The One That Got Away
He could no longer keep his eyes on the one piece of paper that was keeping him from his nice warm bed, so he idled over to the window only to see the familiar lights of the city staring back and that's when he saw her. The one that got away. There she was, stepping off the last greyhound bus of the evening.
"Uncle Jethro!" she cried as she stepped out of the elevator.
"Lizzie, what a nice surprise, what brings you up here?" he said truly stunned by her unexpected visit.
"Dad was sick of having to house and feed me so I got a job and got on the first bus here." She said much to her uncle's surprise.
"Hey what did you do with my niece, my Lizzie would never voluntarily give up free board and food?" he said chuckling his trademark chuckle.
"Well, you know, I thought it's about time I got out and explored, turning 20 last week and all kinda got me thinking, oh, thanks for the dough by the way!" she added cheekily.
"So where are you going to live?" he asked concerned, anticipating his niece's normal spontaneity.
"Well…that's why it's so nice to have a sweet and kind and generous uncle who just so happens to live here." she said smiling her biggest smile.
"You don't have an apartment sorted out do you?" he said with a half smile
"Well, it's because they wanted me to start in 3 days and I couldn't find a place in time, I'm sorry to drop in so unexpected and all, I just thought…" she said while doing her best puppy dog eyes.
"Alright, you can stay with me until you find a place of your own, come on, let's get you home, I'm sure you're tired from your trip." He said as he gathered her things.
She stepped out of the shower just in time to hear a knock on the door; she grabbed her robe and headed downstairs where she found her host had fallen asleep on the couch while waiting for to her return. She went to door and looked through the peephole, who she saw on the other side made her heart skip a beat, he had come. She opened the door and neither of them said a word, they stood there for what seemed like an hour, then she spoke
"Stay there, I'll just go and put some clothes on."
She left him standing at the door and went back upstairs. She stood wondering what to wear, she didn't want to indicate her true feelings by wearing something really nice, but he was here, standing on her stoop. He already knew.
She came down in jeans and a sweatshirt, and wrote her host a letter, which when he read it later would say:
Uncle Jethro,
I've just gone for a walk, I have my cell phone with me (my number's in your phone book, under G) I will be back at 11, don't worry.
Lizzie.
P.S I would tell you not to wait up, but that would be pointless as I know you will.
They walked in silence as they both knew they shouldn't say what they were feeling. As they entered the park she broke the silence.
"Tony, why did you come tonight, you know we can't..."
"Lizzie, I know, but I can't stop thinking about you, us, and what we had, you know, last time you were here." They stopped, he turned to her and looked into her eyes searching them for her true feelings, and as always, they were strong and for him.
"I haven't stopped thinking about you either, but that doesn't change anything, you and I both know, this, us, it can never work…I can't…not again…" she trailed off as she started to cry.
He wiped away her tear, took her chin and tilted her head upwards towards his; and kissed her, it was a slow and passionate kiss. He then led her to a park bench where they sat, his arms around her and that was enough, for now anyway. That was enough.
He woke from an uncomfortable slumber on the sofa to the find the house deathly quiet. He stumbled to the kitchen bench still half asleep, to find a note in his niece's handwriting, he read it getting suspicious, it was his natural state, after all he saw some pretty nasty stuff on a regular basis. He read the note and grabbed his jacket and keys; he was already reassuring himself internally.
This is not happening again.
He walked at a fast stroll so as not to seem out of place with the night walkers, as he rounded the corner to the park he stopped.
It's happening again.
There was his beloved niece kissing Tony 'skirt chaser' Dinozzo. He didn't know whether to be angry at Tony for kissing his niece or disappointed in his niece for kissing Tony, whichever emotion he chose to feel at the time he knew he had to get home. The last thing he needed was to give his niece ammunition by getting busted following her.
"Hey Ziva, hey Tony, hey Magee, hey, Uncle Gibbs you want to grab some lunch, I'm starved, who knew finding an apartment could work up such an appetite?"
Wordlessly Gibbs got up, rounded his desk grabbed his niece and started walking to the elevator. She followed not understanding what was going on but never distrusting her uncle. Tony followed as closely behind as humanly possible without getting caught by Gibbs. Ziva and Magee, curious as to why Tony was so interested followed also.
