KIDS CH 1

Kate sighed as she got out of her car. It had been a stressing day at work with a sick-o rapist/murderer and Tony's innuendos. She was not doing too well with dealing with her anger towards any man that would dare lay a hand on a woman without her consent, and it was making it difficult to be around men period. Too bad they didn't catch him...Kate froze as she heard a scream in a nearby alley.

Being as quiet as possible, she gripped her gun and crept around a corner. What she saw made her want to vomit: a woman was on the ground with a ripped blouse and her business skirt was wrinkled like it had been hiked up. Her blonde hair was matted with blood from a gash in her head and Kate could see a wound in her stomach through the ripped buttons on her blouse. "Don't kill me," she begged.

The man cackled. "Usually women beg me to finish them off...the woman earlier did. What do you have to live for that they didn't?" he asked, truly curious.

Kate didn't give the poor woman a chance to answer. "NCIS! Drop your weapon and put your hands in the air!" She was almost positive this was the same man that had killed the woman from earlier. The man dropped the knife and slowly lowered his hands. "I said hands in the air!" Kate said, advancing on him. The man froze for a second and Kate hesitated to do anything to an unarmed man. He took advantage of her hesitation and shot at her with a gun she had not idea he had. One caught her left arm and she cried out, but she still managed to shoot him. A single bullet between the eyes did him in.

Kate pulled out her cell and called an ambulance. "It's Special Agent Kate Todd of NCIS. We have a rape victim here." After giving the address, she walked over to the woman. "What's your name?" Kate asked through her pain.

"Mercedes," the woman gasped. Kate's eyes dropped to the stomach wound and she noticed it was deeper than she had originally thought. "I'm not gonna make it so I need you to promise me something," Mercedes said urgently. "My three kids--Joee, Josey, and Jacey--" She stopped to cough and blood came spurting out. She contiued anyway. "--at a party at McDonalds. Take care of them...they have no one. Promise me."

Kate shook her head. She heard the sirens in the distance. "Help's on the way," Kate said instead, her eyes welling up at Mercedes's helplessness.

"Promise me," Mercedes begged desperately, her eyes wide and frightened at the thought that her kids would be all alone.

Kate swallowed hard. "I promise," she whispered. Mercedes nodded and closed her eyes, her expression turning peaceful and her body going slack. Kate timidly reached out and felt her pulse. She was dead.

Kate closed her eyes and allowed a single tear to get loose. Then she composed herself enough so that when the ambulance and Gibbs and Tony got there, she was in control of her emotions. She didn't even bother to ask Gibbs how he had known she was there. "What happened?" he demanded after watching the paramedics bag the bodies and take them away. Kate almost wished she hadn't put on her jacket to cover up the gunshot wound. "I was about to go into my apartment building--"

"You live around here?" Tony interrupted, looking around.

Gibbs glared at him and his mouth snapped shut. "Continue," Gibbs ordered. Although dizzy from pain and blood loss, Kate told them everything except the promise she made. Gibbs nodded thoughtfully. "I think he's our guy. I'll call Ducky and tell him to her some blood samples and so forth and have Abby compare them to samples from the body from earlier." He looked over at Tony. "Walk Agent Todd to her apartment Dinozzo; she looks a little pale. Make sure she's comfortable. Better yet, don't leave until she's safely asleep." He silenced both of their protest with a cold glare. "No funny business either. I'll know if you leave before she's asleep and I'll know if you don't leave after she's asleep." He left them with one final glare.

"You don't have to stay," Kate said, turning and walking slowly to her apartment building.

"Hey, wait up!" Tony called, jogging to catch up. When Kate only walked faster, he grabbed her arm and she cried out in pain. He yanked his arm away as if it had been burned ans saw the blood. "Oh Kate," he said softly, "You need to go to the hospital and--did you get shot?" he asked incredulously.

