A Life of Hopes, Dreams & a Love That Conquers All.

Chapter 1.

It was the morning after the night before as Tony went to work that day, he'd spent the night before with Hailey and even though in appearance she wasn't the kind of woman that he usually went for, as he chatted her up there was something about her that seemed intriguing. Then back at hers later when they had sex, it was really great sex; but as their bodies came together he had a strange feeling of familiarity. He couldn't put his finger on it, because surely if they'd been together before he would've remembered it?

When he arrived at NCIS there was no one around, not even Gibbs. Even though he knew that he probably shouldn't do it he decided that he would look Hailey up. As McGee and Bishop arrive he just acknowledges them, but that was it. All he ended up getting from the file was that she was squeaky clean and was a teacher at Hamilton First School. The only thing that had got flagged was that she'd got a restraining order on her last partner/boyfriend Matthew Davidson, who was currently in jail on a six month sentence for having broken it. Due to this the order had been booted up to a lifetime one. As he was checking through things he all of a sudden started to get a really horrible feeling of something bad happening, this got confirmed a few minutes later as Gibbs appeared at the top of the stairs behind them and yelled "Grab your gear!" As Tony stepped out from behind his desk with his, as Gibbs got there he said "What is it boss?" He answers "There's been an explosion at Hamilton First School." All he could then feel was his stomach lurch and everything from getting into the elevator to arriving at the scene going in slow motion, as he was hoping & praying that Hailey was going too be safe.

At the scene the head teacher told them that Hailey had been the hero because she'd seen someone acting suspiciously and saw them plant something, so she'd then pulled the fire alarm so the school had been pretty much evacuated by the time the bomb had gone off. Mostly they'd been lucky as there had only been minor injuries to those that had been hurt. The bad news though was that they had four teachers missing, & Hailey was one of them.

Once they got the all clear to be able too go in and search for the missing teachers, Tony found himself hoping & praying once again that Hailey would be safe and that he would be the one that would find her. Just as he & Gibbs entered the hall next to where the bomb had gone off, as they shone their lights around they couldn't see anything, but as they then spotted a closed door ahead of them Gibbs says "Take it carefully and let's check it." As they approached it Tony all of a sudden thinks he can hear something, so he stops them and puts his finger on his lips, they stay still for a moment; then all of a sudden they start to hear a tapping sound coming from behind the door they were about to try. Between the two of them they manage to carefully get the door open, as soon as they see the sight that's in front of them, Tony is on his knees on the floor with an unconscious Hailey in front of him under piles of tables and other debris up as far as her waist. They also guess that she was the source of the tapping sound, because there's a rock from the debris near her hands and they can guess that she was hitting the nearby fire extinguisher. The first thing he does after getting on his knees is to check for her pulse, as he does so he holds his breath because he's afraid of not being able to find one, when he does find one he finally lets the breath go. His touch though seems to rouse her slightly & as their eyes meet she does a weak smile and says "Tony?" She then starts to cough, so he takes her hand to hold; then with his other hand he starts stroking her face as he says too her "Don't worry I'm here with you."

As she then says "I can't feel my legs."

Gibbs whispers to Tony "I'm going for help; you keep her talking, as we need to keep her awake." As she starts to try and close her eyes again Tony lightly taps her face as he says "Hey come on you need to stay awake, if it helps think about us last night."

A weak smile then appears on her lips and she says "Mmm last night, that was good."

"Well I do aim to please."

As she laughs weakly and says "That you do Mr DiNozzo." She starts to choke again so he strokes her face, as she settles once again she starts trying to move, he stops her and says "Come on don't do that in case you cause any damage to yourself."

She replies "Ok, but I was just trying to get my bag as I can feel it behind me. You might need my journal out of it to help you with the investigation, although if you read it and read what I wrote about last night and tease me, I will kill you." He reaches over and gets it, he then says "So what happened here?"

