Forget Me Not
"Do you think I have a old-man name?"
Tali looked up from her baking to the five-year-old sitting, chin-in-hand, on the other side of the kitchen island. "Why would you ask?" Her Anthony was such a serious child. He didn't ask idle questions. She knew something was on his mind.
"But, do I?"
Tali set aside the bowl of cookie dough she'd been mixing. "No, you do not. Your name is very special." She wiped her hands on a kitchen towel and walked around the island to take a seat beside her son. "Have I ever told you the story of your name?"
"There's a story?" Anthony perked up.
"Uh-huh." Tali smiled and began her tale. "When we found out you were coming, Daddy and I each chose a name. We agreed we would put them together and, whatever they were would make your name. Do you know which name I chose?" The child shook his head. "I chose Anthony."
"You did?"
"I did." She brushed a lock of hair off his forehead. "I wanted you to share a name with someone I loved very much."
By now, the little boy was completely sucked in. "Who?"
"My grandfather." Tali's features softened, as they tended to do when she thought about him. Memories were bittersweet, but she was so grateful to have them. "When I was your age, Pop-Pop was my best friend. We would go on 'adventures.'"
"Like hiking in the jungle?"
"No," she replied with a laugh. "Nothing that grand, but he had a way of making the most ordinary things memorable."
"What kinda things?"
"Pop-Pop packed my lunch for me every day. He always remembered what I liked, especially that I liked two pudding cups, a chocolate and a vanilla."
"If you didn't go to the jungle," Anthony asked, "where did you go? Anywhere fun?"
"Sure. We went lots of fun places. He took me to the Baltimore Aquarium, Central Park in New York City. Once, he took me all the way to Maine so we could eat fresh lobster."
"Wow!"
"Pop-Pop was serious about his food. He would make homemade pizza for us." Tali paused. She could almost smell the kitchen of her childhood home. "I would stand on a step-stool beside him. Pop-Pop showed me how to do everything from how to make the dough for the crust to which tomatoes to use for the sauce."
"Your pizza is the best," her son informed her. "When I went to Summer's birthday party, her mom gave us pizza from a store. It was kinda...yucky."
"You can thank Pop-Pop for teaching me." Tali leaned close. "Do you know what else he taught me to make?" The child shook his head. "He taught me Grandma DiNozzo's recipe for snickerdoodles."
A very familiar grin split the little boy's face. "They're my favorite!"
"Mine, too," a voice chimed in.
"Grand-Pop!" Anthony scrambled off his chair and ran to hug his grandfather.
"Hey there, Big Guy." Tony took his grandson by the hand and let Anthony lead him to the island. He kissed his daughter's cheek before taking the seat on the other side of her. "What are we doing today?"
"Mommy is making snickerdoodles and telling me how I got my name," Anthony explained.
"She is?"
"Uh-huh. Cardigan is this boy at my school and…"
"Cardigan?" Tony repeated incredulously.
"Yeah."
"Someone actually named their kid that?"
"Da-ad," Tali cautioned. "Be nice."
"I am being nice. What did Cardigan do?"
"He said I had a old-man name."
"The kid is named after a sweater. He doesn't have any room to talk."
"Dad!"
Anthony giggled at his grandfather. "See?" Tony said, jerking a thumb in the child's direction. "He understands." Tali shook her head, reminding Tony very much of her mother. "Please continue, Anthony," he said, pretending to be more serious.
"Mommy said I didn't have a old-man name. I have a special name 'cause I'm named after a special person. I have the same name as Mommy's Pop-Pop."
Tony glanced at his daughter. When Tali told him the name she'd chosen for her son, he knew why immediately. He knew that, while Anthony was also his name, it was mostly in honor of her grandfather. And...he didn't mind at all. She and Senior had a wonderful relationship. Tali had nothing but happy memories of her grandfather and that was all Tony could ask for as a dad. Tony grabbed a cookie from the cooling rack. "Want to know something else? No matter how...cool this Cardigan thinks his name is, he wasn't named after an actual secret agent." He took a bite of the cookie with a grin.
Anthony sucked in a surprised breath. "Secret Agent? Like...James Bond?"
"Kinda."
"Wow!"
Tony took another cookie and handed it to his grandson.
"If you two are eating them before they're cooled," Tali said, "I should probably get the next batch of cookies in the oven." She ruffled her son's hair and kissed her father's cheek before returning to the bowl of dough.
"Grand-Pop, Mommy said that she used to go on 'ventures with her Pop-Pop. Can we do that?"
Tony was speechless for a moment. "Sure," he finally said.
"Really?"
"Absolutely." Tony took more cookies off the rack and shared them with Anthony. "Where would you want to go?"
Tali worked on the snickerdoodles while watching the pair, heads together, plotting the next step in their travels. Some of the best memories of her life were times she spent alone with her grandfather and she was glad Anthony would have the same opportunity. Tali wondered what Pop-Pop would think of the child she'd chosen to have his name. A smile graced her face. It wouldn't be a matter of if Anthony would have his great-grandfather wrapped around his little finger, but how soon after he was born it would happen. Conversely, she imagined the fun she would have watching her son fall under the spell of Anthony DiNozzo, Senior. When she was a little girl, Tali was pretending to be asleep and overheard her grandfather tell her dad that he was afraid she would forget him because he would undoubtedly pass before she was grown. He couldn't have been more wrong. She would never forget her Pop-Pop or the influence he had on her.
Author's note: I have the headcanon that Tali would have named her son after her grandfather. I love writing about their relationship. Thanks to my friend for her encouragement. Happy Reading!