Warnings: Mentions of suicide, drunk Tony and Natalie, spoilers for Season 8...

A/N: I totally blame some this chapter on the amount of caffeine I had while writing this ;) I also rewrote this about four times because I was struggling with where to take the story, trying to find filler before the next major arc and decided to just skip trying to find filler and go straight to the next arc. Hope you enjoy it :)

It wasn't until New Year's Eve that Tony thought about the box with his mother's things again. He happened to come across it while getting ready for a black-tie party at a fancy bar downtown. Smoothing his tuxedo jacket, Tony leaned down and picked the box up, put it on his bed, and popped it open.

Some of the items inside he had not taken out for years. He was surprised that a cloud of dust didn't erupt from the box when he opened the lid. To anyone else the items were not that exciting or special, but to him, they reminded him of happier times with his mother. A faded movie ticket, a program from some off Broadway play she had taken him too-a take-out menu from their favorite Chinese food restaurant.

Tony picked the old movie ticket up. It was from the last movie she had taken him to see. The Little Prince. She had been happy and carefree that day, but it was a week later when she had locked herself away in her room never to come out again.

"What are you looking at?" Natalie questioned, breaking the silence.

"Just a bunch of old things," Tony said, turning and smiling at her.

Natalie saw the box on the bed and decided to keep a safe distance. "Are those your mom's things?"

Tony nodded as his fingers brushed against a velvet box. "Some of them were hers, others just things that reminded me of her at better times. My dad might have been a drunk, absentee father and husband, but my mother tried her best when she was feeling well to take care of me."

"She was sick?"

"Bipolar. I didn't realize that until I was much, much older and experienced interactions with mentally ill people as a rookie cop."

Smoothing her cranberry colored dress down, Natalie sat on the edge of the bed, watching as he glanced sadly at the box. "How...how did she die?"

Taking a deep breath, Tony pushed the box back and sat down. He placed the velvet box in his lap. "My dad came home one night, looking for his Scotch...my mom liked to hide it on him, it was her way to get him to stop drinking. He got angry at her, they got into a fight where he demeaned her and beat her and he stormed out. My mother locked herself in her room for days. I came home from school one day and found her in her bed...she overdosed on sleeping pills."

Natalie felt tears gathering in her eyes. "You were the one to find your mother after she committed suicide? Tony... that's...that's terrible. Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't want you to judge me or to worry that I was going to suffer from the same mental illness that my mother did. I didn't want you to think that I was unstable."

She took his face between her hands and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. "Oh Tony, I don't think you're unstable. You're one of the strongest people I know."

He looked her straight in the eye, revealing to her all the pain he had felt over the years surrounding that box and his mother. "Wendy used it against me all the time."

"Well, what did she know?" Natalie snapped, feeling an intense anger for a woman she didn't even know, a woman that she had never even seen a photograph of.

"Apparently, not me," Tony countered, looking at her, sadly. He then smiled at her, soaking in the sight of her in a strapless, cranberry chiffon dress that hugged her curves. "You look beautiful, darling."

"And you look handsome," Natalie said, stroking his cheeks with her thumbs. She pulled him in for another kiss.

"I want to give you something to wear tonight," Tony said, smiling at her, sweetly.

"Tony, I'm not wearing any sexy teddy underneath this dress."

"Oh, well, as much as I would like that...it's something a bit smaller, more sophisticated."

Natalie felt something placed in her lap. Letting go of Tony, she glanced down to see the black velvet box resting on top of her thighs. "What is this?" She asked, popping open the box. Inside was an elegant strand of ivory colored pearls.

Tony took the pearls out of the box and placed them around Natalie's neck, clasping the necklace shut. "They were my mother's favorite. After she died my grandfather got them, he didn't trust my father to care for them, and he didn't want them to be pawned off. He gave them to me when I turned eighteen. Told me to give them to a special lady someday. I think he would approve of you."

Her fingers ran along the pearls. "Would your mother have approved?"

His eyes glistened with unshod tears. "Yeah...she would have approved."

"They're beautiful. I promise to take good care of them."

"I know you will. I know how much you love vintage and antique things."

Natalie smiled at him. "Vintage and antique things have more character."

Tony chuckled. "Does that apply to men too?"

She got a little teasing glint in her gray eyes. "There are some older men that I find sexy."

He grasped her hands tightly and pulled her closer to him. "So, if anyone older looks at you tonight, I should be concerned?" Tony asked her, jokingly.

"You have nothing to worry about. I find you very sexy," Natalie told him. "And you gave me a very nice piece of jewelry."

"I know how to keep a woman happy," Tony said, wagging his eyebrows. He kissed her softly and then became serious. "Are you happy, Natalie?"

"Tony, do you really have to ask?"

"Yes, I do." You know how incredibly insecure I am about relationships, Natalie.

"Yes, Tony, I'm happy. In fact, I am the happiest I have ever been, here in Washington, with you."

"You know something, I'm the happiest I have ever been here in Washington, with you as well."

Natalie leaned towards him, capturing his lips into a passionate kiss. Her hands let go of his hands and roamed up the front of his pristine, white dress shirt. She fingered the buttons but didn't undo them.

Tony slipped his hands around her tiny waist, deepening the kiss. He suddenly wished he had not planned their elegant New Year's Eve and that they were just going to stay home. He really wanted to get her out of that dress...

She pulled away ending their kiss. "We should probably go."

He sighed, resting his forehead against hers. "Okay, but tomorrow we're spending it in bed... watching movies."

"I find it hard to believe that you want to just spend tomorrow in bed watching movies."

"Okay, maybe I want to do more than just watch movies in bed tomorrow."

Natalie grinned and slide off the bed. "That sounds about right."

