Chapter 7 – May 2002

"Grab your gear DiNozzo, got a missing kid," Gibbs called to Tony from across the bullpen as he stood up, coffee in hand and started quickly towards the elevator. Tony took his gun and badge out of his desk drawer and grabbed his backpack from behind him and was chasing Gibbs towards the elevator.

Tony had been working at NCIS for six months now and he found he was really enjoying it. It was a nice change from Baltimore homicide. Instead of always working murder cases they got different cases – any crime committed against the Navy was something they'd investigate. In addition to many murder cases, he'd investigated espionage, terrorism and missing persons. However he'd yet to have a missing child.

They arrived at the elementary school where the child was taken from where they met with the teacher, principal and the child's mother, Lt. Smith. 10-year-old Mackenzie Smith didn't return to class after the students' outside lunch break. Gibbs spoke with the principal and the teacher while DiNozzo interviewed Lt. Smith.

"Principal Anderson called me to ask if I had picked up Mackenzie over lunch and forgotten to sign her out. I told him that she wasn't with me and that nobody was supposed to pick her up at lunch today. That's when he told me that she didn't return to class after lunch and couldn't be found anywhere in the school," Lt. Smith told Tony.

"Okay, do you know of anyone who would want to take Mackenzie?"

She started to shake her head no but then a realization dawned on her. "Yes. My ex-husband. We're going through a custody battle right now. He knows I'm going to win. He took my baby didn't he Agent DiNozzo?"

"We're going to find him Lieutenant, don't worry." He reached across the table and patted her hand in support.

"Do you have any kids Agent DiNozzo?"

Tony didn't notice that Gibbs had finished up his interviews with the principal and teacher and was now standing behind him. "I do," he told Lt. Smith with a smile as he thought about Maddy, "her name is Madeline; she's eight."

"As a parent you must know that it's impossible not to worry. If there's a chance that anything could happen to your child, you worry, its just part of being a parent."

"We'll find her Lieutenant. You should go home so that we can get ahold of you." He gave her hand another squeeze before standing up with the picture of Mackenzie to put out a BOLO for Mr. Smith. He turned around to find his boss standing right in front of him looking rather confused and slightly unhappy.

"Something you haven't told me DiNozzo?"

"Uh, no Boss, I'm going to go put out this BOLO for the Leiutenant's ex-husband. He's probably the one that took Mackenzie. Apparently they're going through an ugly custody battle."

"Not what I'm talking about DiNozzo."

"Then what boss?"

"Madeline?"

"Oh, you heard that?"

"Well yeah DiNozzo! You've been working here for six months; when the hell were you going to tell me you have a kid?"

"Sorry boss, it never came up." That earned him a head slap.

"Rule Number 6, never apologize, it's a sign of weakness."

"Won't happen again boss." They got back in the car and Tony called in the BOLO while Gibbs drove to the Lt.'s ex-husband's house to see if he was there.

They drove in silence for a few minutes before Tony decided he owed his boss some sort of explanation for not mentioning Maddy to him. He'd mentioned his fiancée Wendy a few times after getting off the phone with her so Gibbs was aware that he was engaged but he'd never had a reason to mention Maddy to him.

"Maddy's eight. She loves sports. She plays soccer in the summer and hockey in the winter. She keeps begging me to let her try out for the competitive hockey team next season. She's really smart. She's outgoing and talkative, which tends to get her in trouble at school on a daily basis." Tony smiled. "I wasn't purposely not telling you about her boss, you just never asked."

"She sounds a lot like you DiNozzo. I'd like to meet her sometime."

"Okay. Uh, how about at my wedding? It's next weekend and it'd be nice if you came," Tony awkwardly invited Gibbs to his wedding.

Gibbs laughed at the fact that Tony was just then mentioning that his wedding was less than a week away, "sure DiNozzo."

The Lt.'s ex-husband was not at his house, and judging by the looks of the place, he wasn't planning on coming back anytime soon either.

