The Deal by saulalovin
A NCIS fan fiction

Pairing: Tony DiNozzo and Kate Todd
Summary: Let's make a deal. If I solve the case first, I get to make you do something for me.
Disclaimer: NCIS and its characters do not belong to me. I'm just havin' some fun with them for a while.
Spoilers: None.
Author's Note: I'm back in my happy world where "Twilight" does not exist. Long live Tate (and Tate fluff)!

Kate Todd rubbed the side of her forehead, frustrated. "Okay, let's go through everything we have one more time. Maybe we missed something."

"Again? Kate, if we didn't find something the first ten times, we never will." Tony DiNozzo tossed his pen on the desk and watched as it rolled off the tabletop and skittered across the floor. He looked up just in time to catch her shooting a death glare his way and smiled at her innocently. "What? You know I'm right, Katie."

She gritted her teeth, annoyed that he had called her "Katie" and that he was – admittedly – right. "One last time, okay? Please?"

He sighed. "Okay, okay, fine. Two days ago at 0521, civilian Ann Ross finds Seaman James Bolton lying facedown in a ditch off I-295, his car smashed into a tree not far from where he was found."

"She calls it in, we respond and process the scene. Partial fingerprints that aren't a match to the seaman are found on the car's steering wheel as well as the front passenger side door. Abby said the hair we recovered on the headrest belonged to a female, the seaman's wife, who claims he didn't come home the night before, and that doesn't really prove anything, since the hairs could've been left at any time," she continued.

Tony flipped through some papers. "Judging by the flow of traffic, Seaman Bolton was indeed headed home. Ducky's autopsy report indicated that the time of death was three hours earlier, at around 2AM. Cause of death was asphyxiation, and Ducky found some fibers in the seaman's throat, so it's likely that he was smothered to death."

"Abby said the fibers were made out of cotton, but the color was an uncommon shade of green that only a couple of manufacturers ordered. I traced it back to a clothing company that specializes in making clothes for dogs. A credit card receipt shows the seaman's wife buying an article of clothing for their pooch, but the search warrant we acquired for their house came up with nothing. She doesn't have an alibi the night before her husband was found dead, but she doesn't have any motive to kill him, either. " Kate closed the folder, and with a sigh laid it on her desk. As an afterthought, she commented, "I think she did it though. I just have this feeling…"

"The partials came back to Petty Officer Third Class Henry Denton, Seaman Bolton's childhood friend. He says he hasn't seen him in months, but they had plans to get together within the week. So far, his alibi checks out, and he doesn't have motive either." He looked at her and shrugged. "That's all we have. We're stuck, Kate. God, I hope Gibbs doesn't come back soon. He isn't going to be too happy with us – " He saw her eyes focus on something – or someone – behind him and widen, and he swallowed uneasily. "He's right behind me, isn't he?"

As though in reply, he felt a hand deliver a slap to his head. "Ow. Hi, Gibbs."

She stood up, inwardly glad to have a chance to stretch her legs after sitting behind a desk for close to four hours now, and walked over to Tony. "We've gone over everything eleven times, Gibbs. There aren't any other leads."

"Well, you obviously haven't gone over everything then, Agent Todd," Gibbs said, fixing his steely blue eyes on her, "so I suggest you look at it for a twelfth and thirteenth time – hell, I don't care if it takes fifty more times! I want this solved."

Tony and Kate exchanged glances but said nothing.

"I need you and DiNozzo to solve this one so you can help McGee out on the Hoover case."

"Well, how about we take a look at the Hoover case for a while and then come back to this one later – " The look on Gibbs's face shut Tony up, and he shrunk back out of the line of fire, not wanting another head-slap. "Okay, what am I saying? We're on it, boss."

Gibbs smiled broadly. "That's better, DiNozzo." He took the last sip of coffee from his cup, tossed it in the trash, and headed towards the elevator.

Kate swore quietly under her breath. "Guess we're stuck here for the rest of the day, and probably the whole night, too."

