(A/N and Disclaimer: Again, we don't own anything. Nothing and nobody whatsoever -unfortunately... Rie does have an interesting-looking, purple, possibly fractured toe if anyone's interested, haha.
Wow, it's the end of our first long NCIS fanfic! Unless we choose to do an epilogue through lack of inspiration elsewhere, but otherwise this is the end. Finite. For now...Read, review if you want and we hope you enjoy it. Adios.)

'Here she is!' Abby called, carrying her one-year-old daughter out of the back door into the McGee's small garden. Tim walked over to meet his wife and daughter as they returned from Abby waking Caitie from her nap; kissing Abby and stroking Caitie's hair. The rest of the assembled team - Gibbs, Jenny, Tony, Ziva, and Ducky - all smiled, and began to sing;
'Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Caitie, happy birthday to you!' they chorused; almost in tune and signing as they sang. Caitie gurgled, clapping her hands happily. Abby put her down and she toddled, unsteady but determined on her pudgy legs, towards the table in the middle of the garden where her blue-iced birthday cake, topped with a single white candle, was waiting. Everyone watched in amusement as Caitie; wearing the trademark puzzled frown she had inherited from Abby, stretched up, yanking at the tablecloth as she tried to reach her cake. Tim intervened to prevent his daughter pulling the entire lunch table down on herself. Tony watched Tim whisk Caitie back over to Abby, smiling slightly.

'I can't believe it's been a year already' he mused to Ziva beside him. 'Look at her. She's grown so much. It doesn't seem like long ago we were all crowding into their hospital room when Caitie was born and now - ' he gestured to the group around him '...everything's changing, isn't it?'
'Yes, Tony' Ziva said, kissing her fiancé and smiling. 'But changing for the better, yes?'
Tony returned her smile, and put his arm around her. Their one-month-old, Theo, blinked his large dark eyes up at his parents.
'You bet' Tony said, looking at his son with so much love in her eyes it was all Ziva could do to kiss him again.

Gibbs stood a little way away, looking from one family to another - Abby and Tim playing peek-a-boo with Caitie; and Tony and Ziva standing nearby talking softly, holding Theo between them. Shaking his head slightly, he took a swig of his already warming beer.
'I made Rule 12 for a reason' he muttered. 'I didn't expect to have my four best agents go and break it - together'
'Don't be so down, Jethro' Jenny said, slipping up behind him and surreptitiously linking her fingers with his. She leaned in closer, lowering her voice to whisper in his ear; 'And as you well know, some rules were meant to be broken'
Gibbs turned his head and kissed her gently on the cheek.
'I'll give you that, Jen' he smiled. 'You've made a hypocrite out of me'
'And that's a bad thing?' he replied, before surprising him by kissinghim full on the mouth, in full view of everyone else. Abby laughed, and Tim shielded Caitie's eyes from the obvious couple; Ziva smirked as Tony dug in his pocket and handed over a $20 bill ('Thank you, Tony!'); and Ducky rolled his eyes as he signed to Abby; 'You've never been for after-work drinks with the pair of them. After a few glasses of wine...you can imagine. I never know where to look!'
'Spare me the details, Ducky' Abby replied, laughing. Gibbs broke away from Jenny and looked sharply at the pair of them.
'You're not the only ones here who speak ASL, you know' he reminded them.
'Very true' Tim signed. Abby beamed, and kissed him proudly on the cheek.
'You better believe it' she told him delightedly.

Since Caitie had blessed him with her first smile, Tim had worked consistently hard at his ASL; helped by Abby both inside and outside their evening class. Abby had lost count of the evenings when she had come to bed to find her husband engrossed in one of his many ASL dictionaries; his hands twitching as he absorbed new signs. As he learned more and more; Abby tested him by speaking in ASL at odd moments, and every time he was able to understand and reply to her fast signing, it was hard to tell who was more pleased with his progress. Teresa and Meggie, from ABC ASL, had both commented on how fast he picked up on new signs and how hard he worked to memorize them. Even Gibbs had stated how impressed he was with Tim - more than once. As ASL became more and more familiar to him, Tim felt less out of his depth and subsequently more confident in his abilities. Abby was delighted with him.

