Chapter 10

Sometime later in the evening of Saturday, Tony, Gibbs and Max are waiting in the NCIS building for the arrival of his parents. Ziva and McGee went home already. Gibbs enters in Autopsy where Ducky is about to perform an autopsy on the first child. Gibbs walks over to the table.

"Ah, Jethro… I heard you saved one of the children. Good job."

"It wasn't me who saved him Ducky. It was Tony. He was the hero today."

"It's truly a horrible thing those men did to these innocent children."

Ducky grabs a scalpel and moves his hand toward the body in order to make the first incision. Gibbs grabs Ducky's hand just before touching the scalpel to the body. Gibbs shakes his head.

"Their bodies suffered enough." Gibbs stated.

After a couple seconds Gibbs let go off Ducky's hand. Ducky pulls his hand back and puts the scalpel down. He then pulls the cover over the body of the child.

Gibbs finally leaves Autopsy and goes upstairs. He walks to his desk and sits down. With sitting at his desk, he looks over toward Tony's desk. Tony is sitting at his desk and Max is sitting on his left knee. The two of them have crayons in their hands and are working on a coloring book.

"I'm the coloring king!" Max exclaimed.

"You're much better at this then me." Tony stated.

"Haha! You keep coloring out of the lines."

"How can I beat the coloring king?" Tony asked. "I don't think it's possible."

"You can't!"

Jamie steps off the elevator. Max looks over in excitement but doesn't see his parents. As Jamie sees Tony with Max, she can't help but smile at how cute it looks.

"Don't worry Max. They'll be here soon." Tony stated.

"I know." Max said.

"Come on… Let's keep coloring."

Tony and Max continue coloring. As Jamie walks into the area and begins walking passed Tony's desk, the two of them look at each other and smile. Jamie finally passes the desk and walks over to the front of her father's desk.

"I brought it." Jamie said.

"Good."

Gibbs stands up and the two of them walk away in order to go to the lounge. Tony is left, sitting at his desk coloring with Max. Gibbs and Jamie finally get into the lounge. Jamie hands him the bag she carried in. They both sit down and Gibbs begins taking the stuff out of the bag and putting it together.

"You think he'll like this?" Gibbs asked.

"I'm sure he will." Jamie said.

"After what he did today, he deserves it."

"I helped… Well… I just brought the certificate to your buddy Mark in order to get it taken care of with the new addition."

"Sweetie… Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"Tony got a phone-call the other day that seems to be bothering him. I even smacked him on the back of the head and got no response…"

"I'll talk to him. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks."

"So how's the present coming along?"

"Just about done closing it."

"You did an excellent job on the frame Dad. You were always good with carpentry."

Gibbs finally closes the frame and flips it over to show Jamie. She looks at it.

"It's beautiful." Jamie said.

"Can you wrap this for me?" Gibbs asked.

"Even though you're good at carpentry, you always sucked at wrapping birthday and Christmas presents."

"Gimme a break here... Your mother always wrapped the presents."

Jamie takes out the wrapping paper and tape. She carefully wraps the gift then hands it to her father.

"I remember one Christmas you dressed up like Santa Clause for when you were putting the presents under the tree." Jamie stated.

"You remember that?" Gibbs asked.

"At first I thought you really were Santa so I brought you milk and cookies."

"And I enjoyed the milk and cookies. But you never said anything. You knew it was me all along?"

"Of course I did. A daughter can never forget her father's eyes."

"Then why'd you keep calling me Santa that night?"

"We all need something to believe in."

"What did you believe in?"

"You should rephrase that question to; what do you believe in?" Jamie stated. "And what I believe in is a father's love for his daughter."

"Jamie… I... I recently realized a major problem I have with you dating Tony and I thought…"

"You're afraid you'll lose me to him."

Gibbs nods his head. Jamie puts her hand on her father's hand. She looks him in the eyes.

"You'll never lose me no matter who I'm dating. I'll always be here for you cuz I'm not going anywhere. I've told this to Tony before and he fully understands. And now I'm gonna tell you…" Jamie said. "I need you just as much as you need me. We have a special loving bond. Nothing and no one is gonna take that away from us."

"You wanna go work on our boat tonight?"

"I'd love to."

They smile at each other then finally stand up and walk out of the lounge. They walk into the work area where Tony is still sitting at his desk with Max. Both of them are still with the crayons and the coloring book. Gibbs and Jamie walk to Tony's desk.

"You did a good job today Tony." Gibbs stated.

"Thanks Boss." Tony replied.

Gibbs places the wrapped present on Tony's desk. Then Gibbs and Jamie walk toward the elevator. The elevator opens, Max's parents step off and Gibbs and Jamie step on. Max sees his parents and immediately gets off Tony's lap and runs to his mother. As Max and his mother hug each other tightly, Tony looks on with a smile. After a couple minutes, Max and his parents get onto the elevator and leave. Tony is now all alone. He grabs the present and begins to unwrap it. Tony looks at the present and just smiles.

The present is a Gibbs-made frame with a glass front. Inside, there's a certificate and an exact replica of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

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On the certificate are the words:

Your courage in the face of danger, your dedication to this team, your skills as an investigator, and your attitude and manner reflect upon the great man you are. Without your leadership, integrity, and faithfulness to the team and to the ones you care for, our lives wouldn't be complete. In the face of danger, you've shown extraordinary passion and valor in the passed three weeks. The U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor is awarded to "an individual who, while engaged in conflict with an enemy force, distinguishes himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty…" Whether the enemy force is a madman or even a sinking boat, without hesitation, you took the place of a person you love inside a bomb vest and also jumped out of a helicopter to save a young boy from drowning. Though you may never actually receive the real thing, this exact replica has definitely been earned. You're a true hero. So I, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, present you, Anthony DiNozzo with this award.

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THE END

This concludes the story "Bless the Children". Coming soon will be the next story in this series. But until then, I hope you enjoyed this story.