The next morning found Kate up, showered and dressed well before 9am. She loaded the washer with her first load of laundry before settling down and deciding if she believed Tony when he said he would show up at her apartment whether she called or not. Thinking that he was most likely still asleep, she picked up her phone and hit 1 on her speed dial, ringing his cell phone.
"DiNozzo here! Hey Kate, you awake yet?"
She stifled her laughter as she tried to figure out what he was doing wide awake on the other end of the phone. "Yeah, I'm awake. You sound pretty wide awake yourself, what are you doing?"
"I just got back from my morning jog about half an hour ago. Finished my shower and was just about to head out for those muffins I promised you. Do you want banana nut or blueberry?"
"Blueberry," she answered before she realized she had opened her mouth. She could hear him chuckle across the phone connection and knew that he had expected that.
"Right, I'll be there in about half an hour."
She smiled as she hung up, looking around her kitchen for two clean glasses and checking to see if she had enough orange juice. Finding that she did, she relaxed enough to start a list of things that absolutely needed to get done that day. After some time had passed, she looked up to see that the half hour was over and she began to wonder if Tony was stuck in traffic. The light tap on her door told her that he had arrived and she opened it to let him in.
"Welcome to my home, excuse the mess." She took a look at what Tony was wearing and bit back the impulsive response she wanted to give him. If there was any way that this man could look any sexier, she was afraid to find out! Wearing a pair of Levis button fly jeans and a T-shirt that said Ohio State across it, he looked ready to go out somewhere, like the bowling ally or something, not cleaning her apartment!
He walked over to the bar and set the bag he had been carrying on it before turning back to her and enveloping her in a large hug. She stiffened at first but soon was melting into him, clinging to him briefly before looking up into his eyes and smiling warmly. He gazed back at her with something that she felt could have been hot desire sparkling in his jade eyes. She stepped back from him, shyness creeping in, and he didn't stop her, turning instead to the muffins he had brought.
"Kate, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. Are we going to eat these or what?" He smiled at her and the grin that she remembered so well served as a way to break her out of her revere. She walked into the kitchen, grabbed the juice out of the fridge and poured two glasses.
"All right, hand them over Tony!" He did just that.
Sitting together at the bar, eating muffins and drinking orange juice, felt very normal for the two friends and their conversation ranged from High School sweethearts to favorite movies they had watched while growing up. They found that they didn't have a lot in common, but what they did have more than out weighed the other side. When breakfast was finished, Kate sighed and surveyed the devastation that was her home. Tony took the excuse of needing the bathroom to investigate the rest of her home and soon came back to glare ruefully at her.
"Katie Babe, how could you let this place get so bad? Did Danny ever see this?"
At the mention of her five minute fiancé, Kate's face fell with a thunderous crash. Tony mentally whacked himself on the back of the head in an imitation of Gibbs reminding him not to be so stupid, and then walked over to face her. He lifted her chin, silently demanding that she focus on him.
"Sorry… that was a dumb thing for me to say. You can shoot me if you want, I'll even get you the gun." He stared deep into the liquid brown of her eyes, hoping she could forgive him his faux pas and return to being a little happier. She rewarded him with one of her rare smiles, the ones that lit up her face from within, and punched his arm.
"It's ok, Tony. I know you didn't mean anything by it. But watch what you offer, you know, because next time I might take you up on it!"
He joined her in her mirth before glaring at the kitchen and sighing. She misinterpreted it as him wishing he hadn't agreed to this and swallowed the lump that was threatening to close her throat. "I guess you already made that mistake once, huh? When you said you would help me, you didn't know what you were getting in to."
"No," he turned to her for a moment. "I was just wondering where the dish soap was. Is it under the sink?"
She shook her head in disbelief as she showed him all the cleaning supplies. Then they got to work, making the bed, washing laundry, cleaning the bathroom and the kitchen and finally reaching the living room at the same time. It took a few hours but they were soon sitting on her couch, finished and happy.
"Wow that was a lot of work!" She said, leaning her head on his shoulder and breathing heavily.
"Yeah… I've never worked this hard for a date before," he quipped, causing her to glare at him strangely.
"What makes you think we are going on a date, mister?"
"Aw, Katie… Don't you want to date me?" He teased the skin on her arm with his fingers, brushing lightly and causing her to shiver. She looked up and thought for a moment.
"Yeah, I do want to date you, but what about Gibbs and Rule 12?" She had finally said it, the doubt was there and it was real. He relaxed next to her. Finally she had asked the question that he was most happy to answer. He shifted to take her in his arms, his eyes staring off into space while her head lay on his chest.
"You remember the other night, at the restaurant after you stormed out?"
"How can I forget…" she replied sarcastically.
