"Hi! Yup, I´m back! YAY! I´ve finally written my last exams and will hopefully get a positive answer soon. Ok, then I´m still not finished, but almost- maybe at the end of the month I´ll have my title :3
**.
I think I´ll be able to update now a lot faster, though I´m still a slow writer, sorry T_T. And thanks for all your reviews and nudges^^. I´ll try and adapt the first Chapter when I´ve finished this story (New York City, rather than NY etc.). And yes, I wanted them to be back in DC as soon as possible, so I could get started with the real thing :3. But now the story will slow down!
By the way: If you have some ideas for the story or if you think I missed some scenes, please send me a private message or write it down in a review. If I think it will fit into the story, I´ll write it.
I also would appreciate some help with the Italian language I plan to use in this story- I just like the idea about ItalianDaddy!Tony…
Ok- enough whining for today^^
This Chapter is betaed by my beloved betareader aquarius, thank you very much!
And of course also a big thanks to dietpunkt13, who is helping me with the idioms and phrases^^.
Well, let´s get going with the story now, you´ve waited long enough! Have fun!
Yours sincerely, Lilly"
"… Her first word, DiNozzo…? What do you mean?" Gibbs asked, confused.
"Well, this is a long story and I would like to tell you all of this tonight, if you don´t mind…" Tony answered, still looking rather surprised at his daughter in his arms. Just as Ziva opened her mouth to ask another question, Director Vance walked down the stairs.
"Agent DiNozzo!" he bellowed. "This is not a place for a child! Why the hell is she not down in the Day Care center?"
Emma again turned around to nuzzle herself deeper into Tony´s embrace, shivering ever so slightly at the harsh tone the Director was using.
"The man is scary, Daddy…" she whispered into her father's ear.
Luckily Tony had an iron control of his face muscles. He didn´t even twitch.
"I know…" he whispered back.
"Am sorry Director, but Emma..."Tony started.
"No ´buts´ DiNozzo! My office. Now!" Vance again bellowed just to turn around, not bothering to look back if Tony was following him.
Tony heaved a sigh "Yes, Director…" and walked after him up the stairs as Emma tightened her grip around his shoulders, her face now completely snuggled into the crook of his neck, leaving three stunned figures back in the Bullpen.
Finally Ziva broke the silence.
"I KNEW it!" she declared, "I KNEW he would ´knock down´ a woman one day!"
"That´s ´knock up´, Ziva" McGee corrected. "Tony has knocked up a woman…"
"Is that not what I said?"
"I wonder if we will meet her tonight." McGee said, curious.
"Well, at least it looks like she wants to be a part of his life again, right? Otherwise his daughter wouldn´t be here, yes?"
"I bet she´s a beauty! You can say what you want about Tony, but he´s always had a good taste of woman…"
"I wonder how his apartment is looking like," Ziva wondered and McGee snorted at that.
"What should it look like? Wall to wall movies and magazines; I hope he at least put the adult ones away."
"And the empty Pizza- boxes." Ziva laughed.
"Dirty laundry everywhere," McGee added oh- so- helpfully.
"Toys scattered all around- already before his daughter arrived." She snickered.
"And…"
"McGee, David!" Gibbs finally bellowed. "Haven´t you two got work to do?"
After that both of them swiftly returned back to their desks. Also Gibbs went back to his desk, gazing up to the Director´s office. Both of his Agents would learn one or two things about DiNozzo tonight one of them would be that he was fastidious about personal cleanliness…
And of course the mother would be beautiful. Judging by the looks of his daughter, with her dark blond, curled hair and the heart shaped face…
Gibbs groaned inwardly. He was just NOT that pathetic, was he? Jealous about a woman he didn´t even know…
… …
… … …
Even if he always had known that he had no chance of ever being anything else to his skirt chasing ´Second In Command´ than a Boss and maybe a good friend… A guy could dream, couldn´t he?
Gibbs tried again to concentrate on one of the cold cases they were working at in the moment. But he had to admit that he has had a hard time doing so. A woman in DiNozzos life, together with a child… Well, he had known that one day the young Italian would find a woman and stay with her, making a few little, cocky Anthony´s or Antonia´s like the one up there in his arms.
Gibbs wanted to head slap himself right now. He wasn´t a lovesick teenager anymore, No he was a lovesick fifty- something teenager…
´Just great you pathetic fool! Get a grip, Marine! ´ He thought to himself just as he heard the door to the Directors office open.
Gibbs turned around just to see an angry looking DiNozzo all but running down the stairs, Director Vance hot on his heels.
