"Knock, knock." came a cheerful voice later the next day. Kate looked up from one of her daughters to see a gleefull Abby standing in the doorway with a beaming Ducky behind her.

"Congratulations my dear." Ducky said when he saw the new mother.

"Hey Abby, hi Ducky. We were just finishing lunch." Kate said as she gave the baby a gentle pat on her back. "This is Cailey Grace, and the sleepy one over there is Taylor Abigail."

"Kate, they're so cute. Are you sure they're Tony's?" Abby teased. Kate rolled her eyes and laughed. Abby looked from one baby to the other.

"Do you want to hold her?" Kate offered. She looked from Abby to Ducky to see which of them would take her up on her offer.

"Let me see this little one." Ducky said. Kate handed him the baby, and the old doctor's eyes twinkled. "Oh, you are a stunning child aren't you?" Ducky sat down in the chair and cradled the baby in his arms. For the first time since Kate's known him, Ducky was speachless.

"Miss Cailey, while you visit with Uncle Ducky, mommy is going to go to the bathroom." Kate dropped a kiss on her daughter's dark hair and gingerly sat up. Abby helped Kate to the restroom and waited for her friend outside.

"She looks like Tony." Abby said as she meandered over to Ducky and the baby.

"Yes, she does doesn't she?" Ducky didn't take his eyes off the baby.

"Abby I need you." Kate's voice warfted from the bathroom and Abby went to help.

Tony came in a few minutes later.

"Hey Ducky." he said when he saw his friend, "Hi precious." Tony's eyes softened when he saw one of his baby girls. "Where's Kate?"

"Right here." Kate answered. Tony took Kate's arm to steady her, and pulled her into a hug.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, I had to use the bathroom. It feels good to stand upright though." Kate said, stretching a little bit. "Any word on when we're getting out of here?"

Tony didn't know when his girls would be released from the hospital, he figured it would be sometime soon though.

"Did you get another car seat?" Kate asked.

"I got the exact same one. They are both buckled in the car waiting to be occupied by two babies."

Just then, Cailey began to cry as did Taylor. Tony took Cailey from Ducky and Kate went over to retrieve Taylor. The twins wailed in unision, ones cry louder than the others. Tony and Kate soon comforted the twins and not to long after, Abby and Ducky bid farewell to the new parents.

Abby chatted about the babies all the way back to work.

"Cailey resembles Kate, but she really looks like Tony, and Taylor looks a lot more like Kate."

"Fraternal twins often times won't resemble each other at all, but other times they can look as identical as those lovely Olsen sisters." Ducky said as he turned onto the main street. "Whatever the case may be with Cailey and Taylor, they are beautiful girls. I'm afraid Tony and Caitlin will have their hands full with those two."

Abby sat back in the passenger seat of Ducky's vintage Morgan and smiled a knowing smile.

Three weeks after the twins were born, Tony went back to work leaving Kate home by herself with the babies. Though she was feeling stronger, Kate still wasn't up to par yet. She lay in bed with the girls swaddled up next to her, and watched Tony get ready for work.

"Are you sure you'll be okay today?" Tony asked as he threw on a clean shirt. "Cause if your not, I can stay home again today."

"And have Gibbs beating down our door?" Kate said with an eye roll. "I'll be fine. We'll sleep a little and eat a little and we'll be okay."

"I just want to make sure you're feeling okay."

"I'm fine Tony." Kate said with finality. "Don't worry about us."

"I love you." Tony said, dropping a kiss on his baby daughter's heads. He stood up to leave.

"Hey, what about me?" Kate said indignantly.

Tony walked back and gave Kate a passionate kiss. Quickly, he broke away.

"Really Kate, I can stay home today." he whispered against her cheek.

"No you can't. Gibbs will kill you, and besides, we can't go any further for another six to eight weeks." Kate reminded. Tony pouted. "I've already got two babies, I don't need a third." Kate pushed him back lightly and smiled at his pouty face.

