Kate looked up from the case file on her desk and found herself staring right at a grinning Tony DiNozzo. She gasped in surprise. “Tony!” her voice carried that distinct note of annoyance she had perfected since joining Gibbs’ team at NCIS.

“Kate dear,” he intoned in his deep, mellow timbre. With hands planted firmly on her desk, he leaned over her. His body blocked Kate’s view of the office. At any moment Gibbs might stride out of the elevator, cup of coffee in hand, snapping them to attention. She liked her view of Gibbs’ normal pathway unobstructed. “But this,” she thought to herself as she raked her eyes up Tony’s torso to rest on his smile, “isn’t half bad.”

“What is it, Tony?” she asked, trying hard not to let her voice betray her thoughts. If Tony got even a hint that she might look at him in anything other than a professional capacity, all hell would break loose. He would have so much ammo for ridicule he wouldn’t know where to start.

“Who called your phone earlier?” he asked in an almost sing-song tone.

“No one.” Kate returned her attention to the case file. Tony reached over and snatched it from her desk. “Hey!” she shouted as she jumped to her feet.

“Come on, Kate. Who was it?”

Her hands immediately went to her hips, her defensive reaction against her inquisitive co-worker. “None of your business.”

“Kate,” Tony took a serious tone. “You’ve got to tell me. Gibbs’ been up in MTAC all day. We’re not doing anything. McGee’s in chat room right now trying to trick some woman into actually being interested in him.”

“Hey!” McGee interjected from behind his desk. “I am not!”

“They’re only talking to you because they haven’t met you McGeek. Think about that,” Tony called over his shoulder before turning back to face Kate. “So come on. Who was it?’

“Why do you want to know?” Kate racked her brain trying to figure out what she should tell Tony. He would never accept the truth, that the male caller was, in fact, a college friend in DC for a conference who wanted to catch up over lunch. He would press for details, details about an affair that didn’t exist.

Kate gave a mental sigh. Her love life recently was…non-existent. Her last date was nearly three months ago. He had been a loud-mouthed stockbroker cultivating an impressive crop of hair plugs on his forehead. It was the blind date from Hell. She cursed herself afterwards for being desperate enough to even consider going out with a guy she didn’t even know. In the back of her head a low voice moaned, “it’s been so long since you’ve had a man in your life, even Tony’s starting to look good.”

As Tony continued to pry the information from her, Kate felt a minute pull of guilt in her forcing her to admit that Tony didn’t look good just because of her frustration. He’d always looked good. It was a fact she often tried to forget.

“I’m trying to get to know you better, Kate,” he explained, pulling her away from her thoughts. “Co-workers should get to know each other.”

“We’ve been working together for over a year, Tony. I think you know enough.”

“You won’t even tell me where you live!” he exclaimed in defense.

She leaned over and snatched the case file away from him. “That’s because, if you knew, you would actually show up.” She sat back down and pulled her chair up to the desk once again.

“You afraid of me interrupting something?” he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“Not likely,” flashed through her head before she could censure herself.

“DiNozzo, leave Kate alone and get the van. Kate, get Ducky. McGee, come with me,” Gibbs voice filled the office, cutting off any opportunity Kate had to send a barb back Tony’s way. Their boss strode into their cluster of desks, tossed an empty coffee cup into the trash, and extracted his gun from his top desk drawer.

“Got it, Boss.” Tony spun away from Kate’s desk and grabbed his pack before heading for the elevator. Kate picked up the phone and dialed down to the morgue, watching DiNozzo leave. At the elevator he turned and caught her looking. He laughed and gave her a wink. A blush immediately spread across her cheeks, and she had to force herself to keep from taking one more peek.

The key easily slid into the lock of Kate’s apartment door. The key scrapped against the tumblers as she let herself in. With a sigh dropped her purse and keys on the small table next to the door. Exhausted, all she wanted to do was step into a steaming hot shower, grab something to eat, and collapse into bed. In the living room, she shed her suit coat, letting it drape over the arm of a couch. Normally she would hang the garment up neatly in her closet. Right now she could care less.

Kate’s high heels came off as she padded her way to her bedroom. In there she stripped off her shirt and skirt and articles of clothing on the bed. She grabbed her robe, a scrap of scarlet satin and lace, and headed for the bathroom. With a twist of the wrist, water came cascading out of the showerhead. Kate peeled off her bra and underwear and stepped under the stream.

The day seemed to melt away under the soothing influence of the steaming hot water. Her mind flashed back to the events that quickly unfolded after leaving the office. They arrived on the scene of a double homicide. A marine and his wife. Their 18 month old son was missing. The kidnappers contacted the baby’s grandparents just after the team arrived and demanded one million in return for the infant.

A few of Abby’s ingenious tricks with image manipulation later and they were staring at security camera footage of the kidnappers and their van. The cheerful, black-clad lab genius proceeded to track the van across the city through traffic cameras, leading them straight to an abandoned warehouse in an industrial suburb of the city. Tony and Gibbs crept in the front of the building while Kate and McGee tried a back entrance. It was Kate’s luck that as she stealthily rounded a corner she crashed smack into one of the kidnappers doing just the same thing. He got a few punches off before she took him down. She rolled her shoulder, wincing at the pain that reminded her of the gun butt that came down on her like a ton of lead.

But they caught them and returned the baby to the grandparents. That’s what mattered in end she reminded herself as she set about washing her hair. Still, something in the back of her mind nagged at her that she could have been faster.

