“There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.” - George Washington
Kate had decided that she was never again daring or challenging Tony DiNozzo to anything in her life, because not only did he surpass expectations, but she knew he’d get his way every single time. She hadn’t honestly expected him to do it, to actually rip the blouse off her, but he had. He’d gone above and beyond and somehow had taken the tattered material from her completely without removing her coat - that took skill. The remains of the blouse had been thrown somewhere on the terrace, but Kate was too interested in getting him out his jeans to care where it landed.
At first she worried the wooden furniture wouldn’t hold their combined weight, let alone their sudden movements, but it had been sturdier than it looked; she could now safely check exhibitionism off her list of things she never would’ve done if she were in her right mind and not punch drunk on whatever she was wrapped up in with Tony.
The day and her lack of sleep had caught up to her, and Kate fell asleep with her coat and his arms tight around her, and hadn’t woken till she felt herself being set down on a couch. Opening her eyes she realised she was in the den, and Tony was leaning over her telling her he had to go to work, but he’d be back around ten if she wanted him there. There was no denying she wanted him back with her, since it would be their first night together after having settled on what they were. She had fallen back to sleep with a smile on her face as Tony removed her shoes and covered her with a blanket before he left.
The sound of a telephone ringing had dragged Kate away from her Cuban retreat with Tony and back to the real world. She’d managed to divest herself of both the blanket and her coat while she’d been sleeping, having been too hot, and was laying sprawled on the couch in her now wrinkled skirt and little else. She’d stumbled from the couch to grab the receiver before it rung off, but was greeted with nothing but silence on the other end and caller ID stating number withheld. She’d thought nothing more of it as she showered and dressed in her comfiest pyjamas.
Not being in the mood to cook, she’d ordered pizza, resolving to save some for Tony, and had grabbed another beer from the fridge when the phone rang again. Unlike the last time, the mystery caller remained on the line, opting to stay silent instead of hanging up upon hearing Kate’s voice. The calls continued throughout the night, increasing in number when Tony returned; between them, they’d managed four hours of sleep with the phone calls coming every twenty minutes until they’d eventually stopped at three AM. Neither were very happy bunnies the next morning, and took it out not only on each other but kitchen appliances and crockery as well.
She’d thought long and hard as to who would be calling her like this, calling only to hear her voice and raise her guard. He’d done it for an entire month while she’d been in Paris, but at the end of that month she at least got confirmation it was indeed he who had been calling; this wasn’t like him, and if it was, he had a lot of explaining to do.
If it turned out to be him, the only reason he’d be calling would be to alert her to his location. Kate had no idea how she’d grown to love someone who loved to play mind games with her, who loved to keep her on the edge. She’d fallen hard for him at the time and it was her own innocence and naivety that allowed her to do so; if she were to meet him tomorrow she wouldn’t feel the same way.
The most shocking thing about that relationship was the fact that she’d stayed with him for five years, enduring his games before they finally became too much and she called it a day.
At lot had happened in the two weeks since that first phone call. For a start, Tony had taken up semi-permanent residence at her place, only jumping down to his apartment to check his mail or when he needed a change of clothes. He had been drawing out the installation of the security system and a job that should have taken two days at the most was nowhere near complete.
The calls began increasing on a daily basis but occurred mostly at night, and the strain was showing in Kate. She found herself in a catch twenty-two; if she stayed at home in the hopes of getting some sleep, the phone would be ringing constantly with her anonymous caller, and if she went to work to avoid the calls, she found herself falling asleep during meetings with Jethro and sometimes locking her door during lunch for an hour’s nap. When she started receiving the same calls in her office, it was the last straw.
She’d spoken with a Detective Fornell, a man roughly Jethro’s age with less hair and a worse disposition and set the ball rolling with him. Both she and Tony informed him of any potential enemies, including former lovers, and they talked about what to do if the phone calls continued or increased or even became threatening. Kate found herself wishing they would become threatening because that would give them not only a voice to track down, but an idea as to why they were receiving the calls in the first place.
Detective Fornell didn’t provide much hope of the person being caught, but he promised he’d do all he could to find them if at all possible; he’d seen it in their faces how much this was pushing the couple to the point of pulling their hair out. He requested they come back in a week, or sooner if anything changed, with a phone bill and a possible record of any and all calls they received both at work and home. He noted the fact that it only seemed to be Ms. Todd who was receiving the calls at work as well as home, so he also requested she get a phone bill from her office to see if they could make any connection to the calls she received at home despite the fact it was glaringly obvious there was a connection as there were no calls to her home while she was out.
When they’d left Detective Fornell to his work, neither Kate nor Tony felt any better about the situation, but at least now they had someone working to put an end to it all. Driving down Indiana Avenue, Tony couldn’t shake the feeling they were being followed, but with the amount of traffic surrounding them, he couldn’t be sure and he certainly wasn’t going to say anything to Kate as she was already on the edge as it was.
He thought back to what they’d said to Detective Fornell, and the amount of names they’d mentioned, the amount of people in the past few years who could quite possibly hold some form of grudge against them. Most of the girls he’d mentioned he only remembered due to the circumstances through which they split up; Michelle thought he was cheating and broke into his apartment to find proof, he learned Monica was married, Debbie was similar to him at that time and was only looking for a one time thing as was Lisa. Naturally he mentioned Jeanne, but he didn’t think she’d have what it takes to harass them like this.
It had been one of the most twisted ways of learning how many partners your lover had had before you. He knew everything, and everyone, that had been mentioned would be brought up at some point, like all secrets were and despite the fact he didn‘t want to do it while in a car with a sleep deprived woman at the wheel, he was curious to know about things. Like the fact she failed to mention her most recent long term lover, Tim, had died four years previously or that she had almost been engaged to a guy who owned his own airport. He certainly knew how to pick his women.
The only words spoken were when Kate mentioned she was cooking that night and was wondering if he thought they should pick up a bottle of wine or not to go with the meal. Tony honestly wasn’t fussed what they drank due to the surprise of having a home cooked meal for the first time in years.
It caught Tony off guard when he realised in the two weeks they’d known each other, he and Kate had formed some sort of routine. She’d come home, they’d have dinner, he’d go to work while she went to bed and they’d do the reverse the next morning by having breakfast together before he went to bed or started work on installing her security system. If it hadn’t been for the fact he was already with Kate, he would’ve used that as an excuse to hang around. What he felt when he was around Kate was nothing like when he’d been with Jeanne or anyone else. This at least felt real and something to fight for if it went belly-up. Perhaps he’d only thought he’d loved Jeanne, because he couldn’t honestly say he knew what love felt like.
“Kate?”
“Tony.”
“I’ve been thinking. About us and how two weeks ago, we barely knew each other. Hell, we still barely know each other, but that doesn’t bother me.”
“But something obviously does.”
The car came to a slow stop at a red light and Kate finally looked at him. He could see in her eyes how much she wanted to forget the past two weeks and simply sleep uninterrupted and he would happily join her once everything was resolved. But the strength she was showing through all this had Tony admiring her, for a lesser woman would’ve freaked out over it. He knew Kate had her weaknesses and her fears like everybody else, but she never let them show. She was probably stronger than any woman he’d ever known and she deserved to know exactly what he thought about that.
“Not so much bothers, as shocks me slightly since this is the first time I’ve felt it and I finally understand what the songs and the movies are all about.”
“Tony, my brain is only functioning so much right now so forgive me for not knowing what the hell you‘re talking about.”
“I’m talking about the fact, that I’ve slowly come to realise that I think, maybe possibly, I love you.”
Chapter End Notes:
Sorry for the delay, RL got in the way as it tends to do.