Tony sat in his car; he had a dilemma. Go home to Kate and have to face her about the lump, or drive around the entire night and avoid her. The latter, he thought, was probably not the best idea he had ever had, both for worrying Kate and getting no sleep. Gibbs would not be happy to see an overtired Tony entering the bullpen in the morning. While Tony was debating in his mind whether or not to go to Kate's house where he said he'd meet with her; he realised that he was driving in familiar territory. ‘Why do these streets seem so familiar?' he thought to himself. Then it hit him; this was where the first Marine wife was taken from. Tony cruised along until he came to the spot they had found the phone and parked. This was the stalling tactic he'd been looking for. He could search around a bit here and delay going over to Kate's. ‘Genius' he thought. He got out of the car and started patrolling the pavement where they found the phone, staring at the ground. He found himself once more deep in thought about Kate. ‘What if she left me, unable to cope with the responsibility of me having cancer? Stop it Tony. You don't even know you've got cancer…but you could. What if I did? What would happen? How would Kate treat me?' God, he was going in circles, ever delaying facing the problem. A rustling ahead of him distracted him; his heart missed a beat. His head snapped up and his eyes scanned the darkness in front of him.
"Who's there?" Tony asked loudly. Silence.
"I said, who's there?" he said more loudly into the night. More rustling. Tony looked over to where it had come from and found himself looking into a wooded area. Slowly he walked forward toward the trees. The rustling got louder, and Tony could hear his own heart beat deafening him.
"Come out, whoever you are," Tony had reached the trees and with one hand he cautiously parted them. Something jumped out at him from below and Tony screamed, batting away in font of him. He fell backward, and still his hands were in front of his face; he was now kicking and hitting blindly into the darkness. He slowed and came to realise that he was fighting plain air. Scowling he pulled himself up to a sitting position, searching in front of him. He was just in time to see a small rabbit scurrying away deeper into the woodland. ‘Damn it.' This was not his day. First finding that lump and now being attacked by a rabbit. Nice. Tony continued to dust himself off and was coming to his feet when something caught his eye. He leaned over and examined what he thought looked like a syringe. It was! Tony grinned and rushed to his feet, hurrying to his car. He reached into the passenger's side and opened the glove compartment. Sweets, a CD, headphones, empty can of coke, Ah! Serviettes! ‘All those Pizzas coming in handy!' he thought to himself as he pulled out a wodge of them. He walked over to the syringe and carefully picked it up with one of the napkins. He wrapped it up further and then tucked it away in the glove compartment in his car. Smiling, he then got back into his car and drove off, heading for NCIS.
"What will Gibbs think now?" he said happily as he drove off into the night.
***
Kate sat on the sofa and looked at her watch. 12.40 AM. ‘Damn you Tony, where are you?' He definitely said that he was coming over, so where was he? She had begun to get worried; he wasn't picking up his cell either. She turned off the TV, annoyed at the shrill voice of the weather girl telling her it was going to be rainy tomorrow, and picked up her phone once more. She dialed the number that now came so naturally to her and put the phone to her ear. She heard it ringing. On its fourth ring it was answered.
"Hello?"
"Tony!"
"Hey, Kate; look, I'm not gonna be able to make it over tonight…"
"Why what's wrong?" she asked, panicking.
"Nothing's wrong, Kate; I found some evidence and I'm in Abby's lab processing it now."
"Oh…ok…well is Abby there?"
"Yes; she couldn't sleep, so she was here at the lab when I came in."
"Ok…well I'll see you tomorrow then?"
"Yes see you then."
"Love you Tony."
"Love you too, babe," and he hung up.
Kate was left holding her phone to her ear, listening to the piercing sound of the dial tone. She slowly brought the phone down from her ear and turned the TV back on. She sat staring blankly at the TV, not hearing anything of what was being said.
***
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony avoid's Kate and makes a discovery