Although the situation was a bit grim, Kate rolled her eyes at Tony's remark. "No, I incidentally have a bullet in my arm," she said sarcastically.

Tony gave her a somber look. "This is no time for sarcasm. You need to get that checked out," he said seriously.

Kate grimaced. "I need to be somewhere."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, the hospital."

Kate shook her head. "No, McDonalds."

Tony sighed. "Kate, you can eat later."

She was still shaking her head. "Umm, the kids are at a birthday party at McDonalds," Kate explained.

"Whose kids?" Tony asked resignedly.

"Mercedes's," Kate said, opening the driver's side door to her car.

"What the hell do Mercedes have to do with anything?" Tony demanded, grabbing a struggling Kate by the shoulder and guiding her around the car to the passenger side.

"Mercedes--the woman that just died. Her three kids are at a birthday party and I promised I'd take care of them," she explained the best she could.

Tony shook his head and shut the door. After getting in the driver's side and getting Kate's keys, Tony pulled out of the parking lot. "What the hell did you promise that for? You know you can't fulfill it! Gibbs is gonna have a field day. How do you expect to do that, huh Kate?" he asked harshly.

Kate stood her ground. "I can adopt them and they can stay with me," she said defiantly.

Tony shook his head and they sat in silence until they pulled into the McDonalds parking lot. "How are you going to go about this?" Tony asked her, staring ahead.

Kate closed her eyes. "First, I'm going to tell the parent in charge then the kids. Then we'll take them to my apartment."

Tony raised his eyebrows. "Sleeping arrangements?" he asked casually.

"I have a really big bed," she said before opening the door and getting out.

Tony sat there for a second trying to figure out if there was a hidden innuendo in that sentence. After deciding it was a perfectly innocent answer, he got out and caught up to Kate just after she told the mother of the birthday girl. The woman--Tonya--covered her mouth with a trembling hand and pointed at three blonde girls. Two of them looked not more than five and one of them looked a few years older. Kate and Tony walked over, Tony keeping a close eye on Kate. When they got to the three girls, Kate asked them, "Are you three Jacey, Joee, and--umm...Josey? Mercedes's kids?"

The oldest one nodded solemnly. "We already know what happened," she said sadly.

Kate and Tony exchanged worried glances. "What do you mean?" Tony asked gently.

All three of them put their hands on their chests over their hearts and one of the twins said, "We felt it," with a trembling lip. She started sniffling as her twin watched on stoically and the older one's chin started quivering. Kate leaned over fast to comfort them and realized how fast the tabletop was rushing towards her.

Tony caught her just in time and figured out exactly why Kate had fainted. "Blood loss," he muttered angrily. "Girls, get in the car. We need to get Kate to the hospital."

The twins readily agreed, but the older one held them back. "We're not supposed to get into cars--or go anywhere with strangers. You're a stranger," she informed him.

Tony pulled out his wallet and handed it to her. "My badge and driver's liscence are in there. Come out to the car when you decide I'm not a stranger any more." Tony knew he was being a jerk, but he was worried.

As Tony was taking Kate out to her car, the girls were looking at Tony's liscence. "Special Agent Dinozzo, Anthony Ezekiel. He's an agent; let's go," she decided. They ran outside as Tony was settling Kate in the backseat.

"One of you girls sit there so she can rest her head in your lap," he ordered.

The older girl did as he said. "I'm Joee," she clarified.

Tony nodded. "That makes things a little easier." He buckled Josey and Jacey into the front seat and ran around to the driver's side and got in. As they pulled out of the parking lot, Tony truned on the siren. It would make things a lot easier.

