A/N: I want to give a special shout-out to OrtonsMistress for her help lately – thank you! And of course AliyahNCIS for her continued beta duties. Much appreciated! Hope you guys like this one. It was a bit harder than usual. Thanks to all who leave feedback – you know I love it so.
***JIBBS***JIBBS***JIBBS***
Later in the evening, Tony arrived at his apartment. As he fished his key out of his pocket, Ziva approached – carrying a pizza. "I thought we finished our discussion."
She leaned against the wall, waiting for him to unlock the door. "Funny, I do not recall even starting it. I watched you pace back and forth, but I would hardly call that a discussion."
Tony sighed as he opened his front door. "I'm only letting you in because you brought food."
She shrugged. "That is why I brought it." She followed him inside and watched as he stopped short in front of his kitchen entrance. He was staring at his wall that had a crayon picture on it. "Sam made that?"
He nodded sadly. "Yeah."
"And you kept it all this time?"
Tony turned to face her. "He drew it for me. Of course I kept it." He tossed his stuff down and headed for the bedroom.
Ziva placed the pizza on the counter. She took another look at the drawing and sighed.
Gibbs stood in his doorway holding Julia. He took her little hand and waved goodbye to Jenny as she headed back to NCIS. The couple thought they were done for the day and had sent Noemi home, but an hour later Jenny received a call from MTAC. Now he was alone with both kids. He closed the door and felt something tugging at his jeans. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed?"
"Where's Gummy?"
Gibbs melted hearing his son's voice on the verge of despair. "We told you. She got called back to work. It's just us for a little while." He watched helplessly as Sam slowly began to lose it. His little shoulders began shaking, his lower lip jutted out and his eyes began to tear. "No, Sam, don't…"
"Nooooooo," he cried.
Julia saw her brother crying and joined in with tears of her own.
Gibbs tried not to panic. "No, no… Julia, you're okay. Sam, she'll be back! Come on, we can handle it for a few hours without her, right?"
"No," he screamed as tears streamed down his cheeks.
Gibbs knelt down next to Sam, rubbing his back in a comforting way. Julia continued crying and he tried to comfort both as best he could. His phone began to vibrate. He looked to see if he had to answer it, concerned he wouldn't even be able to hear the person considering how loud the kids were. When he saw it was Jenny, he took a deep breath and managed to answer it as he tried to hold on to his squirming and upset daughter. "Yeah Jen?"
Her eyes widened as she listened to the chaos over the phone. "Are you okay, Jethro? What's going on?"
He situated the phone between his shoulder and ear so he could use both hands to control Julia. "Your children have decided to completely lose their minds because you're gone. Hold still, Jules. There, there," he soothed.
"I wanna talk to Gummy!" insisted Sam through his muffled cries, poking his dad in the shoulder.
"Oh no," she cringed, her heart breaking. "I hear Sam. Put him on."
A relieved Gibbs handed the phone over to Sam as he concentrated on his screaming infant.
Sam tried to calm down enough to talk. "Gummy come home."
His words were killing her. "I want to, Sam, but I have to work. I'm so sorry. I know you don't feel well."
"I'm sick," he cried.
"I know, monkey. But do you think you can be big boy brave until I get back?"
"I will try," he managed. "Come home soon, Gummy."
"I want to. I love you, Sam. Be good for your dad."
He pushed the phone back at Gibbs and stalked off towards his room. The phone back at his ear, he spoke quickly. "I should probably hang up before Jules leaps out of my arms. What'd you need?"
"It was stupid. Just wanted you to hug the kids for me and tell 'em Mommy loves them and says good night. I hate not being there to tuck them in."
"I will. Go catch the dirt bags."
"Be back as soon as I can." She hung up and leaned back, watching as the sights of Washington passed by her car window. She then closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on her upcoming op rather than the pain she felt from hearing the cries of her children wanting her. It better be the best sex of your lives, you two.
Ryan fell back against the pillow, exhausted and sweaty. "That was incredible." He looked down to see her blonde hair splayed across his chest.
"You got that right," she agreed. Holly perked her head up for a moment so she could look in his eyes. "You were definitely worth the wait."
His laughter was pained since he was still trying to catch his breath. He threaded his fingers through her hair to get a better look at her face. "You're so beautiful."
She smiled and leaned down to kiss his chest. "You are the sweetest man I've ever known."
Ryan had a wistful expression on his face. "I hope sweet doesn't translate to boring. I'm a simple carpenter, a dad… I'm guessing you've been with men far more exciting."
His humility astounded her. She wasn't sure where it came from, but she found it – and him – incredibly endearing. "I've had exciting. It's overrated. What I haven't had is a man who treats me like you do. We never run out of things to talk about, and you're so willing to share your thoughts with me. But we're also great when we're not talking."
Ryan smirked. "That we are. I gotta admit – I was a bit nervous. It's been a long time since I've made love to a woman."
Holly locked eyes with him as she ran her finger from his chest to his belly button. "I never would have known."
"Really?" She nodded. He smiled. "I'm glad I waited for the right woman."
Holly snorted. "You're glad?" They both laughed until their passion reignited.
At Tony's apartment, he and Ziva were sitting on the living room couch, finishing up their pizza. Every once in a while, she'd catch him looking at the drawing on the wall. "Do you really think Gibbs and Jenny could lose custody of Sam?"
He sighed. "I hope not. I can't imagine not seeing that little guy stomping around in the bullpen from time to time."
Ziva narrowed her eyes at him. When she asked, she was wondering about how it would affect the boy's parents. She found it interesting that Tony was thinking about himself – and it concerned her. "Taking care of him was not just about helping out Gibbs for you, was it?"
