Chapter 4

Both Tony and Gibbs were grateful that Mark had offered to follow them out. The house with its many corridors and flights of stairs was like a maze. They would probably have managed to find their way out eventually, but with Mark's help they got out a lot faster.

"Alright, then", Mark said as soon as they stepped out of the big front doors. "This is where I'll leave you. Remember what I said, take your time before you decide which child you want. Try to spend as much as possible with the kids and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me or any of the care takers. I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"Thanks, Mark", Gibbs said with a warm smile. "We will."

Mark returned the smile and then turned around and walked back into the house. Tony took a deep breath and leaned against the beautiful stone railing, looking out over the park and the many children. A broad smile suddenly appeared on his face when the final realization of it all caught up with him. This was really happening He was going to be a father.

"Are you ready?" Gibbs asked again softly and slipped his arms around Tony's waist from behind, letting the younger man lean against him as he gave him a light peck on the cheek.

"I am, Jet", Tony answered and looked into the blue eyes of the man he loved. "I truly am."

Gibbs kissed Tony again, on the lips this time, and then he leaned his chin on Tony's shoulder.

"Seeing someone you want to talk to yet?" he asked.

"No. I think this will be hard, Jet. There's so many of them."

"I know. But that only means that we will have a much bigger chance to find our child. And I know that he or she is here somewhere."

"Is that gut feeling of yours telling you that?"

"What else? Come on. Let's go meet the kids."

Gibbs led the way down to the park and it didn't take more than a couple of minutes before he was participating in one of the children's activities, and that was building a tree house. Tony stood by another tree a few yards away, leaning against the trunk with his arms crossed over his chest and an affectionate smile playing on his lips, watching his lover showing a little boy how to use a hammer properly. Tony's smile grew bigger when he saw how utterly relaxed Gibbs was, as he talked and laughed with the children surrounding him, who was bombarding him with questions. For a moment, Tony thought about joining them, but decided against it. He was still a little uncomfortable around children and he didn't want to screw anything up the first thing he did. No, it was better to let Gibbs break the ice first. He could join them later. Besides, Mark had said that they had all the time they needed, so why rush into things?"

"Wanna give us a hand, Tony?"

Gibbs question brought Tony out of his thoughts. He returned the bright, loving smile Gibbs was giving him but shook his head.

"Nah, I think I'll just walk around for a while, check the place out", he said. "Besides, you know what happened the last time you trusted me with one of your tools. I'd probably wreck everything."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Don't stay away from me too long, alright?"

"What, you'd miss me, Jet?" Tony shot a teasing smile at the silver-haired man, who just smiled warmly in return.

"Always, Tone", he said. "Always."

Tony let out a short laugh and shook his head before looking at Gibbs again.

"See you later, Jet."

He turned around and walked slowly towards the gateway to the gardens. He walked around in there for over an hour, looking at the beautiful flower beds and the many statues of various animals. Some of them looked so real that he almost expected them to start moving when he passed them.

There were a lot of children in there too. Some helped the gardeners planting new flowers and little bushes, while others, mostly teenagers, just sat by one of the many ponds, talking, and yet others were running around, chasing each other or playing hide-and-seek. Tony regarded them all, wondering if one of them was the child that was meant to be his and Gibbs'. He tried to talk to a few, but most of them were to busy to pay him any attention, so he let them be.

After a while he stepped out of the gardens on the far end of the estate. Not far ahead he spotted a huge, lonely oak tree that seemed to guard the property since it was so big. He wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that that tree was older than the house. It sure looked that way.

Tony walked over to the tree and sat down in a shallow hole between two roots and rested his back against the massive trunk. He closed his eyes and let the sun rays warm his face. He knew he really should go back to Gibbs, but he just wanted to sit there for a while and clear his head. He took some deep breaths and looked up at the bright blue sky, watching the small, fluffy clouds sail by. He smiled to himself when he remembered the many hours he had spent as a kid watching the clouds, trying to see the many creatures that seemed to be hiding up there. It was a long time ago and wondered if any of the kids here ever watched the clouds. They probably did. He would be surprised otherwise.

He was just about to get up and walk back to Gibbs when something hit him in the head. He looked up automatically and almost got an acorn in his eye. Tony got to his feet and peered through the branches as more acorns came falling down at him, and soon he spotted a little girl, lying flat on her stomach on a thick branch high up in the tree. She looked angry – no, not just angry, Tony thought when he saw the expression on her face. Hurt. And sad. She picked any acorn she could reach and fiercely flung them away, as if she by doing that got rid of some of her rage.

"Hey!" Tony called softly, making the girl flinch and look down on him in surprise. "You okay up there?"

The girl didn't answer, she just gave him a dark scowl and threw an acorn at him, hitting him square in the forehead. Tony chose to let it pass.

"Did something happen to you?" he tried again, hoping that the girl would talk to him this time.

"No!" she yelled back and threw another acorn at him, this time hitting him on the shoulder. "Go away!"

"I won't, kid. You can throw as many acorns at me as you want, I'm still staying."

"No, you're not! Leave me alone! I don't want to talk, don't you get that? You grown-ups always wants to make me talk. And don't call me 'kid'!"

"Sorry", Tony called calmingly. "Wanna give me your name, then?"

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Of course not. You're right. You should be careful around strangers."

"Are you deaf or something? Shut up and leave me alone!"

Tony was tempted to do just that, but in the same time he didn't want to let the girl win. Something was obviously bothering her and he was determined to find out what. He knew that sometimes it was easier to spill your guts to a complete stranger, so he was not going to give up that easily.

"Okay, girl, you asked for it", and with those words he started to climb the tree.

TBC