She answers "When things get removed you will probably find a body at the back there. I saw him acting suspiciously and I'd not seen him around the school before. I followed & saw him leave the bag and fiddle with it, I guessed that it was a bomb so I pulled the alarm. It was as I told the head that the bomb went off, I had no choice but to come in here for shelter and then everything started coming down on me. I suspect that he's a patsy if my ex is somehow involved with this, & I'm sorry Tony if he is & he's somehow got eyes on me you can be dragged into all of this." She then starts to cry and he wipes away her tears. He then says "Don't worry I can look after myself. Mind you that sounded a bit business like to me, are you sure you're not an undercover agent or something?" Once again it makes her laugh so she ends up choking again, as she recovers she answers "No I'm not, my dad was a cop and my mom is NCIS Special Agent Sandra Michaels." It's as she says that everything comes flooding back to Tony and he finally remembers the relationship they had years ago. As she also notices the look of remembrance she says "You'd forgotten."

He replies "I'm so sorry I had, I did know that there was something very familiar about you though."

She says "It's ok Tony it took me a little while as well to realize who you were. I'm glad that last night happened. Even with us both being hurt by that stupid argument and of course me listening to my mother. I had wanted to fight for you Tony and us; because I did really love you Tony."

"& I loved you too, especially as you helped me to heal when I needed it most." He then bends down and kisses her lightly on the lips and says "When you get out of this I promise I will be here for you and no matter how long things take I will wait for you, even if it is a bit backwards after last night."

She replies "Well I suppose at least I know what I've let myself in for & know what to expect, unless there's a few more tricks in the last nine/ten years or so."

"I can't believe that it's been that long, there might be a chance that I've learnt some new things in that time; but you'll just have to wait and see my sweet little angel." Even with her being still weak she does get a slightly bigger smile on her face with him using his nickname for her and she says "If you're sure about waiting & I know that I would want to give us another chance, so yes my Teddy Bear I'd like too do this." He then asks "So I know you've already said that everything we need is in your journal and I'm not just asking this because of the new us, but what about your ex?"

She replies "His name is Matthew Davidson, if you need anything from my evidence my apartment keys are also in my bag and of course I don't have to tell you where that is. This is hard and I know that you will probably read the case file anyway. Before I say it though I need too say this that I'm glad that last night happened as it was the first time that I've been out in six months." As she's about to tell him Gibbs comes back with some rescuers, as they see the sight the person in charge tells them how they're going to get things cleared, as they get started to distract her from it Tony says "Tell me."

She carries on "I ended things because he was cheating on me, I also kept getting the feeling that I was being followed; not only that things started being moved around or going missing from the apartment. I changed the locks numerous times, but it kept happening. I got the restraining order when he broke in." She then totally breaks down and Tony wipes away her tears and he then says "I think we can guess the rest." He & Gibbs then share a knowing look at one another.

As they get close to being able to get her free they have to get the medics in because of the places where she can feel pain starts to get overwhelming for her. While they're examining her they have to all get out of the way, but because she all of a sudden starts to panic Tony gets himself into a position so that she can at least see him. As soon as they get her free Gibbs tells Tony that he should go with her, & he'll then catch up with them at the hospital.

When they get to the hospital she gets rushed straight through to trauma which Tony can't follow them into, so he goes to give her details in at the reception, he also tells them that he's her partner and gives them all his contact details. As things go it turns out that over the years since they split up she hadn't bothered to take him off the list after her mom of people that can sign for medical things if she can't. As things turn out he does have to do just that, because due to a dislocated hip and the crush injury to her spine she needs emergency surgery on both. As they take her to surgery he follows to wait in a nearby waiting room for news.

While he's waiting Gibbs finds him and sits next too him, as he does so he says "What's happening and how do you know Hailey?"

