Did you miss me? So I wrote my little one-shot awhile back, and promised if asked, I would write more. Now I had orginally planned something a little different for this chapter... However, after I wrote it I ended up hating it. So this is what it ended up as. Idk if I like it though...Tell me what you think!


Tony had never felt so evil in his entire life.

The home he stood in front of was a typical middle class house. Two stories, four bedrooms, one bath, so on and so forth. The lawn was bright green and cut, toys that belonged to a little girl scattered across it.

"Can I help you?" Tony pulled his attention back to the door, where a woman stood, holding her daughter close, watching the man with a careful expression. Tony resisted a sigh as he pulled out his badge, showing it to them.

"Mrs. Anderson, I'm Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo with NCIS, do you mind if I come in?" the woman's eyes widened and she gave a curt nod, backing away to allow him to step into the house which was organized and well cleaned considering a child lived there.

"Lily darling, why don't you go play with Grandma and Grandpa for a minute while Mommy talks to the police officer ok?" the little girl flashed a sweet smile and nodded, flying into the next room, already calling for her grandparents.

"We're staying with my parents until John gets back from his deployment." the woman said, wringing her hands together. Tony closed his eyes for a moment. He hated doing this. Gibbs was usually the one who tells the families about their loved ones death, Tony wasn't used to this.

"Mrs. Anderson-"

"Please, just call me Casey." the woman murmured and then buried her face into her hands for a moment. "Please don't say it." she whispered hoarsely and then looked up at the ceiling "Please, please God tell me he's not dead."

Tony said nothing, slowly walking towards her and helping her lower herself onto the couch. Damn. Why was this so hard?

"Ma'am I'm really sorry." he said quietly "Your husband was killed last week when his plane landed. A Mark Grey, who was in his unit, turned out to be a double agent and killed him. I'm sorry." he told her, still keeping hold on her arm in a comforting manner.

"Oh God... Oh God... Oh God..." Casey moaned and then completely broke down, sobbing into Tony's chest. He paused for a moment, unsure of exactly what to do. He never really knew how to deal with crying girls before- or really a crying anything for that matter. "He's gone." she sobbed and Tony just sat there for the next few minutes, letting her get it all out.

"What am I supposed to do?" she finally let out a gravelly whisper. Tony contemplated the question carefully.

"You move on." he told her gently "From what I've seen, you still have a daughter in there who needs you."

"She's only eight. How can a child move on after losing someone like that when they're only eight." Tony bit his lip before finally finding the courage to answer.

"I lost my mother when I was eight." he said and Casey's eyes snapped up to his. "It was my birthday... She committed suicide. I was the one who found her." He spoke quietly; his sentences came out choppy and full of pain.

"I'm sorry." Casey whispered with true sincerity in her tone.

"Don't worry about it. Point is, she killed herself. Your husband died because he was fighting for his country and someone else didn't like that. That right there has a lot more dignity in it. Your daughter will at least have some peace in mind with that... Besides, I had one parent and I think I turned out pretty ok." he told her lightly. There was a moment of silence in which she seemed to digest this.

"Thank you." she said after a moment and Tony gave her a quick nod before getting up.

"There anything else I can do for you?" he asked and Casey gave him a warm, watery smile.

"Yes. You can stay here while I get you a cup of coffee." she told him and ignored any of his protests "It is the least I can do…I'm sure you didn't really plan on having me cry all over you when you came here." She said sternly before entering the kitchen around the corner.

"Mr. Police Officer?" Tony's head snapped up as he looked over and saw the little girl staring at him with wide eyes. She was small, a teddy bear held tightly in her arms as she looked up at him with doe eyes that were the color of the sky

"Hi." he told her, trying to summon his inner Gibbs in order to talk to the child "You can call me Tony. Are you Lily?" the little girl nodded, her dark pigtails bobbing up and down.

"What were you saying to Mommy? Was it about Daddy? Is he going to come home today?"

Shit. The pain was almost too much to bear. He looked into the girl's eyes and felt his heart tighten. This wasn't fair...God, this wasn't fair.

"C'mere Lily." he said and patted the seat next to him.


"Mrs. Anderson?" Gibbs asked as he entered the house, McGee and Ziva close by his side. "We're NCIS." He told her, flashing his badge at the woman in the doorway. The woman brushed back some of her dark hair and gave a bitter smile.

"Oh." She said with a croaky voice "Are you here to pick up Tony?" she asked and Gibbs nodded. He had been peeved to say the least when he found out that Tony had told his junior agent to go back to headquarters without him. Gibbs knew that his Senior Field Agent hadn't wanted McGee to witness the pain that would no doubt fall in the household once the news was broken about the dead sailor, but he had thought that McGee would know better than to agree and abandon his partner with no way home.

