Chapter 2: The Importance of Family

When they finally finished showering and getting dressed they began to wake the others. Tony started in the bedroom closest to the living room. He entered and saw the two identical twin beds and couldn't help but smile at the two beautiful girls occupying them. He went to the bed on the right first to wake his oldest daughter Annie. He sat down on her bed and brushed her bangs out of her eyes and kissed her forehead.

"Hey sweetie, it's time to get up"

"No Daddy, just five more minutes," she begged

"Honey, mommy and I are running late today so you need to get up so you aren't late for school"

"Daaaaddy, pleeease" she said as she flipped over pulling the covers completely over her head.

"Well one thing's for sure, you are definitely a DiNozzo," he replied smiling.

He then moved to the other bed to wake up his 6 year old daughter, Kaylee, who was the spitting image of Kate, with her dark brown, shoulder length hair, and her mothers facial bone structure. The only thing that set her apart from Kate was her eyes. She had Tony's bright green eyes, not to mention a fraction of his personality. Annie on the other hand was everything like Tony. She looked exactly like him. She had his dirty blonde hair that he had at her age, the same facial structure, the same green eyes, and not to mention she had his smile.

Tony was finally able to get Kaylee to wake up and then they both pounced on Annie's bed to wake her up and then Tony started tickling them, and the fight was on. He was wrestling with both of them when he heard Kate yell at them.

"Tony you better be helping them get ready for school and not wrestling with them again"

"Boy dad, mom knows you good," Annie piped up, with a huge grin on her face.

"You know, for an 8 year old you sure are a smart ass, just like your mom." Tony joked as he tickled her again.

"I know and that's why you love me so much," she laughed.

Kate had just finished making her half of the breakfast and stopped at the door across from her daughters. She opened it and went inside only to see the body in the bed move and pull the covers up further over them. She then snuck over to the window and pulled the blind up letting in an enormous amount of light.

"Mom, are you trying to blind me, geeze"

"Aww, c'mon a little light never hurt anyone," she said jokingly as she sat down on the bed occupying her 9-year-old son.

"Yeah, only the people who are allergic to the light and have a chemical reaction to it," he shot back jokingly.

"Alright, you are too smart for your own good," she retorted while kissing his cheek, "And by the way, you get that from me"

"I know," he added with the same smile she had

"Your dad and I are running late this morning so we need to get a move on it."

"That's nothing new mom"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Kayden," she said with a smile.

"Your welcome," he grinned back with his brown eyes and dark brown hair.

She stood in the doorway watching him for a minute trying to imagine her life without him, without any of them, and she couldn't. She couldn't stop thinking about how happy and blessed she was for such a wonderful family. A family she was beginning to doubt she would ever get to have before she met Tony. She looked over at her son, who reflected so much of both her and Tony. Yes, Kayden had her eyes and hair, andof course her smile,but he had Tony's nose and facial structure. It was amazing to Kate that her and Tony created him and that he resembled so much of both of them in looks. He was also a very smart kid for his age, which Kate took full credit for, even though Tony argued with her about it. And he was also good at sports, which of course both of them took credit for and constantly bickered about. But Tony and Kate knew it was a mixture of both of them, because they both knew they were smart and both were athletic. And believe it or not, Tony and Kate would both compliment each other on Kayden's ability's, because they knew he got it from both of them.

Kate had to stop herself from daydreaming about all of this because she still had one more person to wake up, and they were really running late.

She went back down the hall to the door closest to her and Tony's. She opened it up and went over to the bed to wake her youngest son, and also the youngest member of the DiNozzo family. But when she pulled the covers back all that was there was a pillow.

"Oh, so we are going to play that game," Kate replied smiling "Well I wonder where he could be"

She then looked under the bed, but he wasn't there. Then she heard a giggle.

"Uh-Oh I heard a giggle, sounds like someone is going to make it easy for me," she said as she looked in the closet, where he wasn't hiding.

Then she heard another giggle. This time she went towards the sound and sat down on the dirty clothes hamper.

"Hmmm, I wonder where he could be," Kate thought out loud, which caused an unsuppressed laughter that came from directly beneath her. She slowly stood up and then jerked the lid off the hamper, only to be greeted by a four year old jumping out into her arms.

"Oops, looks like I found you Anthony," she said laughing

Then she started tickling him, which made him laugh even harder than he already was. When she finally stopped she kissed his forehead.

"Good morning son"

"Morning mommy," he grinned, and of course it was Tony's grin to a T.

"Looks like you're full of energy this morning," she said still holding him.

He just laughed and said, "Throw me!"

"Oh, so you want to fly again, do you"?

He laughed and nodded. One of his favorite things was to be thrown in the air. He loved to feel like he was flying. She and Tony both swore he was going to become some type of pilot, so that he could always soar through the air. But there was also the thought of him becoming something like a skydiver instructor or something insane like that, which scared the hell out of her. Kate stepped closer to the bed, counted to three and then threw him onto his bed where he laid there laughing until she sat next to him and started tickling him. He continued to laugh until she heard her husband.

"Kate, you better be helping him get ready for school and not playing with him again. Breakfast is now ready, hurry it up or we are going to be extremely late."

Kate and her son looked at each other and rolled their eyes at the same time.

