Smoke and Fire

Caitlin Todd

If fate had only been a little kinder to Kate....
Screaming. Thrashing. Banging. And then, it's over. I wake up. I wake up panting and terrified, but I wake up. My husband Ari wakes up as well, and hugs me. He whispers soothing words in my ears and kisses my forehead.

"Go back to sleep Kaitlyn. The nightmare will not get to you."

I lay back down, and drift back off to sleep. My nightmares are about dying. About me dying. About my husband dying. Even our two little children dying. But they are only nightmares. We are safe. We have NCIS and the FBI on our side, as Ari is an informant.

"Abba? Imma?"

Our little daughter, Ziva Rachael, peeks into our room. Our children know both Hebrew and English, and will soon learn Arabic.

"Yes Ziva what is it?" Ari asks.

"I had a nightmare...can I sleep with you tonight?"

We look at each other but smile. "Sure honey. Climb in the bed." I say.

She gracefully climbs over Ari's and I's legs and in between us. She snuggles close to Ari and falls asleep quickly. We smile. He pushes back her hair and kisses her cheek.

"Goodnight my love."

"Goodnight Abba," she whispers.

We smile. We do that a lot, for what is there to be sad about?

The next morning Ari wakes up early and makes pancakes for everyone, and I get ready for work.

"Hi sweetie, how did you sleep?" I kiss my son, Tony Jethro, TJ for short, on the forehead.

"I slept fine Mom. Can I invite Travis over after school?"

I laugh. "Sure honey. Alright, hurray up you two, I got to get you to school and Ziva to daycare."

They quickly finish their food and pile into the car. I drop TJ at school and carry Ziva into the daycare center at NCIS where I run into Tony.

"Hey Kate. Bringing in the kids?"

I chuckle. "Yup. How's Tali?"

"Oh she's good. Tough night, had some nightmares. Ziva started having those yet?"

I chuckle again. "Yeah, but she's pretty sweet about it."

He chuckles. "I'm glad."

We walk into the bullpen together, and sit at our desks. I couldn't imagine a better life.