When they arrived back at NCIS Tony ran a profile on Dan Smith and found that he was currently unemployed after being fired from the insurance brokerage he worked at six months ago. Lt. Smith told him that after their divorce he was angry and started drinking and that's why he lost his job. She said that he used to be a good father up until that. Once he lost his job and started drinking he neglected his daughter and that's why Lt. Smith was trying to get full custody of her daughter.

"Run his cell phone DiNozzo," Gibbs instructed him.

"It's turned off boss but his last call was made to an Adrianna Smith last night at 9pm; sister maybe?"

"Where's she live?"

"Here in DC boss, bring her in?"

"Nope, we're going to go to her, maybe Dan Smith is there with Mackenzie. Don't want to give him a chance to run."

They arrived at Adrianna Smith's house and found no sign of Dan and Mackenzie Smith. "Was your brother here Ms. Smith?" Gibbs asked her.

"Yes, he stopped in for lunch with my niece. They just left a few hours ago."

"Did he tell you what he was planning to do?"

"Planning to do? What are you talking about?"

"He kidnapped his daughter from school today. We believe he's trying to run away with her because he was about to lose his joint custody of Mackenzie."

"He was acting strange today. He told me he wouldn't be able to talk for a while but he'd call me when he could. He asked me not to tell his ex-wife that I saw him and Mackenzie today, but I have no reason to anyways, I don't speak to her."

"Did he tell you where he was going?" Gibbs all but yelled at her.

"Not exactly, he just told me that he was taking Mackenzie on a trip and she seemed pretty excited about it. She kept talking about how her dad was taking her to the beach and they were going to get to fly on a plane. He deserved a vacation with her; I never thought he was doing anything wrong."

"Well, he might not be planning on coming back," Tony told her.

"DiNozzo call the International airports within 100 miles of here and send them Mackenzie and Dan's pictures. We can't let them get on a plane or they'll be out of the country."

"On it boss!"

3 stressful hours later Tony and Gibbs watched from their desks as Lt. Smith was reunited with her daughter. Security at Washington Dulles airport had received the pictures and recognized Dan and Mackenzie trying to get on a plane to Brazil. Security held them until NCIS could get there to pick them up.

"Boss do you mind if I get going home now? This case has just been making me think about Maddy all day."

"Yeah DiNozzo, get outta here."

"Thank you boss." He grabbed his bag and headed for the elevator. He still had to make the hour-long drive home in this traffic, as he was still living in Baltimore. Him and Wendy had decided to wait until the summer, when both her and Maddy would be off school, to buy a house for them all to live together in. For now Wendy spent most nights at Tony and Maddy's apartment but hadn't sold her own place yet. She said she was keeping it until they could both sell their places and use the money to buy a house together but truthfully she liked to have her own space sometimes, away from Tony and his daughter.

When Tony was almost home his cell rang.

"DiNozzo."

"Daddy it's me. When are you coming to get me? It's late."

"I know sweetie I'm sorry, I'll be there in ten minutes. I thought maybe Wendy would pick you up for me tonight." Tony hung up the phone and sighed. Wendy had been acting strange lately and spent less time than usual at his place over the past week.

By the time Tony and Maddy got home that night it was well past dinner and Tony was thankful that the sitter had made Maddy something to eat so that he didn't have to at this hour. Maddy unpacked her school bag and changed into pj's while Tony showered and then they snuggled up on the couch to watch a show before Maddy had to go to bed.

"Sweetheart have any of your teachers ever talked to you about what to do if someone tries to take you from school?" Tony asked his daughter, still very affected by the case he'd had today.

"You mean like a stranger?" She asked curiously.

"Yes strangers or even someone you may know."

"Well momma always told me not to talk to strangers unless she told me it was okay."

"Yes that's right. So if you were outside on recess at school and a man you didn't know told you he had a bunch of cute puppies to show you and your friends, what would you do?"

"Run away?" She guessed.

"Yes but you have to run straight to a teacher or supervisor and tell them because the stranger could convince other kids to go with him, right?"

