Rare Vivienne and Extraordinary Levi
Tony allowed his mind to drift backwards to over a year prior. Despite the fact that he had been hired by NCIS two years earlier and offered an immediate position at the Agency, at twenty eight Tony worked in Baltimore, Maryland. There in one life altering day Tobias Fornell, his dad's friend and a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team leader, requested Tony assist in an operation jointly spearheaded by NCIS, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the FBI.
All three agencies had worked for years to destroy the Black Widow Cartel, a particularly vicious organization with ties to criminal activities that ranged from drug dealing to murder.
The case proved a bit- well- quite a bit unorthodox and quite a bit complicated.
Despite his misgivings, terror, and initial loud and dramatic protests, Tony eventually took custody of five children, all of whom had lost parents at the hands of the Black Widow Cartel.
Tony characterized that entire experience as Free Falling in and out of sanity for a period of months.
Yet Tony- he of the carefree happy bachelor existence- catapulted into fatherhood to a degree no one could have ever anticipated. Before he could even remotely absorb the demands of his role little Levi christened him the Daddy and initiated Tony's metamorphoses into a capable, loving parent who established a home with the children in beautiful Athens, Georgia.
Tony juggled his newly detected demands of parenthood with a new career. The once happy bachelor taught at the Navy School while simultaneously working to create a secure homelife for five beings who desperately craved compassion, security, and love.
Tony hired nannies to care full time for the younger two and to supervise the older three once school and his teaching assignment began. Tony deemed the caretaker role crucial and when interviewing clients stressed the caretaker actively focus on the children while in his employ. He considered that a non- negotiable expectation or demand of the job offer he presented.
Daphne Dorminey, a graduate student working toward a master's in accounting and finance, pitched in any time Tony required a babysitter for a few hours. He hired Talia Drew as his new family's regular nanny. In her forties, Miss Talia had worked as a housekeeper for families tied to the Navy school and had experience dealing with an age range from babyhood to teens.
He chose wisely in both selections.
Besides insisting Daphne and Talia actively focus on the kids he also ordered daily outdoor physical play or activities for all five of the kids. He firmly believed in the importance of strengthening little bodies physically, emotionally, and intellectually.
He wanted the children to belong, and to feel that they did belong together and did belong in Athens.
Tony decorated the house with the children in mind.
Ava and Vivi shared a beautiful bedroom framed by lace curtains with yellow, pink, and purple tie backs, an embroidered flowered comforter and blankets with pictures of fairies.
For the boys, Tony selected red, green, and blue comforters and plaid curtains with large framed pictures of a cowboy, a pilot, a musician, and a mountain climber.
Books for children overflowed from the bookcases and he designed the den as a true family room where they could gather together.
Thus he and the children carved out an extraordinary life.
The assignment concluded victoriously some months later with the decimation and annihilation of the Black Widow Cartel.
After the Cartel's takedown in Athens, Tony sent the children to Campeche with Maria and Jethro while he wrapped up their Georgia existence. As soon as he settled the family's affairs with the house, his job, and their school, Tony flew to Mexico to reunite with them.
His five had missed him as much as he had yearned for them, and to his delight all of them had picked up Spanish. As they vied for his attention to share all of their new adventures they replaced whole sentences and phrases with Spanish ones as they chattered.
Tony had matured noticeably.
A much wiser and far more evolved Tony finalized the resolution to join Jethro at NCIS within the next year.
After deliberating over the impassioned pleas of the children and their families, Tony also vowed to retain a role in the lives of the five children with whom he had forged such an incredible bond and created such a multi- dimensional family.
Vivienne stole Tony's heart the second he first cuddled the cherubic eighteen- month- old in his arms. He had viewed her file picture, of course, but nothing prepared him for the instantaneous surge of emotion she generated within him.
Vivi, as he affectionately called her, and her sibling, seven- year- old Levi, also came into Tony's care at the same time. Both youngsters had begun their tumultuous lives in Nebraska with parents who worked for the Black Widow Cartel employed as low level drug dealers. When the DEA caught up to the parents the parents identified the Cartel to save themselves.
Strangers in Iowa discovered their gunshot riddled bodies burned in their own car. Two charred car seats remained melted into the scorched back upholstery.
A paternal grandparent existed and actually wanted to take physical custody of Vivienne and Levi but a physical risk to the children remained. Until the Black Widow Cartel no longer functioned it could and would retaliate against the innocent children. Law enforcement could not guarantee the safety of the grandmother and kids until they apprehended all of the Black Widow Cartel.
In the interim the children had lived with foster parents very vocally concerned about the long arm of the Black Widow Cartel.
No one could blame the foster parents because their fears had honest merit.
Vivienne resembled a little Dresden doll with her dimpled chin, light blue eyes, and straight dark blond hair. She sucked the middle fingers of her right hand for comfort, something Tony found endearing and heartbreaking all at once.
