Back to Milsom Bay! I don't think it will matter if you haven't read the other stories in this universe as I'll introduce 'my' characters as I go along. Possibly not for Abby fans.

And not a Tiva story.

"DiNozzo!"

Tony jumped, "Hah! What the … Gibbs? What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you," answered Gibbs calmly.

"'Cos you may have just given me a heart attack," said Tony crossly. He put a hand over his heart for dramatic effect.

"You invited me," said Gibbs.

"Coffee?" came another voice.

"Sedative please, Millie," said Tony.

"Two coffees it is," said Millie placidly. "Good to see you, Agent Gibbs," she said before going to the kitchen.

"Let's sit down before I collapse," said Tony.

"Drama queen," muttered Gibbs as he followed Tony to a table.

Gibbs had taken Tony by surprise in Milsom Bay, North Carolina, the place where Tony had a beachside cabin to which he retreated when he had time away from his job as Community and Federal Agency Liaison Officer or CAFALO in nearby Raleigh. Millie Lacey was one of the first people he had met when he had accidentally landed up in Milsom Bay a few years before; she ran a café and bed and breakfast there. Tony's 'temporary' stay had resulted in his buying the 'shack' in the grounds of local artist John Sutherland's cabin. The shack had been upgraded and extended to provide a habitation big enough to house both Tony and his daughter Tali on their frequent breaks from city life.

"How's the CafPowing going?" asked Gibbs as he gazed across the bay.

"CAFALO," corrected Tony for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Whatever," said Gibbs. "How's it going?"

"Good," said Tony. "Sometimes it's a lot of community stuff. You know, talks to women's groups, talks to schools, talks to men's organizations, talks to …"

"I get the idea," interrupted Gibbs. "Lots of talking. Should suit you down to the ground."

"They usually provide great snacks," said Tony, "So it's not all talking. There's a lot of eating and …"

"And what? Drinking?"

"Well, yes but I was going to say a lot of listening," said Tony.

"OK," conceded Gibbs. "And what about the rest of the job?"

Tony's eyes narrowed as he looked at Gibbs suspiciously, "Fornell's been down," said Tony cautiously. "He was working on a case just outside Norfolk Navy Base."

"Hmm," said Gibbs.

"Tobias said he'd run it past Vance," said Tony. "And it wasn't anything to do with the Navy. It was months ago."

"Hmm," said Gibbs again.

"I did some work with him," said Tony, "But it was an FBI case."

"Hmm."

"You do know that I liaise with lots of federal agencies?" said Tony.

"Lots?"

"Well," temporised Tony, "More than just NCIS. I guess there's not that many federal agencies."

"It's OK," said Gibbs deciding to be merciful once he had seen that he still had the power to unnerve Tony, "I didn't come to check up on Fornell."

"B-ba … blighter," said Tony crossly as he realised he'd been had.

"What?" asked Gibbs.

"Blighter," said Tony a little self-consciously.

"Blighter?"

"I'm trying to … moderate my language around Tali," explained Tony, "So, instead of calling you what the second B in Gibbs stands for, I went for blighter."

"Sounds like something Ducky would say," commented Gibbs.

"Ducky has been very helpful in finding alternative words for me," admitted Tony. "Even if it does mean that the DiNozzo residence sometimes sounds like something out of Dickens!"

"What else do you say?" asked Gibbs.

"Actually Dickens is quite useful," said Tony, "It's surprising how expressive what the dickens sounded when I found that Tali had used all her crayons to decorate her bedroom wall."

Gibbs huffed a laugh just as Millie returned with coffee and a plate of cakes.

"I didn't have any sedatives," she remarked, "But I thought muffins and cupcakes might work just as well."

"You're a lifesaver," said Tony.

"Thank you, Mrs Lacey," said Gibbs more moderately. Millie smiled in acknowledgement before moving on to another customer.

Tony waited until Gibbs had taken his first mouthful of coffee before asking, "So, if you're not here to check up on Fornell, what are you doing here?"

"Like I said, you invited me," said Gibbs."

"Oh, God," said Tony, "Abby sent you, didn't she?"

"What?" asked Gibbs.

"I guess she's pis- annoyed that I only let her rant at me for ten minutes a day," said Tony gloomily. "I might have known she'd send in the big guns."

"I don't know what you're talking about, DiNozzo," said Gibbs. "Abby didn't send me."

