1A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews, ya'll are awesome! I think there will probably be at least two more chapters, maybe three in this series.
Chapter 14: First Day Off
The next morning Tony woke up around 7AM to find a tiny hand across his face. When he turned to look, he also felt something heavy across his legs. He looked to his right to see Anthony had shifted upward during the night and half his body was on Tony's pillow and it was his hand that was laying across Tony's face. Then he looked down towards his feet to see Annie sprawled across the end of the bed, her head on his legs and her feet just barely reaching Kate's legs. Then he saw Kaylee had somehow shifted during the night as well, her feet actually up against the headboard, and her head facing everyone's feet. Then he looked at Kate, who he realized was already awake, so he smiled at her. She smiled back and quietly said,
"I've missed this"
"Me too" he responded
"They are quite the entertaining sleepers"
"Yeah, they get that from you" he told her
"Oh, right, this coming from the guy who wanted to know who had managed to move him during the night so that his head was hanging off the foot of the bed" Kate laughed
"Hey I still think someone was playing a joke"
"Right Tony. Me and your two year old son and one year old daughter at the time conspired against you that night"
"Hey it's possible. You're pretty strong when you wanna be" he told her with a smile
Kate looked to her right to see Kayden, sound asleep on his stomach, with his left arm hanging off the bed, and his mouth wide open. His right hand, though, was attached to Kate's t-shirt. He had his hand tightly clenched in a fist holding onto it for dear life, like he was afraid if he let go he might lose her.
Tony looked at Kate as she looked back in his direction. He smiled and said,
"I don't want to get up"
"Me neither"
"Should we try and go back to sleep and wait for them to wake us?"
"Yeah" she answered
So they both tried to get as comfortable as possible and with four kids also occupying the bed, it wasn't very easy. But they finally fell back asleep.
At 8:45 AM Kate woke back up to find her and Tony the only ones in bed. She looked around, but didn't see any of the kids. Then she smelled what she thought was bacon cooking, but it smelled burnt. She rolled closer to Tony and shook him,
"Tony. Tony wake up"
"Hmm. Wha-" he mumbled as he opened one eye to see Kate looking directly in his face.
"Tony wake up"
"Okay, okay. What is it?" he asked, as he opened his eyes, "Mmm is that food I smell cooking?"
"Yeah, but since you and I are here, who do you think is doing the cooking?" she asked
"Is that something burning?" he asked, ignoring Kate and sitting up.
"Sure smells like it" she answered as she got out of bed. Just as she did, their smoke alarms started going off in another room. She and Tony both took off out of their bedroom, running down the hallway to the kitchen.
When they got into the kitchen their was smoke coming up over the stove and lots of smoke above the kitchen sink, where Annie and Kayden were trying to run cold water over the bacon and frying pan. As Kate started to run over to them she slipped on something wet on the floor and fell, sliding across the kitchen floor on her butt. Tony, Kaylee, and Anthony all saw what happened and couldn't help but laugh.
Kate turned towards Tony with a very evil glare. So he immediately stopped laughing and went over to help her up. But as he did, he slipped on the floor as well, falling onto his back.
"Oww, What the-what is this gunk?" Tony asked, as he slowly sat up, the backside of him covered in something wet and sticky.
Kaylee and Anthony continued laughing, this time at both of their parents.
"It's fruit" Kaylee laughed
"What?" Tony asked
"Well Tony, it's obviously fruit" Kate told him, a smug smile on her face.
"Ah-hahha Kate" he said to her, "That's real funny. I heard her say it was fruit. What I meant, is what is it doing on the floor?"
Kayden and Annie finally put the frying pan down in the sink and turned around to look at both of their parents, who were still on the floor, amongst the gunk.
"I'm sorry" Kayden and Annie both said in unison
"We just wanted to make you some breakfast" Kayden told his parents sadly
"I know you were trying to do something nice for us, but you know the rules about the kitchen" Kate said, looking at her two oldest children.
"Yes'mam. No stove or oven cooking without an adult present" Kayden replied
Tony and Kate both smiled at the way he said it. And as Tony looked back up towards the ceiling he noticed that some of the gunk was stuck to the ceiling.
"Uh guys, why is the gunky fruit stuff stuck to the ceiling?" Tony asked
Kate looked at Tony then up to the ceiling and back to Tony before revealing a small smile. And Kayden and Annie just looked at each other, trying to come up with the best way to explain it.