He answers "She's now in surgery for a dislocated hip and crush injuries to her spine. I know her because she rescued me after the Jeanne debacle and taught me that I could love someone again. We split up because of a stupid argument and because of what her mother said to warn her off. We'd not seen each other since the night we had the argument; that was until last night. I met her in a bar and chatted her up & we did end up sleeping together. I hadn't recognized or remembered her, but you know when we were close together something felt very familiar and I couldn't work out why. I finally worked it out earlier when she told me her mother's name. I'd also better tell you that when we were together we'd got our names down as seconds for medical things. I'd obviously taken her off mine when we split, but when we got here I found out that she'd not taken me off as hers." Gibbs phone then goes off and he answers it, it's Vance and he gives him an update about Hailey's condition, then gets some news and ends the call, he then asks Tony "Ok so I heard some of the stuff about her ex, what's going on?"

Tony answers "He's in jail for breaking the restraining order and she thinks that the person who planted the bomb is his patsy and that he's still out to get her even from the inside and his name is Matthew Davidson."

Gibbs replies "& he probably is. You can probably guess what I'm going to say about the case, because of you being personally involved."

Tony replies a bit dispondently "I've got too be benched."

"I can see it in your face anyway that you're falling back in love with her already & that you're planning to be by her side. After that phone call that I just had from Vance we're going to have to put a protection detail on her. If you are going too be here, please let me take some of the burden so that you can get some rest, because I would let you know if anything happens. He then sighs and adds "I don't know there must be something with those Michaels girls."

Tony asks him "Why's that & what's going on?"

He answers "I was very nearly Hailey's step father because me and Sandy got together, & no DiNozzo there was no breaking of rule 12 because it was years before she became an agent. Hailey was just a child then, we were together until she was also seven/eight years old. After we split I didn't see her again until she became an agent and Hailey was away at college. For the moment you and me are going too be the closest thing she's going to have too family, we're going to have too be strong for her and it's probably going to be a long haul. When they went to find Sandy to tell her the news about Hailey there was no sign of her. When the agents got into the house it was a mess and there was no sign of her, so she's now being classed as missing."

"I know it's going too be a long haul and I'm ready for it. I think you might be right about me falling in love with her again, because if I'm honest it did start again last night with that familiar feeling, as if today hadn't happened I was going to go back to her apartment tonight and see if she was interested in something more. Taking of her apartment she gave me her bag, these are her keys as she said that we could go & get the files and other stuff involving Davidson. I know that I'm benched, but she's also given me her journal. If you don't mind boss I'd like to read it for myself, as she did admit that she'd written about last night in it and I don't think I particularly want any of the others to read about my sex life. If I do find anything in it I will tell you. I also promise that I will let us be an extra guard between us, as I do trust you boss and as you say we're going to have too be her family now. Just promise me that if you get the files from what made her get the order out on him, I don't want too see them even if I am thinking the worst; as it's just been hard enough seeing her like that today."

"I promise that I will not show you anything, but I can already promise you from having a quick scan of things it didn't get as far as you may think it did, & I'll leave it at that. Anyway I'd better get going & get things started on Davidson, as well as try to find out what's going on over Sandy. Give me a call if there's any news or if you get moved again before I get back again."

"Will do boss."

After Gibbs leaves he gets out the journal and of course goes straight to the entry form the night before. Even though he knows that she wrote it thinking that he wouldn't see it, he loves seeing the personal messages to him. Most of all he feels a real warmth when she says that even though she hopes it will be more than one night, she's very happy that they did at least have one more night together. It also makes him slightly sad when she says that she hopes it's the beginning of her road to recovery and that it was him that got her back on that road. She also hopes that they can help each other heal if there's any chance of it, because she can see & tell that her Teddy Bear is hurting again, just like he was when they first met. By the time he gets near the end he knows that Gibbs is right and that he is falling in love with her all over again; especially when he gets to the end and sees that she's written 'I love you Tony.' He then whispers "I love you too my sweet little angel." & starts praying that she'll be ok, as well as for Sandy to also be found safe because he doesn't want to particularly have to deliver any bad news at all to Hailey when she wakes up.