With each passing day it was becoming more and more obvious to Tony and Avery that Kaylin was a deeply troubled child. The doctors were planning on releasing Kaylin by the weekend and after that the couple would be on their own. They were frantically getting in contact with pediatric therapists and doing research on how to parent a damaged child. Avery had lived a very similar life to Kaylin but still she was grateful for the resources they had now. Maybe if these resources had existed when she was younger she would have found a home sooner. She adored her adoptive parents but would have loved to have had a forever home far sooner than she had. Tony was damaged by his childhood as well but unlike Avery and now Kaylin. He did not find love and support until he was grown. More specifically he did not find security until he found himself on Team Gibbs.
The hospital called early Friday morning and informed Tony that Kaylin was set to be released that afternoon. He called Tali's daycare and arranged to allow her to stay a little longer. So that Avery and him could bring Kaylin home together. They had passed their first inspection the night before and would had random inspections roughly twice a month until the adoption was finalized. For Kaylin's sake Tony was praying for a quick process. George and Kaylin's step-mother had lost custody and both flat out refused the courses offered that may grant them at least a few rights. It was a clean break, and both Tony and Avery had impeccable records. Avery had even fostered two of her students when their parents were injured in an accident and needed to rehab for several months. With those odds, the adoption could be wrapped in record time. It all fell on how Tony and Avery parented and how Kaylin thrived. Tony's greatest fear was Kaylin being deemed failure to thrive. As a result of George's abuse and being forced into foster care. A girl like that would be eaten alive in foster care. Avery had barely survived and she was only saved by the kindness of strangers who weren't even considering fostering or adoption.
Much to Tony's surprise he spotted Jimmy's car in the school's parking lot, Friday morning. Given that the Palmer's did not have any ties to the high school and Jimmy hadn't mentioned any reason to be there. It came as a pleasant surprise on a complex morning.
"Palmer! What are you doing here?" Tony asked.
"They are having a career day for the STEM program and I am speaking about being a Medical Examiner." Jimmy explained.
"Why isn't Ducky speaking? He alright?" Tony asked.
"He's good but he thought the students would respond better to me." Jimmy replied.
"He'd have done better than he thinks but it's good to see you." Tony replied.
"Thanks, so how are things?" Jimmy asked.
"You remember my friend Alex? The one with the daughter?" Tony asked.
"The one who died." Jimmy commented.
"Uh-huh, well it turns out that Kaylin was alive all this time. Somehow she ended up in the custody of her father but he was recently arrested and she is now in my care." Tony explained.
"That's great!" Jimmy cried.
"Not really, a lot happened in those six years and Kaylin is not the same girl I remember. I love her with all my heart and am more than willing to step up as her father. Same goes for Avery but it is not going to be easy for any of us." Tony explained.
"You're going to do great. If you need advice you can ask Avery's parents or even Gibbs." Jimmy assured.
"I have a feeling Gibbs is still pissed at me for leaving." Tony admitted.
"Well first off he would feel a lot better if you talk to him. Secondly Gibbs gets pissed off at the sun if it rains. Don't take it to heart." Jimmy explained.
"He was like a father to me and then it just changed! It's like he doesn't care! I don't have a loving adoptive family like Avery. I am alone in all of this!" Tony cried.
"First off you have Avery and Tali, secondly Avery's family adores you, and thirdly you still have my family and McGee." Jimmy assured.
"How's McEngaged doing?" Tony asked.
"They are doing alright. Delilah was in the hospital last week but it was just a routine thing and she is doing great now. They are going to be sending out save the date cards next month." Jimmy explained.
"Will I be invited?" Tony asked.
"If McGee wants me there you will be." Jimmy assured.
"Aw you don't have to do that." Tony replied.
"Considering nobody would have ever noticed me at NCIS if it weren't for you. Yeah I kind of do. Besides McGee likes you a lot. He's just overwhelmed with wedding planning." Jimmy assured.
"That is challenging." Tony recalled.
"Exactly" Jimmy replied.
*BREOOOONNNGGG!*
"Well that's first bell. See ya later." Tony said.
"Call me if you need anything!" Jimmy called.
Tony managed to get off work right after school let out. His team had a big win the day before and par their agreement. If they won and were humble winners. They would get a free pass on the next practice. If they lost they would go over the drills they had done wrong in the game and if they were sore winners they would have hell week level practice for three solid hours. That got most of the team to be humble when it came to wins. Of course winning games and practice free passes were the farthest things from his mind right now. All he cared about was getting everything handled with Kaylin. He was relieved to have the weekend to get everything settled.
Tony and Avery arrived to the hospital just after two thirty that afternoon. They went through the process of signing in and then were escorted up to Kaylin's room by a social worker. When they arrived she was sitting up on her bed. A small rolling suitcase was leaned up against the foot of the bed.
"Kaylin your family is here." The social worker called.
"Which family? The bastard or the doesn't really want me people?" Kaylin asked.
"We want you." Tony assured.
"Say that when the social worker isn't here." Kaylin scoffed.
"It's normal for children who have endured trauma. Don't take it to heart." The social worker assured.
Around four in the afternoon Tony pulled into the driveway of a medium sized, gray bricked house. He got out first and grabbed Kaylin's bags for her. Kaylin followed close behind, studying the yard and front porch. It was a sitcom style house with a flowers on the porch and two trees in the yard. At least there wasn't the white picket fence. Just a wire gate in the front and a brown fence wrapping around the backyard.
"Where's the dog?" Kaylin asked.
"No dog since Harold died last year. Just an old cat by the name of Wally Pete." Avery explained.
"Well good because I am allergic to dogs. Cats are alright though." Kaylin replied.
"Well that's good because Tali wants a kitten and so do I." Avery replied.
Maybe the DiNozzo's really weren't that bad. Still Kaylin wasn't going to believe anything until she saw it. George had actually seemed decent when she first came to live with him. After getting the tour of the living room and kitchen. She was lead up the staircase to the second floor. Tony opened the door of the room at the far end of the hall. Kaylin couldn't help but wonder if she was kicking out somebody's grandmother. The sheets weren't bad a simple red but everything else was flowers and other old lady accouterments.
"We can decorate it however you want. My grandma did this room as a housewarming present and she doesn't understand that not everybody is an eight five year old Korean woman." Avery explained.
"Your Korean?" Kaylin asked.
"I was adopted." Avery explained.
"So who did I kick out?" Kaylin asked.
"This was the guest room. We have a fourth room but it's attached to our room. So we are going to use that as a nursery." Avery explained.
"So who has the other room? Or are you keeping as far away as possible?" Kaylin asked.
"That room actually belongs to my er me and Avery's daughter Tali. She's two almost three and I was sure I mentioned her before." Tony explained.
"So where is Tali?" Kaylin asked.
"Daycare, I was just going to get her. If you would like to come along." Tony offered.
"No thanks I don't want to weird her out." Kaylin replied.
A/N: Tali and Kaylin meet in the next chapter. New chapter will be up soon. Please review and thanks for reading.
