Chapter 3

Tim was sitting at his desk, taking a few moments to start compiling a list of places they could go, but he was worried that the usual time they took for a road trip (at least a week) would be too much for Tommy at his age. He was ready for a little trip, but the way they tended to travel wasn't as good for a little boy who needed his sleep and they'd have to think about what he might enjoy and what he might not enjoy. Tim wanted this to be fun for his son...so that he'd keep wanting to hang out with his dad as he got older.

If they had their starting point be Norfolk instead of D.C., it would give them a little more play for seeing different places.

"What are you doing, Tim?" Delilah asked him.

"Just thinking about where we'd go."

"When are you going to tell Tommy?"

Tim looked at her and grinned. "Once the twins are up from their nap. I don't want to have them awakened by Tommy shrieking his excitement."

Delilah laughed. "So what have you decided?"

"Well, I'm not sure we can do our usual. I just don't know if Tommy's ready for a full week of being on the move. That's a lot when he's not really used to it."

Delilah nodded. "You're right. We haven't been able to do much traveling. That might be kind of intense for his first trip."

She thought for a moment and Tim could tell the moment she'd come up with something.

"You're heading north, right?"

"Yeah."

Delilah started to smile. "What about this? You know that my mom has been asking if Tommy could come and visit them for a couple of days in Boston."

Tim saw what she meant right away.

"So we could see a few things going up to Boston, drop him off at your parents' and go on up to Maine and then pick him up on our way down and see a few more things."

"Exactly."

"That's actually a really good idea," Tim said.

"You don't need to sound so shocked," Delilah said.

"I'm never shocked at your brilliance, honey."

Delilah punched him on the arm.

"Ha. I know you don't mean it when you call me honey."

She left him to his planning, but he only had about half an hour before the girls woke up and Tommy was running in to ask Tim to play with him.

"Daddy! Come out!" Tommy said, eagerly.

"In a minute, Tommy. Come here, first."

Tommy obediently walked over to where Tim had been looking at an atlas.

"What's this?"

"A map!" Tommy said.

"Exactly. Do you know what a map is for?"

"It shows...places."

"Yeah. Well, this map has a part of the United States where we live. Do you know why I'm looking?"

"You're lost?" Tommy guessed.

Tim laughed. "No, I'm not lost. How would you like to go on a trip with Tony and me when school gets out in the summer?"

"A trip?"

"Yeah. Like the trips Tony and I have gone on before."

"I can go with you?" Tommy asked, sounding amazed at the prospect.

"Yeah."

Tommy thought about it and then, he started grinning.

"Where do we go, Daddy?" he asked.

"We're going to go and get Tony down here," Tim said, pointing to Norfolk. Then, he dragged his finger up the coast. "And we'll drive up to where Grandma and Grandpa Fielding live. Do you remember where that is?"

"Boston!"

"That's right. And you'll stay with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of days and then Tony and I will come and get you and we'll go home."

"And I get to come?"

"Yeah, Tommy. This would be a trip for the three of us."

"And no Evelyn or Esther?"

"Nope. Just the boys."

"I get to go on a trip!" Tommy shouted, excitedly.

Then, forgetting what he had come in to do (get his dad to go and play), he ran out, shouting that he got to go on a trip over and over. Tim could hear him telling Delilah and then he could hear him shouting it at the twins who could be heard complaining about the noise.

Then, finally, he ran back into the room.

"Tommy, do you want to call Tony and tell him thanks?"

"Yes! Yes, Daddy!"

"Okay. Sit right here while I call him."

Tommy did sit down beside Tim, but he was fairly dancing in his seat.

Tim quickly dialed the number.

"Hey, Tim. What's up?"

"Hey, Tony," Tim said, smiling. "You have a minute?"

"Sure. Shouldn't you be working?"

"Nope. It's my Saturday off. We had a breakthrough yesterday, so I'm free for the day unless something happens."

"Okay. What's up?"

"I hope you're ready for this."

"Ready for what?"

Tim held out the phone to Tommy.

"Tell Tony thanks for the trip."

Tommy shouted into the phone.

"Tony, thanks for the trip!"

Tim laughed. He couldn't hear Tony's response, but he was sure it was a little surprised. Then, Tommy handed the phone back to Tim and resumed dancing with excitement.

"Were you ready?" Tim asked.

"My eardrums sure weren't ready. I might be temporarily deaf in that ear."

"Tommy's going to burst out of his skin, he's so excited."

"I guess that means we have to go, then, doesn't it."

"Yep. No backing out now. I couldn't disappoint Tommy like that," Tim said, grinning at Tommy's continued excitement.

There was an unexpected pause.