When the elevator stopped Gibbs took her to the one place he knew would be empty, autopsy. When inside he stopped, trying to think how to approach this tactfully, being the excellent interrogator that he was it didn't take long, though she spoke first.
"Ok I appreciate the tour, but why are we down here?"
By now Tony, Ziva, Magee and even Abby, who had heard the footsteps and were surprised they weren't coming towards her lab, were standing outside autopsy.
"We are here because I saw you last night, with Tony." He replied far too calmly for her liking.
"You followed me; I can not believe you followed me!"
"That is really not the point."
"No clearly it's my love life that's up for discussion, which is just so much better!" she replied clearly very angry.
"How could you see him, again, did the two hour discussion we had last time you did this have no effect whatsoever?" He asked losing his cool.
"Yes I remember that discussion, it was basically 2 hours of you bad-mouthing Tony, Tony does this, Tony does that, Tony is the complete opposite of the guy I imagine for you. Well you know what, after that I went to Tony's…"
"You went to his place!" he interrupted.
"As I was saying, I went over to Tony's and we talked, just talked, and you know what I found out, he is more of a good guy than you'll ever know, and you know why, because you're close-minded, you're a close-minded old fool, you never give anybody a second chance, and I should know, you haven't spoken to dad in 10 years!"
He didn't reply, normally in an interrogation he would, but this was his niece and she was hurting, so he said nothing. Before she left she added,
"You trust Tony with your life, right?"
"Right" he answered, unsure where this was going
"Well how come you don't trust him with your own niece?"
With that she left him with his thoughts
They didn't speak for a long time after that, but she didn't just want to leave things that way, so one day she dropped round to see him, to try and patch this up. Not surprisingly she found him in his garage working on a boat that never seemed any more finished than the last time you looked. He was sanding.
"May I?"
He looked behind him, and saw her standing, looking better than the last time they spoke.
"Sure" he indicated some brown sandpaper on the workbench.
"Look, I didn't want to leave things the way they were." She said while sitting down to start.
"Why, last time we spoke it didn't seem like you cared what I thought." He said still not forgetting their last conversation.
"Well as hard to believe as it is, I do. I love you Uncle Jethro" this caused him to smile.
"I love you too Lizzie, but tell me, why didn't you listen to me, you always have before, what's different this time?" he said as he stopped to give his full attention.
"The difference is I know something you don't know" she said not in a mocking way.
"And that is?" he asked curious.
"The real Tony" This caused him to laugh.
"What?" she sensed his disbelief.
"You think you know the real Tony Dinozzo, I'm sorry but do you know how many women have said that throughout the years?" he said no longer suppressing a laugh.
"Ok, granted, to you that might sound weak, but, ok, he's worked with you for six years, over that time how many girlfriends do you think he's had?"
"Does that include one night stands?" he said trying (but failing) to be serious.
"I'm serious, how many?"
He pondered this for a second
"Ok, one a week for 6 years that's…uh…52x6…uh…312, give or take 20"
"Ha-ha, very funny, he's had 12, including me" she got up to leave
"Wait you're actually going to tell me that Anthony Dinozzo, our Dinozzo, has only had 12 girlfriends in 6 years, oh come on."
She didn't have anything else to say, except,
"Sometimes it's easier to sick with the rep you're given, than forever trying to change it."
Then she was gone.
It wasn't until some months later, he found the envelope she had left for him, it had fallen under the workbench.
"Tony, wake up sleepy head, I made coffee." She whispered as she wiggled the cup under his nose.
"It smells great." He said as he sat up, then took a sip.
"It tastes even better, hey you never told me how it went with Gibbs" he said putting his arm around her.
"It didn't go that well, he's too stubborn to believe anything else about you but what he thinks he knows, I'm sorry babe, I tried." She said with puppy eyes.
"Hey it's ok Lizzie, I'm glad you tried, it means a lot to me." He said giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"You mean a lot to me." She then returned the gesture
"Well, honey, I have to have a shower before work, oh and don't forget we're going house hunting today" he called walking into the en suite.
"Want company?" she smiled cheekily, though she already knew the answer.
When he opened the envelope a photo fell out, he picked it up and when he saw her he smiled.
She made a beautiful bride.