When they finally stopped in front of their intended destination, Kate gave him a look that said, plainly, are you crazy, followed by another look of amazement.
Tony gave her what he hoped was his most charming smile.
She was incredulous. "You're taking me to church?"
Methodically, he extracted each finger from his gloves, one by one. "You say that like it's a bad thing," he said calmly.
She continued to look in awe.
"I thought it was something you could be in need of tonight," he suggested. "Believe it or not, for once, I'm for it too."
Kate sidestepped a crowd of bible-toting churchgoers, eyeing their hymn books suspiciously. "Are you sure?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. "Why?"
"It is pretty cold tonight," he pointed out reasonably, knowing that she knew it wasn't his reason.
This earnt him a smile. He couldn't help but smile back.
"All right, all right," she said finally, still wondering why Tony, of all people, was the one suggesting church on Christmas Eve.
---
Kate was wearing a sweater – and under that, a suit shirt – but for some reason it felt like there was nothing, absolutely nothing at all, between Tony's hand and the place on the small of her back where he rested it as he steered her down the aisle.
She gave up trying to explain why Tony had taken her here by the time they had picked a pew. By mutual and silent consent, they stuck towards the back.
All around them people bowed theirheads in prayer. The moonlight that spilled through the many stained glass windows in the small church painted beautiful multicolored halos upon the bent heads. The red panes bled, the blue panes wept, and the yellow panes glowed golden like the sun.
Kate followed their suit, before glancing quickly over at Tony. The Bible sat on his lap. His head wasn't bowed. He looked thoughtful, absorbed, distracted. He was neither red nor blue nor yellow but managed to escape all three, his face pale like a swipe of white paint against a canvas of primary colours.
If he closed his eyes, he looked just like one of them, she thought dazedly.
Maybe it was the hushed and hallowed silence of the church, maybe it was the quiet unassuming smiles that people directed his way, but something about this place threw him off balance. When he leant over to whisper in Kate's ear, he was astonished to find himself leaning across the small space to meet her.
---
They were halfway through the service and Tony was still awake. In fact, he looked downright at ease as he listened to the recitations and the prayers and the hymns with the scholarly attentiveness of a med student.
Kate took this to be a good sign.
She also took this time to commit him to memory. She thought it would be a long time before DiNozzo offered to drag her to a church again, if ever, so she snuck quick peeks at him out of the corner of her eye – memorising the pale glow of his skin, the soft slope of his mouth, the curve of his wrist – and she knew that she'd never forget the way he looked under candlelight.
When he caught her staring at him, he did a double take.
"Are you bored?" she whispered.
"No," he whispered back. "Why?"
She hesitated. "This isn't you."
Tony turned to her, with a look in his eyes that she couldn't quite place. His lips were curled up at their edges. But he wasn't smiling.
The choir stood. Tony remembered what brought him here in the first place. Quietly, he settled back in his seat. His feet kicked out without meaning to.
---
People were praying again. Kate was praying.
But Tony wasn't. He didn't believe in prayer.
He was sitting with the Bible still across his lap. Curiously, his feet were still swinging. Really, they were too long to swing. She wanted to make him stop because he was scuffing his expensive Italian shoes in church and earning himself curious stares from their neighbours.
But she restrained herself from doing so and decided to let people watch for a while.
She turned her head back down and sat silently for a few moments. When the prayer ended, she raised it once more and looked beside her.
His eyes were welled.
Startled, Kate forced herself to stare forward. Her heart jacked up against her ribcage. She could feel her pulse thrumming against her wrist as she dragged her eyes back onto him.
His eyes were blank and his cheeks were smeared with red.
She was not even sure if he knew that he was crying. She didn't even know that DiNozzo knew what crying was.
---
The second half of the service flew by much faster than the first. Perhaps because Kate spent most of the time worrying about Tony.
"Are you okay?" she whispered.
"What?" he whispered back. An attempt at sarcasm edged a smile. "Sorry, I fell asleep."
"Ha, ha," she said under her breath. "Do you want to leave?"
He shrugged. "It's almost over."
And it was. The collection plate was coming around. Tony wasn't a regular churchgoer, but he knew the ten in his pocket wouldn't be there when he walked through the doors.
They filed out the door like regular churchgoers and shook hands with the reverend. Strangely enough, he reminded Kate of Santa Claus. She kept that thought to herself and managed to wait until they were out of earshot before she burst out laughing.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.