"I´m sorry DiNozzo, I didn´t mean to-"
"I KNOW that, Director!" Tony hissed. "It wasn´t your fault! Boss," turning around to face Gibbs, "Could I please have an early lunch today? I want to spend it with Abby, trying to calm my daughter down."
Just now Gibbs took in the whole picture of DiNozzo and the girl in his arms who was shivering violently, sobbing into the crook of DiNozzos neck, knuckles white where little, shacking fists had a death grip in her father´s suit jacket.
"Please, Boss!" DiNozzo pleaded with his best puppy look, concern in those normally carefree, sparkling green eyes.
"Get outta here already, DiNozzo!" Gibbs answered, annoyed. "Half an hour!" he added.
He didn't need to be told twice. Tony walked around his desk, picking up his wallet. As he turned to walk to the elevator the Director once again tried to address him.
"Agent DiNozzo I really am sorry, I didn´t mean to…" But again he was interrupted by his annoyed Special Agent:
"I said it´s OK, Director." and with that he was out of the Bullpen.
"What happened, Leon?" Gibbs asked, looking up to the puzzled man in front of him.
"Uh… I think I have scared the shit out of Agent DiNozzos daughter..." he stuttered, his cheeks slowly taking on a slight pink under his dark brown skin. "I didn´t mean to do that. I just, well Ok, maybe I was just a LITTLE louder as I told him that his daughter has nothing to do up in the office…" Vance didn´t like Gibbs´ Second in Command, but he was also a father. As the little girl in DiNozzos arms had started to sob into the crook of her father's neck, his chest had tightened painfully. Maybe he was a bad- ass Director with a no nonsense philosophy but when it came up to children he normally was nothing more than a overgrown puppy. He loved children and wanted nothing more than to protect them and see them happy. Maybe that was due to the fact that he had seen too many crimes on the basics of domestic abuse and rape than he should have…
´Well that´s what I would call making a good first impression…´ Gibbs thought.
Aloud he grunted "I´ll go get more coffee" and left the Director alone with his guilty conscience. He had to think about a lot of things before the Meet and Greet in DiNozzos Apartment.
Elevator and Abby´s lab
Emma was still in her Daddy´s arms, her sobs slowly subsiding as he hummed lowly into her ear. Tony had stopped the elevator between floors so he could calm not only Emma, but also himself down. It hadn´t been the Directors fault that she had become scared, he knew this. It was just his nature as a bastard and control- freak to bark at them like that.
No- Tony actually was angry with himself. He should have known that the whole day would be emotionally stress for her.
And that the stress would not only get to her, but also would become too much, eventually.
At least, she still was only four years old…
"Daddy… ´m sorry…" she sniffled into his neck, again. He snuggled his face only closer to her.
"Wasn´t your fault, was mine… Should´ve come down, lookin´ for ya earlier…"
God, she was so warm! And soft and alive and she smelled so good and above all of this: She was his! His… HIS daughter… At this thought a wave of pride and love surged through his body, making it hard to breathe. The small, precious bundle in his arms was REALLY his! He NEVER would have thought to get such a gift and he thanked whatever deity was there that he had the opportunity to know her. That she had not died along with her mother in the flames…
At the thought of Angelica another wave surged through his body- pain and sadness. He had loved Angelica at some point. Maybe more like a good friend and younger sister, but he HAD loved her. And now she was gone. As the both of them had parted ways, Tony had wished her every luck and happiness in the world.
Angelica had been a good person, wonderful even. Fragile and lovingly, but not shy- and always ready for the next prank. She had loved her life and the people in it and Tony couldn´t understand for the life of him how it had ended this badly…
´Oh my god,´ he thought. ´If Emma becomes even just a LITTLE like her mother- ok and like me as well, I´ll have a hard time to explain the superglued fingers, Spitballs and hidden usb- sticks to the whole NCIS…´
Emma finally sniffled one last time and looked up into his eyes. She looked worn- out and tired and suddenly her belly rumbled loudly.
"Ah, I think it´s time for the sandwiches aunt Abby promised us yesterday, isn´t it, honey?"
Emma smiled at that and nodded. As Tony pressed the emergency- button of the elevator and brought the car back on its journey down to Abby´s lab, Emma snuggled back into his arms. And for about the one- hundredth time since he brought his daughter back to Washington DC, Tony asked himself why the hell Emma wasn´t like all the other kids he´s ever met in his life and despised him for all he was worth it.
