12 Years Old
It was around late October when Kate started seeing a change in Emma. Her oldest daughter was now in 7th grade and was starting to show more and more signs of being a "teenager." It started when she was taking the girls shopping and Emma wanted to buy some short mini-skirt and a low cut tank top. Too low for a 12 year old who was starting puberty. Kate hated seeing Em disappointed but she didn't want her daughter walking around in that out-fit just yet. And Tony would have a fit; he was still trying to comprehend the fact that his daughter started wearing bras. "What are you going to do when she starts PMSing and wants to bring a guy home?" Kate asked him. Tony looked like his head was about to explode and he quickly exited the room before even considering his little girl bringing guys home and PMSing…. But it was inevitable: Emma and Brooke were growing up. Brooke was now 8 and in second grade. She was at an age where she still adored and respected her parents but also wanted to do everything her big sister was doing and it bugged her that she couldn't. And Emma was 12 and in 7th grade and didn't want her parents around as much but still needed them.
"Emma, the phone's for you!" Kate yelled. She waited at the bottom of the stairs for Emma. "It's Jason…?" Kate told her with a hint of a smile. Emma smiled and took the phone up to her room. Kate smirked and went to find her husband. "Have you heard Em talk about a guy named Jason lately?" she asked him innocently. Tony looked up from the case file he was reviewing. "No, why? Who's Jason?" Kate looked up at him and decided to have some fun with him. "Oh, he's the guy that called for Emma. She's talking to him right now in her room." Just as she knew he would, Tony's jaw clenched and he slowly put the folder down. "Emma's talking to a boy… named Jason… alone in her room…?" he repeated slowly trying to wrap his head around this new piece of information. "She's 12! She shouldn't be talking to boys!" Kate burst out laughing. "Oh relax! I'm sure you were calling girls at 12." She teased as she sat down on his lap. Tony huffed indignantly and buried his face in his wife's hair wrapping his arms around her waist. "Besides, he's probably just calling for homework." She reassured him. Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah that was the excuse I used too."
Kate laughed and leaned over to kiss the sensitive skin behind his ear. "She's going to be fine." Tony nodded and looked up into Kate's eyes. "I suppose so," he mumbled as he caught the laugh escaping from Kate's lips. Kate wrapped her arms tightly around Tony's neck and allowed him to shift her so she was straddling his hips. He moaned as Kate ground her hips against his. Tony grabbed her waist and slipped his fingers into the top of the waist band and he growled against her lips when he encountered two little strings. "A thong?" he wiggled his eyebrows at her and sucked lightly on her neck while his fingers dipped lower into her pants. Kate moaned and wiggled on his lap trying to get his fingers to where she needed them the most. "Tony!" she gasped as he stroked her through her satin thong. Just then they heard Emma's door opening. Tony slipped his fingers out of her pants and hoisted her up as he stood and carried her quickly to the hallway coat closet. "What are you doing?" Kate hissed as he closed the door behind them. "Shhh…" he grinned against her lips as they heard Emma enter the living room. "Mom? Dad? Where did you go?" they heard her call out. Kate buried her head in Tony's chest to muffle her laughs as Tony held onto her so they wouldn't fall over from their silent fits of laughter. "I feel like a high school boy again, making out in the janitor's closet during breaks." He breathed into her ear. Kate bit her lip to keep her giggles in. She slid her hand lower to massage Tony through his pants. His eyes bulged out of his head and he bit his lip to keep from groaning aloud. Tony retaliated by slipping his hands into her pants as well, making Kate sink her teeth into his shoulder to stop the scream of pleasure. Tony paused to listen if Emma was still in the living room. Kate slowly cracked the door open and peeped her head out to look around. Emma was nowhere to be seen, so they slipped out and made their way back to the couch. Just as they were getting situated Em came out of the kitchen and stopped short. "Where did you guys come from?" Tony and Kate looked at each other and raised their eyebrows at their daughter. "What are you talking about? We've been here the whole time!" Kate and Tony laughed rolling their eyes at Emma who had a look of utter confusion all over her face.
