Kelly was sitting on the back porch, wrapped up in her favorite quilt on the wicker rocking chair, just as she'd been yesterday. Only this time her thoughts weren't about her life, they were about Kate. She knew nothing about this woman - this… dead… woman, that she supposedly so very much embodied. She'd seen the way those two had looked at her. Now she understood, it was as if they were looking at a ghost. And that older guy, Gibbs. He flinched when he heard her name. Why… how on earth… did she end up here? The anniversary of her dad's death and then one lousy phone call after another. The PA from her office to tell her Mr. Thompkins, who she'd come to think of almost as a surrogate father passed this morning, unexpectedly, underlining the painful anniversary.. Kyle, her on-again-off again boyfriend, off for good this time, dumping her by phone by announcing his engagement to some… she censored her thought on that one and dealt with the next blow… the volunteer at the shelter letting her know that Bruce's owners had recognized him from the photo on the shelter's Facebook page. They were beyond happy to have found him and were taking him home. Taking him away from her as well. And now this. Taking away her sense of self. Walking around in a dead woman's skin tearing open other people's wounds. For a moment she doubted she was the same woman who crawled out of bed this morning. She looked up as Tim headed toward her, still averting his eyes.

"Look, uh, Kelly," it was clear he had to work at not calling her Kate, "I'm so sorry for this."

"You're sorry?"

"Yeah. You didn't need to have all of us staring at you like some sort of…"

"Ghost?"

"Well, I was going to say 'freak' but ghost is more accurate." He finally lifted his eyes and looks in hers. Kate's. He couldn't help it. "I loved her, you know. Not like Tony does. Not that he'll ever admit it. But I could have, if she and Tony hadn't been so obviously perfect for one another. Not that either of them would ever have admitted it." He sank down on one of the porch steps and stared out at the yard, his back mostly to her. "I never got to tell her how much she meant to me. I mean, her funeral and all, but that's not really the closure you think it is. Not the kind you want." He stopped for a moment and thankfully she said nothing. "It's sort of like having someone tear out a strip of your heart and just leave you alive, bleeding inside and wishing you weren't" He didn't elaborate and she stayed silent for a moment wondering if he meant the woman's death or her seeming reappearance in his life.

Finally she spoke. Softly, almost too softly to be heard. "Yeah. I get it."

After another couple of moments he got up and walked away without looking at her. Somehow she felt as if he'd been crying, at least on the inside. She let him go without saying anything else. There didn't seem to be anything else to say.

"We all loved her. And none of us told her."

Kelly's head whipped around to see Gibbs standing, leaning actually, against the porch rail. His approach was silent, as if he was used to appearing, and perhaps disappearing, without notice.

"I lost my wife and daughter." He said it matter-of-factly, as if he were telling you it would rain tomorrow. "You have her name. Kelly, my daughter. And you look so very much like Kate. Two people I couldn't save. Two, out of many. Two out of many I'd put in harm's way without even realizing it at the time." He, too, like Tim had, fell silent. And like Tim, she stayed just as silent. Finally he pushed off the porch rail and looked at her. "I'm not sure why you're here or maybe why I'm here. Maybe just to remind me I'm alive, but you know, sometimes I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But thank you for giving me a glimpse of who she could have been."

He walked away without another word and this time she was left to wonder if he'd meant his daughter or his agent.

It was a few hours later, as the last of the bags of trash had been sealed and the downed wood that was worth keeping had been stacked when Tony finally spoke. She'd sort of expected it sooner, and then felt an odd mixture of relief and sorrow when it seemed he had nothing to say to her after that first stunned 'Kate' he whispered when he was introduced.

Now, as he stood with his back to her, she had to wonder if he even knew she was behind him as he spoke.

"I love her. I know the others have said as much, but… I love her. I never told her. Never really… well, maybe I hinted at it. Same way she never really… maybe hinted it to me too. But I love her, same way I know she loves me."

Kelly wondered if he knew he spoke of Kate in the present tense. She really couldn't decide if it was an unconscious choice or not. He finally turned and looked her in they eye.

"I know you're not her. It's subtle, tiny things - you are so very much like her, but you're not. And I have to say this anyway. I love you, Kate. I just wish I'd said it sooner." And with that he turned away, walked to his car, got in and drove off, never looking back.

Kelly stared after him, watching the taillights disappear around the corner. She was so overcome with the intensity in his eyes and his voice that she never even noticed when Abby walked up. She jumped slightly when the other woman spoke.

"Thank you."

Kelly waited for more, but it didn't come. Finally she asked, "For what?"

"For being you. For being here. For giving us all a chance to say goodbye to a woman you never knew. A woman you are so very like that it's absolutely uncanny. For finally giving him a a chance to say the words he's never forgiven himself for not saying. Tony was right. You're not her. You have to look very hard to see the differences, but you're not her and she's not you. But I believe she was here today. And I think she let them… us… see her today through you. So, that's why. Thank you" Abby touched Kelly briefly on her shoulder, either in parting or to assure herself that she spoke to a living person and not a ghost. Neither of them seemed sure which.

Gibbs had disappeared as silently as he had earlier and she noticed his car, too, had gone. She watched Abby climb into her car before turning away and heading inside.

She saw Tim and Ellie sitting with Aunt Peg as the older woman gushed her gratitude. It was as if all the pent up years of being disappointed by people had broken like a dam. They finally said their goodbyes to her, stood and walked past her, Tim first, just a nod as he passed. Then Ellie.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, truly. Although I think you're probably happy enough to see us go."

"It's been… interesting. To say the least. Thank you, all of you," she said to Tim's back as he walked down the front steps." She wanted to say more, but there simply weren't words for what she was feeling. Gratitude, certainly, but an unsettling one.

Ellie smiled and followed Tim out the door a Kelly turned away, feeling like she was stepping out of another person, pulled back to her own reality. Yes, very unsettling.

—-

Tony drove home on autopilot, in silence. His mind wasn't really on any one thing in particular, he just let his thoughts drift aimlessly. To Kate, to Ziva, to Zoe… back to Ziva, then back to Kate. "You, know, none of us, not even you, believe in coincidences. I don't know how you did it, but you gave me that one last day. You gave all of us…" he trailed off, not really realizing he spoken aloud. "Bye, Kate. I love you."