No one knew but contrary to common believe, he loved kids and always wanted to have a family. Something he thought he would never establish with his way of life and his… preferences…
XXX
Abby was typing away at her computer, already waiting impatiently for the arrival of her two favorite Italians. McGee had just called about 10 minutes ago to tell her, that both, Tony and Emma were on their way down to her lab- and to ask her about 10.000 and one more question about Emma. She had adamantly refused to even answer one of his questions. Tony would tell the team by himself what had actually happened in his vacation and why he suddenly had a 4 year old daughter. She had also threatened him to erase his favorite Nightelve on World of Warcraft, if she would see even a glimpse of Ziva or him down in her lab today, as long as Emma was there, that is.
Speakin´ of which… She should have known, that the whole day would be too much for her, eventually. Maybe, if she would have taken another week off and babysit her at Tony´s- but no. Yes, Emma slowly started to trust her. Surely because she was a woman, but she still clung to Tony like a limpet, never leaving him out of her eyes for longer than 5 minutes. Even when Abby was at the apartment, playing with her and Tony was in the other room- after some minutes she would just stop playing and walk out, looking for Tony. The first time that had happened, Abby had looked completely stunned after her. One minute later though, Emma came back and went back to her toys as if nothing had happened. And still Emma refused to talk to Abby, always talking in a low voice into Tony´s ear, but never to her or anyone else. The one and only thing escaping those cute little lips louder than a whisper was the- the most time scared sounding- word "Daddy".
At the sound of the automatic doors of her lab sliding open, Abby turned around just to see both her favorite Italians walking into her lab. Emma was snuggled fit into Tony´s arms, her face hidden in the side of his neck, which caused Tony´s head to lean slightly to the right. Despite the sad story behind Emma´s insecurities she smiled at the picture presenting itself to her. She knew Tony adored Emma and didn´t mind her clinging to him, though he knew he had to try to get rid of her insecurities about him leaving her as fast as possible. It would do both of them no good if Emma kept clinging to him.
"Hey Abbs! Sorry, we needed a little longer. Did Probie already calling you?"
"Yep, and asking round about 10.000 questions." She said, shepherding him and Emma into her office. "I threatened him with erasing his Nightelve on WOW if he kept asking or if he or Ziva would come down to my lab as long as Emma is here. What do you think- how long will it need to spread?" Abby asked.
"Maa, I´m sure it´s already around in the building," Tony answered, sitting down into one of Abby´s chairs and taking the offered sandwich she had taken from her backpack, lying on the floor of her office. "Emma came up to the Bullpen with Brenda earlier and practically jumped me as she spotted me. I didn´t know the Bullpen could be so quiet yet so loud at the same time." Tony snickered as he unwrapped the sandwich, offering it to his daughter, who now was sitting in his lap, facing Abby with her back. Emma took the offered sandwich, still sniffling lightly.
"What do you say to aunt Abby?" Tony asked in a gentle voice. Angelica had done a good job already- Emma could be very polite- well, as polite as a scared four year old child could be…
Emma turned around to Abby as good as she could and nodded to her. Then she again turned around, just to grab Tony´s collar, tucking lightly, until Tony bend down to her, just to hear a low, whispered "Thank you" in his ear… As he looked up into Abby´s stunned face he wasn´t entirely sure what to do: Laugh or cry in exasperation…
XXX
50 Minutes later Tony still wasn´t back up in the office and so a very irritated and pissed- off Gibbs went down to Abby´s lab. He wasn´t used to DiNozzo, disobeying his orders and was willing to think he just had forgotten the time over his newest family- member. Well, more over his one and only family- member, judging by his rare, short stories about his father and something like a cousin, living still in New York.
As he entered the forensic scientists domain he was greeted with an empty lab. Looking around puzzled, he finally spotted Abby in the small, attached office, leaning over the red leather couch she had brought to the office one day. At first the Director hadn´t been very happy about the couch, insisting it would only seduce some of the "lazier NCIS- Agents" (and no, this was one of the times he didn´t use Tony as an example, knowing fully well the man was everything but- which pissed him even more off) to sleeping on the job. But after a very ugly case, which held half the building, including Gibbs´ team and the Director on duty for about one whole week, Vance actually stopped complaining. That, of course, could have been due to the fact, that after three days of too much Coffee, Junk- food and only one or two naps in a very uncomfortable office- chair, Vance was lying on said couch, sleeping soundly for about five hours, until an important phone- call willed him up back to MTAC.
As Gibbs strolled over to the office and into the room, Abby turned around and hushed him as he was about to open his mouth to ask her, where the fuck his Agent was.
"Sssshhh, Gibbs! She´s finally asleep!" Abby whispered, pointing her forefinger at a little bundle, fast asleep on her couch.
