"Hey Gracie," McGee smiled from behind his desk the following day. "Are you excited for your plans tonight?"

"She's eight McLoser." Tony scoffed putting his feet up on his desk. "Eight year olds don't have plans."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Tony. I think Grace has better plans tonight then you do. Gibbs bought them both tickets to the ballet."

"Are you kidding me?" Tony rolled his eyes as he looked over at Grace who was sticking her tongue out at him from behind Gibbs desk. "You basically run away and get rewarded? Who is going to take care of Jelly Bean then?"

By Jelly Bean he meant Rory. It was the nickname he had affectionally given her the first day they met when she ate all of the Jelly Beans in his desk. From that nick name came other different variations of it such as "Little Bean" "Beanie Baby" and just "Jelly" or "Bean". Tony was proud to say she now responded to all of her given nicknames.

McGee shrugged. "Dunno."

"Well, whoever they are, they are in for a wild night. I've been giving the little bean candy all afternoon. Have you seen that one on sugar? She's worse then Ziva when she has too much to—"

"Finish that sentence and I will kill you." Ziva snapped from her desk. Tony stopped smiling and shrank in his chair.

"Tony can I have more candy?" Rory asked skipping up to his desk.

"Go wild, bean." He said handing her another handful of skittles.

"I wouldn't give her anymore of those, DiNozzo." Gibbs said walking into the bullpen with coffee in hand. "You're going to have a hard time putting her to bed tonight."

Tony laughed nervously. "What Boss?"

"You're watching Rory tonight while I take Grace out. You owe me, remember?"

Tony looked up trying to remember what he owed Gibbs for. His eyes widened. "Oh… that thing. Boss I thought I already repaid you for that… remember all of that work I did on the boat?"

Gibbs looked at Tony, "Do I need to remind you in front of everyone what happened?"

"Yes, please." Ziva and McGee both said in unison.

Tony shook his head. "No. Please no boss."

"Then I will see you at my house a six tonight."

"Do we really think that is the best idea? I mean, I don't have any experience with kids… I have a fish but I'm not sure if that counts and-"

"Tony," Gibbs cut him off. "You are a special agent of a government agency. Are you telling me you can't handle my four year old daughter?"


"AHHHHHHH!" Rory screamed as she jumped off the kitchen counter in Tony's direction.

Tony also let out a girlish shriek, much like Rory's only his was in fear. He caught her in his arms a let out a sigh of relif.

"Okay. Okay." He said setting her down. "None of that. I think it is almost time for every babysitters favorite time of the night… BEDTIME!"

"No!" Rory giggled as she ran circles around Tony. "Play with me!"

Tony rubbed his temples as he swore under his breath and made a mental note to never give Rory any more candy. "Beanie baby, I played barbies with you, had a tea party, watched the little mermaid one and two. Now it is bedtime."

She pouted as she hung onto his leg. "No, Tony. Don't make me go to bed yet."

He glanced over at the clock. It was already forty minutes past her bedtime. "If your dad walks through that door and you're not in bed we are both dead. Lets end the night on a good note and get some rest."

"Story?" She asked looking up at him.

Her eyes. Those big, green eyes. He couldn't say no. He sighed and threw her over his shoulder, grabbed a slice of pizza from the box and carried her upstairs. "One. Got it?"

She giggled as he set her down on her bed. She reached for one of her favorite books and handed it to him. "This one."

He read the cover out loud, "The Barenstain Bears: New Baby"

He then read the book… twice proving to still be a sucker for her sweet pleading. If McGee and Ziva knew what a push over he was when it came to Rory he would never live it down. At the end of the story Rory told him that he was the second-best story teller in the world, next to Gibbs. Tony could hardly imagine Gibbs getting more into a story then him.

Rory yawned, "Tony when are you gonna have a baby?"

Tony began to choke on the bite of pizza he just ate. "Excuse me?" He coughed.

"Grace told me people get pregnant when the eat to much pizza." She said patting his belly. "You like pizza."

"Jelly Bean," Tony sighed picking up her hand and removing it from his stomach. "You cant believe everything Gracie tells you."

She frowned, "So it's not true?"

He shook his head.

"Where do babies come from then?" She asked with a worried expression.

Tony looked around the room nervously. "You know… from the mommy's tummy."

"Well, duh." She rolled her eyes. "But how does the baby get in there?"

Tony groaned. Her sass was overwhelming. "It just gets in there, alright?"

"Not because of pizza?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

"So when are you going to have a baby?"

He laughed. "Not for a very, very, very long time."

"But you're old." She said matter of factly. "Soon you'll be too old to have a baby."