The were at the hospital in a matter of minutes. Tony carried Kate in and the girls trailed after him like ducklings. One mention of NCIS and Gibbs and Kate was getting the fastest, best care available.

o~o~o~o

Tony sat in the waiting room waiting anxiously to see if there was any lasting damage. The girls were staring at him. "Do you still have my wallet?" he asked. Joee obediently presented it to him. "We're going to play a game called getting to now one another," Tony decided. "I'll start, I guess. I'm Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo--colleagues and friends call me Dinozzo or Tony and sometimes other not-so-nice things." He stopped to give them a charming smile. "I'm twenty-nine, Italian, my favorite color is green, favorite food is Chinese even though I can't exactly use chopsticks, favorite tv show is The Simpsons, and...my favorite movie is Jaws." Tony nodded decisively and pointed to Joee. "Your turn," he said cheerfully.

"I'm Joee Grace Madison. I'm seven, my favorite color is blue, favorite food is ice cream, and favorite tv show is Power Puff Girls."

Tony's eyes moved from her to the next girl. "I'm Jacey Gabrielle Madison and I'm four and this is Josey Gretchen Madison and she's four but she doesn't talk that much."

Tony nodded, processing the information and trying to think of another game to keep their thoughts away from bad things. The doctor came out. "For Caitlin Todd?" he asked even though he already knew Tony was there for Kate because of the fuss he had made.

Tony stood up. "Right here." He was very conscious of the three girls listening closely.

"Miss Todd's arm will heal nicely with little lasting damage although she should have come in sooner...anway, she fainted from blood loss. We want to keep her overnight for observation, but she's making the nurses beg me to discharge her. Please go calm her down."

Tony grinned and shook his head. "Come on, J's. Let's go to Kate."

o~o~o~o

Kate stopped her yelling when she saw Tony. "Anthony Ezekiel Dinozzo, if I don't get out of here soon, you won't live to regret it," she promised.

Tony gave her a teasing grin. "Are you afrain of hospitals, Agent Todd?"

Kate glared at him. "I am not afraid of hospitals, Tony! I just don't want to stay here."

Tony shrugged. "You don't have a choice in that, but you can at least have the pleasure of my company--and these three lovely ladies of course," he said, gesturing towards the "J's".

Kate's look of annoyance melted away and she smiled at them. Tony pointed at Joee. "That's Joee, and I can't really tell the twins apart but I know that Josey doesn't talk that much," he said.

Kate nodded and looked at the clock on the wall. "Tony! It's almost eleven o'clock! Take them to my apartment and stay with them," she ordered.

Tony shook his head. "No, they can just sleep in the bed with you."

Kate looked at the small bed carefully. "Where will you sleep?" Too late, she realized the opening she gave him to make a luid comment.

Tony wiggled his eyebrows and licked his lips, but refrained from saying anything. "In the chair of course," he said as if that was obvious.

Kate sighed with relief, glad he didn't say anything else. Then Tony proceeded to pile the girls on the bed, one twin actually on Kate and one was half on her and half on the bed. Joee squeezed in between her sister and the edge of the bed. "Wow, it actually worked," Kate said thoughtfully.

Tony nodded. "I am a genius." He picked up the remote and turned it on cartoons and settled himself in the chair. Joee and Josey went out like lights, but Jacey kept her heaqd burried in Kate's shoulder and her breathing patterns proved that she wasn't asleep. It was only when Kate felt wetness on her hospital gown that she realized Jacey was crying.

Peaking over at Tony and the other two girls, Kate saw that they were asleep. She slowly moved her wounded arm around the small girl and held her until she cried herself to sleep. Kate stayed awake long after that, finally falling asleep with little animated cartoon characters doing wacky things to her mind.

o~o~o~o

Tony woke with a start. After shaking his head to clear it, he saw that Joee was on the floor curled up in a ball crying in her sleep. "Mommy," the little girl sobbed.

After glancing up to make sure Kate and the twins were still asleep, Tony scooped up the sobbing seven-year-old and paced back and forth across the hospital room. When Joee's sobs finally subsided, Tony settled down in the chair with Joee in his arms and fell back asleep.

Tbc...This is going to be full of fluff so be warned...I love kids and if it helps Tony and Kate get together...well that's awesome