Kate stood on the roof and took a breath. Nothing, her heart still hammered in her chest as if trying to burst out. She took another breath, and felt her pulse begin to slow. Closing her eyes she tried to wipe the image from her mind but it kept pushing to the forefront, the same dark shoulder length hair, brown eyes, rounded face shape, and no doubt a similar family history. It was like staring into a mirror, albeit a very morbid one.
“It’s just a very strange coincidence,” she told herself, trying to calm herself. Two dead Navy women in the same week that look like her, nothing to freak out about.
She took another breath and opened her eyes, feeling calmer and ready to return to the bullpen. Turning around she reached for the door handle but instead came into hard contact with another body. A small scream escaped her mouth and she stumbled backward before realizing it was only Tony. He grabbed her waist to keep her from falling and pulled her toward him.
“Haha! Gotcha, Katie!” he cried gleefully, then mentally kicked himself. He had come up there to see if she was alright.
She smacked his arm and wriggled away from his grip around her waist, making for the door. “That wasn’t funny, DiNozzo!”
He stepped in her path and tried to look apologetic. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She scoffed and reached for the handle, but he got there first and pulled her hand away gently. “I just wanted to see if you were alright.”
She looked up at his face, searching for an ulterior motive, but finding none let her guard down a little. “I’m fine, just a little shook up. She just...they both just look...” she trailed off, finding her feeling of calm slowly ebbing away.
He raised his arms to her shoulders and pulled her toward him. “It’s okay,” he assured her. “It’s just a very strange coincidence.”
She tensed, still unsure of his intentions, but felt herself relax into his arms and rest her head on his shoulder at his words. They stood like that for a few minutes, his hand rubbing nonsense circles into her back while she pulled herself back together. Finally she pulled away and they stood awkwardly in front of each other.
“Uh...thanks...” she murmured, feeling calm about the case but now unsure of what was going on between them.
“No problem,” he muttered back, equally confused.
They fell silent again, neither making a move to leave or communicate.
“Kate...I...uh,” Tony started a moment later, the silence already unbearable. She stared up into his eyes expectantly; waiting for his words but instead was startled by his sudden movements. She stepped back in surprise but was caught by his arms, which slipped around her waist effortlessly and pulled her into him. His lips came down on hers and before she could figure out what was going on she was melting into his embrace and kissing him back with the same fiery intensity.
It seemed to last a lifetime, them standing there, on the roof, kissing. But in reality it was only a few minutes before they pulled away from each other, quickly, as if an electric shock had pushed them apart.
Both their minds whirred with unanswered thoughts. Kate looked at the ground, feeling herself turn scarlet with...she wasn’t quite sure what it was. When she finally looked up she found Tony a few feet away, shifting awkwardly from one foot to another and muttering quietly to himself, his hands running through his hair periodically, a nervous habit, she noted.
He looked up and noticed her watching him. His expression was slightly pained as he tried to think of something to say. He watched her face for some hint of what she was feeling; something to tell him what words should fall from his mouth. She looked shocked, confused, sad and many other things that pushed any coherent thought out of his head.
“Shit...” he finally said in a half whisper. “I...I...have to go.” He turned and pushed through the door.
She could hear his footsteps echo and then disappear before the door closed, leaving her alone on the roof again.
When she eventually returned to the bullpen only Tony was there, pretending to be engrossed with something on his computer, but she could see him watching her out of the corner of his eye. In turn, she pretended not to notice, comfortable to play this game for the rest of the day, just to avoid talking about the subject they both knew was inevitable.
Kate stared at the file on her desk, daring herself to open it and stay calm. She told herself again it was only a coincidence and flipped over the cover, reminding herself of the details of the case. Petty Officer Danielle Cohen, found dead in the women’s locker room of the fitness centre at Norfolk. And Lieutenant Andrea Peyton, found dead in her office at Norfolk. According to Ducky, both women died of strangulation, and there was severe evidence of rape involved. The team had been on this case for a week now and it was going nowhere. And of course the strange similarities each victim had to Kate were not exactly helping her concentrate.
When the first body had appeared she thought nothing of the resemblance until Ducky had mentioned it during the autopsy. It seemed to be of no importance. But when the second victim also resembled Kate she found herself on guard. She had immediately begun a background search on each victim. Age twenty-eight, Catholic, three brothers and one sister; the matching facts were endless.
“I’m overreacting,” she reminded herself again. “If there was anything to worry about Gibbs would have said something, he knows the facts just as well as you do.”
She cleared her mind and looked at interrogation transcripts. They had brought in every male Navy personnel that had a connection with the two victims but no one had cracked under Gibbs’ pressure and all the alibis were standing strong.
“He has to be Navy,” she muttered to herself before sighing loudly and rubbing her temples. It was almost nine o’clock, and they had been staring at files and evidence reports all day trying to come up with some lead.
Gibbs looked around at his team. They had been in since five this morning and besides Kate and Tony’s little foray up to the roof no one had taken any breaks. He knew Kate was upset, he’d read the Lieutenant and Petty Officer’s files, he’d seen their faces. There was no denying that there was a great resemblance and although it didn’t sit right with him there was nothing to link Kate personally to the case. So he said nothing about it, not wanting to worry her anymore. He needed her help on this case. Nothing could distract her.
“Go home,” Gibbs said out loud. His team looked up from their work, startled by the sudden voice in the room.
“What?” McGee said feebly.
“I said, go home. You’ve been here long enough and nothing’s getting done. Reading files at home is no different than reading files here.”
The three agents looked at each other warily, unsure if this was some sort of strange shared hallucination.
“Get! I want you back here at 0600!” Gibbs barked and they jumped up, quickly packing their things and the files they were examining.
“Hey Boss, aren’t you going?” Tony asked when he saw Gibbs still sitting at his desk.
“Goodnight, DiNozzo,” Gibbs muttered.
Tony shrugged and made for the elevator with McGee and Kate. As the doors opened he and Kate both moved to get on but stopped, knowing that they would have to touch in order to both get through the door at the same time. They stood and looked at each other, a silent mental battle playing out between them.
McGee stared at his colleagues, very confused. “Uh...guys? Going to get on anytime soon?”
Tony and Kate ignored him.
“Okay then, I’ll go first.” McGee pushed his way between the two stunned agents and stepped on to the elevator, breaking the tension between Tony and Kate as he went.
“Jeez Probie, Senior Agents first!” Tony said as he smacked McGee on the back of the head. Kate laughed and stepped into the elevator behind Tony. It seemed they had made a silent agreement to ignore the events on the roof, for now at least.
Story Notes:
This is my first NCIS fan fic so I hope it's up to standard. I'd like to thank my two beta readers Inge and Darcie, this would be impossible without them.
PS: Disclaimer: I don't own it!
Author's Chapter Notes:
A strange case gets personal for Kate and could ruin her forming relationship with Tony.
Chapter End Notes:
This is my first NCIS fan fic so I hope it's up to standard. I'd like to thank my two beta readers Inge and Darcie, this would be impossible without them.
PS: Disclaimer: I don't own it!
PS: Disclaimer: I don't own it!