Kayden then looked at his mother and said,
"We were trying to make some fruit smoothies and Anthony wanted to mix it in the blender. So he climbed up on the stool and pressed the mix button, but he forgot to put the lid on it. And before Annie or I could get to him the fruit was already going everywhere"
"Well this is sure a lot of fruit for just one blender full" Kate told him
Annie stepped forward and said,
"We tried to make another one and we got it mixed pretty good, but Kaylee accidently knocked it over and it went all over the floor"
"And I'm guessing that while you guys created this mess you left the bacon cooking on the stove and when you turned back around there was smoke everywhere" Kate asked them
"Yes'mam" Annie and Kayden replied
Then Kate lost it. She couldn't control it any longer. She busted out laughing. This caught everyone else off guard because usually Tony would be the one to start laughing first. Tony looked at her laughing and he got a huge smile on his face before he too started laughing. Anthony and Kaylee had never stopped laughing to begin with so they were still laughing. Kayden and Annie looked at their parents and then looked at each other before huge grins spread across their faces. Kate was only a couple feet away from Kayden and Annie so she reached out and grabbed both of their legs causing them to fall forward into the gunky mess on the floor.
"Mom" they both yelled as they fell
This made everyone laugh even harder and Anthony and Kaylee then ran to where their parents were and they slid across the slimy floor on their knees, laughing the whole time.
After a few minutes of playing around in the slippery mess on the floor Kate got up and said, still laughing,
"Okay guys we really need to get this cleaned up'
"Aww mom"
"Man"
Tony then snuck towards her, on his knees, when she had her back to him and he grabbed her around the knees, getting her to fall forward back into the gunky fruit.
"Tony" she yelled at him, as she rolled over on her back
He smiled as he crawled on top of her and kissed her. And as he did all the kids started giggling at them, including Annie and Kayden. Normally they would be telling them to stop, but the truth was they h ad missed their parents so much the last two weeks that they were glad to have them back, even if they were being mushy with each other.
Then Tony got up and helped Kate up and they looked at the mess that lay ahead of them.
"Where do we start at?" Tony asked Kate
"I have no idea" she answered
They looked around a little trying to figure out the best way to clean it up. Then Kate said,
"Okay, kids you start cleaning up the floor. Get some rags and try to push it all to one pile. Your father and I will take care of the ceiling"
"We will?" he asked
"Yes Tony. We will" she told him
"But I didn't make the mess" he whined
"You played in it didn't you"
"But I-"
"Tony we are cleaning the ceiling, so quit your whining, get up on the island and lets clean it" she told him in a stern, yet motherly voice.
Tony pouted a little more as he helped Kate onto the island, but before he got up on it himself he had an idea.
"I have an idea" he said with a smile
"No Tony, I don't want to know what it is. Just get up here and help me" she told him, but it was too late, he had already walked over to Kaylee and grabbed her legs and began pulling her around the kitchen on her back. Wiping all the gunk up with her, as she laughed.
"TONY" Kate yelled at him, "She's our daughter, not our personal mop"
"Hey it's working, isn't it"
"Do me daddy, do me" Anthony yelled, jumping around.
"No sweetie, you don't need to get anything in your stitches" Kate told him
"That's not fair" he pouted
"Okay, sorry. You guys get back to doing it the right way" Tony told them, as he let go of Kaylee. Then he climbed up on the island to help Kate.
After they had gotten all of it picked up that they could, they just had to mop. But by then the kids were going crazy and Anthony was starting to run around the house chasing Kaylee and they were dropping the fruit gunk everywhere.
"Kids, no, don't run through the house till we get you cleaned up" Kate yelled after them
She and Tony stopped what they were doing and ran after them. Tony grabbing Kaylee and Kate grabbing Anthony. Then they carried them, as carefully as they could, to the bathroom.
"Okay Kate, why don't you give them a bath and I'll mop up the kitchen" Tony suggested
"Okay"
So Tony went to mop up the kitchen, while Kate gave Anthony and Kaylee a bath. Normally Kaylee and Annie would take a bath together, but under these circumstances that wasn't going to work. When Tony got to the kitchen Kayden and Annie were still there, so he picked them up and set them up on the counter so that they were out of the way while he mopped.
"When do we get to take a bath?" Annie asked
"You get one after your brother and sister" he told her
"What about me?" Kayden asked
"Tell you what Scout (Tony's nickname for Kayden), why don't you take one in our bathroom" Tony told him
"Really?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Won't mom get mad?"
"I don't think so. Did you not see her this morning. Besides, this is you" Tony told him
"Okay, cool"
"Here jump on. I'll make sure you get through the hallway and bedroom without making a mess" Tony said, as he let Kayden get on his back. He gave Kayden a piggy back ride to his and Kate's bathroom so that he could get cleaned up. Then he went back to the kitchen with Annie.