"Well, after you left, I wanted so badly to hurt Danny, but Gibbs wouldn't let me. Instead, he told me that there was one more rule that we needed to know… He said follow your heart." Tony leaned back to look her in the eyes. "He said it didn't have a number, didn't need one because it transcends all others."
Her eyes became unfocused as she digested this piece of information. Gibbs was essentially telling his two best field agents that they should not discount their love for each other. And that he was behind them, one hundred percent, if they really wanted to be together. It was small wonder that Tony came after her that night, as he was most likely trying his best to help her the only way he knew how and for the only reason that mattered. Because he… no, it couldn't be that easy. She couldn't just make the leap that he took care of her, pampered her and held her when she cried, because he loved her?
Becoming a little uncomfortable, she shifted out of his embrace to stand. He didn't stop her, recognizing that she was suddenly off balance and wanting to give her the space she needed. As she went to get a glass of water, he decided to switch tactics, to sooth her and let her know that everything was all right.
"Hey, you want to go to a movie or something?"
She glanced up. "What?"
"Movie, Kate… you want to go see one today?"
"Sure, I guess. What's playing?"
"Well, it's a toss up between Dukes of Hazzard and Just like Heaven."
"What's the second one about?"
Tony stood and joined her in the kitchen. He disliked being so far from her, and wanted to close the distance he was feeling from her. She put the glass down to focus her attention on him and what he was saying. But for some inexplicable reason she couldn't help being drawn to his mouth. As he spoke, she stared openly at him, her mind wandering to imagine what it would feel like to have that mouth do….. Her mind snapped back into focus. Concentrate Kate!
"Reese Witherspoon plays this young woman who becomes a spirit and has to get back to her body, and falls in love along the way." Tony noticed her eyes flickering to his lips, eyeing them while licking her own seductively. He didn't say anything about it, but watched as she pulled herself back from whatever day dream she had been indulging in at that moment and looked back up at his eyes.
"That sounds like a chick flick, Tony. I didn't now you went in for those."
"I had a friend in college who used to drag me out to the chick flicks all the time. We would only watch guy movies in my room in the frat house."
"You took a girl to your frat house to watch a movie?" She tried to picture Tony with some random girl in his room in college. "And you didn't try to…"
"We worked on her studies, and fell asleep to movies." He looked Kate in the eye. "You remind me of her a lot."
"You want to watch a guy movie in your room and fall asleep with me?"
"No." He leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss upon the lips, more brushing across them then really kissing. "I mean she was strong and vibrant, like you."
"What ever happened to her?" She watched his eyes cloud up for a moment. This must have been a special person for him to pull away emotionally from her.
"Doesn't matter now, it was a life time ago and a universe away from right here." He pulled her close to him again. "So which is it?"
"Well as much as I don't mind watching Sean William Scott and Johnny Knoxville, I think I'd rather take you to a chick flick. It's safer that way, I think."
"Safer how? I just want to see the 1969 Dodge Charger they have on the show!" Tony let her go as she twisted a bit and watched her head for the bedroom.
"A car Tony? And here I thought it was because of Jessica Simpson as Daisy Duke!"
"What, whoa, wait, Jessica Simpson? You got to be kidding me Kate, can we please?" He followed her into the bedroom and stopped short when she turned on him brown eyes flashing dangerously.
"In your dreams, Tony!" She snarled at him. He grabbed her around the waist, hauling her back to him and kissing her full on the lips.
"You really want to know what I dream about Katie?" he breathed into her ear. She shivered again from his touch and relaxed totally in his arms. He released her as quickly as he had snagged her and she reluctantly stood on her own feet. "What are we doing in here, Kate? I thought we were going to the movies."
"We are, but I have to change."
"You look fine, no need to get dressed up for a movie."
"But I'm only wearing a T-shirt and jeans, Tony. And you may look sexy without even trying, but I have to work at it."
"Ok, first… Is that all you are wearing, really?" he tried to see through the T-shirt and she slapped his arm playfully. "Second… you really think I look sexy? And third, you look beautiful in anything. Or haven't I told you that enough yet?"
She smiled shyly at this last statement and looked down at her faded jeans and bright pink T-shirt that she had chosen to wear to clean her home. "You think this is all right?"
He lifted her face to look her in the eye. "You are perfect."
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony has waited long enough for the woman he desires.
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks in large part to Gibbsgirl, MiddleAgedCrazy (MAC) and Rinne for encouraging and Beta work of this story.
I started this at LiveJournal, took it to ff.net and fosff.net, and am now leaving it here for archive purposes.
I started this at LiveJournal, took it to ff.net and fosff.net, and am now leaving it here for archive purposes.