"He knows you good mommy," he laughed

"Yeah I know. Don't you feel sorry for me," she said with a pretend frown on her face.

He shook his head no and laughed.

"Okay flier boy, let's get you ready for school"

"I want to go to work with you and daddy"

"Sweetie, you know you have to go to school. Besides you would be bored at work. We just sit there and do paperwork most of the time."

"Nuh-uh. Daddy said he plays video games on the computer."

"Oh really"

"Uh-huh"

"Well your daddy doesn't always do what he's told. Then he gets in trouble with the big boss"

"Like when he gets in trouble with you," the boy questioned

"Yes, like when he gets in trouble with me"

"Does Uncle Gibbs yell at him?"

"Yep, big time"

"I don't like it when Uncle Gibbs gets mad"

"Well then you better go to school today instead of coming with us because I have a feeling Uncle Gibbs is going to be mad," she said looking into the bright green eyes of the boy who looked exactly like Tony at his age. He had his blonde hair and everything about the boy was exactly like Tony, especially his personality, he was full of energy. Which according to Tony's mother was exactly the way Tony was at that age.

"Okay," the boy answered

Kate picked out some clothes for him and left him to finish getting ready and headed into the kitchen. The girls and Kayden were already eating and Tony was pouring himself and Kate some coffee. She kissed both of her daughters on the head as she passed them.

"Morning girls"

"Morning mommy," they said in unison

She then walked up behind Tony and slapped him on the ass, causing him to spill sugar everywhere.

"Ow, Kate what was that for" he questioned "last night?" he whispered to her and winked.

She took her coffee from him and replied, "No, it seem you told your son you play video games at work instead of actually working and now he wants to come with us to work instead of going to school."

He got a huge smile on his face to which Kate retorted, "DiNozzo, he thinks we play games at work while he is in school."

"Come on Kate, he's four. He asked what we do at work and I didn't want him to be scared. What was I supposed to tell him, well your mom and I put our lives on the line everyday chasing bad guys and we could die doing it."

This caused Kate to give him her look, which told him to stop being a smart ass.

"Tony, next time just tell him we catch bad guys and do a lot of paperwork."

"Fine, but this was more fun, wasn't it," he smiled. She rolled her eyes and turned to walk to the table when he grabbed her wrist and spun her back around and kissed her, causing an uproar at the table.

"Eww gross. Mom, Dad stop it," Kayden begged while the girls just laughed. Little Anthony walked in right when it happened and his only response was laughing also.

It was now 7:45 and it was obvious everyone was going to be late. All four of the kids went to a private school that started at 8:00, not to mention Tony and Kate were supposed to be at work by 8.

"Alright guys round it up. Grab your bags, lets roll" Tony ordered. All of the kids jumped up and ran to get their bags and put their shoes on. Even though they were told to put their shoes on when they got dressed they never did.

Tony ran into Anthony's room to help him tie his shoes while Kate went to make sure Kaylee got hers tied okay. Then they all met back in the kitchen. Tony had Anthony on his back and they all looked at each other.

"Okay, lets roll," Kate said

"Mom what about our lunches," Kayden asked

"O my gosh, I forgot," She got some money out of her purse and told them to eat in the cafeteria today.

"Okay lets go, we are late."

They all ran outside and as soon as they started towards the car the sprinklers went off.

"Tony I told you to change the timer," Kate yelled as she picked up Kaylee and ran to the car.

"I thought I did," he replied while running behind her with Anthony still on his back. They all piled into their SUV a little wet.

"Great, now we are late and wet," Kayden commented a little annoyed. That was one way in which he was like his mother, he hated being late for things, no matter what it was.

"I'm sorry guys I really thought I changed the timer," Tony apologized.

It took them 10 minutes to get to the school and by that time it was already 8:05, which meant the kids had to be signed in by a parent. Since Tony was driving Kate was the one to take the kids into the office.

"Ah, Mrs. DiNozzo. Running late again?" the secretary assumed

"Yes, and once again my husbands fault. I am so sorry."

"It's okay we are used to it by now Kate," she replied with a smile, to which Kate smiled back. Her and Kate had become fairly good friends since their 6-year-old daughters were best friends. And truth be told she was a tad bit jealous of Kate because she had a few guesses as to why they were usually late.

Kate hugged and kissed each child and told them she loved them before rushing out the door and running to the car, to where of course Tony insisted on joking around with her. So when she got close enough to open the door he started to drive off with Kate running after him yelling. But after about a minute of that he could tell Kate was pissed, so he stopped.

As soon as she got into the car, it started.

"Damn it Tony, can't you grow up"

"C'mon Kate I was just having a little fun. Besides I recall you doing the exact same thing to me last week."

"Yeah Tony, on a Saturday, when we didn't have to be at work."

"C'mon Kate don't be mad"

"Tony, it's 8:15 and it's still going to take us 10 minutes to get to work, so stop goofing off and drive."

"Fine but we were already late so I didn't see the harm-"

"Tony," Kate yelled "Shut up. And you are on your own explaining this one to Gibbs."

Tony was about to respond but thought better of it and decided to crank up the radio and sing to it because he knew it pissed Kate off. So the whole way to work they fought over the radio. Kate turning it off and Tony turning it on and singing to it.

A/N: Please review and let me know what ya'll think! And yes there is a lot more to come!