"You need to leave Kate. Now!" the doctor said to her. She struggled to remain in the sterilized room, but the nurse wasn’t going to let her stay either. Kate Todd watched helplessly as Tony coughed his life away. Pulling the mask from her face, she tried halfheartedly to suppress a sob. She couldn’t stand to make herself believe that he was…"Dying," she whispered.

Just hours ago he had been fine. Arriving to work late, as usual, greeting her cheerfully, even throwing a few sarcastic comments back and forth. Just being the egotistical son of a bitch he was. But now, as she watched the blood pour from her coworkers mouth, staining the white sheets surrounding him, none of that mattered anymore. It mattered not, that just a few days ago; she had wanted to stab him for one of his sexist comments.

"He’s dying Ducky," Kate sobbed, welcoming the comfort of the elderly doctor. "I love him," she whispered, barely audible, but Ducky heard her nonetheless.

"I know Caitlin, I know," Donald told her, patting her back as she cried into his shoulder.

Kate’s head shot up as she heard the doors to the isolation ward burst open. A haggard group of NCIS Agents trailed behind a somber looking Gibbs. Just by the look on his face, she knew. There was no antidote for the genetically altered plague. Kate felt her world crumble around her. He really was going to…die.

Gibbs pulled Ducky off to the side, and with out saying a word, the two made their way towards the blue lit plexiglas room.

Abby took one look at Kate’s tear streaked face, and broke down in tears. The two women clung to each other, crying for their friend, and fellow agent, who lay dying, in a pool of his own blood.

Gibbs came back over, and said that he needed to talk to her, outside. She wiped her eyes on her shirt sleeve, and followed her boss out in to the empty hallway.

"Kate," Gibbs started, "Ducky told me all that’s been happening, and I’ve spoken to his doctors……" he paused, almost as if he was to afraid to finish, because saying it would make it true, and he didn't want to hurt her anymore than she was already hurting.

"What Gibbs? What did the doctor say? Please, tell me?" Kate pleaded, seeing that he was having a hard time telling her something.

"T-There’s a good chance he won’t make it through the night. But--"

Kate’s hand flew to her mouth. "Oh God, no! He can’t die, he can’t!" she interrupted, cutting him off before he could finish.

"Kate, it’s going to be ok. It is," he tried, but comforting people was not his forte.

"No Gibbs!" she snapped. "No it’s not. It’s not going to be ok. I love him. I love him, and now he’s never going to know that. He’s never gonna know…"

Gibbs just stared, wide-eyed, at her, his mind processing all the ramifications of her heartfelt confession.

"Kate," he said softly, hoping she wouldn’t explode again. "Kate, there is still a small chance that he’ll live."

"What?" she asked. Did she dare hope that, the man she just now realized she was in love with, may live to see another day?

"They’re going to start him on mass blood transfusions, and administer a blood replenishing IV, to keep enough blood in his system. The plague virus had a suicide gene in it. 32 hours after infection, the bug is dead. It’s been dead for over an hour. So at least he’s not contagious anymore," Gibbs paused, letting her take in all the information she’d been given. Deep down, Gibbs really did care; sometimes he just had a hard time showing it. He thought it high time his two best agents figured it out, and he’d be damned if he was going to let some crackpot former hippie ruin their well deserved happiness.

"They also want to try and drain the fluid from his lungs, like they do for neumonia patients. But, it’s a very risky procedure, given his current state," he finished, waiting for her to say something.

"What are his chances?" Kate asked, dreading the answer.

"15% or less. Now, it’s all up to God," Gibbs replied, a look of terrible sadness crossing his face.


**Now You Decide Their Fate**

A/N
So? How’d I do? This is my first NCIS fic. Sorry if Gibbs and Kate seem a little OOC. I tried to steer clear of the whole sappy deathbed ‘omigosh-you’re-dying-let-me-confess-all-my-fleeings’ kind of story. I wanted to portray a side of Kate she rarely lets show through, and that we only see a glimpse of in SWAK. I also wanted to show the part of Gibbs that really does care.
I don’t own NCIS, or anything associated with it. I don’t claim to be a doctor either, so sorry if some of the ‘medical’ stuff is incorrect, I just wrote what sounded like it belonged! lol! I hope you all like it! Sorry if it seems overdone, I wrote this on the last day of school, when we did absolutely nothing in any of my classes. I might continue with it, but don’t know if I CAN, because the only logical thing to write next IS a sappy deathbed conversation between Kate and Tony.
Hey, did you notice that I only used his name one in the whole fic? Everywhere else, Tony’s just referred to as ‘he’ ‘his’ or ‘him.’ I thought that was kinda funny! PLEASE review, all comments are welcome, flame if you want to, I don’t really care. I’m just posting cause I haven’t posted anything in a long time, and I’m having withdrawalment issues. I hope everyone liked it! Tell me if I should continue!