The little girl looked exhausted and somehow… lost, Gibbs thought. Something was just… missing. But for the life of him, Gibbs couldn´t figure out what was missing at the picture of DiNozzos daughter, curled up into herself on the couch. Gibbs soundlessly walked closer, stopping beside Abby, who stood up slowly, still looking down at the little person.
"God, isn´t she cute?" Abby smiled. Gibbs grunted as answer and nodded to the door, asking Abby silently to follow him.
Of course she was cute: Lying there on the couch, completely relaxed in sleep; a light purple dress and white pantyhose, two dark- purple Butterfly- clips trying to subdue her hair on both sides of her head.
"Where´s DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as soon as they were out of the office and the doors shut behind them.
Abby pouted. "Don´t be mad at him, Bossman!"she said. "He´s actually going to get me a Caf- Pow and Coffee for the rest of the team at the Café down the street.
"Shoulda still have said somethin´" Gibbs grumbled back, irritated.
"Just because he didn´t call you and told you about Emma doesn´t mean he doesn´t trust you anymore. I´m sure he just wanted to break the news to you as gentle as possible…" Abby scolded, changing the topic of the conversation.
"Yeah, along with the rest of the team." Gibbs answered. He was NOT pouting!
Nope, he wasn´t exactly pouting… Because Leroy Jethro Gibbs did NOT pout!
Truth to be told; He was pissed! Just simply and honestly pissed! Why had Tony called Abby and not him for help? Tony and Gibbs were friends, or so he´d thought. After the whole Jeanne, Jen and Mexico debacle and as Tony had finally been able to come back to NCIS and his team, after he´d been for four months ´Agent Afloat´, Gibbs had made a decision. Yes, he knew there would never be what he wanted between him and Tony, but that didn´t mean they couldn´t be friends. So Gibbs had started to invite Tony again over to his house for beer, Pizza or Steak, just like he had done from time to time in the past. He´d also gone more often with the team, when they were gone Bowling or when they were having a beer after long day.
Tony and Gibbs were getting along pretty well, or so it had seemed. It turned out, that both men, even if their lives were so completely different, had some interests and many ideas in common. Both of them liked Jazz and Junk food (much to Ducky´s resentment) and both of them liked a good game on TV; Old black and white movies and boy could that guy cook! Just by the thought of DiNozzo´s green pepper steak and self made French fries Gibbs mouth started to water.
And so, along the way, he had been able to build up a friendship with his SIC, even if Gibbs still made his rude comments at work and didn´t favorite him among his team. The one thing he had started though was to interrupt more often, when his two other Agents again tried to underestimate DiNozzo. Gibbs couldn´t quite understand why the hell they still hadn´t been able to look completely behind DiNozzo's behavior of the frat clown he was playing for them, was it just to cheer them up or to distract them from looking to deep into his inner thoughts.
"Gibbs!" Abby sighed, sounding exasperated, pulling him out of his thoughts. "I´ll tell you a secret now and I swear, if you tell Tony I said anything, I´ll tell Ducky about your last ´Ben and Jerry´s´ feast with Tony!"
Gibbs´ horrified look was almost too comical, like he was just put up on a special diet because of his diabetes. Yes, he HAD eaten a lot of Ice cream that night, but DiNozzo had also monitored his blood sugar like a hawk. So there REALLY was no need for the (sometimes pretty scary) M.E to know, was there?
"Ok, Abbs I promise…" he croaked out at last.
"Tony didn´t call you because of three things," she said. "First, Emma is afraid of most men, for some reason though, he doesn´t understand himself, Emma´s not afraid of him quite the opposite. So he thought, I was the better choice to ask for help in the first place. Second: Yes, he WAS afraid to tell you because of your history with your daughter and chickened out more than once to call you. But that´s not the real reason, I think. He didn´t say so, but I think the MAIN reason for him not to call you right away was, that he was afraid how you might react, that you might be… disappointed in him…"
"Disappointed? Abby? What…"
"I´m not sure how exactly Tony sees you, but I think maybe he sees you like something akin to a father," after Abby had said that, an odd look of disappointment and something she couldn´t put a finger on right now showed on Gibbs face. The look was gone as soon as it had appeared and so she just filed it away for later analysis.
"I think he might have been afraid that you would be pissed and disappointed," Abby turned around to the office, to be sure Emma wouldn´t hear the next sentence "that he had gotten a girl pregnant by accident, that he hadn´t used protection. As hard as it is to say, Emma IS an accident and wasn´t wanted, neither by him, nor by the mother. But Gibbs, believe me: He loves Emma and wouldn´t give her away for ANYTHING in the world…"