Hi all! Thanks for all the love for the last chap. Seems like I pushed the right buttons. Just a quick note, a lot of the little details and scenarios that I'm throwing into this are things that have been specifically requested by readers. This next chap includes a couple more. I absolutely do not mind people asking for certain elements or details and if I feel like they can be worked with the plot as I have it planned, I will do my very best! Small details or scenarios are easier to work with since the plot is pretty much set and I don't plan to change that.

This chapter is just filled with feels. In all honesty it feels just a LITTLE disjointed to me but I think it flows enough. I think that may have been me tryig to fulfill one too many requests in one chapter. They're just such fun requests! Oh well, hope you continue to enjoy!

Tony awakened to Jethro stirring restlessly against him. Gibbs had woken more than a few times through the night and was fidgety for the remainder of it resulting in poor sleep for both of them. DiNozzo knew he was still worried about his father, perhaps anticipating the call that would send him rushing back to the hospital. It was only barely light outside, maybe six or six thirty at the latest and he really wanted the older man to get some more rest.

"Go back to sleep," he whispered, nuzzling into the soft hair at Jethro's nape and rubbing gentle circles against his hip.

"Mmm…that's not gonna help," Jethro rumbled as he stretched and slowly turned onto his back and then his other side, facing DiNozzo as he slipped a knee between his thighs and tucked himself under the younger man's chin.

Tony wrapped his arms around Gibbs' back, a little surprised when Jethro curled against him and snuggled into the hollow of his shoulder.

"Let's just stay here all day. No NCIS, no hospitals, no fathers, just us." He pressed his lips to the soft fur of Tony's chest for emphasis.

The proposition would have been an impossible one to turn down if DiNozzo didn't know what was underlying it. "He'll be okay, Jethro," Tony soothed quietly, tightening his arms and resting his cheek atop the silvered dome of the older man's head.

Gibbs' breathing hitched and his fingertips dug into soft flesh, finally letting the thing that had been eating at him quietly since they were alone in the elevator the day before out of its cage. "What if he isn't?" It took all he had to put voice to his fear.

Tony knew that this was the thought that had been keeping him awake last night, that it was partly responsible for the fact that Jethro had tried-albeit unsuccessfully- to entice his cock into a third round of needy sex even when they were both obviously spent and sated. Gibbs was almost as skilled at avoidance as DiNozzo himself, something else he'd resonated with since early on in their relationship, but at least this was one thing he knew how to handle. "Then we deal with it."

"He's my father, Tony." Jethro argued stubbornly. "I deal with it."

"And you're my family." It was the first time he'd used the phrase and applied it to Gibbs outside his own mind. "Whether you want to be, whether you asked to be, you are. So we deal with things like this for as long as we decide to be together, Jethro," he said firmly. "Get over it."

Jethro pulled back and looked at him, retaliation poised on his lips, eyebrows knit together at the younger man's bold tone. When Tony didn't flinch or give, consternation turned to wonder and he nodded slowly. "Okay," he agreed without further protest.

"Okay." DiNozzo kissed his mouth softly.

They were quiet for a few minutes and Gibbs swore he could feel the subtle shift that had just taken place cementing itself deep inside. Tony was right, they were family whether they initially chose it or not, connected by blood now and perhaps something even stronger.

"So how are you going to introduce me?" DiNozzo chided playfully, switching gears with no warning whatsoever. "Boy toy? Baby Daddy? Your Italian Stallion?" he joked, retreating somewhat from the deeper end of the emotional pool as he was wont to do when things got too intense. It was an old habit and one he had gotten better about breaking but there was something in Jethro's eyes that made him suddenly nervous as fuck.

"Won't have to say anything." Gibbs shook his head, refusing to rise to the bait. Tony had brought them to the crux of something and there was no turning back now. "Anyone knows me at all can tell the minute you walk in a room that I'm in love with you," he said thickly. He stroked Tony's cheek with his thumb, watching the flare of his pupils, feeling the way his heart suddenly slammed against his ribs. "I choose you to be my family, Tony. Right now. I choose you."

Seven and a half months ago he'd met a man. A man that would change his life in ways he could never fathom. And now that man was curled against his naked body, giving shelter to his unborn child, and offering him a place in his life, and more importantly now, in his heart. "I choose you, Jethro." He moved down and buried his face in the crook of Gibbs' neck. "I will always choose you."