"Then why are you here?" asked Tony.

"As I keep on saying, you invited me," said Gibbs.

"Well, yeah. But not for another three days," said Tony.

"You're here," said Gibbs.

"This could turn into some existentialist, philosophical debate about the nature of my being here," said Tony.

"No, it won't," said Gibbs bluntly.

"What I was getting at is that I live here," said Tony, "Or close by anyway. You live miles away. Even if you do drive freakishly fast."

"But you don't work here," said Gibbs. "You're not usually down here in the week. You're not sick, are you?"

"No," said Tony, "I had leave due. It turns out that the weekend is going to be more … exciting … than I'd planned. Seemed a good idea to come down earlier."

"Hmm," said Gibbs as he considered a choice between a cinnamon and cherry cupcake or lemon drizzle muffin.

"So you didn't know I'd be here?" asked Tony.

"No," said Gibbs.

"You didn't get Abby to ping my cell?"

"Nope."

"Or McHacker?"

"No."

"Or …"

"No! I didn't ask Bishop to do it either."

"You really didn't know I'd be here?" pressed Tony.

"No," said Gibbs around a mouthful of cherry cupcake.

"Oh," said Tony, "Then why are you here?"

"You're not the only reason people come here, DiNozzo. If you were, Mrs Lacey would have gone out of business years ago."

"True," said Tony. "But why …"

"Why did you think Abby had sent me?" interrupted Gibbs.

"You mean you really don't know?" asked Tony. For answer, Gibbs selected a lemon drizzle cake. "Well," said Tony hoping that Gibbs wasn't simply diverting him so he could enjoy all the cakes, "She's not pleased about what's happening this weekend."

FLASHBACK

"Abby Scuito. Forensic Scientist Extraordinaire."

"Hey, Abs. Ex-Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo here."

"Tony! You'll always be Very Special to me," said Abby happily.

"Good to know, Abs. You're like human chicken soup for the soul."

"Eew," said Abby.

"No, no," said Tony, "That's a good thing!"

"Oh," said Abby, "Because I've got this picture in my head of a human chicken. And it's not pretty."

Tony took a breath to explain but then decided against. He knew that he and Abby were perfectly capable of leading each other down distracting verbal pathways for hours. "Hey, Abs, you doing anything on the 25th?"

"I'll have to check," said Abby, "What's going on?"

"A sort of party," said Tony, "For Tali."

"Then I'll be there," said Abby, "Tali and party are two of my favourite words. Well, apart from CafPow, Bert, Sister Rosita, Gibbs, chocolate …"

"Abs?" said Tony warningly.

"Sorry," said Abby, "I was just dreaming. What's the party for? It's not Tali's birthday …"

"No," began Tony.

"Oh, I know. It's the anniversary of her coming to America! Although you might not want to celebrate that because it's when we found out about … well, you know …"

"No, it's not that," began Tony again.

"It's the day you moved into your new house!" said Abby excitedly, "Although I'm still kinda bummed that you don't live in DC so I'm not sure I want to celebrate that. But, if you do, then it's OK."

"No, it's not that," said Tony, "Tali's getting baptised."

There was an uncharacteristic silence before Abby said, "That's not funny, Tony."

"I know," said Tony.

"No, really, it's not something to joke about."

"I'm not joking, Abby," said Tony.

"You can't be serious."

"Why not?"

"You can't do it," said Abby.

"Again, why not?"

"Because Ziva wouldn't want it."

"How do you know that?"

"She was Jewish."

"I know that."

"So Tali can't be baptised."

"Why not?"

"Ziva wouldn't let you."

"How do you know?"

Abby's voice got louder, "Because she was Jewish! You can't have Tali baptised."

"I'm Tali's father," said Tony finding that his voice was getting calmer and colder as Abby's got louder and more heated.

"You can't do what Ziva wouldn't have wanted. You wouldn't do it if she was still here," said Abby.

"Things would be different if Ziva was still here," said Tony even more coldly.

"You can't do what Ziva would have hated," protested Abby. "It's not right!"

"I'm Tali's father," said Tony again, "It's my decision to make."

"No, it's not," said Abby. "You're wrong. You must see that."

"No, I don't," said Tony.

"I don't understand you, Tony," wailed Abby. "How could you do this?"

"Gotta go, Abby," said Tony.

"But I haven't finished," said Abby.

