Warnings: None for this chapter.

A/N: I'm skipping over a couple of cases that we saw on the show for this idea that popped into my head. Feedback is very much appreciated! Enjoy!

Kaitlin was not having it that she had to go to daycare that morning.

Tony tried to slip out of the room but she was smart and quick and she would grab a hold of his pant leg and scream. "Come on, Katie," he said, gently, peeling her off of him again, "You love Miss Gina!"

"Dada, no go!" the toddler sobbed, stamping her little feet. "Stay, Dada!"

"Daddy hast to go to work, peanut," Tony told her, leaning down to wipe her tears. Bad idea. She latched onto his neck. "Katie. It's okay. I'll see you later."

Kaitlin out right refused to let him go. He knew that her return to daycare was going to be difficult. She had not been since the beginning of the summer. And after spending a few days in Stillwater with Tony, Gibbs, and Jackson, it was making it doubly difficult. But there was no other needed to go to work and someone was needed to take care of her.

Tony managed to wiggle out of her grasp and out of her reach quickly so he could dash out the door and shut it behind him before she could follow. As the door clicked shut, Kaitlin let out a wail that tore right through him. He knew that his daughter was with women that knew how to handle her anxiety, but it still broke his heart when he had to leave her sobbing and screaming for him like that. Not the start of the day he was looking for. Not at all.

Gibbs could tell the moment Tony stepped off the elevator that dropping Kaitlin off at daycare had not gone well. Since returning from Stillwater the toddler had been increasingly hard to settle into a routine. And Tony was starting to show signs of wear and tear...

"Sorry boss," the senior field agent mumbled, dropping his gear by his desk. "They keep telling me it's going to get better..."

"It will, DiNozzo," Gibbs promised him. "It just might take longer this time that's all. It's only bee a few days, okay? Give it more time."

"No wonder my father used to get drunk," Tony sighed, rubbing his temples.

Gibbs shook his head. Tony still believed that he was the cause of all his father's problems. The government couldn't keep Senior locked up long enough in the team leader's opinion.

Tony sat down and booted his computer up. Getting to work was the best way to distract himself from his broken heart over his daughter crying when he left her. Actually, he wouldn't call what she was doing crying when he left. He would call it wailing. While he waited for the computer to turn on he checked his voicemail, noticing that the red light was blinking. Please don't be the daycare center...

It wasn't the daycare center, thankfully, it was his father's lawyer, informing him that his father wished to speak with him. Tony slammed the phone down. Why did his father want to see him now? Was he going to try to beg for forgiveness again?

"Something wrong, Tony?" McGee asked, noticing the pensive look on the SFA's face.

"My father wants to see me," Tony replied, in a dark voice. "That was his lawyer."

"Did the lawyer say why he wants to see you?" Gibbs asked, suspiciously.

Tony shook his head. "Nope. Just that he wanted to talk to me, said he had something important to tell me."

Gibbs glanced at McGee for a moment, both agents feeling the same bad vibes. Senior never brought good news... Tony had almost lost Kaitlin when the elder man had shown up hoping to use her to repay a debt. "Are you going to go see him?"

"If I don't, he's just going to have the lawyer keep calling me... perhaps have him show up here," Tony mused, angrily. He reached for his keys... this day just keeps getting better and better. "Don't think this will take long, boss. I have nothing to say to the man. He hurt my little girl. As far as I'm concerned he got what he deserved."

"Do you want some company?" McGee offered, sheepishly. He really didn't think Tony should be going to prison to visit his father... alone.

Tony shook his head and put his coat back on. "No thanks, Probie. I'll be fine... honestly." And he left, leaving a bad feeling in both McGee and Gibbs' guts.

His father wasn't considered a dangerous criminal... although Tony would highly disagree with the judge putting Senior in a minimum security prison... but it at least allowed them to talk face to face and not through some pane of glass.

Tony could see that prison had not been good to his father. Senior had lost weight and there were dark circles underneath his eyes. If the man had not threatened his baby girl, Tony might have felt bad for him. He sat there, cold, stiff, and watched as his father sat across from him. "You wanted to see me," he said, not giving his father the chance to greet him.

Senior nodded, and swallowed. "Yes. I've been thinking about you... a lot lately... son."

"Don't call me son... we might share DNA but you haven't treated me like one," Tony snapped. "Why the sudden interest in me?"

"Things that I should have told you a long, long time ago, Anthony," Senior said, softly.

Tony's brow furrowed. "Dad. If you're going to try to tell me that you really did love me and didn't know how to show it to me... drinking was the only way to stop the pain of mom dying... I really don't want to hear it. I have a lot of work to do back at NCIS."

Senior's eyes grew sad and distance. "No, not going to tell you any of that. Not sure you'd believe me if I told you that I did love you... it's about... it's about your mother."

"Mom? You called me here to tell me something about Mom thirty years after she passed away?" Tony inquired.

"I should have told you when you were little but you were so close to Elizabeth... I didn't want to hurt your feelings. And as time passed, it didn't seem important," Senior said, sadly. "But it was wrong. Elizabeth always told me that you should know the truth someday. She would be... she would be disappointed that I didn't tell you."

Tony was confused. He wasn't sure what his father was getting at. And he really didn't want to be sitting here trying to guess. "Dad... I'm really pressed for time. Why don't you just tell me why I'm here?"

Senior sighed and looked away. "It's time that you know... Elizabeth... she wasn't... she wasn't your mother." He saw the look of betrayal, hurt cross his son's eyes. "Elizabeth and I were more of an... arranged marriage. We were young. We hated the idea of being together. When your biological mother showed up... she couldn't take care of you... it was too much for her. She was unmarried and... well.. that was highly frowned upon back then, Anthony."

He swallowed and clenched his fists. "So... Mom just decided to take me in? Just like at?" Tony asked, snapping his fingers.

His father nodded, gently. "Elizabeth couldn't have children. She wanted a baby. Her family was rich enough to doctor birth certificates and well, as you know, your mother had the tendency to disappear from the social world for months on end. No one questioned when you showed up. They just figured that was why Lizzie had vanished again."

"Just great. Do you have any other bombshells you want to drop on me?" Tony snarled, wanting to run from the room.

"Your mother, Junior... she's still alive..."

"Alive... where?"

Senior shrugged. "The last time I heard about her she was living on Nantucket... she came from money..."

Tony scoffed. "Of course she did. Is that all you know?"

"My lawyer was looking into it... I wanted to speak to you first," Senior said, honestly.

"Wonderful," Tony snapped, standing. "I need to get back to work. Nice chatting with you and oh... if you have anymore news to tell me... just don't... I'm better off not knowing."

Angrily, the younger man stalked out of the room, retrieved his weapon from the guards and fled the prison. But instead of going back to NCIS, he detoured to his daughter's daycare center. While he drove he did what he should done in the first place. Call his father's lawyer.