in the States investigating a rape that happened in France, not here to stir up trouble and the question lingered on how Reynosa had known that the NCIS agent was here.

It was their lack of results that had sent the team out on that rainy day to pay their respects. Her mother was cordial, patient and knew that eventually the team was going to find her daughter's killer. And she appreciated that the the team had taken the time to come to Lara's funeral when they were in the midst of tough case.

Tony and Natalie had not met Macy, at least not in person. When they arrived back in Washington they had assisted in the investigation of he death and only seen her burnt remains in autopsy. Gibbs and McGee had met the fallen agent, and her past history with Gibbs—that had led to her death. Reynosa was making her way through the ranks, taking out who she deemed responsible for her father not getting any justice. If only they could convince her that it was a rival drug cartel that shot Hernandez maybe then they wouldn't be in the position.

Natalie's fingers curled around his own as they clutched their umbrella together. She had spent the last two weeks scolding and nursing Tony back to health, and here he was standing out in the rain… but she was glad for his presence. They had come so close to standing by a grave for him that it made her shiver in the humidity.

As the mourners departed, Lara's mother approached the team, handing something to Gibbs. "I found these while cleaning out Lara's things. They were journals she used to keep when she was an MP. All the other ones were kept in boxes in our barn… but not these. I didn't know if they would help you find her killer or not, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs took her offering and thanked her. He turned the journals over in his hands and then flipped the first page open, looking at the dates. His brow furrowed in concentration, which prompted Tony to ask, "Something wrong, boss?"

"Look at these dates," Gibbs said handing the journals to Natalie. "What do you see?"

"That these were written a long time ago," Natalie replied, and then upon further inspection, "these were written while she was investigating you for Pedro's death."

"Why would she hide those?" McGee asked. "If they exonerated you?"

"She was trying to protect those involved," Tony surmised.

Natalie looked up from reading the first page of the notes and found Gibbs' eyes on her. "She came here to investigate a rape case that was on-going. How did Paloma know where she was? Macy was stationed in France…"

Gibbs snatched the journal out of his agent's hand. "Then we need to find out. Pull that rape case when you get back to headquarters." He shuffled his keys out of his pocket and headed towards his car. The journal had mentioned his father. It was time to pay a visit to Stillwater while the rest of the team put the pieces of this hellish puzzle together.

Tony's voice echoed after him, "Boss? Where are you going?"

"Pennsylvania," was his only answer, and he was gone, rushing through the cemetery to get to Stillwater and his father before Paloma did.

"Huh, get the impression that we're not welcome here," Tony muttered in her ear as they entered the mess hall on the U.S.S Majestic.

"If Macy was here before she died… then they know why we're here," Natalie muttered back as they made their way through the mess.

Kaylen Burrows, the supposed victim in the rape case that Macy was investigating, looked up at the approaching agents and her lower lip trembled slightly. Tony placed his hand on the small of Natalie's back and whispered in her ear, "Maybe you should handle this one?"

Natalie took a deep breath as they sat down on either side of Burrows. She pulled her credentials from her pocket and showed them to the Petty Officer. "Do you have a moment to talk to us, Petty Officer Burrows?" she asked in a soft-spoken tone. "Our questions should only take a few moments."

"I have to be on duty in ten minutes, ma'am," Burrows said nervously, her eyes shifting between Tony and Natalie. "Did Special Agent Macy send you?"

"No, she didn't," Natalie replied, cautiously, "Special Agent Macy has given us the case."

Burrows shook her head. "I told her I didn't want to press charges."

Natalie tapped her fingers against the table, gently. "It's only natural to want to just forget what happened, Kaylen. But don't you think you should file the charges so this doesn't happen to another woman?"

Tony leaned on his elbow and looked down at the uneaten food on the Petty Officer's tray. "When was the last time you spoke to Special Agent Macy?" he asked, his eyes drifting up and noticing two male sailors getting uneasy with the agents presence in the room.

"Almost three weeks ago, sir," Burrows answered. "I thought…when I didn't hear from her I thought she had dropped the case."

"Do you know if she spoke to Tyler Hammond, the man she was questioning about raping you?" Tony pressed.

"Listen, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told the lawyer that Agent Macy sent—I was drunk, I met someone and we partied," Burrows snapped, standing.

Tony gently placed his hand on her shoulder and guided her back to the table. The two sailors got up from their seats then. He set his jaw and stood to meet them. "Do we have a problem here, gentlemen?"

Natalie looked at Burrows while the two sailors spoke to Tony, how she looked away and stiffened up. Her eyes only looked up at them when Tony had shooed them off to duty, stating that Kaylen would be behind them shortly. He went to sit back down and Natalie asked, "What was the lawyer's name? Did Macy send someone from JAG?"

Burrows shook her head. "No. She wasn't from JAG. I can't remember… I can't remember her name exactly. Hart I think?"

Both agents visibly reacted to this, Tony's jaw clenched. "M. Allison Hart?" he inquired, even though he was pretty sure of the answer.

"Yes. That was her name," Burrows said with a nod. She noticed their tense glances. "Am I… am I in some kind of trouble?"

Tony gently helped her to her feet and instructed her to come with them, that they had a few more questions. Natalie followed behind them dialing Gibbs. They had just figured out how Reynosa had known that Macy was in the country—Colonel Bell's lawyer, Ms. Hart.