Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or its characters. But, you know, my birthday is coming up and... Hey, I can dream, right!

This chapter is from Tony and Kate's POV.

Author's Note: Someone suggested that I continue with this story and should write about how protective Gibbs is. Well, I took her suggestion and even extended it farther.

A/N 2: I don't know where Kate is really from, so I did some research and just randomly picked a place (Mount Vernon, Ohio). I don't know how big the town really is but I'm portraying it as a small town, no bigger than probably 2,000 people.

And now...the chapter!

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Now, Kate told you earlier about Gibbs being her godfather but she didn't tell you that since he lives in Ohio, he kinda took his place. Since her father wasn't around to 'protect' her, Gibbs did.

The night of our first date was the worst. Granted, it was nerve wracking because every time I'd pick Kate up, he'd either be with her in her apartment or watching us from his car in the parking lot of her apartment complex.

OK, anyway, our first date:

Flash back:

I drove over to Kate's apartment to pick her up for dinner and a movie. I was kinda nervous. I had never really hung out with Kate outside of work.

I had to climb four flights of stairs because the elevator in her building was down for repair.

I knocked on the door three times. I wasn't sure what she'd say or what I'd say.

I was pacing around when I heard the door open.

"Hey, um, you ready to-" I started but it wasn't Kate who answered. It was Gibbs. And if I thought I was nervous before...he made it worse.

"Uh, Boss, what are you doing at Kate's apartment?"


"Well, DiNozzo, Katie is my goddaughter. She told me that you were picking her up tonight and I just wanted to see her off."

"She's...your god...daughter?" I was so confused.

"Gibbs! What are you doing!" Kate came around a corner looking gorgeous.

"Just talkin' to DiNozzo," he said casually.

"Go home Gibbs. Work on your boat. We'll see you tomorrow."

"OK, you kids have fun." Gibbs walked down the stairs while Kate and I watched him leave.

End of Flash back

And that's basically how it went for the rest of our dates. Oh, and the first date: It was great. I shouldn't have been nervous.

And then Christmas rolled around. She wanted me to meet her folks. Oh, boy.

She was from Ohio. We drove. Don't ask me why we didn't fly. It was Kate's idea to drive. I love her but sitting in a car with her for God knows how long to Mount Vernon sucked.

But, again, I was nervous. Her parents are extremely religious. Kate had gone to a private catholic school and her parents still thought she was a virgin. Thing was: she wasn't, we were living together (which I guess is a sin or something) and I was going to ask her father for permission to ask her to marry me.

We finally pulled up to a farm house on the outskirts of Mount Vernon. There were five other cars in the driveway. Kate had four siblings. One was a rental car and the others were vans with child seats in the back. She had plenty of nieces and nephews. I wondered who else was there.

We walked up to the front door and Kate turned around.

"You ready?" she asked me.

I nodded and we went inside. It was a cute little house. We took off our coats and shoes and left them by the door. We walked out of the entryway, through the dinning room and into the living room.

"Aunt Katie!" a little girl screamed.

"Hey Claire! How are you, Girlie?"

"Fine. Who's that?" Claire pointed to me. She was a cute little blonde with tight ringlet curls.

"That is my friend, Tony," Kate answered.

"Aunt Katie!" Six more kids ran at Kate.

"Hey guys. Are you ready for Santa to bring your presents?" She asked enthusiastically. It was the 23rd. Apparently, it was a Todd family tradition to spend two days at her parents' house until Christmas day arrived.

Their responses varied. "Good." "Fine." "Great!" "OK." but all of ended in "Who's that?"

"This is Tony," Kate said with a smile.

"Are you getting married?"

"Is he gonna be our uncle?"

"You need to get married soon, Aunt Katie. Grandma is losing hope for you. That's what she told my mom."

"Well, Adam, Grandma tends to lose hope for a lot of things," Kate said matter-of-factly.

Kids can be so honest. Too honest.

"OK! Everyone line up in order!" Kate said after a few seconds.

The seven kids raced around, rearranging themselves.

"Alright, now introduce yourselves to Tony. Let's see what Grandpa's taught you," Kate ordered.

"I'm Adam and I'm ten," a boy said. He had brown, wavy hair and glasses.

"I'm Derek and I'm nine years old," a tall blond boy said next. He was taller than the oldest boy.

"My name's Jeremy. I'm eight." Jeremy was short for his age and he had bright red hair.

"I'm Patrick and this is Kelsey. We're both six but I'm a few months older," a boy with short brown hair replied. The girl next to him had light brown hair and bright green eyes.

"I'm Emma," a little girl with straight red hair said.

"And..." Kate prompted.

