*Sniff-sniff* I can't believe it's coming to an end! What a crazy journey from the simple request that got stuck under my skin to this monstrous epic of emotion that kept me in it's grips for four months without letting go.

I can't thank all of you enough for reading and supporting this fic as it has grown and evolved, to those who encouraged and suggested, and always let me know that you were still here with me. I appreciate every single one of you more than you know!

I plan to add a short epilogue to this but I am marking it complete for now as essentially, it is. I sincerely hope that you like this last little bit and that it gives you all the feels you expect. I know I was teared up a time or two.

You guys are the BEST! *kisses*

KK

"Son of a bitch," Jethro cursed breathlessly as his latest contraction peaked, gripped painfully around his belly with such intense pressure that felt like it was pulling his insides apart. His fingers were white and shaking against the edge of the counter before it finally loosed its hold on him.

"Almost 50 seconds this time, that's a long one." Tony set down the stop watch they had been using to keep track of the progressively lengthening spasms for the last two hours and rubbed hard at the curve of Gibbs' lower back to help him shed the remaining tension.

"You're telling me." He took a deep breath and let it out, shaking off the pain while he could. It was almost 9am and as near as he could figure he'd been in labor for at least seven and a half hours now. His contractions had continued to increase in frequency and length and the last few had been coming at about six or seven minutes apart. Tony's fingers ceased their work on his spine and pressed a cool towel to the back of his neck as he straightened, turning to face the other man gratefully. It was going to be a warm day from the feel of it and Jethro was rethinking his decision to don the soft pair of sweats that hung loosely below his belly. He'd already shed the too-snug t-shirt he'd put on upstairs as his exertions increased and the lower level of the house started to heat up a little. A large fan circulated the air from the living room into the kitchen and he shivered slightly as a blast of cooler air hit him and quickly dried the sweat on his skin.

Gibbs had spent the better part of an hour pushing his breakfast around on his plate between contractions but he'd taken at least a few bites of eggs and crepes and had some orange juice which made Tony feel better. After that they'd taken a walk to the end of the block as Darren had recommended being as active as possible as long as possible to help him progress faster. Unfortunately, Jethro had quickly grown self-conscious and uncomfortable as cars went by and gawking neighbors who seemed to want to start awkward conversations came out to retrieve their morning papers or take out the trash so they had returned to the house and spent some time walking around the backyard. They'd come in so Tony could make the necessary phone calls to notify NCIS of their impending new arrival and subsequent absences from work as well as see if their birth assistant had called with an update on his expected arrival time. "You want anything? More breakfast? Water?" Tony offered.

"Double shot of Bourbon with a side of morphine?" Jethro answered gruffly.

Tony leaned in and kissed his damp forehead. "Would if I could." He smiled sympathetically and then turned more serious. "Gibbs…there's still time to go if you think it's too much," Tony said tentatively. He had been hesitant to say anything, needing Jethro to know he supported whatever he wanted wholeheartedly, but he'd seen the other man struggling a bit more during his last few contractions. "There are drugs and doctors about five minutes away, you know."

Jethro didn't hesitate to shake his head. "I'm good," he reassured the younger man firmly, understanding that Tony was merely concerned about him. "You good?" He brought his hand up and to DiNozzo's shoulder and studied him intently for a moment.

"I'm good," he nodded. The familiar exchange gave him comfort and confidence in the fact that Jethro's head was clear.

"So what did Morrow say?" Jethro asked, moving to the sink for a glass of water.

"Just got his voicemail." He'd attempted to get the Director on the phone just before the start of Gibbs' last contraction with no success. "Just told him we were having a baby and I'd check in when it was all over."

Gibbs nodded. "Abby?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm afraid I've actually lost a little hearing in this ear after the way she squealed." He tugged at his earlobe. "Wouldn't let me off the phone until I promised to let her come and visit the moment you recovered."

"Expected nothing less," Jethro chuckled and then winced and rubbed his side.

"Already?" Tony's eyes widened.

