A/N: Glad you guys are enjoying these little snippets. And just in case you are stumbling over this for the first time, this series of drabbles won't make much sense unless you've read "Might Have Been".
"This is how its gonna work Lukie," Tony stood in front of the smiling almost two year old, "You're gonna put the paint brush down so Mommy doesn't kill me when she gets home from her little vacation and then we're gonna go find your brother before he sets the house on fire. Deal?"
Lucas laughed maniacally, or at least as maniacally as a almost two year old could sound which Tony was certain was pretty maniacal, at his dad and took a step back, waving the paintbrush in the air before letting it go.
"No!" Tony said diving for the brush before it fell on the newly installed carpet. Lucas, who had already turned away from his dad, quickly fled the scene of the crime.
"Bye da," Lucas said waving his hand as he made his escape.
"Get back here you little twerp," Tony set the paint brush back in the paint pan before hurrying after his son, "I curse the day we taught you two to walk."
Lucas, who had previously somehow made it past the two baby gates, up the stairs and past another baby gate to get into his room, was currently scaling the baby gate that was in front of his and Allie's work room.
"I hope the next one isn't like you two," Tony said jokingly as he finally snatched Lucas and gave him a raspberry on his plump little tummy, "Let's go find Logan. What do you say?"
"Looo," Lucas said, smiling and pointing towards the stairs.
"That's right. And then, I get to put you down for a n-a-p so I can actually get your room finished and painted before this weekend, what do you say?"
Lucas made the baby sign for cheerios. Though the boy's vocabulary was limited to a few words, Allie, and Abby whenever she babysat, had taught the babies a bit of sign language. They knew tons of words in sign and Gibbs had actually smiled when the babies had gone to him and asked for milk.
" LOGAN!" Tony yelled, setting Lucas down and grabbing his oldest, by a few minutes, off the counter and away from the sink.
Tony looked back at Lucas who had an innocent expression on his face.
"Hi da," Logan waved, his wavy light brown getting in his face, "Kiss."
Logan leaned in and hugged and kissed his dad.
Lucas, who was on the ground, toddled over and lifted his hands to be held, "Kiss da."
"The cuteness," Tony laughed and lifted Lucas up with his other hand, "You two are going to be the death of me."
Logan and Lucas made their hands in a poorly shaped sign that Tony knew all too well.
"Ah I love you guys too," Tony hugged each one before walking over to the kitchen counter and setting each tike in their respective high chairs, "Alright, who wants a snack?"
"Foo!" both boys yelled and made the sign for their favorite snack.
"Cheerios and milk it is," Tony agreed, rummaging through the fridge, "And then my sweet little babies, you are going to take a long slumber."
"This is so much easier when your mother is here," Tony practically cried along with the screaming toddlers.
"I know," Tony said, speaking over his sons' screams, "I want her to come back from her conference too! But three more days guys, three more days and then she's back and if we can make it to then I will never make you eat your vegetables when you grow older. I promise."
"You alright DiNozzo?" Gibbs said, placing his paint brushes down, "Oh, nap time."
"Thanks for coming Gibbs," Tony said, "Sorry about this. I thought they would be down by the time you came to help me with their room."
"Hmm," Gibbs said walking over to Lucas play pen before picking him up and setting him in the one with Logan. The boys settled down almost instantly, looking at each other before snuggling under the blanket that Tony had almost put over them.
"Huh," Tony said, rubbing the back of his neck, "We always thought they would play instead of sleep."
Gibbs nodded, looking at the slumbering toddlers. They were terrors, if the stories that Tony told McGee and Abby were anything to go by, but Tony seemed to practically glow whenever he was around them or talking to them.
It reminded Gibbs of a young detective with tube socks and the first time Gibbs had seen him tackle a supposed dirtbag.
"Got a present for you," Gibbs said when the twins were truly asleep, "In the truck."
Tony followed Gibbs out of the house and into the driveway where in the bed of Gibbs' truck were two hand carved beds.
"They'll last longer than anything you can buy at the story," Gibbs said gruffly and cleared his throat, "Figured since you we're surprising Allie with the room."
Tony looked at the beds, speechless.
"Thank you," Tony said.
"You're welcome," Gibbs said, "Now let's get these out before those terrors decided to wake up."
"Couldn't agree with you more," Tony said knowing that of all the choices he had ever made, deciding to give Gibbs another chance was one that he had never regretted making.