"I'll miss you." he said. "But you're right, I have to go."

As he said goodbye once more, baby Cailey's little lip turned down into a frown and she began to fuss. Just as Tony left the room, the baby girl let out a hearty wail. Kate scooped her up and followed Tony out of their bedroom, leaving a sleeping Taylor lying on the bed, packed in by pillows.

"Bye." Kate said, giving Tony one last kiss before he absolutly had to leave. "Call me later."

She shut the door and gave Cailey a pat on the back.

"I guess it's just you, me and your sister." Kate said to the baby. Cailey gave a contented sigh.

Kate slept for what felt like ten minutes before the girls started to wake. Taylor was the little fussbudget now. Kate leaned over and scooped the baby from the co-sleeper that was attached to the bed.

"Hungry little one? Let's not wake your sister." Kate gingerly scooted out of bed and took Taylor downstairs for a bottle. Little Taylor eagerly drank the bottle and was finished quite quickly. Kate patted Taylor's back and the baby burped a little.

"Good job Taylor." Kate looked at her baby girl with awe and love in her eyes. Taylor and Cailey were getting bigger every day. At their two week old checkup last week, each baby weighed in at a healthy seven pounds, as opposed to their birthweights of five apeice.

After Taylor was fed and changed, Kate fed and changed Cailey. She was just settling the girls into their swings, when the doorbell rang. Cautiously, Kate went to the door. She looked through the peephole and was surprised to see a familiar face looking back at her. She flung open the door.

"Dad?" she queried, "What are you doing here? Where's mom?"

"You're mother, she's uh, back home. I came to..to see how you were. I heard about your little surprise and I wanted to say congratulations in person." James Todd said, he removed his cap and wrung it in his hands. "Katie, I'm none to good at this, but I wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I was acting."

"Dad, you drove all this way just to apologize to me?" Kate said, tears of disbelief and shock formed in her eyes. "Dad, is there something wrong?"

"I want to see my grandbabies before I go Katie." James said. Kate stepped aside and let her father come in.

"They're in the swings." Kate said. "The one on the left, in the pink is Cailey. And the one on the right, in purple is Taylor."

"Those are the most beautiful babies this old man has ever seen. Aside from you and your sister of course." James said, a watery smile creasing his weather worn face.

"Would you like to hold them?" Kate asked her father. He nodded and went to sit in the rocker. Kate scooped up one baby at a time and helped her father cradle each baby. "Let me get my camera." Kate said, and she began snapping pictures of her father and her daughters. Then the girls went back in the swings and dozed off.

"Katie, there's somthing I have to tell you." James said, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. "It's important so listen well. I don't want to have to repeat myself you hear?"

For a moment, Kate felt as if she were ten years old again. Her heart began to beat wildly as she listen to her father describe what's been going on in Indiana. James was telling Kate all about the stock and the crops, and the weather. But something ominous hung in the air, Kate could sense it. It was as if her father had something big to say, but he couldn't say it.

"Dad? Are you alright?" she asked after a pause in the conversation. "I mean, you came from Indiana, without mom, to see your granddaughters. I for one am suspicious at how you managed that one. Molli too, why isn't she here?"

"They wanted me to tell you in person, alone." James replied, "Katie, the thing is...the thing is, I'm dying. The doctors in Indianapolis said that I have stage four lung cancer and that it has spread to my liver and kidneys. They didn't give me much time Katie."

Kate was floored at her fathers announcement. How could this happen? How could the man who had been with her all her life, had given her life, be dying? She didn't want to lose him, not now, not when her two baby girls had just gotten the chance to meet him. And Tony, oh god, what would Tony say? Kate began to cry.

"Daddy," she cried, "I don't want to lose you."

"Katie, I'm an old man. Why do you want me around? Especially after the way I treated you before these two precious angels were born."

