A/N: Sorry for the big wait and thanks for all the reviews. I don't own NCIS, blah blah. I own what you don't recognize. No profit's being made. The chap's mostly Tony-centric. Enjoy and review!!!

Tony wasn't a happy camper when his phone rang at 5:00 in the morning. Groaning, he flipped over and picked it up. "If this is a solicitor know that I have connections who can hunt you down and kill you."

"Tony…?"

Tony squinted as if the action would help him recognize the voice. "Who the Hell is this?"

"Tone, it's Jess."

"Bye!" Tony went to hang up.

"No, Tony, wait!" she continued.

Tony sighed. "What do you want?"

"A favor. I swear this is the only time I'll ask you for something. You're my last resort right now."

He rolled his eyes. "What is it?"

"I need you to look after Sam for a couple of days when I go to New York."

"Why?"

"Because my sister just called me and told me she was diagnosed with cancer, Tony, that's why!"

Tony honestly did feel bad, but his jokester side kicked in before the guilt. "You have a lot of siblings. Which sister got the news? The one who chased me around with a 2x4 after we broke up or the one who made me pie?" he dragged out the last three words.

"Tony, come on!"

"Which. One?"

"Pie. Please, Tony? You're the only option I have. His father's already at work, I don't have McGee's number, I'd be afraid of how Sam would come back to me if I left him with Gibbs or Abby, Trent's flying out with me in three hours, and when Blake gets out of the hospital, he's on the next plane out, too. I'll never ask another favor of you. Just do this one thing for me, please?"

"…Alright. Should I expect him here or do you want me to come over there?"

"Oh God, thank you, Tony. Thank you so much. Would you mind coming here? I'd bring him, but I still have to get things together…"

"It's fine. I'll be right over. I'm uh… sorry about your sister."

"Thanks for both things. I'll see you soon."

"Right." Tony hung up. "Shoulda seen this coming, DiNozzo…" he mumbled to himself before dragging himself out of bed and going over to his closet to see what he could throw on.

--

A few minutes later, he was at her door. He knocked and she opened it a few seconds later.

"Hey," she smiled weakly. "Come in,"

Tony stepped in and observed the living room. There were still a bunch of boxes unpacked, but it seemed like there were more than a person staying for a few months would have. "… Change of heart about living here for a little while?"

"Yeah, actually. The place is nice enough, schools seem better…" she brushed past him to put one bag down by the door. "Sam! Uncle Tony's here!"

" 'Uncle Tony'?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, he's better with uncles instead of just friends. Figured get you off to a good start." She replied.

Tony nodded. "Right, so where's Little Annoying One the Third?" he asked.

" 'The Third'?" she raised an eyebrow just as he did moments before.

Tony grinned as Eva and Butch came charging into the room. "Ah, here's Little Annoying One the First and Second!" he braced himself when Butch, the German Shepherd jumped on him. "Whoa, you're not quite little anymore though, are you?"

Sam came down the stairs. "Is this him?" he looked at his mother.

Jessica nodded. "Yeah, this is your Uncle Tony, sweetheart."

Tony exaggerated a smile. "Hi, buddy!"

Sam just blinked, then waved weakly.

Tony's smile faded. "Little brat." He mumbled, getting an elbow to the stomach from Jessica in response. He grunted, then straightened out.

Jessica glared at him, then turned, hearing a car horn beep outside. "That must be Trent…" she bent down to Sam and put her hand on his head. "Listen, baby. I'm sorry Mommy has to go so quick, but your Aunt Hannah's really sick. Uncle Tony's gonna take good care of you, okay? You behave."

"I will." Sam nodded.

"Good boy. I love you." Jessica gave him a kiss on the forehead. She straightened up, then looked at Tony. "I really do appreciate it."

"Whatever. You just go take care of your sister." Tony nodded.

"Thanks." Jessica smiled, then went to go kiss his cheek, but she second guessed it, both at her own thoughts as well as the way he tensed up, then went to hug him, but also second guessed that. What came of it was a very awkward hug, with her hands on his shoulders and elbows resting on his chest, with her body about eight inches from his. Even he was caught a bit clueless, his hands just hovering by her waist.