"Tony?"

"No, there's no way you'd disappoint Tommy," Tony said, but his tone had changed.

"Is something wrong, Tony?" Tim asked.

"No. I've just always liked seeing you be a dad, Tim," Tony said, sounding more like himself.

Tim wondered about that moment, though. He couldn't explain just what had happened, but something had.

"Well, Delilah had a great suggestion," Tim said, testing to see if the moment really had passed.

"We're going on a trip!" Tommy announced again.

"Tommy, I need to talk to Tony for a little bit," Tim said.

"Come and play!" Tommy said.

"I will. Just give me a few minutes."

"Come and play!" Tommy said again.

"In a few minutes, Tommy," Tim said. "Go outside and I'll come. Okay?"

"Okay!"

Tommy ran out of the room, leaving a quiet moment in his wake.

"Whew. Okay. So... Delilah had a suggestion."

"What?"

"I don't know if Tommy's ready for a week-long road trip. So what she suggested is that we drive up to Boston, taking a couple of days. Then, we can drop Tommy off at my in-laws. They've been wanting to have him come and visit them. And then, we'll go on up to Acadia and back down, pick Tommy up and make a few more stops before we head home. What do you think?"

"That sounds like a great idea. Did you have any places you wanted to go?"

"Well, I was thinking that we could drive down to Norfolk and pick you up and then go to the Baltimore aquarium, the Statue of Liberty in New York...maybe even Coney Island if we had the time. Stuff like that. I think Tommy would like them. Any suggestions you might have for the drive up there."

"I'll give it some thought. There are some cool waterfalls and stuff up in Acadia. We'll have plenty to see."

"What? You actually checked it out in advance?" Tim asked, smiling.

"I can do that when I'm given orders."

"Good to know."

"Daddy! Come, play!"

"Okay, Tony, I'd better get going before Tommy comes in and starts to pull my arm off."

"I'll do some checking on the dates and let you know so we can both get the time off."

"Sounds good. Bye."

"Bye."

Tim hung up and furrowed his brow. Tony had seemed different, and Tim just wasn't sure what it was. He knew that Tony had been challenged by suddenly being a father three times over, but he'd seemed more than equal to the task and, by his own admission, he wouldn't give it up. Was that what it was? Just thinking about fatherhood? Maybe.

"Daddy! Come and play!" Tommy shouted again, running into the room.

Putting aside his vague concern for the moment, Tim smiled.

"Okay, Tommy. I'm coming! I'm coming!"

He left his phone inside and went out into the backyard to play with Tommy.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony grimaced as he hung up. That was about the worst timing for an illogical rush of emotion. Tim had noticed. It had taken some quick thinking to distract him...although Tommy had inadvertently helped out.

Even with that momentary drag, Tony couldn't help but smile. Tommy was full to the brim with excitement about everything. He would be fun to have on the trip, but he also liked Delilah's suggestion. It would let the two of them have some fun in the way they usually did on these road trips while still letting Tommy come along.

"Hey, Boss."

"What is it, Wilkes?" Tony asked.

"I think that..." He paused. "Bowman thinks that..."

"Hey!" Bowman protested.

Tony smiled. "What, Wilkes?"

"Well, we were just thinking that the carrier group gets into port on Monday and we'll be swamped with all that stuff as the crew goes ashore."

"Yeah? And?"

"And so, since we don't have anything pressing right at the moment, maybe we could call it a day early and then, we'll be really ready for the chaos on Monday."

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"You need two days to get rested up just in case something happens when the carrier gets here?"

Wilkes grinned. "You never know."

Tony thought about it. Wilkes never passed up a chance to get done early, but he was never late, and he always gave his best. Tony actually really liked him. He'd been shuffled around a few times simply because he was so overt about how he felt. His job was his job, not his life. His life was elsewhere. Bowman was more reserved and basically went along with most things, so long as they weren't breaking rules. He certainly wouldn't protest an early quitting time, either.

So could they do that? Responsibly, could they do that? Wilkes was right that they didn't have any pressing cases at the moment. One thing Tony liked about Norfolk was that, while there was often a steep increase in cases whenever a ship came into port, everything tended to be less serious. That didn't mean they didn't get the big cases, but in general, It was more AWOL stuff, fights, disturbing the peace. It wasn't as much the really serious cases, although they had their share.

"All right," he said, finally. "But if you're even a minute late on Monday..."

Wilkes grinned triumphantly. "Not a chance, Boss," he said and started gathering up his stuff.

Bowman lingered behind a little.

"Hey, Boss?"

"Yeah?"

"Is something wrong? You seemed a little bummed when you got off the phone. Is it about your foster kids?"