Sometimes Tony was really too overprotective of the man.

"Where is Tony?" Ziva asked curiously as she peered into the neat little house and Mrs. Anderson gave a little laugh.

"Oh, he is with my daughter right now. I swear, your agent is heaven sent." There was a pause where McGee and Ziva exchanged surprised looks, no doubt wondering how the words 'heaven' and 'Tony' ended up in the same sentence. At the confused looks, the now widower explained further.

"He was so sweet when he told me about…about John." She choked out "and he was so kind to Lily…He told her that he Daddy was a hero and that she should always keep her head up high because of that." The woman sniffed "I honestly don't think I could have told her any better than he did." There was a long pause in which she sighed and ran a hand through already disheveled hair.

At that moment though, there was a cry of laughter initiating from down the hall.

"Again Tony! Again!" Mrs. Anderson smiled as all three agents blinked in surprise. It was no secret that Tony wasn't the best with kids. In fact, some might even say he was terrible with them. To hear the little girl's voice shriek his name with such adoration instantly captured their attention.

"Lily was telling him all about how her John was going to teach her piano when he got back from deployment. I told her we could sign her up for lessons but she said it wasn't the same if Daddy wasn't there. The next thing I know, both of them are at the piano, Tony teaching her a song." She told them and watched the eyebrows move even higher on the three agent's faces.

Ziva moved first, slowly creeping silently forward and peered into the room in which the laughter had come from.

It was…Pink. The ceiling, the walls, the bed, the stuffed animals, the chairs, everything was pink. Everything except for a large, sleek, black piano that took up most of the room and two figures that were sitting side by side on the piano bench.

"Do it again Tony! Please?" the smaller figure begged. Ziva blinked as her partner tapped the girl on the nose and laughed.

"I thought you were the one supposed to be playing for me." He told her and the girl somehow made already large blue eyes grow bigger.

"Please?" she whispered in the sweetest, most pitiful voice that even Ziva would crack under. With a wary sigh Tony shook his head and sighed.

"Alright…Just one more though. My team should be here soon." He told her and then turned back to the piano.


It had been years since Anthony DiNozzo played the piano. Years and years. Ever since his mother's death, the lady that beat him with a ruler had been fired so his lessons stopped and his mother of course, wasn't around to teach him anymore either.

Not that he wanted to. He remembered beginning to detest the damn thing. He would sit in the room, watching the wretched instrument with untrusting eyes as if he expected it to start playing by itself.

That thing had killed his mother. He knew it. It was all the piano's fault! It filled her up with all those stupid emotions- it made her kill herself! It wasn't his mother's fault…Not at all. She wouldn't leave her baby boy like that. She loved him. His mother was merely a victim of the piano's evil wrath.

The piano had been controlling her the whole time. Making her happy and sad and angry… It made her fill so sad and upset that she lost control…That was it.

That was what the eight year old told self. He had spent years avoiding the room, every so often coming in just to glare at the despicable thing- watching his mother's ghost that seemed to haunt the place.

He was twelve when he lost it.

Tony had been upset. He had been angry. God damn it he didn't understand! His father was sending him away? Angry tears were threatening to spill as he stormed into the room, breathing violently as he grabbed at his hair in frustration. He didn't get it! What had he done wrong to be shipped off to god damn military school? He had done everything right! He was good! He did his homework, got good grades, listened, went to all the stupid dinner parties and meetings, smiled, acted happy, never once told anyone about his father's occasional slap on the face, and did whatever his Dad asked! Why was he being pushed away? It wasn't fair! It wasn't right!

Furious, the boy looked at the stupid piece of furniture that took his mother away from him and without thinking swung his baseball bat at the thing.

Again. And Again. And again. And again. And Again. He hit it so hard that it let out a loud screeching sound as it crumbled, the last piece of his mother withering away into broke pieces on the marble floor.

Good riddance he had thought…Until his father saw. Apparently, the older man didn't think so. In his father's mind, he had destroyed the only good reminder of his mom.

Not only was Tony going to military school now, but the disowning papers came out as well.

All because of that stupid piano.

So here he was, his fingers drifting over the keys in a little girl's very…Pink room. The first time he played a little tune for her, he didn't think much of it. Only when she insisted he played again had he realized just how much this moment meant. How long it had been since he'd played.

One note…Then another…C sharp to B flat… It all came so effortlessly. The sound pierced the quiet air as he played the sad lullaby- the one he had heard every night before he went to sleep for eight years. One note…That flowed into the next….Into the next…Until they all drifted into one blurred song.