"Heh…" Jessica blinked, then patted his shoulders. "Bye,"

His hands dropped. "Yeah. Bye." He watched her get out of the house, then into Trent's car. He waited for them to drive off before looking at Sam. "Alright, kiddo. Your mom leave anything that'd help me out?"

Sam shrugged.

Tony sighed. "Great. This is gonna be fun." He looked around, then went down the hallway in search of her kitchen. He remembered she had always put every kind of list under the sun in her kitchen when they had dated. When he found it, sure enough, there was a note to him on the fridge.

Tony-

This is about all I can do on short notice. There's plenty of food in the fridge for you two. Sam likes pretty much anything. His favorites are macaroni any way and pretty much all vegetables. Broccoli, mostly.

Tony twitched and looked up, disgusted. "Broccoli? What kid likes broccoli at his age?" he mumbled to himself, but kept reading.

Obviously, nothing has changed, so his toys are in the usual places, so are his DVDs. He just needs your help to get them to play. He's a good kid. He won't be too much trouble for you. I think this is you that just pulled up out front, so I better stop. I can't thank you enough for this.
-Jess.
P.S: My Magnum P.I season DVDs are on the right side of the entertainment unit in the living room. Just pull out the shelf and you're squared away. I know you'll want to watch them at some point.

"You know me too well, Jess." Tony pushed off the fridge and returned to the living room. He saw that Sam wasn't around, then heard tiny creaks on the stairs, indicating the boy was going back up. Another odd thing. Tony shrugged. More time to himself. He went to the right side of the entertainment unit, pulled out the shelf, and sure enough, there were Magnum P.I seasons 1-7. His salvation. He turned on the T.V, then put in one of the . He was soon happily humming the theme song and getting into the episode, and before he knew it, he had dozed off.

---

The next morning, Tony was just starting to wake up when he found a set of blue eyes right in front of his own. "AHHHHH!" He literally fell off the couch, then looked to see who had been staring at him. He only relaxed slightly when he saw it was Sam. "What's the matter with you?!"

Sam looked guilty for a moment, then pointed at the phone. "A man called. He wants to know where Mommy is."

Tony blinked. "Did he say his name?" he half asked, half groaned.

"…Gibbs?" Sam said after another moment.

Tony paled, then looked at the clock on the DVD player. It read 10:30. An hour later than when both he and Jess should've been at work. "Great!" he launched himself off of the couch. Not having much choice, he looked at Sam. "Wanna see where Mommy and a couple of your aunts and uncles work?"

Sam shrugged. "Yeah!"

"Good. Come on." Tony led him out towards the garage, then opened it. He frowned, seeing the silver 2007 Mercury Sable. He had actually been counting on having the Ferrari. Yes, she owned a Ferrari 308 GTS, Magnum's Ferrari. Well, they did, being that he and her parents had chipped in. They had both made arguments about who would get it after the breakup, but somehow, Tony lost and she got it. He laughed to himself. He should've known she wouldn't have taken the Ferrari with her to D.C. It was probably in the safe care of her parents. They were the only two people other than himself and Jessica that he would've trusted with it. "Alright, kid. Get in. We gotta go, fast."

Sam nodded and hopped in the backseat.

After a while of pushing random buttons on the remote, Tony finally found the one that opened the garage door. They drove off, and he was so annoyed he nearly forgot to close the door, but he didn't. A few minutes later, they had reached NCIS, and Tony practically dragged Sam out of the car and into the building. He had to laugh when they were in the elevator and Sam seemed mesmerized by it. "Like it? No boring music. Apparently Gibbs took a knife to the speakers during his second year here."

Sam looked up at him, stunned at the word 'knife'.

Tony blinked. "You know, like that thing the red ranger always uses?" he suggested, then put his arms in a "V" position and swung. "You know, h-wa!"

Sam just stared again.

Tony stared right back. "What is your mother depriving you of, kid?!" he demanded as the elevator doors opened.