She nearly drove Tony crazy with his concern over her verbal development. Despite her obvious understanding of language and even more apparent intelligence, she simply would not speak.
At all.
He worriedly consulted a pediatrician who wisely counseled him not to panic for the time being. The physician proved correct. Vivi did ultimately speak a few months later and the first words she directed to Tony expressed her love for him.
Other than a forlorn cloth baby doll, Vivienne possessed nothing of her own when Tony took custody of the toddler.
Tony fashioned a sunny, happy bedroom in which to place her crib and lost little time purchasing books, toys, and clothes for the baby.
Little Vivienne's personality emerged once she determined her place in the household. She tended to assert herself, especially when she felt misunderstood, and generally displayed a happy disposition.
As with all of the children, Tony insisted that each day include outdoor physical activity of one form or another. Thus baby Vivi piloted a three wheeler around the yard and enjoyed supervised nature walks in their neighborhood. She also utilized a seat on the back of Tony's own bicycle for family outings.
Relying upon his own childhood upbringing for guidance, Tony insisted each child shoulder responsibility for one to two age appropriate tasks per day. Thus he assigned Vivienne the household job of sorting the family's laundry into bins of whites, reds, and darks, a duty his Abuela had once assigned him. It served the dual purpose of teaching colors and teaching responsibility, even at a toddler's age.
Tony adored Vivienne.
Vivi's biological brother, seven- year- old Levi, christened Tony "the Daddy" within hours of renewing his life in Tony's brand new guardianship. The power and ramifications of that title nearly took Tony's breath away, and from that instant he grasped that the ways in which he handled his assignment would impact those five innocent children forever.
Energetic, enthusiastic, and rambunctious, Levi barreled into Tony's life and of all the children, exhibited the most commonalities with Tony's own personality.
The terms whirlwind and live wire always came to mind when Levi's name popped into anyone's lexicon, and Tony wisely channeled the little boy's excess energy into physical activities like swimming, biking, and playing football.
Though generally good natured, little Levi nearly drove Tony crazy at mealtimes as he ate one food item on his plate in its entirety before even sampling another.
Tony enrolled him in second grade and breathed a sigh of relief when Levi ended up with an experienced teacher capable of handling such an intelligent and active child. Still, Levi's mischievous nature sometimes managed to land him in trouble at school, which meant resultant trouble at home. Relying upon his father and abuela's parenting approach from his own school history, Tony tolerated zero disruption of the school environment. Indeed, Tony consistently emphasized his expectations of good school behavior while assigning penalties for the misbehavior.
Levi oozed charm, another trait he shared with Tony, and the little imp had honed the rudiments of manipulating (or attempting to manipulate!) with that practiced charm.
A dimple in his left cheek, dark blue eyes, and white blond hair combined to fashion a very good looking little boy, as well.
Tony had assigned both Ava and Levi the job of loading and unloading the dishwasher, anticipating the chore would create a bond between the two pseudo siblings and stress teamwork for both of them. Generally Levi tended to his chores with a minimum of prodding, mainly because he genuinely wanted to please the Daddy and he simply soaked up Tony's praise.
Levi occupied a huge part of Tony's heart.
Once the dust settled from the wrecking of the Black Widow Cartel life had to return to normal. Tony returned to his own job in Baltimore and Social Services placed the children in more permanent homes.
Vivienne and Levi's paternal grandmother, Elaine Daniel, flew to Campeche to meet Tony and Vivi for the first time and to reunite with Levi. She had last seen the little boy as a four- year- old but luckily, he had retained a couple of fuzzy memories of her. Maria and Jethro invited Elaine to stay at the Campeche house and she did, seizing the opportunity for Vivi and Levi to feel comfortable with her before she assumed permanent physical custody.
All of Tony's misgivings and any secret worry that she could not handle a toddler and very energetic second grader evaporated day by day. Elaine had brought up two sons and certainly knew her way around the thinking and developmental characteristics of children. Though her deceased younger son tied her to the children, Elaine shared stories of their mother with Vivi and Levi as often as she did of their father. As Elaine informed them, their parents had met in middle school and as high school sweethearts dated each other exclusively. Tony found it reassuring that she wanted the kids to know both of their parents.
Elaine retired as postmistress in her midsized Nebraska hometown two months before she learned of the death of her son. She participated in a number of civic and social organizations, volunteering her time and talent when not travelling for pleasure. Her oldest son and his wife lived down the block from her and their bustling family included four children ranging in ages from four to twelve.
Once in Nebraska Levi and Vivi would not lack for family or for playmates.
Though the Daddy had flown to Nebraska and spent a weekend in Elaine's home with her and the kids, most of their later contact centered around phone conversations. Thus, Tony remained up to date about Levi's school, sports, and friends as well as Vivi's progression from babyhood to toddlerhood. He loved listening to the little boy's breathless chatter and to Vivi's colorful descriptions of her activities and each phone call reassured him that his children were loved and happy with their grandmother Elaine in Nebraska.