"Until we solve this, that is," Tony corrected her. His face suddenly lit up. "Hey, I have an idea."

"What is it this time?" she asked warily. "You don't exactly have the greatest track record with your excellent ideas, DiNozzo. Or women, for that matter." She smiled angelically at him.

"Let's make a deal," he said, ignoring her rib. "If I solve the case first, I get to make you do something for me. If you solve the case first, you get to make me do something for you."

"'Something'?" she asked suspiciously.

"Anything," he said firmly, flashing her his trademark oozing-with-DiNozzo-charm smile.

She mulled it over for a few seconds, and then shrugged, smiling. "Ah, what the hell? You're on, DiNozzo." She turned to her computer and began to type away.

"Kate."

She looked up. "Yeah?"

A slow, almost predatory grin spread over his face, and a shiver of excitement (and maybe a little bit of fear, too) ran up her spine. "I really did mean 'anything'…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Much later, after a flurry of phone calls, trips to the morgue and Abby's lab, and a bit of legwork…

"You lose, Katie!" Tony cried triumphantly, leaping up from his seat. "I know who killed the seaman."

"Ha! You ready for what I want you to do, DiNozzo? Because I've solved the case!" Kate announced the same time he spoke.

They looked at each other, shocked, until Gibbs came coming through the bullpen a minute later, a cup of coffee in hand.

"I sure hope you haven't been staring at each other like that since I last left you," Gibbs commented. "Otherwise…" He left his threat hanging.

"It was the seaman's wife, Angela Bolton," Kate said.

"It was PO3 Henry Denton, his childhood friend," Tony said simultaneously.

They gaped at each other, and Gibbs frowned. "Well, who is it really?" he asked, annoyed.

"Angela Bolton."

"Henry Denton."

Gibbs rolled his eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The elevator doors opened with a soft whoosh, and Tony and Kate stepped inside with matching sighs of relief.

"I thought today would never end," Tony moaned. "I was expecting Gibbs to cuff us to our desks until we solved it. And I can't believe Probie solved his case before we solved ours."

"He had Ziva helping, and they don't fight as much," Kate reminded him tiredly, leaning on the elevator wall.

"Well, yeah, but still." He fell silent, only to start up his grumbling again seconds later. "I can't believe they were all in on it – the wife, the childhood friend, and – "

" – Ann Ross, the seaman's goddaughter," Kate finished, shaking her head. "Who would've thought that a simple seaman like Bolton had a hefty trust fund from his grandfather that he would only receive when he got married?"

"And that the three of them would benefit from his six-digit trust fund when he died?" He shook his head as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open to reveal the front lobby.

"About our deal," she said cautiously as they pushed through the doors and walked across the parking lot. "I guess we both won, huh?"

He looked at her, and a smile spread across his face. "Yeah, I guess we did."

"You owe me dinner and a movie, then. But not tonight," she said hastily. "It's been a long day."

"Whenever you want, then. Just let me know."

"Okay." Kate unlocked her car door using the remote on her keychain and turned around to look at him curiously. "What do you want, Tony?"

Tony hesitated, and then spoke softly, all humor gone from his face. "A kiss."

The hand holding her set of keys fell limply at her side and the keys fell to the ground with a melodic clinking sound, but neither of them noticed. "A kiss," she repeated just as softly, looking into his eyes.

"Yeah." He looked at her almost shyly with a spark of desire glinting in his eye that appeared and disappeared so fast she couldn't be sure if it had really been there.

"You're a little forward. We haven't even had our first date yet," she joked feebly, shaking a little. God, she wanted to kiss him.

"Think of it as practicing for when the time comes," he said, stepping closer to her until their faces were centimeters apart.

She wasn't sure who made the first move; all she could remember was hands tangled in hair, skin touching skin and lips on lips.

She wasn't sure how long they stood out in the parking lot kissing, either.

But she did notice the brightness of a car's headlights on them, and the person behind the wheel smirking at them after dimming the lights.

"Gibbs," they both groaned.

THE END