45 decadent minutes later, Kate Todd emerged from the shower feeling refreshed and as relaxed as a woman can be after being roughed up on the job. She pulled a fluffy white towel off the rack and dried of her hair. Then she slipped into the slinky robe and opened the bathroom door.

Immediately she froze. The faint sound of music floated down the hallway from the living room. She didn’t put music on when got home. Yet a classical piece, something soft and sweet, drifted through the air.

Quietly, Kate crept back to her bedroom and pulled her gun from her holster. She checked the clip, making sure it was fully loaded. The gun in her hand immediately went to her side as she slid out of her bedroom and down the hallway.

The lights of the living room were dim, that much she could see from the hallway. She raised her gun and crept up to the corner of the room’s entrance. From this vantage, she spotted a man moving about in the open door of the kitchen. With his back turned to her, she couldn’t tell who it was.

Kate’s breath trembled. Someone was in her home. Someone uninvited. At work dealing with criminals was a matter of course. At home, however, that was another matter. Never before had someone entered her home without her permission. This was crossing a line.

She took another breath, forcing herself to calm down. Then she raised the gun and spun around the corner. “Stop whatever you’re doing,” she shouted. The man slowly turned around to face her and her loaded gun. “Tony!” she exclaimed.

Before her stood her co-worker, a sheepish grin on his face. The hand that had been hidden by the kitchen’s doorframe now came up. In it he held a bottle of wine. “Hey,” he started with a cautious glance at her weapon.

“What are you doing here?”

He looked nervously at her. “Are you going to put that gun down?”

She hadn’t even realized she was still holding it. “Oh!” She clicked the safety back on and set it on a nearby bookshelf.

“I came by because I knew you had kind of a rough day,” he offered by way of explanation. “The door was unlocked so I kind of let myself in.”

At that moment, Kate became very aware that she was standing in front of Tony wearing only a scrap of a robe, hair still wet. Her arms instinctively crossed over her chest. “I don’t have any wine in the apartment,” she indicated towards the bottle in his hand.

He looked down at it as though seeing it for the first time. “Oh, this. I brought it with me. I figured you could probably use a glass. Loosen up that shoulder a bit.”

He was right, the shoulder was still very tight. “Okay.” Kate took a few steps towards him. He stepped back to let her into the kitchen but it wasn’t enough. She brushed by him, her arm gently running across his chest. For a moment her mind went blank as she caught the subtle scent of him, something overwhelmingly masculine. Her eyes flickered shut for just one moment before snapping open again at the sight before her.

Tony transformed the kitchen. A cloth covered the table in the nook where she ate, and candlelight merrily cast shadows that danced on the walls. On the stove, a few saucepans bubbled away. The cozy smell of cooking hung about the air, immediately enveloping Kate in warmth. “Tony,” she nearly gasped.

“I figure I owed you a few apologies for giving you a hard time lately,” he said from somewhere close behind her.

She spun around. “But you’re not even supposed to know where I live!”

He laughed and rubbed a hand through his hair. “That wasn’t hard to figure out.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t go through my PDA again did you?”

He shook his head. “I just asked Abby. I told her I needed to make something up to you and she was more than happy to give it to me.”

Kate had to smile a little bit at that one. For a while now, Abby had hinted that she thought something more should happen between Kate and Tony. Kate simply laughed it off, but Abby was very serious. Kate wasn’t surprised that Abby helped Tony out for something like this.

“And so you’re cooking for me?”

“That I am." He moved past her to the table. He poured out a glass of wine and handed it to her. “For you.”

“Thank you,” she smiled she accepted it. “But aren’t you going to have one?”

“In a minute. I never drink when I’m cooking. Speaking of which, this needs to come off.” He turned to the stove and began stirring and lowering temperatures. Kate watched as he plated the contents of the pans.

“I have to admit, I never would have pegged you for a cook, Tony.”

“My good Italian mother made each of her children learn. Figured that way she didn’t have to worry about us feeding ourselves once we left home.”

Watching him move about the kitchen, Kate was struck by how comfortable he looked. Here he was, in her apartment, making dinner for a barely-clad woman. She pulled her robe a little more closed and took another sip of wine.

He glanced back at her. “Take a seat. This will just be a second.”

Kate slid onto one of the two chairs and contemplated this new side to Tony. Here he still had the playful, boyish side of him but somehow he was more toned down. He relaxed and let down his guard in a way she’d never seen before. The thought that there were different sides to Tony DiNozzo intrigued her.

As Tony bustled around the kitchen plates of steaming food appeared on the table. He grabbed his wine glass, filled it, and brought it with him before finally setting down. Flashing her that matinee idol smile, he raised his glass. “To Caitlin Todd.”

Kate tried to raise her arm to join him, but grimaced at the pain that shot through her stiffening shoulder. The discomfort must have registered on her face.

“Are you okay?” he asked, brow furrowed.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine in a few days. It’s just stiff.” Kate put a hand to the injury and tried to massage the awkward spot.

“Hold on.” Tony pushed away from the table and came around to her side. Before she could protest he gently brushed her hand aside. For a moment his hands lay softly on her shoulder. Then he began to run his thumbs over the injured muscle, testing the pressure of his fingers against the soreness.

The hot flush of a blush spread over Kate’s cheeks. “Tony,” she began to protest, “you really don’t have to do this.”

He paused for a moment and she could feel him lean down. His breath stirred her hair. “I want to.”

Those three words opened the floodgates in Kate and a wash of sensation pulsed through her body.