-25, 21, 18, 3, ... -

"How's Chinese food sound tonight...Zi?" Tony calls out, rounding the corner to their bedroom. She is stretched out on his side of the bed, leaning back against the headboard. His nightstand drawer is open, her attention focused on several well-worn pieces of paper in her hands. "Whatcha doin?"

"I was trying to find that picture of Soph the day she got her brown belt; she promised to show it to the boys. But I found your old Bucket List." A smile plays on her lips as he sits next to her, scooting close. "I'd almost forgotten about it. You have done pretty well, over the years... although I think you have taken a few liberties here and there…"

"Such as?" he says defensively.

"Did you go into space and forget to tell me?"

He shrugs. "So astrotourism progressed a little slower than I was hoping. But considering how many times the boys drag me on Space Mountain every year, I think I've earned my wings."

She chuckles, "You don't fool me; you love it just as much as they do. Fine I'll give it to you. But honestly, Tony...why is there a line through find Jimmy Hoffa? Are you going senile on me?"

"Hey, I'm still not convinced he didn't just reinvent himself as that retired Colonel we put away back in '13! Man looked just like him."

"Tony he would have been over 100 years old…"

He scoffs. "Plastic surgery and semantics!" She laughs and nudges him with her elbow as he concedes, "Nah, I mean this is real life after all, so I had to let a few things slide here and there."

She clucks her tongue. "This is true...I was rather lenient on that Hitchcock marathon after all. As I remember, you never finished it."

"Mmmm, as I remember we started a far more entertaining marathon instead," he mumbles, his lips brushing up the side of her neck.

She shakes her head exasperatedly, but it's ruined by the grin she fails to hide. "Some things never change."

"Thank God for that."

He has fleeting hope that she may set the list aside and give in to his charm, but then she squints in confusion. "You never went to Humphrey Bogart's grave, did you?"

Tony's playful expression falls and his sigh is sad as he rests a cheek against her shoulder. "That one is x-d out, not crossed out."

She gets it almost instantly, reaching a hand up to stroke his hair. "California," she says simply.

"California," he confirms. "Never quite warmed back up to that State...Besides Zi, I decided years back that I've seen enough bodies and funerals and graves for a lifetime. I learned to celebrate the living instead…" his voice trails off, and he loses himself in thought for several long moments before she squeezes his hand. His faraway gaze comes back and lands on her understanding smile, and he shakes his head and gives a little shrug. "Besides, why go across country to see some moldy old gravestone when I can watch Bogey on my ridiculously large TV any time, right?"

"Here's looking at you, kid," she whispers and he smiles contentedly, moving in for another kiss.

She pulls back after a few moments though and laughs; his face falling at his second failed attempt at distraction. "Well, Tony, it's quite the admirable list of accomplishments...you should be proud."

He takes the two sheets from her hands then, "Where's the rest of it?"

Her brow furrows. "I only remember there being the two pages…"

With a shake of his head he leans over her, rifling through the nightstand drawer. He pulls out another three mismatched sheets, just as stained and folded and worn as the original two. Everything here is handwritten and messy with doodles in the margins. She is confused when he hands her the pages, but then her expression softens into a look so tender and warm that it takes his breath away. "You've been adding to it all these years…"

"Mmmhmm," he mumbles, unable to take his eyes off her face as her eyes skim the extended list. "The original was good, but it was lacking in a lotta ways too…had even more growing up to do before I could see what really matters."

She squints at the scrawled handwriting. "But I thought the point is to list the things you want to do in the future, yes? A lot of things here are so specific, it...it looks like you added them after the fact?"

He shrugs again, "With a lot of them, I did. These were the things I didn't know were important in life until they were about to happen or already had."

"Like hold my newborn daughter," She says softly.

"Exactly...Number 43, followed by 44: Don't screw her up. I only finally put a line through that one when she had kids of her own."

"Which I see is number 68…"

"Another Anthony Junior Junior...my legacy continues…"

"And number 30: Eat gelato on the Spanish Steps…"

He grins. "Our thirtieth anniversary, are you seeing my brilliant symmetry and planning there?"

"So you didn't write this sequentially..." She observes, and he takes mock offense at the critique.

"Hey, neither did Gibbs with the rules, but no one ever gave him flack for it! Sometimes I saved special numbers for special ideas."

She rolls amused eyes. "I can see that. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that number 57 is Do page 57?

"Repeatedly...Do page 57 repeatedly. And if you remember correctly, we certainly -"

"Okay, I get it…." She laughs again but shakes her head slowly. "I can't believe you've been doing this all these years." She carefully puts the pages back in order, her gaze falling back on the first few items written so long ago. "So accomplishing all of this...is that how you finally discovered the meaning of life, my love?" Her tone is equal parts gentle teasing and genuine curiosity.

He shakes his head, "Nah…a line went through number three about twenty years ago after a perfectly ordinary Saturday morning watching cartoons with the kid while you made pancakes. I realized that, at the end of the day, you two are all I need in the world to be happy. The rest of these accomplishments and memories are just icing on the cake."

He has a hard time finding the words to describe her expression then, but he'd say it's just a little bit awed. "God help me, I love you Anthony DiNozzo."

The kiss is tender, his hand coming up to her cheek to keep her lips on his as he rolls on his back. She lands gently on his chest with a laugh and a glint in her still-youthful eyes. "You know, there is plenty of room on the last page for a few more drops in that bucket…if you're up for it."

An eyebrow raises at the challenge, and his reciprocated grin is playful. "You bet your pretty little ass there is, sweetcheeks. You're not getting rid of me anytime soon."

The pages fall from suddenly distracted hands and flutter to the floor. She had missed the faded arrow drawn from Number 3 over to the edge of the page, but the first sheet lands upside down and reveals the single corresponding sentence scrawled on the back...the one item, the reminder, he vows never to cross out.

70: Never take it for granted...

Phew, that's it! 2,500 words becomes 11,000 and I loved writing every bit of it. THANK YOU so much for all the kind reviews and alerts and favorites...I hope you enjoyed taking this little journey with Tony as much as I did!

If you've been reading quietly along, now would be a great time to 'drop' a little note and let me know which was your favorite! And then get out there and work on your own buckets! ;-)

~ Jules