"Is mom gonna be okay?" Annie asked her father seriously
"Yeah she's gonna be fine, why"
"She's hurt pretty bad. I didn't want to say anything though"
"Yeah she is hurt, but she's going to get better a lot faster now that she is at home with all you guys"
"I'm glad your our dad" she told her father
"Oh yeah why's that? Besides the obvious reason of me being handsome and funny and-"
"Daddy I'm being serious"
"Sorry"
"I'm glad your our dad because we always know that you won't let mom die" she told him seriously, "But sometimes I'm still scared I might not see one of you again"
Tony walked over to his daughter and hugged her, "Well munchkin, you know what? Your mom and I love each other a lot, and we do everything we can to protect each other. And we have great people, like Uncle Gibbs and Uncle Tim, that look out for us too. So you shouldn't worry so much okay."
"Kay"
"And your mom is gonna be fine. She's the strongest and bravest woman I know" he told his daughter with a smile.
"Yeah she is"
"Now I suppose I better finish mopping up before your mother comes out here and kicks my ass for not having this cleaned up"
"Daddy she'll kick your butt if she hears you say bad words in front of us"
"Shhh, I won't tell if you wont" he smiled at her
"So munchkin, did you really miss me?" Tony asked as he finished mopping up the floor.
"Of course daddy. Jackie doesn't let us get away with stuff like you do" she told him with a smile
"So that's the only reason you missed me?" Tony asked sadly, "That hurts" he told her, reaching for his heart.
"Oh please daddy, I'm almost nine. I don't fall for that face or that reaction anymore" she told him, as she crossed her arms in a very Kate like way.
He couldn't help but smile as she did that, looking like a very savvy Kate with her arms crossed, and yet at the same time looking exactly like a charming and savvy DiNozzo.
"I bet you missed this" he said, as he walked towards her wriggling his fingers at her.
"No daddy!" she laughed, "STOP,-don't-tickle-me" she begged as she laughed even harder.
Then he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, still tickling her sides, as he carried her out of the kitchen, down the hallway towards the bathroom. Just as they got to the door, Kate opened it up and out ran Kaylee and Anthony, both only in their underwear.
"Guys, go straight to your rooms and put some clothes on" she yelled after them
"Is she next?" Kate asked, looking at Tony and Annie
"Yep, Kayden's in our bathroom getting cleaned up" Tony replied
"What! Tony, he's going to get it all messy. They have their own bathroom for a reason" she told him, slightly annoyed.
"Sorry hun, but he was all sticky and I didn't know how much longer you were going to be" he told her
"Well you can clean up the mess he leaves"
"Okay" he told her before giving her one of his best smiles
"You're just lucky I love you so much" she told him with a sly smile
"I know. Well here's the next one" he said as he put Annie down, "I'm just gonna finish up the little bit that's left in the kitchen"
"Okay, but check on the little ones on your way to the kitchen to make sure they got dressed" Kate told him as he walked off.
"Okee dokee" he shouted back at her
While Kate got Annie's bath ready for her, Tony stopped in at both bedrooms to make sure the youngest DiNozzo's were getting dressed and not into some type of mischief. He checked on Kaylee first, who he found already dressed and playing with her dolls. But when he stepped into Anthony's bedroom he was nowhere to be found. Just as he started looking, Kate came out of the bathroom.
"Are they dressed?" she asked him, walking back towards the kitchen.
"Kaylee is"
"What about Anthony?"
"Don't know"
"How do you not know Tony"
"I don't know where he is"
"Well he has to be around her somewhere. Although he has gotten pretty good at hiding places" she commented
Just then there was a scream from their bathroom, that sounded just like Kayden. Tony and Kate both looked at each other and then took off down the hall to their bedroom. Just as they got inside their bedroom Anthony, still in his underwear, came running out of their bathroom laughing.
Tony caught him and took him into the bathroom to check on Kayden.
"You all right Scout?" Tony asked
"Anthony flushed the toilet and the water got really-really, cold" Kayden answered, causing Anthony to laugh even harder.
"Alright, that's enough out of you" Tony told his youngest, "Now apologize"
"Daddy"
"Now"
"Sorry Kade"
Then Tony took Anthony out of the bathroom, where Kate was waiting.
"He flushed the toilet and froze Kayden" Tony told her before she even asked.