"Well, I have," said Tony, "I don't want to say something that I'll regret," and with that he put the phone down.

END FLASHBACK

"And that was just the beginning," said Tony after he had finished describing the conversation with Abby.

"What you mean?" asked Gibbs.

"She phones, emails and tries to Skype. All saying the same thing."

"Why's she so against it?" asked Gibbs.

"You sure you didn't know about this?" asked Tony suspiciously.

"Sure."

"She thinks it's a betrayal of Ziva's memory," said Tony.

"And you don't?" asked Gibbs. He raised his hands in a gesture of peace when he saw Tony scowl. "Just asking," he added.

"Abby thinks that because Ziva was Jewish, she'd want Tali to be Jewish too."

"She's got a point," suggested Gibbs.

"How did Ziva put it when she talked about Rivkin …"

"Jewish by birth, not practice," supplied Gibbs.

"Well, I think the same goes for Ziva. How often did she go to the synagogue when she was in DC?"

Gibbs shrugged, "Don't know. Wasn't something she talked about."

"If Ziva had still been around then I would have let her bring Tali up as Jewish if that's what she wanted," said Tony, "But she's not around and it seems hypocritical for me to bring my daughter up as Jewish when I'm not a Jew."

"Have you explained that to Abby?"

"I've tried. Multiple times, believe me. But she thinks I'm betraying Ziva in some way. She thinks I'm getting revenge."

"What?" asked Gibbs incredulously.

"Because Ziva kept Tali from me, Abby thinks I'm making bad decisions just to show that I can."

"Is she right?" asked Gibbs cautiously.

"No," said Tony fiercely, "Yes, Ziva deprived me of my daughter for the first part of her life but I'm not getting my own back for that by making a decision Ziva would hate. I'm responsible for Tali now and it's my job to look after our daughter. I think Abby …"

"What?"

"It's almost like she expects Ziva to come back and take over. And Abby doesn't want her to come back and find things have changed," said Tony.

"You know Abby, she hates change," said Gibbs.

"When we went to Israel, I visited with Ziva's family. Tried to find out what their life was like – hers and Tali's."

"Yes?" said Gibbs. Tony had always been reticent about what he had found in Israel.

"Seems they lived a quiet life. I think Ziva was afraid even then that she might be a target. And Gibbs, her Aunt Nettie said she was disappointed that Ziva didn't take Tali to the synagogue. Did you know that Ziva gave birth to Tali in California?"

"What?"

"Seemed she wanted to make sure that Tali would be a US citizen. There's no record that she reached out to a synagogue for any b'rit bat or anything similar. She wasn't making any decision about Tali's future."

"I see," said Gibbs. "And why do you want her to be baptised?"

"Not sure," admitted Tony, "It feels right. I want her to be part of a community. When we're here I started taking her to Sunday service at the Good Shepherd. She likes the Sunday School. Then if we were in Raleigh we'd often meet up with Kit and Andi – you know, Millie's son and daughter-in-law. Part of what they do is to go to church and it seemed to fit to go with them sometimes. And, …"

"What?"

"I wasn't there when Tali was born. It feels this is something I can be at the start with her," said Tony. "I missed out on one beginning, I want to be in on this one."

"Sounds good to me," said Gibbs.

"It does?"

"Sure," said Gibbs. "I wouldn't have said I'd come for the service if I hadn't. Don't worry, Abby will come around."

"She hasn't yet," said Tony gloomily, "She keeps sending me all this information about how I'm depriving Tali of her birth right. But I'm not, Gibbs. I'm not going to hide her history from her but I can't bring her up in Ziva's tradition."

"I know," said Gibbs.

"You know, it's a funny thing …"

"What?"

"When I phoned Abby that day it was to ask her to be Tali's godmother. That was a non-starter."

"Does she know?"

"No. Even if she changed her mind about what I'm doing, I can't imagine asking her to do that now," said Tony sadly.

"Who are the godparents?" asked Gibbs.

"McAuthor … you mean he hasn't told you?" asked Tony.

"No," said Gibbs.

"Oh. Well, McGee. Kit and Andi. And Doug."

"Doug?" said Gibbs incredulously. "Doug Sutherland?"

Tony nodded a little shiftily. Doug was John Sutherland's son and Gibbs didn't think he and Tony got on well. Doug had always seemed both suspicious and envious of Tony's friendship with his father. "Yeah, I know," said Tony, "But Tali adores him. Even after months of getting to know him. And he's not as bad as he used to be. I think being in business with Kit has helped. And …"

"And what?"