Gibbs shook his head. "Just kicking me. Don't think she's too happy about all this."

"Would you be?" He leaned down to kiss Jethro's bare belly but the moment was interrupted by the chirp of his cell phone. Looking at the number, he recognized it as Darren's and flipped open the receiver. "DiNozzo," he answered. "We're good here. Moving along fast though…every six or seven…" he paused as Gibbs let out a pained grunt and turned to the counter for support, "make that 5 minutes this time…No, no sign of his water breaking yet but…that's good news…We will… Front door's open if we don't answer," he finished, setting the phone back on the table and moving to Jethro's side, coaching him through the pain until it finally relented.

"Shit, that hurts." Jethro exhaled slowly, circled his hips and went into a half squat. He could feel his body trying to open up, to make room and stretch so that the baby could work her way down but right now he mostly just felt an extraordinary sense of pressure really low in his belly that didn't quite feel the way he would expect a head to feel if that's what it was. He tried to ignore it as he straightened and turned to Tony. "What did he say?"

"He's leaving right now. Should be here in a half hour or less."

Gibbs could hear the relief in Tony's voice and had to admit that he felt the same. That unexplainable sense of urgency he'd been feeling at the beginning of his labor was creeping back up on him quickly. "Think maybe I wanna go upstairs now." They'd planned for him to give birth in their bedroom where he would be close to the nursery and the bathroom if he needed it and he didn't want to wait until it was too late to make the move. He would still have ample room to walk around and he could get in the tub, the shower, or even sit on the toilet when they got to the more difficult parts. As he took a step toward the stairs he felt something let go inside of him with a liquid 'pop'. "Aw hell," he cursed as warm amniotic fluid dampened the seat of his sweats and trickled down his leg.

Tony turned just in time to see the darkening stain on Jethro's bottom.

"Guess my water broke," he looked up at Dinozzo helplessly, waiting for the release of fluid to stop as a small puddle slowly formed at his feet.

"Guess it did." Tony tried for comforting but knew his smile was a little tremulous. "Be right back." They'd brought a stock of absorbent pads and some towels from upstairs for this very reason and he quickly retrieved them from the living room.

"Probably never thought of this when you ran me down in that alley," he said as DiNozzo cleaned the floor and helped him strip out of his soaked pants. He actually felt a tremendous sense of relief and a momentary lessening of the heavy pressure inside him now that the dam had finally burst. He'd expected it to all come in a rush but there was still a steady stream running down his thigh. Tony handed him a pad to put between his legs while the younger man tossed his soiled clothing into the washer.

"Didn't think about much but that sexy ass of yours," Tony said as he came back into the kitchen.

"And now?" The question was light but part of him really wondered what DiNozzo secretly thought of this whole process.

Tony leaned in and toweled off Jethro's bottom half. "Even sexier." His fingers tapped lightly against the other man's ass.

"You're crazy," Gibbs muttered as they started for the stairs with him walking awkwardly, trying to keep the bulky pad in place.

"So you keep telling me." He stole a quick kiss.

They hadn't even made it to the bottom of the stairs when Jethro felt his next contraction beginning. This one had an entirely different feel to it and it quickly stole his breath with its sharp edge, so much so that his knees buckled and he went down onto the second riser, leaning forward and gripping another stair above him with everything he had. "Aaahhhhhh…" The gasp turned into a drawn out groan and he keened long and low quaking with the pure power of it. Somehow the sound resonated with the pain, gave him more focus.

Tony could see that Jethro was immediately having a much more difficult time with this contraction but when he collapsed onto the stairs, he became genuinely concerned. "Breathe, babe," he coached, trying to keep his voice calm and easy as he pressed his palm against Gibbs' back in the way that had seemed to help him earlier.

"Oh God, don't touch me," Jethro panted desperately. Suddenly, he couldn't handle even the deep pressure anymore and Tony's well intended touch was distracting him from trying to cope with the unbelievable pain that didn't seem to want to let go this time.