"That figures"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Obviously it's something you would do" she told him
"Kate that hurts. Maybe when I was younger-"
"Tony you did it to me last month" she told him with a smile
He grinned before responding, "oh yeah"
"Oh my gosh, just go get your son dressed" she laughed at him
So Tony threw Anthony over his shoulder and walked out of their bedroom and into Anthony's.
Then Kate headed back down the hallway to the kitchen. But before she reached the kitchen she heard a door slam. She turned around to see Kayden running to his room in a towel and she smiled.
"Forget something important?" she asked him with a smile
He blushed a little and answered, "If by important you mean all of my clothing, then yes"
She laughed at his response as he shut his door. Then she decided it was her turn to take a shower, so she headed back to her bedroom. She yelled at Tony through Anthony's door.
"I'm taking a shower. Make sure the kids stay out of trouble"
"Will do" he answered from the other side of the door.
Tony finished helping Anthony get dressed and then went into the kitchen. Soon followed by four little helpers. He finished cleaning up the floor and then decided that maybe they should just go out for breakfast. So he sent the kids into the living room to watch some cartoons and he went to talk to Kate.
When he walked into their bedroom, he saw that Kate had already showered and was dressed.
"Hey babe, you wanna go out for breakfast?"
"Looking like this" she said, referring to her bruises and bandages.
"What, you look beautiful" Tony told her, knowing she was talking about her black eye and bandages covering her stitches, but he still thought she looked beautiful.
"Tony don't talk to me like I don't know what I look like" she said harshly
"Kate I'm serious. You are beautiful, no matter what" he smiled at her
"Don't do that"
"What"
"Don't smile at me that way"
"Why"
"Because you know I can't be mad at you or even ignore you when you smile at me that way" she told him
"I know, that's why I'm smiling" he told her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him, before kissing her.
Kate started laughing when they were kissing, so Tony broke away from the kiss.
"Excuse me. Why are you laughing?"
"Because your still covered in dripping fruit and now you smell funny. Like a mixture between Mr. Clean and fruit"
"Way to ruin the moment Katie"
"Yeah I guess I am pretty good at that" she smiled at him
"You know, you forget how crazy it actually gets around here"
"Yeah, are we crazy to have wanted to come back here so fast" she asked him
"Most definitely" he answered with a smile
Kate gave him one last kiss before shooing him into the bathroom to shower. But as she did the smell coming from Tony made her feel sick at her stomach. She placed her hand over her mouth and ran into the bathroom before Tony and got to the toilet just in time.
"Kate you okay" Tony asked very concerned
"I'm fine. Just don't come near me until you've taken a shower. I think it's the mixture of the cleaning supplies and the fruit" she told him as she walked around him, holding her hand over her mouth and nose, till she got out of their bedroom. Then she went into the living room to watch cartoons with the kids.
Just as Tony came out of the bedroom and was walking down the hall to check to see what the plans were for breakfast, the doorbell rang.
"Who could that be. It's 10:15 on a Saturday morning" Tony said out loud as Kate opened the door.
As soon as she opened the door, a three year old with dark pig tails flew into her arms.
"Aunt Katie" Piper yelled as she hugged her
"Hey princess" Kate replied, hugging her back and then setting her down and watching her run for Tony.
"Uncle Tony" Piper yelled as she jumped into his open arms.
"Hey squirt" he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
Then Kate invited Abby and McGee in.
"Oh my gosh Kate, Tim told me what happened. Are you okay?" Abby asked looking over her friend and then giving her a hug.
"Besides the stitches and black eye I should be fine" Kate told her with a smile.
"Well we thought we'd spend the day with you guys, if that's all right. We brought some breakfast, we thought you might not have ate yet" Abby told her
"Oh, Abbs, you're a life saver" Tony said walking over to her, kissing her on the cheek, and taking the bags with food from IHOP.
"Kids Aunt Abby and Uncle Tim brought breakfast" he yelled to the kids as he took the bags to the kitchen.
Abby and Kate were still standing in the entranceway to the living room as five kids came tearing out of the living room to the kitchen, nearly knocking Abby and Kate to the ground.
"Guys no running" Kate yelled after them, but it was too late they were already in the kitchen, when they heard a crashing sound.
Kate and Abby ran into the kitchen to find Tony and McGee on the ground, a couple of chairs knocked over, and the kids piling their plates up with food. Kate and Abby just laughed as they watched their kids trample their husbands to get what food they wanted first.
"I guess their showing you who's boss, huh" Kate smiled
"Funny Kate. You could get them off of us you know" Tony told her
"Why? They're obviously enjoying it, and so are we" she told him, as her and Abby continued laughing.