He stopped eating for a moment and looked at her. "What are you asking, Ziva?"
"Before they came back from their honeymoon, I was worried you had become too… attached… to Sam. Once I learned Gibbs was his father, I assumed that was at the heart of your bond but now I am not so sure."
He scoffed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You enjoyed being his caregiver more than we realized, yes?"
"Who's the 'we' – and I don't know what your realization was?" He returned to eating his pizza, annoyed.
"Your friends, Tony. We were worried about you before, but now I think I am again."
He shrugged. "What does it matter? None if this is in my hands."
"But the fact that you wish it was is telling."
The very special agent shot her a look that implied she was crazy. "Telling of what?"
She smirked as she pointed teasingly at him. "I believe that you, Mr. Playboy of the Western world, want to be a father." Ziva ignored his baffled look as she got up to get another slice of pizza. "But is it to any child or just Sam?" she mumbled aloud as she headed off.
Once alone, Tony mulled over her words. Man, am I losing my edge? This isn't good.
Ziva walked back in the room and was dismayed to see Tony didn't even notice. She sighed, realizing she and Abby were right to be concerned. She made a mental note to herself to call the Goth later to discuss what they should do next.
But was it just about Sam or paternal thoughts in general? Tony again looked at the drawing as he sank back against his couch, lost in thought.
Gibbs sank back into the rocking chair in the nursery, holding a fading Julia in his arms. Poor Sam, still not feeling well, had cried himself to sleep. Now it was just the two of them. "Let's see what book Mommy had ready to read to you next." He reached over and found, Oh The Places You'll Go, by Dr. Seuss. "This is a good one. No, Jules… don't touch Daddy's glasses. Great," he sighed as he tossed the smudged item on the table. "If you didn't want me to read to you, you could have just said so." She smiled at him and coo'ed a bit, making him laugh. "Thank you for finally settling down, young lady. I bet that bath helped, didn't it?"
He stood up and walked over to the crib before changing his mind. "I'm not ready to put you down just yet. We haven't spent nearly enough time together lately." Gibbs eased his way down to the floor, pulling his knees up so he could prop Julia against them. He held out the pinky from each hand so she could wrap her fingers around them. When she started kicking out her feet and smiling as she moved her head from side to side, it made him gush with pride. "I can't get over how cute you are." He rubbed one of his calloused fingers gently over her cheek, marveling at her soft skin. She gave him a look, and he almost gasped. "How did your mommy get in your eyes like that? That was definitely all Shepard," he laughed. He brought her toes up to his mouth and kissed each one. "You are yummy."
It was about 0220 by the time Jenny finally made it home. She was beyond exhausted, but at least she was able to do some good and it didn't feel like she had gone in for nothing. She quietly placed her keys in the dish by the door, armed the alarm and headed towards the bedrooms after removing her heels. She came upon Sam's first and poked her head in. He was taking up the entire bed, his arms and legs spread out. She grabbed the nearby chair and placed it next to his bed to watch him sleep for a bit. Even though she was tired, she was still wound up and needed to decompress. The moonlight lit up the room just enough for her to make him out and it warmed her heart to see him. The events of earlier in the day – Steve's threat – had been plaguing her thoughts. She had come to think of Sam as her son too, and she couldn't bear the thought of losing him. Of course they still had issues, his jealousy of Julia being chief among them, but it wasn't anything she felt they couldn't work out. More than anything, she knew he needed her and that she could make a difference. He'd been through so much already. Then again, she had been through enough already too – never mind Jethro. She took one last look at him and resisted the urge she had to scoop him up in her arms for a hug. She knew he needed a good night's sleep to feel better, and she didn't want to deny him that. So she stood up, placed a light kiss on his forehead and headed down the hall.
When she got to the nursery, she didn't see Julia right away so she turned on the light. Jenny did her best not to panic when she didn't find her in the crib but she was worried. She shut the light again and headed to their bedroom next. When she opened the door, she stopped in her tracks – and smiled from ear to ear. Julia was sleeping sprawled out just like Sam had been – only parts of her were dangling across Jethro's face. Jenny immediately reached for her phone, making sure the flash was turned on. She stood directly over them and took the picture - quite pleased with the way it turned out.
Gibbs jostled awake because of the bright light. "Jen?"
She felt a momentary pang of guilt for waking him but then looked at the picture and was pleased with herself again. "Go back to sleep," she whispered as she began to change into pajamas.
He propped himself up on his elbow after gently removing his daughter's arm from his face. "Glad you're back."
She slipped under the covers, leaned over and kissed him. "Me too. What's munchkin doing in here?"
He laid back down and relaxed. "She insisted she didn't want to leave me."
Jenny smiled. "Oh she did, did she? What about Sam? How did things end up going with him?"
"Let's just say, I think he'll probably be glued to your side tomorrow."
As if on cue, their door swung open. "Gummy!" he shouted.
"Shhh. I'm here, monkey. What's wrong?" she whispered, not wanting to wake up her daughter.
He ran over to her side of the bed and started to crawl into it with her. "I can sleep here, right?"
"You know, Julia's here too. You okay with that?"
He looked across Jenny and saw that Julia was next to Gibbs. He looked back at Jenny and nodded. "Baby can stay over there with Gibbs. I get you," he sighed contentedly as he nestled against her.
Gibbs smiled. "Goodnight Sam, goodnight Mommy and goodnight Jules."
Jenny kissed the top of Sam's head as he snuggled into her. "Daddy?"
"Yeah?"
"Maybe we should look for a bigger bed tomorrow."