Two hours later they were back at the hospital. Tony agreed to stay in the waiting room once more until Gibbs got caught up with the doctor and checked on his dad. He'd caught the younger man looking at him strangely a few times since they'd finally relinquished the inviting warmth of their bed that morning. He couldn't explain why Tony's silently contemplative expression and almost shy smile made his cheeks feel like they were on fire but the unfaltering embrace of his hand was a welcome support he didn't want to admit he needed.

Jethro was disappointed not to see Patricia's face as he approached the nurses' station but he supposed she was off after working the evening before. He was glad to find out that Jackson's oxygen levels had improved a little more overnight and they had been able to reduce the amount of supplemental oxygen he was receiving. They would do a chest x-ray a little later in the day to see if his lungs were clearing at all and an echocardiogram to check his heart function but at the very least they could say he hadn't gotten worse and that in itself was good news at this point.

When Jethro saw him the first time that morning he was sitting up and eating a bland looking breakfast under the watchful eye of a young aide whom he seemed to be doing his very best to charm.

"Things don't change too much, do they Jack?" Gibbs smiled, feeling relieved that his father's face seemed to have a little more color, his eyes a little less glaze, and he appeared to be breathing somewhat easier.

"Obviously some things do," the elder Gibbs looked pointedly at his son's swollen stomach with a smile.

"S'pose they do," he agreed. Jethro hadn't made even a futile attempt to disguise the bump this morning and the tailored button down he wore hugged the curve of it snuggly.

"Thought maybe last night was just a dream," Jackson admitted. "I'd ask Nancy here to pinch me but I think she's a little young."

The aide swatted his arm playfully, clearly already under the spell of the older man and his twinkling blue eyes.

"Not a dream, Dad. This one's all too real." Jethro took the chair next to the bed, still finding it hard to believe that he was having more than two civilized words with his father after so many years. In some ways it felt like no time had passed at all but the deeper lines in Jackson's cheeks, the darkened spots and thinned skin of his hands told a different story. He was happier to see that his face and fingers appeared slightly less puffy this morning and he took this as a good sign as well.

"You feeling okay, son? You look tired. You need to get your rest not be worrying about me," Jackson admonished.

"M'Fine. Got a nice hotel around the corner. I'm here as long as you need me to be," Gibbs reassured him.

"I'll be back on my feet in no time. Can't keep a Gibbs down with a little virus. Besides, with all these wires and things they got running into me I should feel like a new man by tomorrow." The last word ran off and he began coughing hard, a dry cough that made him wince and left him wheezing a little when he finally got it under control.

"I'm going to go check into a breathing treatment for you, Mr. Gibbs." The young aide who was still standing there a bit awkwardly took the mostly eaten tray of food and disappeared into the hallway.

Once she was gone, Jethro grabbed Jackson's hand, still shaking a bit on the pale sheet. "I'm staying, Dad." He'd seen the spark of panic in Jackson's eyes a moment ago when the older man had struggled to draw air into his fluid-filled lungs and knew he was more scared than he would ever let on. Things other than blue eyes certainly ran in the family.

Jackson just nodded but his fingers tightened firmly as he let his head drop back against the pillow.

For the next hour they caught up on the banal details of their lives, avoiding the topics that were sure to open old wounds best left undisturbed for the moment. Nurses and aids came in and out, drawing blood, marking in charts, administering medications. Jethro had worried that his presence might keep Jack from getting needed rest but he was remembering why a hospital was certainly no place for relaxation. Eventually they came to take Jackson down for some testing and he realized that over two hours had passed since he had come in. The nurse assured him that they would let Jackson rest after the tests were complete but that it could be an hour or so until he even made it back to his room.

Gibbs agreed to return later that afternoon, sooner if he was needed, and went to collect Tony from the waiting room, feeling a bit guilty for making him wait so long. He was dismayed to find that the younger man wasn't where he had left him but assumed DiNozzo had wandered off somewhere to entertain himself.

Checking back in at the nurses' station, he found Nancy, the young aide from earlier, in attendance and asked if anyone fitting Tony's description had left a message or been seen wandering about.

Nancy, clearly more precocious than her young girl-next-door looks suggested, gave him a conspiratorial wink and led him down a series of short corridors until he saw DiNozzo staring into a large window with his fingers pressed to the glass. "He was asking about you and if everything was going okay in there. Looked a little worried and a little lost so I thought he might like something to take his mind off things for a while. Always works wonders for me." She smiled gently, turning back the way they had come and leaving the two men alone in the quiet hallway.

Moving as silently as he could, Jethro came up on Tony completely unaware as the younger man continued to stare in rapt fascination at the contents of the room behind the glass.