Two months later, Tony was coming home from work when he spotted Emma, Brooke and Tazz at the park. He smiled as pulled up. "Dad!" Emma shouted as she and Brooke raced to their father. But Tazz was faster and he catapulted himself onto Tony making him fall backwards. "Tazz!" he scolded but his scolds were drowned out by laughs and squeals of his girls as they dog-piled their dad. Tazz ran around in circles barking at the three of them as they rolled around on the grass. After a couple minutes, Tony surrendered and laid down with both his daughters sitting on stomach. He laughed and turned his head to see Kate standing there with a sweet smile on her face. Tony's breath caught in his throat as he gazed at his beautiful wife. The sun was hitting her just right so her long dark hair shimmered around her elbows all the way down her back. Her skin glowed making her look like an angel. Tony smiled when she started to make her way over to them. "Hey beautiful." He whispered. Kate sauntered over to them and crouched down smirking at Tony. "Please tell me you didn't just get tackled by two girls?" she teased. Tony growled as Brooke and Emma laughed. "Yes, we did! We got Daddy!" Brooke teased. Tony rolled his eyes playfully, "I let you guys win!" he argued. Kate snorted and replied, "Sure you did, honey. Whatever makes you feel better in your old age." She said with a twinkle in her hazel eyes. "Dad's old…." Emma smirked. Tony reached out and pinched Kate's hip causing her to squeal and jump away. "I'll show you old age later tonight." He muttered. "Eewww…" Emma scrunched her nose at her parents as she got up off her dad. "That's so gross." Kate helped Tony up and brushed the grass off his back. Tazz jumped on Brooke, knocking her to the ground and grabbed her sweater in his mouth as he ran off with it. "Tazz!" Brooke shouted at the playful golden retriever as she scrambled up and proceeded to chase him around the playground. Kate and Tony watched amused as Em and Brooke chased their dog around. "We should help them." Kate said glancing at her husband. Tony wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed his lips to hers. "We should, but I really don't want to." He told her, his green eyes shining down at her. Kate chuckled as they turned their attention back to their girls.
And then out of nowhere, a gun-shot sounded. Tony instinctively ducked pulling Kate down with him, covering her body protectively with his. They scrambled up to look around for their daughters. "Emma! Brooke!" Kate screamed at the top of her lungs. Tony felt his heart stop as he pulled out his gun and looked around, not seeing them anywhere. "Mommy! Daddy!" they whirled around to see both girls and Tazz huddled under the bush. "Girls!" Kate sobbed with relief. Tony covered Kate as they ran to them, his gun out and alert. He scanned the playground and saw nothing, there was no one around but them. No cars or people. He crouched down to his family and allowed a sigh of relief as he scooped his girls up in his arms, thanking God that his family was safe. Kate had silent tears running down her face as she held her daughters tightly in her arms as she leaned back into the safety of Tony's strong arms. She turned to him. "Did you see anything?" she asked him. Tony shook his head. "No, there's no one out there. We have to get back to the house and I'm going to call Gibbs. Come on!" he told them but Kate grabbed his arm. "What about the crime scene and procedures?" she asked, her investigator instincts kicking in. But Tony shook his head firmly. "No, I'm getting you guys home where it's safe. The hell with procedures. The safety of my family comes first." He whispered as he tightened his grip around his girls. He had never truly understood the meaning of fear until his family, his wife and children were threatened and he swore he would not rest until the person responsible for putting his family in danger was dead.
