“Kate.”

The note of urgency in Rebecca’s voice distracted her completely from Natalie’s recitation of Tony’s fourth-grade performance in the school play. Kate looked up from the potatoes she was slicing. Rebecca stood framed in the kitchen entrance, and Kate didn’t imagine the concern on her face.

“Natalie, can you spare Kate? I think it’s time we rescued Tony from the kids, and Kate’s in a better position to get him inside than I am.”

“Of course, Rebecca,” Natalie said from the stove. “He’s been playing with them for, what, half an hour now? It’s time he came in.” She sighed. “But when I think about how many times I stood on the porch and called and called, and called–”

Kate looked down at the potatoes she was only half finished cutting up. “I’ll take over for you, Kate,” Elena said, getting up from the kitchen table where she was sitting with Aunt Lina.

“Thanks, Elena,” Kate said. She quickly dried her hands on a towel and took off the apron that was protecting her clothes. She walked towards Rebecca, and they went out of the kitchen and around the corner.

“When did she get here?” Kate whispered.

“I don’t know, ten, maybe fifteen minutes ago. I was talking to Stefan, and suddenly Julio was there. I didn’t see Annette, though. I think she’s outside with Tony.”

Kate swore quietly under her breath. She’d been so involved in Natalie’s stories and meeting Elena and deflecting all the questions from the women who cycled through the kitchen that she’d almost forgotten that Annette would show up some time. She had a job to do here, and it wasn’t to learn about embarrassing episodes from Tony’s distant past. “Let’s go,” she said.

Rebecca quickly took her away from the kitchen towards the back door. She made a quick motion towards the door and was about to walk away again when Kate caught her arm. “That’s Tony’s coat,” she said, nodding to the grass-covered garment that hung from a peg on the wall. “He’s inside. Where would he go?”

“If he’s been out with the kids? Probably to clean up.”

“Show me.”

“Come on.”

Kate followed her up the stairs directly opposite the back door, and down a narrow hallway. Rebecca seemed to be headed for the door at the very end, but as she passed by an open doorway, she came to an abrupt halt, and Kate almost ran into her. It was easy to see what had caught her attention, though, and slowly Rebecca moved back from the doorway to let Kate through.

It was a spare bedroom, obviously in use by some other member of the DiNozzo clan. Tony sat at the end of the bed, meticulously tying a tie around his neck. His suitcase was open on the bed behind him, and he had changed his clothes. His previous attire was piled on the ground, and even from here, Kate could see that it was fairly wet. His hair was damp but combed and in place. His attention, however, was focused on a spot on the floor in front of him.

He finished tying the tie and raised his head slightly to adjust his collar, and that was when he caught sight of them in the doorway. His head turned, and he smiled.

Kate was horrified. The man sitting in the room was not Tony DiNozzo. He looked like him, and she knew that if he spoke, he would sound like him, but there was no trace of her irreverent friend in his face. He had vanished. What power did this woman have over him to make him disappear like this? She felt fury begin to burn in the pit of her stomach. She had underestimated the depths to which Tony had been hurt, she realized. She had never guessed he would have given so much to a woman that he could be destroyed like this. Because she had never known Tony to get in too deep, she’d simply assumed that his relationship with Annette had been an extended incarnation of his casual flings. That had been a mistake, her mistake, and Tony had paid the price.

She couldn’t help him with words. Anything she said would be hollow and ineffectual, and would give him the opportunity to tell her that he was fine when he wasn’t. He would have plausible deniability, and if she gave him the opportunity, he would take it. He wouldn’t want to let her in, not with whatever wound Annette had opened still gushing inside him. That meant the only option open to her was gesture.

She hadn’t lied when she’d said she was uncomfortable with public displays of affection. Her family hadn’t been very physical, and her Secret Service training had taught her to be wary of any contact as preparation for attack. But Damien had taught her to accept and communicate with touch, and she still remembered what that was like. As she’d decoyed for Damien, now she was decoying for Tony. She knew what she needed to do. Even if Rebecca hadn’t been present, she knew there was only one course of action.

All these realizations took the space of an instant to form in her head, and then she was slowly crossing the room towards him. He watched her approach, his hands still laying his collar back down. She stopped in front of him, keeping her eyes focused on his. He sat back a little to keep her in sight, and she stepped forward again, until she was standing between his knees. Then she reached out and put her hand on his shoulder, and pulled him forward. From here, she was exactly the right height. He turned his head into her shoulder as she tucked it perfectly under her chin, and his arms came around her waist and pulled her the last step between them as she put her arms around him. He sighed, and she felt the heat of his breath through the weave of her shirt. She tightened her grip on him, one hand threading up into the cool damp hair at the back of his neck, and closed her eyes.

She held him, and the tension that she felt in his shoulders and neck began to ease slightly. She would have kept holding him, too, but after less time than she would have liked, he said quietly, “Rebecca’s gone, Kate.”

Well, she’d said she would follow his lead; she couldn’t very well go back on that now. She pulled back from him. He looked up at her, and smiled. She covered her worry by fixing his hair with a couple of gentle swipes with her fingers, then sat down next to him on the bed. “What’s with the noose, DiNozzo?” she asked. “Never thought I’d see you willingly put one of them on.”

“Mama likes to have family pictures taken at these things,” he said. “And she insists we all look nice for them.”

“Thrilling.” There was silence for a moment. “I think I’ve got your mom convinced. Aunt Lina, too.”

He nodded. “Thanks, Kate.” Something seemed to occur to him, because he actually turned his head and looked at her. There was a bit more life in his eyes. “She hasn’t shown you any photo albums, has she?”