DiNozzo jumped in surprise as Gibbs reached for his hand but relaxed and smiled a completely goofy grin as he directed his attention back to where it had been previously. "There's so many of them," he whispered.

"It's a nursery, DiNozzo. There's supposed to be." Jethro had to admit he was instantly captivated by the rows of pink and blue swaddled infants as well.

"But they're all so…small and…small." He couldn't find another word right now.

"They get bigger," Gibbs reassured him.

Tony moved behind Jethro and wrapped his arms around him, settling them on the dome of his stomach. "We're gonna have one of those," he said in awe.

"Pretty soon." He covered DiNozzo's hands. "But not in a display case," he laughed. This visit to the world of disinfectant smells and endlessly beeping machines had certainly confirmed that he wanted no part of that process.

"Wish there was like, a practice one or something that you could take home for a week," he mused. "I mean, how do you know how to take care of someone that needs you for every little thing? What if I do something wrong and I…break her or something?" One of the babies nearer to the window started in with a trembling cry and Tony felt a strong urge to comfort the tiny squalling infant, something that he had never experienced before. To DiNozzo's relief, a nurse came and whisked the baby away only a minute or so later.

Jethro was feeling a similar urge but this one made his already achy chest feel tight and heavy. "You won't break her," Gibbs promised him. "It's not easy, but you figure them out. Amazing how fast, actually. And before you know it, they're walking and talking and asking you for money." He pressed back against the warmth of Tony's frame.

DiNozzo let out a deep breath. "How's your dad?" He realized he hadn't asked yet.

"Hanging in there. They've got him down for tests and I said we'd come back this afternoon. I'm sorry, I should have let you just stay back in the room," he apologized, pulling away reluctantly and turning to face Tony.

"I don't mind. How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Gibbs admitted.

"I know where there's a really soft bed," Tony said hopefully. In truth, a nap sounded pretty damn amazing at the moment and maybe a little afternoon delight thrown in for good measure. He paused a second, noticing something on Gibbs' shirt. "Looks like you spilled something," he pointed out.

Jethro looked confused. "I didn't have anything after we left." He pulled his shirt away from his body and looked at the small round stain near the left breast pocket, simultaneously feeling moisture against his skin. "Oh hell." He felt heat rise up into his face immediately, completely mortified by what was happening to him.

"What is it?" DiNozzo asked, obviously concerned by Gibbs' reaction.

"It's…" he looked around and was glad to find the hallway still deserted. "I'm leaking," he muttered in embarrassment.

"You're..?" Tony looked puzzled for a moment before the meaning of his words kicked in and his mind put the pieces together. "Oh," he said lamely, kicking himself when the reaction seemed to make Jethro's shoulders slump even more. "Hey. It's okay, Gibbs. I read about this in one of those books. It's perfectly normal in later months. It should just be a little bit. It was probably the baby crying." He tried to be reassuring.

"It's fucking humiliating," Jethro groaned.

"You can barely see it. It was just because I was standing really close," he consoled the older man. "We can stop at the drug store on the way back and I'll run in and get you something."

Gibbs grunted in agreement and they made their way quickly to the lobby as he tried in vain to cover the small ring, not relaxing until he finally got to the truck. To his relief, the spot was already drying and Tony was right, it was barely noticeable. But he suddenly felt like he was wearing a huge sign that said 'Hi, I'm lactating' above his already enormous belly and it wasn't remotely the kind of attention he wanted.

They stopped at the closest pharmacy and as promised, DiNozzo went in and returned proudly with some round pads that adhered to the inside of his shirt to save him from future embarrassment.

When Jethro was still oddly quiet in the hotel room after cleaning up and changing his shirt, DiNozzo was at a loss as to how to make him feel better. The man had enough misery going on and it seemed this one thing, which seemed fairly insignificant to Tony, had really thrown him off. When they finally stripped off their clothes and crawled beneath the air conditioning cooled sheets, Gibbs seemed distant and withdrawn.

Jethro stiffened as Tony's arm slid around him but DiNozzo wasn't put off.

"Tell me why this is bothering you so much, Gibbs. I want to understand," he said sincerely.

Jethro hesitated, not sure how the words would sound outside of his head. "It's stupid," he confessed.

"Not if you're this upset." Tony stroked his hip.

"Don't like being out of control like this. All these hormones just racing around inside me, changing me and I can't do a damn thing about it." Jethro's frustration almost bordered on anger. "I like being pregnant with her and I wouldn't change it now, even if I had a choice and that surprises the hell out of me. But all the shit that comes along with it? Sometimes it's just too much and I feel like…I feel like I just want my god damn body back, you know?"