"I know we've had our moments, but dad I love you. I want you here with me always. I want my girls to grow up and know who their grandfather is, not was. I want you to be there when I get married so you can give me away. I want Tony to have to come to you and ask for your blessing and my hand in marrige. I want..." Kate couldn't finish as a fresh waterfall of tears coursed down her cheeks.

"There there my little Katiebug." James said as he wiped his daughters tears away with his handkerchief. Kate smiled at the nickname her father had given her when she was born.

"You haven't called me that since I was twelve." she said fondly, a teary smile forming on her lips.

"You wouldn't let me call you that at age twelve, you said you were too cool for such a childish nickname." James smiled at the memory, "When you were a little girl, I'd tuck you in at night and you wouldn't fall asleep until I said, "There's my little Katiebug, snug snug in a rug."" James stared at his eldest daughter, and a shimmer of tears began to creep up into his hazel eyes.

"Dad?" Kate queried. James was broken out of his reverie by Kate's voice. He looked up at her. "Will you stay for a while?"

"I promised your mother I'd call from the hotel."

"Stay here, with Tony and me and the girls. You can take our room." Kate said.

"What with the babies and all that, I'd just be in the way. I've got a nice room at the hotel and tomorrow morning I'm heading back home. Farms just don't take a vacation too you know."

"Please? We'd really like it if you stayed here. It'd give us some time together, and it would give you a chance to bond with your granddaughters."

"Alright. Let me just call your mother."

Just at Mr. Todd said this, Kate's phone rang.

"Hello?" Kate answered it on the second ring, "Mom? Yeah dad's right here...Uh sure..." Kate took the phone from her ear and turned to her father, "Why didn't you tell mom you were coming here?"

"Katie." James Todd gave his daughter a look that read, "Not now."

Kate left her father in the living room. She grabbed her cell phone and called Tony at work. She would have to "brief" him on the situation before he came home to find Mr. Todd in the living room.

Tony walked in the door later that evening. James Todd was sitting in the recliner giving Cailey her evening bottle. Kate sat opposite him with a sleeping Taylor in her arms. He smiled at Kate as he sat beside her.

"Hi sweet angel number one." Tony said to Taylor. He got up and walked over to Cailey, "Hi sweet angel number two." He looked at James, "Sir." he said politely, yet curtly.

Kate stood up and handed Taylor to Tony. Cailey was just finished with her bottle and James handed his granddaughter to her mother.

"Tony would you help me with the girls?" Kate said, motioning for Tony to follow her into the nursery. The air matteress had been set out on the floor.

"How was today?" Tony asked as he changed Taylor's diaper.

"An emotional rollercoaster." Kate admitted, "One minute we'd be having a great conversation, and the next minute, I'd be crying and he'd go quiet. He was great with the girls though. I even got a shower today." Kate went quiet for a moment as she settled Cailey in the crib beside Taylor. "I'm losing him Tony." she said softly, tears began rolling down her cheeks. Tony wrapped his arms around Kate and hugged her. He didn't say anything for the longest time, he just held her.

"How long did the doctors say?" Tony asked.

"Not long. I talked to Ducky about it earlier and he estimated about a month at best. I don't want to do this Tony, I don't want to have to bury my dad."

Tony soothed Kate, as she clung to him and cried. He didn't know what else to do, he had never been close with his own father and he couldn't understand the relationship Kate had with her dad.

"He wants to talk to you. Alone." Kate said finally. She caught the scared look Tony had on his face and for a moment, she was furious, but relented. Emotionally, and physically she was worn out, her day had been filled with ups and downs brought on by her father's admission that he had stage four cancer, topped with the still raging hormones that accompany new motherhood.

"Get some sleep. I'll talk with your dad and make sure he's set for the night. I'll be up if you need me." Tony kissed Kate's forehead, "I love you."

"Love you too." came the soft, sleepy reply.

Tony wandered down to the kitchen, he had heard shuffling noises come from that direction. James was sitting down at the small table with a cup of coffee in his hand. He looked up when Tony came in.

"My granddaughters go down alright?" James asked.