Recoiling as if struck, Tony merely watched helplessly and muttered reassurances that the contraction would be over soon even though it seemed to be going on much longer than the last.

"Oh fuck," Jethro said breathlessly as his muscles finally began to relax again. This was labor. This was the thing that had made grown men scream and cry and beg in the countless videos they had subjected themselves to. Suddenly he understood all too well what the big fuss was about. He stayed on his knees, trying to gather himself and get his breathing back under control. Blessed relief swept through his whole body as the pain fully subsided and he sagged against the cool wood of the staircase for a moment before allowing Tony to help him to his feet.

"Gibbs…" It was more difficult to watch Jethro in pain than he had even imagined and he couldn't keep the deep concern from his voice.

"I'm okay, Tony, really." He clasped the younger man's hand. "Think it might be a little more interesting from here on out though." They started up the stairs and Jethro realized that he felt a bit lighter without the small weight of his amniotic fluid and also that the baby was pressing lower in his belly, no longer happily suspended in her cushioned pool. He felt unsteady and off balance and definitely needed Tony's supporting hand to make it to the upper floor. Before they got into the bedroom, another contraction, equally as strong and excruciatingly painful as the last, ripped through him without mercy. This time Jethro clung to Tony's shoulders as he moaned, rocked from side to side as he had been taught to do but by the time it finally let up he was sticky with sweat and felt like he had just climbed 20 flights of stairs instead of one.

Jethro's arms were heavy around his shoulders but Tony was happy to be of any use possible right now. He spoke soothingly in the laboring man's ear and rocked gently with him even as Gibbs' body trembled with the peak of the pain gripping him. Tony could feel his pregnant belly, hard and tight against his own flat stomach and he knew the moment when the contraction began to ebb a little. He hadn't been able to look at the stopwatch during the last two spasms but they were definitely over a minute long and the quick changes that were happening now had him feeling a little panicky. He would feel a hell of a lot better when Darren finally arrived.

The next hour was pure hell. While the bedroom was the one room of the house that was air conditioned and therefore comfortable in the rapidly rising August heat, his contractions were suddenly coming only 3 minutes apart and each lasted a full minute and a half, sometimes longer, which gave him very little recovery time in between. He tried every position imaginable to get even the tiniest bit of relief from the seemingly endless pain, standing, squatting, leaning, sitting on the big ball Tony had insisted he try, but in the end he wound up in the middle of the bed on all fours, knees spread indecently wide as contraction after contraction tore into him relentlessly.

"Okay, I wanna be done now," he announced resolutely when his latest spasm eased off enough to allow him to speak. "Can I please be done now?" He raised a heavy head to look at Tony pitifully.

"Just a little more, babe. Just a little while longer and she'll be here, okay?" Tony was right in front of Gibbs, gripping his hand, talking him through the hardest parts, and wishing with all he had that there was some way he could ease the other man's torture. Jethro's pain-glazed blue eyes virtually pleaded with him to make it stop and yet he saw the firm resolution to continue there too, the foundation of inner strength that Gibbs possessed which could never be shaken.

"Okay, "he agreed, somewhat reluctantly, "but I'm gonna need you to shoot me if she doesn't come soon." Jethro dropped his head down to the waterproof blanket he was kneeling on with an exhausted moan. It smelled far too much of rubber for his liking right now but it was really the least of his concerns. He'd puked up breakfast a half hour ago but was still hideously nauseous-his mouth still tasted of vomit despite rinsing and brushing his teeth-, there wasn't a single part of his body that didn't hurt, and he was now seriously afraid he was going to make a mess out of the bed with his next contraction because he suddenly felt like he desperately needed to use the bathroom even though he knew that wasn't possible at the moment because that part of his system automatically shut down as part of the birth process. He would take a gunshot wound over this any day. Maybe two of them.