Of course he didn't know but he could sympathize. "You know most of the time I'm insanely jealous that you get to have her all to yourself right now?" he said gently. "That you get to feel her growing inside of you? That you get to feed her and sustain her? That she needs you to do that for her and she doesn't need me? I never thought I'd care that I couldn't…that I couldn't do this." Tony tightened his arm around Jethro's belly lovingly. "But watching you…That look you get in your eyes when she's moving or kicking? I would take the back pain and the swollen ankles and the…the leaking nipples just to know what that's like for one day. I would do this for you in a heartbeat if I could, Gibbs, you have to believe that." His throat was tight by the end of it.

Jethro turned onto his back and looked at DiNozzo's heavy hazel eyes. "She needs you," he said simply.

"What?"

"She needs you because…because I need you." The admission was easier than Gibbs had anticipated and totally worth the cost to his pride.

Tony's chest felt like it might explode. Between the intensity of that morning and this unlooked for turn from Jethro he desperately needed an outlet for what he was feeling. "Show me." He attacked Gibbs' mouth urgently. "Show me how much you need me," he panted, rolling onto his back so Jethro could ride him.

The feeling of the older man's weight settling onto him was reassurance he hadn't known he needed until this moment and when he finally came, when he felt Gibbs' cum splash hot on his chest and stomach, finally pressed back into his pillow, limp and utterly exhausted, he fell into the most peaceful sleep he could remember, burdened with nothing and unable to remember a time when he wasn't filled with love for the man snoring softly against his chest.

"Want you to meet someone, Dad." Jethro felt a bit like he had the first time he'd ever brought someone home as a teenager. "This is Tony."

DiNozzo stepped around the edge of the curtain and flashed his thousand watt smile. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Gibbs." He stopped at Jethro's side.

"Little young, isn't he Leroy? Course I suppose he would have to be pretty to attract your eye." Jackson's eyes bored into Tony.

Gibbs actually thought DiNozzo might be blushing. "Come on, Jack," he warned lightly.

"Well, come a little closer. Shake my hand at least. And I suppose if you're going to be the father of my granddaughter you should probably call me Jack. Might make things a little easier," he offered seemingly grudgingly

Tony looked at Gibbs and proceeded toward the head of the bed where he extended his hand, surprised at the strength with which Jackson shook it.

"So Tony, do you plan to make an honest man out of my son or are you two going to raise my granddaughter in sin?" The older man said without preamble.

DiNozzo laughed loud and short. "Am I gonna..? That's funny, Jack. Gibbs said you had a sense of humor but I…" He stopped abruptly at the stony look on Jackson's face and turned to look at Jethro with slightly panic stricken eyes. "Oh my god, you're serious? Is he serious?" He looked from son to father and back again.

"I think it's a fair question." Jack continued to regard him levelly.

"We…well we haven't really talked about it but I…." Tony shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably.

"Don't know if marriage and I are really cut out for each other, Dad." Gibbs finally came to his rescue but not before Tony had had a few turns over the coals.

"You love him?" The elder Gibbs asked firmly.

This was something DiNozzo had an answer for and he squared his shoulders, meeting the clear blue of Jackson's eyes that so resembled the ones he had spent endless hours mapping. "I do." The words resounded firmly against the close walls.

"Good." Tony's declaration and obvious sincerity seemed to satisfy Jackson for the moment. "Then I just have one more thing to say. I know my son, whether he wants to believe that or not, and it's clear that he loves you in return. And when Leroy loves someone, he loves with everything he is. Every single part of him, do you understand? And if you ever do anything to hurt him or my granddaughter, I've got a shot gun, a shovel, 40 acres, and an airtight alibi."

By the look on the older man's face, Tony didn't have a single doubt that he was deadly serious. He willed himself not to take a step backwards but couldn't stop his head from swinging over toward Jethro who simply shrugged and raised an eyebrow unhelpfully.

"I've seen the gun," Jethro confirmed suppressing the grin that wanted to rise at the corners of his mouth. In truth he knew that if Jackson was threatening DiNozzo with this punishment of punishments, it meant that he was accepting Tony's presence in his life without question, and without judgment and that was the only thing that really mattered to him. Not to mention there was a certain sadistic pleasure in watching DiNozzo squirm just a little.

Thank you so much for reading and commenting.

Wednesday nights don't seem to be the best posting nights but c'est sa vie! It was ready!