"And I'm five!" She said ecstatically, holding out a hand with all five fingers extended.

I laughed.

"I'm Claire," the last girl said quietly, "and I'm four."

"I believe we have already met," I said as I bent down to her eye level.

"Aunt Katie, he's funny!" Claire squealed.

"Trust me, Girlie, you have no idea!"

I stood up to look at Kate.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I smiled and took a step closer.

We both forgot that those kids were still watching.

"You know what I mean!" She grinned and moved closer as well.

I kissed her and pulled back only because I heard seven kids scream "EWW!"

Kate laughed and picked up Emma to give her a kiss. She squirmed away from Kate and giggled as she ran away. All the kids went back to playing with their toys.

"They all forgot a step. We're having a family reunion soon and my dad has been teaching them proper introductions. They were supposed to say who they belong to. Adam and Kelsey are Robert and Susie's. Rob's my oldest brother. Derek and Patrick are John and Julie's kids. John is my next brother. Jeremy and Emma are David and Carolyn's. David is my youngest brother but he's older than me. And Emily is my younger sister. She married Ted and Claire is theirs. Emily's pregnant again, due in four months."

This was all too much for me to take in all at once. I had to slow down and go through it in my head. I needed a way to remember all of it.

"Caitlin! How are you! Oh, I've missed you so much! Your father and I have been worried sick about you. You never call-" Kate's mother stopped short when she saw me, "And who is this? You didn't tell me you were bringing someone home! This must be serious. You've only brought... oh, how many men have you brought home. Not many, mind you..."

"MOTHER!" Kate said through gritted teeth, "Mom, this is Tony."

"Oh, so this is Tony," She said louder than she needed to, "Caitlin has told me so much about you!"

Kate blushed furiously.

"Oh, come on, let's go into the kitchen. Your brothers and sister will want to meet Tony."

Kate mouthed 'I'm Sorry' and we followed her mother.

Ten other people were in the kitchen, seated around the table and leaning against counters. They were talking and suddenly became quiet when we walked in.

"Todd! DiNozzo! What the heck took you so long! Did ya drive or something?"

"GIBBS!" Kate and I said simultaneously, "what are you doing here?"

"Your folks invited me for Christmas. Is that a problem?" He gave us one of his famous looks that told us that we better answer right or we'd get one of those hard slaps on the back of the head.

"No, Boss."

"There's no problem, Sir."

"Good."

Her family seemed to snigger when we got 'yelled' at by Gibbs. I was introduced to her family. Her father seemed nice and my nerves about asking him for Kate's hand seemed to be melting away. About two hours after we arrived, Elizabeth, Kate's mother, started talking about local people and friends.

"Oh, Caitlin, you remember that girl who was on your homecoming court that you just couldn't stand, right? Oh, what was her name?"

"You were on the homecoming court?" I asked. I had a hard time picturing Kate Todd taking part in homecoming activities in her high school years.

Kate looked at me and opened her mouth to speak when her mom answered for her.

"For three years. Once in the court and twice as Queen. She was Queen her junior and senior years. And, she was senior prom queen. Anyways, Caitlin, what was her name?"

"Shelly Carver," Kate answered dryly.

"Oh, yes, that's right. She and Eric Peters just had a baby. They're not married yet, but the baby is just adorable. And Margaret Ann, our old neighbor, got married to some out-of-towner. He's coming into a great deal of money. Oh, and, Mary Elizabeth is the new town doctor. And Samuel Robbins wanted me to say hello. He's such a nice boy, Caitlin, why don't you give him a chance?" Elizabeth pleaded.

"Mom! I don't live here anymore. And besides, I have a good boyfriend," Kate defended herself.

It made me grin knowing that boyfriend was me. But Gibbs just glared at me.

"Katie, he still calls asking for you," James, her father, added.

I must have looked confused.

"Sam Robbins was my senior prom date. They announced the winners half way through the night. He wasn't king and I didn't see him the rest of the night," Kate explained to me.

"Oh," I said.

"He's not married yet," her mother announced, "his parents are losing hope."

Kate rolled her eyes.

There were a few minutes of silence while we listened to her nieces and nephews playing with their toys.

"So, Tony, where did you grow up?" James asked me. I started sweating bullets. I told him where I grew up and hoped he wouldn't ask me anymore questions.

Well, he kept drilling me. And Gibbs was getting some obvious pleasure watching me sweat it out. I wonder if I was doing OK, you know, passing the test and hoping that when I asked him about Kate that he wouldn't hesitate. But I had a feeling that I would have to ask Gibbs too.

"So, Tony, have you ever been tested for STDs?"

