It had been a long, challenging five years for Jimmy Palmer. Ever since Breena's death her had been raising his daughter Tori, completely on his own. Well he couldn't say completely. He had the support of his family. The support of Ducky, Tony, and the rest of his family. Still he had to face a number of challenges on his own. Most notably battling his own grief and being strong for his baby girl. Tony could relate and they talked all the time, but there feelings were different.

Over the past five years Jimmy's family had remained the same. It was just him and Tori for immediate family but Tony and Tali, Ducky, Gibbs, Abby, and the McGee's were his family as well. Tony was the only other person who hadn't changed much in the previous half-decade.

Ducky had retired about a year after Breena died. He ended up moving back to his homeland but contacted the family often. It was not long before he grew bored and ended up accepting a professorship at a local medical university.

Gibbs' retirement came within six months of Ducky's. He ended up selling his house and moving to his cabin out in the woods. He attended birthday and anniversary parties. He would baby-sit from time to time and occasionally would be contacted to consult on case, but for the most part he just stayed in his cabin or sailed his boat.

Abby was still with NCIS, that pretty much went without saying. She would likely be dragged out of her lab when she was old and senile. She was presently engaged to a man named Todd. They would wed the following summer but other than that she remained the same.

McGee and Delilah had been married for four and a half years now. They had a four year old son named John Frances after the couple's fathers. Due to complications during the final trimester and during John's birth. Delilah had undergone elective hysterectomy to prevent future pregnancies. The couple did have a set of two year old twins via a gestational surrogate. The twins were named Leia Christine and Lucy Faith. Delilah was still with DOD and McGee was still at NCIS. Though with his team gone and three children needing him. He ended up transferring back to cyber after the surrogate was found to be pregnant.

Jimmy focused his eyes on his wife's grave. This was the first time he had come down to Florida without Victoria. The anniversary of Breena's death happened to fall on Wednesday. Normally he would take Tori out of school for the week and bring with with him, but this year the anniversary also conflicted with Tori's week as line leader. Which apparently was a major deal for a first grader. Though the teacher had offered to let her trade weeks with Ellie Paterson. Tori had refused and Jimmy couldn't really blame her. He sometimes wished that he could skip the cemetery. He loved Breena but it was always a gut punch seeing her grave. He was paying his respects to the woman he loved and Tori was in the capable hands of Tony DiNozzo. Spending quality time with her best friend. Jimmy was staying with Breena's family but couldn't help feeling lonely. He had just been feeling lonely lately. He had his family but he missed having a wife. He missed it enough to where he was considering getting back into the dating game. Except he had no idea how to date. He knew how to date. He knew how to ask girls out and how to act on dates. What he didn't know. Was how to get back into dating after being a widower. Being a single father made it even more complicated. When did he tell his date about Breena? Did he bring up Tori right away or did he wait until he knew if the relationship was going somewhere. What if his girlfriend didn't like Tori? What if Tori didn't like his girlfriend. To what extent did he let his daughter control his life? He had talked to Vance and Fornell about it but they weren't very much help. Their children were older. In fact Emily was already in college and engaged before Fornell started dating again. Kayla Vance had been in her Senior year and Jared had been a Sophomore. Tori was only six and it had just been the two of them for so long. Needless to say it would be a major adjustment for both of them. He had so many second thoughts. Maybe it was a sign that he was not in fact ready to start dating again. Maybe he should give it a while longer. Maybe he would never be ready he wished that this was easier. That there was some special sign indicating that he was ready but more than anything he wished that Breena was still alive. Then he wouldn't have to worry about dating and relationships, and they could still be a perfect family. Maybe with a couple more children by now or at least in the adoption process. That was not the case. He was a thirty-five year old widower, single father to a six year old, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

After a long afternoon Jimmy just wanted to get home. Well not home but to Maria's house. He would be flying back on Saturday. Part of him was considering coming home early but the tickets were non refundable and Maria had gone out of her way to accommodate for what he needed.

"How did it go?" Maria asked.

"It went alright." Jimmy replied.

"Do you mind if I come along tomorrow?" Maria asked.

"Sure I just needed that alone time today." Jimmy replied.

"I understand" Maria assured.

"We can go back later if you want." Jimmy offered.

"I can wait or I can go out by myself." Maria replied.

"Alright in that case I am going to lie down." Jimmy replied.

"Oh Tony called." Maria replied.

"Is everything OK?" Jimmy asked.

"He said that Tori is doing great but she misses you. If you could call her later. I think that would really help a lot." Maria explained.

"I'll do that now." Jimmy replied.

A/N: How do you like it? New chapter will be up soon. Please review and thanks for reading.