Tony glanced at his watch, trying not to alarm Gibbs. Darren had called twenty minutes ago to say that he was stuck behind an accident on the beltline and was trying to find a way around it. DiNozzo knew rush hour traffic in DC and knew the likelihood of that was slim to none. All they could do now was wait and hope that their birth assistant made it before their baby did. He understood there had been no way to predict that Jethro's labor would progress so fast all of a sudden but he would feel a whole lot better having someone around who knew a hell of a lot more about this than he did. Right now he was just trying to stay strong and hold it together for Gibbs' sake because he could already feel the older man hovering on the edge of panic each time the pain seemed like it just wasn't going to end.

"Shit, it's starting again," Jethro groaned miserably, pushing himself up onto his hands. The pain was vicious as it held him in its clutches, twisted and tightened and forced the baby inside him ever downward. This time there was a shift deep inside him with the peak of the pain and he suddenly understood the sensation he'd been feeling a moment ago. "Oh my God, I can…feel her," he panted, suddenly panicky. His body wanted nothing more than to bear down against the pain now and it was all he could do to fight it.

Jethro's breathless announcement sent Tony's heart into his throat and when the older man's groan turned into a strained grunt he understood instantly what was happening. "No! You cannot push, Gibbs. Do you understand me? No pushing until we get reinforcements." He leapt for his phone and flipped it open with trembling hands.

"Tell that…to her." The contraction was subsiding now but there was no denying that there was something very solid wedged low in his pelvis that was pushing his hips relentlessly apart. "Tony…I need you to check….I need you to check if you can see her. Please…" His legs were shaking uncontrollably now and the pressure inside him was immeasurable.

DiNozzo looked from the phone to Jethro and finally dropped his cell with a curse. Moving around behind Gibbs on the bed, he quickly assessed the situation. He couldn't see any sign of the baby's head but Jethro's hole was wide and loose, clearly ready to expel their child. "I can't see anything right now, Gibbs. Just please don't push anymore, okay?"

"Can you feel her?" Another contraction was starting again and he could already feel the need to push returning. He took deep breaths and fought with everything he had but his body was bearing down without his conscious effort.

"You want me to..?" He wrinkled his nose a little. He'd had his fingers up Gibbs' ass countless times but this felt different and it freaked him out a little.

"Need to know…if it's…her head," Jethro panted brokenly, trying desperately to keep his own head together and focus amidst the crushing pain.

Tony took a deep breath and gave one last longing glance at his phone. At this point it didn't matter, either Darren was going to make it or he wasn't and he didn't think a phone call was going to make him get there any faster. He climbed up on the bed behind Jethro, gripped the older man's hip and was suddenly struck by the macabre humor of the entire situation. "Guess it's this position that got us here in the first place, huh?"

Jethro felt Tony's hands on him and was reassured by his presence if not his badly timed sense of humor. "Not…now…DiNozzo." He tensed as the younger man's fingers penetrated him but really the discomfort of it was nothing compared to the other miseries currently besieging his body.

"Oh my God!" Tony exclaimed, withdrawing the two fingers he had inserted only an inch or two into Jethro's opening. "I feel her! She…she's like, right there!"

His contraction was fading away now and he felt the need to move, to get into a position where his hips could open up even more and gravity could do its job to help him. "What did you feel?"

DiNozzo was working really hard to process everything that was happening. "Hair. I felt hair," he said in awe.

Gibbs nodded. That was a good sign. "Get the first aid kit," he instructed as he pushed himself up, backed toward the edge of the bed and put his feet on the cool wood of the floor. Tony's hand around his upper arm steadied him as he stood for a moment to get circulation back into his still-shaking legs.

"Jethro…" They weren't ready for this. Surely they couldn't do this alone.

He turned slightly, reached a hand up behind Tony's neck and pulled him down until their faces were an inch apart. "I'm gonna have this baby now, okay? And I need you to help so please please just…ohhh…" Jethro released DiNozzo and dropped down into a squat beside the bed, resting his upper body against the mattress for support as he held his breath and pushed this time, not even trying to fight it any more.