Tim jumped up from his spot. "Tony! There you are! Where have you been?!" he spotted Sam. "Uhhh…"

Tony nudged Sam forward. "Probie, meet Sam. Jess' son."

Sam smiled and waved.

Tim returned the smile, but it was tight-lipped and uneasy. "Hi!"

Tony clenched his jaw. "Oh, he gives you the nice greeting!" he growled. He pointed to his desk. "Go sit there. I have work to do."

Sam did as he was told.

Tim got up and went over to Tony. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Are you gonna give me a choice?" Tony smirked.

Tim rolled his eyes, then dragged him away a couple of feet. "You brought a kid to NCIS?"

Tony shrugged. "I didn't have much choice. Jess had to leave quickly for a little bit last night, called me, I had to take him, and I overslept so I had to bring him."

"Gibbs is gonna kill you, you know that, right?" Tim raised an eyebrow.

"No! Gibbs loves kids! He won't care." Tony shrugged.

Tim shrugged. "O-kaay, but don't tell me I didn't warn you."

This time, Tony did literally growl at him, then spotted Gibbs coming out of the elevator.

Gibbs, who was looking down at some papers, didn't see Sam at first. He got out and started weaving through the desks without looking up. He passed Sam. "DiNozzo, where have you been?! Where's Lennox, too? Why're you late?" he started the list. It wasn't until he had passed the desk when he stopped in his tracks and looked up. His eyes narrowed and he turned around slowly to look at Sam. He looked back towards Tim, finally seeing Tony next to him. He glared at the younger man and pointed to Sam. "Explaination!"

Tony laughed. "Well, you uh, see, Boss, heh, I uh…"

"Now!" Gibbs barked.

"Jess-had to leave for a couple of days or more and I was her only option to leave with her kid and I overslept so I had to run out the door to get here and I took him with me." Tony blurted out in one breath.

Gibbs looked him up and down. "That would explain the jeans and T-Shirt."

Tony looked down. "Yeah, I didn't think of getting a suit, boss. I had to get something and run."

"Yeah, I figured." Gibbs growled, then passed over one of the papers he had to McGee. "Run this guy's name for an address, will you, McGee?"

"Sure, boss," Tim took it, then ran the name and read out the address.

Gibbs nodded. "Ziva's with Abby right now. Get her and we'll be on our way."

Tim nodded and headed for Abby's lab.

Gibbs watched him, then looked at Sam and walked over to him. "Hey. Sam, right?"

"Uh huh," Sam nodded, straightening up.

Gibbs studied him. "I'm Mr. Gibbs. Did you hear the message I left?"

"you wanted to know where my mommy was!" Sam replied.

Gibbs smiled. "Yeah. That's me. So you're Jessica's son, huh?"

Sam nodded.

"How old are you?" Gibbs asked.

"Four." Sam replied, starting to spin on the chair.

Gibbs pressed his lips together, then looked at Tony. "Four, huh?".

Tony knew the look was more of a 'You took a four-year-old to work?' look than anything. He smiled weakly yet again.

Gibbs looked back at Sam. "You just rest here. It gets pretty boring."

"Okay." Sam nodded, spinning again.

Gibbs smiled, then ruffled Sam's hair. He pushed odd of the desk, seeing Tim and Ziva coming towards them.

Ziva also did a double take on Sam, then looked at Tony. "Oh, you are here. I was wondering if somehow your appearance finally matched up to your personality."

Tony smirked. "Cute."

Gibbs nodded towards the elevator. "Let's go."

Tim, Ziva and Tony all headed towards the elevator.

Gibbs turned and pointed at Tony. "Not you."

Tony stopped, looking completely hurt. "Why not?!"

Gibbs stepped forward. "A, you came in late, B, someone has to watch him!" he pointed at Sam.

Tony raised his head. "Oh,"

"You're on desk duty today," Gibbs added, then joined the other two at the elevator.

Tony stared at it for a while, then turned to Sam. Not only had the boy earned Gibbs' affection in under a minute of knowing him, but now he stopped him from going out into the field. "This is war, kid. War!"