Together, they had been able to work simple, easy signs into everyday life with Caitie; when bathing or feeding her, and putting her to bed, ASL had become almost second nature to them. They still spoke aloud to her, as they did with the test of the team and each other - Abby was determined that Caitie would succeed in her own 'weak spot' of lip reading. But as ASL became easier and more natural to Tim, Caitie's deafness didn't feel like the insurmountable burden that it had done previously. At least now he could rest assured that he would be able to communicate fully with his daughter as she grew older, as Abby could. And he felt a small glow of pride and happiness every time he reminded himself that he would no longer be cut out of Caitie's life.

Caitie herself was growing up to be a beautiful baby; with light brown, soft curly hair - which Abby had spent over an an hour putting into bunches that morning to match her own - and big green eyes almost identical to her mothers save for the hazel strip of her irises. Save from her hair - which was almost definitely inherited from Tim, as it was the same in colour and texture - she was growing up to look just like Abby. Tim had put his foot down and insisted on Abby not dressing Caitie like a mini-Goth clone of her mother until she was at least a little older, which she had grudgingly agreed to. Today, Caitie was wearing a white dress with pale purple embroidery -a birthday gift from Jenny -and dark purple hair ribbons which she had attempted to pull out almost as soon as her parents had finished tying them. Her stubborn streak always made Tim laugh - it was another little bit of Abby that he saw in Caitie every day, and loved.

But as much as Caitie looked like Abby, it was obvious that she was a daddy's girl at heart. You only had to see the huge smile she gave him as he picked her up or woke her from a nap (when anyone outside her extended NCIS family would have had to cope with her screaming for hours on end), the way she tottered towards him, arms outstretched, when he walked into the room, or her gurgles of delight whenever her daddy cuddled her to know it. Nothing could make Caitie happier than sitting on her daddy's knee as watching as he fiddled around on his computer; or spending their traditional McGee Sunday mornings snuggled up with Caitie in between her parents on the sofa watching Lord of the Rings - or, more recently, Star Wars. Like Tim, Caitie had a clear preference for Episode IV. It was only a matter of time, according to Tony, before Tim had taught her how to play as an Elf Lord on his favourite online game - which had earned him a headslap from Gibbs. Still, the prospect was still there.

'Ready for your birthday cake, Caitie?' Tim asked his daughter, as Abby jiggled her up and down in her arms. Caitie smiled widely.
'I'll take that as a yes' he laughed, kissing her on the forehead. They all gathered around the table; Theo dozing in Tony's arms; as Tim lit the single candle on Caitie's cake. Abby had made it herself, and had spent the whole morning telling anyone who'd listen how proud she was she'd finally managed to bake a cake without having the fire department round. They ahd to admit, she'd done a good job -particularly with the decorating. Happy 1st Birthday Caitie was iced in purple in the centre, and around the edge were seven hand-iced cartoon-style faces - Abby and Tim, Gibbs and Jenny, Tony, Ziva and Ducky. It had taken her forever but she was happy with the end result. So happy, in fact, that she had been reluctcnet to cut it and eat it at the party.
'We could give cupcakes instead! Or take photos of the cake for people to keep so we didn't have to eat it' she had suggested to Tim earlier that day.
'I am not giving people photos of a cake that you spent hours making yourself while the original grows mould in our kitchen' Tim had replied. 'You can make another one if you love it that much! But we're eating this one'
So Tim had won the argument, and now the cake was ready to be cut and eaten. After, of course, one final thing.
'Ready to blow your candle out, Caitie?' Abby said. 'Okay, make a wish!'
Caitie giggled happily as Tim and Abby leaned forward and blew out her single candle together.