"Yeah I guess so," she didn't seem to be all that interested in this conversation her dad was trying to have with her.

Tony shut the TV off so that Maddy would pay attention to what he was saying. His case that day had made him realize how easy it would be for someone to take his girl away from him and he needed to make sure she knew how to stay safe.

"Sweetheart this is very important okay? There are a lot of bad people in the world and I want you to know how to stay safe so I don't lose you."

"But your job is to catch the bad people isn't it dad?"

Tony chuckled. "Yes it is but there are some people that are bad but we haven't caught them yet."

"Oh."

"So what would you do if someone came to school and said that they were my friend and that I sent them to pick you up?"

"Tell the teacher?"

"Yes. Anyone that picks you up from school has to have my permission and the office will know that because I will call them and tell them if someone else is picking you up."

"Okay."

"So, remember, you never go anywhere with somebody you don't know and if a stranger tries to get you to go with them you run and tell right away."

"Okay daddy I get it. You worry a lot."

"I'm your dad, it's my job to worry about you. Now, time for bed!" Maddy sighed and reluctantly got up and followed her dad to her room where he was pulling back the covers for her to get in. Tony tucked his daughter in and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I love you Maddy-bear, have a good sleep." He patted her head and turned off her lamp as he left the room.

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It was the day before his wedding and Tony was thankful that he'd gotten off of work fairly early. Maddy's aunt Laura had just gotten into town from Ohio for the weekend for his wedding and he was taking her and Maddy out for dinner. Wendy had said she wanted to spend the night with her mom and dad so she wasn't joining them.

They had a great dinner together at a little Italian place near Tony's apartment. It was nice for Maddy to get to spend some time with her aunt. She was very good with Maddy and Tony wished that she lived closer to them. The three of them walked back to the apartment after dinner with Maddy skipping a few feet ahead of Tony and Laura, giving them an opportunity to talk.

"She seems to be doing really well," Laura told him. "Both of you seem really happy Tony."

He smiled. "We are."

"I'm glad." They walked in silence for a few minutes just watching Maddy skip happily ahead of them in the warm May air.

"I finish Teacher's College this year you know," Laura mentioned.

"Already? Wow time flies."

"I've been looking at where I want to apply for a teaching job and I'm seriously considering Baltimore. There are some great schools and lots of opportunities and of course I'd love to be close to you guys." She smiled.

"That would be amazing Laura," Tony told her, "We'd love to have you closer. It would be really good for Maddy; I know she misses you." He gave her a soft smile and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they walked through the parking lot of the apartment building towards the entrance. Tony's smile changed to a look of confusion when he noticed Wendy's car in the parking lot.

Laura noticed his look and asked him what was wrong, but he shook it off suggesting that maybe she'd just forgotten something that she needed for tomorrow. However when they walked in the door of his apartment he quickly realized that something wasn't right. There were two suitcases by the front door and Wendy was sitting on the edge of the couch staring at the floor.

"What're you doing here?" Tony asked her in confusion and worry. "And why are there suitcases at the door?" Over the past year Wendy had spent a majority of nights at Tony's apartment and had formed a large collection of belongings at his place.

"Tony please come sit down," Wendy asked him in a solemn tone.

Laura, realizing this wasn't going to be a conversation for Maddy to listen to, took her to her bedroom to occupy her while Tony and Wendy talked.

"Wendy what is going on?" Tony asked. He was now sitting on the couch beside her, although she made sure there was some space in between them.

"Tony, I'm sorry…" She pulled they engagement ring off of her finger and put it in his hand.

Tony looked down at the ring and then up at Wendy multiple times before it set in what she was doing. "What is this? What is going on?" He was getting upset and his voice was getting louder.

"I can't marry you Tony, I'm sorry." She was standing now, heading towards the front door but Tony was right on her tail.

"What do you mean you can't marry me? What happened? What did I do?" He was now standing between her and the door.

"It isn't you. I'm sorry." Wendy was holding back tears.