"Sleeping like babies." Tony replied. James grumbled something under his breath, "Sorry." Tony quickly added. "So, uh, Kate said you wanted to talk to me."

"I reckon she's told you about the cancer?" James asked.

"Yeah, she did. I'm sorry." Tony said. "If there is anything I can do...Please, let me know."

"Appreciate that. You just concentrate on keeping my Katie and those two precious babies safe and I'll be happy." James looked over the rim of his coffee cup at Tony. "We never got the chance to talk back when you and Katie came to the farm."

"No sir we didn't."

"Now I think it's about the right time to get a few things ironed out." James set down his coffee cup, much the same way Gibbs did when he was angrier than angry. The silence that filled the small kitchen was deafening, so Tony took the oppritunity to speak up.

"Sir, I just want you to know that I fully intend on marrying your daughter."

"That right?" James asked.

"That's right." Tony replied.

"My daughter loves you. Hell, she ought too, she's just had two babies with you." James raised his hand up to silence Tony, who was about to launch into a verbal tirade. "I've never seen Katie happier than when she's with you. You're not my first choice in life long partners, but if Katie's happy, then I'm okay with that. I just want you to know, son, that saying you'll make my daughter a bride isn't the same as doing it."

"I've already bought the ring sir, I was just getting the courage up to ask you for her hand."

James sat back in his chair and a small smile flickered on his pale face.

"Well, it's about time."

"Mr. Todd, would you so me the honor of giving me your daughter's hand in marrige?" Tony asked, his voice cracking with every word.

"Your love for my daughter seems undying. My daughter is lucky to have you. I give you my blessing."

"Thank you sir." Tony said simply.

"Now, seeing as it takes more than a month or so to successfully plan and have a wedding, and seeing as I don't have much time on God's Green Earth, you and Katie need to discuss who will be walking her down the aisle. Likely her oldest brother James Jr. will, but that's up to you and Katie."

"If we were able to pull it together in less than a month, wouldn't you want to walk Kate down the aisle? I know it would mean the world to her if you did."

"It would mean the world to me as well." James said. Suddenly Tony realized how hard this was for his future father-in-law. Tony caught James' eye and looked serious.

"Sir, I promise you, that no matter what happens in our lives from this moment on, I will love Kate as much as I have since the day I met her."

"I don't doubt you son." James said, as he wiped a stray tear from his eye with his handkerchief. He pulled back the worn peice of cloth and stared at it for a long moment befor he spoke. "Do you know how long I've had this kerchief son?" he held the hankerchief out for Tony to see. Tony shook his head.

"How long?" he asked.

"Since my girl was four years old." James once again looked at the cloth in his hands, a somber feeling decended on the kitchen. Tony watched the older man, not wanting to spoil his reveries and memories. "It's hard to believe that my baby girl is grown now. You'll realize it when you turn around for a second and your babies are waving goodbye from the school bus. Then you'll blink and they're off at college. Then one morning you'll wake up and she's protecting the President of the United States, and you're scared to death something will happen and you'll end up burying your child. Then a week goes by and suddenly you find yourself a Grandad again."

"We're not talking about Taylor and Cailey are we sir?" Tony asked. James shook his head.

"Her mother and I were understandably terrified when Katie was chosen to protect our President. We were so afraid she'd get hurt, or worse."

"But she didn't."

"No son, she didn't. Then came her job now, at NCIS."

"She's an exceptional agent sir."

"When her mother got the call that Katie had been kidnapped, all we could think about was the worst. Man's heart doesn't recover from something like that too well. After it was over, we breathed a sigh of relief. Then she told us of being held hostage by the same terrorist. Nearly gave her mother and I a heart attack. You'll know that feeling when your children are old enough to scare the living daylights out of you."

"They already do." Tony said low enough so that James wouldn't hear him, but the older man had and gave Tony a puzzled look. "I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know which way the diapers go on, or how warm the bottle is supposed to be, or whether they're growing alright or if they're sick."

