A few hours later: Maria came home looking like she had one of her rare headaches. Tony said "I don't think I need to ask how the deposition went from the look on your face sweetheart."

She sighed. "Gibbs has his rule right about not involving lawyers if possible. They can be the most anal retentive people on the planet sometimes. Though I do have a get well batch of cookies for you from Agent Fornell and family. A special favorite."

Tony smiled. "Emily remembered, she is a sweet kid. There is half a pizza in the fridge for dinner if you want and some grilled vegetable salad that Abby got for my lunch. Or I could make you some nice spaghetti Bolognese after you nap a while."

"Honey, I love your homemade pasta with your sauce. I think that sounds good with the salad and some garlic bread. I need a nap for a while though and one of my headache pills. How are you feeling, it looks like you did some cleaning?"

"I feel pretty good. I did some laundry of mine and I took out the trash earlier. The balloons are from Abby and the team at work. She said the gift bag was one load of cards though. Kind of overwhelming to know that many people care about me. I'm not used to that kind of thing."

She touched his arm. "It's a good kind of feeling honey. You have a family there. Keep that in mind and enjoy it."

He kissed her cheek. "I will bella. Thank you."

She looked at him for a moment. "For what?"

"For reminding me of what is good in my life and not to take it for granted."

Then Maria went down the hall to the bedroom that they shared. Tony had recently upgraded to a queen sized bed and had let Maria pick the new linens for on it. She had picked a set of slate gray ones with an olive green blanket on top and matching pillowcases. He was going to paint the walls in there when his side got better. Some of her things were in the spare bedroom which they were still planning a color scheme for.

Tony got out the pot that he used for pasta and found some of the sauce he kept around. He needed to make some more. He thought some linguini noodles sounded good for Maria tonight. She got headaches at the base of her neck when she was feeling stressed and she had been holding up pretty well since he had been hurt. Maybe too well. He sighed and started to cook.

Then he heard her cell phone buzz on the corner table. He answered it. "Maria's phone."

"Oh is this Tony?"

He answered "Yes it is, Maria is resting at the moment."

The male voice on the other end of the phone said "Ok tell her Derek Morgan called to check in."

Tony knew who it was. He was one of the profilers that worked in Fornell's building and sometimes helped his team with raids. He was good friends with Maria.

Tony said "I'll tell her you called."

He replied "How are you doing, heard you're on the injured list right now?"

"Nicked up my side pretty good. Some stitches, met the wrong end of a knife. It feels pretty good today, might even be able to handle my desk I think soon."

"Good well take it easy. You have a good lady taking care of you."

Tony said "I know I am very lucky to have her in my life."

Then they hung up and tony went back to cooking again.

An hour or so later: Maria came out in her robe and her at home lounging pants looking a little pale. She said" Something smells amazing out here sweetheart."

He smiled. "Well the garlic bread is ready for you to start on." He handed her a slice. "I added a few things to the vegetable salad to well just doctor it up honey. The pasta needs another minute, it's not quite al dente."

She took a bite of garlic bread slowly. "That is amazing. You should have been a chef."

He smiled. " Well I only cook for certain special people so I'd have a hard time making a living Ms. Nicoletti." His face got a little red. "That is sweet however."

" You're blushing Tony Dinozzo. That is so endearing." She smiled at him.

"Well baby I have it bad for you." He replied