He laughed to cover the pain. "How old do you think I am?"

"Old… like nineteen."

Tony let out a bellowing laugh. "Have I ever told you you're my favorite?"

"I know!" Rory said throwing her arms up in the air. "So tell me how the baby gets in the mommies tummy!"

Tony cringed. This was not the kind of conversation he was planning on having tonight or ever with either of the girls. "Rory, I think this is a question you should ask your dad."

Rory looked at him before letting out a blood curdling scream.

Tony automatically put his hand over her mouth. "Hey, stop that! The neighbors are going to think I abuse you!"

She stopped screaming and glared at with him with her mouth still covered, stuck out her tongue and licked his hand.

"Ah!" He yelled pulling his hand away and wiping it on his pants. "Fine… I'll tell you the short, simple version but then I am going back downstairs and you are going to bed. Capisci?"

Rory giggled at Tonys best attempt to be stern with her. She nodded and tried to hide her smirk as she snuggled in her covers.

"Okay," He sighed trying to find the best way to satisfy Rory's curiosity and not get a slap to the head next week at work. "Do you know what kinds of things mommies and daddies do to show they love each other?"

Rory scrunched her nose. "Yeah they do icky things like kiss on the lips!"

"Yeah, good job." He said still having no idea where he was going with this. "Sometime they do… other things to show each other how much they love each other and then that makes a baby."

"What other things?"

"Um, well… sometimes they go into their bedroom and get under the covers so they don't get cold and do... a special dance."

Rory looked up for a moment trying to process the new information she had just been given before looking back at Tony. "A dance like the Macarena? Can you show me?"

"No Rory." he sighed covering his face with his hands. "No, I will not."


"And did you see her do that triple-pirouette on pointe?" Grace beamed from the back seat of Gibbs truck on their way home from the ballet. Even though Gibbs did not particularly care for any ballet it was worth it to see Grace be a carefree happy kid again. The car ride home was his favorite part as Grace gushed over how amazing the performance was. He couldn't help but smile when he would glance back and see her trying to reenact the movements sitting down in the back seat.

"I did." He laughed as he pulled into as unfamiliar parking lot.

Grace stopped dancing as Gibbs parked the car. "Where are we?"

"Come on," He said opening his door. "I wanna show you something."

Gibbs helped her out of the car and on to the empty DC sidewalk. They walked down the road for a minute before stopping in front of a building she had never seen before.

"Joy of Motions Dance Academy." Grace read out loud. "Why did you bring me here?"

Gibbs shrugged. "I wanted to show you where you are going to be spending a couple nights a week for dance classes."

Grace's jaw dropped. She had taken dance from the of age five and was devastated when she had to leave her old dance studio when they moved to DC. "Really?"

Gibbs nodded. "I know how much you miss being on the dance competition team at your old studio in Maryland. It's not the same but I got you an audition next week for the competition team here… if you want it."

Grace screamed as she jumped into his arms. "Of course I do! ThankYouThankYouThankYou!"

Gibbs smiled as Grace ran up and pressed her face up to the window to try and get a better peak inside. She turned around to look at him, still beaming. "But why?"

"Rule number five: You don't waste good. I've seen you dance. You're good."

Grace ran up to him and gave him another hug. He kissed her head before taking her hand in his as they walked back to the car.

She looked up at him as they walked down the sidewalk. "How many rules do you have?"

"About 50."

Her eyes widened. "Why so many?"

"Everyone needs a set of rules they can live by." he said simply. "I'm going to teach you everyone of them."

He helped her in the car and drove back home. By the time he pulled in the driveway she was already asleep in the back seat. He picked her up and brought her inside to a quiet house and laid her gently in her bed, taking off her shoes before pulling the covers over her. He hadn't done this in years. Not since Kelly. He quietly walked to the next room down the hall to see Rory fast asleep in her bed and Tony passed out on the carpet next to her. He pulled the covers over Rory's shoulders and grabbed a extra blanket and put it on Tony. He figured there was no use in waking him. He was sure he had a hell of a night with Rory. He laughed at the thought of Tony getting the little one in bed and looked forward to hearing about how everything went in the morning.

The soul is healed by being with children. Gibbs remembered hearing that quote many years ago. Through being a father to Kelly he had learned it to be true. He got glimpses of it again a handful of times after her passing when working with kids at NCIS and now he was feeling it everyday again with Grace and Rory. Later that night he reached for a picture on the top shelf of his workspace in the basement and used his sleeve to wipe off the dust. It was a picture of his first little girl.

"You were the first one to heal my soul." He said stroking the edge of the frame. "I really miss you, Kelly."