"And I didn't really expect him to say yes. But he did."

"So Tali's got three godfathers and one godmother?" said Gibbs.

"Yes."

"Thought a girl was meant to have more godmothers than godfathers," commented Gibbs.

"It's more a guideline than a rule," said Tony hopefully.

"Well, I guess if the … what they called … minister doesn't mind?"

"Rector," said Tony, "Rector," he coughed. "And she won't be doing it."

"Doing what?"

"The baptising," said Tony.

"It's at the church here though, isn't it?" asked Gibbs.

"Oh yes. But Susie's agreed that Mel … Chaplain Burke can do it in the Sunday service."

Gibbs stared at Tony who had become alarmingly nonchalant. "Chaplain Burke?"

"Sure, she's based at Norfolk now. Ran into her when I was helping Tobias."

"Yes?"

"Yes. She was real helpful when I spoke to her about Tali. 'Cos Gibbs, I did think hard about this."

"I'm sure you did, Tony," said Gibbs reassuringly.

"And I've got her to thank in a way," said Tony thoughtfully.

"How so?"

"She made me go to that NCIS nursery. Made me face my fears. Otherwise I'd have probably done a runner when Tali was shoved at me."

"Never known you do a runner, Tony," said Gibbs, "Not your style."

"Thanks, Gibbs. That means a lot," said Tony gratefully.

"You've always stepped up, Tony. It's what you do," said Gibbs. "It's what you're doing now."

"I can't believe you don't know about all this," said Tony. "I mean, Abby usually broadcasts how she feels about things. Especially to you. And Tim, well, I thought he was pleased to be McGodfather."

"Team's been busy," said Gibbs vaguely. "You want that last cake?"

Tony was momentarily diverted. "As you've eaten all the others, I'll have it," he said.

"Pink House," said Gibbs.

Tony choked on a cupcake crumb. "What?"

"Pink House," repeated Gibbs.

"What about it?" asked Tony. The Pink House was a huge mansion type house a few miles down the coast from Tony's cabin. It had been built in the 1930s by an eccentric millionaire who had used it as a retreat for himself and his friends. It had been empty for years and was crumbling away in a genteel fashion. Tony had always had a soft spot for the place although it had, in the past, been somewhere he had attracted trouble.

"Still there?" asked Gibbs.

"Last time I looked," said Tony cautiously. "Still up for sale."

"Huh," said Gibbs.

"Why d'you want to know?" asked Tony. "You're not thinking of buying it, are you?" He laughed but noticed that Gibbs had a thoughtful look on his face.

NCISNCIS

Later that day, Tony made a call to DC.

"Hey, Tony," said Tim as he answered the phone.

"McCorleone," said Tony happily.

"What?" asked Tim as he recognised the familiar DiNozzo induced bemusement.

"McCorleone," repeated Tony. "You know, the Godfather."

Tim groaned, "Don't tell me you asked me to be Tali's godfather just so you could get the nicknames in," he pleaded.

"No, I asked you because I thought you'd be good at it," said Tony, "But that's not to say I'm not aware of other benefits!"

"OK," said Tim, "What do you want? You're not calling to say we're not on for Sunday, are you?"

"No. You can still bring a hideously expensive gift for your goddaughter," said Tony.

"I've got the perfect thing," said Tim, "A set of Thom E Gemcity novels. Signed by the author." Tim smiled as he realised that even Tony's silences were eloquent, he guessed this was an offended silence. "No," he relented, "I've got something really good."

"Better," approved Tony, "As Gibbs pointed out, Tali's got more godfathers than normal so I've got a spare."

"Gibbs?" asked McGee. "When did you speak to him?"

"Today," said Tony. "What's going on, Tim?"

"He phones you sometimes, doesn't he?" hedged Tim.

"Sure. But this wasn't over the phone, this was over coffee and cupcakes."

"What?"

"Gibbs showed up in the Bay this afternoon. Nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Gibbs is in the Bay?" asked McGee.

"I think there must be an echo somewhere," said Tony crossly. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," said Tim casually.

"Tim?"

"Nothing's going on," repeated Tim. As he put the phone down, Tony heard him mutter, "Nothing that I can tell you about anyway."