Paste your document here...I remember Kate

Tony wandered down the stairs to Gibbs' basement. Gibbs glanced up to see that Tony was looking pensive, something the upbeat SEAL rarely did.

"Something?"

Tony took a sip of his beer then said, "It's Kate's birthday."

"Um ... I know. Doc Rachel called. Didn't need to ... I remember too." He reached over for his coffee mug, finished the last of the coffee and poured two fingers of his notorious rotgut bourbon into it.

There were more footsteps on the stairs; Tim eased onto the step above Tony.

"Hey. Kate's birthday."

Tim nodded. "I remember. She was something else."

Gibbs agreed with that one. "She was. I never understood how you two managed to stay friends." He glanced at Tony.

"She ... well, she had an attitude, that's for sure. But she had a good heart. It was just a bit ... calloused, due to all the shit she got from her Secret Service co-workers. Jerks. Jocks with guns."

Gibbs grimaced. He remembered the attitude from the Marine Corp and he wasn't much in favor of it.

Tony sipped his beer for a moment, then added, "We got along pretty well. She treated me just like she treated her brothers. All three of them."

Tim snickered. "Like Sara treats me from time to time. Get stupid, get smacked. Sara's elbows are really sharp."

"Kate's were too. She'd get me right in the solar plexus. But she didn't really poke me hard, just enough to ... as she said ... get my attention." Tony sipped his beer. "She'd miss occasionally. Always felt bad, I could tell."

Gibbs sipped his bourbon then chuckled. "I always thought all that wincing and flinching was more show than go."

"Yeah." Tony chuckled again. "She knew I was faking it. She'd call me on my shit more often than not."

Tim snickered. "I remember the time she caught you buying Vogue magazine ... thought she'd never let you hear the end of it ... then ... she quit. Always wondered about that."

Tony sighed. "I was buying that magazine for an old lady from my apartment house; she had the flu so I went to get it. Kate found out why I was buying it and apologized. She was good about that. And cookies."

Gibbs frowned into his mug. "I always wondered about that. All of a sudden she'd show up with cookies. I tried to snitch some once." He laughed. "She slapped my hand. Said they were sorry cookies."

Tony nodded, sipped his beer then said, "They were."

Tim frowned, more used to Sara's cookies, which were usually really bad. Penny called them sorry in the old Southern meaning of 'bad'. "So, if they were sorry, why'd you guard 'em like gold."

Tony, well aware of the confusion, explained, "They were good. Her 'sorry cookies' were tangible apologies. She'd hurt my feelings, realize it, and bake cookies to say she was sorry."

Tim worked on his beer as he thought that one over. Finally he said, "She gave me books. Not books she thought I'd like ... books to make me think. She was good at it, too." He rubbed the cool beer bottle across his forehead as if to ease an ache there.

Gibbs sipped his bourbon then admitted, "The only time she hurt my feelings, she gave me that set of Double Cherry mini-chisels. And no, I'm not tellin' you ... promised her."

Tony drank the last of his beer, tossed the bottle into the trash barrel under the stairs and stood up. "I want another. Anyone?"

Gibbs waved his mug. "Nope ... thanks."

Tim nodded, "Me, please."

Tony went up the stairs and returned with two bottles of beer. "Tim."

"Thanks." Tim tipped the bottle in Tony's direction. "AJ, you heard from Mark lately?"

"Yeah, just the other day. He's being transferred again. Chicago. Not real happy."

Gibbs blinked at that. "Mark Todd?"

"Yeah, I keep in touch with Mr. and Mrs. Todd, Mark, John and Frank. Rachel, of course. Christmas cards, birthdays ... that sort of thing. Every once in a while I manage to actually visit."

Gibbs eyed Tony for a moment. "And when did you actually meet the Todds?"

"Um ... the week after I got blown up ... you know ... after the plague."

Tim sighed. "And that's one of the most embarrassing events of my life."

"Damn it, Tim, how the hell were you supposed to know there was a bomb in the trunk? I didn't until I looked underneath. I swear, let it go." Tony swatted at Tim, but due to the awkward angle only managed to back hand him on the shin.

"So. You met the Todd family because?"

"They wanted to thank me for saving her life." He sipped his beer for a moment then smiled. "It was fun. Her brothers thought I was a suitor so they ... loomed. Rachel ... she was in the kitchen, but I could hear her laughing. Kate was nearly incandescent. That's one of the reasons I really tried not to let her offend or hurt me; she treated me exactly like her brothers."

Tim nodded. "She did. I saw her in the civilian cafeteria at Quantico. She was pissed at Frank and Mark for some reason. She punched Frank in the shoulder and elbowed Mark. They both just flinched and went on. Called them uncivilized, sexist Neanderthals."

Tony raised his beer. "Kate."

Tim clinked his bottle against Tony's while Gibbs added a tap of his mug.

"Damn, I miss her."