Something kicked in in Tony's brain. The part of him that made him a good cop, a good man to have around in a sticky spot took over and the gently creeping fog of terror cleared from his senses as if a cool breeze had blown it away. He quickly ran to the bathroom closet, got the well-appointed kit that he knew contained a small pair of scissors and alcohol swabs to sterilize them as well as plastic clamps. On his way back in he grabbed two of the blue absorbent pads they had stockpiled and laid them out on the floor beneath Gibbs who was still straining with his current contraction and fisting the sheets with white knuckled fingers. Just as he knelt down to offer support, he heard the chiming of the doorbell followed shortly by Darren's welcome voice calling out to them from the lower level. "Thank fucking God," DiNozzo breathed out heavily. "He's here," he whispered to Gibbs who was now resting between contractions.

Jethro heard Tony go to the door and call down to Darren but he was so internal right now, so focused on the tremendous forces at work in his own body that he was aware of it only on a very peripheral level. He did sense Darren's presence in the room a minute later and realized he didn't give a damn that his naked ass was currently pointed toward the door and on display.

"Looks like someone is in a little bit of a hurry this morning," Darren said calmly as he quickly moved to Jethro's side and evaluated him. He immediately began pulling equipment out of his many bags and then slipped on a pair of gloves.

"He's pushing," Tony said lamely. "I felt her head."

"That's good." Darren grinned warmly at him with his bright California-surfer smile. "Let me just see what's going on with you and your baby, okay Jethro? I need you to get down on your knees for me and I need you to do everything you can not to push until I say so, alright? Just blow through this one…deep breaths," he said as Jethro groaned with the start of another contraction but nodded his understanding.

DiNozzo felt a sense of relief but also the tiniest shred of resentment as Darren deftly took over. He and Gibbs had been inseparably connected through this whole process so far and he felt the loss of that acutely now.

"Tony could you come over and help Jethro? Just help him breathe through this while I make sure everything's okay with him and the baby."

Darren took a small machine with what looked like a microphone attached to it out of a bag and held the rounded end of the probe to the bottom of Gibbs' belly. The staticy and rapid pulse Tony had come to recognize as his daughter's heartbeat filled the room with its reassuring thump-thump-thump sound and he squeezed Jethro's hand. "She's almost here." He felt the trickle of a hot tear on his cheek and didn't even bother to swipe it away.

"She is," Darren confirmed. "Heartbeat sounds great and she feels like she's in a really good position. And you're right, Tony, her head is right there and we should be able to see it with the next push. You guys ready to have a baby?"

"I'm ready to get her the hell out of me," Jethro grunted, moving back into the deep squat that felt like the best position to him.

"Go ahead and push when you feel like you need to and try and hold it for as long as you can. You might start to feel a bit of a burn but that's perfectly normal, just keep bearing down right through it," the younger man instructed as he laid out several items on the bed and floor around them.

"This is it, Gibbs. Baby time." Tony picked up a towel and wiped Jethro's forehead, swept the sweat dampened hair from the side of his face. "I love you so much," he leaned in and kissed him gently.

"You got her…name…ready for her?" His belly muscles began to harden again and he took a deep breath, following the instincts of his body as he fought to bring his child into the world.

"All set," Tony assured him over the sound of his wrenching groans. "You just work on getting her here, okay?"

Jethro took a deep breath and pushed again as the contraction continued. He felt movement, felt his body stretching, burning as it tried to widen enough for her head and while the pain was still just as intense, it felt good to work with it now.

"Don't let go of it," Darren encouraged. "Push as long as you can."

Gibbs pushed again and the burning intensified almost unbearably, he felt like his skin was going to burst open with the pain and pressure of it. "Holy shit…just get her out already…please just get her out." He wanted to stop pushing but his body was insistent.

"She's coming out, Jethro. Reach down and feel her if you want to. It's okay to rest for a minute."

With a trembling hand, Gibbs reached behind him until Tony gently grasped his wrist and guided him to the right spot. His fingers encountered something hard and rounded and slimy and he gasped in surprise, feeling around the edges of it. "That's really her?" he asked incredulously, even though logically he knew the answer.