"You said that already!" He yelled at her. "Stop saying sorry and give me an explanation! We can talk about this. I love you!" Tony was angry and confused. He had tears in his eyes now.

"I just can't." She picked up her suitcases and tried to reach around Tony and open the door but he wouldn't let her.

"No! You're not leaving until you tell me why this is happening!"

Laura had heard Tony yelling from Maddy's room and was now watching him yell at Wendy from the hallway. "Tony," she called warningly to him, encouraging him to let her go; that this wasn't helping.

Tony reluctantly stepped aside to let Wendy leave. "Goodbye Tony," she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear as she walked out and shut the door behind her.

Tony slid down and collapsed with his back against the door, putting his head in his hands. He was still holding onto the ring. "I don't understand," he mumbled. Laura wasn't sure if he was asking her or just saying it to himself, so she stayed quiet; not knowing what to say to help him. Tony was angry, confused and hurt. Tears stung his eyes as he stared at the ring in his hand.

Maddy couldn't sit in her room any longer after hearing her dad yelling out in the living room. She walked into the room to see her dad sitting on the floor against the front door and she knew something was very wrong. She'd never seen her dad cry before.

"No! She can't just do this to me; to us!" Tony shouted and stood up, opening the door to go after her.

Seeing Tony like this was terrifying Maddy and she started to cry as well. "Daddy?" Tony turned and told Laura to stay with Maddy and he ran out, slamming the door. He made it down to the parking lot just in time to see Wendy's car driving away.

Hours later Laura was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea. She had finally been able to calm Maddy down enough for her to fall asleep and Tony still hadn't returned and Laura was starting to worry. Just then she heard the front door open and close and Tony walked past the kitchen and down the hallway into his room and shut the door.

Laura gave him a few minutes and then knocked on his door. "What?" He answered.

"Where the heck have you been? Maddy was very worried about you. She's never seen you like that before. It took me hours to get her to go to sleep."

"I'm sorry," he called from the other side of the door. He was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. "I just needed to think."

"Do you want to talk?"

"No. Thanks."

"Okay. I'll be on the couch if you need me," she told him.

At some point in the early hours of the morning, after a lot of tossing and turning Tony finally fell asleep. When he woke up in the morning he momentarily forgot all about the previous night and was excited for his wedding day. However when he opened his eyes and found that Maddy had woken up and come to sleep with him at some point in the night it all came flooding back to him and he instantly wished he was still asleep and that this was just a bad dream.

The rest of the weekend Tony barely left his bed. He was lucky that Laura was there to look after Maddy and keep her occupied because he just didn't have it in him to look after his daughter at this point. Maddy was afraid; she had never seen Tony like this and she didn't understand.

"You remember how you felt when your mom died?" Laura asked Maddy. She was trying to find a way to explain why Tony was so sad. Maddy nodded yes.

"Well this is kind of like that for your dad. Wendy didn't die but she left and she's never coming back, so your dad is very sad that he'll never see her again. But he's also mad at her for leaving."

"Why did she leave though?"

"We don't know hunny, she just decided she didn't want to get married to your dad anymore."

"Oh."

At the end of the weekend Laura had to go back home to go to school and Tony had to go back to work. Gibbs had obviously been informed that the wedding had been called off and he was worried about his younger agent. Tony, who was normally full of jokes and movie quotes hadn't said anything non-case related all week. Gibbs wasn't one to pry so he left it alone, figuring that Tony would talk when he was ready.

Tony spent the week trying to get ahold of Wendy. He left messages on her machine trying to get some sort of explanation out of her but she never called him back. Finally a week later he gave up trying to contact her. She clearly had nothing else to say to him. When Tony went home every night he was reminded of how she just walked out and he started to hate his apartment and going home because of that. He decided he couldn't keep going on this way and it was time for him to make a change and take control of his and Maddy's own happiness.