Tony smiled, stood up and grabbed his wallet. He helped Natalie into her jacket and kissed her cheek. "Let's go ring in the new year."

Tim heard the knocking, on banging rather, on his door very early on New Year's Day. Opening one eye he glanced at his alarm clock. Seriously? Who's at the door at five-thirty in the morning on New Year's Day?

Next to him his new girlfriend groaned, and pulled her pillow over her head, voicing her complaints about the early visitors. Tim stumbled out of bed, found his slippers and his robe, put them on and went to answer the door. He wasn't surprised to find Tony and Natalie behind it, smiling like little kids. "Oh my God, what are the two of you doing here?" Tim asked.

Clearly they had not gone home from their party the night before. Tony was still in his tux, minus the bow tie, and Natalie was still in a cocktail dress. Tony held up a tray of coffee and a bag with food in it. "We brought the best hangover breakfast that the city of D.C has to offer," he said.

"Are you two still drunk?" Tim questioned, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Mildly buzzed," Tony replied. "It was open bar at the party."

"We stayed until they kicked us out at four and then went to the diner for coffee," Natalie said, smiling.

Tony shook the bag of food. "That's why we have this! We figured that we weren't the only couple needing some hangover food."

Tim was exasperated. He had not felt like this since Tony and Kate had showed up at his apartment on a Sunday morning and then proceeded to snoop around. "You both are absolutely out of your minds right now. Seriously, how much did you drink?"

Natalie tossed him a serious look. "Tim! We made sure to eat and drink water between the champagne, wine, and martinis. So, we're not that drunk. Oh! And we've both had a cup of coffee!"

"How did you get here?"

"We walked."

"You walked from the diner to my apartment?" Tim asked, horrified. "It's freezing out! And at least an hour or so away by foot!"

Tony blinked a few times. "Yeah, well, why do you think it took us so long to get here?"

Tim could hear groaning coming from the bedroom. He should probably get rid of Tony and Natalie soon. And call them a cab. "You're crazy! Listen, I'm going to call for a cab..."

Natalie looked sad, and gave him puppy dog eyes. "So you don't want to have breakfast with us?"

"Hey, McGee!" his neighbor yelled, opening the door, "do you think you could let your drunk ass friends into your apartment? Some of us want to sleep!"

"Sorry, sorry," Tim said, grabbing a hold of both Tony and Natalie and pulling them into his apartment. He shut the door and glared at them. "Thanks guys."

"You know what will make you feel better?" Tony asked.

"No, what?" Tim responded.

"Your favorite breakfast burrito."

"I'm not hungover, Tony."

Tony sighed and put the bag down onto the counter. "We were just trying to do something nice for you."

Tim felt a little bit guilty. Only little a bit though since they had woken him up so early. "Tell you want, I'll pull out the sleeper sofa and you guys can sleep there and when everyone wakes up at a normal time, we can eat breakfast."

Instantly the smile was back on Tony's face. "Okay, sounds good to me. But, we don't have any jammies here. I suppose you don't want us walking around your apartment naked."

He cringed slightly. "I'll go find you something. Stay... stay here."

"Where else am I going to go?" Tony asked, honestly.

"I... really don't know," Tim said as he went back into his bedroom. He found some lounge pants and a tee shirt for Tony, and some sweats that Sarah had left behind for Natalie. Bringing them back out into the living room he discovered that Tony and Natalie had managed to pull out the sleeper sofa. Maybe they weren't as drunk as they appeared after all. "Here. You can borrow these."

Tony took the clothes and immediately began to strip of his tuxedo in the middle of Tim's living room, paying no attention to his surroundings that Tim was standing in the room with them.

Tim quickly threw his hands up and closed his eyes. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he snapped. "Can you at least wait until I'm out of the room before you strip? I do not want to see you naked!"

"What? We've showered before!" Tony exclaimed.

"Wait? You guys took a shower together?" Natalie inquired, her eyes wide. "When did this happen?"

"A long time ago," Tim answered, glaring at Tony. "And it was in the NCIS showers because Tony opened a letter with the plague."

"And it wasn't just Tim," Tony said, grinning like a little kid. "Gibbs and Kate were there as well."

"Wow, I knew you were a close team but I didn't think you were that close," Natalie remarked, taking Sarah's sweats and heading into the bathroom to change.

Tim continued to glare at the grinning Tony. "You realize she was almost on the team for two years before that story came up?"

Tony pulled his dress shirt off and then pulled Tim's tee shirt on. "Yes. It's a great story, Tim."

"Great? Tony, you almost died from the plague."

"Which makes it a great story! I beat the plague, Probie!"

"If you say so, Tony," Tim sighed as he turned back towards his bedroom. It had not felt like such a great time to him when Tony had been dying...

"Hey, McGee?" Tony said.

Tim turned around and looked at his partner. "Yeah?"

Tony gave him a genuine, soft smile now. "Thanks for letting us stay here."

"No problem," Tim replied, "but you owe me, DiNozzo." Big time.

All of a sudden three cell phones went off. Immediately, Tony and Tim groaned as they realized that it was their phones. Natalie emerged from the bathroom, looking at her watch, wearing Sarah's sweats and a pearl necklace. "Is that Gibbs?" she questioned.

Tony found his phone and held it up for the agents to see. Gibbs name flashed across the screen. He slid his finger over the answer button. "Hey, boss," he said, trying hard not to sound too drunk. "Do we have a case?"

"Get McGee, get Callahan," Gibbs said. "Body was found in Rock Creek Park, wrapped in plastic."

"Plastic?" Tony repeated, feeling like he should know the answer to this...

"Yeah," Gibbs snapped, "The Port to Port Killer is back. Grab your gear! We have work to do."