"I need you to push really slowly with the next contraction, okay? Just little pushes until her head is all the way out," Darren instructed patiently.

Already, Jethro could feel his muscles bunching and tightening in preparation. He did his best to keep control of the strong urge this time, to listen to the calm voice that told him what to do, but the pain was unbelievable and he really just wanted it done with.

Tony could feel the trembling of Jethro's muscles, hear the desperation in the pained moans that were far too close to whimpers for his comfort. "You got this, Marine, you hear me?" He kept his voice quiet but firm, right beside Gibbs' ear. "Just a little more to the top of the hill. Just a little more, Gunny." Jethro's grip on his fingers tightened and he could feel the change, feel the older man digging in to his deepest reserves.

Jethro felt a wave of relief flood through him as the burning pain suddenly peaked and then ebbed with his next push.

"Head's out," Darren announced as he checked the baby's neck to make sure the cord was clear. The two younger men helped Jethro carefully change position so that he was supported by Tony's arms beneath his shoulders with both of them leaning back against the bed. "I need one really big push from you now, Jethro. Just one really big one and she'll be out."

Encouraged by this promise, Gibbs took a deep breath and held tight to Tony's forearms, using every ounce of strength he had to bear down.

Head on Jethro's shoulder, Tony watched intently as his daughter's body emerged from her father, slowly at first but then in a sudden rush of arms and legs and fluids that brought a cry of release from Jethro as the older man collapsed back against him and then dropped to the floor while Darren quickly cleared the baby's nose and mouth.

Gibbs felt the ache in his breast as his daughter's first cry filled the air around him and she was placed naked and squirming in the center of his chest. Tony's hands joined his to support her and he looked back in astonishment at the younger man's tear streaked face. "She's here," he said in near disbelief. "I can't believe she's actually here."

"She is." Tony kissed Jethro gently, gazing down in bewildered awe at the tiny infant who had stopped wailing about her sudden and traumatic entrance into the cold external world and was gazing up at them with bright blue eyes. He felt a rush of emotion more powerful than anything he had ever known as those eyes met his and he immediately understood the indefinable connection between parent and child that had eluded him until this moment.

"What's her name?" Gibbs ran his hands over every inch of her, checking fingers and toes as she curled into the warm crook of his arm.

"Isabella," Tony whispered, his mouth suddenly dry. "Isabella Grace DiNozzo-Gibbs. Or Gibbs-DiNozzo. But we can sort that part out later," he said anxiously. "If you like it, I mean."

"Isabella," Jethro tested the name as his infant daughter clutched at his fingers. "What do you think of that, hmm?" She merely yawned and stretched and blinked up at him with eyes not yet adjusted to even the dim light of the room around them. "I think it's perfect too," Gibbs said quietly as he pressed his lips to her forehead. "Welcome to the world, Bella."

Tony thrilled as Jethro spoke aloud the name that had lived only in his heart for the last several weeks. "She's perfect." He nuzzled into the hollow of Jethro's shoulder. "A little in need of a bath, maybe but…we made a damn beautiful baby, Jethro. Thank you for this…for her…for letting me…for letting me love you." The tears were back full force and he didn't care that Darren was only a few feet away, busily cleaning a few things up and preparing others.

"Thank you for wanting us," Gibbs said simply, feeling Tony's arms tighten around him.

As wonderful and intimate as the moment was, there were practical things which needed to be attended to before they could relax. They quickly cut the cord together and Darren helped clean Isabella with a soft cloth and then swaddled her tightly before handing her back to the couple. "If you can get her to nurse, it should help stimulate contractions to expel the afterbirth," he encouraged.

Suddenly nervous as hell, Jethro pushed himself up a little and gently guided the baby's mouth to a swollen nipple, looking helplessly to Darren for support when she didn't immediately latch on.

"Just stroke her cheek a little and bring her right to it. Some babies need a bit more help than others but she'll catch on eventually," he coached patiently.

