Disclaimer – see chapter 1.

AN: I know this has been a long time coming and I may not update for a long time to come as I’m having some writer’s block issues (still). However, since this bit was finished, I figured there was no reason not to post it.

Thanks, as usual, to Alaidh.

Chapter 15

Tony opened the door of the temporary office and made his way out, turning to find Kate waiting to go back in. “Listening at keyholes, Kate?” he asked sarcastically.

She gave him her best affronted look and responded in kind. “Hardly, DiNozzo. I leave that kind of infantile behaviour to you.”

Tony grinned at the result of his barb. “I’m offended, Kate. I don’t listen at keyholes at all – just around corners.”

Kate rolled her eyes and reached for the door handle. “Whatever.”

Tony made a move to go then hesitated, swivelling on the spot to speak again. “Kate…” his tone became more serious, “I just wanted to say…”

Kate cast a curious glance back at him. “What, DiNozzo?”

Tony squirmed uncomfortably, unaccustomed to having to speak to Kate this way. “Uh…thanks for yesterday. I know it could…would have been a lot worse for me if you hadn’t had my back.”

“You’re welcome, Tony.” Kate’s look softened a little. “Just don’t make a habit of it.”

xoxoxoxoxox

Tony, again on his own, headed back to his room. He was exhausted – the combination of a sleepless night, the confrontation with the masked man in Nataliya’s apartment and the encounter with Gibbs had all taken their toll, and to be honest, he had found he didn’t have quite the same stamina as he had before he was injured – it just took so much energy for him to get around that he didn’t have quite the same ability to burn the candle at both ends. The lure of some hard-earned rest was just too great, and with Gibbs’ grudging permission, he intended to do some catching up.

After casting off the single shoe he was wearing, he made a painful transfer to the bed, and after a few minutes of trying to find a comfortable position – or at least the one with the minimum of discomfort – he fell asleep snuggled under the covers, still fully dressed.

xoxoxoxoxox

“Ack!” Tony awoke in fright, arms flailing, as Kate shook his shoulder.

“Hey, wake up, DiNozzo.”

“Huh? What is it, Kate?” he asked groggily, trying to bring his eyes into focus.

“Nataliya’s disappeared.”

Tony was silent as he digested this piece of information, then the blankets heaved and he was sitting up, reaching for his chair. Pain etched his face briefly as he transferred. “What happened?” he asked, casting about for his discarded shoe.

“The commander’s parents went to check on her when she hadn’t gotten up this morning. Bed hadn’t been slept in.” Kate, realising what Tony was looking for, bent down to retrieve Tony’s shoe from where it had fallen, just under the bed.

“Damn.” Tony nodded his thanks as Kate handed him the errant footwear. He looked at it thoughtfully for a moment then shrugged and tossed it aside. Hmm, might look a little strange – a guy in a wheelchair wearing only one shoe. He went over to where he had his bag and rummaged around in the bottom, coming up with a pair of thick wool socks. He pulled these on, figuring they’d be better than no protection for his feet at all.

“Gibbs wants us to see if she’s been to the gym then head over to her apartment. He and McGee are heading back to the parents’ house.”

“Uh-huh.” Tony shrugged into his jacket. He gestured for Kate to pick up his backpack and turned for the door. “And Gibbs wants us on this because it could be related to our dead sailor, even though she’s a civilian. I get it.”

“Of course. You know Gibbs.” Kate grinned, slinging the backpack over her shoulder.

Tony swung out of his room and almost cannoned straight into his mother. “Oh, my God, Tony. What happened to you?!”

“Mom, I’m fine. I just fell down some stairs.”

Kate, closing the door after them, added, “It’s true, Mrs DiNozzo. He’s such a klutz.”

Tony glared at Kate for a second. “Mom, I’m okay, really, and we have to go,” he said, forestalling the coming reproach at his carelessness. “Really, I’m fine.”

“I’ll look after him, Mrs DiNozzo,” Kate said with a grin. “Come on, Tony, we have work to do.”

xoxoxoxoxox

Kate started off down the hall then stopped and turned back to the “office”. Tony followed her back to find her looking through the scattered debris on the table.

“Whatcha lookin’ for?” he asked curiously.

“McGee’s keys.”

“Ah.”

“He must have taken them with him this time.”

“Right.” Tony reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulled out the keys to the Mustang. “Kate?” He tossed them to her. Kate deftly caught them, plucking them from the air with a flourish. “I’ll see you in the garage,” he said and turned away quickly before he changed his mind.

Kate was already in the car with the engine running by the time Tony made his way alongside. She’d figured out the fold down mechanism for the foot pedals, adjusted the seat to suit her smaller build, and adjusted the mirrors to suit her. She saw a flash of something – jealousy maybe – briefly flash across Tony’s face, although he quickly shrugged it off. He knew he wasn’t in a fit state to drive – every painful movement he made told him that – but that didn’t mean he didn’t resent someone else being in charge of his baby while he was relegated to passenger status. He was perfectly aware that, while he had been prepared to drive himself that morning, he wasn’t prepared to put anyone else in danger should anything happen.

