One Step at a Time
Summary: Tony DiNiozzo is charming and sexy, has never had any trouble getting a date, but he has yet to settle down, or at least that is what he thought when he woke up one morning. But, that night he went home a father; his entire life changed in a matter of minutes. Follow Tony and his daughter Christina as they live their life, together, one step at a time.
Chapter 1 - Expectations
Expectations. When you wake up in the morning, you have expectations, when you go to work, you have expectations, when you come home, you have expectations. Basically, you have an expectation for how your entire day is going to go; sometimes little details are altered, taken out or added in, but usually things go pretty much as you thought they would. Sometimes this is bad and sometimes this is good. Expectations keep us sane, day in and day out; imagine going to bed every night not knowing a single detail about your next day. However, expectations can also prevent us from being prepared when certain surprises come along. Sometimes things happen that are so unexpected, that they throw everything you've grown accustomed to right out the window, completely changing all expectations, from then on.
Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo walked into work that morning with expectations. He expected that they would eventually get a case; a dead marine somewhere, he expected that he would tease Kate and McGee endlessly, or at least until he got a slap on the head from Gibbs, and he expected he would eventually go home at the end of the day, same as every other day.
Tony walked off the elevator smiling, coffee in hand, backpack over his shoulder humming some movie tune to himself, earning an eye roll from Kate when he sat down at his desk. "Morning Katie, morning McGee," he sang, "Where's Gibbs?"
"Right here DiNozzo," Gibbs said, walking into the bullpen from upstairs, "Grab your gear, we got a murdered woman."
Tony looked at Kate who looked at McGee; they had all picked up on it, he hadn't said the woman's navy title, didn't say petty officer or wife, just woman. Tony was the first to speak, "Uh boss, why is it NCIS jurisdiction?"
"Because DiNozzo, your name was written at the crime scene, in the victim's blood." Everyone looked at Tony; he had a shocked expression on his face. Why did it seem like he was always the one getting into these kinds of situations; being framed, or connected to a case somehow. This was not how he expected the day to go, this was one of those details of your expectations that gets altered.
The car ride to the crime scene was quiet; Tony's head filled of thoughts about who this woman could possibly be, but he really had no idea. They arrived and met the two cops who had called NCIS upon recognizing Tony's name at the crime scene. One cop asked Gibbs if it would be alright to ask Tony a few questions first, before they got to see the scene, and Gibbs complied.
"Do you know a Sharron Green?" The one cop, McDonald, asked Tony.
He thought about it for a moment, thought about any woman by that name that may have been case related, and came up with nothing. So, he turned to thinking of women he had dated, which was a little harder considering how many of them there were. "No, guys I'm sorry, I can't think of it from a name, if you let me see her, then maybe I might have an idea…wait, Sharron Green, Sharry Green, Sharry! Yeah, I went on a few dates with her about a year ago, I remember now, dark brown curly hair, petite, very cute. I still don't get what I have to do with this though."
"Well, our coroner concluded that the bullet entered her stomach causing her to bleed out, she didn't die instantly," McDonald said.
"And?"
"Well that could mean that it was her who wrote your name, thinking that you could help find the killer somehow or…"
"Or that I am the killer? Is that what you're thinking?"
"Where were you at 7:15 this morning DiNozzo?"
"Stopping at Starbucks on the way to work." McDonald gave him a skeptical look then got up to call and talk to someone at Starbucks to confirm Tony's alibi.
"Okay," the other cop said, "so why would she write your name as her last dying attempt?" They sat silent for a moment, all thinking of possibilities, but just then a cell phone rang, and nobody recognized the ring. Gibbs pulled the cell out of Sharron's purse and looked at the caller ID; day care.
"Hello."
"Hello? ?"
"No, Special Agent Gibbs."
"Where is Ms. Green?" The female voice inquired.
"She is not here right now."
"Well when will she be picking up her daughter? The day care closed an hour ago and Ms. Green is never late picking up Chrissy."
"Someone will be over to get her right away mam." Click. "Kate and McGee go pick up 's daughter at the day care and take her back to NCIS, she's under protective custody now. We can finish up here and meet you back there," Gibbs called out.
An hour later they were all back at NCIS surrounding a desk, where they had a 4 month old baby girl sitting in a carrier. She looked up at them with big green eyes and a cute little nose and mouth, the little hair that she had was dark brown and slightly curly. "She's pretty cute," Tony said.
"Yeah she is," Gibbs called, "which is why we have to get back to work to find out what happened to her mother." Everyone scrambled back to their desks quickly and got to work, everyone accept Tony, the baby was still on his desk, green eyes staring back at green eyes, unable to look away. Chrissy made little baby gargling noises, and cracked a little smile, causing Tony to chuckle. He moved her carrier to the floor beside his feet so that she was still close to him and he got to work as well. Something stuck in his head though and he couldn't quite put a finger on it; he felt…different, when he looked at Chrissy, he had seen babies before and never felt like this, why did he feel so protective of this child?
After about a half hour of silent work and pondering, 4 heads shot up when Chrissy started to cry. Tony bent down to her but Kate was already out of her desk and picking up the baby girl, as she continued to scream. Tony figured she might be hungry so he opened up the diaper bag that came with her and pulled out a pre-pumped bottle of milk, and handed it to Kate. Chrissy refused the bottle and continued to cry, that is until Tony took her from Kate's arms. She stopped crying immediately upon getting in Tony's arms and then latched onto the bottle, and sucked greedily. Tony smiled at the baby girl, while Gibbs and McGee laughed and Kate shot Tony a dirty look and went back to her desk.
It was 7:00pm and Tony DiNozzo was putting his key into the lock of his apartment door, trying to be quiet because baby Chrissy was sleeping in the carrier at his feet. He had been chosen by Gibbs to be on protection detail and take the baby home because it seemed as though he was the only one who could get her to stop crying, so he had left NCIS armed with diaper bag and baby carrier, ready for what was sure to be a long night.
An hour later, after Tony had finished a pizza and was watching a Friends re-run, he noticed Chrissy's eyes opening from her spot in the baby carrier on the floor beside him. "Well hey sleepy head," he cooed to the baby girl, as green eyes met green eyes once again. She started to whimper and Tony was quick to pluck her out of the carrier and hold her against his chest. "It's okay baby girl, shhh, shhh, shhhhh. I promise you, we're going to figure out what happened to your mom, and we're going to find you a really good home, where you will have a mommy and a daddy that will love you and look after you…I'll make sure of it," he whispered the last part real quietly, almost as though he was reassuring himself, not the child. Tony looked down to see she had fallen back to sleep on his chest, his shirt balled in her tiny little fists, it melted his heart. Tony tightened his arms around her and dozed off himself, for some much needed rest.
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