'Alright, cake time!' Tony said, as Abby stood Caitie gently on the ground so she could remove the candle and cut the cake - 'so I can make sure everyone gets to eat their own head'. Caitie toddled over to her father, and tugged at his trouser leg. He smiled down at her.
'Hello, Caitie' he said.
Caitie looked up at him, her little face the picture of concentration; before lifting her small hands towards him. Making her right into a crescent shape and stretching out her left index finger; she banged her two hands together in a single sign.
Daddy.
Tim's mouth fell open in shock.
'Oh my...' he said. 'Everyone, look at this!'
Everyone turned to face Tim. 'What's up?' asked Abby, cake knife in her hand.
'Caitie just said her first word!'
Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and crowded round. Tim squatted down in front of Caitie.
'Do it again, Caitie' he signed, smiling encouragingly.
Caitie looked hard at her father and repeated the sign.
'Daddy' she signed clearly.
'She said 'daddy'! I'm her first word!' Tim said ecstatically. He picked Caitie up and whirled her around, as everyone laughed and congratulated Caitie. Abby took her daughter from Tim and kissed them both, before signing to Caitie 'What about me?'
'You'll be next, Abbs. I can't believe she said 'daddy' to me! You clever girl!' he signed to Caitie, smiling so proudly at his daughter.
'Her first words on her first birthday. That's convenient' Gibbs smiled. 'She's growing up'
'I know. Isn't it amazing?' Tim replied, looking at Caitie in wonder. 'Isn't she amazing?'
'That she is' Ziva said. 'Congratulations, Tim'
'Thanks' he replied. 'It'll be your turn soon'
Tony and Ziva both glanced down at their sleeping son in Tony's arms, and gulped.
'Maybe not too soon' Tony said nervously. Tim laughed, as Abby finished cutting the cake and passed everyone their paper plates. Tony placed Theo back into his baby carrier beside Ziva as they sat down, and Caitie sat in her high chair to eat her own piece. 'Eat' may have been a little euphemistic. More cake ended up in her hair than in her mouth. Abby and Tim seated themselves beside their daughter to help her eat, signing as they did so.

'I'm so proud of her' said Tim, as Abby broke the slice of cake into smaller pieces to allow Caitie to eat it.
'I am too' Abby replied, as Tim picked a few bits of icing out of Caitie's hair. 'But I'm proud of you too'
'Why me?' Tim asked, as Caitie picked up a fistful of cake and actually managed to get it on target into her mouth. Abby looked at Tim, her eyes bright.
'Because you've come so far. You can communicate in ASL better than Tony and Ziva, almost as well as Gibbs now. You used to be so scared about being cut out of Caitie's life because you can hear and she can't - but now look at you. She's talking to you too' Abby smiled, taking Tim's hand. 'And you're both going to keep getting better'
'Thank you' Tim said, kissing Abby's cheek.
Caitie smiled toothily at her parents, as semi-chewed cake oozed out from between her few teeth. They both laughed, and Abby picked Caitie up to wipe her face. Tim put his arm around the pair of them, and they looked around the sunny garden - at their friends, laughing and talking in the early afternoon sun; at each other; and at Caitie. Everyone they needed was there. Their friends. Their family.
'I love you' Tim signed to Abby, as she rested her head on his shoulder. 'Both of you'
'I know' she replied softly, winding her arm around him too. 'I love you too'

There are moments to be remembered; those to be savoured; and those to be cherished. This was one of the latter. Tim and Abby had found each other, they had found love, and they had found a family. They had found everything they needed in each other. Gibbs knew that better than anyone. Watching them standing together in the sun, with their beautiful daughter in their arms, he couldn't imagine them being better off anywhere else that with each other.
'I'm so glad I didn't stop them' he said quietly. Jenny smiled at his words.
'So am I' she added. 'And so, Jethro, are they'.

end.

(A/N: I had no idea whatsoever how to end this so I just kind of stopped it. We might write an epilogue though, we added 'News' as a oneshot showing what might have happened between Tony and Ziva at the end of Chapter 3 - but if we don't then thats it. Until the next one...ahem, yeah. Thankies to everyone who reviewed and stuff for this one, hope you enjoyed it. (signs) Bye for now!
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