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A month after Tony's engagement ended he and Maddy drove from Baltimore to DC on a Saturday to look at potential new apartments. Tony decided that they needed a change. He needed something to help him move on from Wendy. He was also sick of the commute from Baltimore to the Navy Yard in DC every day so he decided that him and Maddy were going to move.

Maddy sat silently in the backseat of the car for most of the ride but there was something she just had to ask her dad – something she'd been wondering about since the night Wendy left.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah sweetheart?"

"Is it because of me?"

"Is what because of you baby?"

"Did Wendy not want to marry you anymore because of me?" She asked him, concerned.

Tony sighed. Although he thought that there was a chance that she was a small part of the reason Wendy had left he couldn't tell her that. "I don't think so Maddy. And besides, if that was the reason she left then she's certainly not the woman I want to be with. Any woman that doesn't love you doesn't deserve to be with me. You're the most important thing to me, no matter what, okay?"

"Okay daddy."

The two of them spent the morning looking at a bunch of different apartments and they hadn't found the right one yet. They decided to take a break and have some lunch. Tony had told Gibbs about his search for a new place closer to work and had requested that Gibbs meet them for lunch that Saturday.

Tony got him and Maddy hot dogs and they met Gibbs in the park. He was sitting at a picnic table with a coffee in hand, wearing a US Marine corps hoodie.

"Hey boss. Maddy, this is daddy's boss, Special Agent Gibbs. Gibbs, this is my daughter Maddy."

"Hi Maddy, you can just call me Gibbs."

"Hi Gibbs."

"So have you found an apartment yet?" Gibbs asked both of them as they ate.

"Haven't really seen any we liked yet have we sweetheart?" Tony asked Maddy.

"Nope."

"We've got a few more to see this afternoon though. There's one in a fairly small building that has its own park right behind it. I like the sounds of having a place where Maddy can play outside. It's near a good school too, so hopefully we like that one."

Gibbs could tell that there was more on Tony's mind that he wanted to talk about. "Hey Maddy, why don't you go get yourself an ice cream over there?" Gibbs handed her a few dollars and pointed to the ice cream stand.

Maddy looked at her dad to see if it was okay and he nodded his head. She smiled and said thank you and ran off.

"Something else on your mind DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked him as he studied Tony's pensive look.

"I'm just worried about her," Tony told him as he watched his daughter run towards the ice cream stand.

"She seems alright Tony. Kids are tougher than you think."

"I know, but she's just been through so much. It was hard on her to see me so upset about Wendy you know. She asked me on the way here if it was her fault that Wendy left me."

"That's what I love about kids," Gibbs told Tony, "they always say what they're thinking and what they observe. But what do you think Tony?"

"I think that maybe the fact that I already have a kid is part of the reason she called it off. But if she can't handle the fact that I've got Maddy then I don't want to be with her anyways."

"That's a good attitude."

Tony and Maddy spent the afternoon looking at more apartments, and finally, on their last one they found the perfect place. It was a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor of a small building in one of the best parts of northwest Washington DC. The building had a park with lots of grass and trees behind it. It was only fifteen minutes from the Navy Yard and ten minutes from a great school for Maddy. There were plenty of food places and stores around. The apartment itself had a great big living room, a dining room and a big kitchen with an island in the middle, as well as two decent sized bedrooms on opposite ends of the apartment (something that Tony thought would be good as Maddy got older). It had hardwood and tile floors, a beautiful fireplace and high-end everything. This would definitely be a big step up from their place now.

"You like this one Maddy-bear?" Tony asked his daughter as they stood in the living room looking out the windows at the park behind. Maddy nodded her head and smiled; she definitely liked this place.

Tony knew this was the one. He could see them living here; he could see Maddy growing up in this neighborhood and going to the nearby school they'd already checked out. He was excited to move here and to move on from Wendy. He wanted to forget about that time in his life and have a fresh start here with his daughter.

"We'll take it," he told the realtor with a smile. It was his first real smile since Wendy left. He turned to look down at Maddy who was still standing right beside him. She was smiling too and he knew that they'd be okay. No matter what they had each other.