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, Boss. You said that you're trying to adopt. Did something go wrong?"

"No. Nothing's wrong, Bowman. We haven't heard about a court date yet, but we're expecting it soon."

Bowman smiled a little. "Then, I won't tell you any horror stories about what my family went through until everything is settled."

Tony laughed. "Thanks for that. I appreciate it."

Then, Bowman left. Tony sighed.

Stop being an idiot, DiNozzo, he thought to himself. The sooner you set it aside, the better.

Finally, he grabbed his stuff and headed for home.

As soon as he stepped in the door, he could tell something was wrong.

"Jo?" he called out.

Jo came into the room, looking a little upset.

"You're home early," she said.

"We had things we could put off until Monday. What's up?" he asked.

"I heard from Ivan's case worker."

"And?"

She shook her head. "They don't think that we could give Ivan the attention he needs because we already have kids in the house."

"What?" Tony asked, incredulously. "Do they not know that it was pretty normal to have six or more kids not too long ago?"

"I don't know," Jo said, "but right now, it's not looking good, and Grace and Daniel will be so upset about it."

Tony sighed. "Yeah. Well, all we can do now is just promise that we'll keep working on it."

"I know. I just really wanted to have the whole family together. There are so many studies that show that kids do better with their siblings, but it's like that doesn't matter at all. They're not willing to look at the situation. It's just a rubber stamp and it really ticks me off."

Tony smiled and put his hands on Jo's shoulders.

"Take a deep breath, Jo."

She smiled back and did as he said.

"Okay. Once we have a court date for Grace and Daniel and we adopt them, we won't be fostering three kids at once. We'll have three kids and want to foster one. So we'll keep working on it, and we won't give up on it until we know we don't have any other choice. That's what we'll tell Grace and Daniel."

Jo nodded.

Then, Tony took a risk and said something he'd been feeling for a while but hadn't dared say aloud.

"But maybe this is a good thing."

"A good thing?"

Tony saw that irritation, but now that he'd said it, he wanted to make sure Jo understood and that she listened to what he was saying.

"Yes. I completely agree that we need to try to get Ivan and let them be together in the same family, but after that, can we not try to foster the entire state of Virginia?"

"Tony, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I just don't know if I have more fostering in me...at least not until we have our own family figured out. And yes, that family includes Grace and Daniel and hopefully Ivan. But can't we try and get settled with our family before we try to save everyone else?"

Jo walked over to the couch and sat down. Tony followed her over and sat down as well.

"I know this is something that means a lot to you, Jo, but I just don't know if I have it in me to keep this pace up. I'm fumbling my way through this whole fatherhood thing. I didn't get the chance to learn it gradually. It's all at once, and I need time to figure out what I'm supposed to do. I didn't exactly have the best example."

Jo's expression became sympathetic.

"I'm sorry, Tony. Honestly, I didn't even think about that. And really, you're doing a great job. I think Grace and Daniel needed someone like you. You make it look so easy that I didn't realize that it was hard."

Tony laughed a little.

"I'm glad I'm that good an actor. I love Grace and Daniel. I'm glad we have them and I don't want to lose them, but..."

"But more is too much."

"Yeah, it is. I'm sorry, but it is."

"Okay. Okay, Tony. I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's all right. Now, I hope that Grace and Daniel weren't here for all this."

"No. They went over to play with Rob and Graham."

"Okay. After dinner, we'll sit them down and tell them about Ivan."

Jo nodded.

Then, there was a whine.

"Ah, Sam's up," Jo said. Then, she grinned. "And since you're home early, you can change his diaper and I'll get started on dinner."

"I'm a better cook."

"It's your turn to change the diaper and you're so good at that, too."

"Oh, thanks."

"My pleasure," Jo said. Then, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you, Tony."

"Back at you, Jo."

Tony put his stuff away and then went back to the nursery and saw Sam getting ready to be really upset. His face was like a squashed tomato. Tony smiled and leaned over the crib and picked him up.

"Hey, Sam. None of that. You're not hurt. I understand that the wet diaper is probably uncomfortable but you could just tell me that."

Sam didn't seem disposed to listen and he kept whining. Tony took him over to the changing table and then gingerly proceeded to change his diaper. This was one part of parenting that he really hated. As far as that went, Grace and Daniel were perfect. No potty training. No diapers. They were fine on their own.

At the same time, he was understanding what Tim had meant about being a dad. ...and what he himself had said. Once he finished the diaper change, Sam began to gurgle at him happily and Tony found himself smiling back. Fatherhood was hard, but it was really worth it.

...but it would also be nice to have the break that would come with the road trip.