Tony wasn't for sure how long he played, but when he was finished the first thing he noticed was Lily's tears falling down her face as she watched him.

Well damn!

"Hey." He told her gently "What's wrong?" he asked as he awkwardly tried to console her.

"You play just like my Daddy did." The girl whispered, crystal beads splashing onto the ivory keys in front of them.

Tony honestly didn't know how to respond. How could he? How does one react to learning that you play an instrument like a dead loved one? He was however, saved from answering when he heard the distinct sound of someone clearing their throat and looked up to find four faces peering at him from the doorway.

Heat instantly crept up into Tony's face, knowing that he probably looked like a freaking tomato he decided to try and keep the remaining dignity he had after having his team witness him look like a total softie and practically a little girl.

"Uh...I...I wasn't...You didn't see anything." he told them, blushing fiercely. From the doorway, Mrs. Anderson smiled as Lily cocked her head in obvious confusion.

"But you played really, really pretty." she told him with those big eyes again "and even if they didn't see it, they heard it, right?" Tony turned a brighter red as he stumbled over excuses, telling everyone stupidly how he had totally just did that by accident and that he really should be going because he had to go see his great Aunt in Cuba.

Needless to say no one believed him.

"Will you come back and visit me Tony? You can play pretty again." Lily told him as she scrunched up her nose in attempt to look threatening. He let a small smile play on his lips as he pulled a pigtail.

"I don't know small fry...You think you can bake me cookies again?" he asked and Lily squealed.

"I'll make peanut butter with extra, extra chocolate chips!" Lily shrieked, jumping up and down on the balls of her feet "Mommy, Daddy, and I can make them!" she continued excitedly before freezing, obviously realizing that she would in fact, not be able to bake any cookies with her father anymore. For a second she just stood there, her lip quivering and eyes watering slightly as her small frame shook before she launched herself at Tony.

"You'll come back right?" she whispered and Tony blinked, knowing that he had just been chosen not to replace the girl's father by any means, but to help fill a hole that was surely there. Tony remembered his own lonely days as he sat alone in the dark- waiting for someone- anyone to help him get through the day. He may have never had his messiah show up but that didn't mean Lily's couldn't.

"Here" he told her gently and handed her his card "If you ever need anything, make sure you call this number ok?" he asked her and she gave the briefest of nods before Tony tugged one last time at her hair and stood up, facing his team once more. With a muttered 'let's go' he pushed his way to the front of the house, politely declining anymore of Casey's kind offerings before throwing himself in the back of the car, really not in the mood to talk with anyone of his obviously curious partners.

To his surprise, it was mostly silent for a while- until Ziva exploded that is.

"You told me that you did not play anymore, no?" she demanded, turning to face him, her face filled more with betrayal and inquisitiveness than anger. Tony let out a barely audible sigh before rubbing his eyes and looking at the ceiling in hopefulness that no one could see the heat resurface to his face.

"That was the first time." he told her quietly and he could feel her dark eyes boring into his face. When they were together in that stupid metal box, she had asked if he had been any good. His reply was that 'she' was, referring to his mother. He never mentioned his own talents at the instrument and his skill had obviously impressed her.

Truth be told he was embarrassed at such the blatant display of emotion he had allowed himself to have in front of his team. Ever since the day he had smashed what he thought was his mother's killer, he had been closed off from such things. DiNozzo's do not feel his father once told him. It was one of the rules Tony actually tried to follow. Without that damn emotion, there couldn't be any pain. Without pain, decisions were easier to make. Your own stupid feelings wouldn't get in the way of making a decision that separated right from wrong.

So the fact that he had played, and obviously just shown a tender more side of him, made him feel embarrassed and plain exposed. He didn't like it one bit. From the corner of his eye he could see McGee watching him intently.

"What is it probie?" he finally spat out, unable to even make a joke out of the situation.

"Nothing...I just...You sounded good." Tim finally complimented him and Tony winced at the words. He gave a mumbled 'thank you' before turning back to the window and allowing his face to rest of the cool glass. From the rear view mirror, Tony knew Gibbs' eyes would be on him, definitely not on the road, which actually wasn't all that surprising.

They were almost there. Almost at the Navy Yard when Ziva took another long look at him and asked the question that Tony feared she would ask.

"Why did you stop playing?" there was a long silence in which the Italian contemplated on how to answer the question honestly without lying. In the end, he came up with one simple conclusion.

"There were too many damn emotions." he answered gruffly and allowed himself to be content with the silence.


So...What did you think? Like I said, I don't know if I like it or not...Tell me what you think and if there are any suggestions please, please, PLEASE share (: Thanks again!

-XFixYouX