Thanks to Abbyforever for beta'ing
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Gibbs had pulled in outside a bar on the way home from the airport. The funeral had been hard on all of them and the plain ride home had given them each far too much time to think. His team needed to be somewhere where they could talk, blow off some steam or just get drunk if that's what they needed to do. Whatever their chosen outlet, they needed to be together at the moment, each affirming that the others were ok.

The bar was a pleasant one, and it was obviously popular with the locals. There was music playing but it wasn't loud enough to be intrusive, there was a small area over the back where a few kids danced and partied and there were the usual older guys at the bar, watching the game and talking over old times.

Tony sighed and looked around their booth. Ducky was next to him, holding a conversation across the table with Gibbs, McGee opposite Ducky was crammed into the corner, drinking his beer and watching the kids on the dance floor. Abby was perched on Gibbs' lap and had been watching him intently. It was only fair, he had been studying her, them, closely this whole trip.

It had become apparent very soon after the news of Kate's death had spread that the unresolved sexual tension that Tony had seen between Gibbs and his forensic scientist was in fact just sexual tension that had apparently been resolved for some time now. They had done nothing to announce the presence of their on-going relationship, but over the course of the very difficult days just passed they had done little to hide their shared need for each other. Reassuring touches, intimate looks and a surge in physical proximity made it transparent that this level of co dependency was neither a new thing for them, nor a surprise.

Abby shifted in Gibbs lap and broke Tony's train of thought. Kissing the older man on the cheek as she slid off of his lap, she moved towards the bar and began a conversation with the bar tender. Gibbs continued his conversation with Ducky but Tony could see he kept a close eye on his girl as she weaved her way through the clientele. Her conversation with the bartender lasted a few seconds before the man moved away to talk to one of the other people serving behind the bar. After an exchange of words and some hunting around, the first man returned to Abby and said something to her while nodding in confirmation. Abby slipped the man what Tony thought must be a tip and turned back to their table. He didn't see a drink in her hands.

When she rejoined them Gibbs gave her a questioning glance, to which she shrugged, before shifting slightly so that she could rejoin him on the seat. They stayed that way for a while and Tony's gaze shifted once more about the room. A few minutes later he felt someone tugging on his arm and looked up to find Abby next to him at the booth. She was pulling him to get up and his sighed and obliged.

"Dance with me," she commanded and dragged him away. He looked back over his shoulder and saw that all conversation at the table had stopped, but that Gibbs was giving him a small sad smile so everything must have been ok.

"Abby, I'm not really in a dancing mood right now."

"I know you're not, but trust me, this is what Kate would want," and as she was Kate's best friend, if this was what she need to help her out, then he certainly would try. Sighing again, he dragged his feet a little less and allowed her to lead him into the middle of the pack of dancing kids.

The music changed and bars of a strong piano and then drum introduction hammered through the speakers in an almost swing-y beat. Abby began moving to the beat and Tony watched her for a minute, it was nothing like the music he usually heard her listening to in her lab but she seemed to be into it. She caught his quizzical and stepped up to him; "Come on Tony, just trust me. Listen to the lyrics."

She plays wipeout on the drums
the squirrels and the birds come
Gather around to sing the guitar
Oh I...have you got nothing to say

It was a goofy sounding melody and Tony really wasn't in the mood but Abby was happily bopping. She looked at him from under her fringe as she moved around him in a small circle, "Trust me, Tony."

When all words fail she speaks
Her mix tape's a masterpiece
Walks through the garden
so the roses can see
Oh I...have you got nothing to say
And you can see the daisies
in her footsteps
Dandelions, butterflies
I wanna be Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate

And suddenly he got it. He gave Abby a small smile and pulled her to him, swinging her around gently. Daisies, dandelions and butterflies, yup, that was Kate.

Everyday she wears the same thing
I think she smokes pot
She's everything I want, She's everything I'm not
Oh. I...
Have you got nothing to say

He spun her away from him and used her momentum to pull her back, catching her close and holding her as they danced and listened to the words together.

She never gets wet
She smiles and it's a rainbow
And she speaks and she breathes
I wanna be Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate

Down by the Rosemary and Cary
She hands out the Bhagavad-Gita
I see her around every couple days
I wanna see her so that
I can say...hey Kate

Gibbs was watching them closely and Tony shifted, uncertain until he recognised his boss' tolerant half smile, his gaze following the women in Tony's arms. Tony couldn't blame him for watching her, people slipped away all too easily.

She never gets wet
She smiles and it's a rainbow
Oh oh...You can see
I wanna wanna wanna wanna be
Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate
No, no, no, no, no

The song finished and Tony kissed Abby on the cheek. When they pulled back both had tears in their eyes but were smiling. ‘Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate,' rang in their heads, with images of their beautiful friend.

Returning to their seats, Gibbs squeezed Abby close to him, kissing the top of her head. Tony could have resented them for what they had but he didn't. It wasn't Gibbs' rules that had kept him and Kate apart, no matter what anyone else thought. They had been nearly there, but they weren't there yet. It was unsaid, but both had known where their relationship was headed, both had been happy to let it happen in it's own time. That that time would never come was not the fault of Gibbs and Abby, and he was happy for them.

Ducky raised his glass, "She smiles and it's a rainbow, to Kate."

"Kate," echoed the others, clinking glasses over the table. They were hurting, but they would be ok.


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‘Kate' is by Ben Folds Five and on their ‘Whatever and ever Amen' album. Used without permission, I own nothing.