Gibbs did as instructed and soon felt her little mouth form a tight seal with his skin as she began to suckle instinctively. "Holy crap that feels weird." Jethro ddn't think the sensation was one he would get used to any time soon but he had to admit a certain sense of relief that things seemed to be working as they were supposed to. Darren gave him a few more pointers and he soon felt his now-deflated belly cramping up again. He was relieved to find that they weren't nearly as painful as his birth contractions and the messy business was soon over.

When Isabella was done with her first feeding and had fallen sound asleep, Tony wriggled out from behind Jethro so that they could finally move off the floor. He leaned down and tried to keep from shaking as Gibbs placed the baby carefully in his arms and he finally got to have her all to himself while Darren helped Jethro into the bathroom to clean up. "Hello, Bella," he whispered. "Do you remember me?" Tony began to hum one of the many Sinatra tunes that had lulled her to sleep in the womb night after night, not even aware of the insanely goofy grin that was plastered on his face.

A few hours later, both men lay curled up atop the mattress still staring in awe and disbelief at the tiny little human who had come into their lives and turned their worlds upside down. Tony played idly with her little feet, kissed the soft palms of her wrinkled hands. "Is her head supposed to be that pointy?" he asked, after holding the question in for as long as he could.

"It won't be that way for long," Jethro reassured him with a chuckle.

He'd suspected this was the answer but was relieved none-the-less. "Oh. Good. Wouldn't want to have to get her special hats or something." Tony was silent for a moment. "So how do you feel?"

"You mean 'How do I feel after nine hours of labor and pushing an eight pound baby out of me'?" Gibbs grunted.

"Yeah, that. And just…in general." Even though they had been preparing for seven months, the actual culmination of it into the events of the day still had his head spinning despite his instant and absolute adoration of their new arrival.

"Sore," Jethro admitted. "And like I just lived the very best day of my life over again." He would be lying if he didn't confess that the undeniable elation he felt when he looked at Isabella was tinged with the delicate yet jagged edge of grief. But he could separate the emotions, could recognize them both for what they were and acknowledge their presence and their necessity in his world without letting them be at war with each other and that was something new.

Tony could see the mix of emotions playing across Jethro's features and he gripped the older man's hand tightly. "She looks like her a little," he said sadly, understanding Gibbs' pain. He'd seen pictures of Kelly as a newborn and there were certain similarities that even he couldn't ignore.

"A little," Gibbs agreed. "But I think she's mostly you. Her nose, her mouth…definitely a DiNozzo." He ran his thumb over Tony's full and pouty lips and smiled.

"I feel like I just got the best present in the entire world." He pressed Jethro's fingertips to his mouth.

"I feel like I just got a second chance," Gibbs whispered the truth straight from the ache in the middle of his chest.

"Maybe we both did." Tony wiped a tear from the tip of Jethro's nose and they contemplated each other in silence for a moment before DiNozzo finally spoke again. "Think I have a long road ahead of me if I ever want to make this one up to you."

Gibbs hid a yawn behind his hand. It was the middle of the day but he was more exhausted than he could ever remember being in his entire life. "You can start by changing her first diaper while I take a nap." His eyes were undeniably heavy.

"Think I can handle that one." Tony lifted Isabella carefully from the nest of pillows between them. He knew Jethro would have to wake up and feed her in another couple of hours and the very least he could do was allow him to rest. But before he left he took a moment to kiss his partner's mouth lingeringly. There was no demand in the touch, merely an acknowledgement, a simple reverence for which there were no adequate words. "Thank you for giving me a family," Tony whispered against Jethro's parted lips. "Thank you."

The words didn't ask for acknowledgement or reciprocity and Jethro gave none now, knowing that DiNozzo understood, knowing that sometimes words were unnecessary, knowing that his tender kiss in return, the swipe of his thumb across Tony's cheek were far more powerful than any words would ever be between them, knowing that the passion and love he felt for this man, the powerful and subtle ways in which Tony had written himself gloriously and indelibly into the script of his life were beyond his capacity to verbalize .

Knowing.

~Fine~

Final thoughts appreciated!