Kate stared at him. “No, not yet. Why?”

“Promise me you won’t look at any, okay?”

“Why?”

Ah, there he was again, a hint of the man she recognized around the mouth. “Because if you do, I’m going to have to see pictures of you dressed as a teddy bear for Hallowe’en.”

She grinned. “You went as a teddy bear? When?”

“I was three. Come on, Kate, promise.”

“What kind of girlfriend doesn’t want to see pictures? I don’t think that’ll work with the cover, Tony.”

“Then I’ll just have to pay a visit to your parents and raid their photo albums. I’m sure everyone would love to see you taking a bath as a baby.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Next of kin information’s in your personnel record. I’ve got a friend down there–”

“I’ll tell my parents you’re not my boyfriend.”

“Will they believe you when I show them pictures from this weekend? Mom always takes a bunch and sends them to me.”

“Don’t even try it, DiNozzo!”

“Hey, fair’s fair, Kate. Unless you manage not to see any of my mom’s pictures.”

Kate frowned, but she was too relieved to hear him teasing her to really make much of a fuss. “All right, fine,” she said. “You know what you’re depriving me of here.”

“Oh, believe me, I know better than you do,” he answered.

“I guess I’ll just have to make do with your mom’s stories, then.”

The victorious expression fell away from his face. “Why?” he asked, suddenly wary. “What did she tell you?”

Kate stood up, smiled at him mysteriously, and went to pick up his wet clothes. “Where’s the dryer?” she asked. “If we put these in now, they’ll be done before we have to leave.”

“Kate, what has she told you?”

“Nothing important, Tony. Come on, where’s the laundry room?”

“I can do my own laundry, Kate, now tell me what she said.”

“Well, if you’re not going to be helpful, I’ll just have to ask Natalie.”

“Kate–” But he was smiling, enjoying the game, as she turned and left the bedroom. She heard him rise quickly, close his suitcase, and come tromping after her as she started down the stairs. “Kate, come on, it’s only fair that I tell you my side of the story.”

“I don’t think there’s anything you can say that will redeem you in some of them, Tony,” she shot over her shoulder.

“She didn’t tell you about Disneyland...”

Kate turned around when she reached the main floor and watched him navigate the rest of the staircase. “No,” she said, “she didn’t. What’s this about Disneyland?”

“Nothing,” he said, putting his suitcase down close to where his coat hung. “Give me those.” He made a grab for his wet clothes.

She held them away. “Disneyland,” she said.

“This is not a negotiation,” he replied, reaching for them again and driving her back a step to keep them out of reach.

“Disneyland, Tony. You can’t just drop something like that into a conversation and expect me to leave it there.”

“Yes, I can, and yes, I do. Now give me my clothes.”

He reached for them again, and Kate pulled them away, but they were interrupted by the sound of a floorboard creaking. Kate immediately turned her spin to drop into a ready crouch, dropping the clothes to the floor and reaching for the gun she wasn’t wearing. She saw Tony do the same in her peripheral, and part of her laughed at their ingrained response. Slightly embarrassed, she straightened and turned her attention to the woman who had interrupted them.

Kate didn’t recognize her, so they hadn’t been introduced yet. Then, as she examined her a little more closely, she realized that they didn’t need to be. The tension that had settled over the hallway was introduction enough. She was tall, as tall as Tony, with shoulder-length auburn hair that was loose around her face. Her posture was straight, speaking of good physical condition. Her features were regular, but she would have been much prettier if she hadn’t been struggling with her expression.

She cleared her throat. “You must be Kate,” she said. “I’m Annette DiNozzo.”

Kate stepped forward and extended her hand. “Nice to meet you,” she lied. “Kate Todd.”

The moment their hands met, Kate knew why Annette seemed to be having trouble with her expression. It came as a surprise that Annette would be looking for a knuckle-grinding grip, but then she realized that the woman was searching for some advantage. Kate was an unknown element in the tidy equation of this day, and Annette wasn’t the type of woman who allowed unknown elements to control her without trying to control them back. Kate kept her smile from turning vicious as she deftly avoided Annette’s desired grip. Didn’t like being off-balance, did she? Well, Kate had a little something to say about that.

Frustrated in her efforts, Annette released Kate’s hand. “Well,” she said, “I was just on my way to the bathroom, so...”

“Of course,” Kate replied, and stepped back, into Tony. Excellent. She leaned back against him, and his arms came around her almost automatically. She kept her gaze on Annette. Something flickered in her eyes. How do you like that? Kate thought, remembering to control her smile. “We’ll talk again later,” she added.

Annette didn’t disappoint. She twitched slightly. “Of course,” she said. Then her smile took on an edge. “I’m sure we have a lot to talk about.”

Tony tensed against her as the shot went home, but she couldn’t have defended against it if she’d tried. “I’m sure we do,” she said as she covered one of Tony’s hands with hers. Some of her anger escaped to colour her tone.

Annette looked at her closely, but declined further comment. “Well, see you, then.”

“Bye,” Kate replied, and then she’d skirted around them and headed up the stairs.

Kate watched her go, tightening her fingers around Tony’s hand. Once Annette had disappeared down the hall and she’d heard a door open and close, she pulled away from him. The deadness had reappeared in his expression again, and she felt her anger harden inside her. Gently, she tapped him in the stomach with her fist. “Don’t worry, DiNozzo,” she said quietly. “I can take her.”

His smile was strained, but it did shine down on her. “Yeah,” he said with equal softness. “She’s no match for you.” He shook himself a little. “Come on. Let’s get my clothes in the dryer before people wonder where we are.”