James' eyes crinkled into a smile. He leaned over and put his hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Son, let me tell you what my father told me the first time I held James Jr. My father said to me, "There are four things a child needs to grow; Number one: Food, a body cannot survive on just water. Number two: Warm safe shelter, because we'd likely freeze to death if left out in the elements. Number Three: Clothing, because the good Lord made man seperate from the animals. And finally, the very last, yet most important thing a child needs to grow is Love. If you remember all of that son, then you're doing it right." I believed him see, and my wife and I raised five children."

"But what if I screw up?"

"If you do what I told you, and I can plainly see that you are already doing it, then you have nothing to worry about. Don't cross bridges before you come to them, it's what Evelyn used to say. I can already see that you are a good father. Don't ever let anyone take that from you, or tell you otherwise." James said as he stood up. Tony also stood.

"Thank you sir." he said shaking the man's hand.

"Well, I'm going to retire off to bed. These old bones get tired this time a-night."

"Good night sir." Tony said

"Night son."

James Todd fell asleep easily that night, his thoughts on his family. Memories of his wife on the day they met, then married came to mind. As did each memory of the birth of his children, each one as momentus as if it was the first. As one memory flashed in his mind, another took it's place, every one more special. He remembered the day his oldest son married, then the day Jimmy and his wife Sarah announced they were going to be parents. He remembered the day little Emma was born, and how happy he was to see his son reveling in the joys of fatherhood. He remembered the day his second son, Matthew, married and had his first child, a boy named Peter James. The memory of his youngest son Michael's wedding flashed in his subconcious, and James could feel himself smile. Then came Katie, his little shadow, wonderful memories of her as a child and young woman flashed, and James was contented. Memories of Molli came later, and once again, James was full of fatherly pride and happiness. It was with those memories that James Todd slipped the bonds of Earth and went quietly into Heaven's Pearly Gates.

The wake and funeral were held in Indiana. Kate was a wreck, as was to be expected. She was glad that Tony was with her, to lean on for much needed moral support. They stayed at her mother's house, as did her brothers and their families. The twins, now nearing a month old, were being cared for under the watchful eye of Daddy, or Auntie Molli when daddy was helping mommy.

"Mom?" Kate walked into the kitchen with an empty tray in hand, baby Taylor in the other. The attendees at the funeral had come back to the farm for a small lunch, the food provided by the church women. Now all the people were gone, and those that remained were only family now. "Mom?" Kate said again.

"I miss him Katie." Evelyn said, a sob catching in her voice. "I didn't realize that I'd feel so empty without your father here."

"Mom." Kate said and she set down the tray and went to hug her mother. Taylor fussed a little.

"At least he got to see his grandbabies before he passed." Evelyn resolved. Kate settled Taylor in her mother's arms and sighed. "Are you going to be alright mom?" Kate asked.

"Katie..." Evelyn began, "I don't know how to tell you this, but I was talking to Jimmy, Matt and Mikey, the other day, and now with your father gone.."

"Mom?"

"I'm selling the farm Katie. I'm going to move to Vincennes to be closer to Matt and his family."

For a moment, Kate was floored, she couldn't believe her mother would sell the only home this family had ever known.

"Mom, it took you and dad years to come even with this place. You raised five children here. You can't sell."

"Katie, I've made my decision. With your father gone, and Molli moving to Chicago come June, I figured that there's nothing keeping me here. You and the boys have lives and families of your own to go back to."

"But mom, what about the history that's here? Our history, my history?"

"Katie, all the wonderful times we've had in this house are all kept in here." Evelyn pointed to her heart, "I love this house and this farm. It's something your father and I worked hard at together, but now..." Evelyn stopped for a moment, "And now that's all past."

Kate knew she couldn't argue with her mother about selling or not selling. Evelyn Todd was too strong willed to argue with anyone over anything. Once she set her mind to something and said her peice about it, it was as good as done.