Kate waited while Tony made a slow transfer and settled himself in the car. Once he pushed the button on the remote to open the garage door, she started to cautiously reverse out onto the driveway and then drove onto the street, tentatively at first and then with more confidence as she became accustomed to the way the vintage muscle car handled.

“Do you remember the way?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, sure,” she replied with a quick look across at her co-worker. She drove in silence for a few minutes. “Look, I’m sorry. I know this must be hard for you and I just assumed…”

“It’s…fine…Kate. I shouldn’t be driving anyway.”

Kate nodded. “Figures.”

“Truth is, this morning…I don’t know how I got home in one piece.”

“Uh huh, that’s big.” Kate looked across at him briefly as they waited at an intersection to turn.

“What?”

“You admitting that maybe you shouldn’t have done something.” She accelerated across into the street.

“I guess.” Tony appeared reflective. He was obviously not his usual buoyant self.

Kate gave a lopsided grin and swung right to pull into a parking spot right in front of the gym. “Come on, work to do,” she said, shutting off the engine.

Kate and Tony entered the gym to find that the front desk was being manned by the manager. Recognition crossed his face as the two NCIS agents entered. “Well, what did we do to warrant a second visit from you guys?” he asked easily enough, obviously assuming that it was some kind of follow up to their previous call.

“We’re looking for Nataliya – she’s not answering her phone.”

“Not here,” he replied with a shrug. “Never showed for her classes today – no phone calls or messages.”

The two NCIS agents exchanged concerned looks. “Is she normally a reliable employee? Would she let you know if…say…she wasn’t coming in?”

“Regular as clockwork – early even. Never takes a day off, never late. To tell the truth, I’ve tried to contact her myself. I had to get someone in at short notice to take over her classes.” Carlson said.

“She seems to have vanished. She left where she was staying sometime during last night – the bed wasn’t slept in,” Kate filled in.

Carlson looked concerned. “It’s not like her not to phone in if there’s a problem. She’s been a model employee since…she first started working here.”

“Does she have an employee locker?” Tony asked.

Carlson nodded and picked up the phone. He punched in a couple of numbers and waited while it rang a couple of times. “Sharon, can you take over the desk for me?”

Sharon entered from the left of the desk, throwing an impish and more than slightly flirty grin at Tony as she took up a position next to the cash register, receiving a glare from her boss in return.

The gym manager led the two NCIS agents back to his office, Tony again having to kick up and over a tarp protecting the floor, this time closer to the front of the building. The lockers were gone from the passageway, apparently moved back where they belonged, but little else had changed.

Carlson closed the door behind them and took up a position next to the window, leaning back against the ledge, his arms crossed. “Now, what’s this about?” he asked, eyes narrowed. “I thought you were investigating the death of one of our members but now you want to inspect the locker of a staff member. What’s going on?”

“We were…I mean, we are investigating a murder,” Kate said.

“However,” Tony interjected, “Nataliya has disappeared and we’re trying to work out whether this is related to Commander Johnson’s murder – whether she’s involved – or whether something else has happened to her.”

“She was the Commander’s girlfriend, after all. It’s possible her disappearance is somehow involved,” Kate filled in.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t see why this leads you here. Nataliya hasn’t been to work since yesterday. Shouldn’t you have a warrant in order to inspect her locker?”

“Well, yeah, we could get one, but…”

“Look,” Kate said firmly, “We’re just worried about Nataliya’s whereabouts. Anything could have happened to her. Someone tried to abduct her yesterday and threatened Agent DiNozzo.”

Carlson looked at Tony afresh, noting his bruised appearance and considered his options. He suddenly came to a decision, as he straightened up. “Come on,” he said.

Kate and Tony followed the manager out of his office. The employee change rooms were along the passage to the right of the manager’s office. The painters had moved on to this corridor and the passage was littered with their paraphernalia.

Carlson led them into the locker room. “So, which locker is…” Kate started to ask then caught sight of a locker inscribed with a curly NP in black permanent marker. Tony was already turning his mind to cracking the combination on the padlock when he realised it was already open, just hanging in the loop.

“Kate?” She was already pulling on some gloves. They exchanged concerned looks.

Tony dug around in the backpack and came up with a specimen jar. Holding the jar underneath the lock, he carefully levered it up with a pen and neatly caught it in the jar.

“Nice catch,” Kate commented wryly.

Tony just shrugged and stashed the container in the backpack then took a moment to rummage for some gloves while Kate waited impatiently, unable to open the locker door any further until he got out of the way.

“Uh, Tony, would you mind…?”

He looked up. “Oops, sorry.” He backed far enough to allow the door to swing free then went back to rummaging. “Kate, were there more…”

“Oh my…” Kate’s words stopped Tony in his tracks. He looked up from what he was doing again. There before them was an unmarked blue gymbag.