Then Anthony set his plate down and turned to run at McGee. He jumped and landed on McGee's stomach, smiled, and said,
"Thanks for breakfast Uncle Timmy"
"Don't call me Timmy, and get off" McGee told him, as he picked him up, stood up, and set him back on the ground. Anthony jumped back on McGee's leg and wrapped his arms and legs around his leg and said,
"You're suppose to say your welcome"
"Okay your welcome. Now get off" McGee told him, as he tried to shake him loose.
"Uh that's no use McGee. He's not gonna let go till he's ready. You can thank Tony for teaching him that" Kate told him
"Great. You know Tony he's exactly like you in every way, especially annoying. It's bad enough to have one of you around, and now thanks to you two reproducing we've got two of you" McGee said annoyingly
"Aww thanks McGee. You really think he's just like me?" Tony asked
"Unfortunately yes. He's like your mini-me"
"Cool" Tony laughed
McGee rolled his eyes as he moved to sit down at the table, Anthony still attached to his leg. Eventually Anthony let go so he could eat his own breakfast while the adults ate theirs.
After breakfast everyone went outside to the front yard. Tony, McGee, and the kids began to play some basketball, while Abby and Kate sat on the steps of the front porch and watched them.
"You sure you're okay Kate?" Abby asked her, knowing they were out of earshot of everyone else.
"Yeah Abby. I'll be okay, really. It helps being back home with kids, ya know"
"Yeah"
"So were you glad to have Tim and Piper back full time for the whole week?" Kate asked her friend with a smile.
"Piper yes, Tim not so much" Abby told her with a smile.
They both looked at each other and started laughing. Then Abby commented,
"So it'll be ten years in two weeks, huh"
"What?" Kate asked
"You and Tony's ten year anniversary of your marriage"
"Oh, right, yeah it will be" Kate smiled as she looked back over at Tony and the kids.
"So are you gonna have a big party or what?" Abby asked excitedly
"Probably not, I mean it's just ten years"
"Please Kate, these day ten years is awesome. Besides this is also you and Tony we're talking about" Abby told her with a smile.
"True. I don't know I guess we'll see" Kate told her
Abby, McGee, and Piper stayed all day and into the night. The kids didn't want to stop playing, so they decided to all sit down and watch a movie. They put in the classic movie Ice Age, which everyone, including the adults, liked. But somehow half way through it the kids started falling asleep one by one. By the time the movie was over all five of the kids were asleep. It was nearly 11 PM when the movie was over, so McGee and Abby decided it was time to go. All of the adults stood in the living room looking around at their beautiful children and they couldn't help but smile at them. Kaylee, Piper, and Anthony were all asleep on their stomach's facing the TV, and Kayden was asleep on his back laying longways in front of the TV, with Annie laying on her back, also facing the TV, with her head on Kayden's stomach. McGee stepped around all of them as carefully as he could to get to Piper. He carefully picked her up without waking her and walked back over to the other adults. Him and Abby said their goodbyes before heading home.
Kate and Tony stood watching their kids for a little longer.
"We've got some amazing kids, huh?" Kate commented
"Yeah we do. But you have to remember they've got some amazing parents" Tony told her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
She smiled as she leaned into him and said, "I guess we better get them to bed"
"Yeah"
They carefully stepped over and around Kayden and Annie so that they could get to Anthony and Kaylee first. Kate carefully picked up Kaylee, while Tony picked up Anthony. Then they carried them to their bedrooms and put them to bed. They then went back to the living room and Tony asked,
"Which one do you want to get?"
"I'll take Kade" she told him
"Okay" he responded, as he carefully scooped Annie up in his arms and walked back to her bedroom.
Kate knelt down and carefully scooped Kayden's head up under one arm and his feet under her other arm and carried him back to his bedroom. Just as she came out of Kayden's room, Tony came out of the girls room. Tony smiled at her before running towards her.
"Tony, no" she laughed, as quietly as she could.
But it was too late, he already scooped her up and carried her back to their bedroom, shutting the door behind them, and locking it. He laid her carefully down on the bed as he began to kiss her. She had her arms wrapped around his neck as she kissed him back. They broke the kiss and looked into each other's eyes, each seeing the hunger of not having each other for the past two weeks.
"I've missed you Kate"
"I missed you too Tony" she told him, before they continued to show each other just how much they missed each other.
A/N: Please keep reviewing! Hope to get the next chapter up around the same time next week. Oh and did anyone even watch Tuesday's episode 'Under Covers'? I saw like the first ten minutes of it and it pissed me off so much I had to turn it off. Did that happen to anyone else? Anyways, thanks for all the great support with this story, ya'll are awesome!