He kissed all three of them and scratched Tazz behind the ears, reassuring them and himself that they were all OK before he slowly looked around the park. After making sure they were OK, he ushered them out and got them to safety of his car and he drove them home. While Tony was going around locking windows and doors, Kate made the girls some hot chocolate to calm them down. Tazz, knowing something important was happening stationed himself in the middle of the hallway where he had a view on the front door and his family. They all gathered in the living room. "What's going on?" Emma asked first. Kate looked up as Tony entered the room. "I called Gibbs. The team is on their way over." He said gently as he sat down next to Kate. "I don't know what's going on, sweetie." He told her as Brooked crawled into his lap. "But you're going to get the bad guy, right Daddy?" she asked. Tony smiled down at her. "You bet I am." He promised.
Just then a knock sounded at the door. Tazz jumped up and barked and snarled an aggressive warning to whoever was at the door. "Hey Tazz! Buddy, calm down." Tony said as he got up, grabbing Tazz by the collar. "It's the team. It's OK. They're not going to hurt us." He reassured the agitated dog. He peeped through the peephole to see Gibbs, McGee, Ziva and Jenny standing there. He let them in. "Hey guys, thanks for coming." He said as they made their way to the living room. After their hug fest, Gibbs told them they're having the FBI secure the crime scene. "Right now, I don't care who has jurisdiction." He told a confused Kate and Tony. "I just want to catch this son of a bitch. I told the FBI Director that I want Fornell on this case." Tony nodded. "He's pretty much family anyways." Gibbs nodded in agreement. "I know he'll take this seriously." He said as he knelt down to take his granddaughters in his arms. "You guys always get the bad guys." Brooke bragged which made everyone laugh.
Just then another knock sounded followed by another round of barking and snarling from Tazz. It was Abby, Ducky, and Palmer followed by Fornell. "We found a bullet case in the bushes." He told them holding up the bullet case in an evidence bag. "Can I see it?" Abby asked. Fornell nodded and handed her the bags and a pair of gloves. Abby pulled it out and inspected it. "It's from a 9mm glock." She said softly. She looked up to see everyone's face pale. "What does that mean?" Emma asked noticing the change in the room. Gibbs turned to her slowly. "Every federal agent has a 9mm glock. It's the standard issued gun for federal agents." He told her. "So, whoever shot at us is a federal agent?" she asked slowly. No one needed to answer for her to know the answer.
"McGee, can you somehow trace anything you can on Ray? I know he's not a federal agent but I'm sure he has a 9mm glock on him." McGee nodded and pulled out his PDA, getting to work. Ziva and Gibbs went to check out the crime scene with Fornell and Ducky settled down in the big rocking chair with Brooke and Emma and proceeded to tell them a story. Palmer sat close by and listened while Abby and Kate went to the kitchen to get some drinks for everyone. Several hours later, they found out that Ray wasn't even in the country right now; he was in Italy for a family wedding. Tony was sitting with McGee when an idea came to him. "Can you get a GPS location for EJ at the time of the shooting?" he asked. McGee raised an eyebrow. "EJ? Are you sure?" Tony grimaced. "It's a gut thing, I can't explain it…" McGee nodded understanding as he pulled up Tony's request. He sucked in a breath. "What is it?" Tony asked him. "EJ was across the street at the time of the shooting." Tony and McGee looked at each other and both stood up to find Gibbs and Fornell.
"So what happened to EJ?" Emma asked her mom the next day. All she knew was that everyone except her, Brooke, Abby, Ducky and Palmer left to go arrest EJ. It turned out that she had shot the bullets at the Dinozzo's. It was apparently too hard for her to comprehend that Tony was taken and there was no chance for her with him. Kate smirked and looked up at Em. "Well, since your father would never hurt a woman, he was content to scare the heck out of her. He promised her that if she ever came anywhere any of us again, he'd make her life a living hell. And Grandpa Gibbs is extremely intimidating. I think she almost wet herself after he was done with her." She replied. Emma was confused. "I thought you guys were going to arrest her?" Kate nodded. "It was the FBI's case so Fornell ended up arresting her. I don't know what's going to happen now. All I know is she was scared to death of the team and she's not allowed near NCIS or any of us." Emma smirked at her mom. "Yeah, I'd be scared to if I were EJ!"