"DAD! What the hell kind of question is that? You've never asked that one before! No more questions!"

"Caitlin! Watch your language!" her mother scolded her.

"I'm just kidding! Calm down, Katie," James laughed.

I calmed down and glanced over at Gibbs. He was laughing. What a rare sight.

"Aunt Katie, Aunt Katie!" Claire came running into the kitchen. She already had her snow gear on. The pants, coat, boots, hat, scarf, the whole works.

"What's up, Girlie?" Kate said to her niece.

" It's snowing, Aunt Katie! Will you come make a snowman with me?"

Kate looked at me. I smiled and nodded her on.

"Alright, let's go!" Kate put on her coat, shoes and scarf and went out side. Her brothers and sister and their spouses went outside to watch their children play. Her parents, Gibbs and I stayed inside. I decided if I didn't ask her father now, I'd be to chicken later and I'd never do it.

"Um, Mr. Todd, can I talk to you?"

"Sure."

I motioned for us to go into the other room. He followed.

"I would like to ask for your permission to ask Kate to marry me." I came out with it right way. I didn't want to beat around the bush.

"Really?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Wow. Uh, you know, you seem like a great guy. Hold on, just a second. Jethro, come here!"

Oh, man! What did I get myself into?

"Jethro, you will never guess what Tony just asked me," James told Gibbs while smiling.

"He wants to marry Katie."

"Or you will guess. How do you do that?"

"He does that to me too, Mr. Todd. I hate it," Tony consoled.

"Well, Jethro, what do you think? Is Tony good enough for Katie?" James looked to his friend.

"DiNozzo is better than some of the guys Kate has dated in the past," Gibbs confided.

"But, you've seen his confidential record. What do you think?"

Gibbs smiled.

"He'll do just fine."

"There's your answer, Tony. Good luck."

I was amazed that such a little question could make me so nervous.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs yelled. I was staring off into space. "You got a ring?"

"Uh, yeah, Boss." I pulled a little black box out of my pocket and opened it to show the older men.

It was a little silver band with three diamonds cut like emeralds.

"Wow," was the only thing both men could say.

"How long did you save for that, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked still staring at the ring.

"Couple of months."

"Grandpa! Come look at the snowman Aunt Katie and I made!" Claire screamed.

"Alright, Girlie, let's go."

I put the ring back in my pocket quickly before Kate came inside.

I went into the kitchen to find Kate already sitting there drinking some hot chocolate.

"Have fun?"

Kate was soaked from the melted snow.

"Yeah, those kids are fun."

I looked at her. She was missing something.

"Where's your scarf?"

Kate laughed.

"The snowman is borrowing it. Claire was afraid he'd be cold."

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Now it's Christmas Eve. I wanted to propose tonight. Her father told her mother about her conversation and she told Kate's siblings. And that was at ten this morning. Now it's two PM, so I'll bet most of the town knows by now that some guy from out of town will be proposing to little Katie Todd.

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Kate's POV

My family has been acting very weird around me today. And I don't know if it's just me or what. It might be because I brought Tony home.

Before my nieces and nephews went to bed, they put cookies and milk out for Santa. So were sitting around the kitchen table eating Santa's cookies.

Tony looked a little pale.

"Tony? You OK?"

He looked at me, "Yeah, I just need some fresh air."

"Come with me?" He asked as he stood up.

I stood up and grabbed my coat.

We walked outside into the cold night air. It was a beautiful night; the stars and moon were out. The sharp air pierced my lungs at I walked down the front steps.

"Kate?"

"Yeah?"

He was making me nervous.

"I wanted to give you your present tonight."

He handed me a box. For the size of the box, it could only be one of two things. Earrings or…

I walked back up the front steps the sit on the bench on the porch. Tony sat next to me.

I pulled the paper off the box and opened it. I looked at the contents and then at Tony.

"Will you marry me, Kate?"

I didn't say yes.

I just pulled him into the most breath taking kiss ever.

Tony smiled and said, "Marry Christmas, Kate."

He kissed me again and I pulled back to see my whole family (including Gibbs) staring out a window watching me kiss my fiancée. As soon as I looked at them, they all ran back to the kitchen.

Tony slipped the ring on my finger and we went back inside.

As Tony opened the screen door, he said, "C'mon, Katie, its cold out!"

"DiNozzo, we may be getting married but you still can't call me Katie!"

He looked confused, "Why?"

I just laughed.

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I'm sorry for the long wait. I've been staying with my dad and he doesn't have a computer. I had to go to my grandma's house to use hers. I post the next chapter as soon as I can (Even thought this was an intended oneshot. All my oneshots turn into multiple chapter fics ;)