Chapter 10
Uncle Tony's face freezes. "I…I-I don't know w-what you're talking about."
"Uncle Tony, you know exactly what I'm talking about." I stand right in front of him and say, "Early this morning, when Aunt Ziva said she was probably never going to have kids, your head popped up, and you looked disappointed."
"Of course, she's my-coworker. Kids are nice, brings bond between the mother and father closer." I look away. "Most of the time. Sorry kiddo."
"No, we're here to talk about you." I look back at him. "And Tony, you hate kids."
"Yeah, but when you came into our lives, you should have seen her. It made her happy, she really deserves a kid."
"And how is she going to get a kid? She needs a man in her life Tony."
"Well, I-uh."
"Uh-huh." I start walking back-and-forth again. "Then, when we were talking about God, you mumbled something thinking nobody would hear, but you were wrong, I did." I give a devious smile.
"I believe that there is nothing to about God. Therefore I didn't mumble anything." Uncle Tony smiles back.
"But that's because it was not about God. I was about Ziva." I stop right in front of him again. "When you said, 'The Lord does great things. He always has, always will.' you paused for a brief second, and quickly looked at Ziva."
"Yeah, so?"
"Oh, but Uncle Tony. After that, you mumbled, 'hopefully'."
His smile immediately wipes away. "No I didn't."
"Yes Tony, yes you did! You leaned back, sighed and mumbled 'hopefully'. I was there watching you!" I step back and take a deep breath. "Therefore, that was for Ziva. You want something from her, you have for years!"
Tony stands up quick. "LJ, you…you…"
"Are right? Yes, I know. Tony, you love her. I can see it. Like you just said, there is nothing to hide about God. If there's nothing to hide about God, there's nothing to hide about anybody else! When we exit here, I want you just work. Don't even worry about this whole situation. At lunch, you and I are leaving and you will tell her when we get back."
"Tell her what?"
I slap him in the back of the head like my grandpa.
"Gah!" He grabs his head.
I take a hold of his shoulders. "Weren't you listening!? You're going to tell her that you love her!"
"B-but. LJ, I-I don-"
"Yes you do Tony." I let go of him.
I see him just stand there and think. "Leroy Jethro Sciuto, I don't know how to thank you." A big smile grew upon his face. "You know what? I'm going to do it right now!" He turns around to exit, but I stop him before he reaches the door.
"Whoa there bucko; no, not now."
He turns around. "Why not now?" I know how this stuff goes. I've been with girls longer than you've been alive."
"Yes, but I've been around here long enough to realize you love her before you even knew!"
"You point?"
"Tony, you've got to give her a surprise telling her; like I did with McGee. You can't just walk up to her and say, 'I love you.' No, we are going shopping at lunch. You will buy chocolates and flowers and leave a note."
"Where did you learn this from?" He asks me.
"I don't know? Maybe I got a way with girls?" I mock his smile.
"You know, you should have been named Anthony." He smiles back.
"My mother wouldn't like that." We both chuckle. "Well let's go. Remember, after lunch tell her. If you do it before, I'm going to hurt you."
"Sensei, you must believe in me." He bows.
"You watch too many movies." I laugh. "Let's go."
As we exit the elevator I look at my watch. "Look, its 11:30. We can leave in a half hour for lunch. I'm going to run back downstairs quick, and I'll have my mother, shoot that won't work. Mom brought her own lunch. Hmm, maybe we can have Grandpa and Ducky take Ziva out for lunch" I gasp. "Does Ducky know that McGee is my dad?"
"IIII don't think so. Well, we'll worry about that later. OK, why don't you talk to Gibbs or Ducky and have them take Ziva out. Wait, why do they have to?"
"Because, that way we can drop the stuff off at her desk and don't have to worry about her coming back all of a sudden. Just like you guys did with McGee?"
"Oh, yeah that makes sense. OK, yeah you go ask one of them. I'm going to work for the last thirty minutes."
I go down to Autopsy and I see Ducky chatting with Jimmy. "Hi Ducky."
"Well hello there Junior. What brings you to NCIS today?"
I look down for a short bit, and slightly bring my head back up. "I've actually been here for the last couple of days. And I came here to you why."
"Oh." He looks back at Jimmy. "Mr. Palmer, would you-"
"No, he can stay. It wouldn't be nice to keep this away from him."
"Is it that serious?" Jimmy asks.
I nod. "Ducky, Jimmy, you both know how U-uncle McGee didn't show up today?" Careful LJ, you don't want to blow it too soon. They both nod. "Well, he got some big news yesterday, as so did I."
"And what news is this?" Ducky asks.
"Yesterday morning I was told, and yesterday after lunch he was told. Uncle McGee isn't my uncle, he…he is m-m-my…my-uh…"
"Father." Grandpa says walking in.
"Oh my. And now he didn't show up? That is not like Timothy." Ducky replies.
"Yeah, that's what I've been told." I sigh.
"So, who else knows?" Jimmy asks.
"The rest of the team." Grandpa answers.
"Wait," Ducky speaks. "if you're Timothy's son, then, you weren't born extremely early. You were actually born on time."
"Whoa, how do you come to this conclusion Doctor?" Jimmy asks.
"Because Mr. Palmer, I was around when Ms. Sciuto and Timothy were dating. They dated for a little over a month. Four months later, Abby had announced that she was pregnant. She had told all of us that she was only three months pregnant. With the four months after, and the one month they were together, that is five months. Four months later and he was born."
"Oh." Jimmy replies. "LJ, why did your mom create such an elaborate lie, and hide it?"
"My mom said that at the time, my dad was a bit immature and childish. I don't know if that's entirely true or not."
"Actually, Timothy was a bit childish, if you want to call it that. But when Junior came along, things changed; for everybody." Grandpa adds.
"Well, all you have to do is hope that he returns." Ducky implies.
"I have been, and will continue to. There's actually another reason why I came down here. This time, you need to leave Jimmy."
"That's OK. It's almost lunch time anyways." Jimmy smiles, and then leaves.
"What else did you want to talk about?" Grandpa asks.
"Well, I need you two to take Ziva out for lunch. Tony and I are planning something for her, and we want to make sure she is out of the building long enough."
"That's a splendid idea. Ziva and I haven't had a good chat in awhile. Jethro, do you mind?"
"I could always use some fresh air." Grandpa chuckles.
"OK, thanks." I say. "Well, I'm going back up. Nice talking with you Ducky." I smile.
"And same to you." He smiles back.
"I'll see you shortly Duck." Grandpa says.
Grandpa and I get upstairs, and Ziva is leaning over, staring at her computer.
"You seem a little stuck Aunt Zi."
She sits up and looks at me. "I have hit a stone wall."
"You were closer that time." Uncle Tony says.
"What?" Aunt Ziva questions him.
"It's 'I've hit a brick wall.' Last time you said concrete, this time you said stone. Stone is getting closer."
"Whatever." She leans back in her chair. "Either way, I'm at a stop."
"Ziva, why don't you join Ducky and me for lunch for lunch? Get your mind off of the case for a bit."
"Thank you Gibbs. I would love to. When is lunch break?"
Grandpa looks at his watch. "Fifteen minutes. But for now, let's review what we've got."